Yellow Wallpaper Essays (498 words) - Mental Illness In Fiction

Yellow Wallpaper ?The Yellow Wallpaper? A major theme in ?The Yellow Wallpaper? by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is that solitary confinement and exclusion from the public results in insanity. The use of imagery and setting helps illustrate this theme throughout the story. The unnamed protagonist in this story suffers from a nervous disorder which is enhanced by her feeling of being trapped within a room. The setting of the vast colonial mansion and particularly the nursery room with barred windows provides an image of loneliness and seclusion experienced by the protagonist. Another significant setting is the mansion connected by a ?shaded lane? (66) to the beautiful bay and private wharf. It is possible that in her mind, she sees a path which leads to the curing of her illness where happiness and good health awaits at the end. The reason the lane is ?shaded? is because she is uncertain whether or not this path can be traveled. Upon moving into the mansion, she immediately becomes obsessed with the nursery room wallpaper with ?sprawling, flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin? (64). Her days and nights are so uneventful that she finds relief in writing a journal which becomes more tiresome as her sickness progresses. In every few paragraphs in her journal, she analyzes the wallpaper. Through the imagery she evokes from the wallpaper, it can be seen that she is really analyzing herself and her illness subconsciously. For example, she begins to see ?a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design? (67). She describes her illness (as seen in the wallpaper) as ?not arranged on any laws of radiation, or alternation, or repetition, or symmetry, or anything else that I ever heard of? (68). In other words, she cannot make any sense of what is causing her illness. A pivotal moment in the story is when the woman protagonist is concerned only with the yellow wallpaper in her journal. In lieu of her obsession with the wallpaper, she becomes engaged in the actions of the women she sees in the wallpaper which, of course, is really her own actions. The women ?is all the time trying to climb through [the wallpaper]? (72). At this moment, she is desperate to escape her illness but she is unable to because her confinement in the room has already affected her more so than she realizes. The imagery of this situation is described when ?the pattern strangles [the women] off and turns them upside down, and makes their eyes white!? (72). In the end or in her last day at the mansion, the isolation intensifies her illness to the point where she is no longer curable and insanity takes over. The protagonist finally recognizes the fact that the women she witnesses is really her own frame of mind and proclaims ?I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!? (75). She believes that she has at last gained her freedom from the illness when in reality, the exact opposite has occurred. The incessant creeping is the final summation to her insanity. Psychology

Implication Of Hand Hygeine Compliance Program. How Can We Make It

Implication Of Hand Hygeine Compliance Program. How Can We Make It Implication Of Hand Hygeine Compliance Program. How Can We Make It Better – Term Paper Example Hand Hygiene Compliance Program: Implications and Ways of Improvement Hand Hygiene Compliance Program: Implications and Ways of Improvement For a long time, hand hygiene among health care workers is pivotal in preventing transmission of infectious agents but despite a Center for Disease Control joint commission requirement on hand hygiene guidelines implemented in hospitals, compliance among health care workers remains low. According to studies, that hospitals may best improve compliance by assessing the barriers to, measuring the rates of compliance, educating staff on the importance of hand hygiene, making sanitizing products more available for staff use, and holding staff accountable. The CDC’s latest guideline includes two major new recommendations: 1. Health care workers should use alcohol-based hand sanitizers for routine hand disinfection when hands are visibly soiled, and 2. Health care facilities should establish ongoing monitoring programs for hand hygiene compliance (Haas and Larson, 2008). Medline’s Hand Hygiene Compliance Program which addresses the primary defense against healthcare-acquired conditions, includes an intensive education module developed by an expert panel of professionals which provides health care workers with tools, education and awareness of proper hand hygiene to increase compliance rates and decrease spread of infection. Among the free benefits of this program is an online educational program with modules and interactive competencies, an access to 200+ free CE Credits Experience additional online education from their university ( including access to over two hundred courses that include CE credits), and a Facility Awareness and Tools Placards to promote proper hand hygiene to staff members, patients and visitors. Direct observation cannot be considered a gold standard for assessing hand hygiene, because there was no relationship between observed adherence and number of dispensing episodes or the used product volum e (Medline, 2012).Use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers has increased the convenience of hand hygiene and made it less time-consuming since sinks become less needed and dispensers are small and accessible at every stage of patient care (some dispensers can be worn or carried in a pocket). An observational study in two ICUs by Earl, etc. established that availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizers "resulted in a sustained increase in hand antisepsis rates among health care workers." Boyce and colleagues compared the effects of either using an alcohol-based sanitizer or washing hands with the hospitals unmedicated soap and found out that the former was less damaging to nurses skin (Earl et al., 2001).In an observational study in Geneva, Switzerland, Pittet and colleagues measured the rates of hand hygiene compliance before and during a hand hygiene improvement program implementation. The program has increased compliance rates from 48% to 66% in three years and significantly decreased the number of hospital-acquired infections. 11,17. The multidisciplinary and multifaceted promotion involved the display of color posters in 250 hospital locations being collaborated by Health care workers whose ideas (i.e. hand hygiene, hospital-acquired infections, and protecting hands with creams, etc.) were translated by an artist into cartoon-like messages. The program also prioritized the increase of availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizer bottles at each bedside and also provided pocket-sized bottles to staff. Hand hygiene convenience also increased upon enhancement of the accessibility of hand sanitizers (Pittet et al., 1999; Pittet et al., 2000).The most important factor in the program’s success may be due to the administrative hospital-wide prioritization, some funding, encouraging the participation of senior staff, and voicing support for the program. Improving compliance for hand hygiene requires leadership, collaboration, accessibility of hand hygiene produ cts, feedback on compliance and infection rates, and individual accountability.ReferencesEarl, M.L., et al. (2001). Improved rates of compliance with hand antisepsis guidelines: a three-phase observational study. Am J Nurs, 101(3), 26-33.Haas, J.P. and Larson, E.L. (2008). Compliance with hand hygiene guidelines: where are we in 2008? American Journal of Nursing, 108(8), 40 – 44.Medline (2012). Hand hygiene compliance program. Retrieved September 25, 2012, from medline.com/programs/hand-hygiene-compliance-program/Pittet, D., et al. (1999). Compliance with hand washing in a teaching hospital: infection control program. Ann Intern Med, 130(2), 126-30. Pittet D, et al. (2000). Effectiveness of a hospital-wide program to improve compliance with hand hygiene: infection control program. Lancet, 356 (9238), 1307-12.

Convection Currents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Convection Currents - Essay Example This is known as a thermal. Figure 1 cloud formation, which may produce a thunderstorm. A cumulonimbus cloud, or "thunderhead," is a particularly dramatic example of a convection cell. Eventually the heated cell is cooled by the surrounding air, begins to fall, and the cycle is repeated. Whereas the Sun's electromagnetic energy is the energy source for atmospheric convection, asthenospheric convection is fueled by radioactive decay in the earth's core. The convective cells form in the asthenosphere, a region of extremely high pressure at a depth of about 60-200 miles where rocks are deformed and become molten by enormous pressures. In the asthenosphere, the molten material rises in a convection current until it hits the bottom of the upper layer of Earth's interior consisting of the crust and the mantle. Here, it can not rise any farther and begins to move horizontally. Figure 2 depicts the movement of the convection cells in the asthenosphere. The red areas are the heated molten material rising from the earth's center and moving toward the surface. As the material reaches the surface it Figure 2 Eventually the material cools and as it does it becomes denser. This material then slowly sinks through the lighter material until it is again heated by the earth's core. It forms a new convection cell and repeats this same process. In both the atmosphere and the asthenosphere material is moved from one region to another. Lower air levels rise to become the upper air, and as the cooler upper air cells fall they become ground level air. Within the Earth, irregular convection cells within the mantle transfer heat from the core to the surface of the planet. This process is the driving force behind both heat transfer and plate tectonics ("The Restless Earth"). The effect of the rising material also forms mountain ranges. This process also transfers energy from one area to another. This transfer of energy can result in violent activity if the transfer happens abruptly. In the atmosphere we see it form high winds and thunderstorms. In the asthenosphere, energy is usually transferred by heating the earth's crust. In other cases, it may result in a volcano or an earthquake. The hydrosphere is also an active medium that is powered by convection. The movement of convection cells is the force behind the ocean currents. Circulation patterns in the oceans are driven by density differences between warmer and colder hydrospheric cells. As the water circulates, material and energy are transferred. The ocean's water is heated by the sun as well as undersea hot air vents. It is cooled by the polar ice caps. Convection is also responsible for the action of the water cycle. As the sun heats the surface water on the earth, it evaporates and becomes water vapor. This warmed vapor rises until it encounters the cooler air at higher altitudes. Here it condenses back into water and returns to earth as precipitation ("The Water Cycle"). Convection takes place anytime there is a mass of gas or liquid on the earth. It causes our weather, winds, and ocean currents. Convection heats our air and creates our mountain ranges. It results

Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Narrative - Essay Example Together with teammates, Bolt recorded the world record for the 4x100m relay. Bolt is the current Olympic champion for the three sporting events; 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. In the 2012 London Olympics, Bolt won the 100m gold medal at 9.63 seconds. He thus set a new 100m Olympic record, and also defended the gold medal that he received during the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008. The 2012 Summer Olympics was an international sporting event that illustrates the Olympics Games tradition. The Olympics Games are organized and managed by International Olympics Committee (IOC). The sporting event occurred in London, the United Kingdom. The 2012 Summer Olympics were conducted between July 25, 2012 and August 12, 2012. Approximately 10,000 athletes participated in the event, from 204 National Olympic Committees. The main broadcaster for the event was the Olympics Broadcasting Services. During the event Usain Bolt proved his position as the historically greatest sprinter, because of the effective retention of the 100m gold title (Rosner & Shropshire 454). Bolt’s win in the 2012 was very memorable due to various reasons. The win occurred during the weekend that Jamaica celebrated the 50th Independence anniversary. The 9.63 gold medal win created a celebratory mood in Jamaica because it illustrated the shortest athletic competition in the history of the Olympics Games. The two main noticeable athletes in the competition were; Usain Bolt and his fellow countryman Yohan Blake. The Jamaicans are very fierce competitors in the racing track, but Bolt emerged as the best by winning gold. Bolt accomplished another feat by retaining the 100m Olympic gold title. The athletic effectiveness of Bolt was doubted by many people, because of a season that had cases of defeat and injury. During the 2012 Olympics he performed the second fastest time ever, and thus defeated Yohan Blake and Justin

Marketing Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example When different business enterprises target the same markets within a given industry, competition intensifies. This is the scenario observed in the coffee houses industry. While players are many in number, the target market is relatively the same. As a result, each coffee house must move swiftly and strategically to lure consumers into buying its products, thereby building a market share within the industry. Depending on how the captured market share is managed, it can increase or decrease with time. Tim’s Coffee Shoppe competes intensively with Queequeg’s Coffee among other coffee houses. The above aspects apply to Tim’s Coffee Shoppe operations in the coffee houses industry. Tim’s Coffee Shoppe has to manage its clientele in a way that ensures Queequeg’s Coffee or any other coffee house does not win it through competitive practices. This implies that coffee houses operating in the same industry engage one another in intensive competition that could see one lose its customers to another based on the customer satisfaction factor. The 4 P’s of marketing inform the marketing practices of many business enterprises across the globe (Pride & Ferrell, 2012). Tim’s Coffee Shoppe operates in a highly competitive environment, where players are many and competition cannot be price-based only. To ensure that Tim’s Coffee Shoppe remains competitive over its rivals, the adopted marketing strategy must critically account for the 4 P’s of marketing. The surveys presented in the filing cabinet highlight the operational strengths and weaknesses of Tim’s Coffee Shoppe. The 4 P’s of marketing can strategically be applied to the survey information for the purpose of redesigning and revolutionizing the Tim’s marketing strategy. The product is highly rated by majority of customers. However, the shortcomings noted by a few should be used to enhance

