People for Ethical Treatment of Animals Term Paper

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals - Term Paper Example It carries out various campaigns around the world to stop cruelty and ill treatment towards animals. They believe that animals deserve the rights to have their best interests taken into great consideration. Its slogan is â€Å"animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.† The organization has three hundred employees and more than two million followers and supporters. PETA focuses on the four major areas where animals are subjected to suffer: In Research Laboratories In Garment Industry/Clothing Trade Entertainment Industry Factory Farms In addition, it deals with issues of killing animals in a cruel manner, the suffering of domestic animals, and the killing of birds and pests. Ingrid Newkirk states, â€Å"When it comes to feelings like hunger, pain, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy† (p. 4). In general, animal rights demands that all the animals should be used and treated humanely. Animals can be used for various types of purpos e, but the humane treatment and duty of care lies mainly with the human being. Like the animal rights theory, it upholds that we have no ethical explanation for using nonhuman animals for human purposes. The main aim of animal rights is to get rid of the use of animals. PETA encourages veganism, a philosophy of rights of animals far more fundamental than vegetarianism. Veganism is a strict vegetarian that does not eat any animal or dairy products at all. PETA also protests in opposition to animal testing of various types of cosmetics that apply to animals’ skin or eyes to test for protection and toxicity. Many companies such as, Johnson and Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, and L’Oreal all use animal testing for their products. Through PETA’s ongoing protests, many companies have stopped the use of animals for experimentation. Method: This organization has helped diminish the cruelty of animals through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns. PETA also uses various celebrities for most of their assertive promotion and campaign activity with the intention to grab their audiences’ attention. Such celebrities are, Drew Barrymore, Pamela Anderson, Stella McCartney, Alicia Silverstone, Khloe Kardashian, and Alec Baldwin. PETA activists work hard for the rights of the animals. They educate the people about the sufferings of the animals. They make sure that people know how animals are treated in research laboratories, farming enterprises, and other areas where they are used. If they find any animal being subjected to cruelty, they figure out a plan to rescue it or grab attention. PETA adapts different schemes for its publicity. One could say that its publicity pattern has played a major role in getting such a huge response from people all around the world. Their slogans are thought provoking. â€Å"Meat is murder,† â€Å"I’d rather go naked than wear fur† are some of the slogan that have grabbed a lot of public attention. The organization aims at the eradication of cruelty to animals. They known all the tactics needed in pulling the crowd, some of which include the use of short phrases, eye-catching images, and banners. They would discuss some issues related to animals in their chat show, organize debates and also try to involve as many people as possible. PETA

Write your own topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Write your own topic - Essay Example This refers to either a path or a method of doing things. This refers to the idealness that Confucius expects of the world. This may refer to a benevolent, peaceful, and culturally distinguished living place. Similarly, it describes an ideal government that should manage the welfare of individuals. Confucius holds a moral ideal that every individual should pursue. When every person in a community pursues such an ideal, this eventually reflect in other spheres of life. Confucius’ text informs the members of a community to improve their character and properly shape their thoughts. In the end, members of a community can cure the rot that exists in their economic, social, and political systems. Confucius writes at the backdrop of a dysfunctional society that suppresses its individuals. This forms his foundation for forming an ideal that individuals should pursue. When individuals pursue this ideal, they help create harmony in the society. Harmony refers to aspects such as the clearing of class differences and the elimination of suppression through

Analysis Of LOreal Garnier Maybelline Products

Analysis Of LOreal Garnier Maybelline Products 1. Introduction The rising style of industrialization and developing expertise in interaction and shipment allow the clients to retrieve and interpret a large diversity of goods and facilities from other nations. The fact that clients frequently assess the overseas goods differently in contrast to local goods has been discovered by prior investigations (Wang et al., 2004). It has been stated that clients of progressed nations prefer locally manufactured goods as against foreign made ones (Bilkey Nes, 2002) while users from progressing nations favour foreign products over locally made ones (Wang et al., 2004). The idea behind this being that they consider foreign goods to be of superior quality in contrast to local goods and also individuals equate using overseas products as being a status symbol or as being fashionable. The number of users in developed nations for example India or China are more in number and have access to goods that are manufactured in western or developed countries. In such a competitive environment, vendors essentially need to understand the reasons behind users of developing nations selecting goods of other countries imported or domestic. Client choices related to specific creations must be considered not to be a string of unlinked and independent options, these choices involve equations between personal, items or creations state Hogg and Michell (2006). It is accepted that one needs to comprehend client conduct in context to both domestic and foreign goods as overseas marketing is fast becoming an essential part of the global financial systems (Netemeyer et al., 2001). Several investigations related to this subject are centered on what are the name and the location of belonging influence; investigate the way how clients scrutinize goods introduced