The Movie Mulholland Drive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Movie Mulholland Drive - Essay Example The movie starts with a story that seems like that of any other thriller movie but as the movie moves ahead, the story becomes highly twisted. The viewer can not predict what would happen next and this fact makes the story more thrilling. The writer of the story obviously has done a wonderful job hiding the contents or the ‘knowledge’ associated with the fantasy and the reality portions of the story. As a result, the writer deliberately uses the movie to serve an epistemological purpose. Although the fantasy and the real base story are almost completely opposite to each other in the movie, they are very much related to each other. They are similar both are haunted by an undefined guilt and a desire for blissful unity. Further, the characters in both the works are the people that the two main characters know. Hence, both of the stories have been written so well that each of them makes perfect sense and still, interestingly, the reason is not the only thing needed to understand the plot. The movie is a dream and an illusion that defies waking logic and yet seems remarkably complete and seamless. (Ruch, 2001) It is through this that the director tries to portray how sometimes real knowledge cannot be distinguished from the false one as both may seem so authentic and absolute. This idea directly questions how different kinds of knowledge can be differentiated and so the storyline comes under the realm of epistemology. Both of the narrations are also similar because of the presence of a simple concept. Both take place in the dreaming conscious of a single protagonist, Diane Selwyn. Diane (or Betty in the hallucination) is a character that is mostly dominated by emotions of envy and some darker feelings- there is a part of the character that seeks to consume the object of her desire.  

Implications Of Digital Panopticism And Profiling Essay

Implications Of Digital Panopticism And Profiling - Essay Example As argued by Jason and Detlev (2010) the development of a system of consumer segment that was referred to as A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods ACORN that was focused at proper storage of consumer information was essential. One of the notable icons who significantly contributed in market segmentation through information technology is Jonathan Robbin. Based on his contributions and development of software in the marketing field, social clusters emerged. Another implication of digital Panopticism was improved market intelligence. Through storing of information that related to various market segments, marketers are now able to clearly understand socio-economic factors, consumer’s preferences and tastes that are fundamental in the production and delivery of products. Firms are in a position to emulate effective marketing mix that matches the needs of their customers. Emergence of socio-demographic surveillance and real development in consumer surveillance is another ma jor result of the digitalization. This was based on the extensive marketing studies that include algorithmic analysis and data mining. As a result of the extensive use of information technologies, companies can now identify behavioural relationship and consumption patterns that could not be recognized before the use of modern technologies. For example, through the use of internet, consumers can now give feedback that is used by companies such as Coca-Cola to produce brands that are needed by their consumers.

Ursula Burns Week 9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ursula Burns Week 9 - Essay Example She always represents the views of her workers and encourages them all through (Lussier & Achua, 2013). This is considering that she wants them to achieve success in their daily routines and aims at fostering their great abilities at work. She constantly aims at gaining extra success. In this regard, it is true that she represents all the above mentioned behavioral components. Yes. I believe that Burns shows excellent qualities of a servant leader, which makes her fit the bill. It is not possible to leave out the fact that she was brought up by a single mother who endeavored to see her children become successful in life and live better lives. She managed to set herself apart from other individuals placed in the same ranks with her. Above all, Burns had a chance to do for other people what her mother did for her (Lussier & Achua, 2013). Based on my knowledge of Ursula I believe that she meets the criteria for all the 12 qualities presented. Narrowing down to a particular quality would only deny her the great qualities she deserves. First, she shows that she had bought into the vision of the company. Specially, Burns desires to see the company grow and develop into a bigger and better one than it has ever been before (Lussier & Achua, 2013). She hopes that her employees will acquire significant achievements in the company as well. It is true that Burns is an excellent speaker and gifted communicator. This is considering that she managed to climb fast the management ladder at Xerox on account of her exceptional communication skills. Above all, she is endowed with out of the ordinary ethical attributes and self-certainty. This is evident in the subject that she never showed any signs of fear her skills or knowledge. She consistently shared her mind and presented her individual ideas without any worry. Ultimately, it i s her confidence that enabled people around her to confide in her without a doubt. Based on the facts of the case, Burns derives her personal

