16th Century Story-Romeo and Juliet

16th century was the golden period for English literature culminating from the age of Renaissance born from the deathbed of medieval scholasticism to whole new thoughts, ideas and culture. The human thoughts were free from the bondage of fixed principles of Aristotelian philosophy to the doctrines of Christianity. The period of Renaissance implied a perception of greater beauty and polish in the Greek and Latin Scholars. In other words, it was a birth of a kind of new inventiveness in classicism. The renaissance revived ancient classical learning into an arena of Dramatics. Play writers from liturgical play shifted to the miracle to morality and from the morality to the interlude and from their journey began to with the regular drama of Elizabethan age.Play writers began to avoid classicist approach in favor of originality and secular ideas defying the old conventional ways. In this air of new thoughts and ideologies and certain social obstructions plaguing the theater world, there w as born William Shakespeare, a new soul to whom Ben Johnson a worthy rival and harsh critic gave his glowing tribute with these words:â€Å"Soul of the age!Applause! Delight! the wonder of our stage !Triumph, my Britain! Thou hast one to show,To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.He was not of an age, but for all the time. (Payne & Hunter 2003)Shakespeare genius operated in his capacity to capture the length and breath of human life’s and character in all its complexity and variety and has touched every element of human experience and every segment of human sensibility. Within his plays are interlaced the stories in all his variegated form whether it was passion of Othello or agonized sense and spirited Hamlet or the tortured souls of romantic couple Romeo and Juliet. Story of Romeo and Juliet breathes within the heart and soul of lovers for many generations ahead and is admired and loved by very one.It was Romeo & Juliet that has made Shakespeare realized his full potenti al as play writer, and he could have been 26 years old then and made him stand apart than the rest of his contemporaries.   It was written around 1595 when the major tremor struck London in 1540, and he mentioned this episode through the voice of Nurse in Act 11, scene 3, line 23. (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation 1996)Romeo and Juliet should not be visualized as only a tragic love story but deep within lies prejudices of tradition and practices that was the hallmark of the society 16th century. Society demanded women and men, both to adhere to family honor by following the tradition of families even if it was at the cost of bloodshed and the end of love. It is a story of love that flourished even though there was a strong rivalry between two families reaching to the extent of killings.Montagues and the Capulets are enemies, always ready to take revenge on each other, entangling themselves in bloody feud on the streets of Verona. Each time one member of a family is killed, h is relatives will be eager to sort revenge by taking blood of the other and if any one found Romeo meeting Juliet, he is sure to get killed. In this environment of deep hatred and bloodshed, Shakespeare gave a very fervent place to love. Lovers enjoy each others company and bestow their affection for each other, and say all what lovers would love to say to each other. Till today, lovers take the example of love of Romeo and Juliet.It is better to die rather than live without their love, is an essence that spreads through Romeo Juliet and within all of us. They both meet strangely and it is misunderstanding that kills them both. It was the love at first sight and it is to the Shakespeare genius that he told to all the lovers the fact that love at first sight could culminate in true love.The story start with these lines:â€Å"Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands uncl ean† (Act I, Prologue)And amidst all the confusions and in an effort to meet, both Romeo and Juliet die. Their death was the beginning of new rays of hope for the peace. Both died but it was the love finally that won. The play culminates with the words:â€Å"For never was a story of more woe (sorrow) Than this of Juliet and her Romeo†. (Act V, Scene III)Romeo and Juliet have all the elements that could make it a good story. It has a plot, climax, accurate settings, characters, symbolism and theme that have made it one of the masterpieces. Amidst this, Shakespeare has knitted very beautifully elements of both distressing scenes but along with that humor, bloody battles and civil enmity, and naive love and unapprised hate formed the part of this play. The setting of Romeo and Juliet took place in the cities of Verona and Mantua, Italy, within a span of four days. Majority of the action took place at Verona except the scene Act V, scene 1 which occurred in Mantua.The setti ngs reveal the social life with certain political nuances. Verona became a battlefield due to bloody revenges between Capulet and Montague families and it was a place where Romeo and Juliet were told that they should hate each other owing to their genre. Romeo and Juliet shower their love for each other at the fruitful Capulet orchard at Verona, whereas at Mantua, Romeo is exiled after he kills Tybalt.  The lovers took their lives too at the Capulet tomb.Weather also plays a most crucial aspect to settings. It is a month of July when major incidents happen. The July is a hot season good enough to escalate the tempers of every one. Temper of characters rises high quite often even at the slightest pretext and ends only after bloody revenge. Romeo in whose heart there is an ardent love for Juliet; he too takes revenge on Tybalt and is banished. In the end, without any second thought thinking Juliet is dead, he kills himself. The hot weather is also a sign of igniting the sexual and l ove passion between Romeo and Juliet.The play starts with a prologue, as was the general tendency among play writers of that era, which is followed by the sequence of events covered in five acts. Unlike other Shakespearean plays, there is a single plot, which is enacted onstage and is in chronological order. There are no flashbacks and the focus is shown on Romeo throughout the play. The structure of plot is very well developed with exposition, climax, rising and falling action, denouement and symbolism. The climax arises at several points in the story. In one of them, it reaches the point when Juliet takes a drink pretending to be dead and Romeo did not receive the correct letter.Shakespeare uses less of symbolism yet it is a very important part of the play. Light and Dark images reflects the intensity of love that is sparking between Romeo and Juliet and their glory of happiness when they are together and sadness when separated. The light and dark images are the symbolic of devili sh yet powerful forces bringing them together and also separating them. Darkness brings Romeo and Juliet together whereas light separates them, but darkness again prevails when Romeo dies. In other words, world is not stable but is a constantly changing.There is always a light after day and day after light. The other symbols are swords representing violent attitude and poison which is not basically evil as it was given to Juliet by Friar Lawrence to make her appear dead. But the irony of the fact is that this potion became a cause of the death. Thus it adopts dual purpose. It became a cause of death but rejoined the two bitter enemies. Another symbol thumb biting by the buffoonish Samson is not a very important symbol but shows the incoherent pride and vulgur display of power.Romeo and Juliet’s characters breath life but not much effort is given to character development. Unlike Macbeth, it is a plot that has generated much interest. The more emphasis is give to the character of Romeo who looses temper very soon. He is just a teen whose love at first sight changes the whole scenario and life of both the families.Shakespeare is world’s greatest play writer and all this elements are so well structured together that they make us realize emotions and appeals of lovebirds within our souls. Society crushed their love by their intriguing patterns and traditional approach, yet from the play, also emerges that eventually in the end it is the love only that always blossom.Romeo and Juliet is a true reflection of society of 15-16th century. Royal families pride and their sense of revenge take their and their relatives and even their children on the bed of blood. But this is not an end though Romeo and Juliet died yet they are there within all of us inspiring in us the true love.With poetic diction and eloquent words, Shakespeare challenges the old traditional ways to give fresh lease of life. It is an end of Romeo and Juliet but a beginning for many more Rom eo and Juliet’s in this world.REFERENCE LISTBates Alfred. 1906. ROMEO AND JULIET: An analysis of the play by Shakespeare The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization Vol. 14. pp. 6-13. London: Historical Publishing Company. Retrieved on January 13, 2008 from W.W.W: http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/romeoandjuliet001.htmlHazlitt William. 1817. ROMEO AND JULIET: An analysis of the play by William Shakespeare. (Originally published in Characters of Shakespeare's Plays. London: C.H. Reynell) Retrieved on January 13, 2008 from W.W.W:http://www.theatredatabase.com/16th_century/william_shakespeare_010.htmlJohnson Bill. The Power and Passion of Love and Hate: A Review of Romeo and Juliet. Retrieved on January 13, 2008 from W.W.W: http://www.storyispromise.com/rjoutlin.htmMabillard   Amanda. 2000. (Updated: 2006) An Analysis of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.   Shakespeare Online. Retrieved on January 13, 2008 from http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanal ysis/romeocommentary.htmlMowat Barbara A.   and Werstine Paul. 1992. Romeo and Juliet. New Folger Library Shakespeare edition.Payne Michael & Hunter John. 2003. Renaissance Literature: An Anthology. Blackwell Publishing.Shakespeare William.2001. Romeo and Juliet (Contributor Roma Gill) Published by Oxford University Press.Siegal Paul N. 1961. Christianity and the Religion of Love in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare Quarterly 12(4) pp. 371-392Smirnov Aleksandr. 1936. Shakespeare: A Marxist Interpretation. (Translated by SONIA VOLOCHOVA, Transcribed by Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000.) New York: The Critics Group.Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 1996. The Tragedy. Retrieved on January 13, 2008 from W.W.W: http://www.romeoandjuliet.com/setting/tragedy.html

