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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Death of Marat Essay

I love the story of a conversation that took place at an English country house during a dinner party, where the host had just started up the discussion of death and asked the various guests what will happen to them after they die. Some thought about reincarnation and others though about different plains of being, and others thought that they were going to be annihilated. All of the guests had answered the question except for sir Roderick, who was a military type, a very devout man to the church of England where he was also the church warden, chief of the vestry, in the local county of Parish. The lady said â€Å"sir Roderick you haven’t said a word, what do you think is going to happen to you when you die? † oh he said â€Å"I am certain that I will go to heaven and enjoy everlasting bliss, but I wish you wouldn’t indulge I such a depressing conversation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  The polarity of death; It is talked about with such anguish and fright yet portrayed through art as something that represents relief or enlightenment that all together are emotionally wrenching idea’s that have been both subject for artists and served as an incentive for artistic production throughout history, perhaps as much as, perhaps more than, any other subject since artists have dealt with death, dying, the threat of death, escape from death, thoughts of death, and preparation for death through the centuries. For me, death in neo-classicism was the obvious choice because it so strongly reflects the change that was going through Europe at the time, where plagues, revolution and war scattered the common wasteland. Through the age of enlightenment death began to play a different role amongst artists and scientists where the interest in mortality and old age, the decayed body and the anatomical structure layered in lifelessness took new forms. With death came the peeling back of layers, skin, muscles, organs – embalming and mummification, posing the question on whether there is an immaterial soul or whether the body is only a complicated organ capable of immense things. This is something I felt is strongly expressed in the painting that I have chosen. The Death of Marat, painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1793 is a story that relates to the French Revolution, in which a radical journalist, Marat, is murdered in his bath by Charlotte Corday, who believed that his death would end the violence throughout the country. It has been described by T. J. Clark as the first modernist painting, for â€Å"the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it†(1). However I believe that the painting also allows a portrayal of a philosophical confrontation on the subject of death. Through this essay I will argue how the painting demonstrates the struggle between the polarizations of death through a neo-classicistic point of view. Analysis The painting Death of Marat depicts the death of a murdered radical journalist during the French revolution. Charlotte Corday, the murderer, was a Girondin(2) from a minor aristocratic family and a political enemy of Marat who blamed him for the September Massacre. She gained entrance to Marat’s rooms with a note promising details of a counter-revolutionary ring in Caen. Marat suffered from a skin condition that caused him to work from his bath. Corday stabbed Marat, who died. She did not attempt to flee, and was later trailed and executed. While the painting is done in a realistic style, it has elements of being idealized, so that Marat’s death is almost graceful. His head is resting peacefully on the edge of the tub, and despite being stabbed in the chest he is still holding a quill in his right hand with which he was writing a letter, which he still holds in his left hand. This along with the dramatic lighting and overall calmness of the scene betrays the actually brutality of the stabbing. In fact, it’s a very peaceful painting. You could almost be forgiven for not thinking him dead. The Death of Marat is designed to commemorate a personable hero. David intended to record more than just the horror of martyrdom. In this sense, for realistic as it is in its details, the painting, as a whole, from its start, is a methodical construction focusing on the victim, a striking set up regarded today by several critics as an â€Å"awful beautiful lie. (3)† To fully understand this artwork there are essentially two aspects to consider: first the style used by David, i. e. Neo-classicism, and secondly the artist’s purpose, i. e. turning Marat into a hero of high moral virtues according to the classical tradition. Neoclassicism as the name says was essentially a rediscovery of classical art from the Greek and Roman time. This style prescribed rigorous contours, sculptured forms, and polished surfaces and was based on ideals of harmony and austerity. By applying such technique, death is glorified and allows further depth for the beholder, which makes the message of the decisive clash of life and death stronger. Marat is dying: his eyelids droop, his head weighs heavily on his shoulder, his right arm slides to the ground. His body, as painted by David, is that of a healthy man, still young. The scene inevitably calls to mind a rendering of the â€Å"Descent from the Cross. (4) The face is marked by suffering, but is also gentle and suffused by a growing peacefulness as the fangs of death loosen their grip. The significance of this is the inference that Marat sacrificed himself for the good of the people, just as Christ is said to have done. Other religious elements are also prominent, the halo like turban around Marat’s head, and the heavenly light shining upon Marat’s angelic face. The portrayal of Marat in this way contrasts with other accounts describing him. Marat up until the moments before his death was a violent man who totally supported the executions of all those who opposed the government. Marat was once known to have said, â€Å"In order to ensure public tranquility 200,000 heads must be cut off. †(5) It was David’s aim to â€Å"construct images of a secular saint. † David believed that Art must have a social mission (appeal to the beholder’s moral sense instead of merely giving him pleasure). â€Å"Art must contribute forcefully to the education of the public. † However in a time when violence was so prevalent â€Å"actuality† was replaced by inaccurate images resulting in historical misrepresentations. This was partly due to the fear people experienced, due to sympathies people held. David supported the Jacobins and so this representation is biased, giving only the Jacobins perspective, not at all representing the views of Corday or the Girondins who particularly hated Marat. All reflections in history are biased documents, but that’s another discussion. My interest with the Death of Marat lies within two philosophical notions, dualism and physicalism, Most religious views have a belief in the afterlife and the continuation of living in some other form after life has been completed. For Christians death leads to heaven, or hell to nonbelievers. For Buddhists death restarts the life cycle in reincarnation, the person becoming another living entity in another shape. Death in this piece of art has the power to confront the viewer with their own mortality, their own livingness, in ways that surpass normal emotions. In most modern countries, death is something that is hidden away from people, separated into cemeteries and funerals. Most would agree that death is an inherently bad thing, that living surpasses death in possible everyway. Death in culture has such wide ranging importance between nations and societies that one simple analysis does little justify the range of connotations. Conclusion The theme of death in art has been around for centuries. Death and the last living hours are present in the passion of the Christ, a subject matter that has been present strongly through art’s history. The dramatic use of neo-classicistic art techniques allowed David to capture not just a painting but also a symbolic gesture that death represents. By taking the fundamental pillars of neoclassicism and romanticizing them he was able to gain entrance to a certain presence. If there’s ever a picture that would make you want to die for a cause, it is †¦ Death of Marat. But that’s to separate it from the appalling moment of its creation, the French Revolution. For David, Marat wasn’t a monster, he was a saint. This was martyrdom, and part of David’s manifesto of the revolutionary virtue. When analyzing representations from the past we must recognize motivating factors behind representations. Subsequently we must question representations of the past, such as Davids â€Å"The Death of Marat† and the validity of opposing views. However death is far from being a radically new idea, it contains a wide range of philosophical concepts, depending and varying on cultural differences. The belief that human beings survive death in some form has profoundly influenced the thoughts, emotions, arts, scripts and actions of mankind. The belief occurs in all religions, past and present, and decisively condition the evaluations of man and his place in the universe.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Environmental Development through Role Play in Schools Essay

1. Executive Summary In this proposal the Environmental Protection Group (EPG) requests funding for its Environmental Development Project through Role Play in Schools. The project’s goal is to contribute to the reduction of environmental devastation and destruction through the implementation of role-play strategies that highlight concomitant preventive and behaviour change interventions. With this support, EPG will emphasize on increasing awareness practices and measurement requirements and work in close collaboration with partners toward the reduction of the burden of environmental devastation. EPG is requesting Kyats 16,000,000 to support its efforts to combat human effects on our environment and its resultant environmental destruction among the currently unnoticed affected areas of Myanmar. EPG will work in collaboration with the â€Å"Save Earth†, community-based organizations and International NGOs, promoting positive behaviour change through the Environmental protection Role play in schools project. 2. Environmental Issues in Myanmar While environmental protection projects and environment activists are endeavoring to bring forth harmony amongst our environment and our society, Myanmar has rather a slow rate of environmental protection measurements. Citizens should be warned of the effects of their behavior on the environment and the resultant destruction of the environment. However, since the population of working people will not be able to contribute much to our project, we have set our targets on children. Through role play on environmental devastation, we will raise children’s awareness of the environment. Despite learning about the deterioration of the environment only when they get older, making children contribute to the environment is claimed to have much effect both on the children and on the environment. While the environment will get greener with children’s interest in it, the children, on the other hand, will also learn the advantages and disadvantages of their behavior towards the Earth. This way, the science of the Earth and the art of individual responsibility will be learned by the children at the same time, as well as benefit in the eco-friendliness of men and our Earth. 3. Project Objectives – to raise environmental awareness through community participation approach – to get ideas from the community – to promote community’s critical thinking of the environment 4. Our Vision Statement Communities in which people respect the environment, develop the sustainable eco-friendly lifestyle and share the environmental knowledge and practice from generation to generation. 5. The weaknesses of our community – Lack of environmental awareness – Weakness in practicing conservation – Ignorance of the significance of the natural environment 6. Skills and Qualities – Patience – Motivation in community participation – Theatre ability – Persuasiveness – Ability to understand the reality of the community – Scientific Knowledge

