Lead Facts - Element 82 or Pb

Lead Facts - Element 82 or Pb Lead is an overwhelming metallic component, generally experienced in radiation protecting and delicate compounds. Heres an assortment of fascinating realities about lead, including about its properties, uses, and sources. Fascinating Lead Facts Lead is a moderately plenteous component since it the endpoint of the rot plans of numerous radioactive components with higher nuclear numbers.Because its genuinely simple to extricate (for a metal), lead has been utilized since ancient time. Lead was promptly accessible to everyday citizens in the Roman Empire, discovering use in dishes, plumbing, coins, and sculptures. Individuals utilized it for regular things for a large number of years, until whenever was at last seen as noxious close to the furthest limit of the nineteenth century.Tetraethyl lead was added to gas to diminish motor thump during the 1920s. In any event, when it was created, it was known to be toxic. A few assembly line laborers passed on from lead introduction. Notwithstanding, leaded gas wasnt eliminated until the 1970s or restricted for use in street vehicles until 1996. The metal is as yet utilized in vehicle batteries, for making leaded glass, and for radiation protecting. Overall creation and utilization of the metal proceeds to increase.Lead is a post-progress metal. Its not as responsive the same number of different metals, aside from in powdered state. It shows feeble metallic character, frequently framing covalent bonds with different components. The component promptly bonds to itself, shaping rings, chains, and polyhedrons. In contrast to most metals, lead is delicate, dull, and not truly adept at directing power. Powdered lead ignites with a blue-white fire. The powdered metal is pyrophoric.Pencil lead is really the graphite type of carbon, yet lead metal is sufficiently delicate to leave an imprint. Lead was utilized as an early composing instrument.Lead mixes taste sweet. Lead acetic acid derivation has been called sugar of lead and was utilized as a sugar in the past.In the past, it was hard for individuals to differentiate tin and lead. They were believed to be two types of a similar substance. Lead was called plumbum nigrum (dark lead) while tin was called plumbum candidum (splendid lead). Lead Atomic Data Component Name: Lead Image: Pb Nuclear Number: 82 Nuclear Weight: 207.2 Component Group: Basic Metal Disclosure: Known to the people of yore, with a history going back in any event 7000 years. Referenced in the book of Exodus. Name Origin: Anglo-Saxon: lead; image from Latin: plumbum. Thickness (g/cc): 11.35 Softening Point (Â °K): 600.65 Breaking point (Â °K): 2013 Properties: Lead is an incredibly delicate, exceptionally flexible and bendable, poor electrical conveyor, impervious to consumption, blue-white sparkling metal that stains to dull dim in air. Lead is the main metal where there is zero Thomson impact. Lead is an aggregate toxin. Nuclear Radius (pm): 175 Nuclear Volume (cc/mol): 18.3 Covalent Radius (pm): 147 Ionic Radius: 84 (4e) 120 (2e) Explicit Heat (20Â °C J/g mol): 0.159 Combination Heat (kJ/mol): 4.77 Dissipation Heat (kJ/mol): 177.8 Debye Temperature (Â °K): 88.00 Pauling Negativity Number: 1.8 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 715.2 Oxidation States: 4, 2 Electronic Configuration: [Xe] 4f145d106s26p2 Cross section Structure: Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) Cross section Constant (Ã… ): 4.950 Isotopes: Natural lead is a blend of four stable isotopes: 204Pb (1.48%), 206Pb (23.6%), 207Pb (22.6%), and 208Pb (52.3%). Twenty-seven different isotopes are known, all radioactive. Utilizations: Lead is utilized as a sound safeguard, x radiation shield, and to assimilate vibrations. It is utilized in angling loads, to cover the wicks of certain candles, as a coolant (liquid lead), as counterbalance, and for anodes. Lead mixes are utilized in paints, bug sprays, and capacity batteries. The oxide is utilized to make leaded gem and stone glass. Amalgams are utilized as patch, pewter, type metal, projectiles, shot, antifriction ointments, and plumbing. Sources: Lead exists in its local structure, however it is uncommon. Lead might be gotten from galena (PbS) by a simmering procedure. Other regular lead minerals incorporate anglesite, cerussite, and minim. Different Facts: Alchemists accepted lead to be the most established metal. It was related with the planet Saturn. References: Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001), Crescent Chemical Company (2001), Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952)

Tropical Cyclone and Small Circles Essay Example for Free

