The Narrative Technique of Poe’s Horror Stories

Angela L. Rhea Professor Mack ENGL-2327-XQ2 American Literature I February 28, 2013 The Narrative Technique of Poe’s Horror Stories Edgar Allan Poe writes â€Å"The Black Cat† (695) and â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† (691) in a narrative voice. In writing the stories he uses the narrator to tell about what happened and the acts that were involved when he did what he did. When telling the stories in first person as Poe did, it is hard to determine the real from the false in this type of narrative, as it was with Poe too. He told his stories from the mind of a madman, per se.He tells both stories from the mind of a mentally ill person or from a diseased mind as in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart†. The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. (The Tell Tale Hears, 692)He talks about his disease, referring to his alcoholism being a mental disease. He proves many times throughout the story that he is a mad man. He talks about killing the old man b ecause his eye reminded him of a bird, just the craziness of the human psyche. Poe has a way of showing and defining the human psyche in a demonic fashion.And yet at the same time act like he is not mad and that is what any normal person would do if they are bothered by something or someone. And he shows realism in doing these acts because of how he shows the human emotion in â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart†: â€Å"Yet for some minutes longer, I refrained and kept still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the hear must burst. (The Tell Tale Heart, 693) When he was describing the guilt he had after killing the man. He thought it was his heart beating when in fact; it was his own heart pounding and pounding.These events support the idea that he is mad and confirms the fact that we do not know the reliability of the story at all. Edgar Allan Poe chose to tell his stories the way he did so that he would give the impression that he was not trustworthy. This works towards hi s efforts and would not be the same if told in present tense. Knowing this helps with the message of the story the author is trying to get across as in â€Å"The Black Cat†, â€Å"For the most wild, yet most homely narrative, which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. (The Black Cat, 695) Here at the beginning of the story he leaves you wondering about the credibility of the details and curious if you can trust his story. Edgar Allan Poe wants us to experience the mystery and the climax and surprise that he presents in telling the story. He will start the story with what seems to be a hint of honesty. In â€Å"The Black Cat†, he tells you about his childhood, â€Å"From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. (695) Then he immediately tells you of his alcoholism in â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart†. Poe does not suggest that any o f this would label him as a mad man. He is all to proud of himself on how he was able to come up with the plot in â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† when he stated, â€Å"You should have see how wisely I proceeded with what caution, with what foresight, wit what dissimulation I went to work! † Poe uses the narration to build up the suspense of the stories and how his human nature was pushed to the limits with the old man’s eye and with the black cat and the return of the black cat.He builds up the suspense and then leaves you a bit feeling sorry for him and trying to understand why he did what he did. Then he goes on to act like he has no feeling whatsoever about the killings. The he is almost justified, I mean, wouldn’t you be if you were him? And then human again as he narrates the apparent guilt he felt over the acts as being the key that ultimately got him caught. His mind played tricks on him and he didn’t notice it. http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/po estories/section8. rhtml MLA Citation â€Å"The Narrative Technique Of Edgar Allan Poe†. Anti Essays. 28 Feb. 2013

Pearl Harbor

When it comes down to major events in our countries history such as the attack Pearl Harbor, the acting cast should have put more heart into their characters to put the movie over the top. Throughout the movie, Pearl Harbor, the whole story revolves around the main characters of Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck), Daniel â€Å"Danny† Walker (Josh Hartnett) and Nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale). When it came down to those three characters in the movie, Pearl Harbor, the character development could have been portrayed very differently considering what this event did to the country.All of the acting in this moving seemed as if it was half-hearted and could have been done a lot better. The movie Pearl Harbor is directed by Michael Bay, also with the help of Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace. The main cast now a days is a very popular group of people. The names of Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Alex Baldwin (Major Jimmy Doolittle) and Cuba Gooding Jr. (Petty Officer 2nd Class, Dorie Miller) are the main actors/actress in this movie. The purpose of this movie was to show the story of what happened on December 7, 1941 on the islands of Hawaii. Mostly throughout the movie it was based on the love triangle that occluded between Affleck, Hartnett and Beckinsale. It is kind of a drag to a movie that is supposed to be about the bravery and courage that USA managed to still have after one of the most tragic events ever took place against them. From a character stand point, it could have been acted differently to make up for the fact the movie wasn’t about the details of the war as much as you would expect it to be. Rafe McCawley (Affleck) was always there to protect Danny from all the trouble that he encounters throughout his life. It all started at the beginning of the movie when Danny’s Father hits Danny, Rafe hits his Danny’s Father over the back, which shows right away that he is there to protect him. This is a characteristic that was learned right away about Rafe and how he is when it comes to his best friend. Rafe is a cocky fighter pilot that is in the Army at the time, with his best friend, Danny. Everything about Rafe is either him being cocky when it comes to his flying skills or else being over protective of Danny. When it came to his character it should have een better played out where it was harder to find out what the character is all about, but in this case he was easy to figure out which made the character kind of plain and dull. When it came to emotional scenes, Rafe would not look as emotional as he should when he gets the news he does, the only time he really showed true emotion is when he couldn’t protect Danny, but even then he over acted it. Personally there could have been a few ways Rafe could have showed his emotions differently. For example when he returned from his duties over in Europe, Danny had taken the place of him in Evelyn’s heart. When he returned he found out about this and the way he took it was not the way you would expect it to be handled when a person is in a crisis like this. He kind of just shrugs it off and kind movies on as if it doesn’t affect him. A person now a day would act completely different. They would be very mad at his friend and would have completely disowned his friend and the girl. Not only would that happen the person that would be in Rafe’s shoes would also be most likely be emotionally scared and hurt, not just be able to forget about it and move on with them in his life still. When it came down to Rafe in the movie Pearl Harbor he could have showed more heart and emotion when it came to his character in this movie. Daniel â€Å"Danny† Walker is also an amazing fighter pilot who was Rafe’s wingman. He was always looked at by Rafe as his younger brother and was always being protected from him. He would always want to be there to help out and look out for Rafe as well. When Rafe was over in Europe Danny began to fall for Evelyn, who was at the time Rafe’s girlfriend. He was the caring, sweet character between the two pilots. Just like Rafe, Danny was also a character who was not well developed because he was also very easy to read what kind of person he was. Danny was too sensitive for what his character actually does in this movie. The way he is portrayed in this movie, he would do anything to keep peace and happiness with close people in his life. But the twist was he went for his best friend’s girlfriend and fell in love with her. If he really was as sensitive as he showed while acting, a person like that would truly not do that to their friend. The acting was basically all Hollywood to try to add some extra effects to the movie when what actually happened didn’t fit the way the character acted all movie long. You cannot blame the reason for this on Josh Hartnett, it has to do with the directing and them telling Hartnett how he should perform during these situations. Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) was a nurse that fell madly in love over the charm Rafe had at the medical examinations. Evelyn and Rafe were both stationed in the same location until she was stationed in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Rafe was going over to Europe. She showed her emotions and love for Rafe through notes they would write back and forth. Evelyn, while she was separated from Rafe, in Hawaii got some unwanted news from Danny. After that the two of them started to have a romance between them. When Rafe came back from Europe he was stationed in Hawaii to reunite with his girlfriend and best friend. But that’s when everyone finds out what kind of person Evelyn was. Towards the beginning of the movie she is â€Å"madly in love† with Rafe and all of a sudden after she gets some news, her heart has a change of ways and is going for Rafe’s best friend, Danny. You can understand people have a change of heart and cannot wait around forever, but for a person to stop loving someone and go for their best friend is just something that doesn’t happen too often, especially after the way she shows her affection towards the two men. Once again it was a Hollywood set up to make the movie have more drama to it. They basically added her emotions and this part of the story to the movie to add more length and storyline to it. If these scenes were taken out of the movie, the plot would be a little different but would still have the same concept, also would be a better historical movie rather than a drama movie. When it came to a movie such as Pearl Harbor where this event scared the humanity of America, the movie should have been more focused on the issue it is title after, rather than the love romance that happened between the characters. This movie is a great movie, but if it were to take out the sappy romance or at least have the actors and actress put a little more effort and more timely emotions into the picture it would have made this movie even better. When it comes down to the character development, it made this movie only a good movie compared to the potential to be an excellent movie.

MPH502 - Introduction to Public Health Module 1 - SLP Essay

MPH502 - Introduction to Public Health Module 1 - SLP - Essay Example A research done on the rate of tuberculosis found that there was a rapid increase of 20% in the prevalence of tuberculosis in the United States from 1985 to 1992. HIV and Tuberculosis have also been found out to be related as it is seen in many cases that individuals have both HIV and tuberculosis together (Ferguson & Roads 2009; Robbins et al 2005). The most common reason for the occurrence of tuberculosis is over crowdedness and sanitary problems. It is a disease which is most prevalent in the lower class society as they are more susceptible to unhygienic living. The bacterium M.Tuberculosis is the most common strain which affects the human beings with Tuberculosis in the United States. The dangers posed by the disease Tuberculosis have been realized by many of the organizations worldwide and these organizations have taken preventative measures to ensure that the class of human being remains safe from this disease. World Health Organization is one of these organizations which are taking strict measures to save the world from such an endemic. It is designing new technologies and investing in projects which would provide new treatments of TB to the whole world. They are developing a strategy which would ensure that people with tuberculosis are diagnosed with the disease even before the disease gets active. Specific conditions have been set out by the organization under which it is necessary for the health care professionals to test the individual for any positive signs of Tuberculosis. This early diagnosis would help with the definitive treatment of tuberculosis. Moreover a vaccine is also available for tuberculosis known as the BCG vaccine and this also helps to pre vent the onset of tuberculosis in many infants (Ferguson & Roads 2009; Upshur et al 2009). The organization is recommending ways through which the infection can be controlled. This can be useful in preventing the spread of tuberculosis to the health care

The strengths and limitations of Pro Tools HD as a music production Essay

The strengths and limitations of Pro Tools HD as a music production system - Essay Example The major benefit Pro Tools is that it can be run alone, and can also operate very well using a large assortment of external A/D converters and/or internal Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) (Webopedia) or Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) audio cards with onboard digital signal processor DSP (Dyer and Harms). In essence, Pro Tools similar to most other softwares of Digital Audio Workstation is very much like a tape recorder that is multi-track and has a mixer. There are several other added features that can perform their function only in the digital domain. Pro tools supports all of 16-bit, 24-bit and the 32-bit float audio at several different sample rates of which the maximum is 192 kHz. Pro tools can also well handle Waveform Audio File Format (WAV) ( IBM Corporation and Microsoft Corporation), Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF), AIFC, WMA, mp3 and SDII audio files as well as the QuickTime video files. A prominent feature of Pro tools is its time code, elast ic audio, tempo maps, automation and the surround sound capabilities. Pro Tools was initially developed by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks, both graduates of UC Berkeley. Majors of computer sciences and electrical engineering, Pro Tools began in 1984 as just a sound designer whose original purpose was to tidy up sounds for the E-MU keyboard (emulator archive). Both Brooks and Gotcher tried merging Pro Tools with E-MU. This proposition was rejected and lead to the invent of Digidesign (Brooks) now known as Avid technology. Sound Tools originally began on the 20th of January in the year 1989 at the National Association of Music Merchandisers (NAMM). Initially, it was just a simple tool that was computer based and was uses as a stereo audio editor. The software had tremendous amount of potential which was limited by the technology of hard drives (NAMM.org). The first album which was recorded and edited as well as mixed entirely with the aid of Pro Tools was The Beach Boys ‘summer i n Paradise’ in the year 1991. The album was released 1992. "Livin la Vida Loca" a song by Ricky Martin was released in the year 1999 and was the first ever song edited and mixed on Pro Tools to reach the stature of the No. 1 single. Version 2.0 of garbage was the first ever Pro Tool edited album to win a nomination for Grammy awards in the category of ‘Album of the Year’. The entire album was solely edited and mixed with the help of Pro Tools. Eventual successes as these go on to prove the success and usefulness of Pro Tools. There are several recording artists that now prefer to record their songs without the help of Pro Tools. A prominent such name is Jack White belonging to The White Stripes who argued that this tool was not highly appropriate for the purposes of recording music. He was perhaps right in saying that tools such as these were destroying the true essence of recorded music. It made fixing of the mistakes too easy recording artist and the end result or the recorded song was more of a Pro Tool fix up then the artistic effort by the recording artist. He was also right to say that Pro Tools produced the end result so perfect that music instead of sounding like it was sung by someone sounds all the same because of the near to perfect qualities added into it. He was of the opinion that this was not what music was about and it shouldn’t be what people have to hear. They had a right to know music in