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Equal opportunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Equal opportunities - Essay Example The proportion of women working in essentially male staffed sectors, the informal sector, or in various forms of contract labour, is often high, just as the proportional participation of women in the formal sector are often lower and they tend to suffer from occupational segregation and disadvantage in terms of their conditions of employment (those who receive unequal pay for work of equal value). Gender equality in GLA has been clearly set out from the start, with important issues of the process already in motion. It is exceptional in that the organization doesn't suffer the history of disadvantage found in the many of public sector bodies, and can therefore work on gender equality can go ahead without the traditional constraints. The public duty on gender equality in GLA makes required arrangements with regard to the principle that there should be equality for all. Its strategy for equality for women attempts that the organisation reflects the entire local community at all strata. The mainstreaming of gender equality has been found to be considerably easier in a newly created public body with equalities as a dimension of officer responsibilities. This is visible in The GLA advocates: A common approach for performance indicators on equalities Clear equalities targets to measure performance Equalities indicators integrated into the best value process These recommendations have streamlined the policies and practices that have helped the GLA become an exemplary employer that reflects the equalities programme for the population of London. This is visible in all functional bodies that include the Metropolitan Police, London Transport, the Fire Service and the London Development Agency. However, the still existing problem sectors, such as, employment of fewer women at particular grades in the Metropolitan Police and the lack of women transport planners are being addressed with the agility it deserves. The GLA is aiming to analyse the results of its current policies on: Outcomes of the best value review of equalities Improving the performance of managerial performance, particularly around serving of functional bodies Learning from the experience of the first two years The overall impact of the recent directives of the GLA on equality have been appreciated in the work of the London Development Agency, though there are critics too, still two years of operation is early enough to conduct a detailed assessment of the success or otherwise of particular strategies. Critics have stated that the new policies and programmes have failed to satisfy the equality issues. The special appointment of the Director (Equality

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Have three scholars interpreted the role of slavery during the Essay

Have three scholars interpreted the role of slavery during the revolutionary ear, 1765-1787 - Essay Example To understand the reason behind the continued slavery during the revolutionary era, three main scholars have interpreted the role of slavery during the Revolutionary era. Slaves were used by the Americans to buy their independence. According to Morgan, the Americans needed assistance from other nations, and they needed independence. Tobacco was the only the only product that was of value and hence feasible as a tool of assistance purchase. The production of tobacco was labor intensive and thus the reliance on slavery for production. The product was then used to shape the foreign relation of America and other states, especially France. In fact, the support granted by France to America is referred to as â€Å"King Tobacco Diplomacy† by historians, so as to act as a reminder of the role of slavery, through the production of tobacco, in the acquisition of American Independence during the revolutionary era2. From this interpretation, it can be coined that slavery was a necessary evil that the Americans used to gain their independence despite having the theme of the Revolution as equality and liberty. In a much direct manner, the slaves enhanced the acquisition of American independence by serving in the Continental army. According to Spalding, prior to the American Founding, there were over 500,000 slaves, who were mainly concentrated in the five southern states, making up 40 percent of the entire population. The major American founders, such as George Washington, were slave owners. During the era of the Revolution, there was an inadequately trained army and hence the slaves were inducted into the army so as to help in fighting for the independence of America. This happened immediately after Washington started commanding the Continental army in 1775. Together with Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s plan was to use this induction as a way to grant the slaves their freedom in the long

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Services Marketing and Characteristics of Services Essay

Services Marketing and Characteristics of Services - Essay Example The inseparability of a service means that the production of service cannot be separated from its consumption; thus, the customer is a party to the production of the service. Hence, one can not provide banking services to a customer who is not present (either physically or through other means). A waiter cannot serve to a customer if there is no customer present in the restaurant. This is what inseparability of the service means; that the service is generated and consumed at the same time. This makes the quality control process even more difficult and hence efforts are made to overcome the inseparability aspect of the service by separating production and consumption of services. This is another important characteristic of services and refers to the change in service quality and effectiveness each time the service is produced and consumed. For instance, the same waiter serving two different customers, or even the same customer two different times, may provide different quality of services. Sometimes, it is essential to adapt to the specific needs of the customer while providing services like dentists who spend more time with children than adults, assuring and reassuring them that the treatment will not hurt. At other times, a quality control system may be put in place to eliminate the inconsistencies in services, for example, in call centers where all operators are taught to communicate similarly with customers. A drawback of service is that it is difficult to store it and reuse when required. Since services are generated and consumed at the same time usually, these are perished hence minimizing idle time is critical to provide quality services.  Ã‚  

Monday, August 26, 2019

The price elasticity of gasoline in the United States has been Essay

The price elasticity of gasoline in the United States has been estimated to be 0.15. if this is so, should profit maximizing gasoline stations raise their prices Explain why or why not - Essay Example Since gasoline is considered as normal goods the income elasticity will be positive. The estimated price elasticity will vary according to income, demography and the geography. The demand for gasoline is closely associated with the fuel economy of the vehicles. If the price of the gasoline rises the profit maximizing gasoline companies will not be able to raise the prices according to their wish as in such cases the consumers will shift to the more fuel efficient vehicles which will ultimately lead to a fall in demand conditions for gasoline1. The rebounding effect will have a role to play in this case. The organizations may witness a rise in demand in the short run but in the long run the demand will not be persistent and in fact the demand will fall further than expected. Gillingham, K. 2011. How Do Consumers Respond to Gasoline Price Shocks? Heterogeneity in Vehicle Choice and Driving Behavior. Available at: http://www.umass.edu/resec/seminars/docs/Gillingham_ConsumerResponseGasPrices.pdf. [Accessed: 18th October,

Sunday, August 25, 2019

The Food and Drug Administration should regulate the content of Essay

The Food and Drug Administration should regulate the content of vitamins and supplements to ensure the American public is safe - Essay Example Dietary supplements are defined under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) as products that contain the one or a combination of the following dietary ingredients: vitamins, minerals, herbs and other botanicals, amino acids, hormones, concentrate or metabolites. Supplements usually come in the form of pill, tablet, liquid form or capsule with some being administered intravenously. They differ from pharmaceutical drugs for most of them have unproven therapeutic benefits and is considered more like a food product with the exception that they bear a ‘dietary supplement’ label. With the influx of dietary supplements in the marketplace, claims of medical benefits abound with little scientific proof. The problem is that human society have become so conscious with their health but so lazy to maintain it by exercise and proper food intake that dietary supplements have become so popular and so much in demand. In the face of this dilemma, there is only one possible resolution: for the FDA to strictly monitor and control the production and entry to market of dietary supplements. This paper aims to underscore this choice of action through an analysis of facts and events. A preliminary analysis to serve as a platform for a full scale research is presented in the following passages. Vitamins and minerals have long been recognized by medical science to have beneficial medical effects. For example, Vitamin C more commonly known as ascorbic acid, have been shown to stimulate the production and function of white blood cells thereby boosting the body’s immunity. It has also been found to prevent the formation of carcinogenic compounds such as nitrosamines. Vitamin A, a pale yellow primary alcohol, improves eyesight by aiding in the formation of mucous membranes and tear glands. Almost all vitamins have some

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Effects of Media on Fear of Crime, Perception and Reality Essay

Effects of Media on Fear of Crime, Perception and Reality - Essay Example The main part of fear of crime is the scope of emotions that is roused in people by the chance of oppression. While usual measures of concern about crime repeatedly prove between 35 percent and 55 percent of the residents of England show some type of apprehension about becoming a victim, surveys tell that a considerable number of individuals in fact worry for their personal wellbeing on a daily basis. Contrary to usual perception, this level of fear has reduced since 1990s according to British Crime Surveys from 40% to 27% in 2003 in the United Kingdom. As a result, one can differentiate between fear and broader apprehension. Nonetheless, it should come under notice that a number of individuals might be keener to disclose their uncertainties and vulnerabilities as compared to others. Hearing about happenings; identifying others who have been persecuted - these are thought to increase insights of the risk of oppression. This has been explained as a ‘crime multiplier’, or procedures functioning within the inhabited atmosphere that would reach the impacts of illegal happenings. â€Å"Such proof exists that hearing of friends’ or neighbours’ victimisation increases anxiety that indirect experiences of crime may play a stronger role in anxieties about victimisation than direct experience†. Nonetheless, there is an advisory note: several inhabitants of a locality merely know of offence indirectly by means of channels that may ‘inflate’, ‘deflate’, or distort the actual picture.... Nonetheless, it should come under notice that a number of individuals might be keener to disclose their uncertainties and vulnerabilities as compared to others. Hearing about happenings; identifying others who have been persecuted - these are thought to increase insights of the risk of oppression (Flatley et al, pp. 1-220, 2010). This has been explained as a ‘crime multiplier’, or procedures functioning within the inhabited atmosphere that would reach the impacts of illegal happenings. â€Å"Such proof exists that hearing of friends’ or neighbours’ victimisation increases anxiety that indirect experiences of crime may play a stronger role in anxieties about victimisation than direct experience† (McCluskey & Hooper, p. 173, 2001). Nonetheless, there is an advisory note: several inhabitants of a locality merely know of offence indirectly by means of channels that may ‘inflate’, ‘deflate’, or distort the actual picture.’ Public views of the threat of crime are as well shaped strongly by mass media reporting. People pick up from media as well as interpersonal contact spreading representations of the criminal happening - the perpetrators, injured parties, cause, and signs of significant, irrepressible, and sensational crimes. The concept of stimulus likeness may be significant: if the reader of a newspaper categorizes with the portrayed victim, or feels that their personal neighbourhood has similarity to the one explained, then the image of threat may be taken up, individualised and interpreted into personal security concerns. In addition, reports have indicated differences in perceptions of fear based on the type of newspapers read by locals in the United Kingdom (Simmons & Dodd, pp. 1-189, 2003). In a recent study, â€Å"subjects