Marketing Plan For Airtel Broadband Services

Marketing Plan For Airtel Broadband Services Bharti Airtel (Airtel) is one of the leading providers of telecommunications services in India. The company offers mobile, wire line, broadband and television services. The telemedia services division which includes services like broadband etc recorded revenues of INR30,930.9 million ($674.9 million) in FY2009, an increase of 13.7% over 2008. Bharti Airtel enjoys 13% market share in the broadband market. The total subscribers for the Bharti broadband are 1.14 million. As per TRAIs annual report, the number of broadband subscribers is growing at a healthy rate of 44% year-on-year basis. The estimated total broadband subscribers by the end of financial year 2011 are going to be around 12.3 million. Internet access has become a necessary service. As per Data Monitor, the Indian internet access market grew by 24.7% in 2009 to reach a value of $2,979.3 million. In 2014, the Indian internet access market is forecast to have a value of $6,152.7 million, an increase of 106.5% since 2009. Broadband revolution is upon us, it will be next big thing to Wireless revolution India witnessed in the last decade. Hence it is imperative for Bharti Airtel to increase its footprint in broadband market. It cannot achieve its objective of being the number one telecom industry in India if it ignores this opportunity. In this report we will discuss the plan how Airtel should increase its market share. As a part of report, we have done the situational analysis of Airtel the broadband service provider, as well as the broadband market in India. Our objective is to penetrate the current broadband market. We have identified the market segment Airtel needs to target to achieve its objective. We have proposed marketing action programs considering the 4Ps i.e. Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In the final section we have analysed the possible impact of these strategies on Airtels bottom line. Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is an Indian company offering telecommunication services in 19 countries. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with more than 140 million subscriptions as of July 2010. It offers fixed line services and broadband services. The company is structured into four strategic business units Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in 18 countries across the Indian Subcontinent and Africa. Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 Indian cities. Digital TV business provides DTH TV services across India. Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos. Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. Airtel Broadband Services Airtel is the largest private operator having presence in the voice, broadband, IPTV and data. Since launch it has focused on SMB segment Broadband at Homes. It has launched several services the broadband category ranging from DSL with speed 256kbps to 16 mbps. Average Revenue per User ARPU for Quarter ended Jun10 $ 20.6 per month. This segment contributes to 7% of overall revenues of the company. The EBIDTA margin for the product is very high. The total subscribers for the Bharti broadband are 1.14 million. Currently Telemedia services which include broadband services contribute nearly 7% to the companys total revenue. It has its presence in 95 cities across India. Airtel Revenues: $8,150.2 million (FY2009), an increase of 38.3% over 2008. Business divisions Contribution Revenues 2009 Increase over 2008 Mobile services 80.5% $5,998.7 million 36.8% Telemedia services 9.1% $674.9 million 13.7% Enterprise services carrier 7.1% $527.7 million 10.6% Enterprise services corporate 3.3% $243.4 million 19.9% other operations 0.1% $7.9 million 7.2% Others 6.1% $453.9 million 29.6% Purpose and Mission Bharti Airtel recently announced in the Quarterly presentation to the investors there is strategy is Dominant Broadband in targeted 95 cities. With estimated total 12.3 million broadband subscribers in the financial year 2011, to gain about 17% market share the total number of Airtel subscribers needed to be nearly 2 million. Currently BSNL is a market leader with above 60% market share. Hence it is imperative for Bharti to increase its footprint in broadband market. It cannot achieve its objective of being the number one telecom industry in India if it ignores this opportunity. In this report we will discuss the plan how Airtel should increase its market share. The marketing objectives can be summarized as: Increase total number of subscribers to 2 million by the end of 2011. Resulting in capturing the market share of around 17% for broadband users. Increase the contribution of telemedia services which include broadband services to 10% Maintain EBITDA margin of atleast 44% Situational Analysis Current Products Airtel currently offers a number of plans at different prices to suit the requirements of the customers. A brief summary of the current plans is as follows: Plans Tariffs Features-offers Features-speed Airtel Surf Broadband plan Airtel Surf-749 Rs.749 per month  · Comes with Rs.100 free talktime on your Airtel mobile and Free calling value of Rs.100.  · Speed @ Day 256Kbps  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs. 100  · Speed @ Night 1Mbps  · Free Talktime Airtel Pre-paid Worth Rs. 100  · Data Transfer Limit 8GB Airtel Surf-899- Rs.899 per month  · Comes with Rs.100 free calling value on your Airtel fixed line.  · Speed @ Day 256Kbps  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs. 100  · Speed @ Night 256Kbps Airtel Swift Broadband Plan Airtel Swift-1099- Rs.1099 per month  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs. 100  · Browse and download fast at 512kbps.  · Speed @ Day 512Kbps  · Speed @ Night 512Kbps  · Data Transfer Limit Unlimited Airtel Turbo Broadband Plan Airtel Turbo-1299- Rs.1299 per month  · Comes with free world class games.  · Speed @ Day 512Kbps  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs. 100  · Speed @ Night 1Mbps  · Data Transfer Limit Unlimited Airtel Freedom Broadband Plan Airtel Freedom-1699- Rs.1699 per month  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs.100  · Speed 1Mbps  · Free Anti Virus Worth Rs.100  · Data Transfer Limit Unlimited  · Free Unlimited Gaming Worth Rs.199  · Download whatever, whenever without worrying about the bill  · Free Speed on Demand Worth Rs.100  · Free Online Desktop Worth Rs.99 Airtel Freedom-2999- Rs.2999 per month  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs.300  · High speed and unlimited downloads bundled with a host of exciting package.  · Free Anti Virus Worth Rs.100  · Speed 2Mbps  · Free Unlimited Gaming Worth Rs.199  · Data Transfer Limit Unlimited  · Free Online Desktop Worth Rs.99 Airtel Velocity Broadband Plan Airtel Velocity-8999- Rs.8999 per month  · No Free Calling Value  · Speed 50Mbps  · Free Anti Virus Worth Rs. 125  · Data Transfer Limit 200GB  · Free Unlimited Gaming Worth Rs. 199  · Free Online Desktop Worth Rs. 99 Airtel Velocity-7999- Rs.7999 per month  · No Free Calling Value  · Speed 30Mbps  · Free Anti Virus Worth Rs. 125  · Data Transfer Limit 200GB  · Free Unlimited Gaming Worth Rs. 199  · Free Online Desktop Worth Rs. 99 Airtel Velocity-4999- Rs.49999 per month  · Free Calling Value Worth Rs. 300  · Browse faster than ever before at 16Mbps.  · Free Anti Virus Worth Rs. 100  · Speed 16Mbps  · Free Unlimited Gaming Worth Rs. 199  · Data Transfer Limit 100GB  · Free Online Desktop Worth Rs. 99 Airtel Broadband Value Combo 749 Plan  · Monthly Commitment Rs.749  · Broadband Data Transfer Limit : Unlimited  · Free Call Value Rs.150  · Download Speed 256 Kbps Current distribution network In this segment, we try to analyze the distribution strategies of Airtel for its Broadband services, and try to compare and contrast them with the strategies employed by its main competitor in terms of market share, BSNL broadband. From the time of its launch, Airtel tried to position itself as a niche product, charging higher prices for similar products, and expecting the price differential to be covered by the value received by the end user in terms of after sales service, other Value Added Services, Customer Relationship Management etc. While this strategy helped it to gain a sizeable number of loyal customers, with very high preference for the brand Airtel, in absolute terms of market share, it was limited to around 8% of the total broadband market in India, compared to the over 50 % of share commanded by BSNL Broadband. Airtel focused on attracting customer attention and eventual conversion into customers, by the use of celebrities in advertisements, and trying to communicate its significant value proposition to target customers through these advertisements. The actual operational task of converting the interested segment into customers was left to a service agent, who conducted all transactions such as filling up of forms, payment of fees and delivery of modems and other paraphernalia at the place of choice of the customer, most often the place of installation, such as the residence or workplace. While this strategy ensured that the customer did not have to leave the comfort of his own environs for subscribing to an Airtel Broadband connection, it also meant that the visibility of Airtel in comparison to its significant competitors was always less. These factors together could be attributed a major portion of the blame for the comparatively low market share of Airtel. Performance: Airtel has performed at least as better, or in some cases, to a much higher standard, with comparison to its competitors, with respect to its backward chain. Airtel sources its modems from Beetel for its Indian and other South Asian markets, which are supplied to its distributors at the state and regional levels, through a dedicated chain of suppliers. Airtel has internally estimated the efficiency of its backward chain to be 99.9963 %( Source: Company Data), which shows its high dedication and expertise in this area. The distribution to customers is primarily, as mentioned above, through sales representatives, who directly visit the place of installation, and form, to a very high extent, the public image of the company and its products and services, for the general consuming population. BSNL/MTNL: While Airtel competes with many other service providers for the same market segment, BSNL as the major player and the one with the highest market share (on the basis of actual number of subscriber, BSNL has over 53% of the market share: 2009), deserves a special analysis, with focus on its distribution strategies. In the broadband market, BSNL entered with a significant advantage over its competitors. Till the past decade, BSNL was the only provider of fixed line telephones (MTNL for Mumbai and Delhi), and hence could provide the broadband services as a product bundle to its existing and new customers. This made attracting existing customers from BSNL, a major issue for new entrants into the market, as consumers were unlikely to switch from phone numbers and connections, which they had held, in most cases for over a period of 5 -10 years. BSNL focused on distribution of its broadband services through existing telephone exchanges, and its existing network of linemen who wer e already well known in their neighborhoods. This strategy, while playing on the familiar cues for the customers and increasing customer perceptions of trust, also reduced distribution costs for BSNL and led to lower per consumer cost as compared to other consumers. Its modems were sourced from Huawei, a Chinese firm, which again reduced capital costs. However, this had a significant downside in terms of quality of service, with complaints being lodged against disruptions in broadband services at an average estimated rate of 6.3 per day per 1000 consumers within 6 months of launch of the service ( Source : TRAI reports) Airtel realized that the existing strong BSNL telephony network, covering around 93 % of the urban fixed population, in 2000, was a major hindrance in its own growth, within one month of launch of its services, and tried to shift its marketing strategy accordingly, something which has been covered in detail in our analysis of Airtel marketing strategies. To give an overview, it has been established that Airtel launched a new bouquet of plans, immediately after launch, to attract the consumer surplus, by targeting the early adopters and pioneers, by providing services at differential prices, something that was not covered by BSNL. The most famous of these plans, is the Unlimited Plan which provided 256 kbps of speed at Rs. 599 per month, along with unlimited surfing and downloading. This product went on to revolutionize the market, with copycat products being launched by almost all competitors. Current Competitors The