Market strector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Market strector - Essay Example very difficult due to the strong hold of the said organization this type of market existence, in which the firm has the strongest hold over the industry, is called monopoly. (McConnell, Brue, 2006). There are two types of monopolies. Natural Monopoly exists when an organization possesses a strategic control over assets or production, operations and/or distribution systems pertaining its particular product or industry. (Brakman, Heijdra, 2004). For example, an organization providing the government with the nuclear power plant energy would have a natural monopoly since it is performing a task which is highly strategic in nature. On the other hand, Coercive Monopoly refers to any other type of monopoly that has been acquired deliberately. It includes erecting barriers for potential competitors to enter into the business, acquiring patents, mergers & acquisitions with the competitors to engulf competition, etc. (Brakman, Heijdra, 2004). Firms often tend to achieve monopoly through erecting barriers for potential competitors to enter the market. These barriers may be of three types. The â€Å"economic barriers† include economies of scale (largely reducing costs through mass, full scale production), large capital requirements, technological superiority and absence of close substitute products. The â€Å"legal barriers† refer to intellectual property rights including patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. which provide an organization with a strong edge over the competitors. Firms may also indulge in â€Å"deliberate action† including lobbying the government and concerned parties, collusion, etc. to acquire monopoly. (McConnell, Brue, 2006). The barriers like high liquidation costs that make it difficult for a firm to leave a business may also keep them from entering it enhancing the monopolistic effect of the already existing firm in the market. (McConnell, Brue, 2006). Firms may acquire patents in order to secure their monopolistic presence. They may come up with any

The Expert Witness Controversy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Expert Witness Controversy - Essay Example One of the initial problems with expert testimony is that it is used by both the prosecution and the defense. The two experts must necessarily be at opposition in an effort to help their side's case and one of them must be wrong. This is further complicated by the vast number of "Expert Testimony Services" that have cropped up in recent years as lawyers and investigators pursue an expert-for-hire strategy. Some of these firms have been criticized for advertising that they will be paid only if they win the case. This is contrary to science and removes the neutrality of the scientific method. This attitude extends itself into the prosecution as government and police labs exaggerate claims or suppress evidence. In the case of Bromgard vs. Montana, Jimmy Ray Bromgard was convicted of raping an 8 year old girl based on a forensics expert who testified that the hair found at the scene had only a 1 in 10000 chance of not being Bromgard's. This expert testimony was fraudulent as there were n o means to statistically match hairs through microscopic inspection. Another problem with expert testimony enters the courtroom by way of new technology that may be unproven and unreliable. Termed "junk science", it is sometimes used by the defense to instill reasonable doubt, and more often by the prosecution to sway a jury in their favor. The 1993 case of Daubert vs. Merrill Dow Pharmaceutical set strict guidelines that lower courts must use to determine the admissibility of scientific evidence. It mandated that expert testimony be proven valid, reliable, peer reviewed, and generally accepted by the scientific community (Junk science, 2005). However, as new technology arises, it finds its way into court cases and is only upheld or overturned after years of appeal. When first introduced, fingerprint enhancement was labeled by defense attorneys as "...junk science, unreliable, and easily manipulated" (DeMarzo, 2003). Though the appeals process eventually upheld this technique, it runs the risk of alienating a jury and may result in a guilty verdict be ing overturned on appeal. The American Medical Association has been proactive in protecting the credibility of its profession by setting standards for medical testimony. In 1998 they adopted a policy that states, "... expert witness testimony is the practice of medicine subject to peer review" (Reardon, 1998). Medical malpractice suits and the questionable ethics of a Doctor receiving a contingency fee upon winning the case should arouse a sense of trouble in all involved. Expert testimony as it pertains to psychiatry is equally as troublesome as was seen in the case of John Hinkly. More recently, the case of Andrea Yates was overturned and ordered a new trial because of inaccurate testimony given by a leading forensic psychiatrist for the prosecution (Hausman, 2005). Further complicating the case was the controversial "Postpartum

Application for Chartered Status in Energy (Professional Recognition) Essay

Application for Chartered Status in Energy (Professional Recognition) - Essay Example The last five years of my career have been particularly focused on energy analysis, and it is in gaining these competencies that I believe that I have become able to meet the criteria set by your institute. My central area of expertise is in renewable energy, and in this pursuit, I have become skilled in technical standards development, feasibility studies, energy efficiency and building design. Within the renewable energy framework, my focus has been on photovoltaic systems in the form of standalone generation solutions, which includes solar water heating appropriate to building requirements and to help achieve sustainability targets through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally among the standalone systems I have experience of as a member of teams is in the evaluation of double-effect solar cooling systems. This experience was gained in the testing of the viability of using the sun’s heat to cool buildings in the Masdar City project, referred to in more det ail below. Furthermore, I have been involved in numerous feasibility studies to evaluate renewable energy efficiency options in the building services. Simultaneously, I have become experienced in the conceptualisation of delivery models; the establishment of management systems; engineering design; technical specification development; and the management of projects. Solid waste treatment has been part of my responsibility, as have types of tunnel ventilation. Currently my desire is to extend my career into a position with a growth-oriented organisation, where my technical and commercial, as well as my managerial capabilities can be exercised. I wish to secure an upper-level position, which will be able to provide challenges and rewards by offering a wide-ranging set of responsibilities, both in terms of engineering and leadership. While this may be possible outside of my particular specialities, fire fighting design and LPG design, it would also not be impossible for me to find new c hallenges and directions within this direction. Nonetheless, I would appreciate the recognition of what I have done already. Therefore, I respectfully wish to submit that my qualification levels, the variety of my experience, and my continuing contribution in the field enable me to apply for the abovementioned recognition through your organisation. PROFESSIONAL HISTORY Above and beyond my academic qualifications – my MSc Thesis was entitled â€Å"Fuel cells and Efficient Power Generation† – , my current experience and work history enable me with confidence to list a number of key competencies, and engineering related skills which I am able to deliver well. Additionally, specific aspects of my experience are highlighted, as they relate to this application. These are noted below, as a precursor to a more detailed description of a number of highlights in my career, relevant to this application. Current Competencies Summary An outline of my competencies related to m anagement, leadership and project management: Good communication skills in Serbian, English and Russian (at an intermediate level) Client liaison, project management briefing and presentation; and ongoing client support and maintenance of client relationships Independent organisational and managerial

Silt recycling companies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Silt recycling companies - Research Paper Example Volkmar, et al, (2005:43) noted that silt is formed from various weathering processes that result to the breakdown of weakened sand quartz crystals structures. In addition, sludge consists of substantial amounts of silt. There are various weathering processes involved in the breakdown of these crystals including chemical, biological and physical weathering processes. However, physical weathering is the most prevalent method of silt formation that occurs in artificial processes such as building, transport, grinding and construction, (Volkmar, et al, 2005: 59). Similarly, substantial amount of silt is formed from glacial movements and in deserts or semi arid regions (Agathos and Walter, 2005: 28). Importance of silt recycling Silt recycling is an important economic and environmental practice and many companies are currently engaged in the business. Silt is normally transported and deposited in water bodies such as lakes, dams, and rivers. According to Balata, Piazzi, and Benedetti (200 7:79), soil erosion especially in rural areas and construction industry in urban areas causes massive transportation of silt into water bodies. When the sediments are retained in the water bodies, they reduce the volume of water that could be stored in the water body and this causes diverse environmental, social, and economic problems. These include reduced capacity of producing hydroelectric power, flooding and lack of enough water to sustain the surrounding communities (Benbi, and Nieder, 2008: 43). In pastoral communities especially in dry areas, De’ Haas, et al (2005) noted that siltation in dams is one of the major cause of conflict. In addition, siltation in dams increases the cost of maintenance and water treatment. Consequently, water supply, fisheries and tourism are adversely affected. Moreover, silt deposits forms one of the most fertile regions for crop cultivation and some regions along major rivers such as river Nile and Mississippi are some of most important fo od producing parts in the world (Cerling, James, and Denise (2005). In this respect, silt recycling is important in order to enhance its economic importance and minimize the adverse environmental impacts. Many companies are currently engaged in silt recycling business because of environmental and economic reasons. Silt recycling provides an effective way of improving the health of agricultural soils and at the same time enhancing the capacity of water storage bodies. According to Benbi and Nieder, (2008: 38), the interactions between lands, water and human beings are highest in water bodies such as dams and the resulting sediments provides very high agricultural and ecological potentials. Because of the discovered potential, companies are increasingly recycling silt to improve agricultural capacity of soils, while at the same time enhancing the capacity of the water bodies to store water and serve their ecological and environmental functions. In addition, silt recycling provides com panies with the opportunity of reducing the environmental impact of the silt especially in regions where the soils has been contaminated by harmful chemicals and heavy metals (Sutherland, and Meyer, 2007: 91). In construction industry, silt is produced in large quantities and it presents serious storage and transportation problem. In such circumstances, silt-recycling companies in the construction industry make sand and coarse aggregates from silts and fines that are used in other

Sniffing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sniffing - Research Paper Example To Orebaugh, et al (2004), Sniffing fall into the category of wiretapping as it is a form of wiretap installed to computer networks as an alternative of phone networks. The device records the content conversation without the other party consent. Many organizations use this device to fix remote sniffing programs on routers and servers, which in turn, assists in traffic flows. In my opinion, it is illegal for organizations to use sniffer to secret monitor employee activities without their approval. Although it may be done to increase productivity, it is paramount for the other party to approve the activities carried out by the organization. My feeling about sniffer use both by insiders of organizations as well as outsiders is that, it should not occur unless a court order has been issued. It should only be carried when there is parties consent. However, when issued by the court it can be done to access employees input to the organization, and this may be helpful in enhancing productivity and company’s growth. If I would craft a law about packet sniffing, it would ensure that it only done to the parties consent. It would include rules and regulation to follow before using it. A court order would be issued before the devices are attached to the phone or any device. In turn, this would protect employees and clients from harassment and protection against theft. Stevens, G. M., Doyle, C., & Library of Congress. (2009).  Privacy: An overview of federal statutes governing wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research

Japan Constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Japan Constitution - Essay Example The Meiji Restoration heralded the rise of Japan as an industrial and military power. The oligarchy consolidated itself under the leadership of the Emperor, and made an effort to destroy remaining vestiges of samurai and shogun power. Lands were sought to be restored to the Emperor. The Samurai's privilege to bear arms was diluted by extending this to the peasants, as well, and conscription into the army of a male member from each family in the country also came into effect. The samurai was disgruntled with what it saw as a clipping of its wings. But along with that, they also moved into other areas, seeking employment in the government, and became a new elite in Japan. It was against the above backdrop that a constitution was promulgated in Japan, and came into effect in 1889. This Constitution enshrined the Emperor as the supreme political head, who shared power with an elected Diet or parliament. The Meiji Constitution continued till Japan was defeated in the Second World War, after which a new constitution came into effect. The Meiji Constitution marks the first time that Japan has had a written constitution. In actual practice since the emperor's powers had been curtailed, prior to the Meiji Restoration Japan was only a de jure monarchy, the actual powers often having been exercised either by an oligarchy or by the Samurai from time to time.To draft the Meiji Constitution Japan studied those of the US, Britain, Spain, France and Prussia. The Meiji constitution seems to have been considerably influenced by the Prussian one. It has seven chapters, consisting of seventy-six articles. It also has a Preamble, an Imperial Oath Sworn in the Sanctuary in the Imperial Palace, and an Imperial Rescript on the Promulgation of the Constitution. All told, it is a document of less than 4000 words. The seven chapters headings are: 1-The Emperor; 2- The Rights and Duties of Subjects; 3-The Imperial Diet; 4-The Ministers of State and the Privy Council; 5- The Judicature; 6- Finance; and 7- The Supplementary Rules. (The Meiji Constitution) There are portions in this Constitution, that are worded ambiguously, and it was left to the political leaders and parties of the time to interpret it either as supportive of the monarch, or as a document that established a liberal democratic system. This Constitution rests on the basic premise that the Emperor's ancestry is divine, and therin lies his legitimacy. He thus combines in his person, the powers of the legislature, executive as well as the judiciary: "Article 3. The Emperor is sacred and inviolable." (The Meiji Constitution) But Article 4 states that, "The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution." (The Meiji Constitution) A subsequent article (55) however stated that the Emperor's powers were subject to ratification by a Minister of State, whose appointment was strangely in the hands of the monarch himself.The duties and rights of the people were spelt out by the Constitution. A subject had the duty of protecting the Constitution. (Preamble) He also had to serve in the army, if called upon to do so. (Article 20) He enjoyed certain rights, provided these did not come in

Innocence and experience Essay Example for Free

Innocence and experience Essay When the theme of innocence and experience is being discussed you can distinguish the correlation between them, ho they both tie into one another. People view childhood as a time of innocence, growth, and freedom from the responsibilities of maturity, whereas adulthood is a time of experience. This coming of age is actually a time where we re-evaluate our identity as adolescences. It is the time in our lives where we continue to find our true selves and explore who we are by experiencing rough circumstances in life-even if it becomes a painful process-while being subjected to an awakening of a bigger picture of life outside our small world. In Araby by James Joyce, we can visualize the transition from fantasy to reality. The narrator thinks of an entire event in the form of an epic quest. He puts Mangan’s sister up on a pedestal and makes himself think he is a knight going after the princess. After hearing the conversation at the bazaar, the narrator reaches an epiphany but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love for Mangan’s sister, he gives up. The boy has his epiphany, but we never find out what happens to his plans or ambitions after the epiphany. Araby focuses on the sudden transition from the illusions of childhood to the insight of maturity. He also leaves out the character’s names to show they haven’t developed a mature identity yet. The boy in Araby experiences the disillusionment in his ideas. At some point in our lives we experience something that begins to diminish what is left of our innocence. But this loss of innocence is what helps us move to a greater wisdom about ourselves and the world around us.