Tropical Cyclone and Small Circles Essay A twister is a brutal tempest. It never comes alone. Substantial showers of downpour, thunder and lightning are its colleagues. At the point when a violent wind blows, it moves all around as little circles. It generally changes its course when it blows. It doesn't move a similar way like a normal tempest. It happens for the most part in the warm pieces of the world. India is in this area of the world. Henceforth typhoons regularly blow over her. In cool nations there is no typhoon. The indications of a twister There are a few indications of the blowing of a twister. A low weight is made in the ocean. The climate turns out to be hot. There isn't a breath of wind. Patches of foreboding shadows bit by bit spread in the sky. Finally, the sky become dim. A tempest sets in. The breeze at that point starts to blow viciously. From these we can comprehend that a violent wind will start. The genuine tornado At that point it rains vigorously. Flashes of lightning are seen. Roars start to chime noisily. The breeze starts to blow angrily. It blows forward framing circles. There is a thundering commotion. The breeze keeps on blowing for certain hours. Some of the time it proceeds for a day or two. Such awful typhoons occurred in September 1918 preceding the Pujas and in November 1988. Its impact The impact of the blowing of a twister is horrendous. Large trees tumble down. Tops of houses are overwhelmed. Numerous a house is annihilated. Numerous a man is slaughtered. The water of the waterway rises. There are enormous waves in the stream. Numerous vessels sink down. Numerous men are suffocated. Here and there liners are additionally sunk. Wherever dead groups of men and brutes are found. Harvests are annihilated. Individuals endure a lot. They become destitute and vulnerable. There is shortage of food. Starvation breaks out. This hopeless state of the individuals can't be completely portrayed. Others at that point attempt to assist them with cash, food, medication and garments. End The typhoon is a horrible fiendishness. Man has no capacity to forestall it. However, individuals might be cautioned heretofore that there will be a tornado.

The First Snow of the Year!

The First Snow of the Year! Today was the first snowfall of the year! How exciting, I didnt even know it was coming. Two of my best friends from high school were visiting me and another one of my best friends who goes to MIT. We were walking across the Harvard Bridge and bang, we felt a snowflake (the first snowflake of winter, how exciting)! Gradually, it began snowing harder; the flakes became pretty big and fell for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, it looks like it has transitioned to rain =( Last week, I finally busted out my winter coat and put away my summer clothes; its always a semi-sweet transition. I love watching snow fall, seeing the river freeze, and having an excuse to drink ungodly amounts of hot chocolate. Nothing beats sitting by a fireplace (even if it is boarded up and non-functional, as are most fireplaces at MIT) and throwing snowballs at unsuspecting friends. But, frostbite is no fun and neither is being wet all the time. In case you havent lived through a Boston winter, heres a quick preview: The average high in January is 36 degrees, the average low is 22 (its also the coldest month, yay for IAP). The record low for November is 8 degrees and the most precipitation on average occurs in November. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -18 degrees in 1934. According to the Old Farmers Almanac, the winter season will be milder than normal, December and January will be exceptionally cold. Winter-season temperatures will be near normal in Maine, but a degree or two colder than normal elsewhere, on average. Snowfall will be below normal in the northwest, but above normal elsewhere. A big snowstorm will hamper Christmas travel, with other major snowstorms in mid-December and the first half of March. Last year, on January 24, 2005, it snowed 13.4 inches in 2 days! (Pictures below!) The average snowfall for the entire month of January is 13.5 inches! So, I copied a poem by Tami Ryan below, and then pictures from today and the crazy IAP snowstorm from last year. My advice: dont worry about what you look like, get the puffiest and longest coat, the craziest wool hat, the warmest gloves, and the most durable boots. Get ready, its going to be AWESOME! A poem by Tami Ryan: Snowflakes infinitely drift from heaven, creating a pristine blanket as temperatures spiral downward Birds unheard songs stand still, frozen mid-song in the wintry air Autumns leaves long gone, the bare branches shiver beneath their layered scarves of ice You, with hands jammed into pockets and head bowed to stave the bitter cold and gusty wind, pray your brisk Winters walk allows a speedy arrival to your destination From today: Watching the snow from the shelter of a shoe store on Newbury Street The Hancock tower and Newbury Street Braving the weather and walking home Pictures from last years blizzard: It was so funny, you couldnt even see the parking meters, they were completely buried! What you will have to wear: The Next House courtyard:

Taliesin West - Organic Design in a Desert Garden