Jainism vs. Sikhism Essay

Read the assigned chapters for the week and complete the following table. Be as specific as possible when identifying practices, beliefs, rituals, and historical elements. Cite sources in APA formatting. Sikhism as a religion believes in the followings: Core Beliefs Jainism Sikhism 1. Every living being has a soul 2. Sikhism believes in One GOD. 3. Every soul is potentially divine, with innate qualities of infinite knowledge, perception, power, and bliss (masked by its karmas). 4. Sikhism believes Guru Granth Sahib as the last and eternal Gurus of Sikhs. 5. Regard every living being as you do yourself, harming no one and being kind to all living beings. Sikhism believes in Karma- the law of cause and effect. 6. Every soul is born as a heavenly being, human, sub-human or hellish being according to its own karmas. 7. Sikhism believes in Reincarnation. 8. Every soul is the architect of its own life, here or hereafter 6. When a soul is freed from karmas, it becomes free and attains divine consciousness, experiencing infinite knowledge, perception, power, and bliss 9. Sikhism believes in Multiple paths to salvation. 10. Sikhism opposes Pilgrimage,rituals practices 11. Sikhism believes in Karma- the law of cause and effect. Respond to the following questions in 150 to 200 words: 1. What do you think is the most important similarity and which is the most important difference? Use specifics to support your answer. Although Sikhism and Jainism are both South Asian religions with high philosophical values, they differ significantly in their age, diet, ways of salvation, and most importantly, their concept of God. Jainism is the oldest known religion in India being most recently traced back to its latest tirthankara or prophet, Mahavira (599 – 527 BCE), whereas Sikhism is the youngest tradition and began in the 15th century in the state, Punjab. Eventhough both religions believe in karma and reincarnation of the soul, Sikhs are not required to be strict vegetarians, highly contrasting to the vegan diet ofthe Janis. A significant difference between these two eastern religions is their belief in how to attain salvation in their lives. Since Janis do not believe in a single God or multiples gods for that matter, they believe their salvation is gained solely through their own personal struggle and victory. Jains do not believe there is heavenly figure guiding them through life, but rather that the universe is a never-ending cycle. This drastically differs fromthe monotheistic beliefs of Sikhism of how there is only one creator and God,mostly referred to as Allah in the Guru Granth Sahib. Sikhs believe they may gain salvation through serving Allah, and eventually becomes one with God.Both religions practice and revere Ahisma (non-violence), however Jains heavily emphasize this lifestyle more than Sikhs do. This can be seen historically when the Sikhs wanted to rise politically, formed a military and beared arms. 2. Consider the following statement: Sallekhana (â€Å"holy death†) violates the Jain principle of ahimsa because it is an act of violence against oneself. Using examples from Ch. 5 of your text, what points might a follower of Jainism make to argue against this statement? non injury extends to thought, word and action. Mahavira taught that all beings desire life. Therefore no one has the right to take away the life of another being. According to Jainism, the killing of animals is a great sin. Jainism goes further and says that there is life in trees, and plants and there is life in air, water, mud, etc., and that all things have the right to exist.(live) References: http://www.sikhismguide.org/ http://www.religioustolerance.org/sikhism2.htm http://sohum-jainism.blogspot.com/2010/10/jainism-core-beliefs.html http://religion.answers.wikia.com/wiki/What_are_the_5_main_beliefs_of_Jainism http://toseventhheaven.blogspot.com/2010/04/17-significant-differences-between.html http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_core_belief_for_Sikhism

Strategic Plan Part 1

Strategic Plan: Part 1 Malissa Love-Virgil BUS/475 March 12, 2013 Victor De Jesus Strategic Plan: Part 1, Conceptualizing a Business Little League Scoops mission is to provide the healthiest homemade ice cream at the same time as supporting the youth in the local neighborhood. Little League Scoops offers two free scoops of ice cream to the little league ball players after his or her ball game. Little League Scoops, aside from management, only employs students from the local high school, providing a learning experience for students preparing to leave high school.Organization Vision â€Å"A vision statement is sometimes called a picture of your company in the future but it’s so much more than that. Your vision statement is your inspiration, the framework for all your strategic planning. A vision statement may apply to an entire company or to a single division of that company. Whether for all or part of an organization, the vision statement answers the question, â€Å"Where do we want to go? † What you are doing when creating a vision statement is articulating your dreams and hopes for your business.It reminds you of what you are trying to build† (â€Å"Vision Statement,†Ã‚  2013). At Little League Scoops, we provide homemade superior tasting ice cream while fostering healthy activities in our neighborhood youth. Little League Scoops makes the healthiest homemade ice cream fresh daily for those in the surrounding areas. The primary goal of Little League Scoops, other than to become a sturdy long-term company in a small town, is to promote healthy activities in the children by encouraging them to maintain healthy activities throughout the summer vacation.Little League Scoops believes that by promoting healthy activities in children, we create healthy adults with healthy habits. Keeping children busy instead of setting them in front of video games will aid in lowing childhood obesity as well as laziness. Guiding Values The area that in wh ich Little League Scoops resides is not wealthy in terms of monetary value. Little League Scoops is looking to maintain healthy business long term, but it also wants to foster abundant relationships with the community.Little League Scoops provides competitive prices for homemade healthy ice cream for anyone who is not a little league ball player and free scoops for those who are. Little League Scoops believes it is the responsibility of the organizations within a community to foster good will. Providing incentive for the youth to stay active is how Little League Scoops intends to become a predominate company in the surrounding areas. As the name of the organization grows, surrounding areas will be invited to join in the free scoops program for the little league teams in those townships.Guiding the Organization’s Strategic Direction â€Å"People have different beliefs around what is right, wrong or inconsequential, and so it is critical that company’s build some founda tional beliefs in employees to make sure his or her decisions are in alignment with the organization. A company's mission, vision and values are that foundation. They guide decision making by building common beliefs and understanding among employees.When a strong mission, clear vision and detailed values are implemented, an organization will begin to eliminate personal preference, ensuring that critical decisions are ethically sound and consistent in approach† (â€Å"Decision Making: The 3 Foundations Of Business Decision Making: Mission, Vision, Values,†Ã‚  2013). Little League Scoops mission is to provide the healthiest homemade ice cream at the same time as supporting the youth in the local neighborhood. Little League Scoops believes that by promoting healthy activities in children, we create healthy adults with healthy habits.Combining the mission, the vision, and the values of Little League Scoops, the organization will use these driving forces to maintain the stra tegic direction and become an icon housed within a small community. Addressing Customer Needs and Achieve Competitive Advantage Summertime brings a need for cooling refreshments. Ice cream has forever been a favorite among Americans. â€Å"The U. S. ice cream industry generated total revenues of $10 billion in 2010, with take-home ice cream sales epresenting the largest section of the market, generating revenues of $6. 8 billion or 67. 7 percent of the market’s overall value. Frozen dairy production follows a clear seasonal pattern. Summer is the unchallenged season for eating ice cream and other related products. Production kicks up in March and April to fill retail and foodservice pipelines in the late spring and early summer. June is the highest production month of the year, but production remains strong through August to satisfy summer demand. (â€Å"Ice Cream Sales & Trends†,  2013). Providing the community with delicious and healthy ice cream serves two purpos es. The first purpose is the refreshing coolness of a delicious ice cream. The second purpose is providing healthy ice cream is beneficial to those who like ice cream but are health conscious. Little League Scoops makes all its ice cream fresh each day. Hired to help make and serve all the delicious flavors are high school juniors and seniors looking for job experience prior to leaving high school.Little League Scoops believes that if opportunities are provided for the youth, they will in turn become responsible adults. The competitive advantage that Little League Scoops has over competing ice cream parlors are (1) Providing healthy homemade ice cream, (2) hiring high school students and teaching them how to become responsible workers, (3) providing opportunities for the community’s youth to stay active by rewarding them with free scoops, (4) always keeping the youth as priority. ConclusionOther ice cream parlors may offer a larger array of flavors; however, Little League Sco ops smaller assortment is always freshly homemade. There is no comparison to homemade ice cream at competitive prices. There is no comparison to encouraging the youth to stay fit and active. Providing a healthy refreshing treat after a ball game will keep the children eager to participate in summertime activities, instead of sitting in front of a video game. No price can be placed on the health of the future. Todays’ youth are tomorrow’s leaders.Encouraging them today will show them they can do anything they put their minds to. References Vision Statement. (2013). Retrieved from http://sbinfocanada. about. com/od/businessplanning/g/visionstatement. htm DECISION MAKING: The 3 Foundations of Business Decision Making: Mission, Vision, Values. (2013). Retrieved from http://newdirectionsconsulting. com/4579/blog/the-3-foundations-of-business-decision-making-mission-vision-values-2/ Ice Cream Sales ; Trends. (2013). Retrieved from http://www. idfa. org/news–views/medi a-kits/ice-cream/ice-cream-sales-and-trends/

Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation Essay

Kendle International Inc. We looked at the competitive landscape and, based on what was happening, knew we were either going to sell Kendle, grow or disappear. It was May 1997, and Candace Kendle, the chairman and chief executive officer of Kendle International Inc. (Kendle), and her husband Christopher C. Bergen, the president and chief operating officer, were reviewing the strategic options for their Cincinnati, Ohio based company. Kendle, a business they had founded over 15 years previously, conducted clinical trials for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to test the safety and efficacy of their new drugs. The company had grown successfully to $13 million of sales and had attracted significant business from major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Kendle was competing, however, with several larger contract research organizations (CRO), many of which had an international presence that allowed them to do clinical studies outside the United States and gave them an advantage when competing for major projects. To compete more effectively, Candace and Chris had embarked on a plan to grow through acquisition, particularly internationally, and to finance this growth through a public offering of equity. Toward this end, by the spring of 1997 Kendle had lined up two potential European acquisitions—U-Gene, a CRO in the Netherlands with 1996 sales of $12.5 million, and gmi, a Germanbased CRO with $7 million in sales. To finance these acquisitions, Kendle had worked out possible debt financing with Nationsbank and was working with two investment banks on an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that would repay the bank debt if successful and provide the equity base for future acquisitions. It was now time to decide whether to go ahead with the full program of two acquisitions, a large debt financing and an equity issue. Kendle History Candace and Chris met in 1979 while working at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Candace had received her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Cincinnati, then taught in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Her scientific specialty was virology. At the Children’s Hospital, Candace was serving as the director of pharmacy, working as an investigator on a study of an antiviral drug for the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome. Chris, a Wharton MBA, was a senior administrator at the hospital. Research Associate Indra A. Reinbergs prepared this case under the supervision of Professors Dwight B. Crane and Paul W. Marshall as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Copyright  © 2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School. 1 Looking for something new, Candace and Chris began to discuss the idea of going into business together. One day in early 1981 Candace received an unexpected visit from a new physician, replacing the usual medical monitor for her project with Burroughs Wellcome. This physician was a pioneer in the  contract clinical research business. As he described how his business worked, Candace became more and more intrigued. When he left that day, she immediately called Chris and said, â€Å"I’ve got a business idea!† The concept was to set up a small research consulting firm that would take on outsourced research and development (R&D) work on a contract basis from large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Based on the positive response she received from potential clients, Candace left her job at the hospital in June 1981 and Chris left his job in December 1981. Kendle International Inc. was incorporated in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1981, with Candace taking 55% of the shares, and Chris 45%. Candace had strong ties to the Cincinnati area. Her grandfather, a coal miner, had moved there from Appalachia, and the clan had grown to about 140 members, including Candace’s two sons from a previous marriage. By January 1982, Candace and Chris were working from Candace’s parents’ home. Kendle started as a small company with a few contracts, and business grew slowly through referrals from professional colleagues. Kendle suffered the usual bumps of a start-up business, particularly in the late 1980s when it suffered a loss for two years and ran up $1 million in bank debt on a $250,000 line of credit. Afraid that its bank would call the loan, the company went through a bankruptcy scare. Fortunately, Kendle succeeded in attracting business from a new client, the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co. (Searle). By the early 1990s, the company was turned around and it generated annual sales of about $2.5 million. Candace and Chris were married in 1991. The Pharmaceutical Lifecycle The clinical research process was influenced by government regulations that required drugs to pass through a series of steps before they could be marketed for public use. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated pharmaceuticals. To receive FDA approval, a drug had to meet safety and efficacy standards for a specific indication (medical diagnosis). A drug for hypertension, for example, would have to lower blood pressure by a certain statistically significant amount without  producing unacceptable side effects. The entire FDA approval process could take from 8 to 15 years and involve several thousand patients.1 After a pharmaceutical company discovered a new drug and completed pre-clinical testing on animals in the laboratory, an Investigational New Drug application was filed with the FDA. The drug then passed through three phases of clinical testing on humans. Before beginning each subsequent phase, the drug company had to submit additional regulatory information to the FDA. Phase I Phase I studies were primarily concerned with assessing the drug’s safety. This initial phase of testing in humans was done in a small number of healthy volunteers (20 to 100), such as students, who were usually paid for participation. Phase II Once Phase I testing had proven the drug’s safety, Phase II tested its efficacy in a small number of patients (100 to 300) with the medical diagnosis. It was specifically designed to determine the likely effective dose in patients. Phase III In a Phase III study, the drug was tested on a larger patient population (1,000 to 3,000) at multiple clinical sites. The purpose was to provide a more thorough understanding of the drug’s effectiveness, benefits, and the range of possible adverse reactions. Most Phase II and Phase III studies were blinded studies in which some patients received the experimental drug, while control groups received a placebo or an already approved drug. Once a Phase III study was successfully completed, a pharmaceutical company requested FDA approval for marketing the drug by filing a New Drug Application, which averaged about 100,000 pages. †¢ 200-033 Phase IV Post-marketing testing (of at least 300 patients per trial) was sometimes conducted for high-risk drugs to catch serious side effects (liver toxicity) and monitor them for long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. The pharmaceutical companies traditionally designed and conducted their own clinical trials. They selected the research sites and recruited investigators to conduct the trials of the new drug. Investigators were often medical school professors at teaching hospitals, but they could also be professional investigators who conducted clinical trials at dedicated centers or occasionally regular physicians who ran trials, particularly Phase IV trials, out of their private practices. These investigators then recruited patients, sometimes with the help of the pharmaceutical company, to participate in the study. After patients were recruited, there was a considerable amount of data collection by the investigators, monitoring of the process and data retrieval by the pharmaceutical company, and analysis of the data to determine whether the statistical criteria for safety and efficacy were met. Finally, there was the complicated process of compiling the data and preparing the long report for the FDA. The Contract Research Business In the 1970s, large pharmaceutical concerns in the United States began to look for ways to outsource their clinical testing work as their R&D budgets grew. At the beginning, contract research was a small cottage industry and the work was awarded on a piecemeal basis. As Chris recalled, â€Å"For years, there had been companies conducting animal testing and Phase I, but there was no one managing the entire research and development process. The acronym ‘CRO’ (contract research organization) did not exist, pharmaceutical companies gave out only small contracts, and did not have much confidence in for-profit research managers.† The growth of the CRO industry was stimulated by pricing pressures on drug companies that led them to try to transfer the fixed costs of clinical research into a variable cost through outsourcing. As Chris described, The general problem that drug companies face is balancing a variable workload with a fixed workforce. The problem is that you don’t know when the guy in the white lab coat will come running down the hall, beaker in hand, shouting, ‘Eureka, I’ve got it, it’s going to cure disease X’. When he does that, you know your workload is going to spike. Your workload is impacted by the rate of discovery, the number of projects killed in vitro and, subsequent to that, how many studies get cancelled due to safety or efficacy problems in human testing. Pure CROs like Kendle derived their income solely from the outsourced portion of the R&D budget of pharmaceutical clients. In theory, any part of the clinical testing process could be outsourced. While most pre-clinical discovery was conducted in-house by drug companies, the trend in the 1990s was for CROs to receive contracts to manage the entire clinical research piece, especially 3 Phases II and III. The whole process was an incredible race against time, as every day for which FDA approval was delayed could cost the pharmaceutical client over $1 million in lost revenues. Pharmaceutical contracts ranged in duration from a few months to several years. For multi-year contracts involving clinical trials, a portion of the contract fee was paid at the time the trial was initiated, with the balance of the contract fee payable in installments over the trial duration, as performance-based milestones (investigator recruitment, patient enrollment, delivery of databases) were completed. Contracts were bid by CROs on a fixed-price basis, and the research was a labor-intensive business. The contract bids depended on careful estimation of the hourly labor rates and the number of hours each activity would take. The estimation process involved statistical algorithms, which took into account the length of the study, frequency and length of site visits, the number of sites involved, the number of patients involved, and the number of pages per report form. A premium would be added for more complicated therapeutic testing. As the chief financial officer Tim Mooney described the business, The way that Kendle makes money is like any professional service firm—We focus on maximizing labor utilization, especially at the operational level. We assume a 65% to 70% utilization rate, so profit margins are higher if we have a higher utilization rate of personnel. We have the same assumed profit margin on all levels of people, but we can charge higher rates for contracts where we have specific therapeutic expertise that is in demand. Margins can also be higher on some large projects when we can share overhead costs across more sites. The business of contract research entailed several types of business risk. With contracts running at an average of $1 million for companies of Kendle’s size, client dependence was a major risk. Project cancellation by the client and â€Å"change orders† to reduce project costs were also increasingly frequent in the CRO industry, as healthcare cost pressures intensified. On the other hand, product liability for medical risks was borne by the pharmaceutical company. Competition in the 1990s By the mid-1990s, contract research had evolved into a full-service industry, recognized by both the pharmaceutical/biotech industries and the financial community. In 1995, worldwide spending on R&D by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies was estimated at $35 billion, with $22 billion spent on the type of drug development work that CROs could do. Of the $22 billion, only $4.6 billion was outsourced to CROs in 1995. While R&D spending by pharmaceutical companies was growing at 10% a year, CROs were growing at twice that rate.2 Specialized CROs could manage increasingly complex drug trials—in the previous decade, the number of procedures per trial and average number of patients per trial had doubled—far more efficiently than their pharmaceutical clients.3 Kendle participated in this growth in clinical research. Its net revenues grew 425% from $2.5 million in 1992 to $13 million in 1996. From a loss of $495,000 in 1992, its net income rose to $1.1 million by 1996. By 1996, Kendle had conducted clinical trials for 12 of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical companies. Kendle’s three largest clients were G.D. Searle, Procter & Gamble, and Amgen, which generated 48%, 19%, and 13% of Kendle’s 1996 revenues, respectively. (See Exhibits 1 and 2 for Kendle’s income statements and balance sheets.) 2 J.C. Bradford & Co., analyst report, January 15, 1998, pp. 5-6. 3 The Economist, â€Å"Survey of the Pharmaceutical Industry,† February 21, 1998, p. 4.200-033 The contract research industry was very fragmented, with hundreds of CROs worldwide. In the 1990s, in response to the increased outsourcing of pharmaceutical R&D, and a demand for global trials, consolidation among the CROs began. A few key players emerged and went public, creating a new industry for Wall Street to watch. Many CRO start-ups were founded by former drug company executives who decided to form their own operations. After a period of internal growth, some of the start-ups began growing through a financial â€Å"roll-up† strategy. An industry publication listed 18 top players in North America, with total contract research revenues of $1.7 billion. The top five public companies, ranked by 1996 revenues, were Quintiles Transnational Corp. ($537.6 million), Covance Inc. ($494.8 million), Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc ($152.3 million), ClinTrials Research Inc. ($93.5 million), and Parexel International Corp. ($88 million).4 (See Exhibit 3 for recent sales and p rofit data on CROs.) With its talent pool of scientists at the Research Triangle and U.S. headquarters of the pharmaceutical giants Glaxo and Burroughs Wellcome (later merged as Glaxo Wellcome), the state of North Carolina quickly became the center of the burgeoning CRO industry. Two of the â€Å"big five† companies, Quintiles and Pharmaceutical Product Development, were started there by academic colleagues of Candace’s. Quintiles Transnational was considered to be the †gold standard of the industry.