Vygotskys Work on the Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotskys Work on the Zone of Proximal Development Critically evaluate the contribution of Vygotskys work on the Zone of Proximal Development Vygotskys original ideas on the relationship between child development and learning, leading to his concept of the ‘zone of proximal development, have become hugely influential in education and teaching practice, spawning much research in this field in recent years.   It is important firstly, to situate  Vygotskys work alongside that of Piaget, whose theories have underpinned much of educational thinking and practice for many decades.   The concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) has opened up many new ideas, not only about the nature of child development itself, but also about how children may be helped to learn more effectively within the classroom context.   Researchers have studied work within the ZPD from a variety of perspectives and there are clearly contrasting views, emanating from Vygotskys work, about the nature of childrens learning and how it might best be enhanced through the interrelationships between children and adults and children and their p eers.   Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist writing in the 1920s and early 1930s, presented a view of child development and learning which was radically different from that of his contemporary, Piaget. Piagets work achieved recognition and subsequently became highly influential in the realm of education and teaching practice. However, as highlighted by Schaffer (1996) and Faulkner and Woodhead (1999), Vygotsky died in 1934 and his ideas became recognised only more recently, having been translated, during the 1960s and 1970s, into English from Russian.  Vygotsky criticised Piagets basic notion that the developmental process begins in infancy with the child progressing through a period of relative egocentricity, eventually reaching a condition in which his or her thinking and behaviour become socialised.   He suggests that this approach â€Å"precludes the notion that learning may play a role in the course of development or maturation of those functions activated in the course of learningâ⠂¬  (Vygotsky, 1978, p.79).   Whilst Piaget, then, essentially saw the child as initially egocentric, only gradually becoming a social being, Vygotsky turned this view completely around, suggesting that even the youngest infant is profoundly social.   In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky believed that development moves from the social to the individual, the child progressively achieving self-awareness and a capacity for reflection through his or her interaction with others. Vygotsky, then, argued that interaction with others is crucial for the childs achievement of mental maturity and individuality.   He suggested further that this achievement depends upon interactions with those people, within the childs environment, who are more capable and advanced than the child.   Processes of interaction, through discussion and argument between the child and these others, become the basis for processes which take place within the child at an individual level (Faulkner and Woodhead, 1999).   These notions form the basis of what Vygotsky has termed the ‘zone of proximal development (ZPD).   Vygotsky (1978) points out that it has been commonly understood that learning, and instruction, should be matched in some way to the childs developmental level.   The teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic, for example, has been traditionally initiated at a specific age level.  However, according to Vygotsky, we should not â€Å"limit ourselves merely to d etermining developmental levels if we wish to discover the actual relations of the developmental process to learning capabilities† (Faulkner and Woodhead, 1999a, p.11).   Instead, he suggests that we must take account of at least two developmental levels. Vygotsky acknowledged the existence of the actual developmental level which is the summation of a childs mental functions, as determined through the childs performance on a battery of tests or tasks at varying degrees of difficulty.   He argues, however, that, through testing in this way, we tend to judge the level of the childs mental abilities according to those things that children can do on their own.   If the child is offered leading questions or is helped towards a solution in collaboration with other children, thereby perhaps just missing an independent solution to the problem, this is not regarded as evidence for his or her mental development (Vygotsky,1978).   We have failed, then, according to Vygotsky, to recognise that what children can do with the assistance of others could be even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do on their own. The zone of proximal development, then, constitutes those mental functions which are currently in an embryonic state but in the process of maturation.   Vygotsky summarises this idea thus â€Å"the actual developmental level characterises mental development retrospectively, while the zone of proximal development characterises mental development prospectively† (Faulkner and Woodhead, 1999a, p.12).   Vygotsky suggested, then, that if we were to seek to discover the maturing functions of a young child, his or her capabilities as shown in collaboration with others, we will be able to obtain an accurate picture of that childs future actual developmental level.   In terms of classroom practice, instruction which aims for a new stage in the developmental process, rather than oriented towards learning which has already been mastered, is seen as ultimately more effective for the learning process.   Vygotsky essentially argued that the relationship between learning and developme nt is not straightforward with development following school learning in a linear way.   Rather, the two processes tend to interact with each other continually in highly complex and dynamic ways (Vygotsky, 1978). The Vygotskian concept of the zone of proximal development, along with others, such as scaffolding and guided participation, is central to the socio-cultural approach to development.   Guided participation, for example, as outlined by Rogoff (1990), is rooted in the idea that cognitive, linguistic and social competencies are developed through childrens active participation in a variety of adult-guided activities.   Meadows (1994) describes how the more expert person, whether adult or peer, provides a context or â€Å"scaffolding† within which the child may act as though he or she were able to solve the problem posed and, ultimately, indeed master the problem.   The adult, for example, gradually leaves more for the child to do as he or she becomes more familiar with the task and is able to accomplish the whole task successfully and independently.   Once the task, together with its associated cognitive competency, is achieved, the child is then able to develop and pass o n these skills to peers.   Commentators such as Faulkner et al (1998) and King and ODonnell(1999) have highlighted that Vygotskys concept of ZPD has been commonly understood to imply that neither the task difficulty nor the guidance given to children should be too far in advance of their current level of ability.   The research evidence, particularly that presented by Tudge et al (1996) and Tharp and Gallimore (1998), for example, seems to be generally supportive of this observation.  Schaffer (1996) expands on Vygotskys emphasis on the importance of the ‘knowledgeable other for childrens learning and development.   He highlights the distinction between vertical and horizontal (also known as asymmetrical and symmetrical) relationships, and the unique contribution that each kind of relationship makes to childrens development.   Vertical relationships are those in which partners have unequal power and knowledge, such as that between adult and child or achild and older sibling.   The equal status between peers in horizontalrelationships, as Schaffer points out, allows children the opportunityto acquire skills, such as those involving co-operation andcompetition, turn-taking, sharing and leadership qualities moreeffectively than might be possible through, say family relationshipswhich are not egalitarian in terms of knowledge and power. Many researchers focus on play as an important medium through whichyounger children develop skills in negotiating shared understandingswith each other.   Pretend play, in particular, was seen by Vygotsky asproviding opportunities for children to explore role relationships andacquire social skills, perspectives and cultural roles that are far inadvance of their ‘actual developmental level.   Pretend play, thus,constitutes a good example of learning within the ZPD since childrenare constructing for themselves many possibilities for learning.   Whenwe consider peer collaboration in general, whether inside or outsidethe classroom, the concept of prolepsis, first articulated byRommetveit (1979), cited in Goncu (1998), has been identified as animportant mechanism through which children construct and communicateunderstandings with each other.   Stone (1993), for example, describesprolepsis as a communicative device whereby children take for grantedthat their partners share the ir knowledge and, therefore, will leaveimplicit some of the meaning embedded in that knowledge (cited inFaulkner and Woodhead, 1999).   This, in turn, is said to motivatepartners to test out assumptions about each others meanings andunderstandings, creating a climate for intersubjectivity to develop.   Schaffer (1996), however, points out that simply providing childrenwith appropriate experiences, whether in play or structured group workwithin the classroom, is insufficient for effective new learning totake place.   In keeping with the concept of ZPD, Schaffer defineseffective tuition as teaching which elicits from the child performanceat a developmentally advanced level.   Like Meadows (1994) mentionedearlier, Wood (1988) and Schaffer (1996) also argue that effectiveteaching involves the gradual transfer of responsibility for masteringthe task in hand from adult to child, as the child is able to masterincreasingly complex aspects of that task.   Although these lattertheorists focus upon adult-child tuition, these ideas could applyequally well to the transfer of skills and knowledge between childrenand their peers (Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky saw the ZPD as an essential feature of learning,maintaining that â€Å"learning awakens a variety of internal developmentalprocesses that are able to operate only when the child is interactingwith people in his environment and in co-operation with his peers†(1978, p.90).   However, as Faulkner and Woodhead (1999) point out,children do not necessarily acquire communicative and social skillsfrom each other.   Neither can it be assumed that effective learning isachieved by the strategies teachers use through discussion.   It seemsclear that, for example, in group situations the social dynamicsdictate that individuals tend to take on different roles.   Someindividuals emerge as dominant or natural leaders; some take on therole of mediator or critic or perhaps adopt a very passive stance.   Itcannot be assumed, therefore, that even the most skilled tutor canensure that group discussion and interaction will create an effectivelearning space for each participant (F aulkner and Woodhead, 1999). Researchers such as Wood (1988) and Mercer (1995) have noted thatformal teaching and learning contexts are ‘contrived encounters in thesense that, in contrast to informal, spontaneous gatherings, peoplehave to acquire specific ways of talking and behaving according toparticular ground rules.   Edwards and Mercer (1987) have presented adetailed analysis of one common teaching strategy, defined as theinitiation-response-feedback (IRF) mode of exchange.   In the IRF mode,the teacher initiates by posing a particular question or problemassociated with the topic of the lesson and pupils respond and aregiven feedback in terms of the rightness or wrongness of theiranswers.   However, it is argued that this reduces learning into asomewhat sophisticated guessing game which renders children as passiverespondents, merely trying to search for the answers required of them,rather than as active participants, through perhaps posing questions oftheir own, in the learning process (Wood, 19 88).   Mercer (1995) explores this theme further in his analysis of classroomdiscourse and its role in knowledge creation.   He describes how jointunderstandings and shared frames of reference between pupils andteachers are established in effective classroom discourse.   The aims ofskilled teachers are seen as firstly, to orientate students learningactivities to the formal curriculum, secondly, to co-construct with thestudents a shared understanding of educational knowledge and thirdly,to help students commit their learning to memory (Mercer, 1995).   Inhis socio-cultural analysis of the teaching/learning process, Mercerhighlights the many ways in which teachers sustain classroom discourseby â€Å"confirming, reformulating, repeating, elaborating, rejecting orignoring the contributions learners make to classroom discussions†(Faulkner and Woodhead, 1999, p.84).   Through his extensive experienceof classroom research across different societies, Mercer concludes thatsuch guidanc e strategies, although commonly used in schooled societies,are underpinned by certain ‘common-sense assumptions about teachingand learning and may, therefore, be questioned and challenged. Mercer and Fisher (1998) argue that scaffolding, as a concept, isuseful for analysing how teachers may actively organise and supportchildrens learning when they in pairs or small groups.   However, theymaintain that a focus upon learning within the ZPD is too narrowlyrestricted to the dyadic interactions between adults and children andis therefore less useful within the classroom context.   They suggestthat in terms of analysing the quality of teaching and learning inclassrooms, the ZPD seems to have limited applicability becauseâ€Å"practical circumstances force most teachers to plan activities on thescale of classes or groups, not individuals.   The notion of any groupof learners having a common ZPD seems untenable!†(Mercer and Fisher,1998, p.127).   Other researchers, however, such as Moll and Whitmore (1998), haveargued that the ZPD concept can be useful in classroom contexts.   Theysuggest that traditional conceptions of ZPD based on dyadicinteractions are, indeed, too narrow and do not account for thesocio-cultural dimensions of the classroom as a context for learning.  Moll and Whitmore (1998) use examples of childrens written work todemonstrate how one particular class teacher provided a series of‘authentic social contexts within which her bilingual students wereable to explore the myriad of oral and written conventions of theirlanguages.   Moll and Whitmore (1998), thus, suggest that it isunnecessary to view ZPD simply in terms of the characteristic of eachindividual child but that classrooms can accommodate ‘collectiveZPDs.   They redefine the ZPD as â€Å"a zone where children can beencouraged to participate in collaborative activity within specificsocial (discourse) environments† (Moll and Whi tmore, 1998, p. 132).  They conclude that classrooms should be viewed as socio-cultural systems where, over time, teachers and students build up a history of shared understandings and generate new knowledge. The idea of creating shared meanings and joint understandings, whilst central to the socio-cultural approach to teaching and learning, has been queried in other circles.   Stone (1998), for example, has been concerned to elaborate more precisely the mechanisms involved in the process of intersubjectivity.   He argues that the quality of the interpersonal relationship between teacher and learner is crucial for the quality of learning that takes place within the classroom.   Stone emphasises the importance of shared understanding between teacher and learner and observes that adults may not always be sensitive enough to the lack of understanding, particularly in younger children, of the pragmatic conventions apparent for effective communication and dialogue.   He is particularly concerned to point out that shared understandings and commonly understood frames of reference between teacher and pupils do not occur instantly but take time to develop.  The argument for longitudinal studies, such as the research by Moll and Whitmore (1998) mentioned earlier, is therefore a strong one since these provide a richer description over time of teacher/learner relationships than ‘snapshot studies of isolated teaching and learning exchanges which can often produce a skewed and negative view of teachers competence. King and ODonnell (1999) point out that although Vygotsky himself focused more on the benefits of adult-child interactions rather than those of peer collaborations, his theory has â€Å"tremendous implications for our understanding of peer collaboration† (p.40). Many researchers have explored the ways in which peer interaction impacts upon childrens learning, problem solving and cognitive development.   Forman and Cazdan, for example, investigated how â€Å"the reasoning strategies of collaborative problem solvers differ from those of solitary problem solvers† (1998, p.192).   They compared the performance of three pairs of 9 year old children working on a series of scientific reasoning tasks with the performance of three pairs of 9 year old children working alone on identical problems.   They found that, when a Vygotskian perspective is adopted, children gained more valuable social and linguistic experiences through working collaboratively on the tasks than throu gh working alone on the same tasks. King and ODonnell (1999), along with Light and Littleton (1998),provide evidence that, in some circumstances, peer interaction does not promote individual cognitive progress.   Not all children work well together, and not all tasks are conducive to joint problem solving.  King and ODonnell (1999), for example, argue that applying Vygotskys theory to collaborative problem-solving involves more than simply pairing a child with a more competent other and focusing on the interactions between them.   They suggest that relying on the ZPD in terms of the interpersonal aspects of interaction is insufficient.  What is required instead, according to King and ODonnell, is anâ€Å" interweaving of different aspects of development, involving the individual and the cultural-historical as well as the interpersonal†(1999, p.40).   They cite evidence which demonstrates that not all social interaction has beneficial effects and, under some conditions, collaboration can, in fact, have detrimental outcomes.   Factors such as age, gender and ability level of the child and partner(s) and childrens motivation to collaborate can all affect the quality of learning outcome.   The extent to which children are exposed to more sophisticated reasoning by a partner together with willingness to accept and use that reasoning can also play a key role.   King and ODonnell, thus, note that â€Å"individual and contextual factors interact and mutually affect each other† (1999, p.46). King and ODonnell (1999) cite other research by Ellis and Rogoff(1982; 1986) and Gauvin and Rogoff (1989) which provides support for the idea that a ZPD can be constructed with either an adult or a peer.  However, they also point out that this research â€Å"indicates that pairing with an adult has different consequences (often more beneficial) for childrens learning† (King and ODonnell, 1999, p.50).   Many researchers have explored the ways in which teachers can guide knowledge construction through promoting effective group work in the classroom.   As mentioned earlier, children are likely to need adult input if they are to work on collaborative tasks productively.   Tharp and Gallimore (1998), for example, use the concept of scaffolding to support their argument that individual self-determined competence in any area may be generated only after successful performance has been achieved by assisted learning in the childs ZPD.   They characterise the ZPD not as a disti nct, discrete growing point for an individual child but rather as a complex array of growing edges involving all areas of developing competence.   They describe in some detail how the adult assistance provided between parent and child is not a linear, step-like procedure but an ongoing process involving a myriad of reciprocal interactions which reflect, monitor and adjust to the childs learning needs at any given time.   Tharp and Gallimore argue that â€Å"attempts by assisting adults to assess a childs readiness for greater responsibility (in the mastery of a task) often are subtle and embedded in the ongoing interaction† (1998, p.105). One example of teaching as assisted performance through the ZPD, as delineated by Tharp and Gallimore (1998), is the study by Baker-Sennett et al (1998) which explored the relationship between group collaborative processes and the nature of childrens creativity.   This study includes a fascinating account of the ways in which the ideas, planning and organisation of a play based on a fairy tale by one group of six girls, aged between seven and nine, changed over a period of one month.   The role of the class teacher in structuring the task for her pupils was also discussed.   The ways in which this teacher encourages the girls to reflect upon and address the interpersonal dilemmas they encounter are also illuminated in the research report.   Baker-Sennett et al (1998) draw out the evidence in the study for the girls movement, collectively, through parallel interpersonal zones as well as literary, creative zones.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tharp and Gallimore (1998) suggest, however, that the kind of assisted performance commonly evident, and successful, in the interactions of parents and children is rarely found in teacher/student relationships within the classroom.   The assistor, if he or she is to work effectively within the ZPD, must remain in close touch with the learners relationship to the task.   In short, it seems that commonly in the classroom, there are too many children for each teacher and not enough time available for working closely enough with the ZPD.   As Tharp and Gallimore observe, â€Å"public education is not likely to reorganise into classrooms of seven pupils each† (1998, p.107).   They do remain optimistic, however, suggesting that small group collaborative working, promoted through innovative instructional practices, together with the increasing use of new materials and technology could create the conditions for assisted performance to flourish in the future. In conclusion, then, Vygotskys work on the zone of proximal development, and its associated concepts of scaffolding and guided participation, has stimulated thinking and research about the nature of child development itself, its relationship to childrens learning and the implications for classroom practice.   It seems clear that there are contrasting views on the ways in which children relate to the ‘knowledgeable other, the nature and value of peer collaboration, the nature and extent of adult-assisted learning and the implications of all this for the quality of learning achievable.   As Tharp and Gallimore (1998), King and ODonnell (1999) and others argue, it seems that working effectively with the ZPD must take account of not only individual factors and immediate interpersonal interactions between children, adults and peers, but also the myriad of cultural-historical influences upon children and adults.   This undoubtedly presents a challenge in terms of current constr aints on classroom size and organisation in public education.   Some research studies, for example the account by Baker-Sennett et al (1998), have shown that through sensitive and creative classroom practice the conditions for optimal learning through working with the ZPD can be created.  Ã‚  Ã‚   References Baker-Sennett, J, Matusov, E, Rogoff, B (1998) ‘Sociocultural processesof creative planning in childrens playcrafting, in Faulkner, D,Littleton, K, Woodhead, M, Learning Relationships in the Classroom,Routledge, London, pp. 237-257 Edwards, D, Mercer, N (1987) Common Knowledge: the development of understanding in the classroom, Methuen, London Faulkner, D, Woodhead, M (1999) Child Development in Families,Schools and Society Study Guide, The Open University, Milton Keynes Faulkner, D, Woodhead, M (1999a) Child Development in Families,Schools and Society Offprints, The Open University Press, MiltonKeynes Forman, E, Cazdan, C (1998) ‘Exploring Vygotskian perspectives ineducation: the cognitive value of peer interaction, in Faulkner, D,Littleton, K, Woodhead, M, Learning Relationships in the Classroom,Routledge, London, pp. 189-206 Goncu, A (1998) ‘Development of intersubjectivity in social pretendplay, in Woodhead, M, Faulkner, D, Littleton, K, Cultural Worlds ofEarly Childhood, Routledge, London, pp. 117-132 King, A, ODonnell, A.M (1999) Cognitive Perspectives on Peer Learning, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London Light, P, Littleton, K (1998) ‘Cognitive approaches to group work,in Faulkner, D, Littleton, K, Woodhead, M, Learning Relationships inthe Classroom, Routledge, London, pp. 171-188 Meadows, S (1994) ‘Cognitive development, in Bryant, P, Coleman, A (Eds) Developmental Psychology, Longman, Harlow Mercer, N (1995) The Guided Construction of Knowledge, Multilingual Matters Ltd, Clevedon Mercer, N, Fisher, E (1998) ‘How do teachers help children tolearn?   An analysis of teachers interventions in computer-basedactivities, in Faulkner, D, Littleton, K, Woodhead, M, LearningRelationships in the Classroom, Routledge, London, pp. 111-130 Moll, L.C., Whitmore, K.F (1998) ‘Vygotsky in classroom practice:moving from individual transmission to social transaction, inFaulkner, D, Littleton, K, Woodhead, Learning Relationships in theClassroom, Routledge, London, pp. 131-155 Rogoff, B (1990) Apprenticeship in Thinking: cognitive development in social context, Oxford University Press, Oxford Schaffer, R (1996) Social Development, Blackwell, Oxford Stone, C (1998) ‘What is missing in the metaphor of scaffolding?,in Faulkner, D, Littleton, K, Woodhead, M, Learning Relationships inthe Classroom, Routledge, London, pp.156-167 Tharp, R, Gallimore, R (1998) ‘A theory of teaching as assistedperformance, in Faulkner, D, Littleton, K, Woodhead, M, LearningRelationships in the Classroom, Routledge, London, pp. 93-110 Tudge, J, Winterhoff, R.A., Hogan, D.M (1996) ‘The cognitiveconsequences of collaboration and feedback, in Child Development, Vol.67, pp. 2892-2909 Vygotsky, L.S (1978) Mind in Society: the development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Wood, D (1988) How Children Think and Learn, Blackwell, Oxford