TRAI report FY 2010 related to broadband services describes the following subscriber base statistics for the major players in the sector. The total size of the subscriber base for broadband in this time period stood at 8773096. These figures can be further translated into a percentage wise holding which gives a clearer split of the market in terms of Airtel and its broadband competitors. Locations/Coverage: Except for MTNL which operates only in Mumbai and Delhi (and hence falls under category B), the others have a pan-India presence and fall under category A. BSNL of course, is present everywhere except for Mumbai and Delhi. An interesting case in is that of Hathway which offers broadband services only in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mysore and Baroda but accounts for 3.5% of the subscriber base. In stark contrast is the Chennai based ISP Sify, which provides broadband in almost 86 cities across all states except for Himachal Pradesh and the northeastern states barring Assam, but still accounts for only 2.24% of the total subscriber base. Products/Packages: Most competitors offer packages in both prepaid and postpaid plans. Reliance and TATA offer wired as well as wireless connections, both are offered in prepaid and postpaid plans. A restriction could be placed on the amount of data downloaded in a plan or on the number of hours it could be used in a month, thereby making it a Limited plan. The opposite of this is the Unlimited plan. MTNL: MTNLs package is called the MTNL Triband. It offers unlimited plans in speeds ranging from a minimum of 320 KBps costing Rs. 395 per month all the way up to a maximum of 4 MBps costing Rs. 9999 per month. In the limited plans category, MTNL offers a basic plan for Rs. 49 per month for a variable speed from 256 KBps 2 MBps restricted by a limit of 200 MB per month. Anything beyond 200 MB will be charged at Re. 1.00 per MB. There is a variety of these plans which range up to Rs. 1499 per month for variable speeds from 256 KBps-4 MBps restricted by an 8 GB per month download limit and an additional charge at the rate of Re. 0.70 per MB BSNL: BSNL offers plans to the home user ranging from variable speeds of 256 KBp-2 MBps at a minimum monthly charge of Rs 125 restricted to 150 MB data download per month up to 2 MBps for minimum charge of Rs. 3300 per month. Marketing Strategy Segmentation Targeting The household penetration and number of Internet users in India saw growth of 2,243% from 2000-2007, whereas PC penetration increased by 267%. According to the statistics of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), in 2007 33% of active Internet users in India are working men and 11% are working women. College students account for 21% and schoolchildren make up 14% of active Internet users. Older men and non-working women account for the remaining 21%. According to the association, 16.8 million active Internet users in 30 cities access the Internet from cybercafà ©s. However, the share of cybercafà © as main access point is falling as more people have the ability to access the Internet from their offices. This could be due to an increase in the number of people working in the IT/ITES sector. Usage of the Internet in schools and colleges increased due to the introduction of computers and the Internet in the educational system. Favourable broadband policy and other initiatives by the IT and Telecom Ministry have encouraged Internet use by the masses. Internet usage is mainly prevalent in urban areas since, as most of the content on the Internet is in English, its usage is restricted to the population familiar with English. Another barrier to increased Internet penetration is the exposure to using a PC. In the future, increased Internet penetration would depend on increased literacy, PC education and vernacular content on the Internet. Source: IAMAI Hence we can conclude that majority of the users of internet are College going students (21%) and working men (33%) and most of the users are English Speaking based out of cities. So we can deduct that the segmentation variables in our case would be Age Occupation Location As Airtel broadband has its presence in 95 cities hence the location part of the segment is already in place. Lets analyze the various segments: College Going Student: Heavy users of internet, Demand High speed network Working Professional: Largest in terms of market size Heavy users Demand for high speed network Non-working women Casual users, time spend on internet is much less than time spend by college going student and working professional Indifferent to network speed Price Sensitive Older Men Indifferent to network speed Price Sensitive School Children Limited purchasing power, generally provided by parents Airtel wants to increase its market share hence criteria for evaluation before targeting the market segment should be in line with marketing objectives. Hence to increase market penetration it can look at each segment based on; Market Size Extent of Usage Purchasing Power As market size is evident from the internet usage data provided by the IAMAI we can say Working professionals and college going student forms the majority of market share. For purchasing power we need to look at the average disposable income and monthly expenditure of the segments. Expenditure by Type of Household: 2009 Source: Euromonitor International Key: A. Food and non-alcoholic beverages B. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco C. Clothing and footwear D. Housing E. Household goods and services F. Health goods and medical services G. Transport H. Communications I. Leisure and recreation J. Education K. Hotels and catering L. Miscellaneous goods and services Non working woman, School going children, college going student have limited incomes however working professional can satisfy this criteria. As stated by above graph and average household spends about 8-15% of their income on communications. However, given the couple with children also spends nearly same amount of money on communications school going children can be indirectly targeted by targeting working professional Lets evaluate each market segment on these criteria by plotting a matrix and assigning grade points to each segment. (1 being lowest and 5 being highest) Evaluation Criteria Market Size Extent of Usage Purchasing power Total College Student 4 4 2 10 Working Professional 5 5 5 15 Non-working women 4 2 2 8 School Children 2 3 1 6 Older men 2 2 2 6 Hence we can say to meet our objectives we can target Working Professional and College going student. Sales objectives Let us analyze these two segments on the basis of meeting our sales objectives. Objective: Total Subscribers by 2011 = 2 million Current Subscribers = 1.14 million Additional Subscribers to be added for the next year = 0.86 million Expected Market size Segment 2010 2011 Net Increase College 1.8417 2.596797 0.755097 Working Professional 2.8941 4.080681 1.186581 Hence out of new added 1.94 million subscribers we need to target nearly 0.8 million subscribers to Airtel broadband. This assumption is totally based on new addition. Switchers can make the total subscribers to go beyond the stated objectives. So Target Segments for the AirTel Broad Band are College Going students and Working Professionals. Connections forecast: Subscribers Base (in millions) QE Mar 2009 QE Mar 2010 QE Jun 2010 Y-on-Y Growth QE Jun 2011 Broadband Connections (>=256 Kbps download speed) 6.22 8.77 8.960 41% 14.24(assuming 60% growth) Airtel Connections 0.87 1.1401 1.1648(13% of market share) 84% 2.4208(17% of market share) Revenue forecast: (in mn) Jun-09 Jun10 Y-on-Y Growth Jun 11 Total Revenue 8,551 8,960 5% 9408 EBITDA 3,466 3,938 14% 4489 EBIT 1,797 1,910 6% 2025 EBITDA / Total revenues 40.5% 44.0% Positioning Since college students and working professionals are the target segment for Airtel broadband, the following points can be defined: Point-of-Difference: Airtel should aim at being differentiated from its competitors on the following attributes: High Performance: Airtel should create a strong association between its offerings and high performance at the product/service level primarily by concentrating on providing extremely fast speeds consistent connection speeds across times and distance Reliability: Airtel broadband should concentrate on being characterized by high up times low failure rates and connection drops 24/7 customer assistance and support and reduction in service level agreement metrics like turnaround times and problem resolution times Affordability: Airtel sells its product offerings at a higher price compared to its competitors. This will work for professionals who are well settled and have a steady source of income, but not for college students and price sensitive young professionals who are just a few years into their careers. Customization: Airtel can do well to offer different propositions to different target segments based on an understanding of different needs that college students have from working professionals. This could translate into a better product-pricing offering that takes into account the Internet needs of the targeted users instead of just basing the proposition on speeds, time limits and prices. Points-of-Parity: High speed: Most consumers do tend to associate the word broadband with always-on Internet connections that offer perceptibly higher speeds than narrow band or dial-up connections. Based on these points and the target segment, we can arrive at a positioning strategy that is built around its product-pricing mix as follows: To College students and young working professionals Airtel Broadband offers the best broadband experience for every user Among all broadband providers Because it offers extremely high performance backed by reliability and affordability Pricing Comparison of Airtel Top 5 Selling Plans with Competition (BSNL) Provider Plan Cost GB Limit Download Speed Additional Download Rs/MB Others Airtel Impatience 799 799 5 2 0.2 BSNL BBG 700 4 Airtel Impatience 899 899 6 4 0.1 BSNL BB Home Combo ULF 900 900 UL 4 ( 256 (>8GB) NA Airtel Surf 599 599 3 0.5 0.2 BSNL BBG FN 500 500 2.5 0.6 Night UL Airtel Surf 699 699 4 1 0.2 BSNL BBG 700 700 4 0.5 Airtel Browser 899 Unlimited 899 UL 512 ( 256 (>8GB) NA BSNL BB Home Combo ULF 900 900 UL 4 ( 256 (>8GB) NA BSNL BB Home Combo UL 750 750 UL 512 NA A comparison of Airtels top selling plans with that of the competition shows clearly that the competition is available at a cheaper rate, on almost all the plans. However the difference is not much. Recommendation: Airtel should go in for a competition pricing strategy. Other Avenues BSNL Broadband also has the prepaid option. Just like a mobile phone, one can either buy a value card that will extend the download limit or a validity card that will extend the validity. It is easily possible for Airtel to match BSNL pricing in this regard. It would also benefit a number of sporadic and variable users of the Internet. Recommendations for Distribution Strategy: Based on this analysis, we wish to recommend certain changes in the distribution strategy for Airtel broadband services. The backward chain is operating at optimum, or better than optimum levels, and requires, at this time, no modifications. The forward chain,may however, be slightly modified to help us achieve our marketing objectives better. Some of these are listed below, and detailed financial analysis, may be done, based on data annexed to this report: Open new CSC centers: Existing Customer Service Centres are calculated to be at a density of 1 per 9.63 sq. km of urban area, whereas for the same regions, BSNL has telephone exchanges, which provide a large boutique of services at 1per 4.81 sq. km. Diversify scope of CSC centers: Current CSC centers have been reduced to bill collection and primary consumer redressal agencies, which does not provide significant per acreage returns. Other competitors of Airtel, especially in the GSM arena, such as Vodafone ( Vodafone Stores) and Reliance ( Reliance World), provide a wide variety of services and products at the same location. Airtel, due to its late adoption of this strategy, will have to primarily follow the trends set by the earlier entrants and try to consolidate its own position. This strategy has significant benefits, not only for broadband plans, but also for the entire range of products. Promotion Strategies: Airtel Broadband has a mix of current promotion strategies that pan across online paid ads, websites, tie-ups with major names in personal computer vendors, TV ads, print ads, cold calls. Some of them are cited below: Advertisements on Google and Facebook: One of the promotion strategies used by Airtel is use of ads on Google and Facebook. One such advertisement is show below: The advantage of such advertisements is that they reach out specifical

