Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Project valuation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project valuation - Assignment Example whereby a the valuator makes use of the Net Current Value (NCV) and then compounding it at a rate considering various factors and then seeing the possible future value of the company (Ruth and Halperin, 2000). Leverage Buyout/â€Å"Ability to Pay† Analysis (LBO): in this case, the company is valued based on assumptions of company purchase through leveraged buyout. This again utilises the money that were borrowed during the acquisition of the company as well as considering the rates of return (Michael, 2012). Comparable Company Analysis (Public Comps): this is the estimation of the metrics or the terms that the other companies are using I valuing products. This requires a lot of market skimming to be as accurate as possible. In this, the various pricing mechanisms are key in coming up with the right techniques to establish a competitive advantage of the similar companies (Kiplingers Personal Finance, 2006). Precedent Transaction Analysis (M & A Comps): this is the reviewing of the past values and prices that were done by the previous similar companies. This gives room for a company to come up with several value multiples. 1. The paper has therefore chosen to discuss on the 3 companies: A & K Company, Toyland Company and Ramatex Company. One factor that is worth noting in each company is that A & K is the company that negative earnings Toyland company whose earnings or revenues are expected to grow more than 50% over the near future while Ramatex is the non-U.S. company. The factors below can therefore be used for the explanations on the possible reasons why a company can have negative earnings in a financial year or accounting period. They could be temporary or long-term problems (Ruth and Halperin, 2000). The temporary or short term problems in a firm can be as discussed. These could be problems that are either internal or triggered by external forces too. In this context, some of the factors can be strikes that are done by the employees in a firm thereby

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Process Of Encoding And Decoding English Language Essay

Process Of Encoding And Decoding English Language Essay The main purpose of any classroom teaching in English is to improve the communicative abilities of the learners. To improve the communicative abilities, the classroom teaching has to be necessarily skill oriented. English language is widely used for communication purposes and so competence in language skills has become necessary to improve the communicative abilities specially listening, speaking, reading and writing (LSRW). Among these four skills, both listening and reading are called as receptive skills or passive skills and the other two skills, namely speaking and writing are called as productive skills or active skills. It is important to note that these skills are interconnected in order to achieve the overall objectives of communication. Every thing takes place and develops within the linguistic, cultural and social boundaries of the concerned society in which the particular language is spoken. It is the curriculum, syllabus; text book, teaching methodologies under the efficient functioning of the teacher in the classroom, those students are shaped in communicative competence. 2.4.1 Listening Skills Listening is the capacity to process information coming from an aural source. Such information is first filtered by the perceptual processes of the listener and absorbed into the short-term memory. Selected information is then stored into the long-term memory for retrieval at a later stage, if and when required. Listening is the first and foremost language mode that children acquire which provides the basis for the other language arts (Lundsteen, 1979). The activity of listening plays an important role in the process of acquiring/learning language whether it is first or second language. The linguistic items like phonemes, morphemes, lexical items, grammatical items, syntax and semantics are taught to listen in order to develop other modes of language viz; speaking, reading and writing. Listening is a conscious act. It is a complex, multi step process by which spoken language is converted into meaning in the mind (Lundsteen, 1979.1) Wolvin and Coakly (1985) have identified three steps in the process of listening which are receiving, attending and assigning meaning. In the first step, listeners receive the aural stimuli or the combined aural and visual stimuli presented by the speaker. In the second step, listeners focus on or attend to select stimuli while ignoring other distracting stimuli in the classroom. In the third step, listeners assign meaning to or understand the speakers message. The Process of Encoding and Decoding An act of communication requires encoder- the speaker and decoder- the listener. The speaker encodes the concept or message through a set of code. The listener decodes the concept or message from the set of code used by the speaker. That is, on the one hand, the act of encoding involves hearing the sounds into words, words into sentences, sentences into discourses. On the other hand, the act of decoding involves identifying the sounds, understanding the utterances and their meanings, and recognizing the prosodic features like