Genetically Modified Organisms and Concerns of Safety Research Paper

Genetically Modified Organisms and Concerns of Safety - Research Paper Example Humans have long sought to push the boundaries and experiment well outside the zones of comfort and recommendation. Such pushing of the envelope has given us the age of jet travel, space exploration, advanced science, and many other inventions and realities that we would not otherwise have. Yet, the fact remains that pushing the envelope and seeking to engage in something that is unknown is a process which only certain individuals within society have been comfortable at performing. Due to such an understanding, it becomes obvious that expecting all of society to engage in an activity that might be entirely outside of their comfort zone is neither ethical nor advantageous. This is very much the situation with regard to the use of GMOs in food supplies around the globe. With the rapid advance of science, scientists and researchers have been able to genetically modify a host of different plants and organisms as a means of tweaking the way in which they produce. This level of scientific manipulation has been able to provide the world with heartier and more productive crops; however, the fact of the matter is that the true levels of drawbacks that are exhibited within these genetically modified organisms are not fully understood. Due to the level of incomplete knowledge that exists with regard to GMOs within the food, many nations around the world have banned them entirely. However, the United States and several other developed nations have not. As a means of analyzing the potential drawbacks and negatives that GMO might exhibit within a nation’s health and food supply, this particular analysis will focus upon several of these determinants and seek to provide relevant and up-to-date information.

Criminal Justice Theories Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal Justice Theories - Research Paper Example Victim Precipitation Theory This theory suggests that most people initiate or cause a specific confrontation that may result eventually to that person being victimized by death or injury. Such kind of precipitation on the victim can be termed as either passive or active. Active precipitation on the part of the victim exists where the victim intentionally acts in a manner that is provocative, uses threats or fighting words, or simply initiates an attack first. For example, in cases of crimes such as rape, courts have presented verdicts such as not-guilty based upon whether the victim acted in away or not acted at all in away suggesting consent to the act of sexual relation like the dress code of the woman in question. On the other hand, passive precipitation occurs where the victim exhibits particular features and characteristics that unintentionally threatens or motivates the attacker. Such kind of crimes do happen may be due to conflicts at personal level like where two individuals compete for a job promotion, love interest, or any other rare or desirable commodity. For example, a woman may be promoted and end up being a victim of violence due to the jealousy of someone she may or may not know well from the work station or away. Passive precipitation may also be experienced in cases where the victim is part of a specific group that threatens or offends the economic well being of someone, reputation or even status. According to research, this kind of precipitation exists in situations where there is a relation to power. Hence, economic power minimizes the victimization risk (Samuel, 2007). Differential Association Theory This theory explains deviance and criminal acts in terms of the social relationships of an individual. The Differential Association Theory attributes the causes of crime to a person’s social context. The theory rejects the intense individualism of psychiatry and biological determinism and economic explanations as causes of criminal activ ities. Differential Association Theory poses no particular or obvious threat to the treatment of humane of the victims or the criminals who have been identified. This theory suggests that an individual turns to delinquent lifestyle due to excessive definitions that favor violations of the law over those definitions that are unfavorable to violation of the law. That is to say, deviance results in a situation where an individual is exposed to many social messages that favor conduct than those favoring pro-social acts. Sutherland suggests that the concept of differential social organization and differential association may be applied to aggregation level and an individual level respectively. Whereas differential association theory gives explanations why an individual may gravitate towards criminal and delinquent behavior, differential social organization gives reasons as to why the rates of crime among different social entities appear to differ from each other. The differential associa tion theory has 9 basic postulates: Criminal and delinquent behavior is learned; the theory asserts that delinquent behavior is not particularly inherited and an individual not with no training in crime do not invent any delinquent or criminal behavior; Criminal and delinquent lifestyle is learned from interaction with other people during communication including gestures, verbal or written communication; Learning criminal behavior and delinquent li