Friday, August 23, 2019

THE GREAT GLOBAL WARNING SWINDLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

THE GREAT GLOBAL WARNING SWINDLE - Essay Example The relentless quest for the so called betterment of society has resulted in a drastic increase in the so called greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Many studies have shown that these gases that are released from factories and other manufacturing establishments have contributed to warming of the earth’s atmosphere. This factor could have far reaching consequences with regard to survival of the human species and other living organisms in the planet in the sense that increased temperature could result in rising of the levels of water bodies in the world. The argument is that polar ice caps will begin to melt resulting in rise in water levels of the oceans and seas across the globe. This rise in water levels can result in large areas of inhabited land being inundated by seas and oceans, ultimately resulting in destruction of human habitation (and other species). In effect, the layman is now presented with an apocalypse view of what might happen to Mot her Earth if this so called progress of technology is left unchecked. In fact, it is one of the most controversial and contentious issues that is probably facing the world in the long run. What is to be considered is that temperatures have risen overall that life in any form is precious and any activity that is detrimental to this should be stopped. This argument, primarily by environmentalists and those concerned with sustainability is that industrialization in its current form is a sure way to ensure destruction of life on planet earth. But other arguments by equally qualified scientists and other experts show that human activity does not have the capability to imbalance the power of nature. In other words, the so called pollution and the greenhouse gases is not a major factor in contributing to the future of life on earth for any species including human beings. One of the most controversial films regarding the

Unit 5 discussion Exploring 1960 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 5 discussion Exploring 1960 - Research Paper Example Peace, love, and brotherhood were the mantra of the American Hippie. The hippie movement (subculture) cut across almost every sphere of American life, inclusive of political, social, and traditional beliefs. The Hippie movement was a broad subculture that significantly altered the fabric of American culture and society (Callan, 2006). In some way, Hippies altered the fashion, music, and lifestyle of America. The group revolutionized people’s perception on taboo subjects such as sex, as it broadly perceived sex identities and desires as something to be explored rather than being contained. Neo-Nazism is a general term incorporating aspects such as fascist, nationalist, white supremacist, anti-Semitic beliefs, and political tendencies seeking to revive the Nazi order or establish fresh order grounded in doctrines similar to those underpinning Nazi Germany. The counterculture movement has a strong resemblance with white nationalist and white power skinhead movements (Lewis, 1996). Neo-Nazism is predominant in nationalist far-right parties such as National Alliance and radicalized versions of protestantism. The movement demonstrates hate towards minorities, gays and lesbians and pursues the establishment of fascist political states. Neo-Nazism counterculture incorporates politically incorrect ideologies such as militant nationalism, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism. Counterculture refers to a cultural group whose values and norms are in conflict with those of the social mainstream (Gay, 1997). Neo-Nazism is a counterculture because its ideologies such as xenophobic nationalism and National Socialism are at odds with the mainstream social ideals, besides most of its ideals are explicitly outlawed by constitutions and criminal laws of many

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Pre and Post M&a Performance in Accounting Ratio Essay Example for Free