Porters Five Forces Analysed The External Environment Industry Marketing Essay

Porters Five Forces Analysed The External Environment Industry Marketing Essay Among the different choices, Apple has chosen the differentiation focus strategy in the broad industry. The invention and development of products by Apple are its highly unique attributes, with devices such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad where the use touch screen and other interfaces to operate the products. Apple spends billions of dollars every year on RD (Research and Development) to develop and promote its products in order to achieve superior quality over competitors products. Apple slogan is Think Different, which drives them to innovate and provide high quality regarding their products. Apples markets are global, but they are focusing on active markets such as America, the EU and some Asian countries. However, Apple focuses on a market segment where customers clearly feel that Apple provides value for its customers. In addition, Apple had a positive growth rate during the economic crisis of 2007-2009 (Business week, 2010). Apples premium price strategy and its success have beco me a significant barrier to competitors such as Nokia, Motorola, HTC and the E-book by Sony. Porters Five Forces Analysis Porters Five Forces analysed the external environment of the industry in order to give a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses within the organisation. These analyses give the company the ability to identify the opportunities and threats from external factors (Harrison, 2003). These forces include: Threat of new entrants For each of its product lines, Apple, like any other company, faces rigorous competition. This high-tech industry requires continual research and development (RD). This sector is difficult for new companies to enter because new entrants must spend a large amount of capital on RD and on the advertising and promotion of their brand. There are some dominant producers in this sector such as Apple, Microsoft, Dell and Sony, who share the majority of the market. Apple should be aware of new entrants because they may come up with surprisingly better technology or a better product. However, these new entrants are less of a threat because it is difficult to enter and penetrate the market in a limited time (Harrison, 2003). Power of the supplier Porters second force states that the bargaining power of suppliers imposes a threat to any company. It also includes, the availability of substitute suppliers which is an important factor in determining the power of the supplier. Suppliers are known as third parties in this industry, and they are classified in two groups. The first group makes the major parts for the products. This group is not strong because of the availability and easy of replacing the items they make, such as batteries, wire connections, screens and other internal components. In contrast, the second group provides accurate parts and important programmes such as flash-memory and DRAM. This group is strong because of their specialized and advanced products, as well as the lack of alternative products (Nistor, 2010). There are some suppliers who dominate the market; for example, Intel, Microsoft and Sony. So, it is important for Apple to have a good relationship with its suppliers. Power of the buyer The buyers bargaining power is very high in the industry because competitors offer a wide range of similar products with competitive prices. The Apple Corporation faces a moderate threat from buyers because they have a lot of products that consumers can choose from. In addition, the threat of buyers comes from their demand for new features in Apple products. However, there are a large number of companies that offer similar products and there is quite a big differentiation in price and performance. Therefore, loyalty is often shown towards a specific brand because there are not many differences in the quality and price between brands (Nistor, 2010). Buyers are often more sensitive to brand rather than price. Apples customers are individuals, education departments, enterprises, governments and creative customers. So, the variety of consumers and their needs has a direct impact on Apples future strategies. Threat of substitutes The technological environment is changing fast every day. There are not many substitutes in this industry because of the high-tech features. However, alternatives are always available from competitors. If some other company such as BlackBerry, Google, Samsung or Microsoft come up with new technology or the same kind of phone at a lower price or with more features at the same price, then this is a problem for Apple (O Grady, 2009). Customers usually tend to look to the latest technology instead of traditional methods. Apple has the ability and efficiently to design and develop its own hardware and application software to become unique and distinct from its competitors. Competitive rivalry The competition in this industry is very high, almost in all areas of business, because of the continuing requirement to provide new products all the time. Competitive prices, new products, design innovations and technology are the main factors that Apple has to compete with other international companies on, such as IBM, HP, Acer and Dell. The consumers choices also differ; some prefer to save some cash rather purchase high performance specification technology and some prefer the newest technology. So, the result is that companies implement different strategies; for example, low-cost and best-cost strategies. Some manufacturers offer products at the lowest price in an attempt to cut their costs by ignoring everything except some basic features. Some other companies in the middle price range, such as Dell and HP, focus on attracting customers by offering varying prices. And the top of the range companies, like Apple, gain customers through their high quality products, features and inn ovative design, which makes their products popular all over the world (O Grady, 2009). APPENDICES: Porters Generic Strategy model: Porters Five Forces model:

Alphonse mucha - Cigarette Job :: essays research papers fc

Cigarette Job - Alphonse Marie Mucha The purpose of this Essay is to discuss an example of design from the late 1800s, I will relate it to the social, economic, technical and cultural context of that time. . I intend on delivering details of the artist and his life experiences as well as his style and possible interests. I will also evaluate the subject with my own opinion, likes and dislikes, with comparisons of work and artists from within that period up to the present date The design I have chosen to focus on is ‘Cigarette Job’ (1898) by the great Alphonse Marie Mucha. Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in Czechoslovakia and died in 1939. He is most often remembered for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the century, he was in fact the most famous artist of the Art Nouveau period. His imagery was so inextricably entwined with Art Nouveau that the entire movement was referred to by Goncourt as the 'Mucha Style'. Famous throughout Europe and the Americas, he inspired other artists and designers who copied him and plagiarised him so that for years the image of the Muchaesque beauty surrounded by her characteristic symbols was enshrined in advertising, magazine covers and illustrations, book jackets, posters, paintings and numerous artefacts. Art Nouveau is the Decorative style of the late 19th century and the early 20th that flourished principally in Europe and the USA. Although it influenced painting and sculpture, its chief manifestations were in architecture and the decorative and graphic arts. It is characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines based on organic forms; in a broader sense it encompasses the geometrical and more abstract patterns and rhythms that were evolved as part of the general reaction to 19th-century historicism. There are wide variations in the style according to where it appeared and the materials that were employed ‘Florated madness, liniar hysteria, strange decoratve disease, stylistic free-for-all’, such were the terms its contemporaries used to describe Art Nouveau, the first international design style. Art Nouveau was the rebellion against the entire Victorian sensibility, steeped as it was in the past. The exponents of the style hoped to revolutionize every aspect of design in order to set a standard that would be compatible with the new age. Art Nouveau was a direct descendant of the Arts and Crafts movement and influenced by celtic ornament as well as Japanese woodcut prints, all this resulted in an international style based on decoration.