from specific countries. Older studies which have investigated the location of belonging influence have scrutinized item kinds such as different cars, footwear, video players and groceries for clients located in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and the USA and several others (Ahmed and dAstous, 2006 and Elliott and Cameron, 2004). Several researchers in Europe have examined the influence of the place of origin on selection viewpoints (Ettenson, 2003; Liefeld et al., 2006), good representation (Peris et al., 2003), client outlooks, and the produced in Europe notion (Schweiger et al., 2005), client viewpoint and the created in Europe concept. The development and sustenance of the local manufacturing segment in noninterventionist economy depends on how clients like the goods manufactured in that particular country. Local manufacturers face tough competition from many foreign products which have made their mark globally. This is especially relevant in emerging countries whose manufacturing is restricted to primary products. It is in such nations that the development of manufacturing sectors faces hurdles as clients prefer using foreign goods from developed nations as against domestic ones or ones from lesser developed countries (Ettenson 2003). The twenty first century is witnessing the usage of extravagant products (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009) though the number of firms marketing extravagant goods is very low (Uche Okwonko, 2007). All individuals desire lavish goods especially as far as fashionable goods are concerned. Despite the era of industrial revolution, the first or second world wars or liberalization the past centuries have observed that several opulent brands have made their mark globally. The era of internationalization has resulted in the availability of several sources of opulence. This is the result of the role played by growth of businesses, financial systems, new businesses, rise in spending by people and even interactions. This is evident by the fact there are reputed Japanese luxury brands in European countries which employ Chinese silk as raw substance for manufacturing goods (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). This has resulted in people globally being aware of the international fashion brands. The current days have seen the diminishing of societal division. However individuals are yet likely to differentiate class in community by the leader and individuals who are wealthy like to display their wealth and opulent lifestyle. Thus luxury has begun to indicate superior choice and money which every individual desires. One of the emerging nations from which several products of different nations are imported is UAE. 2006 saw the import value touch 125,975 million US dollars which is expected to touch 137,943 million US dollars by 2007 (World Bank 2007, as quoted in Chaisitthiroj, 2007). Studies undertaken previously deduced that the approach towards international products as against local brands was more affirmative as they considered global brands to be of superior quality (Masayavanij, 2007. This was in line with the investigation undertaken by Cengiz Kirkbir (2007) which concluded that people in emerging nations consider overseas goods to be of superior quality and more dependable as against locally manufactured goods. Simultaneously another investigation related to UAE client approach and outlook related to international as against local clothes deduced that UAE individuals prefer foreign clothes on account of their better resiliency, quality, good looks, fashionable appearance, and brand name and style because they are made in nations that have advanced expertise. As a result, UAE clients prefer to buy foreign clothes (Sae-Jiu, 2007). Another study also deduced that UAE clients considered overseas brands to be much better in terms of quality and worth for money as against local clothes (Suvachart, 2002) and the nature of UAE clients is such that they emphasize on quality and prefer to pay more for foreign brands. Thus, foreign brands significantly influence the outlook and conduct of UAE clients. Ukpebor and Ipogah (2008) opine that a strong brand is likely to improve a clients approach power related to the product linkage of a brand. As Vranesevic and Stancec (2003), have asserted the significance of a brand is evident by how it influences the clients options and their allegiance by recognizing and distinguishing not only quality and source but by developing augmented worth. One of the advance policies is that a strong brand can seize the attention of a client. In emerging countries, clients have specific anticipations from the brands are inclined to depend on the brand as a mark to buy goods (Reardon et al., 2005). Despite, the luxury segment being tiny in contrast to other firms globally, the luxury fashion segment has been a multi-billion dollar segment globally. It is important in driving the economy and impacting the contemporary society. Chadha and Husband (2006) further stated that the democratization of luxury brands in the nineties allowed common man to access fashionable goods. Also one can find luxury present at every place in the current times (Kapferer and Bastien, 2009). 2. Problem Statement Overseas goods are frequently evaluated in a different manner as compared to parallel domestic products by users (Herche, 2002). The location of belonging influence research undertaken in majority of developed countries has pointed out that if information related to a product is insufficient then users choose domestic branded articles in lieu of global goods (Bilkey and Nes, 2002). Clients often form opinions related to the standard of the apparel based on the mannequin wearing clothes (Dickerson, 2002). To be specific, the outlook of criteria associated with imported clothes was not regarded to be as important. However, there appears to be a direct relation amongst evaluations of evaluation of domestic products and the norm of monetary development of the location of belonging (Gaedeke, 2003). On the other hand, a contrasting style of location of belonging investigations can often be viewed in lesser developed nations where clients really select imported goods in contrast to locally manufactured ones (Agbonifoh and Elimimian, 2009). This is more likely to be seen in situations when imported products are related to evident buys (Marcoux et al., 2007; Piron, 2000). Clients often buy and