tone, intonation, pitch, stress etc. used by the speaker. Listening comprehensive process Richards (1990) draws two way process of listening comprehension; top-down and bottom-up processing. In top-down processing, the listener gets an overall or general view of the text. This is facilitated in the listeners schemata allow him/her to have appropriate expectations of what he/she is going to come across. In bottom-up processing, on the other hand the listener focuses on individual words and phrases and achieves understanding by putting the detailed elements together to build up a whole (Harmer 2001). According to Harmer it is useful to see acts of listening texts as interactions between top-down and bottom-up processing. The Speaker-Listener Polarity For the effective exchange of information, both the speaker and the listener are expected to be equipped with the competence of the language which is used. That is, the same level of competence is expected from the listener and the speaker as well. Any short- coming in the linguistic competence of the listener or the speaker would affect the communication. So, both the polarities should be more or less equally equipped with the linguistic competence of that language for effective and efficient communication. Types of Listening Cralvin (1985) (as cited by Chidambaram, (2005) has identified eight categories of listening with due general purpose. Translational listening-learning new information (speeches, debates, political conventions). International listening-recognizing personal component of message (new pieces of speech, report). Critical listening- evaluating reasoning and evidence (news broadcast). Recreational listening- approaching random or integrated aspects or event. Listening for appreciation- information, making critical discriminations or selection. Selective listening- Selecting certain features at a time (phonetic features) Intensive listening- for details (vocabulary, grammar) Extensive listening- (general idea stories, rhymes, songs). Relationship between Speaking and Listening Speaking and listening are interdependent processes. The activity of speaking requires at least a listener, an individual or an audience. The speaker speaks keeping certain objectives in his or her mind. That is, speaking involves conveying meaning using a code and listening involves understanding the meaning with the help of code the speaker used. If it is a transaction, one way listening, the speaker does not receive feedback, but if it is interaction, two- way listening the speaker receives feedback for the listener. In transactional or conversational discourse, sending-receiving and receiving-sending are alternative phenomena. Purpose of Listening While listening to various texts, one applies different skills to process the text, depending on the purposes for which one is listening. Listening is the only medium through which one access the sounds of a language and all the supra segmental features of the language, such as tone, pitch, stress, pause, etc. Hence, listening is a pre-requisite for speaking and at a later stage, for reading. Without knowing how a language sounds, one cannot engage confidently in speaking in the language, and without knowing how the sound patterns of the language function, reading its graphics serves little purpose. Teaching discriminative listening helps the learner to comprehend the language. Listening can be a major source of pleasure and relaxation. Listening to the sounds in nature can be very soothing. Listening to someone reading stories aloud or poem is a pleasurable activity. Listening is also an important social skill. People listen to allow a speaker to talk through a problem. Children, as well as adults, serve as a systematic listener for friends and family members. Sub-Skills of Listening Each skill of language comprises a large number of sub skills, whose value and relevance vary from one situation to another. Rosts (1990) has distinguished two kinds of clusters of micro skills of listening. Enabling skills (those employed in order to perceive what the speaker is saying and to interpret what they intended to mean) and Enacting skills (those employed to respond appropriately to the message). Enabling Skills Perception Recognizing prominence within utterances, including: Discriminating sounds in words, especially phonemic contrasts. Discriminating strong and weak forms, phonetic change at word boundaries. Identifying use of stress and pitch (information units, emphasis, etc). Interpretation Formulating content sense of utterance, including: Deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words. Inferring implicit information. Inferring links between propositions. Enacting Skills Making an appropriate response including: Transcoding information into written form. Identifying which points need classification. Integrating information with other sources. Providing appropriate feedback to the speaker (Adapted from Rost, 1990. 