† Quintiles was founded in 1982 by Dennis Gillings, a British biostatistician who had worked at Hoechst and was a professor at the University of North Carolina, where Candace completed her postdoctoral work. After raising $39 million in a 1994 IPO, Quintiles went on an acquisition spree, adding other professional service businesses. For example, the firm provided sales and marketing services to support the launch of new drug products. By the end of 1996, Quintiles was the worldâ€⠄¢s largest CRO, with 7,000 employees in 56 offices in 20 countries. A typical clinical study managed by Quintiles was conducted at 160 sites in 12 countries, involving 10,000 patients. Quintiles was more diversified than many of its CRO competitors, with about 65% of revenues derived from the  core CRO business and 35% from other services.5 Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) was founded in 1989 by Fred Eshelman, a colleague of Candace’s from the postdoctoral program in pharmacy. Like the founder of Quintiles, Eshelman had worked in drug research for several pharmaceutical firms, including Glaxo and Beecham. PPD’s revenues jumped 500% between 1990 and 1994, based on such work as multi-year contracts for AIDS research for the National Institutes of Health. PPD conducted a successful IPO in March 1996, with its stock jumping from $18 per share to $25.50 per share on the first day of trading. PPD bought a U.K. Phase I facility in November 1995, and in September 19 96 merged with another leading CRO. Their combined net revenues exceeded $200 million. Kendle at the Crossroads To Candace and Chris, it was clear that certain competitive capabilities were necessary for companies of Kendle’s size to compete successfully with the major CROs: therapeutic expertise (in specific medical areas) broad range of services (pharmaceutical companies wanted to work with fewer CROs, with each offering a wide range of services across multiple phases of the R&D process); integrated clinical data management (the ability to efficiently collect, edit and analyze data from thousands of patients with various clinical conditions from many geographically dispersed sites); 4 â€Å"Annual Report: Leading CROs,† R&D Directions, September 1997, pp. 28+. 5 William Blair & Co. LLC analyst report, Quintiles Transnational Corp., June 20, 1997, p. 3. international, multi-jurisdictional presence (to speed up drug approval, tests were being launched in several countries at once); With the exception of international presence, Candace and Chris felt comfortable with their ability to meet these criteria. Kendle’s staff had scientific expertise in multiple therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, immunology, oncology, respiratory, skeletal disease and inflammation. The company also had broad capabilities, including management of studies in Phases II through Phase IV. It did not consider the absence of Phase I capabilities to be an issue, since this activity was quite separate. (See Exhibit 4 for a comparison of CRO geographical locations.) To build an integrated clinical data management capability, Chris had directed the development of TrialWare ®, a proprietary software system that allowed global data collection and processing and the integration of clinical data with clients’ in-house data management systems. TrialWare ® consisted of several modules including a database management system that greatly reduced study start-up costs and time by standardizing database design and utilizing scanned image technology to facilitate the design of data entry screens, the point-and-click application of edits from a pre-programmed library, and workflow management (parallel processing). Other modules included a system that coded medical history, medication and adverse event data and a touch-tone telephone system that was used for patient  randomization, just-in-time drug supply and collection of real-time enrollment data. Against the backdrop of a changing industry, Candace and Chris felt the need to develop additional business skills and focus Kendle’s strategy. To clarify their management roles, Candace and Chris switched their existing responsibilities. Chris pointed out, â€Å"Candace became CEO as we realized that her focus was long-range and I took over as Chief Operating Officer to focus on the short-range. In addition, the marketing strength of our competitors was propelling them further and further ahead of Kendle. Candace brought her science background and entrepreneurial skills, while I brought my management. The problem was that we were relatively weak in sales and marketing.† To broaden their skills, Candace went off in 1991 to the Owner/President Management Program (OPM), an executive education program run by Harvard Business School for three weeks a year over three years. Chris followed her to OPM in 1994. After completing the OPM program, Candace assessed the situation, We have to be big enough relative to our competitors to take on large, international projects. When Searle was looking for CROs for international work, all we could do was possibly subcontract it out to small shops. In contrast, Quintiles had six overseas offices of its own. Furthermore, when Searle calls and says, ‘I just got off the phone, Quintiles will cut their price by a million dollars,’ if you’re too small, you’re not going to be able to respond to that. Candace and Chris realized that Kendle could not grow fast enough internally to keep up with its peers and did not have the cash for acquisitions. They entertained the thought of selling Kendle, and were approached several times about a sale. But by nature, they were a competitive, athletic couple. Chris got up to play squash every morning at 7 AM, and Candace was an avid rower, recently winning a gold medal in a Cincinnati regatta. Perhaps not surprisingly, Candace and Chris decided to grow the firm and take it public rather than sell. As Candace described their motivation, â€Å"We were not driven to be a public company as such, but primarily to be bigger, and for this, we  needed public financing to succeed in the new competitive landscape. The whole target was not to let the big guys get too far out ahead of us.† Preparations for Growth By 1994, Kendle had grown to $4.4 million in revenues. Candace, the driving force throughout the IPO process, sought advice from an old college friend, a well-known Cincinnati businessman. He advised her, â€Å"before you go public, practice being a public company.† Candace therefore formulated a plan for Kendle to go public in 1999. Kendle began hiring key managers to build up functional units. Between 1994 and February 1997, new directors of clinical data management, information technology, biostatistics, finance, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory affairs, and human resources were hired. As Chris described, â€Å"the plan was to put this infrastructure in place to look and act like a public company— communications, IT, finance. The idea was hire at the top and they’ll fill in their organization.† Many of these new managers had previously worked together at other companies. To prepare for Wall Street scrutiny, Kendle began issuing internal quarterly fi nancial statements and sharing them with employees in an open-book management style. Candace and Chris tried to make the growing number of employees feel like â€Å"part of the family† in other ways, too. The Kendle â€Å"photo gallery† displayed professional portraits of employees with their favorite hobbies. In 1995 Chris led the development of a corporate mission statement and a document on strategic plans that was shared with all employees. Kendle was organized in a matrix fashion (see Exhibit 5 for organizational chart). Each department was treated as a strategic business unit (SBU) with a director who established standards and carried profit responsibility. At the same time, each research contract was managed by a project manager who assembled a team from across the various SBUs. Clinical trials involved five functional SBUs at Kendle: 1. Regulatory Affairs recruited investigators, helped them with FDA registration forms, and obtained approval from ethics boards. Regulatory Affairs maintained a database of 5,000 investigators. 2. Clinical Monitoring sent clinical research associates (CRA) out to the testing sites (every 4 to 6 weeks) to enforce Good Clinical Practice regulations. The CRAs were typically young, single health care professionals who spent a significant amount of their time on the road. The CRA would collect data from investigators, resolve queries generated by Clinical Data Management, and promote patient enrollment. 3. Clinical Data Management produced a â€Å"locked† database that could be submitted to the FDA. Data from case report forms were input into a computer system and â€Å"cleaned† through a manual review of the forms and an automated check of the databases. The challenge was to lock a database quickly while maintaining data quality. 4. Biostatistics would â€Å"unblind† the locked database and analyze it to determine if the data confirmed that the test results met the criteria for safety and efficacy. Biostatistics also defined the scope of new studies. 5. Medical Writing generated â€Å"the truckload of paper submitted to the FDA† for a New Drug Application, including a statistical analysis, a clinical assessment, preclinical and clinical data, a description of the manufacturing process, and the supporting patient documentation. 1996: The Celebrexâ„ ¢ Study, Filing Preparations, and European acquisitions 1996 was a busy year for Candace, Chris, and Kendle’s new management team. They simultaneously began conducting a major drug study, working with underwriters on IPO preparations, and looking for overseas acquisition targets. In 1996 Kendle managed 62 clinical studies at 4,100 sites involving approximately 20,000 patients. Celebrexâ„ ¢ Study In January 1996, Kendle began working on a major drug called Celebrexâ„ ¢ (celecoxib). Its client Searle was engaged in a neck-and-neck race with Merck, the largest U.S. drug company, to be the first to market a COX-2 inhibitor. A COX-2 inhibitor was a new type of anti-inflammatory drug that promised low incidence of bleeding ulcers in long-term, high-dosage users such as arthritis patients. The Searle-Merck race was closely followed in the business press. Searle awarded the international portion of the Celebrexâ„ ¢ contract to another CRO, since Kendle only had facilities for testing in the United States. However, Kendle did win the contract to conduct all the U.S. Phase II and III trials. The Celebrexâ„ ¢ contract was a â€Å"huge feather in our cap,† recalled the chief financial officer. â€Å"In order to beat Merck, we worked very hard and kept compressing the timelines.† To head the Celebrexâ„ ¢ project, Kendle hired Bill Sietsema, PhD, as assistant director of clinical research. A therapeutic expert in skeletal diseases and inflammation, Sietsema had worked at Proctor & Gamble for 12 years. While Sietsema served as overall program director, Chris acted as the operational project manager, meeting with his Searle counterpart in Chicago on a monthly basis. In early 1997, Kendle also set up a new regional office in Chicago, close to Searle headquarters. For Kendle, the Celebrexâ„ ¢ project was a chance to â€Å"show what we could do and to develop a reputation as a leader in the field of skeletal disease and inflammation.† Kendle actively helped investigators recruit arthritis patients, running television advertisements, directing interested volunteers to a call center. Three hundred  investigators enrolled over 10,000 patients, producing over one million pages of case report forms. Most importantly, through close integration of information systems with Searle, Kendle was able to beat an industry standard. Instead of taking the typical six months to one year, the time span between the last patient in Phase II and the first in Phase III, which began in June 1996, was only 22 days. Preparation for SEC Filing By the time the Celebrexâ„ ¢ program rolled around, Candace and Chris felt that they might have to go public earlier than intended because of the competitive landscape. The new chief financial officer, Tim Mooney, took a leading role in the preparations. Prior to joining Kendle in May 1996, Mooney had worked as CFO at The Future Now, Inc., a computer reseller and Hook-SupeRx, a retail drugstore chain. At Kendle, Mooney replaced the controller with an audit manager from Coopers & Lybrand to beef up his staff. Mooney also led the building of many of the other financially related departments at Kendle. To act as the lead underwriters on the IPO, in August 1996 Mooney chose two regional investment banks, Chicago-based William Blair & Company, L.L.C., which had handled the 1995 IPO of Kendle’s competitor Parexel, and Wessels, Arnold & Henderson from Minneapolis. William Blair began putting Kendle through the paces of preparing to file a preliminary prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The process of going public generally took from 60 to 180 days. One of the key steps in the process was the conversion of Kendle from a subchapter corporation to a C corporation at the time of the IPO. (Subchapter S corporations were entities with 35 or fewer shareholders that were treated like partnerships for tax purposes. Corporate income tax was passed through tax-free to the owners who then paid personal income taxes due.) U-Gene In October 1996 Mooney hired Tony Forcellini, a former colleague, as director of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Tony had worked at Arthur Andersen in the tax department, and then as a treasurer at Hook-SupeRx with Mooney. The search for European acquisition targets was mainly conducted by Candace and Tony Forcellini, with back-up support by Tim Mooney and Chris. All the while, Chris and Bill Sietsema were working away on the Celebrexâ„ ¢ program. Forcellini’s first decision was easy—whether to pursue an offering memorandum that landed on his desk shortly after he arrived. The company for sale was U-Gene Research B.V. (U-Gene), a CRO based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. U-Gene was represented by Technomark Consulting Services Ltd. (Technomark), a London-based consulting firm uniquely specializing in the healthcare industry. Technomark had an extensive database on European CROs and was primarily in the business of matching its pharmaceutical company clients’ tria ls with appropriate European CROs, but it also had a small investment banking division. U-Gene, a full-service CRO, was an attractive target for Kendle. The venture capitalist owners were actively looking for buyers. With a 38-bed Phase I facility in Utrecht and regional offices in the United Kingdom and Italy, U-Gene could increase both Kendle’s service offering and geographic presence. Since its founding in 1986, U-Gene had served more than 100 clients, including 19 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. In 1996, U-Gene participated in 115 studies at approximately 500 sites involving approximately 4,700 patients and recorded net revenues of $12.5 million, a 37% increase over the prior year, and operating profit of $1.3 million, a 47% increase over the prior year. Because of its U.K. and Italian offices, U-Gene viewed itself as on the way to becoming a pan-European CRO.  (See Exhibit 6 for U-Gene financial statements.) With momentum building, in November 1996, Forcellini seized upon U-Gene as Kendle’s possible entry into Europe and subm itted a bid, offering cash and private stock. Unfortunately, Kendle lost out on this bid to a competitor, Collaborative Clinical Research, Inc, as U-Gene’s owners either wanted a full cash deal or stock from a public company. Collaborative was a competitor slightly larger than Kendle ($25.7 million in revenues) that had gone public in June 1996 and had established a software partnership with IBM. Although it had access to investigators outside the United States, Collaborative also viewed U-Gene as the establishment of a European presence. On February 12, 1997 Collaborative announced that it had signed a letter of intent to acquire U-Gene in exchange for 1.75 million newly issued shares. While this put Kendle out of the picture, the prospects of a deal were not completely killed. On the same day, February 12, 1997, Collaborative also announced that its first-quarter 1997 earnings would be significantly below expectations. On the next day, on analyst speculation that a major client contract had been lost, their stock fell by 27.3%, closing at $9.00.6 This put Collaborative’s UGene deal in jeopardy. Underwriter Concerns About two weeks after Collaborative’s announcement, on February 25, 1997, another CRO, ClinTrials, also suffered a drop in stock price. ClinTrials’ stock lost more than half its market value,  dropping 59%, to $9.50 per share. The fall began when an analyst from Wessels Arnold downgraded the ClinTrials stock to â€Å"hold† from â€Å"buy,† citing a number of key management departures, and continued after ClinTrials announced that its first-quarter earnings would be half its year-earlier profit. The reason for the unexpected earnings decline was the cancellation of five projects totaling $37 million, with the possibility of even lower earnings due to an unresolved project dispute with a client.7 ClinTrials’ negative performance began to affect other CRO stocks, including that of Quintiles.8 With client concentration an issue in ClinTrials’ stock performance, William Blair developed doubts about the timing of Kendle’s IPO. Although Kendle was close to filing its preliminary prospectus, on the day after ClinTrial’s stock dropped, William Blair analysts had a meeting with Kendle’s management and told them that they had decided to withdraw as lead underwriters in the IPO. Candace was resolved to keep going. She said, â€Å"There’s no way out of the concentration issue. We can’t buy our way out of it, because we can’t do M&A deals until we have a public currency, and every day Searle is bringing us more work, we won’t tell them no.† She then asked Mooney to find new investment bankers, and he thought, â€Å"what am I going to do now?† Hoping for a lead, Mooney called up a former security analyst from Wessels Arnold who had gone to work at Lehman Bros. Although Kendle was smaller than Lehman’s usual clients, Lehman agreed to underwrite Kendle’s IPO, with the reassurance that â€Å"we think we can sell through the client concentration issue.† After an agreement with New York-based Lehman was reached, Mooney searched for a regional firm because, as he decided, â€Å"I didn’t want two New York-size egos. J.C. Bradford, based in Nashville, Tennessee, had a good reputation in the industry , and struck us as a nice regional bank. They were more retail-oriented than institutional-oriented, so they wouldn’t directly be competing with Lehman in types of clientele.† Bradford had managed the IPO of the first large CRO to go public (ClinTrials, in 1993) and Lehman had led the IPO of PPD in January 1996. Gmi and U-Gene revisited At the same time, Forcellini was moving ahead on the acquisition search. In January 1997 he tasked Technomark with using its CRO database to generate a list of possible European acquisition targets that met the following criteria: â€Å"ideally a CRO with United Kingdom headquarters; $5 million to $7 million in revenues; no Searle business; certain types of therapeutic expertise; strong in phases II through IV; and certain country locations.† The initial list had 50 European CROs, which Kendle narrowed down to 14 prospects. Technomark then contacted these 14 prospects to sound out their willingness to sell, bringing the number down to five candidates: three CROs in Germany, two in the United Kingdom, and one in the Netherlands (not U-Gene). To assess the prospects, Kendle used information from Technomark on comparable M&A deals. Candace and Tony Forcellini then traveled around Europe for a week visiting the five companies. They decided to further pursue two companies: a small, 15-person monitoring organization in the United Kingdom and one in Germany. The U.K. prospect was quickly discarded because of an aggressive asking price and accounting problems. Kendle then moved on to the German target, a company named gmi. Its full name was GMI Gesellschaft fur Angewandte Mathematik und Informatik mbH. Founded in 1983, gmi provided a full range of Phase II to IV services. gmi had conducted trials in Austria, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and France, among other countries, and had experience in health economic studies and 7 â€Å"ClinTrials Predicts Sharply Lower Profit: Shares Plunge 59%†, The Wall Street Journal, February 26, 1997, p. B3. 8 David Ranii, â€Å"Investors avoiding Quintiles,† The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, February 27, 1997, p. C8. professional training programs. In 1996, gmi participated in 119 studies at multiple sites and recorded net revenues of $7 million, a 32% increase over the prior year, and operating profit of $1.4 million, a 16% increase over the prior year. At March 31, 1997, gmi’s backlog was approximately $9.6 million. gmi considered itself to be especially good at Phase III trials. (See Exhibit 7 for gmi financial statements.) While Candace and Forcellini were narrowing down European targets, Mooney was hunting for cash. In February 1997 Kendle met at a special lunch with its existing bankers, Star Bank (later renamed Firstar), in Cincinnati. Mooney recalled the conversation vividly: â€Å"After Candace and Chris described their plans, Star Bank’s CEO made a proposal, ‘If you keep Kendle a private company and avoid the hassles of being public, we’ll lend you the money you need for acquisitions.’† With the financing in hand, Candace and Forcellini visited gmi in Munich. While gmi’s owners were willing to talk, they did not have much interest in selling. As Mooney described it, â€Å"gmi was a classic case of having grown to a certain size, had a comfortable level of income, but weren’t interested in putting in the professional systems to grow beyond that level.† After several conversations in March, it was not clear that Kendle and gmi’s owners w ould be able to reach a mutually agreeable price. At this point in early April 1997, the possibility of U-Gene as an acquisition candidate heated up. After the U-Gene deal with Collaborative Research began to collapse, Kendle had initiated a carefully structured inquiry about U-Gene’s interest in renewed discussions. This inquiry led to further discussions and a request in April for Kendle to meet in Frankfurt to try to reach an agreement. With the gmi deal in doubt, Kendle agreed to try to reach closure with U-Gene. After some discussion, both sides agreed on a price of 30 million Dutch guilders, or about US$15.6 million, $14 million of which would be paid in cash, and the remaining $1.6 million would be in the form of a promissory note payable to the selling shareholders.  U-Gene wanted to complete the transaction within the next several weeks, so it would have to be financed at least initially by borrowings. Even if Kendle went ahead with an IPO, the equity financing would not be completed until the end of the summer. Discussions with gmi continued through this period since Kendle was confident about its ability to obtain financing from Star Bank. Ultimately, Kendle’s team was able to agree upon a price with gmi. The owners were willing to accept a price of 19.5 million Deutsche marks, or about US$12.3 million, with at least $9.5 million in cash. They would accept shares for the remaining $2.8 million, if Kendle successfully completed an IPO. The owners were willing to hold off the deal until the IPO issue was resolved. Closing the Deals and IPO Decision To complete both the U-Gene and gmi deals, Kendle would need to borrow about $25 million to $28 million, so financing became critical. Mooney went back to Star Bank to take the bankers up on their promise. He described their reaction: â€Å"Star Bank said they couldn’t lend $28 million to a company that only has $1 million in equity. Nobody did that. They might be willing to finance one acquisition, with the help of other banks, but there was no way that they would provide $28 million.† Mooney was quite angry, but had no choice but to look for other sources of financing. He first tried to get bridge financing from Lehman and Bradford, but they refused, saying that they had â€Å"gotten killed on such deals in the 1980s.† There was also a possibility of financing from First Chicago Bank, but this did not materialize. Finally, in late April 1997, Mooney contacted NationsBank, N.A., which was headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and provided banking services to the CRO industry. Nationsbank expressed interest, but only in a large deal. Even $28 million was a small amount to Nationsbank. In 11  a few short weeks, Nationsbank ended up structuring a $30 million credit for Kendle, consisting of a $20 million, three-year revolving credit line and $10 million in five-year, subordinated notes. The interest rate on the credit line was tied to a money market base rate plus 0.50% (currently totaling 6.2%), and the subordinated debt carried a 12% rate. †So NationsBank stepped up in a pretty big way. They could have ended up with Kendle as a private company, with $30 million in debt.† Because of the risk, Nationsbank would also take warrants giving the bank the right to purchase 4% of Kendle’s equity, or up to 10% if the IPO was delayed and Kendle had to borrow the full amount to do both acquisitions. Lehman Brothers was confident about an IPO. The underwriters felt Kendle could raise $39 million to $40 million at a price between $12 and $14 per share, and that Candace and Chris could sell some of their shares as well. Premier Research Worldwide Ltd., a CRO with $15.2 million in 1996 revenues, had raised $46.75 million from its recent IPO in February 1997. Kendle felt they had a much better track record than Premier. Kendle now faced some difficult decisions. It could do the full program, including both acquisitions, taking the $30 million Nationsbank deal, and planning for an IPO in late summer. The successful acquisitions of gmi and U-Gene would establish Kendle as the sixth largest CRO in Europe, based on total revenues, and one of only four large CROs able to offer clients the full range of Phase I through Phase IV clinical trials in Europe. The pricing on the two acquisitions of 8 to 10 times EBITDA seemed in line with recent CRO deals (see Exhibit 8). And, once the IPO was completed, Kendle would have both a cash cushion and stock as a currency to help finance future growth and acquisitions. Assuming an IPO of 3 million new shares at a price of $13.00, Kendle would have a cash position of about $14 million and no debt in the capital structure. (See Exhibits 9 and 10 for pro forma  income statements and balance sheets showing the impact of the acquisitions and the IPO.) A related issue was how many of their shares Candace and Chris should sell if an IPO were done. Their current thinking was to sell 600,000 shares. Thus, a total of 3.6 million shares would be for sale at the time of the IPO, including a primary offering of 3 million shares and a secondary offering of 600,000 shares. This sale would reduce holdings controlled by Candace and Chris from 3.65 million shares (83.1% of the shares currently outstanding) to 3.05 million shares (43.4% of the new total outstanding). Doing the full IPO and acquisition program, however, was unprecedented among Kendle’s peers. â€Å"Nobody does this combination all at once—an IPO, senior- and sub-debt financing, and M&A deals,† as Mooney described the situation. Furthermore, the stock prices of public CROs had been falling since last February (see Exhibits 11 and 12 for stock market valuation and price information). If Kendle bought into the full program and the market crashed or the IPO was unsuccessful, the company would have almost $30 million of debt on its books with a very modest equity base. Perhaps it would be better to do just the U-Gene acquisition and use Star Bank to finance it. After completing this acquisition, it could then pursue the IPO. This approach was safer, but of course Kendle might miss the IPO window and miss the opportunity to acquire the second company. Indeed, instead of discouraging Kendle from doing an IPO, the fall in CRO stock prices might be taken as a signal th at Kendle should forge ahead before the window closed completely.

