Why did men like Joseph Plumb Martin join the army Essay

Why did men like Joseph Plumb Martin join the army - Essay Example Most of the recruits were young and army provided them with an opportunity to escape home and experience adventure of fighting against their enemy. But unfortunately, the reality was far from the rosy picture as envisaged by the new recruits. The common soldiers were faced with huge hardships where food had become scarce and proper clothing a distant dream. The long drawn battle of American army had severely affected the welfare of the soldiers. The new recruits were just sent to the front to fight with enemies without training. They were also not only deprived of adequate food and shelter during tough weather conditions but were also not paid their wages on time. Martin asserts that ‘I well know, for I have fought by their side’ (183). The delivery of supplies for food and other goods use to become difficult due to weather conditions which resulted in starvation and death. Most of the recruits went to fight without training because they felt that it was their moral duty to fight for their country. Hence, need for training was not important for the common soldier. The young recruits later became accustomed to the grim conditions of the war but were unable to do anything except accept the situation.

Write a report that answers questions that explore economic analysis Term Paper

Write a report that answers questions that explore economic analysis and modern problems and the economic way of thinking - Term Paper Example It means the amount of maximum money one can charge for providing a product or service. The price, at which the demand of a product in the market equals its supply, is called an Equilibrium Price. Excess demand or excess supply makes Disequilibrium. By putting a Price Ceiling below the Equilibrium Price creates Disequilibrium which will make the demand in excess of supply as is shown in the graph below:- When the government put price ceiling on Cable TV below the current equilibrium price, the demand for Cable TV will increase. During this time if a new service is introduced, which will cost cheaper to the operator, will be readily accepted due to excess demand. This action will lead not only to increase in sales but also in revenues and profits. Perfectly competitive market is the situation where all the factors except demand and supply that affect market price are equal. In this situation, demand of goods and services reduces with the increase in price and demand increases with the reduction in price. This is called Law of Demand as is shown in the graph below. When the demand for the product falls, the prices in the market will start to come down. In the short run, profits of the company will fall and in the long run the number of firms will decrease due to reducing profits. When the demand for the product rises, the prices in the market will shoot up and go high. In the short run, profits of the company will increase and in the long run the number of firms will increase. New firms will be added to produce more products to meet the increased demand. Some long-run average cost curves are steeper on the downward side than others. This happens to the largest firms who tend to have cost advantage. It indicates that the industry is tending to become a monopoly, and hence is called a natural monopoly. Natural monopolies tend to exist in industries with high capital costs in relation to variable costs, such as