Water conservation strategies according to green seal requirements Case Study

Water conservation strategies according to green seal requirements - Case Study Example This paper deals with the concept of water recycling and waste water management according to the principles enshrined in Green Seal recommended practices. Water recycling processes can adopt many strategies that strives to conserve water as well as reuse them after separating harmful pollutants and organic matter from it. The strategies also involve practices that encourage the effective use of water and reduction of waste water. Waste water management is not a discipline that merely consists of scientific jargon. It is attainable and sustainable provided one takes the pains to implement it aptly.With the increasing destruction of environmental resources, the need for conservation has significantly increased in the modern world. This is specifically so in the case of resources such as water. Statistics available indicate that sources of potable water will not remain as such if the level of exploitation is to continue at the current rate in the world. In addition to the pressures of p opulation increase and pollution, industrial pressures on potable water are also decreasing the availability of fresh water and there is an urgent need to control water wastage. It is in this context that the need to control water wastage through water recycling gains importance. Wastewater management is an emerging field of science that helps to tackle issues related to water pollution and contamination in the industrial world.The need for waste water management has many ramifications, which is both social as well as economical. As far as the society is concerned waste water management helps to recycle the much needed elixir of life back into the water sources as potable water. Otherwise, water that is recycled can be used to sustain green cover over an area thereby providing for the optimum use of this precious natural resource. On the economic front it may be said that conserving water amounts to saving money in many ways and the initial costs that may be involved can soon be rec ouped in terms of both tangible and intangible benefits for the company. World wide statistics indicate that water, which is a fundamental need for the existence of life on earth, is limited in terms of its availability. Humans have access to less than 0.08% of all the water that is available in earth. To add to the woes it is believed the need for water will increase by about 40% in the next two decades. This perhaps indicates to the immense responsibility that humans have towards conserving water. In the year 1999, the United Nations Environment Programme identified water shortage as one of the two most worrying problems for the millennium. The fact that the other problem, global warming, is also related to water shortage adds gravity to the situation. It is believed that one person in five across the world has no access to safe drinking water. Similarly, one in two lacks safe sanitation [United Nations Industrial Development Organization. 1996] In terms of social ramifications, a reliable supply of water is the basic need for any form of development. The availability and quality of water is essential factor in the nation's ability to protect public health, preserve ecological integrity, ensure sufficient agricultural production, and meet commercial needs. Therefore issues affecting the nation's atmospheric water, surface water and groundwater need to be addressed with priority. Certain facts that point towards the gravity of a water crisis are: About 1.1 billion people, or 18 percent of the world's population, lack access to safe drinking water. In addition, 2.5 billion are without proper sanitation. Even though the freshwater supplies are sufficient for the world's population, water scarcity exists due to poor management and distribution of water resources. Unsafe drinking water is the cause of death of more than five million people each year.

Waste Elimination Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Waste Elimination - Coursework Example In the several groups identified by economist, Taiichi Ohno, there is the imperative need of identifying some of them and breaking them down in an effort to acquire greater understanding of their effects and subsequent characteristics. These waste groups include, damage caused by the waste to the environment, the waste in production and the waste brought about in motion. Baltimore Green Construction is a company based in Maryland that has made tremendous efforts in resolving the various waste issues experienced today. Focusing on the first category identified, there are very many effects caused by waste products to the environment and the affected are not only people, but also other organisms in the environment. One of the major problems that waste products have on the environment is pollution. Pollution is a problem that has affected many countries in the 21st century and the amount of waste products that bring about this is in a very large amount. Characterization of pollution is i nto three groups, one of the vast types is air pollution, the other type of pollution identified is water pollution, and then there is the less but still epidemic soil pollution. Focusing on air pollution, the major factor to identify with this is global warming. Many companies in the contemporary world manufacture and produce goods using industries and factories that do not have proper waste disposal systems. However, one of the ways through which Baltimore Green Construction has