The Impact of Advertising on Women Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Advertising on Women Essay Everyday of our lives, we are exposed to dozens of advertisements, whether it be on television, the radio, in magazines, on billboards or signs, or anywhere else that companies try to reach us in an effort to promote the products they sell. Advertisers appeal to our hopes, dreams, wants and desires, and exploit our insecurities in an effort to sell us a product, ranging from cars, to household appliances, to a bottle of shampoo. Advertising affects everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not, and it often promotes something that is out of reach to the average person, such as great wealth, or a perfect body. Advertising often carries an overload or excess of meaning, such as statements of power, wealth, leisure, and sexual allure, and they also convey meanings of race and gender. (â€Å"Introduction: Media Studies†) As this paper will demonstrate, advertising is an extremely powerful tool which has the ability to change the way we perceive ourselves. Of particular interest is the effect that advertising has on women. Women are continually bombarded by advertisements in which they are told, directly or indirectly, that they must be thin in order to be beautiful, and they are marketed products that they are led to believe will help them achieve their desired body image of being thin. Women become convinced that they must look like sexy all the time, when in reality, it is almost impossible. Women often begin dieting in order to attain the perfect body that they are striving for, and they occasionally undertake more extreme measures to lose weight, such as bulimia or anorexia, all because they are led to believe, by advertising, that they must have a perfect body. Women are also sexually objectified in advertising, and viewed as merely sexual objects. This paper will explore in depth how women are portrayed in advertising and, more importantly, the impact which it has on them. In western culture, a slender physique has come to be regarded as the standard of feminine beauty; although it is an unrealistic benchmark for nearly all women. The average woman has a seven percent chance that she will be as slim as a catwalk model, and an even lesser chance that she will be as thin as a supermodel. (Konrad, 2008) A 2000 study found that the body fat of models and actresses is, on average, 10 percent less than that of a typical active, healthy woman. (â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) The models that companies use in advertising are also getting thinner relative to the average population. Twenty years ago, models weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. Today, they weigh 23% less than the average female population. (â€Å"Beauty and Body Image in the Media†) However, these truths do not stop women from trying to attain the perfection they see in every day advertisements. Since advertising continually implies that women should be slender, those who do not have this particular body type often suffer from low self esteem and hold a negative self image of their body. After a study in which women viewed sexual and non-sexual ads, the women who viewed the sexual ads rated themselves as being larger, on average, than the women who viewed the non-sexual ads, and women who viewed the sexual ads also expressed greater dissatisfaction over their current physique than the women who watched the non-sexual ads. (Tygart) George Lipsitz has argued that consumer culture and media representations play a greater role than ever in defining identities. (â€Å"Just Do It†) When women see thinness represented in advertising, they would like to look like the models they see and have that same identity that is being shown to them. In addition to women feeling pressure to conform to the desired body type due to their constant exposure to it in advertising, they also are under pressure to attain the perfect body because they believe it is what men feel they must look like. According to a study published in American Behavioural Scientist (Choi et al. , 2008), women are able to realize that the images of supermodels that they see in advertisements are unrealistic and they recognize that they will not be able to attain the body of a supermodel. However, these same women feel that men who view these advertisements will not be able to ascertain the fact that the body types shown are unrealistic. Since women feel that men cannot discern the unrealistic nature of the female body that is presented in advertisements, they feel that men will expect them to meet the standards of beauty portrayed in these ads. Consequently, this leads women to desire to look like the models they see in advertisements, not necessarily because they want to, but because they believe that men view it as realistic and attainable. As stated by Choi, et al. (2008), â€Å"Women are influenced by unrealistic media imagery because they are well aware that men will view those images as real, and value them. † It is argued that, although women know the images shown to them in advertising are unrealistic, they are unable to ignore them, because of the threat of men judging their bodies. Since advertising has the effect of making women desire a thin, slender body that is almost impossible to attain, they frequently make radical efforts in an attempt to get it. An astonishing 75 percent of women who are a normal weight feel that they are in fact overweight. The Anorexia Nervosa Related Eating Disorders research group states that one in four college aged women undertakes unhealthy methods of weight control, ranging from skipping meals and laxative abuse, to self induced vomiting. (â€Å"Beauty and Body Image in the Media†) It has also been estimated that magazines directed to a female audience contain over ten times as many advertisements promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, advocating a variety of solutions, from diet pills to cosmetic surgery. Researchers have shown that this advertising has led to an increase in eating disorders. (Choi, et al. , 2008) Teenage girls who already claimed to be dissatisfied with their body image showed a higher tendency towards dieting and bulimic behaviours after prolonged exposure to advertisements in a teen girl magazine. (â€Å"Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising†) Self-image is often affected in teenage girls because they cannot escape the message that their bodies are imperfect. â€Å"A Girl of Many Parts†) Many researchers believe that advertisers want women to feel insecure and disappointed with their body shape, since this will create the desire for an unattainable body that will increase the consumption of products that companies are trying to sell, such as skin care creams, weight loss