Pre and Post Ma Performance in Accounting Ratio Essay There are loads of tools to measure the performance of a financial performance of an entity but financial ratios is probably the best known tool which is mainly to analyze the performance of an entity by comparing the present to the past relative figures taken or composed from the financial statement . The few categories of ratios are liquidity ratios, profitability ratios, efficiency ratios, debt ratios and market ratios which will be able to describe the entity’s characteristics. Ratios show the true performance and position of the entity. In order for investors to determine their choices of entity to invest in, financial ratios play an important role in providing sufficient information to users about the entity’s characteristic. We predict that companies are performing better after merger and acquisition and there will be an increase in profit of companies pre merger and acquisition compare to post merger and acquisition activities. However, the global merger and acquisition (MA) market is expected to experience a modest increase this year following significant revisions in earnings expectation for 2009. Studies relatively prove that ratios are important but which ratios, among the loads of ratios which can be computed easily from the available financial statement, should be used to analyze to obtain a wise decision (Kung Thomas, 1981); (Maretno Howard, 1996). Problem statement Accounting ratios usage in merger acquisition are not understood very well as to whether companies or investors are using accounting ratios to analyze performance pre and post decision making for MA. Therefore, this study will try to find out as to whether merger and acquisition activities are caused by the use of accounting ratio when management tries to expand a company’s operation. Accounting ratios is wide in variety and is known for its diversities in calculating different ratios, which makes selecting the right ratio to do analysis on is difficult. Every company when making merger and acquisition decisions will have to go through different decision making process in their organization and not based solely on accounting ratios when taking actions. Things such as relationship of merging companies, financing matter or management efficiency are often overlooked in previous studies, therefore, apart from addressing the use of accounting ratio in making merger and acquisition , we will also address on other matters that are affecting merger and acquisition decision making. Companies that have made merger and acquisition in the few years will be analyzed whether merger and acquisition has benefitted the company. This analysis will have to be based on companies that have made merger and acquisition for few years so that analysis could be made to ascertain whether merger and acquisition has improved the company’s performance. The data that is collected could be redundant as the data collected could only be analyzed from the past. Apart from that, companies that are engaged in merger and acquisition will tend to keep their methods in acquiring companies as a secret; therefore, there is no information that will be disclosed to us when we are doing research. We will only be able to get information based on announcement on the Bursa Saham Malaysia and also annual report analysis on the companies that we will base our study on. Based solely on the annual report, we will have to analyze companies that have been engaged in merger and acquisition is perfor ming better as a company before merger and acquisition or after merger and acquisition. Studies that have addressed the problem Several past studies have shown several findings. There were significant improvements in the liquidity, leverage and profitability position of most studied companies. Normally, total assets consist of equity, debt and retained earnings to finance the corporation. In the study, it was found that total assets were always less than the debt plus equity for pre acquisition period, but after acquisition, it is positive. All the units selected for the study were sick, but after takeover five out of eight revived (Rao Sanker, 1997). The acquiring firms had performed above the industry average and the acquired firms were below the industry average in term of size and profitability (Cosh et al., 1998). The firms recorded meaningful increase in their net earnings, and those with the successful merger of the firms, the return on capital employed and return on total assets, increased substantially with a significant percentage. The variability in the earnings (risk) of the pre-merger firms was significantly higher than that of post-merger firms (Agundu Karibo, 1999). Pilloff (1996) finds no significant change in post merger ROE, however, when he utilizes operating income before provision instead of net income to calculate ROE, there is a significant increase in post-merger returns. Deficiencies in studies Unfortunately, most studies do not distinguish between healthy and troubled companies due to the relative scarcity of outright failures as an indicator of the latter. Data are not readily available to every person and critical data is only available to top level management, which causes analysis on company performance not accurate. Accounting ratios usage in studies are not standardized for number of ratios used and types of ratios used, making comparisons of this study to previous studies almost impossible. Some of the studies only find out accounting ratio performance before and after merger and acquisition, but they did not take into account the management performance improvement. Importance of the study Basically, the compelling reason for merger and acquisition is to make more money. This study analyses the pre and post performance in accounting ratio of various entities in Malaysia which involved in merger and acquisition. Therefore, it seeks to contribute to entities which look forward to expand their businesses by merging and acquiring entities in order to broaden their sources and to increase their performance as well as position of the entity. This study also justifies the importance of financial ratios as a tool in decision making for most users to merge and acquire entities. Besides that, this study further proves that financial ratios could be used to speculate and estimate the future of the entity’s development and growth by developing ratio values to be compared with the normal or regular value. Furthermore, the global merger and acquisition market is expected to experience a modest increase this year following significant revisions in earnings expectation for 2009. According to KPMG International’s Global merger and acquisition Predictor, modest increases are expected in both deal-making appetite and capacity globally. Therefore, it is hoped that the result of this study is valuable to entities for the purpose of merging and acquiring. Purpose statement The purpose of this study is to determine whether financial ratios contribute to the decision in merging and acquiring another entity. For this purpose, we analyze the performance of the entity before and after merging or acquisition of the holding or parent entity across industries to identify the status of the performance and position of the entity currently. We would have to identify the entity’s characteristics in terms of their operating and accounting performance by comparing to their values before the merger and acquisition. In our analysis, we also focus on the use financial ratios as a mechanism to compare the pre and post-acquisition performance. Furthermore, we also use financial ratio to predict the performance of the acquired entity as well as the growth of the entity. Organization of the study The rest of the research is organized into chapters as follows. Chapter 2 review about the literature regarding the accounting ratio performance before and after merger and acquisition would be provided. The topic and the arguments from researchers will be discussed. Justification of the research objectives would be provided with all the relevant literatures. Chapter 3 describes and provides detailed explanation on the method used in collecting the relevant data, the desired sample design, appropriate methodology employed in this study and also the data analysis method. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction In this chapter, further discussion on the topic will be done based on prior empirical studies and a derivation of hypothesis will be done. To be able to evaluate the post and pre merger and acquisition deal by companies in Malaysia, a concept is to be conceived with prior literature that is related to the performance of firms that has been acquiring other firms. 2.1 Theory/Concept Foundation Shareholders of a corporation that is involved in Merger Acquisition activity would like to see their value of stock in the acquiring corporation to rise post-MA compared to pre-MA. Therefore, it is important that an MA transaction done with the shareholders in mind, this theory of maximizing shareholder value is fairly new as it is introduced by William Lazonick and Mary O’Sullivan in year 2000. Shareholder value should be used regularly when decisions are made to be able to regulate how a company operates for the sake of the shareholders. For a shareholder to have his value increased, all the activities from the factory workers to top level management should work together to find the best way to increase the value of the company. To increase shareholder value, restructuring of companies are needed to be able to sustain the changing economic climate according to time development. Evaluation of companies performance will be done to ensure shareholders value do increase post-M A. From the theory we could derive that performance of a company depends on the value that they would like to preserve for their shareholders. For every shareholder that would like to expand the company operation and size, they will have to be able to provide funds for the company in the form of investment. Apart from that, trend evolution plays a part in a merging or acquisition decision. An acquirer may look at the performance of the company that they are trying to takeover. The acquirers look at the financial feasibility of acquiring the company on the share price and value for money. If a value is low, they will be able to takeover the company at a lower price. And it is known that MA deals are done so that a company could expand into a new market segment or improve their current segment. Apart from that, it should be noted that there are several types of mergers and acquisition. It should be noted that firms that are acquiring are larger if not significantly larger than the acquired firms. 2.2 Review of Prior Empirical Studies Life cycle of a firm will accelerate the need for MA deals as firms grew older, they could be expanding their size and because of this, and MA will be done to be able to involve themselves into different segments of businesses. According to (Sian Owen Alfred Yawson, 2008), they propose that in certain life cycle of a company, they will engage in some kind of MA activities. This is because there is a need to grow their company or to decrease the involvement of the owner by giving up the power of the company to another firm. Therefore, it should be noted that companies will go through MA at different life cycle to develop their performance even further or simply to pull out of the company ownership. The data that they use to examine this is based in the US, therefore, it may be not practical to be used here, but this is an opportunity for us to examine the life cycle factor in the pre and post MA performance figure. The main objective for merger and acquisition activities is to increase the return of the equity shareholders who are considered real owners of the company. Shareholders are also takes the responsibilities to bear maximum risk of the company. Different impact (positive, negative and mix) either success or failure will occur for different MA deals. Since we cannot make any conclusion based on only one ratio. So, different ratio are using in this article to measure the company performance in term of liquidity position, operating efficiency, overall efficiency, return to equity shareholders and financial composition. By looking at single ratio, it is hard for researcher to determine whether acquirer company success or failure to make MA deals? Because a high rate of return showed on acquiree company such as consulting firms doesn’t means they make a good investments, since they require no assets. There are more than half of the 74 merger and acquisition cases showed an improvement in the financial performance in post time period of this article. However, 15% out of these cases had increase their working capital and debt to equity, which means that the company suffer long term financial burden of current assets and long terms funds which use to finance current assets. Small sample size was used by this researcher. Although there are 200 deals of MA in India but only 74 companies can provide the available financial data which require by researcher. So, there was reliable issue of this research outcome. Except ratio, there are many issues must be takes into consideration by making MA decision such as by predicting future prospects, company past performance, law and regulations of the country which can help to reach a better conclusion. So researcher can’t make exact and absolute conclusion by only interpret financial ratio of company (Kumar and Bansal, 2008). Those are significant difference between merger and acquisition. Misleading conclusions may be made by those researchers who combined these two different terms. Acquisitions is a more successful way to bring positive effects to the company compared with mergers in term of generate greater profitability, return on investment or equity, increased in operating performance, etc. This might due to the way the merger or acquire. Acquirer may acquire a small division, patent or the company which use for the purpose of strategic alliances and value added to current business. In contrary, merges activities become less attractive to the potential shareholder due to reduce return or shareholder wealth or even negative return and decrease in profitability or even suffer losses of the company (Hassan, Patro, Tuckman Wang, 2007). The theoretical models of liquidity stresses the degree of trading stock, adverse selection, stock volatility, and competitiveness of market making (Lipson Mortal, 2007). According to the prior review, the degree of trading interest in a stock has a positive relationship with the level of trading activity. Therefore, the fixed trading costs can be spread out over a larger number of trades. The adverse selection cost incurs when negative action is taken to counter an adverse situation of trades. For example, if stock traders have relatively more information compare to the liquidity providers, liquidity providers will recover their losses from trading with better informed counterparts by increasing their average revenue. Stock volatility affects the trading cost positively as well. When stocks are more volatile, the holding cost of the stock would be relatively higher and the cost would be passed on to buyers when being traded. The competitiveness of market making affects the trading cost negatively. When the market makers are less competitive, the increase in competition will reduce the trading cost. Besides that, the firm’s characteristics also affect the accounting ratio after MA. Prior studies noted that MA increases the liquidity of firms on average but the improvements are fully explained by the accompanying changes in firm characteristics (Lipson Mortal, 2007). Firm characteristics such as sizes of the firm, volume and number of shareholders are taken into consideration in prior studies. Relatively larger firms will have greater trading interest since more positions are offered in the firm. Benston and Hangerman (1974) also acknowledge the effect of firm size and volume to MA. Therefore, the sizes of the firm are expected to affect the decision MA of a firm. The increase in adverse selection can be seen in Heflin and Shaw (2000) where they argue that the effect of a blockholder ownership is a result of superior blockholder information. The results are consistent with the results in Lipson and Mortal (2007). Past studies document that larger firms tend to be followed by a greater number of market makers (Wahal, 1997), which he attributes to increased compe tition among market makers. Also derived in Lipson and Mortal (2007), the increased in market making reduces order processing cost, hence reducing trading cost. According to (Arturo Bris, Neil Brisley, Christos Cabolis 2008), MA is done following the corporate governance decision as legal rules or accounting standard. The countries difference in degree of investor protection as well as firm value, ownership structure. When we are merger and acquisition usually adopts the accounting standards. This implies that, the corporate in a country can adopt difference level of investor protect. If corporate governance have set the legal rules then the corporate follow it. Therefore, the corporate investments losses or change operation performance. The legal rule can protect shareholder and investors so that they will not have legal liabilities. The corporate governance quality is follow shareholder protection and accounting standard when we are merger and acquisition can test corporate worsening and preserving acquisitions. If we are test pre merger and acquisition performance not efficiency then corporate governance quality also will not good. The corporation will easy give large corporate takeover or the corporation will bankrupt. However, the corporation operation quality good will not let large corporate takeover the firm. The corporate governance quality well can enhance merger and acquisition value and good performance. According to Holger Breinlich (2008), merger and acquisition become industrial restructuring after trade liberalization. It is can increase merger and acquisition activities and merger and acquisition transferred resource from less to more productive firms. It is because pre corporation not efficiency performance source make it loss. Therefore, after merger and acquisition the corporate efficiency performance source make it earning profit and improvement the corporate. Merger and acquisition not just to transfer source, it is also can qualitatively difference from other adjust form. Before merger and acquisition is not well make the workers becoming unemployed and also will make economic recession. When new ownership takeover the corporate then worker has working already and economic also will slowly become good. However, the larger corporate takeovers corporate better the corporate bankrupt and as such no need face unnecessary legal restriction. From the past studies, Letho and Lehtoranta (2004) study that MA synergies can be realized by owing unique technology and knowledge and then transferring these intangibles to the target firm. The industrial organization (IO) literature states that both horizaontal and industry-diversifying acquisitions might affect RD. When firms are active in the line of business, economies of scale in RD input can be occurred because of MAs. Besides, value can created also by MAs from uniting complementary know-how (Cassiman B, Colombo M, Garrone P, Veugelers R, 2003). Similarly, intangibles could matter in domestic as well as cross-border takeover (Kang and Johansson, 2000). The ratio of intangible assets (goodwill paid in earlier MAs has to be minus first) to total assets is used to examine these ideas. The financial synergies are realized by looking at the capital structure of potential acquirers. The idea is that when firms relying heavily on bank loans, it is risky to the firm and also acquirers will have less interest on the firm. Therefore, firms that relying heavily on bank loans will quickly seek to reduce their overall risk and recognize a lower cost of capital by engaging in industry-diversifying and in cross-border MAs. Indeed, cost of capital can be reduced when cash flows from target and bidders are not highly correlated. Besides, additional borrowing capacity post-MA can be created and this is a good performance for a firm after MA. If stock prices of a firm are down, the takeover of a firm can constitute a bargain relative to investing in new facilities in order to recover from scratch. Furthermore, the valuation of private targets is lower once stock market sentiment is down, through the use of a lower multiples or higher risk premium when valuing target stock. This under-valuation hypothesis suggests that stock prices and MA decisions are negatively related. In contrast, soaring stock prices can facilitate the financing of MAs in which they using bidder stock to pay for these deals. When firms consider that their stock to be over-valued, they tend to issue new shares (Shleifer and Vishny, 2003). There will be positive relationship between stock prices and external growth. However, the positive relationship may be difficult to observe when a sample is dominated by private enterprises. This is also because of those non-listed bidder stock is unwilling to be accepted by target investors. The average market-wide price earnings (P/E) ratio at the MA announcement date is used to capture stock market conditions, given that private firms dominate the sample. 2.3 Hypothesis Development The first hypothesis comes from our own assumption to examine how does a company perform post-MA compared to pre-MA. The assumption is that a company could perform better in the form of ratios because their capital has increased due to increase in non current assets. If a company obtains another company through MA, it is expected that they have certain amount of capital available to expand their firm size; therefore, there will be increase in capital in the form of ROE and ROA ratios once a firm is engaged in MA activities. H º =After MA, there will be increase in ratios of ROE and ROA H ¹=Before MA, asset ROA and ROE are higher From previous study of (Moeller, Schlingemann Stulz, 2004), it is known that they examined for the below hypothesis in their research. And this hypothesis will be tested in Malaysia context so that we will be able to measure the level of performance compared to the size of the firm. H º=Small firm perform better after MA H ¹=Acquirer’s firm perform worse after MA 2.4 Model/Framework Negative relationship Positive Relationship As proposed, the relationship between pre-MA is a negative relationship to the ratio. And it should be lower than post-MA ratio as after MA activities, the ratio should increase and higher. Positive relationship Negative relationship As proposed, the larger firm will adapt less well after MA compared to smaller firm. Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design The research will be carried out as an explanatory study. This study method is used for our research because this study will explain how MA affects performance of a company. The design will be carried out by using pair sample T-Test testing the relationship of the variables of performance of the company and the pre and post MA activities. The research will be carried out to test whether an MA activity does increase the performance of a company or it does not accelerate the activity of the company. Archival research will be used thoroughly to understand the improvement or deterioration in the firms post-MA compared to pre-MA. 3.2 Population, Sample and Sampling Procedure For our research for MA companies in Malaysia, a census will be conducted as it is expected that there are only several hundreds of companies that have conducted MA locally. The census data will be collected by using the Bursa Malaysia website via manual search and the usage of Osiris database. Therefore, the data will be collected through these 2 ways. 3.3 Data Collection Method As it is said, the data to be used will be secondary data. Documentary secondary data will be collected and used throughout this research. The data will be consisted of written materials which are companies’ annual reports. The annual report will be compiled based on the activities that are involved by the respective companies with a view that MA deals are conducted by the company within the years of investigation which range from year 2001 to 2005. References Rao, K.V., Sanker, K.R. (1997). Takeover as a Strategy of Turnaround. UTI edited book. Cosh, A., Hughes, A., Lee, K., Singh, A. (1998). â€Å"Takeovers, institutional investment and the persistence of profits†, in Begg, I. and Henry, S.G.B. (Eds), Applied Economics and Public Policy, Department of Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Agundu, P.C., Karibo, N.O. (1999). â€Å"Risk analysis in corporate mergers decisions in developing economies†. Journal of Financial Management and Analysis, 12(2), 13-17. Moeller, S.B., Schlingemann, F.P., Stulz, R.M. (2004). â€Å"Firm size and the gains from acquisitions†. Journal of Financial Economics, 73, 201-28. Pilloff, S.J. (1996). Performance changes and stockholder wealth creation associated with mergers of publicly traded banking institutions. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 28, 294-310. Bris, A., Brisley, N., Cabolis, C. (2008). Adopting better corporate governance: Evidence from cross-border mergers. Journal of Corporate Finance, 14, 224-240. Breinlich, H. (2008). Trade liberalization and industrial restructuring through mergers and acquisitions. Journal of International Economics, 76, 254–266. Kumar, S., Bansal, L.K.(2008). The impact of mergers and acquisitions on corporate performance in India. Management Decision, 46 (10), 1531-1543. Hassan, M., Patro, D.K., Tuckman, H., Wang, X.L. (2007). Do mergers and acquisitions create shareholder wealth in the pharmaceutical industry? International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 1 (1), 58-78.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The role of government in an economy