use luxurious foreign goods to keep up with the joneses or baffle others instead of the monetary aspect or real application of the products (Mason, 2001). This has not been limited to the affluent section of the society but can be witnessed across the entire society and income divisions including the poor and the rich (Mason, 2001; Basmann et al., 2008).This is evident by fashionable apparel are ones which are noticeable and also a mark of standing in society (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2004). As has been put forth by Chaisitthiroj (2007), the beauty segment is one sector in the market that clients have several options of imported goods and they are regarded to be well-known for beauty clients. This is evident in UAE as their lifestyles are transforming and becoming more contemporary thanks to the growth and this is visible more so as far as UAE women who reside in the urban regions are concerned (Chaisitthiroj, 2007). Presently, they pay attention to how they look as they consider buying cosmetic goods an extension of their personality. In the words of Cash et al. (2009 as quoted in Guthrie et al., 2008), ladies using beauty products are more contented with how they look including their general appearanceand deem themselves to be more beautiful compared to their friends when they have their makeup on. When this investigation was undertaken, UAE was grappling with an economic recession (Bangkok Bank, 2009). Despite the recession, the cosmetic segment has withnessed continous uptrend (growth) (US. commercial service 2008). A tiny role of the cause lies in the fact that beauty brand asset are crucial drivers. It was asserted by Drucker (2005), that during economic recession, people spend money cautiously, so beauty firms depend on promotion and brand name identification to gain revenues.Additionally, the usage of marketing mediums in several novel mediums including internet improves the brand exposure to an extended set of likely clients (Kumar et al., 2006). On the other hand, it has been asserted by Suvachart (2001) that UAE clients have the attribute of being innovators who are likely to shift to new brands or goods thus indicating they are not really brand committed. Additionally, when Speece (2008) studied brand commitment of clients located in Bangkok, it was discovered that only 80-85 percent were committed to brand to goods which required low participation and did not depicted solitary brand commitment. The investigators discovered that there was a lack of research related to UAE clients outllok and conduct related to imported makeup goods which is one of the significantly developing market industries in UAE (Wiwutwanichkul, 2007). The subsequent segment will discuss details related to the UAE cosmetic market to offer a general view of the exisitng market scenario and the reason behind undertaking the research will be discussed. 3. Research Purpose The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of brand on consumer purchasing decision of foreign makeup product. The outcome of the research would be beneficial to marketing professionals especially in UAE cosmetics-makeup industry to understand the target consumer-whether brand equity affect their purchasing decision. To what extent the brand equity lie in their purchasing will be investigated as it will help foreign brand marketer to see their strengths and weaknesses in their use of brand equity and can improve their performance accordingly. At the same time, the research can assist domestic marketers to adapt the knowledge to their marketing plan and activities to satisfy customers and provide the offerings based on the factual consumers needs. 4. Research Questions To fulfill the aim and purpose of this study, the authors have formulated the research questions by relying on the background and problem statement as the following: If and how the personal value, social recognition, and demographic impacts UAE customers for their luxury fashion brand purchases and which marketing strategies should be used to suit their purchasing intention? 5. Research Aims The aim of this research is to identify the influences of brands and its assets on consumers purchase decision. According to the above discussion, quantitative method was chosen as it best fits the nature and purpose of this study that attempts to understand UAE consumers behaviour in making decision to buy makeup products. Hence, a questionnaire-based survey is selected as the major tool in data collection of the study. 6. Literature Review The prior research international brands in the up-and-coming market economies were favoured by the several consumers, along with having a superior class their status is contrast with the local goods as explained by Graham (2004) and Sterngold (2002). India is included among these several consumers in the markets, international brand goods were buying and possess by the rising upper class as mentioned by Cui Li during 2001. According to Arnold Quelch, (2008) and Batra (2007), the product worth among the local brands was identified by the investigators as well as they also pointed out that the consumers in up-and-coming market economies will end up stylishly. In these nations the increasing patriotism and domestic industries will be created by the host governments as explained by Klein (2002), Prahalad Lieberthal (2008). In the up-and-coming markets the international brands hostile response will be ultimately result by the altering utilization styles as given in these forecasts. Thi s matter is validated by McKinsey published report despite identification acknowledge the international brands, local brands were favoured by Chinese consumers and instead of imported brands they have faith on local brands as stated by Dyer (2007). In these markets for transnational firms functioning there is an important inference of fake alarm or unavoidable inclination is there. The globes financial systems constant globalization is considered and up-and-coming market consumers significance is with domestic organizations and transnational firms, closer investigation were needed for the selection between international and local brands in these financial systems by consumers. In the up-and-coming markets information related to the option of consumers for international and domestic brands stays insufficient. If India is illustrated for international brands penchant were identified by many investigators as on non-probability