Scrutiny of Property as an Investment Class Essay

Scrutiny of Property as an Investment Class - Essay Example Risk is a calculation of what is anticipated to occur but not what is really happening. Investment determinations nevertheless need the inference of an unidentified future return, which is known as expected return. Since there is a series of probable results there is no assurance that the estimation will be accurate, but it is the most excellent likely evaluation. The increase of allocation of anticipated returns about the entire expected mean estimation is typically calculated by the standard deviation (), or its square, the variance (2), and this is the typical risk measure. When assets are pooled in a portfolio, the anticipated return is a subjective mean of the individual asset's predictable return. The weights are the ratios of these assets accommodated in the portfolio. The portfolio risk is composite. The portfolio risk reckons not only on the weights and the individual chances but also on the correlativity between the assets. The correlation coefficient, , assesses joint moves between the two variables and how they vary jointly. The rate can differ from -1.0 to +1.0, even though for majority of the variables, the correlation coefficient lies between these two valu... The threat of the portfolio is the weighted mean of the risks of the assets in the portfolio. When the relationship is -1.0, the return are absolutely negative correlated which means that with the increase or decrease in the value of one variable the other variable will move in the opposite proportions. The correlation coefficient for assets without any correlation at all is zero (Perold, 2004). According to Hoesli, M., and MacGregor, B. D., (2000), "the first stage was to compute the expected return and risk of each individual asset and to use these to calculate the portfolio expected return and risk from all possible combination of weights, using both linear programming and investing." In reality, no two assets can ever be completely correlated as their income is impacted by diverse factors. When all of the correlations are fully correlated, the risk is constantly less than the weighted mean. In this event, some of the risk from one asset can be counterbalanced to an extent by the other asset, so that the standard deviation of the portfolio always remains lesser than the mean risk of the weighted average of the standard deviation of each item. This is the foundation of variegation and portfolio creation. The quantity by which risk is cut down reckons on the correlations among the assets. The lesser the correlation is between rent and capital gains on different assets the further away the correlation will be from +1 resulting in greater profits of variegation. Consequently, investors who hold a broadened portfolio with not completely correlated assets could get rid of the risk linked with the individual assets. According to Brown, Keith C. and Frank K. Reilly,

