Saturday, October 5, 2019
JB HIFI LTD BALANCE SHEET AS AT JUNE 2009 Essay
JB HIFI LTD BALANCE SHEET AS AT JUNE 2009 - Essay Example These analysis form an integral part of the financial statement analysis, especially from the investors point of view, who always strive to invest in countries having strengthen and stabilizing financial ratios and representing an upward trend. It is of great significance that the ratios must be benchmarked against a standard in order for them to possess a meaning. Keeping that into account, the comparison is usually conducted between companies portraying same business and financial risks, between industries and between different time periods of the same company. The company under consideration is JB Hi Fi Limited and in this report analysis of the financial performance of the company for the financial year 2009 with the financial year 2010 has been conducted in order to draw attention to various financial trends and significant changes over the period. The analysis is divided into three main categorize namely Profitability, Liquidity and Gearing. Profitability ratios identify how ef ficiently and effectively a company is utilizing its resources and how successful it has been in generating a desired rate of return for its shareholders and investors. Liquidity ratios measure the ability of the company to quickly convert its asset into liquid cash to settle its short term liabilities. Whereas, the Gearing ratios identifies the extent to which the company is financed through debt and to what degree the operations are being conducted from the finance raised through raising equity capital or otherwise. Financial Analysis JB Hi Fi Limited is regarded as one of the prominent when it comes to selling home appliances. The company is involved in selling plazmas, computer and tablets and several other digital home entertainment appliances. It holds a considerable market share and manages its operations through a well established supply chain. The company represents sound financial outcome as its turnover has increased by 27% during the financial year 2009 as compared to th e prior financial year, boosting the net profit by a massive 39%. The company’s reserves have also increased during the current financial year which shows that its investors are considering the company lucrative and are planning to have a long term association with it. Profitability Ratios  2009 2008  Profitability Ratios Gross profit margin 21.51% 21.86% Net profit margin 6.17% 5.65% ROCE 41.19% 39.71% Gross profit margin is an analyzing tool which assists in identifying how effectively and efficiently the company is utilizing its raw materials, variable cost related to labor and fixed costs such as rent and depreciation of property plant and equipment. The ratio is calculated by dividing the sales revenue by the gross profit. Analyzing the trend of gross profit margin, in the financial year 2009 the gross profit margin has marginally decreased as compared to the financial year 2008. Although the sales in the year 2009 increased by $498.702 million, but this was offs et by an increase of $ 397.802 million in the cost of sales. Net profit margin, on the other hand analyzes the profitability of the company before deducting the taxation and finance charges from the earnings. The ratio is calculated by dividing the profit before interest and tax with the sales revenue of the current finan
Friday, October 4, 2019
To what extent do you agree that the 1911 parliament act was a Essay
To what extent do you agree that the 1911 parliament act was a siginifiacnt turning point for the political power of the aristocracy in the period 1830-1930 - Essay Example Enthused by French Revolution by-words like Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, British workers had started asking for their rights. The Great Reform Act of 1832 provided for the distribution of Parliamentary seats. It abolished many so called rotten or pocket boroughs. On the whole, it disenfranchised 56 boroughs, termed as rotten boroughs and most of them had no population. Then came the pocket boroughs in which aristocratic landlords controlled the number of representatives. Parliamentary representation of large towns and countries has been increased. Rural regions saw a reduction in their number of representatives. Scotland and Ireland saw increase in their representation. Earlier electorate had to have certain residential and financial requirements and those needs were lessoned. â€Å"On the whole, the Reform Bill of 1832 resulted in the transfer of political power from the landowning aristocrats to the middle class, and in the subordination of the House of Lords to the popular will,†http://www.thepotteries.org/chartism/reform_act.htm The abolished borough seats got redistributed to form new constituencies in smaller towns. Manchester and Birmingham got their representatives after this act. But the voting situation in the counties remained unaltered. Even to this day, historians had been unable to figure out if the threat of revolution of French revolution scale was imagined or real. House of Commons remained largely aristocratic, mainly because violence and expenses had been common during elections. â€Å"An unseen by-product of the Bill was that political parties were stronger than before and the party could usually impose ministers on the monarch,†http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A545195 This was done with a great feeling of victory, because elections were symbols of the will of people. House of Lords had no desire to pass the bill that would decrease their influence and power. But by then, rightly or wrongly they had become extremely