Arthur Millers A View from the Bridge Essay Example for Free

Arthur Millers A View from the Bridge Essay In Arthur Millers A View from the Bridge, the character of Alfieri can be described as the hidden leading role. He bears several roles, most of them more significant than assumed by the casual reader. His dual-role onstage as a character who interacts both with other characters and the audience provides him with the responsibility of bringing about some understanding to the events of the play, while his background makes him the vital link between two conflicting cultures. Alfieri is the symbolic bridge between American constitutional law and Italian social law. The son of a Sicilian, he was raised in America and pursued an education in American law, providing him with a suitable dose of both backgrounds. Like a bridge, Alfieri connects with both shores. Like a bridge, Alfieri leans on the solid foundations of both cultures. But also like a bridge, Alfieri is elevated above, and therefore watches more often than he interferes. Hence the title A View from the Bridge. The whole play is Alfieris perception of the events that took place. It is almost a secondary source that is, a collection of primary sources with his personal interpretation mixed in at relevant moments but it isnt a complete secondary source, because there are significant times during the play when Alfieri himself is involved. Alfieri provides vital continuity at points in the play when the story cannot be told in any way other than narration. One example is on page 31, once the cousins have arrived and all the characters have been introduced, Eddie visits him for legal advice, for a legal way to prevent a Catherine/Rodolfo marriage. Alfieri provides literal descriptions of a storyline which, up until now, has been conveyed only through physical actions and behaviour. His eyes were like tunnels, describes Eddies single, unchangeable aim, whereas but soon I saw it was only a passion that had moved into his body, like a stranger describes how clear it was to Alfieri that Eddie was possessed by his motive. There is also an element of foreshadowing in my first though was that he had committed a crime this phrase also reiterates that the events of the play have already taken place. There are further examples of continuity to promote understanding, provided by Alfieri, throughout the play. Give some of these. As mentioned earlier, the play is Alfieris story, told by Alfieri. As such, and based on the important bridge position he maintains, he has attempted to present the story from a reasonable, objective point a view, a point of view that would suit his position. However, he is awestruck by the events that played out, and tells much of the story as a legend. On page 4, every few years there is still a case, andthe flat air in my office suddenly washes in with the green scent of the sea, the dust in this air is blown away and the thought comes thatanother lawyersat there as powerless as I, and watched it run its bloody course is reflective of this. Alfieri considers the Eddie Carbone case to be a case of exception, one that triggers the romantic feelings he describes in the quotation. As a result, even though one of Alfieris roles in the play is to bring about some form of understanding to a potentially incomprehensible storyline, this quotation shows that the character of Alfieri is not an emotionless, robot-like narrator, but a real human, with a natural tendency to tell magnificent stories with an element of excitement. This can also be seen in his closing remarks on page 64, where he admits to mourning Eddie. Hes only human, and hes torn between sympathy and pity. He is a bridge between two cultures, and he cannot make a choice to devote himself completely to one side. It is the job of a bridge to link two sides together. Similarly, it is his job to maintain a link between the American and Italian cultures, yet he is torn between the two. Here we truly see Alfieris dual-character, making him both a narrator and a character.