Taliesin West  began not as a grand scheme, but a simple need. Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentices had traveled a long distance from his Taliesin school in Spring Green, Wisconsin to build a resort hotel in Chandler, Arizona. Because they were far from home, they set up camp on a stretch of the Sonoran Desert near the construction site outside of Scottsdale. Wright fell in love with the desert. He wrote in 1935 that the desert was a grand garden, with its rim of arid mountains spotted like the leopards skin or tattooed with amazing patterns of creation. Its sheer beauty of space and pattern does not exist, I think, in the world, Wright proclaimed. This great desert garden is Arizonas chief asset. Building Taliesin West The early encampment at Taliesin West contained little more than temporary shelters made of wood and canvas. However, Frank Lloyd Wright was inspired by the dramatic, rugged landscape. He envisioned an elaborate complex of buildings that would embody his concept of organic architecture. He wanted the buildings to evolve from and blend with the environment. In 1937, the desert school known as Taliesin West was launched. Following in the tradition of Taliesin in Wisconsin, Wrights apprentices studied, worked, and lived in shelters they crafted using materials native to the land. Taliesin is a Welsh word meaning shining brow. Both of Wrights Taliesin homesteads hug the contours of the earth like a shining brow on the hilly landscape. Organic Design at Taliesin West Architectural historian G. E. Kidder Smith reminds us that Wright taught his students to design in kinship with the environment, admonishing students, for instance, not to build on top of a hill in dominance, but beside it in partnership. This is the essence of organic architecture. Lugging stone and sand, the students constructed buildings that seemed to grow from the earth and the McDowell Mountains. Wood and steel beams supported translucent canvas roofs. Natural stone combined with glass and plastic to create surprising shapes and textures. Interior space flowed naturally into the open desert. For awhile, Taliesin West was a retreat from the harsh Wisconsin winters. Eventually, air conditioning was added and students stayed through the fall and spring. Taliesin West Today At Taliesin West, the desert is never still. Over the years, Wright and his students made many changes, and the school continues to evolve. Today, the 600 acre complex includes a drafting studio, Wrights former architectural office and living quarters, a dining room and kitchen, several theaters, housing for apprentices and staff, a student workshop, and expansive grounds with pools, terraces and gardens. Experimental structures built by apprentice architects dot the landscape. Taliesin West is home of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, whose alumni become Taliesin Fellows. Taliesin West is also the headquarters of the FLW Foundation, a powerful overseer of Wrights properties, mission, and legacy. In 1973 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave the property its Twenty-five Year Award. On its fiftieth anniversary in 1987, Taliesin West won special recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives, which called the complex the highest achievement in American artistic and architectural expression. According to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Taliesin West is one of 17 buildings in the United States that exemplify Wrights contribution to American architecture. Next to Wisconsin, gathering of the waters, Wright has written, Arizona, arid zone, is my favorite State. Each very different from the other, but something individual in them both not to be found elsewhere. Sources Frank Lloyd Wright On Architecture: Selected Writings (1894-1940), Frederick Gutheim, ed., Grossets Universal Library, 1941, pp. 197, 159Source Book of American Architecture by G. E. Kidder Smith, Princeton Architectural Press, 1996, p. 390The Future of Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, New American Library, Horizon Press, 1953, p. 21

Financial Analysis And Competition Of Microsoft Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1788 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential The company, founded in 1975, has worked to achieve its mission through developing and marketing of software and hardware and providing services and solutions that delivers greater convenience and add value to peoples lives. Microsofts presence is throughout the world with offices in more than 100 countries. Microsoft generates revenue by developing a larger range of software products and giving support services for various types of computing devices. Few to name are operating systems for various computers, server applications, business solutions applications, software development tools and video games. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Financial Analysis And Competition Of Microsoft Finance Essay" essay for you Create order It provides support services for its products (customer retention policy) and also gives training to computer system developers. There are a number of Microsoft certified specialized courses. Designing hardware is also a part of their job. Few examples are Xbox 360 gaming, the Zune digital music, and Microsoft personal computer (PC) hardware products. It earns revenues through license fee for software, even as it develops and delivers cloud-based computing services. (https://www.microsoft.com/investor/default.aspx ) Examples of cloud-based services which Microsoft currently offers are: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Bing, its Internet search service; ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Windows Live Essentials suite, it allows users to upload and organize photos, make movies, communicate via email and messaging and enhance online safety; and ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Xbox LIVE service, it enables online gaming, social networking, and content access. Current cloud-based services (for business users) are: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Microsoft Office Web Apps (online companions to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Business Productivity Online Suite (Offering communications and collaboration solution) ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Microsoft Dynamics Online family of customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resources planning services. Also, Microsoft is in research and development of advanced technologies. Microsoft believes in delivering breakthrough innovation through their integrated software platform in order to meet their customers need and for future growth opportunity. Microsoft focuses on long term growth by improving customer feedback and delivering new products and services and creating new opportunities for its existing partners. Their prime focus is to build on this foundation. OPERATING SEGMENTS Microsoft operates its business in five segments: Windows Windows Live Server and Tools Online Services Microsoft Business Entertainment Devices These segments are very cleverly chosen. They enable Microsoft to easily achieve its Mission. Windows Windows Live Division The overall responsibility of Windows Windows Live Division, also termer as Windows Division, is the development and marketing of the Windows operating system, Windows Live and Internet Explorer. Its revenue growth is mostly correlated with the growth of the PC market, as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) distribution channel (e.g., Dell, HP, Lenovo, Compaq, HCL, Sony, Toshiba etc) accounts for approximately 80% of total Windows Division revenue. Some of the factors impacting OEM revenue are: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Hardware market changes ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Promotions and pricing changes: Due to variation associated with OEM channel shifts from local system builders to large, multinational OEMs. Windows Division offerings Premium Operating systems Those which contain additional functionality (above standard) and are sold at premium rate Online software and services made available through Windows Live. Versions of Windows operating system: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Home and other older versions as Windows 98, Windows 2000 etc. Competition The competitors for Windows operating system are various commercial software products available in the market, offered by some of the well-established companies, including Apple and Google, and from the Linux operating system. Now, Linux (derived from Unix) is available to its users free of any charges. It is one of the first of its kind Open Source operating system. Some other competitors for Microsoft are: Apple Google Mozilla Opera Software Company All of the above offers browsers in competition to Windows Internet Explorer. Server and Tools Server and Tools segment develops and markets and provideservices and solutions around Server software Software developer tools Products and Services: Windows Server operating system Windows Azure Microsoft SQL Server SQL Azure Visual Studio Silverlight System Center products Biz Talk Server Microsoft Consulting Services Premier product support services Competition Computer manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Oracle are major players along with Microsoft in this field. Online Services Division The Online Services Division (OSD) includes online information offerings. Examples are Bing, MSN portals and channels. Microsoft majorly earns revenue from online advertising, including search, display, and advertiser and publisher tools. Products and Services: Bing Microsoft adCenter MSN and Atlas online tools (advertisers and publishers). Competition Major competitors for OSD division are Google, Yahoo!, and many other Web sites that provide content and online ad offerings to its users. Microsoft Business Division Microsoft Business Division (MBD) majorly revolves around the following two: Microsoft Office system Microsoft Dynamics business solutions. 