samples and perceptual measures they depend. for international brands asserted penchant, on domestic brands real buying the latest investigations depends like exaggeration of penchants and domestic brands were majorly buyed by the Chinese consumers as mentioned by Cui Liu (2001); Kwok (2006). Between Chinese consumers preference of international as against domestic brands were influenced by other aspects as proposed by the difference betwe en real conducts and asserted penchants. International and local brands real buying pattern have been contrasted by a small number of investigations in this huge up-and-coming market for deliberating the condition of brand competition. When domestic market situations and good divisions impacts were discovered, among the city consumers in India the preference of international and local brands investigated in this studies and in the up-and-coming market extreme competition between local and international brands. On brand insights and preferences the existing literature is reassess by us and consumers options in up-and-coming markets and several investigative queries were suggested. Secondly, in four main Indian cities that depends on extensive consumer investigation, across several durable and nondurable goods types the buying patterns of local and international brands were analysed by this research. Across good types and geographic markets the international brands differ greatly in buying and possessions as proposed by outcomes. Specific good types were controlled by international brands, in consumables and durable goods the base is acquired by local brands as in the city markets it goes ahead, for consumers share the current war were emphasized. In brand management and marketing policies for both international and local organizations the propositions has been discovered by us. Brand Kotler (2002) states in the product line were one of more items were associated as it is used for identifying the character source of the items is termed as brand. According to Doyle (2002) brand is a specific name, design or symbol or its combination a product is differentiated by this. For every product an ordinary feature is the brand which nowadays is available on the market. Each brand specialty is the different value in the potential buyers mind. According to Gordon (2003), McEnally and de Chernatony (2009) differentiation is enhanced by the image and reputation of a strong brand on buying behavior it has a positive influence. Powerful brands significance is seen by the marketers and for building up a strong brand as shown in all efforts. Familiarity and credibility is the meaning of brand for customers as in their everyday life some contacts were experienced by them; so as an indicator brand is used for making a decision while buying new product as stated by Ger (2003). The determinants of product quality is the causal signs that is regarded by brands as it depends if quality is truly determined by intrinsic attributes and processes as mentioned by Stijn (2000). According to Aaker (2002), in the mind of consumers the familiarity and credibility creates value towards firm, by brand equity use it can be enforced: perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand associations. Consumer behavior Consumers studies the consumer behavior as for a product or service they exchange value as it satisfies their needs as stated by Well Prensky (2006, p.5). Schiffman Kanuk (2000, p.5) mentions that how for spending their available resources that is time, money, effort an individual makes its decision is focused by the consumer behavior study on items related to consumption. With buying consumer behavior consists people experience of feelings, thoughts and their performed action. Environment influences like product appearances, comments taken from other customers, packages, consumers physical actions and advertising were involved. Consumer decision making The decision making behavior of consumer consists five basic steps. As per most of the researchers these steps are within the same field (Cross 2009). These steps are inclusive of model; problem recognition, process of information search, alternatives evaluation, process of purchase along with post-purchase. However, it is not necessary that all purchased need every step (Cross 2009). It is up to the consumer to skip the alternatives evaluation while considering low involvement products. As per Hawkins et al. (2001) there are diversified sides than the process of decision making that are subject to affect consumer behavior that are relevantly external and are internal with influences. All the external influences are kind of social class added by reference group. The internal factors can be noted as exposure, motivation, perception, attention and attitude. Purchase decision All kinds of purchase decisions are integral to the process of consumer decision making structure. There are specific two prior stages; information search and aspect of evaluation of alternatives considered by the consumer consecutive act to reach stage of purchase decision added by the effects of brands in those stages. After the phase of problem recognition, consumer shifts to the stage of information search and seek information about the quality, price, brand, country of origin and similar issues as per their motivation. Information search can get conducted as a kind of internal search by the consumers past through indirect or direct experience for the product added by external search by marketing materials or different social groups or reference groups. For Hoyer and MacInnis (2007, p.200), the image of brands are actually affected in terms of internal as well as external search for information. For internal search, the respective consumers can recall brands, whereas for external search, they tend to look into availability over shelf while purchasing or suggestion collected from salesperson affecting their purchase. This follows evaluation of alternatives that the customers usually have to single out. Brand equity too gets consideration. Alternatives of products are taken into consideration in th e customers set of desire. As for instance, brand awareness, where the customer remembers exact brands for specific quality product, he picks the brand immediately. After selection made at evaluation among alternative stage, purchase decision comes in, where concerns are related to the selection of specific product in specific retail outlet added by the amount of purchase. 