Aberdeen Tartan Day This repo

Aberdeen Tartan Day This repo Aberdeen Tartan Day    This report examines the data from a Market Research Questionnaire presented to visitors of Aberdeen. Awareness of past events is reviewed and, preferences for future events are examined, with various alternatives being explored. On August 5, 2005 Aberdeen City Council held its second Tartan Day. In an effort to expand this newfound tradition Council wishes to explore levels of interest in different types of potential activities. In the past such activities as the Country Fair, walking tours, a family day at the Union Terrace and special Jacobite displays at Provost Skene’s House were included in the programme. The data, provided by the client, consisted of 30 respondents to the questionnaire. Although this number is small it is sufficient to extract some general information for Aberdeen City Council to make decisions regarding future events. The raw data were assumed to be correct as well as the methods for collecting the data deemed appropriate. The raw data were copied to a minitab file (available upon request) and various graphs and statistical tests performed. Means and medians were compared and, in some cases, correlation coefficients were calculated to identify relationships between areas. Demographically the respondents were evenly split by gender and equally distributed in the three age ranges 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29. Twenty-eight live in Aberdeen City, 23 are college students, one secondary student and six employed full time. All six of the respondents employed had salaries below  £1500 per month. There was huge variance in the level of awareness respondents had in the events held in Aberdeen last year. Of the 30 people surveyed almost all were aware of the â€Å"Free at the Dee† event but less than 25% were aware of ‘Tartan Day’. Event Number Aware Number Attended Aberdeen Jazz Festival 6 2 Aberdeen International Football Festival 14 1 Aberdeen International Youth Festival 13 1 Free at the Dee 28 14 Tartan Day 7 1 International Traders Fair 4 0 10k Fun Run 8 2 Highland Games 15 3 Apart from the traders fair, the football and youth festivals, the Tartan Day attracted the fewest percent of the people aware of its existence. Free at the Dee seems to have generated the keenest attraction. How respondents find out about events connected with their hobbies and interests is shown below: Communication mode Percent who used this TV 50% Press 22% Posters 18% Text Message 20% Internet 60% e-mail 30% Word of Mouth 93% Leaflets 13% Clearly word of mouth and the internet seem to be the most effective communication modes with traditional print modes (leaflets, posters, press) among the least. A review of the cost effectiveness of e-mail and the internet compared to TV may be worth undertaking. Note that since many respondents make use of more than one media the above percents add to more than 100%. The pie chart below shows the relative popularity of the five proposed themes for future Tartan Day events. These are based on the number of respondents who chose each activity as either their first or second choice. The boxplot below poignantly illustrates how the respondents voted. The shaded area shows how the middle half voted with the line in the box showing the median. The broad box for sports indicates the wide range of opinions related to the desirability of sports as a theme but whereas the small shaded area for music indicates a strong consensus (the median is actually 1). The star at 4 for music is a lone dissenter called an outlier. Clearly neither theatre, art nor highland games are very attractive as themes to the respondents. No one ranked theatre or art as number one and a singular champion of highland games voted it a first choice. Both sport and music seem to be popular. Twenty ranked music as number one and 8 ranked it as number 2 where sport received nine votes in each category. A closer inspection of the data revealed that those that placed music high as an activity tended to place sports low. A similar relationship held between highland games and theatre. This information could be valuable should the committee decide to hold two events concurrently. Most people who expressed a preference voted for the event to be held at the beginning of July either at the beach or Duthie Park. Month Count Time Count Place Count June 11 Beginning of month 13 Beach 11 July 16 End of month 1 Duthie Park 14 August 2 No preference 16 Union Terrace 3 September 1 Castle Gate 1 Exhibition Centre 1 Seventy percent of the respondents would like to see a Scottish theme (Haggis, Angus Beef burgers, Whisky and tartan) at the festival. Almost a quarter had no preference. Two-thirds of the respondents claimed to be willing to pay for this event and, of those, an overwhelming 80% peg  £1 to  £5 as reasonable with the rest willing to pay between  £6 and  £10. Since a full two thirds of the respondents selected music as the theme they would prefer for future events a review of their preferences might reveal some additional information. The music lovers showed the same generally low level of awareness and participation at the various events held in Aberdeen last year as the complete sample of thirty respondents. The first surprise is the mode of communication for the people who selected music. Communication mode Music People Percent who used this Full Sample Percent who used this TV 50% 50% Press 75% 22% Posters 65% 18% Text Message 20% 20% Internet 60% 60% e-mail 30% 30% Word of Mouth 90% 93% Leaflets 20% 13% The group that choose music made use of most media the same as the full cohort with the notable exceptions that the music group made much more use of the printed media: press, posters and leaflets. The planning committee may wish to take this into account when designing their advertising. Advertising in the printed media could place more emphasis on the music aspect and other forms of media target a more general audience. The music group favoured the beginning of July as did the whole group with an even greater percentage favouring Duthie Park. They also would like to see a Scottish theme added to the festival although whether this is confined to food, drink and dress or includes the music was not indicated. Last years brochure heralded ten out of its sixteen venues as ‘admission free.’ Two-thirds of the respondents expressed a willingness to pay for the event they chose as a potential theme for Tartan Day (ie. they expressed a willingness to pay for a music event). The committee will need to consider the question of fee from a philosophical view as well as a pragmatic one. Generally the profile of the group willing to pay aligns closely to the whole group of respondents with a few notable exceptions. The potential payers showed greater attendance at both the 10K fun run and the highland games. They relied less on internet for communication and slightly more on e-mail. They showed a significantly greater reliance on TV for communication. None of the potential payers wished to see Tartan Day in August and they favoured Duthie Park very strongly. The data were reviewed by parsing other subgroups with no startling results. The age groupings and the groupings according to employment status showed no difference from the group as a whole. There were slight gender differences in the choice of media. Females tended to favour the press and posters. A number of questions emerge naturally from the above results. If music is to be a theme what kind of music would be best received? Could there be two themes like music and sport? The survey did not indicate family status. If Tartan Day is to be a family event this group could be targeted in any follow-up surveys. The general level of awareness as indicated by the participants of the survey of Tartan Day in the past has been low and the attendance even lower. Based on the survey results the committee should consider changing the date of Tartan Day to early in July. The majority favour a music theme with the venue at Duthie Park and they are willing to pay a small entrance fee (below  £5). Depending on the target group a variety of media should be used to communicate the events of the day.