Oj Simpson Trial

O. J Simpson was an all-star running back for the University of Southern California (USC) and won a Heisman trophy. On his road to the NFL he was drafted to the Buffalo Bills on the 1st round. He had a career in advertisement as the Pitch man, Herts Rental Car, and was a football commentator after his career. On June 12, 1994 in 875 South Bundy Brentwood, California 35 year old Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman were found dead in the entrance of their condominium both were stabbed to death outside Nicole Simpson's Los Angeles condominium.The investigation was difficult because there were no eyewitnesses and no murder weapon was found. However, in Nicole’s ex-husband  Orenthal James Simpson house a lot of evidence was found like a bloody sock and glove that matched the blood in the crime scene and a shoe print that was approximately size 12 when OJ wears a size 12. There were hair samples that were found on Goldman's body after his murder. Forensic geneticists matched the DNA fr om the hair samples to DNA retrieved from O. J. Simpson.During the police interrogation of Simpson, it was discovered that he had a cut on his left hand, and OJ had a fishy statement on how he got the cut. On June 17 there was a warrant for OJ’s arrest. Lawyers convinced the LAPD to allow Simpson to turn himself in at 11 am on June 17, at around 6:20 pm, a motorist in Orange County saw Simpson riding in his white  Bronco, driven by his friend,  A. C. Cowlings, and notified police. At 6:45  pm, a police officer saw the Bronco, going north on  Interstate 405.The officer that we he drove up to the car OJ had a gun to his head so he backed off and followed the vehicle. Simpson reportedly demanded that he be allowed to speak to his mother before he would surrender. The chase ended at 8:00  pm at his  Brentwood  home. In the Bronco the police found $8,000 in cash, a change of clothing, a loaded . 357 Magnum, a passport, family pictures, and a fake goatee and mustache. Simpson hires a famous LA attorney Robert Shapiro who hires a dream team of lawyers including. F.Lee for strategy, Gerald Uelmen for procedure, Alan Pershowitz for constitution Law, Dr. Henry Lee for forensic science , Barry Scheck for DNA lawyer, and best friend Robert Kardashian. Simpson's defense was said to cost between US$3 million and $6 million. The Criminal trial lasted almost one year with Simpson found not guilty. Before this Robert Shapiro wanted to plead bargain 5-12 years because he believed that they couldn’t win. When Acosta 2 choosing the jury they believed that middle aged African American women will be the perfect jury for this case.Oj’s trial was a media circus and attorneys were treated like celebrities. When they used the bloody glove on Simpsons house Shapiro wanted to plead a cope a plead for manslaughter. On February 5, 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica, California unanimously found Simpson liable for the wrongful death of and battery against Goldman, and battery against Brown. Daniel Petrocelli represented plaintiff Fred Goldman, Ronald Goldman's father. +In Simpsons civial trial 8 and a half million dollars were payed to the Goldmans. Oj Simpson Trial Nabil Arnaout Eng 111/ Enf 09 March 18, 2013 Trial of the Century To this day, OJ Simpson's famous murder trial, â€Å"The People vs. OJ Simpson†, remains one of the most publicized and famous murder trials in recent history. It attracted the attention of every major news network, and caused quite a stir in the daily lives of Los Angeles, if not all American lifestyles. The infamous car chase was such an important incident that many news networks dropped coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals, which was happening at the same time, to show the chase in all its glory.The combination of the high profile murders, publicity, and the â€Å"dream team† of Johnnie Cochran and Robert Kardashian have cemented the OJ Simpson case in the minds of many Americans. After the murders, when attorney Robert Shapiro informed Simpson that he needed to turn himself over to the police, Simpson failed to show. Shortly afterwards, his white Ford Bronco was spotted and the police began pursuit (Linder 8). It would be one of the most famous car chases in American history.Claiming a hostage situation in the car, he led them on a 35 mile an hour chase, which, as mentioned before, disrupted many of the local news channels' broadcasts as they switched to the chase. He was allowed to go home and talk to his mother before he was arrested for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goodman. The case would take many twists and turns, with plenty of evidence being twisted, and in some cases not accepted at all.It started in 1995, but as of 2008, some evidence was still in dispute. The glove, found by officer Mark Fuhrman, had both victims' blood on it, but was rejected because it apparently was â€Å"too small† for Simpson's hand to fit, prompting Johnnie Cochran's infamous line, â€Å"If it don't fit, you must acquit! â€Å"(Baley 6) In the Ford Bronco, the blood of both victims was also found on the center console, and it came to light that the knife (murder weapon) was purchased by OJ a few weeks earlier.This evidence was also not accepted in court because the person who sold OJ the knife had sold his story to a tabloid magazine, which deemed it unacceptable to court. Although the murder was committed in Santa Monica, due to the extreme public attention to the case and the media craze attached to it, they moved the trial to downtown Los Angeles, and was presided there by Judge Lance Ito. The duration of the trial (almost 8 months), made many of the participants of the case into TV celebrities.After numerous attempts to prove Simpson's innocence, Cochran and Kardashian (the Dream Team, as the media called them), called Simpson's mother and daughter to the stand. After a tearful display where they lauded Simpson's good nature and pleasant qualities, the jury began to sway towards Simpson, even though it was already proven that the relationship between Simpson and his ex-wife had been abusive. (Sherwell 9) After an 8 month trial, the verdict of the t rial finally was published: â€Å"Not Guilty†.Some say the building racial tensions resulting from the case affected the verdict (political reasons), while others maintain that the jury had been bribed or swayed with improper evidence. Simpson walked out. Some also believe the Simpson's son was involved in the murders. Jason Simpson had an even worse background than his father when it came to domestic abuse. Numerous accounts of psychotic tendencies and physical violence brought Jason to light as a possible suspect. Add to that that he was a chef and always had a knife in arm's reach. (Truman 20)