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Luxury Industry in France Essay Example for Free
Luxury Industry in France Essay Luxury is artificial definition and cannot be easily transferred into real life. It is a notion of anything that is useless and superfluous in real life. However, it can be often associated with beauty (art, entertainment, design, decor or trend) and remains one of the driving forces behind society’s spending. It is true that luxury speaks and renown’s itself by big spending and indeed, outlandish expenditure is often associated with it. The world luxury market is worth more than $130 billions and France is the country which owns the largest number of companies in the luxury and historically always been trend setter in the luxury market. Some of the world’s best symbol of lavish lifestyle is essentially French (such as Don Perignon champagne, Louis Vitton handbags or white truffles as a culinary ingredient). French is the language of choice for aristotles and diplomats. Shortly, France has long heritage in leading and dominating luxury market and therefore is an appropriate background for my analysis. 1. Luxury industry: presentation The luxury industry is based on prestige brands which dominate luxury market and its spectre e. g. Perfumes, fashion design called â€Å"Haute Couture†, jewellery, leather, shoes and accessories. Fashion and luxury goods have an annual turnover of â‚ ¬ 35 billion in France (campus. org 2006). Main players on the market are LVMH, Chanel and Hermes International. In the sector of luxury especially la Haute Couture, lavishness is a notion difficult to comprehend. The leading designers such as Jean Paul Gauthier kept the introvert and indeed humble image for years, before breaking the bank with their designs. We need to limit our seeking because there are 130 brands in France (Comite Colbert Website 2005) that one third is present on the market. For this reason I have chosen to detail through of a committee in Paris which gathers 70 best houses in the luxury sector and later more precisely LVMH. In last century, the sector of the fashion of French economy underwent a profound change. Home-made brands started to gradually expand and explore wider audience, targeting not only Paris, but also rest of the France and later Europe, Asia, finally the whole world. Their domination on the global market was mainly achieved thanks to outstanding history and heritage of the brands, quality of the product, trend setting ability of Paris and social notion of luxury desire. So, the big creators, both in the high fashion and in the perfume, were steadily replaced as dominating figures by designers. The marketing and the advertising become the most important in the sector – products became increasingly similar so the brand identity was essential. From the end of the 19TH century, some names have led, such as Guerlain in the flagrance or Worth in the haute couture. These designers are at the origin of a luxury depth change by contributing to expand, differentiate and create new background and clientele – from the elites to the masses. This period was dated as the one of the birth of a new luxury and a blooming of the fashion arts. Everything in this section is based on the annual report on â€Å"Comite Colbert†Website 2007. To gather skills and the strengths of every luxury designers, Guerlain created â€Å"Comite Colbert†in 1954 with 70 houses from the luxury brands. This partnership reinforces know-how of each brand and they keep developing it. Furthermore Paris is the worldwide capital famous for its tourism and high quality products. They count 10. 5% of increase of turnover every year (2005). Despite the international competition such as New-York or Milan Paris has to keep its leadership and to make the most to the influence of Paris. This â€Å"comite†or â€Å"Colbert committee†organizes events (catwalks and salons) and tries to make sure that Paris is regarded as a capital of luxury in the world. For the generation to come, they invest in the education of future designers or skilled workers to make the products of tomorrow. In Paris it is endowed with â€Å"couture†college; these have been in charge by the houses to learn traditional techniques. Moreover they work closely with design schools in Paris organizing competition between design schools to choose the elite, the best students of this competitive examination. Every structure, knowledge and human resources is centred on Paris. All of these condition factors are concentrated in only one place in order to build every advantage and to get better and better. Capital resources are due to companies’ investments working in luxury sector and investing in bourse. MSCI World Textiles Apparels Luxury Goods index owns 1,500 securities on 23 international markets (Lefigaro website 2007). It is a reference to investment funds return. Then their strategic setting-up in Paris attracts numerous foreign investors. 