supplements, and others. Paul Hamburg, a professor at Harvard Medical School, states: â€Å"The media markets desire. And by reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line w ith what real bodies do look like, the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment. Its customers will never disappear. † (â€Å"Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising†) In terms of sexual objectification, women agreed that they were sexually objectified in advertising, however, contrary to popular belief, younger women appear to no longer have an issue with it. The â€Å"third wave† of feminism today embraces sexuality, and views sex as power. (Dahlberg Zimmerman, 2008) Many feminists now believe it is acceptable for women to use their glamour to their advantage, as long as they are doing it out of their own free will. According to a recent study, young, educated women are not offended by the sexual objectification of women in advertising, which may be a product of the highly sexualized culture we live in today. (Dahlberg Zimmerman, 2008) Although women are deeply affected by how models appear in advertisements, by their desire to want to look like them, the women of today no longer appear to be affected by the sexuality in advertising, and in many cases, they are embracing it. To conclude the efforts, if any, which are being made to change the portrayal of women in advertising should be examined. Although advertising on the whole is still relatively unchanged with respect to its portrayal of women, some companies have altered the message they send about beauty and changed their advertising to reflect this change. An example is Dove, and its Real Beauty advertising campaign. Dove launched the Real Beauty campaign in response to a study it undertook among females aged 18 to 64, the majority of whom felt that advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty for women that is nearly impossible to achieve. â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) The ads featured the use of everyday women instead of professional models, and images that were not airbrushed in any way. The campaign has been well-received and led to an 11. 4% increase in Dove’s sales in early 2005, although, some critics stated that the campaign promotes obesity in a time when many Americans are struggling with weight issues. Since Dove introduced the â€Å"Real Beauty† advert ising campaign, both Nike and Levi’s released similar campaigns, featuring everyday people as opposed to models. â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into the future, but at the very least it demonstrates that companies are beginning to provide an alternative to the advertising they had used in the past. In summation, advertising plays a considerable role in how women regard themselves and in their perceptions of how they should look. Advertisers use models with a physique that all but the few, most genetically gifted women could ever attain. As previously stated, he average model has a body fat percentage which is 10 percent less than that of a typical healthy, active woman, and supermodels, on average, weigh 23 percent less than the average woman. After viewing advertisements featuring supermodels, women often feel worse about themselves and begin to suffer from poor self-image and low self-esteem. Even a small amount of exposure to advertising has been demonstrated to make this occur; although women are exposed to hundreds of advertisements on a weekly basis. However, women no longer appear to be affected by the sexual objectification they see in advertising, which has been attributed to the third wave of feminism and the sexually charged culture that we live in. Women also feel pressure to look like a supermodel because, although, they often realize that what is advertised to them is not realistic, they believe that men do not realize this and want regular women to look like the models they see in advertisements. This leads women to seek out that body type, since they feel that men expect it from them. Women undertake everything from common methods of weight loss such as dieting to extreme measures such as anorexia to achieve the body that advertisers tell them they must have. The dissatisfaction they have with their bodies leads them to consume the products that advertisers are marketing to them. One company, Dove has taken a major step forward in its advertising, by using everyday people who have a normal body type in its â€Å"Real Beauty† campaign, and other companies have followed suit with similar advertising, but the majority of advertising still promotes an unrealistic body type as being ideal and desired. Until this changes, women will continue to hold on to the desire to look like a supermodel, however unrealistic that may be, they will continue to go to great distances to turn that farfetched dream into a reality.

How Indonesia Plays An Important Role In Asean Politics Essay

How Indonesia Plays An Important Role In Asean Politics Essay Indonesia is a prosperous country among the 11 countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is standing for the largest economy in Southeast Asia as well as the largest market to attract the investors from other regions. As you can see Indonesias condition nowadays is very great as well as prosperity. However, Indonesia has straggled many difficulties such as used to under the control of the Dutch and Japanese and war with the Dutch. On 17 August 1945, the independence of Indonesia was declared by Sukarno, but the Dutch rejected the declaration of independence, then the Dutch reoccupied Indonesia in the middle of 1946. However, the government of Indonesia treated to the reoccupation of the Dutch because young people of Indonesia received an excellent military training during the Japanese occupation. Finally the Dutch gave fully independence to Indonesia in 1949, and then Sukarno was assigned to be the first president of independent Indonesia. He introduced a new policy into the political system of Indonesia which was called Guided Democracy, then the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) endeavored