The role of government in an economy 1. What do you understand by an economic system? Discuss the role of government in a market economy. Do you think that your government should play a more active role in the economy? Elaborate why and why not? An economic system deals with the structure of production, distribution of economic outputs, and consumption of goods and services in an economy The development of economic system is needed in the national community that address the problem of economics like allocating resources and scarcity of the resource. The economic system arranges the relationship among people, institutions and government in order to resolve the problem of economic. It confronted with the different basic economy questions that require answer such as what to produce, how to produce it and for whom to produce. The contemporary economic systems is classify into 4 type including capitalism economy, socialism economy, mixed economy and Islamic economic. In capital economic system, all main economic decision is determined by private owners in capital market with minimal government interference also know as free market economy or laissez faire. Transaction on the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system by the buyer and suppliers in open markets. The socialism economy is an economic system in which the central government controls most of property resource and major economic decisions regarding the production and distribution of goods and services through a central planning boards. The central planning boards decide on the output between capital and consumers goods, and the capital goods are allocated among industries and enterprise according to government directives. A mixed economy reflects both capitalism and socialism to solve basic economic problem involve by both private and public sectors in allocation of good and service. Problem face by some of the public and private ownerships on the resource is based on supply and demand conditioned by price mechanism and economic growth of the country development. Therefore, government intervention in the economy for certain essential service such as illegal product categorized as unsafe goods like military items, and requirement such as schools, hospital, police force and army. And execute certain project or produce products that private sectors consider unbeneficial e.g conduction of low cost house in Malaysia. The role of government in a market economy deals with problem associated with market failure. Market failure has negative effect on the economy because allocation of goods and service by a free market is not efficient. One of the causes of market failure is the existence of monopoly of power by certain party such as the price of resources is higher than marginal costs can lead to allocation of inefficiency and pareto sub-optimal equilibrium in the market. Inequality may also cause market failure through the economy, as the income of different group of individual lead to wide gaps of living standard. Market failure can be corrected through government action or decision to reduce inequality by changes in tax and benefit system such as national minimum wage. Government has the authority to enforce property rights of ownership, protecting public property, encourages production and exchanges of goods and service [1]. Government has the roles to achieve economy stability and growth by attempting to maintain steady growth, provide high level of employment, and ensure price stability in the market. Through vital support in spending and tax rates it can slow down or speed out the economy growth [2]. Malaysia government play significant role in the economic growth of the country, by providing knowledge to the public on the current market and economic development through various tools such as through education and media. Malaysia government has the role to provide goods and service to public such as highway, education, national deference, security etc. Malaysia is the 29th world biggest economy in the world and based 16th largest in the world trading economy with a growth rate of 5% to 7 % since 2004. Malaysia government provides the basic necessities to the public such as clothing, rent, fuel, utilities and transport and communication, where Malaysia government help reduce poverty among the rural population. The effective involvement of government in service and implementation of development program give a huge transformation to the nation growth. . The involvement of Malaysia government in too many firm and industries could lose concentration and less focus on the development of several industries, this factor could lead to unhealthy competition among the private sector without control by the government. [1] Mike P. McKeever, The Mckeever Institute of Economic policy, San Francisco in 2003 [2] Governments Role in the  Economy U.S Department of State. Taken on 10 March 2011 http://economics.about.com/od/howtheuseconomyworks/a/government.htm. 2. What are the characteristics of the Malaysian economy. Discuss its weaknesses and suggest appropriate policy proposals to srengthen the economy in order to realise the objective of becoming a developed country by 2020. Malaysia economic system is based on mixed economy system that both free market and governments have significant effect on the economic development of the country [1]. By year 2009, Malaysia has reached per capital income (GDP/PoP) of RM 24,541(USD 6,812) and from 2004 to 2010, Malaysia economy growth performance at a sustained rapid growth averaging 5% to 7 % annually [2]. Malaysia economy is highly trade dependent of goods with several countries especially in the western market and Asian market such as China, Japan, Korean, and etc. Malaysia government also promote an open developing economy to private enterprises to take part in country development projects [3]. Malaysia is commonly known as a middle-income country, it functions by well distribution of wealth among the country population and equality among the public. Malaysia economy has been depend on export of product from raw material driven by manufacture exports such as electrical and electronic products, petroleum and gas (14th biggest world gas producer), palm oil products, rubber products and timber products. Malaysia economy also focuses on minor products to be export such as agriculture products, tourism, education, ICT, consultancy and etc. In the early economy of Malaysia in year 1957 till 1994, Malaysia economic resource of product tin and rubber is exploit by the British. And in late 1970s, the economic is export oriented industrialization stared with electronic industry at Free Trade Zone. The evolution and development of economy from year 1995-2009, based on knowledge-based economy (KBE) provide the platform where growth is focus on acquisition, utilization and dissemination of knowledge. These accelerate economy to a higher development of knowledge-based activities, innovation of product and intensification of Research and development activities. The changing of economy would strengthen Malaysia toward achieving the government vision 2020 to propel Malaysia to being as an advanced nation with sustainability of economy growth. Malaysia government depends highly on the trade and export system economic, which expose Malaysia to worldwide economy recession. During recession period, economic hardship remain in the country and high rate of unemployment among the workforce affect the living of people in the country. The introduction large scale of foreign labour cause shortage of skilled workers in certain sectors such as construction and manufacturing leading in Malaysia work force whereby a foreign exchange exits drain in Malaysia economic. The domestic private sector failed to deliver target set by the Malaysia plan, where the domestic investors feels that the government is not focusing on domestic investment [4]. The government development plan, called the Malaysian Plan given way to strengthen the growth of Malaysia economy to achieve the ultimate objective aim for Malaysia by the year 2020[5]. The plan was focus on accelerating the growth of economy structure, divided into three sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and services. A unit of agency under the Prime Ministers Department called as Economic Planning Unit, is responsible for driven Malaysias through various measure such as policies and strategies for socio-economic development. [1] Shri V.Mahalingam, First Secretary HOC from University Grants Commission 2006-07 U.G.C [2] Economic of Malaysia, from Wikipedia the free encycolopedia taken on 10 March 2011 http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Economy_of_Malaysia [3] Malaysia Information taken on 10 March 2011 http://www.asia-planet.net/malaysia/information.htm [4] Malaysia Information and Communication Technology taken on March 10 March 2011 http://www1.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/nationalictpolicies.htm [5] Joseph Chin of the edge Malaysia article on Guan Eng wants allocation detail under Tenth Malaysia Plan on Monday,14 february 2011 16.44 mtbh 01032011 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Conditions for the Haber Process