HIV Prevention in Africa :: HIV in Africa

HIV prevention in Africa A continuing rise in the number of HIV infected people is not inevitable. There is growing evidence that prevention efforts can be effective, and this includes initiatives in some of the most heavily affected countries. One new study in Zambia has shown success in prevention efforts. The study reported that urban men and women are less sexually active, that fewer had multiple partners and that condoms were used more consistently. This is in line with findings that HIV prevalence has declined significantly among 15-29 year-old urban women (down to 24.1% in 1999 from 28.3% in 1996). Although these rates are still unacceptably high, this drop has prompted a hope that, if Zambia continues this response, it could become the second African country to reverse a devastating epidemic. This suggests that awareness campaigns and prevention programs are now starting to work. But a major challenge is to sustain and build on such uncertain success. What form should AIDS education take? Peer education A social form of education without classrooms or notebooks, where people are educated outside a 'school' environment but still have the opportunity to ask questions. Most peer education focuses on providing information about HIV transmission, answering questions and handing out condoms to people in a workplace, perhaps in a bar, or where a group of women gather to wash clothes. Most peer educators make contact with their target audience at least weekly and their sessions will usually be in the context of informal discussions with individual people or within a group. Active learning Active learning can sometimes link into peer education, especially when AIDS education is aimed at young people, as one of the best methods of learning something oneself is to teach it to others. Blanket education A general message aimed at the population as a whole. Blanket education usually aims to inform the population about which behaviors are risky and to give them support in changing these behaviors. Targeted education This type of strategy is usually used to speak to social groups who are perceived as being at a high risk of HIV infection. It focuses on risky activities particular to the specific target group. AFRICA ALIVE! January of 2000 kicked off the campaign to literally help keep Africa Alive! in the new millennium. The Mission of the Africa Alive! campaign is to give youth the skills they need to fight against HIV/AIDS. The vision is a new generation of Africans who are HIV/AIDS-free.

ISO 9000 :: Business Companies Essays

ISO 9000 Introduction In order to stay competitive, businesses have to be the best at what they do. Company's must be efficient and presise in all aspects of the job. (Metcalfe 1). ISO 9000 is made up of management's responsibility, the producers involved in the Quality Management System, the contract review, the design control, document and data control, purchasing, process control, inspection and testing, control of non-conforming product, corrective action, handling, storage, packaging and delivery, internal quality audits, training, servicing and statistical techniques (Prasanna 1). Quality control and quality assurance is very important there are certain requirements that take time and money to be met but in the end there are benefits. Types of specifications are very significant and the documentation of those is even more. Manufacturers and purchasers have major responsibility in the process of being successful. The quality of a product is so important, especially to the customer. A company's quali ty management system must become the documented proof of a firm's commitment to quality management. A plan put together with quality procedures and work instructions is provided to help companies design their own quality management system. After completing the quality procedures, companies are audited and then determined if they should be certified for ISO 9000 or not (Parsanna 2). ISO: International Organization of Standards Founded in 1947 in Geneva Switzerland, ISO developed international standards and helped exchange goods and services worldwide. It is made up of over 90 countries including the US, which is called the American National Standards Institute. The name ISO came from the Greek word, "isos," meaning equal (Henkoff 2). ISO was created by business men (Henkoff 2). These business men knew what businesses needed to become more competitive and how they could get higher customer satisfaction, so ISO was developed. ISO is not government regulated, but is ran by organizations like the US Registrar Accreditation Board. Such organizations authorize registrars which issue ISO certificates (Barrier 2). In Europe some organizations are government regulated. The American National Standards Institute runs the ISO in the US and authorizes the US Registrar Accreditation Board (Barrier 2). ISO's job is to set standards for companies all over the world so that their products come out efficiently and to the best quality. This helps the customers who receive the exports know exactly what they are getting and are satisfied with the product. Setting these standards is done by ISO members at assembly meetings.

The Happiest Experience in My Life

I have gained many experiences . There were good and bad experiences . All these experiences have made me more matured and wiser . The most exiting experience I gained was when my father brought my family to Egypt to further his studies . We lived there for six years. During our stay in Egypt, there were many happy experiences. When I arrived in Egypt ,I was seven years old and I couldn’t speak even a word of Arabic . My mother comforted me by saying everything was going to be alright and I would able to assimilate . My father sent me and my siblings to school everyday in our first and second year there . My school was just a walking distance from my home, but we had to cross a busy road . It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the school. My siblings and I went to school without any knowledge of the Arabic language . The first day in school was a miserable day . Everything was different . I could not communicate as I could not undestand Arabic . The girls were friendly but some of them were rough and tough . My first week of school was filled with tears as I was always being bullied by them . As the day passed and my Arabic got bhetter ,the girls who always bullied me became my best friends . There were three of them , Yasmin , Heba and Nada . Actually they were all very kind . We were in the same class from year one to year five . The three girls were very clever ,they easily got full mark or 98% marks for their Mathematics and Arabic language ,but not me . Most Egyptian students work really hard in their studies . I found it difficult to compete . On our third until sixth year in Egypt,my siblings and I went to school by bus . It was also the most exiting experience . The bus was cramped with students ; all like sardines in a tin . Vis was transported back into time when the pharoahs of Egypt ruled the land . The pyramids were enormous and certainly deserved being crowned as one of the seven wonders of the world . The green sea and huge waves of the Maditerranean sea felt like heaven on earth . It was such bliss to be building sandcastles on the white sand . Living in Egypt for six years was really wonderful . Each holiday was spent visiting historical sites and places around Egypt . We have even been to the top of mount Sinai to witness the rise of the morning sun . The view was spectacular and humbling. The beauty of the moment will forever be etched like a drawing in my mind . I will always remember the six years I spent in Egypt fondly in my mind . The moments were the best I ever experienced and I will always treasure them .

Atlantic Slave Trade Essay

The origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade were products of Western Europe’s expansion of power that began at the beginning of the 1500’s through the 1900‘s. The main contributing European countries to the Atlantic Slave Trade were Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England. Portugal lead the movement during the 1400’s and arrived in Western Africa in hopes to find Christian allies to spread Christianity against the Muslims of Northern Africa. But they soon became more interested in trade (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Slavery, however, has existed in all cultures for thousands of years. For example, Arab merchants and West African Kings imported white European slaves. At first, the slave trade focused on women and children who would serve as domestic servants. But later the trade switched to focusing on young men for agricultural labor in the Americas. The Portuguese traded primarily for gold, ivory, pepper, as well as slaves. After a few decades, the had captured hundreds of slaves (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). It’s misleading to say all slaves were captured by raiders, because in many cases they were bought from African traders. Columbus’s voyages completely changed the slave trade. Once colonies in the Americas were established, many of the Native Americans who were enslaved died of disease and overwork causing a need for more African slaves. During the 1600’s, sugar plantations, gold and silver mines produced an enormous demand for labor. Soon after, markets for coffee, tobacco and rice cultivation yet again increased the demand for African slaves (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). By the early 1700’s, the English dominated the Slave Trade, carrying about 20,000 slaves per year from Africa to the Americas. By the end of the century, over 50,000 slaves were being transported per year. After 1700, the importation of firearms heightened the intensity of many of the wars and resulted in a great increase in the numbers of enslaved peoples. European forces 2 ?intervened in some of the localized fighting and in warfare all along the Atlantic coast. They sought to obtain captives directly in battle or as political rewards for having backed the winning side (â€Å"The transatlantic slave,† ). The enormous amount of slave labor and its incredibly low cost highly contributed to the advancements of the Industrial Revolution. Also during this time, many civil wars throughout Africa produced captives which were sold as slaves in Western Africa. Raiders often tied the captives together with ropes and secured them with wooden yokes around their necks. Many captives died of hunger and exhaustion before even being put on ships. Other slave captives decided to kill themselves rather than be forced into slavery (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Once the captives reached the coast of Western Africa, the captives were kept in â€Å"factories†, which were headquarters of the slave traders. These factories contained warehouses with supplies and dungeons to keep the captives in. In these factories, the slavers would divide families up to decrease the possibility of a rebellion happening. After a few weeks in these factories, the slave holders would brand the â€Å"fit† slaves bearing the symbol of that particular trading company (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). European brutalization of the captives was an attempt to destroy the African’s sense of self-identity. The voyage from Africa to the first stop in the Caribbean generally lasted between two and three months. As the demand for slaves increased, so did piracy. Many opposing nations would fight and attempt to steal each other’s slave ships seeing how valuable slaves were at the time (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Other natural causes that contributed to the destruction of slave ships were hurricanes as well as doldrums, which are long periods of time with no wind gusts to propel the ships. ?The ships themselves were designed to maximize the amount of slaves to be carried. The cargo space where the slaves kept were only about five feet tall. And slaves were chained together in pairs to minimize the chance of a rebellion. Many times, especially during storms, the slavers neglected to feed the slaves or change the tubs and buckets used for toilets, as well removing dead bodies (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Sanitation was also a major contributor to death and disease. Only about three or four toilet tubs were provided for all of the slaves. Mortality rates were exceptionally high on the ships, averaging around 15%. Overall, about one third of all slaves died during the whole process of moving them from Africa to the Americas. The main causes of mortality on the ships were diseases such as small pox, malaria, dysentery, yellow fever and measles (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). There was however still rebellions from the captive slaves aboard the ships. Rebellions usually occurred when the ship was getting ready to set sail or when they ships were still within sight of the Africa land mass, when there as still hope for the slaves to return home. Often times slaves would actually starve themselves intentionally or try to jump off the ship to drown. But to combat this, the slavers would sometimes put nets on the side of the ship to stop jumpers and to deal with those who would refuse to eat, the slavers would use hot coals to force individual’s mouths open to eat (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). The women aboard the slave ships were treated very badly as well. They were often raped and sexually abused. Many times, all of the women were kept in separate rooms to make it easier for the slavers to take advantage of them. The slave ships would generally arrive at islands in the Caribbean for rest to make them more healthy and appealing for buyers. The english preferred the island of Barbados for this 4 ?resting period. Barbados experienced a jump in its slave population from 1,000 to 20,000 in the first decade after sugar cultivation was introduced around 1640 (Smallwood, 2007). This resting period in the Caribbean came to be termed seasoning and on these islands the slavers divided into a few different categories of slaves depending on how acculturated the slaves were to the New World’s culture and lifestyle. These categories were those who were born in the Americas, those who had lived in the Americas for a long period of time, and the new slaves from Africa (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). During seasoning, the slavers would attempt to modify the behavior of the slaves to make them effective laborers. The new slaves were also given new names and were attempted to be taught English so they could obey commands (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). The planters in the Caribbean would often rely on the already acculturated slaves to train the new slaves because it was easier that way. The physical condition of the arriving slaves to buyers would many times be a disappointment to the buyers. Although the slavers would shave and wash them, the illusion of health would not always conceal the truth to the buyers. Also, many times the cargoes included too many women, children, or older people. This was also a disappointment to the buyers and the regularity of these outcomes were soon considered â€Å"normal† (Smallwood, 2007). The planters then assessed the successful seasoning of slaves by three criteria: firstly if they survived the journey, secondly if the could adapt to the new climate and new foods, and lastly if they were able to learn a new language to obey commands. However, as many as half of the slaves ended up dying within the first three years after arriving at the Americas (Smallwood, 2007). Of the estimated ten million men, women, and children who survived the Middle Passage, approximately 450,000 Africans disembarked on North America’s shores. They thus 5 ?represented only a fraction – 5 percent– of those transported during the 350-year history of the international slave trade. Brazil and the Caribbean each received about nine times as many Africans (â€Å"The transatlantic slave,† ). The Atlantic Slave trade began to diminish in the late 1700’s by both humanitarian efforts as well as declining need for slaves in the modernized industrial economy. The lasting effects of the diminishing of the slave trade proved to be negative for Africa. Many of the Western African societies had become dependent on the slave trade (Hine, Hine & Harrold, 2011). Looking at the statistics of the slave trade, from 1501-1525 it is estimated that around 13,000 slaves were transported to the Americas (â€Å"The trans-atlantic slave,† 2008). By 1601-1625, over 350,000 slaves were estimated to have been brought to the Americas. At the turn of the 18th century, from 1701-1725, over 1,000,000 slaves were transported from Africa to the Americas. The Atlantic slave trade peaked from 1776-1800 with over 2,000,000 slaves being transported during that time period. The Slave Trade holistically contributed to the enslavement and migration of over 12,500,000 slaves from 1500-1866 (â€Å"The trans-atlantic slave,† 2008). The Atlantic Slave Trade was a horrible series of events that should have never happened. At least we can be optimistic about mankind’s ability to learn from our mistakes and improve our actions.