7. Research Methodology In this research, both qualitative as well as quantitative methodologies are considered. Individual answers will be included through questionnaire added by survey questionnaire. These are believed to be effective means to fulfill dissertation objectives. Process of qualitative investigation mode enables the subject to get analyzed and offer vivid as well as dependent replies that are enquired by researcher in the way of providing constructive as well as comprehensive information that other techniques can overlook. This approach offers significant data by answers to research queries in balancing research techniques that are quantitative in structure. Through quantitative process the research data is collected on the basis of different factors that can get measured for patrons activities. Quantitative method relies over statistical analysis. As some parts of the theory are analysed and calculated, there is the end resultant that is numeric and objectivity results derived of them are th e resource led out of corrective recommendations. For Kuhn (2001) numbers record exodus from different presumptions and is the skill that never gets replicated through qualitative method added this exodus gets sufficient to start the investigation. Aim of this research is based on identifying the influences of brands added by the assets led over consumers purchase decision. Thus quantitative method is selected as it best fits specific nature as well as purpose of the study, which attempts to understand particular behavior of UAE consumers in making purchase decision for makeup products. Thus a questionnaire-based survey is conducted as a major tool in the process of data collection for this study. Both the standards are based on numeric studies. Questionnaires as well as intensive interactions are used as they are all impactful in their approach and manner for completing the aims of this study. There were four interactions performed in India added by 150 questionnaire further will be distributed among different individuals. Questionnaires will be distributed at shopping malls as well as luxury outlets. Participants who have got past over the elimination aspects or are proven as luxury customers will be quizzed. Their responses will be used in the research. Collected information will be analysed through statistical tests under the assistance of SPSS. In order to comprehend the declarations of the respondents, all the questionnaires will be translated specifically into Arabic added by English version. Determination of attributes is inclusive of conjoint analysis, as pretest will be managed among separate sample that is of 30 respondents in order to assure validity towards the questionnaire. Respondents will be asked to answer the selected questionnaires, and that follows the discussion about the questions that were obscured, like the one on whether they can comprehend the meaning of the questions or if there is ambiguity. Finally, questionnaire gets distributed. Questionnaire design Questionnaire design will be structured to collect demographic information related to respondents as per their age. Information related to social class is inclusive of occupation, education and income, (as in questions like 1, 2, 3, and 4) by multiple choice questions. As per Fisher (2007) this kind of questions offer the respondents with choices among 3-5 options and interrogate them to choose any one. These questions also do not allow unambiguous options and are mutually exclusive. Application of multiple choice questions for the study respondents behavior for purchasing in questions like 5 to attain frequency for purchasing makeup products. The question 6 looks into the amount of money that get spent on buying makeup and lastly, question 7 is about respondents type of makeup products bought mostly. Lastly, as per the Likert scales gets applied to ask respondents for their opinions added by attitudes to choose a position in the five-point scale that represents between strongly agre e to strongly disagree (Fisher, 2007, pp.200-200). Likert scale gets applied to the questions from 8-26 for studying respondents attitude for brands and purchase decisions.

Futile Search for Answers in Slaughterhouse Five :: Slaughterhouse-Five Essays

Futile Search for Answers in Slaughterhouse Five The book, Slaughter House-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is based on the main character named Billy Pilgrim who is a little "lost" in the head. Billy is always traveling to different parts of his life and rarely in the present state. Throughout the book Billy mainly travels back and forth to three big times in his life. In each different time period of Billy's life he is in a different place; his present state is in a town called Illium and his "travels" are to Dresden and Tralfamadore. When Billy is in Illium he is suppose to have a "normal" life; he is married, has two children, and works as an optometrist. Then Billy travels back to Dresden where he was stationed in the last years of WWII and witnessed the horrible bombing. When Billy travels to Tralfamadore he is in an "imaginary" state, everything that happens to him is more like a dream. Through Billy's travels in time he shows that he is striving to find meaning in the events that happened in his life that he is a fraid to acknowledge. As Billy says himself, "All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist," (1) this just proves even further that fact that Billy cannot ever forget any event in his life. The main event that leads Billy to all his confusion is the time he spent in Dresden and witnessed the fire-bombings that constantly pop in his head along with pictures of all the innocent people Billy saw that fled to Dresden the "safe spot" from the war before the bombing. When Billy sees the faces of the innocent children it represents his fear of the situation. Billy can't acknowledge the fact that they were innocent and they were killed by Americans, Americans soldiers just like himself. The biggest issue Billy cannot come to grasp with is why the bombings took place. That question has no answer; it's just something that happened that Billy couldn't get over. During all Billy's travels back to Dresden he couldn't change what had really happened there although that was the closure he was looking for. Dresden purely represents Bill's past and fears of the truth about what happened.