Compare and Contrast how feelings of fear and confusion are conveyed :: English Literature

Compare and Contrast how feelings of fear and confusion are conveyed through the use of imagery and other poetic techniques. I am going to compare the use of poetic devices to portray fear and confusion in 3 different poems, they are; Patrolling Barnegat by Walt Whitman, On the Train by Gillian Clarke, and Storm on the Island by Seamus Heaney. These poems all portray a feeling of confusion, often it is linked with the theme of war. In Patrolling Barnegat, Walt Whitman uses repetition to enhance the power of the storm he is describing. "Wild, Wild the storm, and the sea high running" The repetition of wild in this line helps to enforce the power of the storm and nature. Whitman also uses personification in this line where he compares the movement of the sea to a person running, as if he is saying that the sea will move for nobody. He is also making it sound as if the sea is rushing to get somewhere as if it is on a mission. Whitman also incorporates rhyme in his poem. This gives his poem a strong rhythm and this rhythm ties in with the image of the rolling sea, and gives this image more effect. In Storm on the IslandSeamus Heaney also describes a vivid, powerful storm. He describes the storm like he has learnt from past experience. He describes preparing for the storm as if he has gone through it many times before. "Can raise a tragic chorus in a gale" Here Seamus Heaney is comparing the storm to a tragic chorus, which could be associated with an opera - a form of entertainment. Seamus Heaney is using 2 opposites to help describe the ferocity of the storm and give the reader a clearer picture of what it would be like to be where he is. Also Heaney uses no punctuation at the end of his lines, so it is like reading a continuous sentence. Despite the lack of punctuation, the poem still has a definite rhythm, and because of the lack of punctuation, an unusual style. Gillian Clarke's poem On the Train describes the Paddington rail crash of October '99 She uses many poetic techniques to describe what it must have been like for people waiting to find if their relatives that had been travelling on the train that day were safe or not. "The wolves howl into silent telephones" Here Gillian Clarke is talking about the people who have lost someone in the crash. She uses the metaphor of a wolf to describe the people trying to phone their loved ones, only to get silence, or an answer

1984 and V for Vendetta Comparing and Contrasting Essay

George Orwell’s 1984 and the movie V for Vendetta both have similar views on how society is being run. Since The book 1984 was written before V for Vendetta, so perhaps V for Vendetta may have based some of its ideas on this book. Both 1984 and V for Vendetta have similarities like the way the themes and how the male protagonists are the one in charge of overturning the government. The first similarity between 1984 and V for Vendetta is that the society is being run by totalitarian rule. It is the government that controls the lives of the people and how the society should be run. In 1984, ‘Big Brother’ aka the Inner party, is the figure that keeps an eye on the people and uses telescreens to watch their movement while in V for Vendetta; ‘Leader’ aka Adam Susan, is in charge of England, its people and the Norsefire party. Another thing is that both factions have secret police. The jobs of the secret police in 1984 and V for Vendetta are basically the same as they spy for the government and try to capture people who are against the government. The people are being controlled by the leaders of their country to make sure they behave themselves and not try to rebel. The contrast between 1984 and V for Vendetta for the totalitarian rule are a bit different. In 1984, the government, more specifically the inner party, watches every move of the people and check carefully what they do while in V for Vendetta the government, more specifically the Norsefire Party, is a bit more lenient as they don’t set up cameras on the houses of every people but still set up cameras on public properties. The secret police are quite different in 1984 and V for Vendetta as in 1984, the secret police are deeply loyal to the inner party and don’t express their behaviours like in sexual desires unlike the secret police in V for Vendetta as in page 11, the secret police tried to attempt rape on Evey. Also in V for Vendetta, there are also normal police forces unlike in 1984. Freedom of speech, freedom of your owns thoughts and actions, the right to happiness. In our society today, we have all these rights, but imagine if we id not. 1984, written by George Orwell, and V for Vendetta, directed by James McTeigue, both paint accurately scary descriptions about the government in the future and the dystopian society. 1984, written in 1949, was intended to be a portrayal of the future and V for Vendetta, made in 2005, shows Britain in power in 2038. Both of these pieces of literature were not far off from their description. As every single year passes by, our own society starts to reflect images from these books. When the government has this much power over the people, the people rebel, but can they be a success or not? 1984, written by George Orwell, illustrates a perfect example of a dystopian government. The setting is in Oceania, Britain. The government is full of spies and secret police that carefully watch the common people for any mistake they might make that can harm the government in any way. As shown with Winston Smith, the protagonist of the novel and many other citizens in Oceania, the government manipulates these characters into their pawns. The government asserts their power over the people in many ways. They have large telescreens in the people’s houses. The telescreens show the government what people are doing at all times. It can be dimmed down, but can never be turned off. Although Oceania is well off in money, the government rations food. The government’s philosophy is that if the people are given too much to eat, then they will learn to think for themselves and will see all the atrocities that the government commits and rebel. All the records of the past have been omitted and destroyed and created all over again to fit the government’s beliefs and to show that the government is always right. Big Brother has its own secret police, the Thought Police the themes were similar but there were many differences as well. for example, the resistance in 1984 was subtle if it existed at all while the resistance in v for vendetta was violent and actively opposing the government through force.