The Ubiquitous Monopoly :: Business Essays

The Ubiquitous Monopoly Monopoly is nearly always seen as something undesirable. Courts have wrestled with monopoly for ages, sometimes defining it as: "the power to control prices and exclude competition", "restraining trade", or "unfair and anti-competitive behavior." Should monopolistic practices be condemned and outlawed? Let's look at anti-competitive behavior and practices, but let's not confine ourselves to what's traditionally seen as monopoly. The marriage contract is essentially a monopoly document. It represents a legally sanctioned collusive agreement between two parties to exclude competitors and restrain trade. It closes the market to competition, or at least it is supposed to. This collusion has benefits as well as costs. Because I have exclusive rights to her affections and property rights to a stream of highly valued domestic services, I place a higher value on my spouse, making me willing to share with her a greater percentage of my wealth. My spouse receives a comparable set of benefits from this collusive arrangement. This monopolistic arrangement has a cost side and perhaps some inefficiencies as well. Neither one of us is as attentive as we were before we made our contractual arrangement. For my part, I don't open the car door for her as often, don't use breath fresheners and colognes as frequently, am not as nearly considerate and gentlemanly as before our marriage some 42 years earlier. The reason is simply that before marriage I was competing against other men and therefore could ill afford to act as a monopolist. Read the Old Testament's Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The first commandment, and presumably the most important is, "Thou Shalt have none other gods before me." The second is, "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above. . . ." Then there's, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. . . ." If a corporation made a similar decree regarding its services, it would find itself in the sights of the U.S. Department of Justice for gross violations of the anti-trust provisions of the Sherman and Clayton Acts. The Ten Commandments decree exclusive dealing and mandate neither substitutes for nor competition with God. In order for one to condemn all monopolistic practices as evil, at least for consistency, he would have to also condemn marriage and the basic tenets of Christianity.

psycho :: essays research papers

Universal Studios presents the 1960 film â€Å"Psycho† by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from the Robert Bloch novel by Joseph Stephano, and scored by Bernard Hermann. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh, and a very creepy house. This film falling under the horror genre was based loosely on the novel of the same name which drew inspiration from real life serial killer Ed Gein, who has been the motivation for two other popular movies, â€Å"The Silence of the Lambs† and â€Å"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre†. The budget for â€Å"Psycho† ran under one million dollars and was the last film on Alfred Hitchcock’s contract with Universal. The film was shot entirely on set at Universal studios except for an early shot of Marion Crane’s (Janet Leigh) vehicle parked on the side of the road when she was too tired to continue driving, as well as the car dealership. Due to the budget constraints the films crew were made up of mostly people w ho were working on the, â€Å"Alfred Hitchcock Presents† television show. The film is about a man named Norman Bates, who runs a motel owned by his family. Norman is a victim of his ill mothers love. His mother becomes violent when Norman’s attention has been detracted from her needs. This film is a study of character, suspense, and storytelling; all reasons this film is considered an American classic. This film is unique due to several factors: its presentation, it contained two different point of views (with an interpreted third point of view), and it has some of the most impressive camera work for its time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Psycho† contains many symbols and techniques that pushed the limit of acceptable filmmaking in the 1960’s. The violence had to be tamed in such a way that the audience would not be robbed of the experience. Hitchcock accomplished this by making the film in black and white. Not only did it aid him on the monetary front, but he felt the studio and the audience would be able to handle the graphic nature of the film with this technique. I’ve interpreted the use of black and white as a tool as to not draw attention away from the focal point of the scenes. Without visual distraction, the viewer becomes more attached to each character. Another visual technique is the continuing motif of taxidermy. The characters discuss it briefly, there are some cutaway shots of the animals, but it is mostly left up to the viewer to infer the purpose of the visuals.