a coup, but it was crushed in the 1965. Suharto was assigned to be the second president of Indonesia in the 1967, and he took control over the military and the government __Authoritarianism. Since there was an oil embargo in 1973, the price of the oil quadrupled. Also Indonesia was one of the worlds largest suppliers of O il, they really enjoyed gaining benefits from that time. Suharto was assigned to be the president of Indonesia for the second mandates. Until 2004 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is elected to be the president of Indonesia. Before the emergence of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) was formed up by Thailand, the Philippines, and the federation of Malaya with Prime Minister Rahman of Malaya was the initiator, but it failed because of the political deputes between members nations. Then on August 5 1967, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines gathered in Bangkok and signed on the Bangkok Declaration to declare the establishment of ASEAN. These five countries were accounted as original members of ASEAN, and the new members of ASEAN are Brunei (January 8, 1984), Vietnam (July 28, 1995), Laos (July 23, 1997), Myanmar (July 23, 1997), and Cambodia (April 30, 1999) (ASEAN-JAPAN CENTRE). Indonesia is one of the fathers of ASEAN, so how does Indonesia operate in ASEAN? Role of Indonesia in ASEAN Since ASEAN was sought on August 8, 1967, ASEAN concentrated on Indonesias regional international relations. ASEAN was created by Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines and took place at Thailand. These countries helped to reduce intra-ASEAN conflict, organize the ASEAN positions and shape a regional multinational framework to facilitate the economic cooperation. The achievement of ASEAN singed a charter with a strong foundation for establishment of an ASEAN community and fortify ASEANs role in dealing with variety of architectural changes in the global cooperation. In the changing architectural of global cooperation and disagreement is the role and bargaining the power which can be seen in Indonesia that put into term that must be mutually agreed. The idea that establishment of the ASESAN community, Indonesia will hurt due to lack of bargaining power of economic and political. Indonesia was recognized since the collapse of new order and economic crisis was delayed in 1997. At that time, Indonesia was seen as an ineffective country in the middle of some ASEAN member countries. But later on, Indonesia began to point out its power again with the various accomplishment of reach. In the role of politics and security, Indonesia became the head country the implement democracy in a state. Indonesia was assigned clearly at the front guard of honor and human rights as well. Moreover the success of Indonesia is to implement a democratic government in order to make Indonesia as a democracy country. In the role of human rights, Indonesia is the first country in ASEAN that has a commission on human rights. In the economic role, Indonesia began to show its economic stability growth. This can be seen that Indonesia has capability to help the economic crisis better in 2008. The achievement of Indonesia in the economic was recognized by other countries. More importantly, Indonesia was assigned as one of the G-20 members. Theses success of Indonesia is a surely priceless asset to fight for Indonesias national interest, not only for ASEAN but also international public. In ASEAN, Indonesian initiated to propose the establishment of an ASEAN community that not only depends on economic cooperation, but also other parts which should be considered such as political cooperation and security and socio-cultural cooperation. In addition, Indonesia is fighting with many important elements such as enforcement of political cooperation and security and democratization and respect for human rights which were issued by the ASEAN charter. To explain the bargaining power of Indonesia in ASEAN, it was regarded as the beginning of negotiation. Indonesia proposed to include elements of human rights and democratization but these elements were protested by all ASEAN member countries. Shortly after, with a strong argument relied on the experience of democracy and respect for human rights, these element were finally interred charter (Foreign Affairs B lues.) Role in establish ASEAN As we have known that Indonesia is one of the five original countries which created ASEAN in 1967. If we look back at the history background in the case of Indonesia and Malaysia war, during 1962-1966 we can see that both countries had a conflict over the creation of Federal of Malaysia that took place on the island of Borneo which called Kalimantan Island. In this war, British meddled in the conflict of these two sides. The war was much complicated which make us hardly to believe that Indonesia agree to form a regional group with Malaysia. But later on, under Indonesia President Suharto, Indonesia eventually agree to accept the Malaysia. In addition, Indonesia agreed to shape ASEAN in meaning that Indonesia agreed to accept the establishment of Federation Malaysia and moreover; the tension between Indonesia and Malaysia war was not happened anymore in 1966. More importantly, the period of the cold war, ASEAN can break out easily owning to ideology crash. At that time, Indonesia had a crucial role to reduce this crash. Indonesia had participated with other ASEAN member countries in order to prevent the epidemic of communist and strengthen the ASEANs role become stronger. A.1. Case of Indonesia and Malaysia War The Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation happened during 1962-1966 was Indonesias political and against to the establishment of Malaysia. It is also known by Indonesian and Malaysian name Konfrontasi. The creation of Malaysia was the integration of Federation of Malaya (now west Malaysia), Singapore and British Borneo (now west Malaysia) in September 1963. The confrontation was an undeclared war which took place at the frontier area between Indonesia and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo which is known as Kalimantan in Indonesia. But Sabah and Sarawak were religious, ethnic, and political variety and there were some area which against to joint Malaysia that Indonesia attempt to exploit. Owing to the fact that terrain in Borneo was challenging and there were a few roads, both sides depend on foot soldiers and air transport. The British and Malaysian armed forces provided a main element of the effort with played by Australian army, navy air forces from combined Far East Strategic Res erve. Firstly, Indonesian overran into East Malaysia relied on local volunteers trained by Indonesian army. The crucial military forces turned to Malaysia were British yet, their first activities were unsuccessful. Then, the British reacted to increase Indonesian activities. In 1965 British began to convert operation into Indonesian Kalimantan under the code name Operation Claret. Meanwhile, Indonesia had little armed forces into west Malaysia. The time of August 1966, under Indonesia President Suhartos rise to power. Eventually, a peace agreement influenced Indonesia and then Indonesia accepted the existence of Malaysia. Role in maintain ASEAN Indonesia is a big brother of ASEAN, it responds a lot so that maintains the relationships among the members of ASEAN. Indonesia involved in the Cambodia and Thailand dispute. In case Cambodia-Thailand territory dispute, Indonesia, chairman of ASEAN, asks both parties to sit and talk in order to seek the solution. After negotiate many times, the clash still occurred and the situation still worse. Responding to this issues Indonesia had seek an agreement which Indonesia sent observers to conflict area in order to prevent fire. The problem was never solved until Cambodia asked UN for help. It showed that Indonesia failed to solve the problem. Yes, it is right Indonesia failed to solve the problem, but it is not Indonesias mistakes; It is because of the international law must respect to the state sovereignty and ASEAN as well. ASEAN is regional group and it havent enough power yet to intervene in its members conflict. In addition to the failure of solving the problem, the present of Indonesia in this dispute is really important because until the dispute end it saved many life that live along the border.This failure experience will effect positively on our future ASEAN. Participation of Indonesia in the bright future of ASEAN Indonesia can be call a big brother of ASEAN because of it population, size of territory and also located in one of the busiest trade route in the world called Malacca. Indonesia is not only a member of ASEAN, but also a member of G20 which make more voice of ASEAN in the group of rich countries submit and bring ASEAN to the high ranking group. With the membership of Indonesia, ASEAN gain more bargaining power and reputation in the international affair as well as the world politics (The Jakarta post, 2011) Another point, ASEAN goals are to create the common market in order to attract investors and promotes economic development. The strong market that can attract investors is depended much on population which is the important point. According to tradingeconomics.com Indonesia population is 242.3 million people in 2011 and it is more than one-third of the ASEAN total population which is around 600 million people. Beside population, Territory is another attracting point for investors. Infoplease.com state that Indonesia has 1,903,650 sq km that contains much resource for producing such as coal, iron, oil and so many types (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2011). Conclusion To summary, Indonesia is seen as a big brother of ASEAN because Indonesia has the largest economy in Southeast Asia as well as it has more 240 million people, so it has a potentially huge market. If you look at the past, you might see that Indonesia had a crucial role to help countries in Southeast Asia walk away from Communism. Indonesia is not only the significant player in establishing ASEAN, but also be a meditator in negotiation of Cambodia and Thailand conflict so that prevent clashes between members and maintain the relationships among the members of ASEAN. Not only now but also in the future, Indonesia will be the one who participate the most in ASEAN prosperity.

Mark Twain and the Lost Manuscript of The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin

Mark Twain and the Lost Manuscript of Huckleberry Finn      Ã‚  Ã‚   On November 30, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in the town of Florida, Missouri.   He had four siblings, three were older than him and one was younger.   When Clemens was four, his family moved to the town of Hannibal, Missouri.   Hannibal was a town located on the Mississippi river and would later become the setting for most of his stories ("Twain").   In 1847, when Clemens was twelve his father died.   Clemens grew up in an educated family (Works of Twain: Biographical Sketch).   At age twelve he was apprenticed to a printer and at age sixteen he worked under his brother, Orion who was a newspaper publisher in Hannibal.   Clemens made an early attempt at writing by sending comical travel letters to the Keokuk Saturday Post in Iowa under the pen name Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass.   These letters contained purposely inserted errors typical of Clemen's later work. When he was twenty-two he fulfilled a childhood dream by becoming apprenticed to a riverboat pilot named, Horace Bixby.   After his apprenticeship, he worked as a river boat pilot for four years.      The Civil War stopped riverboat traffic in 1861.   Clemens was out of work for several weeks before he traveled with his brother Orion to Nevada.   Orion had aspirations of becoming Territorial Secretary of Nevada.   Clemens became a reporter and later a feature editor for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, a Nevada newspaper.   During his reporting of the Nevada Constitutional Convention, Samuel Langhorne Clemens officially adopted for himself the pen name "Mark Twain" (Works of Twain: Brief Account).... ...   Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1990.    Outline    Thesis Statement:   An original draft of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn exists containing material excluded from the first printing of the book.    I.   Twain's biographical information   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A.   Childhood   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B.   Education   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   C.   Professional life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1.   Jobs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2.   Literary works   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3.   Financial conditions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   D.   Personal life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1.   Life style   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2.   Family life II.   Original manuscript of The Adventures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   of Huckleberry Finn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A.   General information   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1.   Discovery information   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2.   How the manuscript was lost   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B.   Legal battle for printing rights   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   C.   Difference from the first publishing III.   Conclusion

Sir Frederick Grant Banting :: Biographies

Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) Life Description Sir Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian physician, physiologist, and Nobel winner in 1923 for the discovery of the hormone insulin, used in treating diabetes. Early Life Banting was born November 14, 1891, on a farm near Alliston, Ontario. The death of his friend made him having the desire to be a doctor. However, his father was a devoutly religious man, and hoped that Frederick would become minister. After he graduated from high school, the conflicts with his parents begun. His parents finally persuaded him to enrol in the liberal art course at Victoria College, Ontario. In 1910, he and his cousin Fred Hipwell began their studies at Victoria College. However, Banting's mind was still on medicine. After several arguments with his parents, he entered the University of Toronto Medical School in the fall of 1912. His cousin quoted, "He was a steady, industrious student. He had no top marks or even honor standing, but there never was any doubt that he would pass." World War I While he was still in school, World War I started. In the spring of 1915, his name was enlisted in the Canadian Army. However, his commanding officer, arranged him for his education. Hours after the successful completion of his final exams in December 1916, he was back in uniform. Within a few months, he was serving in the Canadian Army Hospital at Ramsgate, England. He then voluntarily transferred to the front line near Cambrai, France because he felt he was not doing enough. He used his intelligence to capture three fully armed Germans without any use of weapons! This earned a rank of the Captain. He kept working at the frontline. On the morning of September 28, 1918, a shell burst close by and a piece of shrapnel buried itself in Banting's right arm. It was so bad that a doctor informed him that they had to amputate his arm. However, he refused, He did an operation to himself. Even though it was a long, slow process, his arm finally did heal. After World War I By the time he was recovered, he went back to Toronto. He opened an office as a surgeon. However, after 4 months, he only earned 14 dollars! Therefore, he transferred to University of Western Ontario as a teacher. Winning the Nobel Prize

Simulation

SLIP is a privately held investment corporation founded in 1961. It had become a diversified company consisting of a total of 9 subsidiaries. The oldest three were In the home products business: a Virginia-based brass software company, an outdoor lantern company based In Maine, and an antique reproduction furniture company in Maryland. A second group of four subsidiaries formed in the sass's was focused on research in the fields of consumer product marketing, computer software, tax research, and investment financial analysis.Hoping to capitalize on their tax and investment expertise, they recently armed Spring Lane Development Corporation and Spring Lane Natural Resources, which were Involved In real estate development natural resource exploration, respectively. Spring Lane employed a total of 525 people and had revenues of $30 million in 1987. Spring Lane Natural Resources was formed to pursue natural resource exploration because SLIP management felt that favorable tax laws provided them opportunities to achieve significant profits In this arena.Their primary goal was to find and produce natural gas from shale, to capture the so-called â€Å"Section 29† tax credits associated with such gas. Ingress passed this tax credit In 1978 as part of the Natural Gas Policy Act in order to stimulate drilling for natural gas found in shale. Although natural gas exploration was clearly riskier than their other investments, SLIP felt the risks could be managed by drilling only sites that were surrounded on three or four sides by existing wells. To date, SLUR had drilled four wells.It wasn't difficult operationally to drill the wells, but It was challenging to find enough high- quality investment opportunities. In the first five months of production, one of the wells had already paid back 52 percent of its initial investment well ahead of the argue payout. The other wells were also doing quite well and all were on schedule for meeting their target return on investment. SLUR hopes to drill 20 more wells in 1988. Formed. This gave SLUR full responsibility for choosing the sites and managing the well if gas was found. SLUR would retain about 25 percent ownership and sell the rest to several general partners.As managing general partner, SLUR was responsible for hiring a general contractor who would do