Oceans Carrier Case

Substantive IssueOcean Carriers is a shipping company evaluating a proposed lease of a ship for a three-year period to a customer, beginning in 2003. The proposed leasing contract offers very attractive terms, but no ship in Ocean Carrier’s current fleet meets the customer’s requirements. The firm must decide if future expected cash flows warrant the considerable investment in a new ship. Objective of Case Assignment To provide your team an opportunity to make a capital budgeting decision.That is, to develop an understanding of how discounted cash flow analysis can be used to make investment and corporate policy decisions.Assignment Questions: Do you expect daily spot hire rates to increase or decrease next year, and why? (This question should also address what factors appear to drive average daily hire rates. )What is the cost of the new ship in present value terms? The company’s cost of capital (i. e. , discount rate) is 9%.What are the expected cash flows for each year? (You are expected to setup an Excel spreadsheet to answer this question.What is the net present value (i. e. , net cash flow overall) for the investment in the ship?Should Ms. Linn purchase the $39MM ship?What do you think of the company’s policy of not operating ships over 15 years old?Additional Notes to Finance ProjectA. Event Year 0 (on the Excel template) equals the year 2000. This means 2000 is the current year of the case, also stated as period (n) = 0.B. Based on the above, next year in Question 1 would then be the year 2001.C. When calculating days in the year, use 365 (i. e. , ignore leap years).D. The initial investment in net working capital of $500,000 (p. 5 of case) occurs at the end of 2002—right before the ship is ready for use at the start of 2003. Net working capital defined: current assets minus current liabilities; the net amount of a company’s liquid resources (i. e. , operational buffer). cont’dE. Capital Expenditures (Exh ibit I, p. 2 of case) extend the life and/or productivity of an asset–they are not a tax deductible expense in the year they occur. Therefore, they become part of the asset’s cost and must be depreciated over their estimated useful life (5 years). Assume the capital expenditures occur at the end of the years noted in Exhibit I. For example, $300,000 cash outflow in 2007. This means you cannot include the cost of the capital expenditure in your annual depreciation expense calculation until the next year (2008).F. Your annual Depreciation expense calculation should be as follows: Original cost of Ship – Salvage value + Cost of Capital Expenditure__ Estimated useful life of Ship Estimated useful life of Capital ExpenditureG. Salvage value of the ship at the end of 15 years is noted in the case. Salvage value is zero at the end of 25 years.H. Tax rate = 35%I. After-tax proceeds from sale of asset = Selling Price – [Tax Rate x (Selling Price – Book Valu e)]J. Round all calculations to the nearest dollar.K. If you need to make any assumptions, clearly state your assumptions in your paper.

Neuropharmacology and gender

There is a growing interest in examining differences in pharmacological responses among different genders.   This gender-related discrepancy in the administration of pharmaceutical drugs has influenced that success of the treatment of specific medical disorders.   Several research investigations have been conducted in the last ten years in order to better understand any underlying gender-related mechanisms that influence factors related to particular diseases.   The factors that are swayed by gender include prevalence, disease symptoms, behavior of the patient during treatment and reaction to pharmacological treatment.Several analyses have suggested that gender-related differences in pharmacology induce different levels of sensitivity to drug medications.   In the field of neuropharmacology, a significant number of pharmaceuticals have already been reported to illicit gender-related differences in the reaction and response to specific neuropharmacologic reagents.   The diff erences include delayed reaction time or even a lowered sensitivity to the administered drug.   The opposite scenario has also been observed with other medications, wherein a specific gender is more responsive to the drug treatment due to the elevated sensitivity to the medication.   It has also been suggested that gonadal hormones may play a role in the reaction of specific genders to particular drugs.Pharmacological research has recently focused on determining the factors that influence the effects of prescription drugs on the treatment of neurological disorders.   One factor that has been of great concern is gender.   There are critical differences based on sex that have been determined to influence neurological disease prevalence.   In addition, gender has also swayed the presentation of symptoms among patients as well as the behavior of the patient himself in terms of seeking treatment.Another influence of gender-based neuropharmacological treatment is the response of the patient to psychotropic medication.   It has been observed that females tend to undergo a less serious course of schizophrenia than males.   This condition is characterized by less frequent negative symptoms and a greater chance for the females to adapt to her social environment.   Females have also been determined to response faster to an administered low dose of antipsychotic drug regimen, thus resulting in fewer cases of hospital admissions and hospitalization.It has been estimated that approximately 5% of all hospital cases are due to adverse drug reactions.   This significant number of death due to adverse drug reactions thus makes it essential to identify the factors that are strongly associated with risk management.   Case studies have shown that the increasing age of a patient poses a higher risk for adverse drug reactions.   In addition, the employment of several pharmaceutical drugs at the same time influences a patient to experience adverse drug reactions .   Liver and kidney diseases are also correlated with adverse drug reactions.   