2 Demand conditions The second determinant of the diamond model mentions the demand more precisely the home demand, the size and the growth. France is formed by more than 60,000,000 citizens and it is one of the richest countries of the world. Concerning the home demand, Luxury goods such as perfumes and cosmetics, the sales keep their growth until 1989. After this period, the consumption has decreased because the demand has become more sophisticated and restrained. The luxury industry does not work like the other industries. In fact, in luxury buyer needs do not exist. About the fashion design the buyers are interested in the designers’ creativity and they do not worry about their practical use or in fact their needs. Nowadays the clientele, the heart of target, presents very distinctive characteristics. Firstly, it is about consumers in financial ways much more important than average. This social category, elite, has a very particular motivation: it is necessary to answer their desires and not to their base needs. Hedonistic, less and less faithful to the brands, they always expect more in terms of quality, safety and especially from immaterial added value: services, citizenship, ecology, environmental protection and most importantly, prestige and brand heritage 3 Related and supporting industries According to the Minister of Industry French economy has to keep relationship between the suppliers near the designers. In fact, Porter talked about clusters that are means for interconnection and concentration between the companies participating in the making process. In this case, luxury industry has kept a fundamental place: Paris. With 36 of its houses which are their head office in Paris, more than 100 shops and creation studios of 59 houses, workshop of excellence act for the economic dynamism of Paris. Moreover the houses support the local economy employing more than 20,000 people in upstream and downstream. Upstream I by parts manufacturers, wholesalers, art profession such designers, skilled workers. As regard downstream such as distribution or services (e. g. retailers and advising communication agency). They ensure continued existence of professions in danger and invest in order to protect them. In the top 3 of the companies which dominate this market we find LVMH, Vendome and Gucci, both first ones are French what strengthens their luxury image. Moreover on 14 main companies on the luxury market, 5 are from France and 6 are Italian. We can notice that the straight competitor is with Italian luxury brand companies. Moreover French and Italian houses are considered as luxury pillars because they dominate the luxury market. In terms of export we can note the evolution of emerging countries such as China and India which for these last years saw their imports becoming intensified in the sector of the â€Å"inexpensive†fashion. For example, the group of activities Wines and Spirit of LVMH centres its development on the up-market segments of the market. It is also the World leader of the champagne and cognac. This group also owns fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watch and jewellery and each of their portfolio channels dominate the market. We can notice LVMH act in the wine market to expand itself in other markets. In an uncertain world economic context, Moet Hennessy (LVMH President) will pursue during the second half-year 2008 its creation strategy of value and innovation. Numerous novelties will be launched, which will aim at anchoring always more products in the luxury world and at seducing new customers. The firm strategy of luxury industry such as LVMH as we saw is to diversify its portfolio of activity, by adapting every product to every customer’s segment existing on the market. Moet Hennessy continued to strengthen its distribution network in Central Europe by the establishment of subsidiaries in Poland and Czech Republic. Despite a temptation to go abroad to produce with low cost labour in emerging countries, the French groups carry on to invest enormously in luxury industry. This is relied on identity nature. For this reason companies keep in spite of national expensive labour, their know-how and the quality of their production is more important that cost. Conclusion This industry sends products of high quality, to concentrated, attractive, much targeted and much segmented market. Certain brands rhyme with luxury and sensual delight. Behind these names are nevertheless powerful, very skilful groups, which compete ceaselessly in management of the brands, the creativity, the communication and the distribution. However there is factor in constant change such as home condition and factors condition. The issue in France and abroad is that the buyers are increasingly volatile and they can change brand easily because there are more and more factors and competition in this sector. Moreover most buyers are hard to please and competition is fierce. In the other hand the factors conditions pose a problem because of emerging countries have low cost manufacture and can compete better with developed countries. But this country is both buyer both exporting country which is in constant increase. Now a day another issue to tackle: the counterfeiting. Luxury industry struggle against the knock off luxury goods which empoisons the luxury world, it is a struggling war which will probably never be resolved, however it needs to be kept at absolute minimum.