European journal of law economics The WritePass Journal

European journal of law economics 1 Introduction European journal of law economics 1 Introduction2 The optimal choice of the firm without financial responsibility3 Financial responsibility4 Concluding remarksReferencesRelated 1 Introduction Liability rules are important tool of environmental risks management in Canada, United States and Europe. The major legislations are CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act) adopted by the American Congress in 1980 and the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Environmental Liability with regard to the Prevention and remedying of environmental Damages which came into force in April 2004. A  *E.J.L. E. 78  liability rule induces correct incentive for risk prevention only if information is symmetric and the potential injurer has sufficient wealth to cover his liability. Indeed, it is well known from the previous literature that when the injurers wealth is not sufficient to  pay  liability judgments ex post (the injurer is said to be judgment-proof) this leads to underprovision of care ex ante (Summers 1983; Shavell 1986). In the case of environmental risks, on the one hand, perfect control of firms actions in prevention is not possible, and on the other hand, the wealth of the  polluter  may be small relative to the clean-up costs and victims compensation. There are many  policies  to alleviate the judgment-proof problem. The first one is to extend liability to the parties who have a contractual relationship with the risky firm, the case under CERCLA which imposes extended liability to lenders. The economic analysis of the extended liability has given raise to mitigated results. Pitchford (1995) considers a one-period moral hazard model with two states of nature (accident or not). Since the loan fee fixed by the lender included his expected liability costs, the more the lender is liable, the more he charges the firm in the no-accident state. Then, the state of the nature â€Å"no-accident† becomes unfavourable for the firm and the full liability of the lender2  leads to a suboptimal level of effort whereas partial lenders liability allows achieving the optimal level of prevention. In a two-period model, Boyer and Laffont (1997) show that partial liability of lender is optimal. Consequently, these authors conclude that the society has to make a tradeoff between prevention and compensation. In an alternative setting in which environmental damages are stochastic and prevention cost is a monetary investment that needs external funding, Dionne and Spaeter (2003) show that lender extended liability has a positive effect on the firms prevention level if and only if an increase in the face value of the debt implies an increase in prevention investment. Moreover, Balkenborg (2001) and Lewis and Sappington (2001) show that the benefits of extending liability to lenders depend on the observability of the firms prevention level by the lender, the bargaining power of each party and the nature of environmental damages. Finally, Hutchison and Vant Veld (2005) consider a model with both observable damage-reducing activities and non-observable probability-reducing measures and show that introducing extended liability to lender induces judgement-proof firms with high gross profits to take socially optimal levels of ca re, those with intermediate gross profits to take suboptimal level of care and drives those with low gross profits out of business. Financial responsibility is another remedy for the judgment-proof problem. Under a regime of financial responsibility, the firm is required to demonstrate that the cost of the harm she can cause is covered. The most common instrument of financial responsibility is the insurance contract. But as it is well known, the compulsory liability insurance induces the efficient level of prevention only when the insurer is able to observe the prevention level performed by the firm (Shavell 1986; Jost 1996; Polborn 1998). Following the analysis of Jost (1996), Feess and*E.J.L. E. 79  Hege (2000, 2003) consider a model with monitoring-based incentives and show that the mandatory liability coverage for total harm leads to an allocation that is closed to the first-best. In this paper, we investigate how the socially optimal allocation can be implemented through ex ante financial responsibility and ex post strict liability rule. We do not restrict our analysis to insurance contract but on contrary analyze financial guarantee contract. Indeed, in the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on environmental liability there is a focus on a future legislation that imposes financial responsibility on the polluting firms. Then we analyze the consequences of financial responsibility on the incitation to prevention in a context of asymmetric information and show that the first-best allocation may be attainable. This follows from the fact that the level of damages provides a signal of the firms prevention level (Lewis and Sappington 1999) and can be used to design an optimal contract. But contrary to Lewis and Sappington (1999), in our setting, prevention measures do not only involve a disutility for the firm but also reduce the funds available f or compensation and clean-up (Beard 1990; Lipowsky-Posey 1993; Dionne and Spaeter 2003; Dari-Mattiaci and De Geest 2005). We consider a firm which activity yields a non-random gross profit and generates random environmental damages. The firm can improve the distribution of damages by an investment in prevention at the beginning of the period and safety measures during the production process. At the end of the period, only the damages and the resources of the firm net of the prevention cost are observable. Moreover, it is assumed that the firms wealth is lower than the highest amount of damages its activity can generate. We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the implementation of the socially optimal allocation in spite of moral hazard when the firm is mandated to cover the highest amount of damages its activity can generate. We also demonstrate that the set of contracts that implement the socially optimal level of prevention includes a particular contract of the form â€Å"reward or maximal penalty† which is closed to a finite risk product referred to as spread loss treaty. The re st of the paper is organized as follows. The following section presents the firms optimal choice in the absence of the financial responsibility regime. Section 3 investigates the impact of financial responsibility on the firms prevention level. Finally, Section 4 concludes. 2 The optimal choice of the firm without financial responsibility Consider a risk-neutral firm which activity generates a fixed profit P and creates a possibility of environmental damages ## ]0,  L[. The firm can improve the distribution of damages by an investment in prevention at the beginning of the period and safety measures during the production process; these two measures are represented by a single prevention variable denoted  e.  However, the reduction of risk generates a cost c(e) when the firm chooses a level of prevention  e.  Moreover we assume that before engaging in its activity, the firm has initial wealth (equity)  Rwhich can be partially used to cover the cost induced by prevention measures. Let  f(##/e) and  F(##/e) be respectively the density and the distribution function of the damages; the following is assumed: *E.J.L. E. 80  Ã‚  Assumption 1  ##e,  f(##/e) 0, decreases with ##.3  This means that the observation of a lower level of damage is relatively more likely if a higher level of prevention has been adopted. This assumption implies the first order stochastic dominance: ## ]0,  L[,Fe  (##/e) 0. Moreover,  Fe  (0/e) =  Fe  (L/e) = 0. Assumption 2  ## ]0,  L[,  Fee  (##/e) 0. This distribution function is strictly concave in  e.  4 Assumption 3  ce  (e) 0 and  cee(e) 0. The prevention cost is strictly convex in  e. Assumption 4  If the amount of damages is very high, the firms assets may be insufficient for compensation; then the firm will be pushed into bankruptcy. Assume that the discount rate is null so that the firms net value without investment in prevention noted ## equals  R  +  P.Formally, this liability assumption can be written as  L   ##. What about the optimal level of prevention from the firms point of view? The intuition suggests that a firm facing limited liability will underinvest in prevention. But, as stated by the following lemma this is not always true. Lemma 1  A judgment-proof firm does not always choose a suboptimal prevention level. Proof: See the â€Å"Appendix†. The social welfare criterion is assumed to be the minimization of the total cost which is the sum of the expected damages and the prevention cost. We assume that the regulator observes the prevention level. At the social optimum, the expected marginal benefit of prevention equals the expected marginal cost. The objective of the firm is to maximize its net revenue which equals to the sum of its profit and equity minus the expected liability payments (compensation and clean-up costs). The firm can only  pay  up to her assets. Hence the private expected marginal benefit is lower than the social one because of the partial internalization of environmental damages by the firm. Moreover, the private expected marginal cost of prevention is lower than the social one because the funds invested in prevention are not available for compensation and clean-up. At the private optimal level of prevention, the private expected marginal benefit of prevention equals the private expected marginal cost. Consequently, the optimal private level of prevention may be lower or higher than the socially optimal one, depending on which effect dominates. However, the judgment-proofness of the firm may result in a partial remediation of damages. One can think about compulsory liability insurance which covers the h ighest amount of damages as a solution to this problem. But it is well known from economics literature that when care is non-observable, a full insurance leads to underprovision of care by the insured. In the following section we demonstrate that under a guarantee structure, incentives work well even if it is  *E.J.L. E. 81  impossible to observe the care by the  polluter. The reason is that under the guarantee the  polluter  receives a return on investment in prevention. Moreover, this scheme provides the full coverage of damages: prevention and compensation are both satisfied. 3 Financial responsibility This section is devoted to the economic analysis of a hybrid regime of ex ante regulation through financial responsibility requirement and ex post strict liability. More precisely, in our setting the financial responsibility takes the form of a guarantee provided by another party that has deep pockets. Then the hybrid regime can be viewed as a regime of vicarious liability in which the guarantor and the firm are joint liable. As we know, in this setting, the victims generally choose to collect from the guarantor because the later has deep-pockets. Then, in what follows, we will assume that the firm and its guarantor are jointly liable and that it is the guarantor who has to compensate for the damages generated by the firm.5,6 The analysis is based on the principal-agent paradigm. In this framework, the firm is the limited liability risk neutral agent and the guarantor is the risk neutral principal. The prevention level performed by the firm and consequently the cost of such a measure are not observable by the principal. Moreover, the amount of damages and the  net  resources of the firm at the end of the period are observable. The timing of the model is as follows. First, the guarantor and the firm sign a contract which stipulates the state-contingent-payments (transfers) that the firm has to make to his guarantor. Secondly, the firm performs a level of prevention and bears the associated cost which is unobservable by the guarantor. Then, the profit is realized and the damages occur and finally the transfer is made to the guarantor. Moreover, it is assumed that the guarantor has all the bargaining power and his objective is to design a scheme of transfers that maximizes his profit. However, the guaran tor has to take into account some constraints. The first one is the participation constraint of the firm which reflects the fact that the financial guarantee  must  yield expected revenue at least equals to what the firm would have obtained without contracting (condition 1). The second one is the firms limited liability constraint (condition 2). The third constraint reflects the fact that the transfer is bounded below in such a way that the firm could be rewarded (condition 3).7  The last condition is the incentive compatibility constraint which reflects the optimal behaviour of the firm in choosing the prevention level (condition 4).8 *E.J.L. E. 82  Formally, if we denote  t(##) the transfer made by the firm when the amount of damages equals ##, the guarantors problem (P1) can be written as: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE subject to TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE The existence of schemes of transfers that solve the problem above is not guaranteed. Then it is essential to characterize the conditions under which the problem (P1) admits a solution for a given utility  u  (expected firm revenue) and a given prevention level  e.  