Interestingly, gender has also been determined to be a factor for adverse drug reactions, wherein females are more prone to experience such deleterious side effects.The main mechanism behind the connection between gender and adverse drug reactions still remains unclear but it has been suggested that pharmacological concepts play a major role in this reaction.   Pharmacokinetics or the dynamics of drug interactions in the human body is one of the areas of pharmacology that integrates the aspect of gender-related differences (Meibohm et al., 2002).   The concept of pharmacogenetics or the inter-individual differences in drug response also provides some kind of influence of gender-related pharmacological issues.   Hormonal factors have also been suggested to cause some effect of the response of different genders to pharmacological reagents.Classical pharmacological studies have generally under-re presented females in clinical trials for neuropharmacological drugs and this has resulted in an insufficiency of information with regards to any gender differences in drug efficiency and side effects (Aichhorn et al., 2005).   The major reason behind the under-representation of females in clinical trials is that there is a general fear that the drug being tested may be a potential teratogen which may cause mutations and eventually cancer to females.The fear is also associated in generating offspring that may carry multiple congenital anomalies due to the exposure of a neuropharmacological drug that is still being investigated.   Today, the principles of registration of a new drug require more stringent criteria for approval for clinical trials.   Amongst the requirements are the guidelines that indicate the need for gender-specific testing.Both males and females should thus participate in a clinical trial, with equal numbers of females and males in the entire study population so that bias can be avoided.   In addition to sex-matching in clinical trials, each gender is age-matched, meaning that every age group within the female category of participants should have an equivalent male of the same age group.   The new guidelines with regards to registration of a new drug have thus facilitated the inclusion of females in clinical trials.One neuropharmacological drug that has been extensively studied in terms of pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics are the second generation anti-psychotic drugs.   Clinical investigations have reported that different anti-psychotic drugs have different efficacies.   In turn, there anti-psychotic drugs also exert variable side effects among the patients that have been administered with this drug.   Anti-psychotics are generally given to patients suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar or manic-depressive disorders.Other mental health illnesses that are associated with the use of anti-psychotic drugs include dementia, delirium, depression and autism.   Anti-psychotics drugs are prescribed to the patient in order to control any untoward behavior that the patient may perform in the near future, such as aggression, violence and suicide.   These drugs are effective enough in lowering the chances of performing these untoward actions without affecting their normal motor functions, yet there are particular side effects that have been noted in relation to the use of anti-psychotic drugs.One side effect is weight gain which is determined by the increase in weight as well as the change in body mass index of the patient.   Abnormalities in glucose and lipid metabolic pathways are also affected by the intake of anti-psychotic drugs.   There have also been reports with regards to side effects related to cardiac and sexual functioning of the patient.   Gender-based differences in side effects have been implicated to these observations.For the case of schizophrenia, gender-related differences have be en observed in relation to the cumulative lifetime risk.   The initial expectation for the risk of schizophrenia among males and females was classically determined to be the same.   However, there is an accumulation of clinical reports that show that males generally experience schizophrenia at a younger age than females.There is an average difference of 3 to 5 years between males and females with schizophrenia.   More importantly, this gender-related difference also affects the patients’ behavior in terms of seeking medical attention.   Negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia have also been observed to be higher frequency among males.   The prevalence of cognitive deficiencies has een reported to be greater among males.   Any related structural brain and neurophysiological dysfunctions and abnormalities are also more frequent among male schizophrenia patients than among female schizophrenia patients.Oppositely, female schizophrenia patients have been repor ted to more frequently show affective symptoms related to this psychological disorder.   Females are also more prone to experience auditory hallucinations as well as delusions that result in self-persecution.   However, it is interesting to know that females respond to anti-psychotic medications at a faster rate than male patients.   This quick response, unfortunately, is strongly correlated to more severe drug-related side effects.   Clinicians have observed that the course of schizophrenia is less destructive among female patients.   Also, female schizophrenia patients are associated to fewer incidents with smoking and substance abuse, unlike male patients who generally perform both heavy smoking and drug and alcohol abuse during their entire illness.The gender-related issues that were observed with schizophrenia are strongly associated to neuroanatomic sexual differences among males and females.   For example, research has shown that the temporolimbic abnormalities ar e present among male schizophrenia patients.   These abnormalities involve a significant change in the volume of the left temporal lobe of male schizophrenia patients.   The volume was observed to be much smaller as compared to the left temporal lobe of female schizophrenia patients.   