Relationships Between Employees And Employers
Relationships Between Employees And Employers The subject of this study is the relationships between employees, employers and their representatives in the United Kingdom and mainly the changes that have occurred in the last few years. What is meant exactly by employee relations? What has changed since the Industrial Revolution? Salaman (2000) defines employee relations as a reflection of the development of more diverse employment patterns, the growth of high tech and commercial sectors, reduced levels of unionisation and use of management strategies aimed at individualising the employment relationship, in other terms it is the new management of all the variables which influence the work namely the management style, the level of employees motivation, the work environment, job satisfaction, the objectives of the company etc. We can differentiate three phases in the evolution of employee relations since the end of the Second World War, the third one being the partnership approach. Until 1979 (date of the election of the Conservative Party), work relations were based on collective bargaining and collective agreement aiming to determine and regulate, in varying degrees, the terms on which individuals will be employed (Flanders, 1968), with a strong voluntarism encouraged massively and informally. The trade unions (basically, it is an association of wage earners, totally independent of employers pressure, who struggle to improve work conditions) had a lot of power and everything was negotiated through deals. In fact, a Trade Union, through collective bargaining can force employers to deal with labour as a collective identity, rather than isolated individuals, and so, secure better the terms and condition of employment (Webb Webb, 1920). However, when the conservative party was elected in 1979, everything changed. The new government introduced a lot measures to limit the role of trade unions. In addition, it introduced an enterprise culture in which individuals and organisations, rather than government, were to be held responsible for economic performance. Thus, as well as rejecting the maintenance of full employment as a major policy objective, they in effect abandoned the commitment of their predecessors to voluntary collective bargaining as the most effective method of determining pay and conditions. Then, there was a total break with the old work patterns but an explanation of this will be the economical context. In fact, after the war, there was a period of reconstruction that engendered a lot of work; manufacturing was the backbone of the economy, it was a period of full employment. After that, there was a wave of privatisation, many companies became multinationals, and there was an internationalisation of business. The aim of the study will be to analyse and evaluate the new approach to the management of employee relations. Firstly, the author will define and explore what the partnership approach is. Then, the study will continue by examining the advantages and the disadvantages of this approach to each stakeholder (employees, employers and Trade Unions). Finally, an evaluation of the prospects for success of the partnership approach and an expression of a critical comparison with the previous ones will be highlighted. The Employment Relation (ER) Employment relationship is an economical exchange of labour capacity in return for the production of goods and services. It is very important to understand the implications of all the aspects of employment relations. High levels of collaboration between the workforce and management are likely to be consistent with greater reliability of production and quality of output, which in turn would bolster the organizations market position. Thus, employment relation is one of the most significant areas that need to be invested (Rollinson, 1993). Salaman (2000) defines employment relations as a reflection of the development of more diverse employment patterns, the growth of high tech and commercial sectors, reduced levels of unionisation and use of management strategies aimed at individualising the employment relationship, in other terms it is the new management of all the variables which influence the work namely the management style, the level of employees motivation, the work environment, job satisfaction, the objectives of the company etc. The state (all levels of government) plays a crucial role in employment relations, both directly and indirectly. The roles undertaken by governments may be categorised into five components including maintaining protective standards; establishing rules for the interaction between the parties; ensuring that the results of such interaction were consistent with the apparent needs of economy; providing services for labour and management such as advice, conciliation, arbitration and training; and as a major employer. The management of the ER system in Britain Britain is a country of Western Europe comprising England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Until July 2003, the British population is 60,094,648. At the height of its power in the 19th century it ruled an empire that spanned the globe (Stewart, 2005: 23-25). It is the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. The first half of the 20th century saw the Britains strength seriously depleted in two World Wars. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the Britain rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation. It is also a leading trading power and financial centre, is one of the quartets of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. The British industrial relations system has a long history and has undergone much change in recent years. There are three phases in the evolution of employee relations since the end of the World War II, the third one being the partnership approach. Until 1979 (date of the election of the Conservative Party), work relations were based on collective bargaining and collective agreement aiming to determine and regulate, in varying degrees, the terms on which individuals will be employed (Flanders, 1968), with a strong voluntarism encouraged massively and informally. The partnership approach What is it? The use of this term is a relatively recent political phenomenon. Some people affirm that it is just a term used by the Government to attract popular support because nobody can be against Partnership (Knell, 1999). Some others, more optimistic, see in this term a new pluralist approach to industrial relations. This concept comes from the idea that enterprises should recognise the interests of each stakeholder, namely employees, employers and their representatives, in order to satisfy each party. The aim of this approach is to find a common interest of management and labour, through trust and mutual involvement, instilling a sense of belonging and involvement. The Involvement and Participation Association (IPA, 1992) identifies six key principles: A shared commitment to the success of enterprise, including support for flexibility and the replacement of adversarial relations. A recognition that interests of the partners may legitimately differ. Employment security, including measures to improve the employability of staff as well as limit the use of compulsory redundancy. A focus on the quality of working life. A commitment to transparency, including a real sharing of hard, unvarnished information, an openness to discussing plans for the future, genuine consultation and preparedness to listen to the business case for alternative strategies. Adding value the hallmark of an effective partnership is that it taps into sources of commitment and / or resources that were not accessed by previous arrangement. For the New Labour government, partnership at work becomes an important objective. B. Its dimensions 1. Who are the partners? The partnership is between individual employer and individual employee and their representatives but the latter partner is weak in the new work relation. The partnership approach is more focused on individual relationships than a collective one, like in the past. Indeed, New Labour insists on individual choice. For them, it is not an obligation to integrate a working union. It emphasises that individuals are the best judges of their own individual interests. That is to say that the individual has the choice of whether or not to join a trade union and whether or not to take part in the coverage by collective agreement. It might mean the new government is not really in favour of the trade unions. In fact, some people think that a trade union would be an enemy of the partnership approach in the sense that trade unions defend the workers interests and they always have a confrontational relationship with the employers. Then, how can a partnership be formed if one of the partners does not make an effort to find a common agreement? In this way, the trade unions role has to be redefined. They have to play a co-operative role with employers in order to find some common interests which satisfy both the employees and the employers. The psychological contract The psychological contract is the basis of a partnership approach. It is the link between employers and employees. It establishes the expectations, aspirations and understandings which they have of each other (Herriot, 1998). The author has noticed that the psychological contract has changed since the last few years because of the changes of the work environment (change in workforce structure, re-engineering, downsizing.). The old psychological contract was based on security and predictability, now it is more situational and short term and assumes that each party is much less dependent on the other for survival and growth. According to Hiltrop (1995), the new contract can be defined as follows: There is no job security, the employee will be employed as long as he/she adds value to the organisation, and is personally responsible for finding new ways to add value. In return, the employee has the right to demand interesting and important work, has the freedom and resources to perform it well, receives, pay that reflects his or her contributions and get experience and training needed to be employable here or elsewhere. The psychological contract has to be strong and truthful to allow a partnership relation The voluntary aspect of the partnership New Labour insists on the voluntary aspect of the new work relation. The partnership should be introduced through cultural changes which will lead to more positive relationships between employers and employees than the letter of the law can ever achieve. That is to say that the law itself can not resolve the problem of employee relations, some cultural changes have to emerge first. Employers and employees have to make some effort to improve the work relationship. The advantages and the disadvantages of the partnership approach: A. For the employees 1. Advantages With the partnership approach, employees benefit from a Family atmosphere with friendly policies. For example, they benefit from new working arrangements which allow a greater flexibility. There is a harmonisation of working conditions, policies and procedures for all employees under training. The partnership approach introduces a new pay structure: pay is monthly through credit transfer, and the traditional annual pay is replaced by an objective formula. Moreover, a reduction of the working week for manual and craft employees can be observed. 