Conditions for the Haber Process In this essay I will find out what are the best conditions for the production of the maximum yield in the Haber process, by running simulations of the Haber process at different conditions to determine the best conditions. From the Experiment I found that the lowest temperature possible and the highest pressure possible would provide the best conditions to operate the Haber process at for the maximum yield possible. Introduction The Haber process is an important Process used in chemical Industry to manufacture Ammonia from Nitrogen and Hydrogen that originate in the air. The reason why its very important is it turns an inert gas Nitrogen (N2) and a very volatile and reactive gas Hydrogen (H2) into ammonia which is a stable compound but reactive enough to be used in different aspects. Why was the Haber process discovered? During the First World War Britain Cut off Germany Supply route to Chiles salt peter natural deposits. Since the Allies (Russian Empire,  United Kingdom,  France,  Canada,  Australia,  Italy, the  Empire of Japan,  Portugal  and the  United States) has gained control over the natural deposits of saltpetre from natural deposits found in Chile, therefore cutting off Germanys access to materials that the needed to produce necessary items such as food, guns, bombs other war materials.   Germany has to find ways to produce its own hence the Haber process which was discovered in 1909 by a German chemist named Fritz Haber to produce ammonia was set into industrial scale in 1913; the produced ammonia was later processed into a Synthetic Form of Chile saltpetre Introduction The Haber process is the process that uses extracted nitrogen from the atmosphere and reacts the nitrogen (N2) gas would react with 3 moles of hydrogen (H2) gas by using a medium temperature around 473K-673K (200- 400 °C) High atmospheric pressures such as 250 atmospheres (25331250 Pascal) and a catalyst to create ammonia (NH3). Due to advancements made to technology we are able to do reaction at extremely high temperatures such as 2300K (2026 °C) and we know that a reaction occurs faster when conducted at the highest temperature possible but the Haber processs success is not calculated on the speed of the reaction but on the yield of the ammonia that is produced during the reaction. Although increasing the temperate would surly increase the rate of reaction in a normal forward reaction the problem with using this method on the Haber process is its not a normal forward reaction type of reaction but is an equilibrium type of reaction. The Chateliers Principle states increasing the temperature will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the left side of the reaction resulting in a lower yield of ammonia because the forward reaction is exothermic. N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen Very High heat, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia Reducing the temperature will cause the equilibrium system to change the point of equilibrium to minimise the effect of the change, and hence it will produce more heat due to an increase the exothermic reaction therefore causing the wanted increase in the yield of ammonia. N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen Low heat, High pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia However, the rate of the reaction at very lower temperatures is exceptionally slow, and so a higher temperature should be used to increase the speed of the reaction which results in a lower yield of ammonia but a temperature low enough to create more ammonia than use in the reverse reaction hence we have the final equation is an which an above normal ammonia production. N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen High Temperature, Low pressure, catalyst http://www.avogadro.co.uk/chemeqm/eqm_sign.gif   2NH3(g) ammonia Increasing the pressure condition of the haber chamber causes the equilibrium position to shift to the right resulting in an increased yield of ammonia because ammonia has more gas molecules (more moles) on the left hand side or the forward reaction of the equation (4 in total 3 Hydrogen and 1 Nitrogen) than there are on the right hand side or backwards reaction of the equation (2 in total 2NH3). N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen High Temperature, Low pressure, catalyst 2NH3(g) ammonia Increasing the pressure means the system will have to adjust to reduce the effect of the change, which is reducing the pressure built up by reducing the amount of moles that can be located in the equilibrium reaction. Uses as ammonia One of nitrogens upper most important uses is in making ammonia (NH3), which is a colourless gas with a strong odour, similar to the smell of urine because urine contain some most definitely contains ammonia. The production of ammonia changes the non oxidation properties of nitrogen as the Oxidation reaction. Pharmaceuticals Used in the manufacture of drugs such as sulphonamide which inhibit the growth and multiplication of bacteria buy the removal of replacing the aminobenzoic acid for the synthesis of folic acids and minerals as well as vitamins and thiamine. Fertilizer An important usage of ammonia is in the making of fertilizers. Ammonia can be used directly as fertilizer by adding it to irrigation water because plants need a good supply of nitrogen in order to grow and which ammonia is able to provide. It is also used to produce the urea (NH2CONH2), which is also used as a fertilizer. Another important use of ammonia is to create nitric acid (HNO3), which is then also used to make fertilizer. The Haber Process didnt lonely provide the Germans with Saltpetre but revolutionized the agriculture industry with an increased yield in crop production enabling them to continue. Cleaning Products Many people use household ammonia as a disinfectant. Nitric acid-made form ammonia-is used in explosives. Ammonia is also used in the plastic industry and as a feed supplement for livestock. The dipole moment of this compound and this is consistent with its geometry, a triangular pyramid due to its electronic arrangement obeying the octet rule, Four pairs of electrons three bonding pairs and one lone pair repel each other giving the molecule the triangular pyramid shape of bond angles of 107 degrees is close to the tetrahedral angle of 109.5 degrees. The electronic arrangement of the valence electrons in nitrogen is described as sp3 hybridization of atomic orbitals. The NH3 molecules and their ability to make hyrodgen bonds explains thir polarity and high solubility of ammonia in water. A chemical reaction occurs when ammonia dissolues in water as it acts as a base acquiring a hydrogen ion from H2O to ammonium and hydroxides ions NH3(aq) + H2O(l) http://www.avogadro.co.uk/chemeqm/eqm_sign.gif NH4+(aq) + OH-(aq) The production of hydroxide ions when ammonia dissolves in water gives the solution of ammonia its alkaline characteristics (basic properties), The double arrow in the equation states that an equilibrium has been reached between the dissolved ammonia gas and ammonium ions The ammonium ion acts as a weak acid aqueous solution because it dissociates to form Hydrogen ion and ammonia. (Shakhashiri, 2008) This is why dissolved ammonia is used in cleaning products because its able to react with both and acid stain and alkaline stain meaning its an all round cleaning products even though the acid is weak its strong enough to deal with domestic stains. Explosives Sodium Nitrate is a Chemical compound with the chemical compound of NaNo3 has been referred to as Chile saltpetre before. And is produced by a reaction of a metal and an acid to produce a salt and is highly soluble in water. (Quote) Sodium Nitrate can be used as a fertilizer and as a material from the production of explosive gunpowder. Naturally gun powder is a rapid burning compound made of Carbon (C12) potassium nitrate, KNO3 and Sulfur and is used in guns because of its capacity to burn in a rapidly producing enough pressure to propel a bullet and not explode. (Quote) Sodium nitrate has antimicrobial properties when used as a food preservative. It can be used in the production of nitric acid by combining it with sulfuric acid. It can used as a substitute oxidizer used in fireworks as a replacement for potassium nitrate commonly found in gun powder. Because sodium nitrate can be used as a Phase Change Material it may be used for heat transfer in solar power plants. Imporantance of Nitrogen Nitrogen gas (N2) is often used as a substitution for air which is a mixture of 78% nitrogen 78%), Oxygen 20%, and 1% of other gases such as Water Vapour Argon and Carbon dioxide (0.03%). where oxidation is unwanted. One area for use is to maintain the freshness to food products by packaging them in nitrogen gas to reduce the fermenting of food due to its properties for preventing oxidization which can cause Rancid unpleasant odour or taste of decomposing oils or fats (http://www.school-for-champions.com/chemistry/nitrogen_uses.htm). Argon has been used as replacement for air in light bulbs to prevent the heated tungsten filament from reacting with the oxygen found in air because Argon is an inert gas but is expensive so ammonia can be reverted back to Nitrogen gas by the process gentrification to replace Argon in light bulbs and is cheaper inert material than Argon. Nitrogen is also used as a controlled storage and Transportation measure food packages due to its capacities to be used as a noble gas, to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and is now used during storage to displace most of the oxygen in the containers http://www.igs-global.com/nitroswing/hdlg.htm, for the purpose of slowing down the reparation and deterioration of food as proven in biochemistry as in aerobic respiration 32 ATP molecules are created from one glucose molecules and 2 ATP molecules are created from one glucose molecule which is a clear sign that respiration and deterioration of food occurs at 16 times slower during anaerobic respiration which respiration without the presence of oxygen, than respiration occurring aerobically which is respiration with oxygen present. Investigation Design To do this Investigation I will be using a simulator that allow we to change the conditions of the Haber process chamber and notice the change in the yield and work out the direction that the equiliburm will take with extra options such as catalysis. Firstly I had to decide what the 2 variables I would be looking at during this investigation and decided that the dependant variable will be the yield of ammonia that I would receive from running the simulations. The Controlled variable will be the temperature and atmospheric pressure that the reaction will be taking place. Another variable that I looked at was if the reaction will be taking place in the presence of a catalyst of not. It was decide that due to the lack of acquiring two or more simulations that were able to run the haber process reaction in the presence of a catalyst The uncontrolled variable would be required in this reaction because the aim of the reaction is to achieve a dynamic equilibrium which is a reaction in which the forward reaction and backward reaction are equal in a closed environment. Meaning all variables and atoms present are controlled and accounted for. Set both simulations at the same pressure and temperature to and begin the reaction recorded both results and create a table of results and find the mean of both tables. Redo the experiment changing the controlled variables every time and recording the yield of the reaction at those conditions Create a Graph using both the mean table to display the results that where shown in the table. This Is the haber process taking place without the presence of an iron catalyst at the temperature of 300oC and 191 atmospheric pressure. Which will give me the amount of ammonia produced in grams and will be working out in percentage of the nitrogen used to allow compatibility of the 2 different simulations that one will be using. Is the Haber process taking place without the presence of an iron catalyst at the temperature that the Chateliers Principle indicates will be the most effective in the promotion of increasing the Yield. Because this Simulation cannot give the yield of the Haber process ammonia moles or grams I have to change the data received from the first simulation into compatible data. Results From these results obtained in the diagram above we notice an increase in yield as we increase the pressure of the reaction while keeping the temperature the same which agrees with the information placed in the beginning of the introduction which states icreasing the pressure will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the right side of the reaction resulting in an increased yield of ammonia since there are more gas molecules Simulation 2 (changing the Pressure but keeping the Temperature at 150) From these results obtained in the diagram above we notice an increase in yield as we increase the pressure of the reaction while keeping the temperature the same which agrees with the information placed in the beginning of the introduction which states the Chateliers Principle states increasing the temperature will cause the equilibrium position to shift to the left side of the reaction resulting in a lower yield of ammonia because the forward reaction is exothermic. And the 0.8 ( r) shows that there is a high positive correlation between the yield amount The Curve tends to show that if the pressure was increased any more that 1000 the increment in the production of ammonia may not be justified for the amount of effort that will be put into creating a haber process camber at that atmospheric pressure. The equilibrium expression for this reaction is: Keq = [NH3]2 [N2][H2]3 Temperature (oC) Keq 25 6.4 x 102 200 4.4 x 10-1 300 4.3 x 10-3 400 1.6 x 10-4 500 1.5 x 10-5 As the temperature of increases, the equilibrium constant decreases as the yield of the ammonia decreases. http://nawabi.de/chemical/ammonia.asp The results of the Ka test agree with the graphs that simulation 1 and simulation 2 provided. As the Ka increases the PH reduces towards the more acidic range meaning the NH3 concentration increases meaning for the best yield of the Haber process, industry must obtain the highest level Ka. Conclusion In conclusion the from the graphs and from the working out of the Keqi can state that the best conditions to process the haber process under is the lowest temperature that is usable because it increases the yield of the haber process in a linear regression which is a positive feedback increase in the yield of ammonia the optimized temperate was 200oC because it provided the highest yield. The other condition that was optimized during this experiment was pressure and after the experiment I found that the highest possible pressure is the optimum condition for this reaction to take place under. Because it gave the highest yield of ammonia compared to lower pressures which all provided lower yield. Evaluation The simulations that were used during this Essay were accurate enough to accept as possible theoretical yield but did not take into account of the possibility that some materials would be lost during the preparation for the haber process. It would have been better if I had more simulations and different type of simulations to check if the results I received from using these simulations were accurate or not and would increase the reliability of this experiment. The limitations to using this method were the some simulations couldnt operate a catalyst which limited the amount of results I was able to obtain and didnt factor in any cost effectiveness into the reaction. The haber process occurring in the presence of a catalysis does not affect the amount of NH3 that is produced by the reaction yet it only hastens the reaction by lowing the activation energy is takes for atoms to react. This would increase the rate of reaction without taking into consideration the geometric position that theses atoms need to react. A catalyst is a chemical that is used in a chemical reaction to speed up the rate of reaction with out the compound being used up in the reaction itself, meaning after the reaction the catalyst retains its structure and physical properties it had before the reaction took place. It works by lowering the activation energy of the reaction. The iron catalyst acts as a platform on which the Nitrogen and hydrogen atoms will bind on to before under going the reaction. The binding on to the catalyst is creates a transactional compound N2(g) nitrogen + 3H2(g) hydrogen Fe http://www.avogadro.co.uk/chemeqm/eqm_sign.gif   2NH3(g) ammonia Another Factor that I should have researched was the rate of reaction and possibly to the cost effectiveness of having a lower rate of reaction over the time effectiveness of having a high rate or reactions. Looking at the effect that the rate or reaction would have on at equilibrium And working out possible ways to reduce the forward reaction to increase the yield of ammonia by adding a rate determining step for the forward reaction to encourage the forward reaction to reaction and produce ammonia but would discourage the backward reaction from according either by adding third party molecule such Sulphuric acid to create ammonium sulphate and can easily to separated by heating to 235oC because it sublimes to create ammonia and sulphuric acid and the gases are at different weights meaning using a gases filtration method and condense then separately. (NH4)2SO4(s) NH3(g) + H2SO4(g) http://image.tutorvista.com/content/equilibrium/reversible-reaction-equilibrium-state.gif Another improvement would be to calculate the H of the reaction while looking at G and S of the reaction to allow to choose the most accurate best conditions for the reaction and most accurate cost effective option for the reaction. Because the having a positive H means the need more energy placed in which reduces the cost effectiveness of the reaction but may increase the yield of the ammonia while the G which measure reactions ability to reaction at room temperature which would increase the rate of reaction and the low temperature would mean the equilibrium would shift and allow the ammonia to be created in much more yield making the reaction cost effective and maximum conditions for the maximum yield. By working out the S and H I could use them to work out the amount of unused heat which is lost to the surroundings during the reaction, after this work out which reaction conditions provide the less heat lost to the surrounding while still providing an acceptable amount of yield. Af ter working out the H, G and S if would help me make a more informed decision on which of the reaction conditions provided current industry yield and cost and work out which conditions provided either current industry yield at a lower cost or improved yield at a higher cost and ultimately work out which conditions produced greatest yield and at the lost possible cost. Another improved for this experiment would be increasing the range of pressure that was used during the simulations because I noticed in the graphs that increasing the pressure post 1000 would make the production of ammonia not as effective as lower pressures are.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Organizational Communication Essay -- Functions of Communication