90 % revenue of Microsoft Business Division is from Microsoft Office System. Products and Services: Microsoft Office Microsoft SharePoint Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM Microsoft Office Web Apps Competition Competitors to the Microsoft Office system include Corel, Adobe, Apple, Google, IBM, Novell, Oracle, Red Hat, Zoho, and other local application developers in Europe and Asia. Infor and Sage compete with Microsofts Dynamic Business solution in both small and midsized markets. Oracle and SAP are solution providers to large size organizations. Entertainment and Devices Division The Entertainment and Devices Division is responsible for developing and marketing: the Xbox 360 platform which includes the Xbox 360 gaming and entertainment console with accessories, third-party games, and Xbox LIVE services. Products and Services: Xbox 360 console and games; Xbox LIVE; Windows Phone; Windows Embedded device operating system; and numerous consumer software and hardware products (such as Mac Office, mice, and keyboards); and Windows Automotive. Competition Competitors of entertainment and devices vary in size from very small companies to very large corporations (with substantial financial and marketing resources). Microsofts Xbox gaming and entertainment business competes Nintendo and Sony. Windows Phone faces competition from a large number of players across the globe. Few to name are Apple, Google, Nokia, QUALCOMM, Research In Motion, and Symbian. (https://www.microsoft.com/en/us/sitemap.aspx) FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS                                                    Year Ended June  30,    2010       2009       2008       2007       2006    Revenue    $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  62,484       $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  58,437       $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  60,420       $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  51,122       $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  44,282    Operating income    $ 24,098       $ 20,363       $ 22,271    (c)    $ 18,438       $ 16,380    Net income    $ 18,760       $ 14,569       $ 17,681    (c)    $ 14,065       $ 12,599    Diluted earnings per share    $ 2.10       $ 1.62       $ 1.87       $ 1.42       $ 1.20    Cash dividends declared per share    $ 0.52       $ 0.52       $ 0.44       $ 0.40       $ 0.35    Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments    $ 36,788       $ 31,447       $ 23,662       $ 23,411       $ 34,161    Total assets    $ 86,113       $ 77,888       $ 72,793       $ 63,171       $ 69,597    Long-term obligations    $ 13,791    (a)    $ 11,296    (b)    $ 6,621       $ 8,320       $ 7,051    Stockholders equity    $ 46,175       $ 39,558       $ 36,286       $ 31,097       $ 40,104    Includes $1.25 billion of convertible debt securities issued in June 2010 and $3.75 billion of debt securities issued in May 2009. See Note 12 Debt in the Notes to Financial Statements. (b) Includes $3.75 billion of debt securities issued in May 2009. See Note 12 Debt in the Notes to Financial Statements. (c) Includes charge of $1.4 billion (ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¬899 million) related to the fine imposed by the European Commission in February 2008. (* All figures in Million) (Source Annual report, Microsoft Corporation, 2010) Financial Ratios: Current Ratio : Total current Asset / Total Current Liability = $ 55,676 m / $ 26, 147 m = 2.13 This is also termed as working capital ratio. This ratio gives an idea of how well the company is in a position to pay back its liabilities (short term vs. long term). Compared to Microsofts ratio, Google has a Current ratio of around 10 followed by Adobe, which has a ratio of around 3.5. Quick Ratio : ( current Asset Inventory ) / Current Liability = ($ 55,676 $ 740) m / $ 26, 147 m = 2.1 Quick ratio tells a companys ability to meet its short term liabilities with its most liquid assets. Compared to Microsofts ratio, here again, Google has a Current ratio of around 12 followed by Adobe, which has a ratio of around 4 Cash Ratio: Total Cash / Current Liability = $ 36,788 m / 26,147 m =1.4 Debt to Equity ratio : (Short term debt + long term debt)/ Total stakeholders equity = $ 5,939m/ $ 46,175 m = 0.128 Here, amongst Microsofts competitors, Dell has the highest Debt to Equity ratio of 4.It measures a companys financial leverage by dividing its liabilities to stake holders equity. Financial Leverage : Total Asset / Total Equity =$ 86,113 m / $ 46,175 m = 1.86 Net Profit Margin : Net income / Net revenue = $ 18,760 m / $ 62,484 m =0.30 Return On Asset (ROA) : Net income / Average total asset ( average of current year and previous year) = $ 18,760 m / $ 82,000 m =0.228 =22.8% ROA for Microsoft is highest amongst its competitors followed by google, which has around 19%.It says, how profitable a company is relative to its assets. This makes Microsoft a better investment option for investors. Return On Equity (ROE): Net Income / Average total Equity ( Average of current year and previous year) =$ 18,760 m / $ 42,866 m =0.437 (All calculations are based on financial results of Microsoft for 2010, available at public domain of Microsoft, for its stakeholders) Balance Sheet (In millions)                         June  30,    2010       2009    Assets                         Current assets:                         Cash and cash equivalents    $ 5,505       $ 6,076    Short-term investments (including securities loaned of $62 and $1,540)       31,283          25,371                      Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments       36,788          31,447    Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $375 and $451       13,014          11,192    Inventories       740          717    Deferred income taxes       2,184          2,213    Other       2,950          3,711                      Total current assets       55,676          49,280    Property and equipment, net of accumulated depreciation of $8,629 and $7,547       7,630          7,535    Equity and other investments       7,754          4,933    Goodwill       12,394          12,503    Intangible assets, net       1,158          1,759    Deferred income taxes       0          279    Other long-term assets       1,501          1,599                      Total assets    $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  86,113       $   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  77,888                               Liabilities and stockholders equity                         Current liabilities:                         Accounts payable    $ 4,025       $ 3,324    Short-term debt       1,000          2,000    Accrued compensation       3,283          3,156    Income taxes       1,074          725    Short-term unearned revenue       13,652          13,003    Securities lending payable       182          1,684    Other       2,931          3,142                      Total current liabilities       26,147          27,034    Long-term debt       4,939          3,746    Long-term unearned revenue       1,178          1,281    Deferred income taxes       229          0    Other long-term liabilities       7,445          6,269    Commitments and contingencies                         Stockholders equity:                         Common stock and paid-in capital shares authorized 24,000; outstanding 8,668 and 8,908       62,856          62,382    Retained deficit, including accumulated other comprehensive income of $1,055 and $969       (16,681 )       (22,824 )                   Total stockholders equity       46,175          39,558                      Total liabilities and stockholders equity    $ 86,113       $ 77,888                               (# Microsoft Financial Statement, 2010) STOCK PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN* Among Microsoft Corporation, The SP 500 Index And The NASDAQ Computer Index       6/05       6/06       6/07       6/08       6/09       6/10    Microsoft Corporation    100.00    95.03    121.86    115.40    102.15    100.77 SP 500    100.00    108.63    131.00    113.81    83.98    96.09 NASDAQ Computer    100.00    100.43    126.57    117.26    98.08    119.38 (# Microsoft Financial Statement, 2010) As can be clearly seen, No Agency issues or contingent liabilities could be identified from the financial statements of the company. A company finances its assets through issue of bonds and stocks. Bonds: Bond is a debt instrument. Through bonds, an investor lends money to an entity (corporate or governmental). In return the entity pays the lender a fixed amount of interest. Bonds are issued for a defined period of time. Stocks: Stocks represent the original capital invested by the founders of the company. Later, stocks are divided into shares, having a certain face value. Now, there are two types of stocks, Common stock and Preferred stock. A common stock carries voting rights where as a preferred stock typically does not carry voting rights. Using these two instruments, a company can raise any amount of money to finance its assets. A company, since has many means of financing its assets, it also has a number of obligations to meet. A company usually splits its liabilities into short term (current liability) and long term. A liability must be settled through the payment of an asset in some time in future. A liability which is expected to be liquidated with in a companys operating cycle or one year is called short term liability. Now, any other left over liability which is not expected to be paid in a year are termed as long term liability. ( Bragg.M. Steven., The ultimate accountants reference, 2nd edition, 2006)

Physical Attractiveness and Criminal Behavior Free Essays

Physical unattractiveness, deformity, and disfigurement have been associated with evil since antiquity. In the Iliad, Homer described the wicked Thersites as possessing thin hair over a â€Å"misshapen head,† with one blinking eye and a lame leg. Physiognomy (the â€Å"science† of reading personality characteristics into facial features) traces its practice to Homer’s Greece. We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Attractiveness and Criminal Behavior or any similar topic only for you Order Now When Socrates was convicted for heresy and the corruption of youth in the fifth century B. C. , a physiognomist charged that his face betrayed a brutal disposition. Greek culture embraced the notion that mind and body were interconnected; if a sound mind went together with a sound body, the implication was that a twisted mind resided in a deformed body. Aristotle confirmed this view in his Metaphysics when he reasoned that the essence of the body is contained in the soul. These opinions were ensconced into law in medieval Europe. Among