SERVICE CHARTERS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

SERVICE CHARTERS - Essay Example In this regard, a service charter is an undertaking that is being made to the stakeholders regarding the services they should expect form to be accorded within the authority in its mandate discharge. The principal aim of a service charter is bring out awareness to the public on the roles of the authority, core activities, and values of the authority, provision of the necessary information on the services range that they offer and the standards that have been set. The service charter also informs on what the stake holders should expect for the authority, remedy avenues should the services fall short of the expected standards, and building confidence onto the public that they are striving to excellence about their provision of the services. With the listed information that is provided within the service charter, it is construable that it is a working tool that is designed to facilitate better understanding regarding the kind of services offered by an authority and put the interests of the stakeholders and the authority at the forefront. For better consideration of the service charter, it should work in tandem with other legal requirements that are enacted time to time to facilitate achievement of expectations. Several countries have come up with different service charters in the various sectors that link them to the stakeholders for the services the public should expect from them. In this essay, I have chosen to consider the service charter in Australia with reference to the Australian Federal police as an authority. This paper considers the Australian Federal police charter, the resolution to this authority is informed by the fact that is has faced several challenges in its implementation of the services to the public. The Australian Federal Police have been faced with ever changing tact if crimes including terrorism, cyber-crime, and sexual servitude among other kinds of crimes that they endeavour to fight. In response to this, they developed a service charter that informs the public of their services and how they can cooperate with the public in the fight about crimes. Development of the Charter The motivating factor for the country and specifically the authority to come up with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) service charter is because of the changing environment of the crimes. Crimes have mutated into some more dormant aspect that without a keen interest on their mitigation, it is impossible to realize their occurrence. In this reference, AFP has responded swiftly in putting structures that will keep such crimes a t a bay and to ensure that there is the much-needed cooperation from the public (Ellison, 2000). The authority has made it possible to develop a service charter that clearly stipulates their responsibilities and how they intend to fight the crimes that in the last decades have changed tact. The charter is developed due to the challenges that the AFP has been facing in containing such crimes as counter terrorism, sexual se rvitude, and human trafficking. The authority has also put a spirited fight against cyber-crime, protection, as well as peace operations. The fight against crime for this matter has reached transnational level and the authority is keen in ensuring that it triumphs in mitigating the consequences of crime across their boarders (Ellison, 2000). In pursuit of the implementation of the challenges, AFP in addition to the service charter has also implemented a new organizational structure that is to facilitate a high coordination internally and

Abnormalities in returns and gains in financial markets Assignment

Abnormalities in returns and gains in financial markets - Assignment Example Questionable interests have been raised as a means of gaining an insight in causes of the abnormalities in the financial market studies. Much of the interest raised has been directed towards understanding the nature of the gains on both the two major types of offers. It is important to know whether the gains are truly anomalous or whether they are communal with the firms that are nonevent with features that are connected to the average returns. According to Famar & French (1993), book to market equity and size are the two variables believed to have connection with the average stock return (ASR). The long term buy and hold returns only apply for the size and this may result to the outcome being affected by additional variables that are common with the average return. Famar and French’s research aimed at comparing the half a decade period buy-and-hold gains on initial public offers that had gains on portfolios that matched the initial public offers on size and book to market equ ity. The two types of public offers were not considered in the research. The study led to helpful findings. A half decade relative wealth increased from a percentage of seven to about a hundred percent. The study showed that buy and hold gains on securities equity discount are almost equal to the one produced by the non event portfolios with common size and BE/ME. Independent studies conducted by different researchers led to the deduction that the two types of public offers were minimal growth stocks.

Accounting for Decision Makers -Discussion Question Assignment - 4

Accounting for Decision Makers -Discussion Question - Assignment Example As an example for the second item, if the highest budget value was $154967 while the required budget for next year is less than that, this is a slack. The third item will create a budgetary slack because more money will be used to correct the situation. If $5400 gave the poor results, more dollars will be needed next year. Including depreciation value in the purchase budget will increase cost slightly: this is a slack too. For example if equipment costs $392 today while its charge is $8, the budgeted cost then becomes $400. Inflation rate and fixed cost to the estimates of purchase will slight relax the budget: for example budgeting with $450 for a facility that costs $400 today. Lastly, new employees require higher cost to make labor efficient. Using this cost for approximation of labor efficiency would create a slack. An example would be budgeting for an average $211 for labor efficiency of new employees while only about $110 dollars would be used for the same. I believe Bailey can justify the built-in budgetary slack to the company. The manager may need to explain would benefit the company like preventing frequent returns to the budgeting table or frequent withdrawal of projects. I would suggest for Bailey to improve the company’s budgeting by use of automated systems such as excel spreadsheets for budgeting and driver-based metrics (Hartgraves & Morse, 2015). In addition, honesty between departments and management should be maintained so that none is taken for a

Magellan missionRadar sensing and image interpretation Essay

Magellan missionRadar sensing and image interpretation - Essay Example The Mission was named after Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese-born explorer in the sixteenth century, who led an expedition that first circumnavigated the Earth. The earlier radar missions to Venus provided planetary scientist a global map of the surface of the planet and were very valuable in understanding the geological structure of the planet. However it further revealed a need for "global radar data coverage" of the planet's surface in "orders-of magnitude higher resolution" (Ford 1). This need facilitated and provided motivation to determine the design and objectives of the Magellan mission. The main purposes of the Magellan Mission were to create a global radar map of the surface of Venus at higher resolution using the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and to determine the topographic relief of the planet. The end product of these four objectives shall be the classification of geographic and tectonic features of the surface like mountains, ridges, valleys, hills, and planes. Impact processes, lava flows, and other chemical processes will be explained and the internal density distribution of the planet will be modeled. The spacecraft design was economical and simple in relation to other spacecraft missions. In fact, the key components of the spacecraft were acquired from the spare hardware from other space programs including Voyager, Galileo, Viking, and Mariner. The spacecraft was 6.4 m long and with a mass of 3,449 kilograms. Included in the spacecraft were a single radar sensor, a large 3.7-m diameter parabolic High-Gain Antenna dish used for communication with Earth and a science instrument for radar imaging, solar panels about 9.2 m across to collect solar energy for charging the spacecraft's nickel-cadmium batteries and to power the spacecraft, three orthogonal reaction wheels used for pointing control, monopropellant hydrazine thruster system used to make adjustments of large scale orbital corrections. Subsystems included a medium-gain antenna, star scanner, on-board computer, coherent X- and S- band radio subsystem used for communication and gravity field experiments, and two tape recorders. Fig. 1. Labeled drawing of Magellan Spacecraft Key features of the Magellan spacecraft. Shown here are the different hardware and electronic subsystems of the spacecraft. (NASA) The Magellan spacecraft in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Atlantis before its scheduled launch (Magellan Probe). Fig. 2. Magellan Spacecraft The Magellan Radar Sensor The radar sensor is a single science instrument in the spacecraft capable of acquiring data in three different modes or functions: SAR imaging mode,

Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Financial Management - Essay Example Rents, Charges, Interests and others make up three percent of its funding (Smith, 2008). Of the total fund generated from various sources: seventy percent is spent on Salaries and Wages; twelve percent is provisioned for the employer contribution to the pension fund; another twelve percent is spent on operating expenses and six percent is for Capital Financing Charges (Smith, 2008). Fiscal governance coverage is in accordance with the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom (SORP Committee, 2010). CIPFA Code of Practice dictates that in cases of conflict the legislative requirements shall apply in financial governance (Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy, 2010). National non-domestic rates account for approximately eighteen percent of the total local authority income (Information Centre Scotish Parliament, 1999). Therefore, only about 9 percent of the National non-domestic rate income of the local authority finances the Fire and Rescue eff orts of local governments. While every district including the two cities of Manchester and Salford only contributes a total of 3.3 percent each to the operational expense of the Fire and Rescue Authority (Smith, 2008). Risk mitigation includes the following: disaster recovery, contingency plan, emergency response, business continuity. Fire and Rescue only covers emergency response. From a financial point of view to invest more than eleven percent for emergency response alone may not maximize the value of money considering the other area of risk mitigation that would include disaster recovery, contingency planning and business continuity. However, risk and security challenges have become increasingly complex because as we plan for protection and face a multitude of threats in a rapidly changing environment, we must expect the unexpected, while staying within our budgets (Purpura, 2008). There is an underlying importance in emergency response that is to prevent the emergency escalatin g into a disaster, then to a catastrophe, then to a tragedy (Alexander, 2002). The key has always been prevention and in this case the prevention of an emergency to escalate into another level. One of the key performance indicators of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue A