2. Disadvantages However, the partnership approach introduces the notion of the individual worker. In this way, trade unions are less useful in the employer/employee relationship and lose their power. Then, the employee is in a weaker position than his/her employer (a caution has to be noticed because, trade unions have a right to accompany their members during the disciplinary or grievance interview). B. For the employers 1. Advantages Firstly, the partnership gives a good reputation to the enterprise which applies it. Moreover, it allows a greater stability of employment because employer talks to employee and establishes some rights and some obligations that each party has to respect (limit the turnover, strikes and so on). The relationship between both is more respectful and equal. Furthermore, the partnership allows a greater openness over the enterprise. Through it, the employers know what is wrong with the employees and try to find how they can fix it. The work atmosphere is more friendly and truthful. The partnership approach is, as well, a need for a change in approach to the trade unions. To date, the relation between employers and trade unions is based on confrontation. This new approach gives a secondary role to the trade unions and privileges the individual employer/employee relations, which is easier to manage. Moreover, employers try to improve work conditions, in return they profit from a greater activity because workers feel good in the company. In addition they can have greater performance appraisal and a new understanding of performance management through control and feed back. 2. Disadvantages This approach demands a lot of administration and is quite constraining for a company. To fire an employee who has a poor performance for example, the employer has to give a first warning and propose a disciplinary interview in order to detect what is wrong with this employee. If nothing has changed, the employee can receive another warning, the last one, before the dismissal (or other sanctions). Sometimes, procedures take too much time and engender an economical loss. Moreover, the enterprise can lose some power in relation to its employees. Previously, employers had the economic power over employees, now this power is more shared between both because their relationship is more interdependent. C. For the trade unions 1. Advantages There is a new stake in their role as representatives. They have to prove the value of the employers to the employees and the value of the employees to the employers. Moreover, the trade unions can profit from a partnership fund in order that employers and employee representatives work together to support innovative projects to develop the partnership approach in the workplace (Lord McIntosh Lord Hansard, May 1999). 2. Disadvantages The partnership approach has more disadvantages than advantages for the trade unions. Through it, trade unions lose some power. Firstly, their recognition is limited. According to the government, the trade union has a secondary role in the employer/employee relationship. Then, their role has to be redefined in a more consultative sense; it has to focus on the information, the communication, the representation and the partnership. Their contribution to the partnership is potentially useful but far from being essential. Thus, trade unions are worried about their traditional role which is to defend the workers interests. They think that in this new approach, employee representatives will become part of the management. Moreover, according to the IPA, the partnership needs a different channel than the union one, because this model is not adequate anymore. In fact, the union presence is weak or non-existent in the majority of companies in Britain, therefore, the partnership needs a new representative structure. Evaluation and criticism of the prospects for success of the partnership approach The employment relation through the partnership approach becomes fairer. For example, union co-operation in more flexible work patterns, teamworking, the introduction of annualised hours and the harmonisation of terms and conditions of employment are all greater assets of the partnership approach. Concerning job security, the partnership approach remains limited: The job security guarantees have been identified as the hallmark of partnership approach by many of its advocates, although, they have no featured in all such agreements. In most cases, they amount to relatively limited management commitments to avoid the use of compulsory redundancy as a means of labour shedding- a fairly familiar practice in organisations that can attract sufficient candidates for early retirement and voluntary redundancy with enhanced severance payments. Moreover in some partnership agreement, trade unions and employees are required to co-operate with measures with make the avoidance of compulsory redundancy easier, including the acceptance of the companys use of subcontracted, temporary or short-term contract staff ( Taibly Winchester, 2000 and Bach Sisson,2000). Moreover, the fundamental need for a successful approach requires some cultural changes; we have to break with the old practice (industrial/adversarial ones) because we cannot access a new form of management without this. Furthermore, the partnership approach appeared in a particular political context. In fact, it was the end of the Conservative government (characterised by a policy of deregulation) and the beginning of the Labour party which developed the important idea of commitment to the partnership in the workplace. But, its aim has to be analysed very carefully because we can notice that the government refused to take part in some social policy proposals developed by the