We can establish the following result: Proposition 2  The problem  (P1)  admits a solution, i.e. the levels of utility u and prevention e can be implemented if and only if: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE Proof:  See the â€Å"Appendix†. The intuition underlying the proposition 2 is the following. For a given level of prevention  e  it is not possible to find a scheme of transfers that gives a level of utility  u  if the marginal cost of such a measure is greater than the marginal benefit. Let us remark that the marginal benefit of prevention is reflected by the reduction of the expected transfers that the firm has to  pay  to her guarantor. We have demonstrated (see the â€Å"Appendix†) that there is a scheme  %23t(##) that gives the maximum marginal benefit of prevention, which equals [##   c(e)   B]Fe  (##). If this upper limit of the marginal benefit of prevention is lower than the marginal cost of prevention for a given  e,  then any scheme of transfers cannot implement the prevention level  e. From the analysis above we can derive the following result: Proposition 3  The social optimum  (u, e*)  can be implemented with the financial responsibility if and only if: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE *E.J.L. E. 83  Ã‚  Proof:  See the â€Å"Appendix† The left-hand-side term of the condition (5) represents the rate of change of the marginal benefit of prevention at the point  e* with a transfers scheme  %23t(##), whereas the right-hand-side represents the rate of change of the marginal cost of prevention at the same point. Consequently if there is a level of damage ## such that the rate of change of the marginal benefit is at least equal to the rate of change of the marginal cost of prevention then the social optimum can be implemented. The last step of the analysis is devoted to the characterization of a scheme of transfers that implements the first-best level of prevention. We can establish the following proposition: Proposition 4  The set of transfers that implement the socially optimal level of prevention contains a scheme of the following form: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE Proof:  See the â€Å"Appendix† The scheme of transfers  23t(##) is such that if at the end of the period, the actual damage is lower than the target level ##, then the firm is rewarded by receiving the bonus payment B, so her net revenue at the end of the period equals ## Conversely if the actual damage is greater than the target level ##, then the payment made by the firm to the guarantor equals ##   c(e*) and the firm net revenue at the end is null. This form of contract can be approached to a spread loss treaty. It is an alternative risk transfer (ART) solution, more precisely a finite risk product. By this contract, the financial responsibility of the firm is transferred to her guarantor (that can be a bank or an insurer).9,10  At the beginning of the contract, the firm  pays  either annual or single premium into a so-called experience account. Furthermore, the two parties contractually agree on an investment return. The funds are used to compensation and the rest is returned to the client. But if the claims payments exceed the funds available, the client has to  pay  the remainder. In this paper, we consider a one-period model. Consequently, the model can be viewed as if we have aggregated the periods of the spread loss treaty. Moreover, if the realized damages are low, the funds into the experience account are sufficient for compensation whereas in the bad states of nature (high realized damages), the funds  *E.J.L. E. 84  are not sufficient. Hence, because of its limited liability, the firm cannot  pay  back the claims payments of the guarantor. Then, the guarantor takes this fact into account by penalizing the firm in the intermediate states of nature [those such that the amount of damages is between the target level ## and ##   c(e*)]. Consequently, the reward is used as an incentive device. 4 Concluding remarks A potentially judgment-proof firm may not internalize the social cost of its activity and then may have insufficient incentives to choose the socially optimal level of prevention. Whereas most of papers studied the incentive effect of extending liability to the lenders of the injurer-firm, this paper on contrary considers another remedy to the problems generated by the judgment-proofness. I demonstrate that a full financial responsibility (operation licence subject to the demonstration of a financial guarantee which covers the highest remediation cost) is compatible with the socially optimal level of prevention and establish a necessary and sufficient condition under which this is realized. Furthermore, I have shown that when the socially optimal outcome is attainable, a contract of the form â€Å"reward or maximum penalty† is included in the set of first-best solutions. Such a contract rewards the firm when the actual damages are lower than a target level because the guarantor infers that the firm took an adequate prevention level. Conversely, if the amount of the damages exceeds the target level, then the firm is maximally punished. This particular contract can be approach to an alternative risk transfer product referred to as spread loss treaty. Consequently, the alternative risk transfer solutions seem suited not only for the hedging of environmental risks, but also for incentive purpose. Finally, recall that the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Environmental Liability has a special focus on a future legislation which imposes financial responsibility on the polluting firms. It is necessary that before the promulgation of such legislation, European authorities help insurance and banking sectors to develop the market for environmental guarantees. Acknowledgments  I am very grateful to an anonymous referee and to the editor for helpful remarks on a previous version of the paper. I would like to thank Jean-Marc Bourgeon, Georges Dionne, Marie-Cà ©cile Fagart, Mahamadou Fall, Claude Fluet, Bruno Jullien, Anne Lavigne, Rà ©mi Moreau, Pierre Picard, Sandrine Spaeter, Jean-Marc Tallon and Daniel Zajdenweber. The paper also benefited from the comments of session participants of the 2005 SCSE congress in Charlevoix, 2005 AFSE congress in Paris and seminar participants at HEC Montrà ©al, Università © dOrlà ©ans, Università © de Sherbrooke and Università © du Quà ©bec Montrà ©al. Financial support by CREF-HEC and the hospitality of the Canada Research Chair in risk management are acknowledged. Appendix Proof of lemma 1 The social optimum  e* is the solution of the following problem: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE *E.J.L. E. 85  The associated first-order condition is given by: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE The firms problem can be written as: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE The left-hand-side term of Eq. 6 (7) represents the social (private) expected marginal cost of prevention and the right-hand-side represents the social (private) expected marginal benefit. From the comparison of (6) and (7)  eP  can be lower or higher than  e*. Proof of proposition 2 Part 1: u  ## [u,##   c(e)   B] Every level of utility  u  is given by the following expression: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE Taking into account this expression, the objective function of the guarantor becomes: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE Moreover, (2) and (3) imply: ##   c(e) ≠¥ ##  t(##)f(##/e)d## ≠¥Ã‚  B; thus 0≠¤u  Ã¢â€° ¤ ##   c(e)   B Consequently, the existence of a transfers scheme verifying (1), (2) and (3) implies that the utility of the firm is bounded:  u  ## [u,##   c(e)   B]. Note that the principals objective function depends only on the expected transfer (by  u). Therefore, all solutions that verify the agents incentive constraint and that have the  *E.J.L. E. 86  same expectation are equivalent from the principals point of view. However, the existence of such solutions is not guaranteed. Indeed, if the problem does not admit a solution, then it is not possible to implement a given level of prevention  e  for a given level of utility  u. Part 2: [##   c(e)   B]Fe  (##/e) ≠¥Ã‚  ce(e) Let us assume that  u  ## [u,##   c(e)   B], then the next step consists to establish conditions under which the incentive constraint (4) is satisfied. Let ## = {t(##)/B  Ã¢â€° ¤Ã‚  t(##) ≠¤ ##   c(e)##}, be the set of admissible transfers. Let us define:G[t(-)] = ##  t(##)fe(##/e)d##;  m  = min ##  t(##)fe(##/e)d## and  M  = max ##t(##)fe(##/e)d##. We can establish that  m  is strictly negative and  M  strictly positive.11  Thus the function  G  [t(.)] is bounded in the set of admissible transfers. Then the validity of the incentive constraint depends on the value taken by  m  as follows. Lemma 2  the incentive constraint is satisfied for a given e and u if and only if: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE Lemma 3  the scheme of transfers  %23t(##)  which minimizes the function G  [t(-)] = ##  t(##)fe(##/e)d##  has the following form  12: TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE The second part of proposition 2 follows from lemmas 2 and 3. Proof of proposition 3 From proposition 2, we can derive that when the guarantors problem (P1) admits at least one solution, it is equivalent to the following problem (P1bis): TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE Conditions (9) and (10) imply proposition 3. *E.J.L. E. 87  Ã‚  Proof of proposition 4 From the proposition 3 we know that the socially optimal prevention level can be achieved if  Fe(##/e*)/F(##/e*) ≠¥Ã‚  ce(e*)/u. Moreover, we can demonstrate that the function  Fe(##/e*)/F(##/e*) is not increasing in ##.13  Consequently, if  Fe(##/e*)/F(##/e*) ≠¥Ã‚  ce(e*)/u, there is a level of damages ## ## such that  Fe(##/e*)/F(##/e*) =  ce(e*)/u. References Balkenborg, D. (2001). How liable should a lender be? The case of judgment-proof firms and environmental risk: Comment.  American Economic Review, 91,  731-738. Beard, R. (1990). Bankruptcy and care choice.  RAND Journal of Economics, 21,  626-634. Boyer, M., Laffont, J.-J. (1997). Environmental risks and bank liability.  European Economic Review, 41,  1427-1459. Dari-Mattiacci, G., De Geest, G. (2005). Judgment Proofness under four different precaution technologies.  Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 161(1), 38-56. Dionne, G., Spaeter, S. (2003). Environmental risk and extended liability: The case of green technologies.  Journal of Public Economics, 87(5-6), 1025-1060. Feess, E., Hege, U. (2000). Environmental harm and financial responsibility.  Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, Issues and Practice, 25(2), 220-234. Feess, E., Hege, U. (2003). Safety monitoring, capital structure and financial responsibility.  International Review of Law and Economics, 23,323-339. Hutchison, E., Vant Veld, K. (2005). Extended liability for environmental accidents: What you see is what you get.  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 49,  157-173. Jost, P. (1996). Limited liability and the requirement to purchase insurance.  International Review of Law and Economics, 16,  259-276. Lewis, T., Sappington, D. (1999). Using decoupling and deep pockets to mitigate judgment-proof problems.  International Review of Law and Economics, 19,  275-293. Lewis, T., Sappington, D. (2001). How liable should a lender be? The case of judgment-proof firms and environmental risk: Comment.American Economic Review, 91,  724-730. Lipowsky-Posey, L. (1993). Limited liability and incentives when firms can inflict damages greater than worth.  International Review of Law and Economics, 13,  325-330. Pitchford, R. (1995). How liable should a lender be? The case of judgment-proof firms and environmental risk.  American Economic Review, 85,1171-1186. Polborn, M. (1998). Mandatory insurance and the judgment proof problem.  International Review of Law and Economics, 18,  141-146. Ringleb, A. H., Wiggins, S. N. (1990). Liability and large-scale long-term hazards.  Journal of Political Economy, 98,  574-595. Rogerson, W. (1985). The first-order approach to principal-agent problems.  Econometrica, 53,  1357-1367. Shavell, S. (1986). The judgment proof problem.  International Review of Law and Economics, 6,  45-58. Summers, J. S. (1983). The case of disappearing defendant: An economic analysis.  University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 132,  145-185. IRDES, 10 rue Vauvenargues, 75018 Paris, France e-mail: [emailprotected]; [emailprotected] E.J.L. E. 2010, 30(2), 77-87