Managerial Economics Essay Example for Free

Managerial Economics Essay Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics 4. Describe the importance of the other things equal assumption in managerial economic analysis. 5. Describe what constitutes a market, distinguish competitive from non-competitive markets, and discuss imperfect markets. 6. Emphasize the globalization of markets. NOTES 1. Definition. Managerial economics is the science of directing scarce resources to manage cost effectively. 2. Application. Managerial economics applies to: (a) Businesses (such as decisions in relation to customers including pricing and advertising; suppliers; competitors or the internal workings of the organization), nonprofit organizations, and households. (b) The â€Å"old economy† and â€Å"new economy† in essentially the same way except for two distinctive aspects of the â€Å"new economy†: the importance of network  effects and scale and scope economies. i. network effects in demand – the benefit provided by a service depends on the total number of other users, e.g., when only one person had email, she had no one to communicate with, but with 100 mm users on line, the demand for Internet services mushroomed. ii. scale and scope economies – scaleability is the degree to which scale and scope of a business can be increased without a corresponding increase in costs, e.g., the information in Yahoo is eminently scaleable (the same information can serve 100 as well as 100 mm users) and to serve a larger number of users, Yahoo needs only increase the capacity of its computers and links. iii. Note: the term open technology (of the Internet) refers to the relatively free admission of developers of content and applications. (c) Both global and local markets. 3. Scope. (a) Microeconomics – the study of individual economic behavior where resources are costly, e.g., how consumers respond to changes in prices and income, how businesses decide on employment and sales, voters’ behavior and setting of tax policy. (b) Managerial economies – the application of microeconomics to managerial issues (a scope more limited than microeconomics). (c) Macroeconomics – the study of aggregate economic variables directly (as opposed to the aggregation of individual consumers and businesses), e.g., issues relating to interest and exchange rates, inflation, unemployment, import and export policies. 2 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics 4. Methodology. (a) Fundamental premise economic behavior is systematic and therefore can be studied. Systematic economic behavior means individuals share common motivations and behave systematically in making economic choices, i.e, a person who faces the same choices at two different times will behave in the same way both times. (b) Economic model – a concise description of behavior and outcomes: i. focuses on particular issues and key variables (e.g., price, salary), omits considerable information, hence unrealistic at times; ii. constructed by inductive reasoning; iii. to be tested with empirical data and revised as appropriate. 5. Basic concepts. (a) Margin vis a vis average variables in managerial economics analyses. i. marginal value of a variable – the change in the variable associated with a unit increase in a driver, e.g., amount earned by working one more hour; ii. average value of a variable – the total value of the variable divided by the total quantity of a driver, e.g., total pay divided by total no. of hours worked; iii. driver – the independent variable, e.g., no. of hours worked; iv. the marginal value of a variable may be less that, equal to, or greater than the average value, depending on whether the marginal value is decreasing, constant or increasing with respect to the driver; v. if the marginal value of a variable is greater than its average value, the average value increases, and vice versa. (b) Stocks and flows. i. stock – the quantity at a specific point in time, measured in units of the item, e.g., items on a balance sheet (assets and liabilities), the world’s oil reserves in the beginning of a year; ii. Flow – the change in stock over some period of time, measured in units per time period e.g., items on an income statement (receipts and expenses), the world’s current production of oil per day. (c) Holding other things equal – the assumption that all other relevant factors do not change, and is made so that changes due to the factor being studied may be examined independently of those other factors. Having analysed the effects of each factor, they can be put together for the complete picture. 6. Organizational boundaries. (a) Organizations include businesses, non-profits and households. (b) Vertical boundaries – delineate activities closer to or further from the end user. (c) Horizontal boundaries relate to economies of scale (rate of production or delivery of a good or service) and scope (range of different items produced or delivered). 3 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics (d) Organizations which are members of the same industry may choose different vertical and horizontal boundaries. 7. Competitive markets. (a) Markets. i. a market consists of buyers and sellers that communicate with one another for voluntary exchange. It is not limited by physical structure. ii. in markets for consumer products, the buyers are households and sellers are businesses. iii. in markets for industrial products, both buyers and sellers are businesses. iv. in markets for human resources, buyers are businesses and sellers are households. v. Note: an industry is made up of businesses engaged in the production or delivery of the same or similar items. (b) Competitive markets. i. markets with many buyers and many sellers, where buyers provide the demand and sellers provide the supply, e.g., the silver market. ii. the demand-supply model basic starting point of managerial economics, the model describes the systematic effect of changes in prices and other economic variables on buyers and sellers, and the interaction of these choices. (c) Non-competitive markets – a market in which market power exists. 