Comparison of the volume of the left temporal lobes of schizophrenia patients with that of normal healthy individuals has shown that the volume of the left temporal lobe of female schizophrenia patients is the same as that of normal healthy males and females.Another difference that relates to gender differences and neuropharmacology is the variation in the volume of the grey matter of the brain.   It has been reported that male schizophrenia patients showed a significant decrease in the volume of their grey matter (Leung and Chue, 2000).   On the other hand, female schizophrenia patients show a smaller volume in their hippocampal region, while the volume of their amygdala had increased.   Magnetic resonance imaging studies have indicated that male and female schizophrenia patients show great differences in the volume of their corpus callosum.The differences in volume of several regions of the brain among male and female schizophrenia patients may possibly influence the variations in response to pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia.   Initial pharmacological studies with regards to psychopharmaceuticals mainly focused on the treatment of the disorder itself and gender differences were not investigated until a significant number of cases reports were issued describing specific adverse drug reactions to anti-psychotic drugs.   It has been generally observed that female schizophrenia patients improve at a faster rate than their counterpart male schizophrenia patients.   This positive response, unfortunately, is coupled with the occurrence of extrapyramidal symptoms among female schizophrenia patients.Aside from gender differences in neuropharmacological treat ment, differences among female schizophrenia patients have also been observed.   Research investigations have observed that pre-menopausal female schizophrenia patients show a faster and better response to pharmacological treatment than post-menopausal female schizophrenia patients.   This observation suggests that female younger than 40 years old only need a minimal amount of anti-psychotic pharmacological treatment than male schizophrenia patients.   This pharmacological treatment advantage is lost when the female schizophrenia patient is above 40 years of age.Differences in neuropharmacological treatment response, clinical course and treatment outcome among males and females may also be due to variations in the cerebrum.   An example that could be employed to this notion is that the volume of the caudate nucleus changes over time after treatment of the patient with anti-psychotic drugs.   These changes in volume of the caudate nucleus are also influenced by the gender o f the schizophrenia patient.   In terms of male schizophrenia patients, treatment with neuropharmacologic reagents generally results in an increase in the volume of the caudate nucleus.   On the other hand, this volume was observed to increase among female schizophrenia patients after treatment with anti-psychotic drugs.It should be noted that not all components of the brain show gender-related differences in terms of neurological disorders and neuropharmacological treatment and response.   The striatal dopamine D2 receptor binding activity among male and female schizophrenia patients were determined to be the same, suggesting that the left striatus of both male and female schizophrenia patients are similar before and after neuropharmacological treatment for schizophrenia.Cognitive functions have also been observed to be different among male and female schizophrenia patients.   It is a common observation that male schizophrenia patients perform in a poorer fashion than femal e schizophrenia patients.   Other research groups have observed the opposite result, wherein female schizophrenia patients showed a lower degree of performance in cognitive functions.One explanation for such variations among genders is that some particular research groups only reported these differences as a side-observation while conducting an investigation that focus on another aspect of neuropharmacological research.   It would thus be more reliable if a research study was performed solely in identifying gender-related differences associated with neurological disorders and their response to pharmacological treatment.   It has been postulated that the discrepancies among male and female schizophrenia patients may eventually lead to major variations in the cognitive functions of males and females.It is therefore imperative that gender differences be comprehensively analyzed in terms of cognitive functions.   Another interesting research would involve drug responses among ma les and females of different neurological disorders.   There is also a great need to determine whether there exists a difference between males and females in terms of neurocognitive outcome after pharmacologic treatment for a neurological disorder.There is also a need to examine differences between gender and ethnicity in terms of neurological disorders, treatment and response.   Case reports have described that African-American male and female patients diagnosed with psychoses showed a unique neurological profile and treatment response from that of the general human population.   This observation resulted in a faster rate for hospital discharge after administration of a relatively higher dose of anti-psychotic pharmaceutical drug.The comprehensive investigation of gender-related differences among neuropharmacological treatments would provide a better understanding of the pharmacokinetics of drugs.   In addition, future research efforts on this area would also provide more i nformation that may be used in designing safe, effective and personalized drug treatment plans for patients suffering from neurological disorders.ReferenceAichhorn W, Gasser M, Weiss EM, Adlassnig C and Marksteiner J (2005):   Gender differences in pharmacokinetics and side effects of second generation antipsychotic drugs.   Current Neuropharmacology   3:73-85.Leung A and Chue P (2000):   Sex differences in schizophrenia, a review of the literature. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Suppl. 401:3-38.Meibohm B, Beierle I and Derendorf H (2002): How important are gender differences in pharmacokinetics?   Clinical Pharmacokinetics   41:329-342.