European commission. This reaction is contrary to the apparent willingness of the government to introduce fairness in work and at work. However, some surveys show that employees feel better with the partnership agreement. We can notice that job satisfaction level is greater than before (Bach Sisson, 2000) but this result has to be taken with caution if we refer to the recent strike of the Post Offices which occurred last month. Then, the question is whether the partnership approach is successful? In the historical, political and economical context, the author thinks that partnership and the willingness of each stakeholder are present. The difficulty is just trying to apply it in the best way. Britain has made a lot of effort to improve work conditions. Compared to the past, this approach is the compromise between the two previous ones. Indeed, the first one (~1945-1979) was too dominated by the trade unions. The following one was too adversarial; the employees lost all their rights. Thus, this new approach tries to satisfy both parties. Conclusion The work is not finished. If the partnership approach succeeds in satisfying the stakeholders, it needs to be improved again. Britain needs to work on other more social law proposals and take part in the European ones. However, the employment relations are governed by the variation of the market as well; hence, it is very difficult to satisfy everybody. But, the important thing is to try to do the best. Moreover, there will always be some disagreements and unfairness in work and at work; we have to be patient because it takes time to change the mind of each person.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Pirates terror of the high seas :: essays research papers
I. Introduction      A. Argggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Ahoy me mates and welcome to the world of pirates.      B. through the next few minutes I will be informing ye about pirates and their rage on the high seas.      C. We will be talking about pirates, their ships, weapons, and a few famous ones at that.      D. I myself have been interested in pirates since I was a wee lad.      A. Ships           1. Galleon                a. â€Å"The Spanish Galleon was the great prize ship for pirates.†               (History of Pirates)                     1. Spanish armada used these ships to export gold from the                     Americas.                b. Weight of cannons was concentrated to center part of the ship.                     1. Used for stability.                c. Meant to cross the Atlantic in large convoys.           2. Sloop                a. â€Å"The ancestors of the modern yacht.†(History of Pirates)                b. Favored among pirates because of its agility.                     2. Pirates relied on bluff and surprise.                c. Pirates of the Caribbean used these ships.                     1. Best sloops were built in Bermuda and Jamaica.           3. Men-O-War                a. Ship Of the Line                     1. â€Å"Main battle ship of a Navy†                    2. Largest of Men-O-War.                     3. Carried between 32 to 144 guns.                                   b. Frigate                     1. â€Å"Was the midsized Man-O-War†                    2. Had three masts but was conciderable smaller than the                     Ship Of the Line.                     3. Had one gun deck, but kept other cannons on the spare                     deck.                              c. Corvette                     1. â€Å"sometimes called a ‘sloop of war’†                    2. had her guns arranged on a single deck.                     3. had the ability to maneuver easily.           4. Now we must cover the terror they unleashed with their weapons.      B. Weapons           1. Cutlass                a. â€Å"A rough heavy broad blade†(History of Pirates 107)                b. Shortness of the blade was an advantage when fighting aboard                a ship.                c. Was a great hacking weapon due to its curved blade and                heaviness.                d. Was often used as a tool as well.           2. Blunderbuss/pistols                a. â€Å"more like a hand-held cannon then a rifle†               (History of Pirates 113)                b. Ranged in length from about 14 to 30 inches.                c. When used in close range it could kill about seven people.                d. â€Å"Pirates prized pistols above all other weapons†               (History of Pirates 115)                e. Pirates used to carry several pistols hanging on a sash into battle.                f. they were usually loaded from the barrel of the gun with                prepared shoot powder and bullets.           3. Cannons                a. ranged in different sizes by being called pounders.                b. could range from 2 to 32 pounders on board a ship                c. swivel guns were mounted on the poop deck to stop boarders.                d. the main cannons were mounted on rolling carts and strapped
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Medea and Lysistrata Essay -- World Literature Gender Inequalities Ess
Medea and Lysistrata Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society. Despite the contrast in the characters of Euripedes' Medea and Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the two playwrights depicted how gender inequality can start a fire. As with Medea and Jason, the battle between the two lead to former's madness, leading to the death of the enemies she considered, and, unfortunately, leading as well to the death of her own children. Medea felt betrayed and left behind by her husband Jason, as well as continuously aggravated by Creon despite the fact that i...