Optical Communication and Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Optical Communication and Networks - Essay Example The concept of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and DWDM has also been introduced. Finally, the latest trends in optical communication and networks are briefly explained. Optical communication system is similar to any kind of communication system, as far as the basics are concerned. The major difference in optical and other communication models is the additional requirement of a source (for conversion of signal from electrical to optical domain), receiver (for conversion from optical to electrical domain) and use of fibre as media in place of conventional copper wire or microwave. The use of glass fibre or optical fibre features a number of advantages that make it a formidable media, in comparison to others. One of the most important assets of optical communication is the availability of enormous potential bandwidth to the tune of hundreds of GHz. The potential cannot be fully harnessed owing to electrical domain limitation. However, technologies like WDM or DWDM are evolving to optimize the available bandwidth usage. Being fabricated from glass, the fibre does no have earth loop or interface problem as are evident in electrical media. The optical communication is immune to interference from radio frequency and electromagnetic radiations or EMP (electromagnetic pulses) as they act as dielectric waveguides. There are practically insignificant radiations from fibre which enhance security of signal in a communication system. Other advantages include low weight, small size, flexible, reliable, easily maintainable, low transmission losses and cost effective. The requirement for capacity is increasing at a fast rate in the present day networks. Growth of worldwide web and Internet are the primary causes for this increase. Every four to six months, the need is almost doubling. Available broadband access technologies like Digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modems etc. provide bandwidths of 1Mbps and 28 to 56 kbps per user, respectively. With online businesses company networks with their distant locations and the clients, the bandwidth requirement is will soon rise to level where, the only solution would remain to switch to optical networks. Optical networks can be broadly divided into two generations. The first generation optical networks were solely used to enhance capacity to stand alone communication links while; the second-generation networks encompass the issues of routing and switching. In the subsequent paragraphs we will discuss optical communication and networks with reference to the various components and devices in greater details. We shall initially cover the basic theory behind transmission, attenuation and distortion of optical signal in the fibre. Optical Transmission Basics Optical fibre acts as a cylindrical waveguide with an inner core and outer cladding of differing refractive index as shown in Figure 1, core refractive index being greater than clad refractive index. The light traverses in the core as well as in the cladding. To illustrate the transmission of light, let's consider ray theory. Figure 1: Structure of optical fibre (adopted from Senior, John M.) The refractive index of

Evaluating compliance of chemotherapy administration safety standards Research Paper

Evaluating compliance of chemotherapy administration safety standards of practice in anoncology day centre - Research Paper Example The Alfred Health Department of Haematology and Oncology day Care Unit observed the need to reduce the occurrence of and minimize risk of errors while increasing efficiency of services to its chemotherapy patients. With regard to this need, the day care unit decided to conduct a survey to evaluate if the practice is in compliance with ASCO/ONS Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards. The researcher captured data by recording the responses of participants that were mostly ‘yes’ and ‘no’ together with short comments with regard to each standard. The findings were recorded, discussed and evaluated accordingly. After the survey it was discovered that the unit was in compliance with five of the eight ASCO/ONS Chemotherapy Administration Safety Standards. Owing to this, the survey came up with three recommendations that the unit must adhere to and implement them effectively in order to fully comply with chemotherapy administration safety standards The Alfred Health Department of Haematology and Oncology realized that there was need to come up with safety strategies that would result into minimizing the occurrence of and reduction of the risk of errors while increasing efficiency of service to its patients. Consequently, the Oncology department recognized that there were no accessible safety standards that could assist in assessing chemotherapy administration safety. Owing to these facts, the Hospital decided to conduct a survey using the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) standards that were formulated in 2008. These standards were created to assist in the administration of chemotherapy to adult patients in the outpatient setting. The hospital came up with various tools to audit techniques basing on ASCO/ONS standards. The main objective of this research report is evaluating

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Education - Essay Example Additionally, the educational purposes of English will be weighed out in the classroom and in the outside world. This essay will be based on the small scale research I carried out during my serial practice week. I sought to bring together school staff’s opinion and perception of the National Curriculum and Framework, along with pupils’ views in order to justify the place of English. The given research, which includes interviews with teachers and pupils, and theoretical justification of the place of English in modern education, will also act as a foundation for conclusions made on the basis of practical and theoretical findings. I will begin with the evaluation of the role of English in the National Curriculum and the Framework. Although I have not found any evident research that would provide an explicit justification of the place of English in the current Curriculum, the justification which my study will be built upon is based on a practical consideration of both positive and negative personal and generally accepted views on the issue, on the current Curriculum and my academic readings. Trying to define English in ‘Literacy: Reading the Word and the World’ Freire’s understanding of English derives from English’ being a ‘critical literacy’ (Moss, 1998 p6); it is considered to be an active instrumental approach to encourage pupils to: Literacy is viewed as a common tool used by teachers during English lessons: pupils are encouraged to make meanings by evaluating and discovering the range of techniques that the author crafts. This critical awareness comes forth as pupils are encouraged to adopt a critical understanding of the text. They begin to consider how texts are trying to influence and change them as members of society. As a result, such an understanding changes their thinking process, both personally and socially, and influences the formation of a

Samsung - Organization Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Samsung - Organization Behavior - Essay Example The three dimensions of management are summarized to be technical, conceptual and human.is important for the managers to evolve meaningful solutions and techniques for resolution of complex management problems, by employing innovative technological solutions that provide answers to problems people and organizations are having. For achieving management success, it is important to understand the extent of involvement of human resources needed for the deployment of these resources. COMPANY AND HENRI PRINCIPLES Samsung International has applied the principles of Henri Fayol, the father of management. The Samsung International has split the workforce into certain segments and has achieved better production and quality work input. The practice of division of work has provided the employer with an opportunity of maximizing employee efforts. It is applicable to all work including research and technical applications. There are limitations to specialization which are determined has been determ ined by the application. The company has stressed the importance and role of the authority, and therefore the authority has the rights to give orders and the power to exact obedience. Samsung International has made a clear distinction between a manager's official authority deriving from office and personal authority created through individual personality, intelligence, and experience. The company has introduced certain rules and regulations to ensure that there exist obedience and respect between the firm and its employees.

Statistical Methods in Economics Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Statistical Methods in Economics - Coursework Example The scheme in particular was designed to favour the usage of bicycle for a short period usually less than 30 minutes. In addition, Transport for London believes that about 0.5% of all cycle journeys start or end at Queen Marys, Mile End docking station. With this statistics in mind, the main objective of this research is 1) estimate the average length of bicycle hire and 2) to estimate the proportion of journeys taking place from and to the â€Å"Queen Marys, Mile End† docking station. In order to carry out this research as a way of organization, section 1 will provide a brief explanation of how the research was be organized, section 2 will look at two unbiased estimators and use them to provide an estimate of: the average length of the bike hire and the proportion of bike journeys taking place from and to the â€Å"Queen Marys, Mile End â€Å"docking station. Section 3 on the other hand will look at the two confidence intervals that have a high probability of: capturing the average length of the bike hire and the actual proportion of bike rides taking place from and to the â€Å"Queen Marys, Mile End â€Å"docking station. Section 4 will detail a hypothesis test to test whether the average length of the bike hire is consistent with Transport for London expectation that the pricing scheme gives incentives to users to hire the bikes for no longer than 30 minutes. Finally Section 5 will evaluate a hypothesis test to test whether the proportion of bike rides taki ng place at the â€Å"Queen Marys, Mile End† docking station is greater than the 0.5% expected by Transport for London. Data containing the information was obtained from London transport. The stratified sampling was done. The data was divided into strata of 100 for 1000 samples then a simple random sampling was done so to give each area an equal opportunity representation. After that, the probability of success will be noted, and then 95% and 99% confidence level will be used to estimate

Art Events Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Art Events - Assignment Example The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci is famously recognized paintings in history. It shows the story of the last supper of Jesus with his disciples. The painting is remarkable as it depicts the disciples as real human beings. In the painting, Leonardo tried to use new materials due to the thought that it would result in an extensively varied palette. In his work, Leonardo sought to illuminate the painting beyond what could traditional fresco give. He thus used unreal fresco as he was working on a dry wall. Borrowing, from the panel painting, he applied a white lead to improving on the brightness of the tempera and oil he had used on top. In conclusion, the two paintings from the two periods have certain differences that portray cultural change. The Annunciation painting has medieval painting styles. It included panel painting, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and fresco. Even though Leonardo used the fresco, it was not real forcing him to apply a white lead to improving the bright ness of the painting. In the period, which started in the late middle ages, European continent started evolving into big states controlled by monarchies. The Italian urban centers expanded due to growth of population and expansion of trade. Land paved way for money as the means of exchange thus freeing the serfs. The changes brought cultural, social, and economic changes. Literacy increased leading to the expansion of vernacular literatures that led people to adopt secular themes in their arts. The growth of wealth.

Security Management Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Security Management Paper - Essay Example Because of these, several hiring selection matrix are being developed to help employers to choose the appropriate person for the job. With the help of the hiring selection matrix the employer will be able to compare the applicants more accurately and objectively. The matrix is use to be able to provide equal opportunity to all the applicants on lawful job related and non-discriminatory criteria. A pre-designed tool was created by Texas Tech as a hiring selection matrix. The matrix composed of a spreadsheet, which helps to evaluate the applicant. The snapshot of the matrix is shown below (figure 1). To start with this matrix on the upper portion of the matrix just types the required qualification of the person needed for the job. The preferred skills may include education, Clerical experience, MS Office experience, ten key by touch, TTU experience, bookkeeping experience, keyboarding score and spelling score. On the lower part of the preferred skills you can rate the skills from 1 to 5 (with 5 as the highest scale). Once the application received, the name of the applicant can be inserted on the applicants’ column. Opposite to the applicant column are column wherein you can put your rate for a certain applicant (rate 1 to 5 – 5 is the highest). Once done with the rating an application score will be shown, this is where the basis as to who will be interviewed or not. If someone does not meet the minimum requirement, put an X on the minimum requirement column of the applicant. To better view who among the applicants got the highest rate click the â€Å"sort† button. The applicants name will be arranged from highest to lowest. From here it is easily to pick who among the applicants will continue to the next step and who are not. After the interview the score are place on the interview score column and the reference score are inserted. The Hiring Selection Matrix will automatically show the total