Organizational Communication is probably the most important type of interpersonal communication a person has to perform in his or her adult life. Communicating with others in the work environment is a process that cannot be looked at as a small one, but as a very complex and of utmost significance to a person's life as a whole. We all know communication is a key factor in everyone's life, and communicating in the work place is just a larger key for cultural expectance and normalcy. Everyone communicates with each other in all different aspects of society. When you are younger, school is the main agency for social communication and in later life it is the job you occupy. It is socially stated and seen as a norm that in adult life you should have a job for means of survival. Therefore, another way to put it is the best way to survive in life is to work. Because of this sociological norm, you must be able to adapt to your job. This is the most important aspect of the work environment. A nd the only way to adapt to your surroundings and be able to participate in everyday work life is to communicate with others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Organizational Communication is therefore basically broken up into two parts; The Socialization process of communicating, and the later communication between co-workers in everyday situations. First and foremost we will look at the more complex and significant process of communication socialization. Sociologist J. Van Maanen's definition of organizational communication is "the process by which a person learns the values and norms and required behaviors which permit him or her to participate as a member of the organization" In other words, its learning the ropes of the occupation. Not only any skill you may need, but how co-workers communicate, and understanding the importance of the organization as well. One thing to understand is socialization in an organization is not a temporary process that stops after the first few months on the job, but it is fact a continuos process that will change as the longer a person stays with that organization. All socialization proc ess are broken up into stages, and organizational socialization is not any different. Think back to when you were starting a new job and it will be very easy to see and understand these stages. Remember the first day on a new job, when you probably didn't know any one, and you didn't know... ...ange in an organization just as they change in the real environment, and we must be able to change with them just as we try to do in that real environment. Moreover, communication is in all areas an important facet that we must be able to master if we want to have the ultimate experience in what we do. Lets face it we are all young and have or whole lives ahead of us. Most of that time is going to be occupied by the occupation we choose. In fact we may go through many jobs to find the one that we are most comfortable in. But above all the ability to communicate well with important others are something we cannot easily pass by, but must use to make our lives satisfying. Works Cited Wood, Julia T. (1998) Communication Mosaics: A New Introduction to the Field of Communication. Wadsworth Publishing Company Roloff, Michael E. & Berger, Charles R. (1982) Social Cognition and Communication Sage Publications Deveroux Ferguson, Sherry & Ferguson, Stewart (1988) Organizational Communication Transaction Books Macionis, John R. (1998) Society: The Basics. Prentice Hall Inc. Berne, Eric (1963) The Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups J.B. Lippincott Company

Sunday, August 18, 2019

A Tale of Two Cities Essay: From Abused to Abuser :: Tale Two Cities Essays

From Abused to Abuser in A Tale of Two Cities  Ã‚      Throughout the novel, A Tale of Two Cities , Charles Dickens’ judgment and portrayal of France, the Revolution, and the people themselves undergoes some very basic changes. Dickens is always in control of the reader by successfully reaching his goal of leading the reader by the hand through a series of emotions and ideas emanating from the plot and its characters. During the first few chapters of â€Å"Book the First,† Dickens has the reader sympathize with the plight of the French commoners. However, when the revolution begins, he does an about-face. Through narrative, scenes, and dialogue, the reader starts to consider both the aristocrats and the downtrodden as one and the same in moral and political culpability. Charles Dickens strongly believes that the French Revolution was inevitable because the aristocracy had exploited and plundered the poor until they were driven to extreme measures. Nowhere is that more evident than in Dickens’ portrayal of the Marquis St. Evremonde. This nobleman is the poster-child of selfish privilege. He is uncaring and has no respect for life. This is especially apparent when he cold-heartedly runs down an innocent child with his carriage. â€Å"But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage would probably not have stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and leave their wounded behind, and why not?† In payment for the inconvenience, Monseigneur throws a single coin to the child’s parent. How well this personifies exactly how cold and unsympathetic too many of the aristocracy had become. Dickens has nothing but scorn for the high-handed behavior of the nobility, with their lack of faith, their selfishness, and their distance from real ity. But Dickens’ all-seeing eye then rivets on the commoners, whom he likens to animals: â€Å"The rats had crept out of their holes to look on, and they remained looking on for hours.† But these qualities were also attributed to the Marquis who, denying the humanity of the poor, became subhuman and beastly himself. â€Å"A large cask of wine had been dropped and broken in the street ... . Some men kneeled down, made scoops with their two hands joined, and sipped ... Others, men and women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated earthenware, or even with handkerchiefs from women’s heads, which were squeezed dry into infants’ mouths.† The metaphor is well taken.