152 153). (As cited by Chidambaram, 2005). Difficult Factors in Listening There are five major factors that researchers believe affect listening comprehension. Text characteristics (Variation in a listening passage / text or associated visual support. Interlocutor characteristics (Variation in the speakers personal characteristics. Task Characteristics (Variation in the purpose for listening and associated response). Listener Characteristics (Variation in the listeners cognitive activities and in the nature of the interaction between speaker and listener). Teaching Listening Comprehension Listening comprehension involves a number of language skills, though the listening may be the specific focus. Teaching listening can be categorized into two modes. The first one is teaching linguistic nuances like phonemic variations, discrimination of similar sounds in words, recognizing word boundaries, recognizing morphemes, distinguishing grammatical and lexical items in a sentence, etc. The second one is teaching how to listen to a context, how to deduce meaning for an unfamiliar word, how to recognize them over a discourse. These two modes are important and inseparable for teaching of listening comprehension. If any shortcoming is found in teaching of either of this mode, its consequences will be seen in other skills of language. Testing listening skills Listening tasks should aim at helping students arrive at the meaning of words and provoking an examination of the given material. The test items include: Dialogue, news, railway announcement, sentence, words, word pairs, numbers, telephone numbers, years, days were used to test listening comprehension of the students understudy. These test items aim at evaluating the ability and skills of listening such as: predicting text based on information, deducing meaning of unfamiliar words, recognizing prominence with in utterance including: Discriminating sounds in words especially phonemic contrasts, phonetic changes, deducing the meaning of unfamiliar words, recognizing grammatical errors in sentences, recognizing word boundaries, etc,. Conclusion Here, the emphasis is on the importance of addressing the differences between spoken and written texts in the teaching of listening skills. It is only when learners are aware of the unique characteristics of authentic listening input that they can be equipped with the skills to handle real life communication. 2.4.2 Speaking Skills Language is the basic form of communication between human beings and in a society. As human beings, they always need communication to express their ideas to do everything; whats more as students or learners they have to speak to express their ideas to their teacher as long as learning process takes place. Speech is the first and foremost form of communication. It occupies a predominant position in enlightening the minds of the people. Information is understood and processed easily through speech rather than writing. Speech is biologically endowed behaviour of human beings. Spoken language has wider range of functions to perform than the written language. They start from casual spontaneous conversations ending with formal speeches and so on. Written language tends to serve rather specialized functions at the formal level. In the process of learning spoken mode of second language, learner encounters difficulties because of inter and intra-lingual factors, language shock, cultural shock and so on. However, difficulties and problems are inevitable in the process of learning spoken or written mode of the L2. Process of Communication Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non-verbal messages. It is continuous process. This process can be termed as human communication or oral communication. The activities of the communication maintain eco-balance, co-operation, and tolerance and bring the people in a common line. The complete communication process is the hierarchical arrangement of the various components of communication. They are as follows: Intended message Encoder Signals Decoder The received message Feedback Message is the key idea that the sender wants to communicate. Messages can be abstract ideas and feelings of speaker who wishes to communicate. Encoder is a person who sends the message in the form of words and gestures. Signal is a means used to exchange or transmit the message in the form of the mechanical impulse. Channel is the medium through which a signal travels. Decoder is a person for whom the message is intended/aimed. Decoder receives communication signals into meaning and ideas. Received message is the result of decoding communication signals. Feedback helps the sender in confirming the correct interpretation of message by the decoder. Psychologically speaking after receiving the message, the nervous system of the receiver is activated and subsequently interpreted and appropriate meanings are assigned to the received codes to make the communication process complete. Communicative Competence The term communicative competence is coined by the anthropological linguist Dell Hymes (1967, 1972). Light (1997. 