those accused of demonic possession, ecclesiastical edicts interpreted large warts and moles on the skin as physical signs of the entry point of the devil into the soul (Einstadter and Henry 1995). Secular law directed jurists to convict the uglier of two people who were under equal suspicion for a crime (Wilson and Herrnstein 1985). In an echo of these sentiments some years later, Shakespeare’s Cassius, in Julius Caesar (Act I, Scene II), is judged a dangerous man by his â€Å"lean and hungry look. † The link between unattractiveness and criminal behavior remained alive and well in 20th-century American popular culture. In his famous comic strip and in the movies it inspired, cartoonist Chester Gould sharply contrasted the square-jawed, clean-cut good looks of detective Dick Tracy with cutthroat criminals like the flat-headed â€Å"Flattop,† the pointy-snouted â€Å"Mole,† the wrinkle-cheeked â€Å"Pruneface,† and the big-bottomed â€Å"Pear Shape. † Hollywood imitated science in Johnny Handsome (1989), a feature film about a robber with grotesque facial deformities who reforms after receiving extensive cosmetic surgery. Some of the earliest criminological researchers shared this thinking. Physiognomy persisted throughout the 18th century, most notably in the work of Swiss scholar Johan Casper Lavater, whose influential Physiognomical Fragments appeared in 1775. One hundred years later, Italian prison physician Cesare Lombroso published Criminal Man (1876), a famous study that attributed criminal behavior to what he termed â€Å"atavism,† an inherited condition that made offenders evolutionary throwbacks to more primitive humans. By conducting autopsies on 66 deceased criminals, and comparing 832 living prison inmates with 390 soldiers, Lombroso created a list of physical features that he believed were associated with criminal behavior. These â€Å"stigmata† included sloping foreheads, asymmetrical faces, large jaws, receding chins, abundant wrinkles, extra fingers, toes, and nipples, long arms, short legs, and excessive body hair-hardly the image of handsome men. The notion that criminal behavior was related to physical anomalies was dealt a severe blow by the publication of Charles B. Goring’s The English Convict in 1913. This study subjected 37 of Lombroso’s stigmata to empirical testing by comparing 2,348 London convicts to a control group that represented a cross section of young Englishmen. Goring found little support for Lombroso’s arguments, concluding that criminal behavior is caused by inherited feeblemindedness, not physical appearance. Undaunted by these results, Harvard anthropologist Earnest A. Hooton conducted an ambitious 12-year study that compared 13,873 male prisoners in 10 states with a haphazard sample of 3,023 men drawn from the general population, searching once more for physical differences. Hooton published his findings in The American Criminal and Crime and the Man, both books appearing in 1939. The books attributed criminal behavior to biological inferiority and â€Å"degeneration,† ascribing a variety of unattractive physical characteristics to criminals (including sloping foreheads, compressed facial features, drooping eyelids, small, protruding ears, projecting cheekbones, narrow jaws, pointy chins, and rounded shoulders). By the 1930s, however, biological research was rapidly losing favor, as criminologists increasingly argued that social factors alone cause criminal behavior. Hooton’s research was ridiculed in particular, one sociologist dismissing his findings as comically inept in historic proportions (or â€Å"the funniest academic performance†¦ since the invention of movable type† [Reuter 1939]). Hooton was condemned for his circular reasoning: offenders were assumed to be biologically inferior, so whatever features differentiated criminals from noncriminals were interpreted as indications of biological inferiority. Despite the skepticism of many sociologists regarding these attempts to link physical unattractiveness to criminal conduct, self-derogation and general strain theories can explain this relationship. Self-derogation theory asserts that youth who are ridiculed by peers lose self-esteem and the motivation to conform (Kaplan 1980). General strain theory claims that repeated â€Å"noxious,† unwanted interactions produce disappointment, depression, frustration, and anger (Agnew 1992). Both theories see delinquency and crime as means of retaliation that boosts one’s self-worth or vents one’s anger. Certainly, unattractive youths are prime candidates for noxious ridicule that results in low self-esteem and emotional strain. Only a handful of modern studies have tested the relationships among attractiveness, criminal behavior, and perceptions about crime. Saladin, Saper, and Breen (1988), for example, asked 28 students in one undergraduate psychology class to judge the physical attractiveness of a group of photographs of young men. Forty students in another psychology class were asked to examine the same photographs and then assess the probability that those pictured would commit either robbery or murder. The researchers found that men rated as less attractive also