Solow Growth Model

Solow model – how well it holds in the real world? Prepared by:- Amol Rattan (75013) Introduction Prior to Solow Model, Harrod Domar model had shown how the savings rate could play a crucial role in determining the Long run rate of Growth. Solow model however proved a result that was contrary to what Harrod Domar model had predicted. It showed that savings has only level effect on income and the growth rate of income depends upon the rate of efficiency or technical progress in the country. Solow Model relies on certain assumptions 1. There are constant returns to Scale(CRS) 2.The production function is standard neoclassical production function with diminishing returns to factor 3. The markets are perfectly competitive 4. Households save at a constant savings rate ‘s’ Equilibrium in Solow Model is defined as the steady state level of capital where the economy grows at a constant rate. By assuming that the two factors of production are capital and labour per efficie ncy unit, it can be shown that savings only affects the level of per capita income. It is only the rate of growth of efficiency which determines the rate of growth of per capita output.For production function: Y= K? L1-? Steady state values are: y†¢=[s/? +? +n]? /1-? k†¢ =[s/? +? +n]1/1-? Objective i) To find how true the result of convergence of Solow model holds for a sample of countries of the world ii) Test Solow model for India for the period 1990-2008 Methodology i) To find how true the result of convergence of Solow model holds for a sample of countries of the world †¢ To prove: Convergence result Solow model predicts that all nations with same parameter of savings rate, population growth rate and depreciation rate will all grow at the same rate in long run.This implies A) The rich countries (defined as those at high level of income) will grow at a lower rate B) The poor countries will grow at a faster rate These conditions mean that the poor countries are able to catch up with the rich countries in the long run. †¢ Test of convergence Regression We test the relation ln(rate of growth of y) = ? + ? ln(initial value of y) Conditions A and B imply that the coefficient ? should be negative Result: For a sample of 23 countries for period 1990-2008 we find: 1) the value of ? = -0. 377451859 ) I t is highly significant as the probability value(pvalue) is close to zero 3) The correlation of ln rate of growth of per capita income over the period with initial income is negative 4) % of data growth of rate of growth is explained by the initial level of income. It makes sense also as rate of growth depends not only on the initial level of income but other factors like education, R&D, etc Standard deviation We test how standard deviation of relative incomes (relative to US) of the countries changes over time. Convergence implies that income of countries become more and more equal.So we expect standard deviations to decrease over time. Result: St andard deviation falls over time for the sample of countries implying convergence Caveats The results that we get are consistent with the theoretical results. However most of the empirical work that has been done on Solow Model has shown the opposite result i. e. unconditional convergence is not seen to hold. The reason for this could the sampling error. We need to take a larger data set to test it again before accepting. ii) Test Solow model for India for the period 1990-2008Solow model gives us the steady state value of per capita income as y†¢=[s/? +? +n]? /1-? Taking log on both sides ln y†¢= (? /1-? )ln(s) – (? /1-? )ln(? +? +n) We estimate this equation for India for the period 1990-2008 A priori theory tells us that o The signs of ln s and ln (n+ ? +? ) should be opposite o The sign of ln s should be positive implying a positive impact of savings on level of per capita income o The sign of population growth increase in efficiency and depreciation should be ne gative as they lead to erosion of capital stock per capita.Result: 1. The signs are as per the expectations. Savings have indeed had a positive impact on the level of per capita income. The coefficient of saving is significant at 5 % level of significance 2. The sign of n +? +? is negative as expected. Though the value of the coefficient is very small. It is hard to believe that 1 % increase in population growth rate or depreciation rate or efficiency decreases per capita level of output by just 0. 3 %. Moreover, this term is not significant. 3.The reason could again be due to the fact that increase in expenditure on education has been taken a proxy for increasing efficiency. Perhaps growth rate of expenditure is not a good proxy and therefore we get such results. Conclusion Thus the two tests that we have taken prove some of the results of the Solow model but not all. Savings do have a positive effect on per capita level of income and convergence seems to exist for the set of count ries that we have taken. SOURCE 1. http://data. un. org/ 2. http://databank. worldbank. org/ 3. http://www. oecd. org/