8. Market power. (a) Market power the ability of a buyer or seller to influence market conditions. A seller with market power will have the freedom to choose suppliers, set prices and influence demand. (b) Businesses with market power, whether buyers or sellers, still need to understand and manage their costs. (c) In addition to managing costs, sellers with market power need to manage their demand through price, advertising, and policy toward competitors. 9. Imperfect Market. (a) Imperfect market where one party directly conveys a benefit or cost to others, or where one party has better information than others. (b) The challenge is to resolve the imperfection and be cost-effective. (c) Imperfections can also arise within an organization, and hence, another issue in managerial economics is how to structure incentives and organizations. 10. Local vis a vis global markets. (a) Local markets – owing to relatively high costs of communication and trade, some markets are local, e.g., housing, groceries. The price in one local market is independent of prices in other local markets. 4 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics (b) Global markets owing to relatively low costs of communication and trade, some markets are global, e.g., mining, shipping, financial services. The price of an item with a global market in one place will move together with the pries elsewhere. (c) Whether a market is local or global, the same managerial economic principles apply. (d) Note: Falling costs of communication and trade are causing more markets to be more integrated across geographical border – enabling the opportunity to sell in new markets as well as global sourcing. Foreign sources may provide cheaper skilled labor, specialized resources, or superior quality, resulting in lower production costs and/or improved quality. ANSWERS TO PROGRESS CHECKS 1A. The managerial economics of the â€Å"new economy† is much the same as that of the â€Å"old economy† with two aspects being more important – network effects in demand and scale and scope economies. 1B. Vertical boundaries delineate activities closer to or further from the end user. Horizontal boundaries define the scale and scope of operations. ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Marketing over the Internet is a scaleable activity. Delivery through UPS is somewhat scaleable: UPS already incurs the fixed cost of an international collection and distribution network; it may be willing to give Amazon bulk discounts for larger volumes of business. 2. Number of cars in service January 2002 + production + imports – exports – scrappage during 2002 = Number of cars in service January 2003. Number of cars in service is stock; other variables are flows. 3. [omitted]. 4. No, models must be less than completely realistic to be useful. 5. (a) Average price per minute = (210 + 120 x 4)/5 = 138 yen per minute. (b) Price of marginal minute = 120 yen. 6. (a) Flow; (b) Stock; (c) Stock. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics 7. (a) The electricity market includes buyers and sellers. (b) industry consists of sellers only. The electricity 8. (a) False. (b) False. 9. [omitted]. 10. If there are scale economies, the organization could product at a lower cost on a larger scale, which means wider horizontal boundaries; and vice versa. 11. Yes. Horizontal boundaries: how many product categories should it sell? Vertical boundaries: should it operate its own warehouses and delivery service? 12. Intel has relatively more market power. 13. (b). 14. Both (a) and (b). 15. Competitive markets have large numbers of buyers and sellers, none of which can influence market conditions. By contrast, a buyer or seller with market power can influence market conditions. A market is imperfect if one party directly conveys benefits or costs to others, or if one party has better information than another. WORKED ANSWER TO DISCUSSION QUESTION Jupiter Car Rental offers two schemes for rental of a compact car. It charges $60 per day for an unlimited mileage plan, and $40 per day for a time-and-mileage plan with 100 free miles plus 20 cents a mile for mileage in excess of the free allowance. a. For a customer who plans to drive 50 miles, which is the cheaper plan. What are the average and marginal costs per mile of rental? (The marginal cost is the cost of an additional mile of usage.) b. For a customer who plans to drive 150 miles, which is the cheaper plan. What are the average and marginal costs per mile of rental? c. If Jupiter raises the basic charge for the time-and-mileage plan to $44 per day, how would that affect the average and marginal costs for a customer who drives 50 miles? 6 Chapter 1: Introduction to Managerial Economics Answer (a) It is helpful to sketch the total rental cost as a function of the mileage (see figure below). The breakeven between the two plans is at 200 miles per day. For 50 miles, the time-and-mileage plan is cheaper. Average cost = $40/50 = 80 cents per mile. Marginal cost = 0. Total cost ($) time-and-mileage plan unlimited mileage plan $60 $40 0 100 200 Quantity (miles per day) (b) For the 150 mile customer, the time-and-mileage plan is still cheaper. Average cost = $(40 + 0.2 x 50)/150 = 33 cents per mile; marginal cost = 20 cents per mile. (c) After the increase in the basic charge, the average cost = $(44 + 0.2 x 50)/150 = 36 cents per mile, while marginal cost = 20 cents per mile. The increase in the basic charge doesn’t affect the marginal cost. 7