the drilling. Slur's geologist, Brad Thomas, would determine whether there was enough gas to make it worth completing the well. If he decided to go ahead, the general contractor would be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the well. SLUR had entered into a Joint venture with Excel Energy of Bridgeport, West Virginia, in which it was agreed that Excel would act as the general contractor for all of Slur's wells in West Virginia. Excel also agreed to take a small ownership interest in each of these wells.The Bailey Prospect: Base Case Analysis Exhibit 1 is a copy of the spreadsheet developed by Lisa Weatherboard to analyze the Bailey Prospect. The Ba iley Prospect is surrounded by four producing wells from the target gas formation. Thus, SLUR was pretty confident that they would hit the gas formation, but they were mindful that there is always a possibility that due to geological anomalies (e. G. , drilling into a fault), a well might fail and result in zero production. Brad Thomas (the geologist) estimated the probability of this kind of failure at the Bailey Prospect to be about 10 percent.If they were successful, SLUR would sell the gas to pipeline distributors who would pay a price for the gas that depends on the BTU content of the gas. [2] The BTU content of the gas would not be known until the well was producing, but once reducing, the BTU content would not change over the lifetime of the well. Brad Thomas estimated the BTU content of the gas to be 55 BTU per cubic foot; this was the average of the BTU contents at the nearby wells. The current price paid by the pipeline is $1. 90 per AMBIT (million BTU); the price paid by the pipeline would be tied to the market prices for gas and, hence, might change over time. 3] Lisa assumed that prices would grow with inflation over time. [4] The rate at which gas would flow from the well would not be known until the well was completed. Brad estimated that the gas would initially flow at a rate of 33,000 Mac thousand cubic feet) per year and then decline following the schedule shown in Exhibit 1. The spreadsheet shown in Exhibit 1 is essentially an income statement over the life of the well. (The spreadsheet goes out 25 years; only the first 13 years are shown in the exhibit. ) The gross revenue is the price per Mac of gas times the Mac of gas produced in a given year.To get to net cash flows, royalties, expenses, and taxes must be deducted: 1) From gross revenue, a 12. 5 percent royalty payment to the owner of the mineral rights is deducted, leaving net revenue. This royalty rate was the standard argental pall to ten property owners In ten west Valhalla area. 2) Excel Energy would be paid approximately $300 per month to operate the well. Lisa had budgeted an additional $3,000 per year for other expenses associated with the lease that might be incurred but couldn't now be accurately forecast. These costs were increased annually to reflect inflation. 3) Local taxes of 4. Percent times the gross revenue would be paid to the county and a severance tax[5] of 3. 4 percent would be paid to the state of West Virginia. 4) Depreciation expense for year O equaled the intangible drilling cost[6], which as 72. 5 percent times the total well cost. The remainder of the drilling cost would be depreciated on a straight-line basis over seven years. 5) To compute profit after tax, depletion[7], and state and federal income taxes were subtracted from profit before tax. Numerically, depletion was the smaller of 50 percent times the profit before tax or 1 5 percent times the revenue. ) The state income tax equaled the tax rate multiplied by the difference betwe en profit before tax and depletion. This tax was then reduced by a credit equal to one- half of the severance tax paid to the state. ) Federal income tax was calculated by multiplying the tax rate times the profit before tax less depletion and state tax paid. The federal tax was then reduced by an energy tax credit as allowed in Section 29 of the tax code: the tax credit was determined by multiplying the current tax credit rate ($0. 76 per AMBIT in year 1) by the amount of qualifying production that year.The tax credit rate was increased each year with inflation, but its future value was in the hands of Congress and far from certain. The after-tax cash flow is given by adding back depreciation and depletion to the after-tax profit. Finally, there is the issue of the lease bonus. A lease bonus is a cash payment or bonus paid too landowner in exchange for the drilling and mineral rights. The proposed drilling area at the Bailey Prospect lies on a farm where the owners Mr.. And Mrs.. B ryan Cotter had been reluctant to allow drilling on their land; this is why the surrounding areas were developed and this property was not.Mr.. Cotter had recently passed away and Mrs.. Cotter (at the urging of her children) was now willing to allow drilling and production on her land. Though no offer had yet been made, SLUR had proposed offering Mrs.. Cotter a bonus of $40,000; the lease bonuses for similar properties in the area had been in this range. Financially, if the well is successful, the lease bonus comes directly off the bottom line, providing no tax deductions or depreciation. [8] on ten Dad's AT tense mummers, ten prospect looked good It NAS an rater-tax equity payback period of about 35 months and an internal rate of return of about 29%.To calculate the net present value (NP), Lisa discounted the cash flows using a discount rate of 15 percent, which was Slice's hurdle rate for projects like this. The result was an NP of approximately $79,000. Your Assignment Your boss, Steve Bodily, had presented the results of Alias's analysis to Henry Oysters, a potential general partner. Oysters was impressed with the base-case scenario, but was very concerned about the potential downside risks. â€Å"What if the well doesn't work? How do you know that it will produce that much gas? What if gas prices continue their recent decline?Just about every number in here is a guess. † Bodily was prepared for the first question and knew that, if the well failed, the pretax loss would be approximately $170,000 the cost of drilling the well plus the lease bonus or a net after-tax loss of Bodily was not prepared for the other questions but promised Oysters that he would get back to him with a complete description of the risks associated with the Bailey Prospect. The goal wasn't Just to evaluate the Bailey Prospect but, more generally, to get a better understanding of the risks associated with the kinds of investments SLUR was pursuing.Since Lisa Weatherboard is out of town, Bodily came to you and asked you to examine the risks associated with the Bailey Prospect. Your report will go to SLIP as well as to Oysters. In your conversation with Bodily, he posed the following questions: ) What are the key risks here? 2) What is the project's expected NP taking into account all of these risks? 