Determination of nickel Essay
INTRODUCTION EDTA (Hâ‚„Y) is widely used to determine metals in complexometric (a volumetric analysis where the formation of a coloured complex is used to indicate the end point of a titration) titrations as it forms stable complexes with most metal ions. EDTA is a tetracorboxylic acid and in alkaline conditions, it exists as Y⠴â » ions, which form 1:1 complexes with metal ions like nickel(II) ions: Y⠴â » + Ni ²Ã¢ º NiY ²Ã¢ » A metal ion indicator (an organic dye which changes colour when it binds with metal ions) shows the end of an EDTA complexometric titration. However, for a metal ion indicator to be suitable in n EDTA titration, it must not bind as strongly with metal ions as EDTA does. Murexide is therefore suitable. AIM The aim of this experiment is to determine the percentage of nickel in a nickel(II) salt using EDTA. Approximately 2.6g of hydrated nickel(II) sulphate was transferred to a weighing bottle and the contents weighed and about 25cmá ¶Å¸ of deionised water was added to a 100cmá ¶Å¸ beaker and the nickel transferred to the water. The bottle was weighed without any remaining salt and then the mixture was stirred until the solid was dissolved before the resulting solution was transferred to a 100cmá ¶Å¸ standard flask. The beaker was then rinsed several times with deionised water and the rinsings were added to the standard flask. The solution was filled up to the graduation mark with deionised water and the flask was stoppered and inverted several times to mix the contents. The burette was rinsed with 0.01moll⠻ ¹ EDTA and filled with the same solution. The 20cmá ¶Å¸ pipette was rinsed with a little of the nickel salt solution and then 20cmá ¶Å¸ of it was pipetted into a conical flask. The solution was diluted to about 100cmá ¶Å¸ with deionised water and murexide indicator (approximately 0.05g) was added to the diluted nickel salt solution along with appromimately 10cmá ¶Å¸ of ammonium chloride solution. The mixture was titrated with the EDTA solution and after and after the addition of about 15cmá ¶Å¸ the solution was made alkaline by adding approximately 10cmá ¶Å¸ of 0.88 aqueous ammonia (concentrated ammonia solution). The titration was then continued to the end point, shown by the first appearance of a blue-violet colour. Titrations were repeated until two concordant results were obtained. RESULTS Mass of 1 Mole of NiSO4.6H2O: 262.8g Mass of 1 Mole of Ni: 58.7g Theoretical Percentage by Mass: Volumes of EDTA used in titration: 1st : 20.2cm3 2nd: 20.9cm3 3rd: 20.4cm3 Average: 20.5cm3 Moles of EDTA used = 0.1 x 0.0205 = 0.00205 Moles EDTA reacts with Nickel in a 1:1 ratio, so the number of moles of Nickel in 20cm3 of the salt solution = 0.00205Moles Number of Moles in 100cm3 = 0.00205 x 5 = 0.01025 Moles Number of Moles of Ni2+ in 2.6g of Nickel salt = 0.01025 Weight of Ni2+ in salt = 0.01025 x 58.7 = 0.601675g CONCLUSION % Mass of Nickel in salt = 0.601675 à · 2.60 = 23.14%
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