Del monte VPN architecture suggestion for assignment

Del Monte Organization Structure Diagram. Source: Dolente. Co. Z The business halogens: Provide role-based access to network resources for employees and business partners Reduce administrative and network costs Provide high-confidentiality for business information on the network Network requirements: Flexible and adaptive security appliance provides a variety of secure remote access Pre-configured telethon solution provides convenient voice and data networking for home workers VPN solution integrates with existing network systems to enforce access policies Del Monte Diagram VPN protocols and technologies VPN generally can handle three of these scenarios such as Remote access network, ranch office connection network, also business partner/supplier network or can be called as Extranet. Some of the VPN technologies are MILS, Pipes and GREG. Pipes is an evolve form from the IPPP development and is shorted of being finalized by the IETF. It is an open architecture for IP packet encryption and authentication, thus it is located in the network layer. One of the VPN authentications that have been around for some time is Generic Routing Encapsulation (GREG). â€Å"It was first developed by Cisco as a mean to carry other routed protocols across a predominantly IP network.Some outwork administrators tried to reduce the administrative overhead in the core of their networks by removing all protocols except IP as a transport. † (Pearson, n. D. ) Multiprocessor Label Switching (MILS) is a standard-based technology used to speed up the delivery of network packets over multiple protocols such as ‘P, ATM and Frame Relay network protocols. It would allow us some significant improvements, not the least of which was an increase in speed. Perhaps the most important to us at the time, though, was that each branch could directly connect to both WHQL locations without the need for an additional PVC. It also allows every branch to communicate directly with every other branc h without traversing the WHQL locations.This is important as if we were looking to implement a Poi solution. VPN service provider must have a network infrastructure that can support of integrating remote access directly into an MILS VPN network in order for it to provide a good scalable and complete end-to-end VPN service. The customers can be Sips or large enterprises that want to provide access to remote users but avoid the need for maintaining their own separate and expensive access network. Virtual Private Network (VPN) uses hared public telecoms infrastructure, such as the internet, to provide secure access to remote offices and users in a cheaper way than an owned or leased line.VPN are secure because they use tunneling protocols and procedures such as Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (LOTT) and Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). For this case in this assignment, I would suggest Pipes as the VPN technologies and authentication. This is the same as a basic concept that is bein g introduced by Security Association. The Job of AS is to make sure two or more entities secure when they are communicating with each other. Pipes itself has many options in providing security which includes encryption, integrity, and authenticity. For determining the Pipes security in details, both of Pipes peers must determine exactly which algorithm to use (e. : DES or DES for encryption, MAD or SHAH for integrity). Then continue with exchanging and sharing session keys. â€Å"An Pipes transform in Cisco ISO specifies either an AH or an ESP. protocol and its corresponding algorithms and mode. The Cisco Secure VPN Client uses the concept of security policies to specify the same parameters. † (Cisco Press, n. D. ) Network Solutions for Del Monte Major and required equipment and their significance Some important equipment that needed by the office are: Cisco AS 5500 series Adaptive Security Appliance Cisco MAC Appliance The Cisco MAC Appliance is a turnkey solution that conde nses the four MAC functions into one appliance.Some of MAC components are: Cisco NAS, Cisco NAME, Cisco ANA and Rule-set updates. MAC helps maintain network stability by providing authentication and authorization, posture assessment, quarantining of noncompliance systems and remediation of noncompliance systems. Cisco Secure ACS Cisco AS 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliance is the best suit for Del Monte. This series provide advance firewall, compatible with the VPN architecture, Intrusion Prevention and content security all in single platform. It is also an industry-leading secure mobility technology for an organization. With its Suspect VPN edition, Del Monte offers employees a wide range of remote access options.An offside worker can set up a clientà ¨les VPN connection using a web browser without pre-installed software. And also, SSL technology that delivers secured access to network by establishing an encrypted tunnel across the internet. Some of the specific details of Cis co AS sass's features: Cisco Easy VPN This feature centralized the management of VPN deployments and helps reduce their complexity. Centralized the management is done by managing Pipes policies and push to the client device by the server. It also allows a remote end user to communicate using IP security with any Cisco ISO VPN gateway. VPN authentication The authentication is done with Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS).ACS is an access policy control platform that helps you comply with growing regulatory and corporate requirements. It is utilized for wireless infrastructure. This ACS helps improve productivity and contain costs. ACS works with VPN and other remote outwork access devices to enforce access policies. It also supports administrators' authentications, authorizes commands and provides an audit trail. Cisco Anecdote VPN Client LANA-like users can use it for the network connection optimization in a full tunnel client mode on a variety of end-user platforms. Customizab le SSL VPN and Pipes Services for Any Deployment Scenario Depending on the series of the AS 5500, PIPS SSP is built-in to help preventing the intrusion.The Cisco AS 5500 Series helps businesses increase effectiveness and efficiency in protecting their networks and applications while delivering exceptional investment retention through the Market-proven security capabilities, Extensible integrated service architecture, Reduced-deployment and operations costs also Comprehensive management interface. Company's ERP and CRM Cisco VPN actually integrates smoothly with Del Mote's existing network to give employees access only to the resources that they need. This meaner that VPN will make sure only the authorizes users can access to the certain parts of the network and company resources. ERP integrates all departments and functions throughout an organization into a single IT system so that employees can make enterprise-wide sessions by viewing enterprise-wide information on all business ope rations.Enterprise System Automate business process ERP systems collect data from across an organization and correlate the data generating an enterprise-wide view to help run the business. Measuring ERP success There are several different departments in the company. Example, sales representative might need to access to Del Mote's data warehouse system (CRM) application to track a shipment. While finance organization need to access to ERP system, file sharing and administrative tools from their portal. So Cisco VPN makes ere that each department can only access to their own but not others. And yet IT professional might need access to everything on the network for troubleshooting or monitoring.Security To provide additional network security for remote employees, Del Monte can use the Cisco MAC appliance to enforce security policy compliance. It identifies the security policies before permitting those devices access to the network. Cisco MAC appliance is a network admission control tha t is designed by Cisco to produce a secure and clean network environment. Two Pipes Peers Using Active Directory-based Pipes Policy, Source: techno. Microsoft. Mom Pipes packet filtering Pipes has an ability to provide limited firewall capabilities for end systems by performing host-based packet filtering. It also can be configured to permit or block specific types of incase IP traffic based on source and destination address combinations and specific protocols and specific ports.While the security can be strengthen by using Pipes packet filtering to control exactly the type of communication that is allowed between systems. Filtering Packets by Using Pipes, Source: techno. Microsoft. Com Types of attacks Some of the possible attacks that can happen to VPN are: Brute force attacks and cautionary attacks. STEP attacks An STEP attack typically involves the creation of bogus root bridge. This can be accomplished using available software from the internet such as broccoli or step- packet. In this attack, Buds sent by the attacking host announce a lower bridge priority in an attempt to be elected as the root bridge, then the topology change Buds to force spanning-tree recalculations.If successful, the attacking host becomes the root bridge and sees a variety of frames that otherwise are not accessible. STEP attacks Brute force attack A cryptanalytic type of attack that is used against any encrypted data to guess the seer's surname and password. It is simply because this attack has a dictionary of commonly used passwords and cycle through those words until it gains access to the account. Brute force attack takes different variety times to complete as it is depending on the number of encryption size (64-bit, 128-bit or 256-bit). The higher number of the encryption, the longer time it is needed by Brute force to accomplish its attack.Dictionary attack A technique which is used by hacker to determine the decryption key of the authentication mechanism by trying it repeate dly until the real possibility is come UT. Basically, it is acting like a person who searches a keyword from a dictionary. Yet this attack only tries the best possibilities that are most likely to success. References: J. Charged and J. Pacer, MILS and VPN Architectures, 1st deed. Indianapolis, IN: Cisco System, Inc. , 2003. G. A. Donahue, Network Warrior, 2nd deed. Soapstone, CA: Reilly Media, 2011. J. Afraid and O. Santos, Cisco AS, 2nd deed. Indianapolis, IN: Cisco System, Inc. , 2010. O. Santos, End-to-end network security, USA-landslips, IN: Cisco System, Inc. , 2008. Pipes security. Retrieved from http://techno. Microsoft. Com