Key Historical Figures in Statistics

Key Historical Figures in Statistics Free Online Research Papers Some of the key statisticians, in history, are John Graunt, Jacques Bernoulli, Ronald Fisher, Galileo, Blaise Pascal, and Pierre de Fermat. They each had their own theories, inputs, and contributions which aided in the development of statistics. Early applications of statistical came from the needs of states to base their policies on demographic and economic data. London, England was suffering from plague outbreaks and the King wanted some sort of an early warning system of the threat of fresh outbreaks. Weekly records were kept of mortality and the causes of death in the capital. John Graunt made an estimate of the population of London. This is thought to be the first example of the interpretation of passive data and the real beginning of statistics. The important fact about this was that John Graunt checked his calculations of total population by going to the evidence. John Graunt was the pioneer of demography and produced the first life table (Who Invented Statistics, 2010). He wrote a book called Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality in 1662. This book refers to the collections of mortality figures in London and he is regarded as the author of the first book on statistics (Statisticians T hrough History, 2001 2010). Mathematical foundations were not added or used until the 17th century, with the development of the Probability Theory, by Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science (Answers.com, 2010). The Probability Theory came about from the study of games of chance. An example of this theory would be if you had a deck of 52 playing cards and you wanted to find the probability of picking one card from the deck and it being a heart. There are 13 cards in the deck that are heart, so the solution would be 13/52 or 1/4. So the probability is 25% you will pick a heart on the first try from the deck. Most of the graphical methods and other significance tests come from the 20th century. In today’s society, statistics are widely used by state, local, and federal government, various businesses, social sciences, etc. to name a few. With the use of modern technology, statistical computation has risen to new levels that would be take too much time to try and perform manually. ? References Answers.com. (2010). Retrieved July 2010, from Who was Blaise Pascal and what did he invent: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_was_blaise_pascal_and_what_did_he_invent John Aldrich, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. (2010, July). Retrieved July 2010, from Figures from the History of Probability and Statistica: economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/Figures.htm Statisticians Through History. (2001 2010). Retrieved July 2010, from bized.co.uk/timeweb/reference/statisticians.htm Who Invented Statistics. (2010). Retrieved July 2010, from Ask Answers: http://answers.ask.com/Science/Mathematics/who_invented_statistics Research Papers on Key Historical Figures in StatisticsInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesResearch Process Part OneIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalCapital PunishmentThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseQuebec and CanadaBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaEffects of Television Violence on Children

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The Work-Family Interface Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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