The Life and Death of Ernest Hemingway :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Life and Death of Hemingway In novels or other literary works many authors write about things they dream about. Many write about what stories they have heard from fellow companions. None have written about such vivid, yet traumatic experiences as the twentieth century writer, Ernest Hemingway. That is why Hemingway's tend to concur to his real life experiences. To start, consider that he was raised in an extremely strict household. He was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. He had an equitably happy, upper middle class childhood. As he grew older he started having feelings of bitterness towards his parents, mainly his mother who was seen as selfish and magisterial by Hemingway. When he was in his teens he became interested in literature. He wrote stories for his high school newspaper and subscribed poems and stories to the school magazine. When he graduated in 1917 he took a junior reporter position on the "Kansas City Star", writing feature stories. In his journalism he began to show interest in powerful yet objective writings of violence, despair, and emotional disturbance, which dominated his writings. He also participated in World War I, which greatly impacted his writing, as a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy. He was wounded in both legs by a shrapnel explosion. He fell in love with the nurse that was caring for him, who left him not long after for an older man. He returned to Oak Park, and also upper Michigan to write about his childhood, teenage, and wartime years. In 1921 he married Hadley Richardson, divorced March 10, 1927, he moved to Paris to further his writing career. Here he quit journalism as a result of his maturing as a distinguished writer. From the maturity he had accomplished he was able to write over twenty-five books. He eventually returned to journalism to support himself. He was recognized as a major force in literature when he wrote A Farewell to Arms, One of the first novels in Hemingway's literary career. His first publication was Three Stories and Ten Poems, which didn't turn out to be a big success. But his most acclaimed novella, The Old Man and the Sea, which won him the Pulitzer Prize, tends to stand out overall.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t Essay

â€Å"First rule of magic: always be the smartest person in the room.† This is demonstrated all throughout the mysteriously riveting 2013 movie Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier. A group of four magicians: Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), all receive a card with a date and location on where to meet. Upon meeting at the designated meeting spot, they discovered they were all chosen to be part of a series of special magic acts. They are from then on referred to as The Four Horseman. For their remarkable acting, thrilling stunts, and magical storyline, Now You See Me is an excellent pick for all ages to enjoy. The film follows The Four Horseman and their quest on helping people who got cheated out on their money by performing magic acts. The Horseman begin one of their shows by doing a magic trick where the audience pulls out a piece of paper with their account balance on, and the balance suddenly increases to a higher amount of money. The horseman call up to the stage Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine), who is the owner of Tressler Insurance. They explain that all the people in the audience have been cheated due to Tressler’s Insurance, and the money that was going into the audience’s accounts was coming out of Tressler’s bank account. Since the events of the horseman have been going on, the FBI hire agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) to investigate along with Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) of Interpol. In addition to the FBI, an illusion exposer Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), try to uncover the mysteries of the illusions. Throughout the movie, it is unexplainable to why the horseman are undergoing these illusions without any benefits for themselves. However, it is revealed that agent Rhodes hired the horseman to get revenge on Bradley and the others that were involved for his father’s death. Many people seek revenge when something traumatic happens in their life. In the movie, it is revealed that Agent Rhodes’ father died from a faulty safe that he used in one of his underwater magic tricks. Rhodes is the hooded figure in the beginning of the film who chose the four magicians who later became The Four Horseman and help him seek out revenge. In the Horseman’s first magic trick, they chose a random guest out of the audience for their show. This illusion included the man getting teleported to a bank in Paris where he helped get money from the bank, and the money was then rained down from the ceiling of  where the show was being held. At another one of the Horseman’s shows, an illusion was preformed where money was stolen from Arthur Tressler’s account and placed into the audience’s accoun ts. These two illusions were not just random picks. The man’s bank that was in Paris and Tressler’s insurance company both would not give any benefits to Rhodes’ family after his father’s death. Rhodes also targeted Thaddeus Bradley because when his father was alive they were rivals. Rhodes’ father did the underwater trick that had the faulty safe because Bradley was in competition with him and challenged him to it. The themes in the film were performed well by the actors. So, the acting in Now You See Me was a great fit for the characters in the film. I loved Dave Franco’s character. He did a great job with the action role he was put in and being the underdog who had to fight and pull off stunts. For example, when the FBI finds the horseman in the apartment room, Franco’s character is left behind to get rid of papers and other information they had in the room. The agents come in the room, and Franco has to try to fight them away. The performance is very believable, and he makes it seem that fighting was natural and easy. This role in an action film contrasts from the movie Franco stars in, 21 Jump Street. This film is a comedy and Franco pulls of the different genres of movies. Another star I liked was Isla Fisher. Fisher played Henley Reeves, a magician who focused on intense stunts. I really loved Fisher in the movie The Bachelorette, which was a romantic comedy. She excelled in this movie and excels in Now You See Me, an action film. Fisher is great at performing her stunts and presenting the illusions. For example, when she first does her trick in the box of water and when she explains the transportation illusion. I like how she has a hint of mystery and wonder in her voice. One person that stood out as a performer was Mark Ruffalo, who played Agent Dylan Rhodes. I have seen him in many different movies and roles; two of my favorite movies Ruffalo has stared in are Rumor Has It and 13 Going On 30. In both of these movies, he is portrayed as a love interest and did really well. In contrast, his part in Now You See Me was an FBI agent, and he looked like a natural and as if he fit the part of a real agent. Ruffalo did a good job of not giving away that he was the one who brought the Horseman together and the one was behind it all. Along with the acting I thought the overall film was very believable as well. Although some tricks were a bit farfetched such as the  teleportation device, a lot of the tricks were believable. For example, the card tricks that Daniel Atlas does are very similar to magicians now, and hypnosis is a very believable thing to people who go to shows today. â€Å"The more you look, the less you see† is a quote said multiple times throughout the film. This ties into the stunts aspect of the movie because if you look closer to the tricks and analyze them you lose the full excitement and awe of the illusions being performed. The film had a very distinct style and ways of using each characters abilities. But there is another movie that it reminds me of, The Prestige. In this movie, there are two rival magicians that compete for the fame and try and steal each other’s tricks and secrets. There are both similarities and differences in these two films. In Now You See Me, Rhodes’ father is killed because of a faulty safe in an underwater magic trick her performed. Similarly, in The Prestige a woman is killed when she cannot escape from a box of water in a trick. At the end of the film, one of the main characters also drowns in a glass box filled with water used for a magic act. Another similarity is in the very end of both films the man who was responsible for the death and deception of another person is tricked, and they both end up in jail. In Contrast, The Prestige is more about the lives of the two men and how they try to compete and get the upper hand, while Now You See Me was about magicians helping one person get revenge on something that happened years before. Although Now You See Me is similar to other movies, it had great special effects and stunts. I thought the most impressive special effect was the scene of the car chase. They did a good job of making the chase look believable. When the car wrecked, rolled across the highway, and blew up into fire and smoke, the special effects made it look realistic and as if it really could have happened. A stunt scene that was performed well was when Jack Wilder fights the agents in the apartment building. The fight had a lot of advanced moves and violence and Wilder made it seem realistic. He has such ease in the stunts that really made his performance stand out. Another example is the final show that the horseman perform. There were lots of lights and the final three hor seman were projected on the buildings while they talked somewhere inside. When the horseman announce that it is their last show and said goodbye, they proceeded to jump off of a tall building. The special effects make it look as if the horseman turn into money as they fall from the rooftop. Because of  all the special effects and tricks that happen, I think the movie’s title was based off this. When the horseman perform their shows and tricks, they do it in front of everyone. Since they often show the audience what they are doing and explain what is happening, I think that is why it is called Now You See Me. It is also a play off the common saying â€Å"Now you see me, now you don’t†. This is a common saying among magicians because they often make things disappear and reappear, and the audiences don’t always see all their tricks and how they are executed. In my opinion, Now You See Me was an outstanding movie. The overall theme and storyline was easy to understand. One of the best scenes was when Jack Wilder fights off Dylan Rhodes. I loved the action of this scene and how it was performed. The best part of the fight was when Wilder fights Rhodes with magic. By doing this it shows that Wilder is versatile in his role of not only a magician but a great fighter as well. I would love to go and buy this movie so I could watch it more than once. This is a movie I really enjoyed and would love to watch more so I could see more of the details and pay more attention to the tricks. I would rate this a 10 out of 10 and would recommend it to others if you like exciting films that keep you interested and wondering what will happen next.