3) How risky is this project? What is the chance that we have a negative NP on this? 4) How big lease bonus can we afford? Not that I plan to offer Mrs.. Cotter more than $40,000, but it would be good to know how far we can go and still make money. ) What if the Section 29 credit goes away? Congress has been making some noise about that lately. 6) What if the well fails? While we've got the crew out there, should we drill another well? 7) Finally, I know that you don't have time to run numbers for our whole portfolio f properties, but suppose we had 20 opportunities Just like the Bailey Prospect, how risky would this portfolio be? Which would the key uncertainti es be? A qualitative discussion will suffice: we don't need hard numbers on this, but we should be prepared Tort ten question.Bodily concluded, â€Å"Those are the kinds of things that come to mind. Of course, I haven't had much time to think about it and could be missing some important issues. I've scheduled a meeting with Oysters and some of the SLIP partners for next Thursday. Could you prepare a 20-minute presentation on this for then? Good. Thanks. I'll be out of town until then. If you have any questions about doing these kinds of analyses, you might try Jack Grayson. He's done a lot of these risk analyses and will be at the meeting on Thursday. You might want to talk to Brad Thomas as well. Additional Information Fortunately, Brad Thomas (the geologist) was available and offered to help. As far as drilling another well in the event the first one fails, Thomas said, â€Å"Yeah, that might be a good idea. A second well would be cheaper to drill. Of course, it would also be le ss likely to succeed. If the second one fails too, it would be pointless to drill a third ell. † He estimated the cost of drilling the second well to be roughly 75% of the cost of drilling the first well â€Å"you don't have to truck all the drilling equipment out again and you don't have to pay another lease bonus. The cost of completing a second well (if successful) would be the same as the cost of completing the first. Thomas estimated the probability of the second well succeeding (given that the first fails) to be . 50. He also indicated that, if the first well fails, he would revise his estimated initial flow rate down by a third. The decline rate would remain the same. Thomas also indicated that it would not make sense to drill a second well if the first is successful since the two wells would be draining the same area. A second well would speed production you'd get roughly twice as much production at first but you probably double the decline rate as well and end up wit h about the same total amount of gas (maybe slightly more) and be stuck with twice the drilling cost. † On the other issues Thomas said, â€Å"Yeah, this business is pretty much a crap shoot. I'm a geologist. I can't tell you much about Congress or natural gas prices, but I did work up some ranges on the estimates I gave Lisa. See Exhibit 2. ) I've found that I give better estimates if I think about the ranges before I give a particular value.I actually keep track of my estimates and then later see how I did. While I don't always get the right answer, my ranges are pretty good. † These ranges, Thomas says, can be interpreted as 10th and 90th percentiles numbers such that there is a I-in-10 chance that the true value will be below and above these amounts. The base case numbers used in Alias's spreadsheet can be interpreted as 50th percentiles or medians. â€Å"Let me know if you need anything else. † Jack Grayson at SLIP could only offer general advice. As far as developing ranges for the other uncertainties, use your Judgment.I can send you some historical data on inflation and natural gas prices (see Exhibit 3), but looking forward we'll have to guess. If it is important, I may be able to get you more information next week. I know a consultant won may De addle to Nell us Walt ten gas price Toreros t. He could probably get us more on inflation too. I also know a lawyer in D. C. Who has been working with the IRS on Section 29 issues. She might be able to tell us more about that. But I don't want to call these people unless it is important.Let's talk on Monday ND we can decide then whether to call them. † Grayson also suggested that you should be careful about the discount rate. â€Å"The 15 percent rate that Lisa used is risk adjusted – it informally adjusts for the possibility that the well fails, uncertainty about operating costs, etc. Since you are going to explicitly model these risks, you should use a lower discount rate. Because all of these risks with this investment – including natural gas prices – are pretty much uncorrelated with the market as a whole, I would suggest using a risk-free discount rate.The yield of 5- to 10-year treasury bonds is currently around 9 percent why onto you use that rate instead. See you on Monday. † [pick] [pick] *Note: The production decline rates – shown near the top of the spreadsheet – are highly correlated. If you have rapid decline in the first year, you are likely to have rapid decline in subsequent years as well. Similarly, if you have slow decline in the first year, you are likely to have slow decline in subsequent years. To capture this dependence, we need to vary all of the decline rates together.