were perceived to be prone to commit future violent crimes, suggesting that unattractive people are more likely to be branded as criminals. Another study randomly scrambled 159 photographs of young men incarcerated in juvenile reformatories with 134 photographs of male high school seniors (Cavior and Howard 1973). College sophomores in psychology courses were asked to rate the facial attractiveness of these youth. Significantly more high school seniors were judged attractive than males from the reformatories. In the fascinating policy-oriented research that became the basis for the movie Johnny Handsome, surgeons performed plastic surgery to correct deformities and disfigurements (e. g. , protruding ears, broken noses, unsightly tattoos, and needle track marks from intravenous drug use) on the faces, hands, and arms of 100 physically unattractive men at the time of their release from Rikers Island jail in New York City (Kurtzberg et al. 1978). These ex-convicts were matched against a control group of equally unattractive inmates released from the jail who received no reconstructive surgery. When the researchers compared recidivism rates one-year later, those who received the surgery had significantly fewer rearrests. Apparently, improved appearance resulted in improved behavior. These research findings are preliminary and suggestive; more definitive studies using better measurements are needed. In particular, future research should relate ratings of physical attractiveness to the self-reported riminal behavior of persons taken from the general population. Such studies would rule out the possibility that unattractive offenders are more likely to appear in jails and reformatories simply due to the prejudices of the police and prosecutors. Nevertheless, existing research hints that the folk wisdom dating back to the ancient Greeks may have some basis in reality. Physical appearance is related to self-worth and behavior; as th e adage goes, â€Å"pretty is as pretty does. † When it comes to criminal behavior, the opposite may be true as well. How to cite Physical Attractiveness and Criminal Behavior, Papers

How far do Waltons letters prepare us for the tale which is about to unfold Essay Example For Students

How far do Waltons letters prepare us for the tale which is about to unfold? Essay Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is written in several different narrative frames, the first being Captain Robert Waltons letters to his sister in England, whilst he is on a voyage of discovery to the North Pole. He relates the sightings of the creature and the discovery of Victor Frankenstein in his letters. At the end of the final letter, Walton introduces Victors tale, and we are then assured that the main narrator throughout the novel will be Walton, and that the tale of Victor (and later the tale of the creation) will be related through him. This theme of listening happens to be ongoing throughout the novel. Frankensteins creation tells him: Listen to my tale: when you have heard that, abandon or commiserate me, as you shall judge that I deserve. But hear me. The guilty are allowed, by human laws, bloody as they are, to speak in their own defence before they are condemned. Listening to stories is the essential ingredient to the future success of each of the characters in this novel. We can derive from his letters that Waltons values and morals arent ideal, but from listening to the story of Victor Frankenstein, we assume that Walton can reassess his life and change its course. The telling of stories allows another perspective to be taken into account. Later in the novel we find out that if Victor had heard the tale of his creation before he judged and rejected it, things would have been very different. If the moral in a story is accurately transferred, then the listeners then have the option of rectifying their mistakes and setting themselves back on track. What remains to be seen of course is if the characters identify this opportunity and make use of it. Mary Shelleys Frankenstein fits into the genre of Gothic Horror. In Waltons first letter, even his sister had anticipated his journey with evil forebodings. This is typically gothic; it is daunting and incites trepidation in the reader. We also find out Waltons aims and aspirations, and the plans for his voyage of discovery. Walton seems to be very self-satisfied with his plans, and we get the feeling of pride when he says: I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. Of course this is the typical use of dramatic irony in the Victorian era when pride comes before a fall was a phrase commonly used. This stimulates a feeling of gothic foreboding in the reader, a kind of preparation for what is to come. There is much gothic typicality in the fourth letter, when at the beginning of his story Frankenstein proclaims: Prepare to hear of occurrences which are usually deemed marvellous. Waltons last comment in letter four is equally foreboding: Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it thus! I think these statements are small insights to the tale that is about to unfold they prepare us for the horror of Victors story.