Corporate Governance and Financing Decisions by Saudi Companies

Corporate Governance and Financing Decisions by Saudi Companies Ali Al-Nodel College of Economy and Administration, Qassim University, P. O. Box 4667, Burydah 51412 Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Email: [email  protected] edu. sa Khaled Hussainey Ain Shams University, Egypt Accounting & Finance Division Stirling Management School Stirling University Stirling FK9 4LA United Kingdom Email: Khaled. [email  protected] ac. uk 1 Abstract Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the corporate governance literature in emerging economies by examining the effect of some corporate governance mechanisms on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies.Methodology: A multiple regression model is used to examine the association between financing decisions and corporate governance mechanisms for a sample of 37 listed Saudi companies. In particular, we examine the effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reporting is measured by the content analysis approach. Findings: After controlling for companies’ profitability and their growth opportunities, we found that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with debt-to-equity ratio.Research limitations: We limit our analysis to a small sample of firms that use the internet to communicate corporate governance information between October 2005 and January 2006. Practical implications: The findings suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance (large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration). However, we did not find any statistical association between corporate governance disclosure and debt-to-equity ratio.This suggests that firm’s asymmetric information is not an important driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. This might be due to the nature of the Saudi business environment. Orig inality: We strongly believe that this paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature as we are the first to examine this issue in Saudi Arabia. Keywords: Corporate governance, financing decisions, emerging economies, Saudi Arabia. Paper type: Research paper. 2 1. IntroductionThis paper aims to contribute to the corporate governance literature by examining the effect of corporate governance characteristics on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies. In particular, it examines the effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio. The investigation of these research issues in Saudi business environment could extend prior research and give different explanations to those carried out in more developed countries Research related to determinant of corporate capital structure is a well established part of the accounting and finance research.Modigliani and Miller (1958) is the first to study this area of research. They also provided another study in the same area of research after modifying some assumptions such as relaxing the prefect market assumptions and considering corporate tax into their models (Miller and Modigliani, 1963). In their later study, they suggested that firm value will be enhanced if the level of debt increases because interest rate is a tax deductible and consequently companies would enjoy debt tax shield when funding their activities by long-term debt. Further accounting and finance research studies were more expressive.Those researches were concentrated on examining some determinants of corporate capital structure. For example, the association between board size and capital structure decisions have been suggested by a number of empirical studies (see for example Mehran 1992, Berger et al. 1997, Wiwattanakantang 1999, Wen et al. 2002, Du and Dia 2005, Abor and Biekpe 2005 and Al-Najjar and Hussainey 2010a and 2010b). Another determinant of capital structure decision which received significant attention is the ownership concentration (see for example Wiwattanakantang 1999, and Al- 3 Najjar and Hussainey 2010a and 2010b).More recently, number of studies have, also, investigated the association between asymmetric information and corporate decisions (see for example Li and Zhao, 2006 and Bharath et al. 2009). The results of these research studies suggest that firm value will be enhanced if the level of debt increases, board size and ownership concentration are associated with capital structure decisions and firms with higher levels of information asymmetric are more likely to use debt in financing their activities than equity. Unfortunately, the results of these research studies cannot be generalized for number of reasons.First, these results provided mixed evidence. For example, Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), and Abor and Biekpe (2005) found a significant negative association between the size of the board of directors and debt-to-eq uity ratios, while Jensen (1986) found a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Further, other researchers found that there is no significant association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios (i. e. Wiwattanakantang, 1999; Wen et al. , 2002; and Al-Najjar and Hussainey, 2010). A second reason for the difficulty behind generalizing the results of these esearch studies are that the majority of them were carried out in most developed countries such as U. S and European continental. More precisely, in developing countries the conclusions of this line of research are likely to be challenged due to the business environmental differences between those of developed and those of developing countries. In another words, in a different business environment such those of the Middle Eastern countries, there are significant environmental factors that may affect corporate capital structure decisions.Hove (1986 and 1990) asserted the importance of political, ec onomical, and social systems on corporate decisions. 4 Third reason for the difficulty of generalising the evidence of prior research examining determinants of corporate capital structure is that there are very limited numbers of studies that have examined determinants of capital structure in developing countries and even fewer such studies may be found in the Middle East countries, leaving significant doubt about the applicability of these evidence in the business environment of Middle east countriesAccordingly, a natural area of extending the lines of the accounting and finance research related to determinant of corporate capital structure decisions is to explore other drivers of corporate capital structure decisions and to consider suggested drivers within a different business environment. In the present paper, we aim to examine the degree to which corporate governance affect the financing decisions of Saudi Arabian listed companies. We focus only on three corporate governance me chanisms.These are board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting. The main reasons for concentrating on these issues are the possibility of making comparison with other studies because these are the most studied issues in the literature, the availability of data regarding these issues1, and the importance of advising regulators whom are more concern about these issues in the process of regulating corporate governance in Saudi Arabia.To help us in focusing on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites, we utilised a sample of 37 companies listed in Saudi Stock Market in January 2006. This was based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) who collected their sample from Saudi listed companies’ websites 1 Cost of capital is an important factor in corporate capital structure decisions; however data for capital structure was not available. 5 etween October 2005 and January 2006 representing a total number of 77 companies listed in the Saudi Stock Exchange at that time. We found that both board size and ownership concentration are positively associated with the debt-to-equity ratio. However, we did not find a significant association between corporate governance reporting and the debt-to-equity ratio. The findings seem to suggest that managers are likely to choose higher financial leverage when they have stronger corporate governance (large number of directors on the board and higher ownership concentration).However, firm’s asymmetric information seems to be not a driver of the financing decision of Saudi Arabian companies. A possible explanation is that decisions relate to capital structure are affected by the Islamic view of financing which prohibits interests and in turn to the public view who disrespects such practice. This is enhanced by the weakness of the business reporting practice in Saudi Arabia which could provide pave for a different mean of getting information by parti es related to loan agreements.The results of this paper may be of use to the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA, thereafter) who issued a guidance in 2006 that recommends all listed companies to disclose corporate governance information to the public. This would help SACMA to explore the attitude of companies to voluntarily report corporate governance rather than being enforced to do so. The paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 reviews prior research on the determinants of corporate capital structure. In Section 3, a description of the Saudi business environment is provided.Sections 4 and 5 discuss the development of the research hypotheses and the research model. Section 6 is the data description. The 6 main regression results are presented in Section 7. Section 8 concludes and suggests areas for future research. 2. Literature Review Although the relationship between corporate governance and capital structure has been the subject for an extensive research in developed co untries2, a limited research has been carried out to investigate the issue in business environment of developing countries.The association between board size and capital structure decisions have been well established in prior accounting and finance research. In particular, Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), Wiwattanakantang (1999), Wen et al. (2002), Du and Dia (2005), Abor and Biekpe (2005) and Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2010a and 2010b) examined the association between board size and corporate capital structure decision, but the results are mixed. Mehran (1992), Berger et al. (1997), and Abor and Biekpe (2005) reported a significant negative association between the size of the board of directors and debt-toequity ratios.However, Jensen (1986) revealed a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Other researchers found that there is no significant association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios (Wiwattanakantang, 1999, Wen et al. , 2002, Al-Naj jar and Hussainey, 2010). 2 Examples include the UK (see, for example, Demirag 1998; Ezzamel and Willmott 1993; Writer 2001; Vinten 2001), The Netherlands (Groot, 1998), and Canada (Elloumi and Gueyie, 2001). Other researchers compared the corporate governance practice between developing countries.For instance, Vinten (2000) compared the corporate governance practice between the UK and the US. Another comparative study is Charkham (1994) which found significant differences in the corporate governance practices in five countries: Japan, Britain, France, the United States and Germany. 7 Ownership concentration is considered as one of the key determinants of capital structure decision. Wiwattanakantang (1999) reported that managerial shareholdings have consistent positive influence on family-owned firm leverage.In addition, Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2010a) found that insider ownership is positively and significantly associated with the debt-to-equity ratio. However, Al-Najjar and Hussai ney (2010b) did not find the expected significant results. A relatively recent and growing number of studies have investigated the association between asymmetric information and corporate decisions (see Li and Zhao, 2006 for more details). For example Bharath et al. (2009) used a novel information asymmetry index and examined the extent to which information asymmetry is a determinant of capital structure decisions.They found that information asymmetry affects capital structure decisions of US companies. In particular, they found a significant positive association between information asymmetry and debt-to-equity ratio. In other words, their results suggest that firms with higher levels of information asymmetric are more likely to use debt in financing their activities than equity. On the other hand, other research found that voluntary disclosure is negatively related to asymmetric information. For example, Hussainey et al. 2003) found higher levels of voluntary disclosure reduce info rmation asymmetry between the firm and investors and hence increase investors' ability to better anticipate future earnings. Research investigating corporate governance in developing countries is much beyond in considering the impact of issues of corporate governance on corporation capital structure. A review of research investigating issues of corporate governance revealed that most such research approach the issue whether to describe the state of 8 orporate governance from an official perspective or from the perspective of what should the practical applications of its principles be. For example, Al-Motairy (2003) explored the state of corporate governance practices in Saudi Arabia. He concluded that there is a vital need for (1) a review of these regulations to reflect the current practices of corporate governance, (2) the issuance of guidance for best practices for management and financial affair in corporations and (3) the establishment of an organisation to accelerate the adopt ion of best practices of corporate governance.Similarly, Fouzy (2003) evaluated the practices of corporate governance’s principles in Egypt. He recognised the development in Egyptian official regulations toward the application of best practices of corporate governance. He then argued that these developments are not met enough by Egyptian companies in their practical applications. Another example is the study which was carried out by Oyelere and Mohammed (2005) investigating the practices of corporate governance in Oman and how it is being communicated to stakeholders.They recommend enhanced regulation and communication for the Omani stock market to keep pace with the international developments. Finally, a research paper by the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE, 2003) examined the corporate governance practice in four Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Lebanon). It found that corporate governance practice is approached differently by each cou ntry depending on the sophistication of the financial market in each country. The research paper further provided several 9 ecommendations to improve the application of the principles of corporate governance in the region as a whole. The impact of the corporation attitude toward their corporate governance on their financing decisions needs further investigation giving the unique of the Saudi business environment and the mixed results of the accounting and finance research relating to the determinants of corporate capital structure. This is evident by the unique aspects of the business environment of Saudi Arabia which will be discussed in the following paragraph. 3.Saudi business environment This section provides a general description of the environment of the Saudi business practices. The discussion will be directed to the most important environmental factors, as suggested by the literature. The main aspects of the Saudi business practices that will be discussed are the social, eco nomical, and political systems. Also, some highlights will be given to the 1965 Company Law that regulates the practice of Saudi businesses and the guidance of corporate governance issued by SACMA in 2006 which regulates corporate governance reporting.As a conservative society, a significant number of Saudis are adherent to Islamic values such as avoiding loan interests. This does not mean there is no such type of transactions but to mean that the majority of Saudis do not openly accept such transactions. Saudi society is also characterized by the impact of the personality and power of particular individuals, the role of family and friend relationships over regulations, privilege given to personal relationships over tasks, and the existence of a high level of secrecy (Al-Rumaihi 1997; Al-Nodel 2004). 0 The economy of Saudi Arabia is an oil-based economy and government exercises strong controls over major economic activities. Since the discovery of oil in 1938, oil revenue represents the biggest contribution to the economy. In 1990s, it accounted for around 35% of nominal GDP, about 75% of government revenues, and 85% of export receipts (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2003). Table 1 presents the country’s budgetary revenues, expenditures and net surplus or (deficit) for the last three years.Insert Table 1 here Similar to most developing countries, Saudi businesses are characterized by the domination of family businesses, the deep involvement of the government in the private sector, and the existence of a number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies. Al-Nodel (2004) reported that joint-stock companies represent only 1. 14% of the total number, and account for less than 40% of the total capital of the registered businesses.Since the type of businesses is mostly small to medium size companies, there was an apparent need for more foreign investors and involvement of the government in the private sec tor to carry some important activities which cannot be carried out or provided by local companies. This has left the country with significant number of foreign-owned and controlled companies based on joint venture agreements with domestic companies and significant involvement of government in some major business activities (Presley, 1984; Aba-Alkhail, 2001).The political system of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, headed by the King. Within the political system, there are three legislative bodies, which have the authority to initiate and/or approve policies, regulation or rules: the Council of 11 Ministers, the Consultative Council, and various individual Ministries (Al-Amari, 1989; Al-Rumaihi, 1997). The legal system of Saudi Arabia is derived from Islamic law (Shariah; Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah3), and coded laws for a number of specific fields, such as commerce, tax and labour.Al-Amari (1989) reported that Islamic law prevails in legal disputes. Two of the most impor tant aspects of the Islamic values relating to corporate financing are that Islamic law prohibits loan interests whether giving or taking by individuals or business institutions and obligation of Zaket4 which should be giving, calculated based on the capital of the business or individual, and given to specific groups as mentioned by Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah.Taxes duty is imposed on non-Saudi or Gulf States companies operate in Saudi Arabia. There are some differences between Zaket and Taxes whether on whom to impose, the manner of collection, or calculation. For example, Zaket is based on the wealth of the business with some specific deductions for specific items as indicated by Shariah; Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah, while Tax is based on the net income with some deduction according to the law of Taxes. The 1965 Company Law regulates the practice of businesses in Saudi Arabia.It sets conditions for several aspects of businesses such as legal fra meworks through which business companies can be established, the registration requirements, minimum capital to be maintained, number of partners, number of directors, accounts, the 3 Alqur’an Alkareem is the Holly book of Islam and Sunna Alsharifah is the interpretations, speeches and actions of prophet Mohamed Peace be up on him. Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah provide the main of Islamic instructions. 4 Zaket is a financial religious duty and represents the third pillar.Alqur’an Alkareem and Sunna Alsharifah explain to Muslim the compliance with the Zaket duty. 12 annual audit of the accounts, and so on. Shinawi and Crum (1971) asserted that the origin of the 1965 Saudi Company Law goes back to the British Companies Act of 1948. The similarity between the 1965 Saudi Company Law and the UK acts issued in 1948, 1967 and 1976 was also reported by Kahlid (1983). The reporting requirements which are imposed by the 1965 Company Law represent the only rules th at should be observed.It requires the issuance of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, and a report on the company’s operations and financial position every fiscal year. It further stipulates that all corporations and limited liability companies must issue annual financial statements audited by an independent auditor licensed to practice by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Similar to stock markets in developing countries, the Saudi stock market is new and small. In 1984, the Royal Decree No. 81230 was issued as an attempt to officially regulate the stock exchange (Abdeen and Dale, 1984; El-Sharkawy, 2006).Under this Royal Decree, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) was given actual control over the stock exchange through national commercial banks. The significant change was in 2003 when the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA) was established to oversight the exchange of Saudi stocks (Ramady, 2005). This period observed significant increase o f the number of listed companies, regulations for the market in general and reporting in specific. Table 2 compares some key numbers of the Saudi stock market between 1996- 2005. Insert Table 2 here 13For example, in 2006 SACMA issued a draft for reporting requirements of corporate governance for listed companies. The draft provides recommendations of the criteria for the best corporate governance practice that should listed companies counsel. It has covered to some extent the main five principles issued by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): the rights of shareholders, the equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders in corporate governance, disclosure and transparency, the responsibility of the board of directors.According to the recommendations of SACMA, listed companies are required to report to SACMA about their compliance with the criteria of corporate governance as issued by SACMA or reasons for uncompliance if any. The disclosu re contains, for example, the board of directors’ functions, responsibilities, formation, committees of board of directors; audit committee; Nomination and Remuneration Committee; Meetings of the Board and Remuneration and Indemnification of Board Members5.Finally, SACMA asserted that the criteria for the best corporate governance practice mostly constitutes the guiding principles for all listed companies unless any other regulations, laws or rules require such requirement. 4. Research hypotheses To examine the effect of corporate governance characteristics on financing decisions in Saudi Arabian listed companies we formulated three research hypotheses; 5Detailed information about these regulations is discussed in the following articles (SACMA, 2006): Article 9: Disclosure in the Board of Directors’ Report; Article 10: Main Functions of the Board of Directors; Article 11: Responsibilities of the Board; Article 12: Formation of the Board; Article 13: Committees of the B oard; Article 14: Audit Committee; Article 15: Nomination and Remuneration Committee; Article 16: Meetings of the Board; Article 17: Remuneration and Indemnification of Board Members. 14 he effect of board size; ownership concentration and corporate governance reporting on the debt-to-equity ratio as following. Board size hypothesis Given that prior research investigating the association between board size and debt-to-equity ratios gave mixed result (see section 2), we also revisited this research area and examined the association between board size and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following first research hypothesis for the impact of board size on capital structure:H1: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between board size and debt-to-equity ratio. Ownership concentration hypothesis Given the results of the prior research are – to some extent – mixed, we also revisited this research area and examined the association between ownership concentration and capital structure for Saudi Arabian companies. We set the following second research hypothesis for the impact of ownership concentration on capital structure: H2: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between ownership concentration and debt-to-equity ratio. Corporate governance reportingTo examine the role of the information environment on capital structure decision in Saudi Arabian companies, we used a corporate governance voluntary disclosure index as a measure of a firm’s information environment and set the 15 following third research hypothesis for the impact of corporate governance reporting on capital structure: H3: Ceteris paribus, there is a relationship between corporate governance reporting and debt-to-equity ratio. 5. Model Development In order to test the above hypotheses, we regress debt-to-equity ratio on some corporate governance characteristics and some control variables.The study will investigate the following model: Levit = ? + ? ? X it + ? it Where: Levit is defined as long term debt to equity ratio; ? is the intercept. ? ? is the slope coefficient estimates of regressors. X it is the corporate governance variables (and control variables) for firm i at time t. Dependent variable: The dependent variable ( Levit ) is defined as the long term debt to equity ratio. Independent variables: We have three independent variables and two control variables. We identified three types of corporate governance variables: 1) Board size (BOARD): This represents the number of executive and non executive directors on the board. (2) Ownership concentration (OWNERSHIP): This represents the total percentage of the company’s shares that owned by owners. 16 (3) Corporate governance reporting (DISCLOSURE): This is calculated as the number of sentences that include at least one corporate governance related information. Control variables: (1) Profitability (PROF): we used return on total assets as a measure for firms’ profitab ility. (2) Growth opportunity (MB): we used share price to book value ratio as a measure for firm’s growth opportunity. . Data Our data collection is based on a recent paper by Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008). This helped us to focus on a group of firms that report corporate governance information on their websites. We focused on firms that disclose information through internet because prior research argued that internet reporting is one of the most important sources of voluntary disclosure and this source is more likely to complement published annual reports (Aly et al, 2010). Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008) collected their sample from Saudi listed companies’ websites between October 2005 and January 2006.At that time, the total number of companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market was 77 representing eight sectors: agriculture, services, cement, industrial, banks, electrical, telecommunication and insurance. They used TADAWUL website (www. tdwl. net) and Google website (w ww. google. com) to access every company's website. They deleted some companies from their analysis for a number of reasons. These include 11 firms without websites; one firm with a website under construction and one firm with a restricted website. This reduced their sample to 64 companies. We also further excluded 27 firms because of missing corporate 7 governance and accounting information. This led to a sample of 37 listed firms for the current study. Data on debt-to-equity ratio, Board size, ownership concentration, profitability and price-to-book value ratio were collected from TADAWUL website. Following Hussainey and Al-Nodel (2008), we used the content analysis approach to measure the number of sentences that contain corporate governance information. Accordingly we used the corporate governance disclosure index developed by Hussainey and AlNodel (2008) to analyse the content of every company's website. 7.Empirical Results This section discusses the descriptive analysis, the c orrelation analysis and the empirical results. Descriptive analysis Table 3 shows the descriptive analysis (mean, minimum, maximum and the standard deviation). It shows that on average the number of directors on board in Saudi Arabia companies is around 8, with a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 11 members. Mean ownership concentration is 35. 6 and the mean corporate governance disclosure is 5 sentences with a minimum of zero corporate governance sentence and a maximum of 21 corporate governance sentences.A broad range of variation in financial variables is also evident in our sample. The debt-to-equity ratio ranges from 0 to 97 with a mean of 24. 52 and a standard deviation of 32. 576. The return on total assets ratio ranges from -37. 3 to 71. 74 with a mean of 8. 8535 and a standard deviation of 13. 81767. The share price to book value ratio ranges from 0 to 21 with a mean of 5. 03 and a standard deviation of 5. 336. On 18 average, our sample covers large firms as the mean fi rm size is 23240077. 81.Finally, our sample covers nine sectors as follows: Banks (9 firms), Chemical (8 firms); Cement (6 firms); Retailers (2); Energy (I firm); Agriculture (7 firms); Telecommunication (2 firms); Advertising (1 firm) and Insurance (1 firm). Insert table 3 here Table 4 shows the correlation analysis. The correlation between each of the independent variables is not too high. The highest correlation found between corporate governance disclosure and share price to book value ratio (MB) is 43. 5, which is acceptable. This confirms that no multicollinearity problem exists between the independent variables. Insert table 4 hereTable 5 shows our empirical results. It shows that the coefficient estimate on board size is positive significant with a p-value of 0. 059 (see model 4). This is consistent with Jensen (1986) who also found a positive association between higher debt ratios and larger board size. Our finding indicates that larger board size puts Saudi Arabian firms i n a good position to finance their activities by using debt. This is consistent with the fact that higher quality of corporate governance improves companies’ financial performance (Bhagat and Bolton, 2008) and hence leads increase the ability of the company to obtain debt.Liang and Zheng (2005) provided an explanation for this positive sign. They argued that boards with a large board size are more likely to have a difficulty in getting an agreement because of different and conflict opinions and views. Accordingly, firms with large number of directors on board might not choose equity financing which requires high transaction cost to resolve communication and coordination dilemma. In addition, they argued that 19 directors would choose debt for financing their activities because this source of finance will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position.This leads us to accept hypothesis 1. Table 5 also shows that the coefficient estimate on owne rship concentration is positive significant with a p-value of 0. 005 (see model 4). This result is consistent with Wiwattanakantang (1999) Al-Najjar and Hussainey (2010a). This indicates that when the total percentage of the company’s shares is concentrated internally, managers will prefer to use debt to finance their companies’ activities. This is because – as mentioned in Liang and Zheng (2005) – debt will not dilute the equity of current shareholders and change their current position.This leads us to accept hypothesis 2. Insert table 5 here Finally, corporate governance disclosure as a proxy for asymmetric information between managers and investors is expected to be negative and statistically significant. However, Table 5 shows that the coefficient estimate of DISCLOSURE variable is positive, indicating that firms with higher levels of corporate governance disclosure (less information asymmetry) has higher debt-toequity ratio. This finding is statistic ally insignificant and not consistent with prior research. This leads us to reject hypothesis 3. . Conclusion The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on capital structure for Saudi Arabian listed companies. Our results show that the corporate capital structure decisions in Saudi Arabia is driven by some of the same corporate governance determinates suggested in prior research. Based on 20 a sample of 37 Saudi Arabian listed companies, our results show that the number of directors on boards and ownership concentration are the main drivers of Saudi companies for capital structure decisions.Our results, however, show that corporate governance reporting was not an important driver of Saudi companies for capital structure decisions. This might be due in part to the nature of the Saudi business environment where there is a weak reporting requirement of the practice of corporate governance in the country. This fact could have encourage parties to loan agreements approach different means to get the needed information rather than the traditional reporting mechanisms which is likely to be practical in a small community of businesses.This is also likely to be affected by the characteristics of Saudi society whereas the impact of the personality and power of particular individuals, the role of family and friend relationships prevail over regulations, and tasks, and the existence of a high level of secrecy. The main limitation of the study is that it did not cover the whole market so the sample may not be representative of the population of Saudi companies. This, however, is justified by the nature of the study, which relied on the availability of data needed. Further recheck was carried for companies which are not included.We found that these companies are in general small and less likely to affect the results. 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Corporate governance and capital structure decisions of the Chinese listed firms†, Corporate Governance, 10 (2), 75-83. Wiwattanakantang, Y. (1999). â€Å"An empirical study on the determinants of the capital struct ure of Thai firms†, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 7, 371–403 Wikipedia website (2006) http://www. Wikipedia. Com (Accessed on 10th July 2008). 24 Table (1): Saudi Arabia budgetary revenues, expenditures and net surplus or deficit 2005-2007 Annual government budgeting ( estimates ) Million Saudi Riyals ($1= 3. 75 SR) Total Non-oil Total (Deficit)/ Oil revenues revenues revenues expendituresSurplus Amount Amount % Amount % Amount Amount 2005 280000 220000 79% 60000 21% 280000 0 2006 390000 320000 82% 70000 18% 335000 55000 2007 400000 330000 83% 70000 17% 380000 20000 Source: SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency) annual report (2007). 25 Table (2): Key Figures of Saudi Stock Market between 1996-2005. YEAR 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 NO. OF TRANSACTIONS (THOUSAND)) 284 460 377 438 498 605 1,034 3,763 13,320 46,607 TRADED STOCK (MILLION) 138 314 295 528 555 692 1,736 5,566 10,298 12,281 Source: TADAWUL website accessed on 29th September 2006 26 MARKET VALUE ($MILLIAR ) 46 59 43 61 68 73 75 157 306 650 INDEX 1,531 1,958 1,413 2,029 2,258 2,430 2,518 4,438 8,206 16,713 Table (3) Descriptive Statistics ; Industry Classification a) Descriptive Statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Lev 37 0 97 24. 52 32. 576 Board 37 4 11 7. 89 1. 822 Ownership 36 .0 82. 7 35. 550 27. 7875 PROF 37 -37. 30 41. 74 8. 8535 13. 81767 MB 37 .00 66. 87 9. 9181 10. 56721 Total assets 37 0 Disclosure 37 0 136950480 23240077. 81 21 b) Industry Classification Sectors Number of firms Banks 9 Chemical 8 Cement 6 Retailers 2 Energy 1 Agriculture 7 Telecommunication 2Advertising 1 Insurance 1 27 5. 03 3. 888E7 5. 336 Table (4) Correlation analysis Disclosure Board Ownership Lev MB PROF 1. 000 .077 .246 .301 .435** -. 139 .649 .149 .070 .007 .410 37 37 36 37 37 37 Pearson Correlation .077 1. 000 .234 .395* .083 .212 Sig. (2-tailed) .649 .170 .016 .626 .207 Disclosure Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Board N 37 37 36 37 37 37 .246 .234 1. 000 .504** . 097 .064 .149 .170 .002 .574 .711 36 36 36 36 36 36 Pearson Correlation .301 .395* .504** 1. 000 .109 -. 062 Sig. (2-tailed) .070 .016 .002 .520 .716 37 37 36 37 37 37 .435** .083 .097 .109 1. 000 -. 019 .007 626 .574 .520 37 37 36 37 37 37 Pearson Correlation -. 139 .212 .064 -. 062 -. 019 1. 000 Sig. (2-tailed) .410 .207 .711 .716 .910 37 37 36 37 37 Ownership Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Lev N MB Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N PROF N **. Correlation is significant at the 0. 01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0. 05 level (2-tailed). 28 .910 37 Table (5) Regression analysis 5. 1 Model summary R Square Adjusted R Square 1 .617 a .380 .277 28. 002 2 .616b .379 .299 27. 565 3 .602c .363 .303 27. 492 4 .576d .332 .291 27. 726 Model R Std. Error of the Estimate a.Predictors: (Constant), PROF, MB, Ownership , Board , Disclosure b. Predictors: (Constant), PROF, Ownership , Board , Disclosure c. Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board , Disclosure d . Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board 29 5. 2 ANOVA analysis e ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Regression 14436. 181 5 2887. 236 3. 682 .010a Residual 23524. 187 30 784. 140 Total 37960. 368 35 Regression 14405. 109 4 3601. 277 4. 739 .004b Residual 23555. 258 31 759. 847 Total 37960. 368 35 Regression 13774. 798 3 4591. 599 6. 075 .002c Residual 24185. 570 32 755. 799 Total 37960. 368 35 Regression 2592. 380 2 6296. 190 8. 190 .001d Residual 25367. 988 33 768. 727 Total 37960. 368 35 Model 1 2 3 4 a. Predictors: (Constant), PROF, MB, Ownership , Board , Disclosure b. Predictors: (Constant), PROF, Ownership , Board , Disclosure c. Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board , Disclosure d. Predictors: (Constant), Ownership , Board e. Dependent Variable: Lev 30 5. 3 Coefficient estimates Coefficients Unstandardized Coefficients Model a Standardized Coefficients t Sig. -1. 839 .076 .315 2. 079 .046 .181 .400 2. 619 .014 1. 064 1. 032 .174 1. 031 .311 MB -. 101 .507 -. 0 32 -. 199 .844 PROF -. 311 .352 . 132 -. 886 .383 -39. 272 20. 901 -1. 879 .070 Board 5. 669 2. 696 .312 2. 102 .044 Ownership .475 .178 .401 2. 672 .012 Disclosure .971 .906 .159 1. 072 .292 PROF -. 315 .346 -. 134 -. 911 .369 -38. 586 20. 831 -1. 852 .073 Board 5. 185 2. 637 .285 1. 967 .058 Ownership .466 .177 .393 2. 630 .013 Disclosure 1. 113 .890 .182 1. 251 .220 (Constant) -35. 046 20. 814 -1. 684 .102 Board 5. 196 2. 659 .286 1. 954 .059 Ownership 4 .519 .173 .438 2. 990 .005 21. 252 5. 721 2. 752 .474 Disclosure 3 -39. 090 Ownership 2 Std. Error Board 1 B (Constant) (Constant) (Constant) a. Dependent Variable: Lev 31 Beta