63 ) has described communicative competence as Being able to meet the changing demands and to fulfill ones communication goals across the life span. Communicative competence is the ability to send messages which promote attainment of goals while maintaining social acceptability. The term all modes of communication'(Hymes, 1962) can further be explained as the language competence that has total comprehension, and total verbal exposition in all modes of society, which includes group interactions inter-personal interaction involving different dialectal areas. As it is evident from the above, one thinks of two different types of competence, namely grammatical competence and communicative competence. Grammatical competence is the ability to recognize and to produce distinctive grammatical structures of a language and to use them effectively in communication. Whereas, the communicative competence can be achieved by exposing oneself both to the structure of the language as well as the social behaviour which pivots around certain conventional rules as put forth by the society. Teaching/Learning Speaking Effective communication depends on ones ability to express oneself in speech clearly, accurately and fluently. The development of spoken language involves the development of pragmatic usage in addition to the development of pronunciation, constructing words, phrases, sentences and discourses. Discourse in learning of second language plays a vital role. The stages of learning the speaking skills of L2 are same as learning of speaking L1. The problems encountered by the learners in the process of learning subtle, and detailed knowledge, show the gradual development of spoken language. The purpose of learning the second language fulfills when the learners use language with the real people for real purpose. Communication Strategy Zheng (2004) suggests that communication strategies are feasible and to some extent inevitable for language learners to use in their oral communication. These strategies can enhance language learners confidence, flexibility and effectiveness in oral communication. Tarone (1980. 420; 1983.65) defines communication strategies as a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures do not seem to be shared. In addition, Canale (1983) and Bygate (2000) argue that communication strategies are used not only to cope with any language related problems of which the speaker is aware during the course of communication, but also to enhance the effectiveness of communication even if there is no problem or difficulty involved in an oral communication. Thus, it can be said that communication strategies are commonly used not only to bridge the gaps between the linguistic and sociolinguistic knowledge of the second language learners and those of the interlocutors in any communication situation but also to keep their talk flowing within their available linguistic knowledge, and eventually manage their oral communication. And also the learners adopt the strategies wherever they encounter problems at all the levels of language like phonological, morphological, syntactical and discourse. Cook (2001) says communication strategy of L2 learners will enhance the learning; and the learners strategy indicates that the learners are encountering the linguistic problems in the process of learning. The learners knowingly or unknowingly use the intra and inter lingual strategies to convey their message to others. By using the strategy they get satisfaction, assuring that they have conveyed the meaning completely to the questions by the researcher. Learning Strategy Learning strategies are defined by Oxford and Crookall as Steps taken by the learners to aid the acquisition, storage and retrieval of information (404). Strategic competence is the way learners manipulate language in order to meet communicative goals (Brown, 1994, 228). It is the ability to compensate for imperfect knowledge of linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse rules (Berns, 1990). With reference to speaking, strategic competence refers to the ability to know when and how to take the floor, how to keep a conversation going, how to terminate the conversation, and how to clear up communication breakdown as well as comprehension problems. The strategy of learning differs from learner to learner. However Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²malley and Chamot (1990) have defined three types of strategy used by L2 students: Meta cognitive strategies which involve planning and thinking about learning, such as planning ones learning, monitoring ones own speech or writing and evaluating how well one has done. Cognitive strategies which involve conscious ways of tackling learning, such as note taking, resourcing (using dictionaries and other resources) and elaboration (relating new information to old). Social strategies mean learning by interacting with others. Such as working with fellow students or asking the teachers help. Strategy process Language processing involves the retrieval of words and phrases from memory and their assembly into syntactically and propositionally appropriate sequences. Effective speakers need to be able to process language in their heads and put in coherent order so that it comes out in forms that are comprehensible and convey intended meaning. Process being used with reference to the systematic series of steps by which the learner arrives at the same usage overtime. Bialy Stock (1978) distinguishes process from strategies by the criteria obligatory/optional. Similar criteria are used by Fravefelder and Porqurer (1979) who classify process as universal, strategies as optional mechanism employed by individual L2 learners. Other researchers also defined process as continuing development involving a number of changes. Testing Speaking In second language research, a great deal of attention has been paid to related area of communicative behaviour. So, this part of the chapter concentrates on communication strategies of the L2 learners. Here, it is a tactic followed by the learners to conceal a gap in their communication. Hence, it is a test given to identify when and how the learners make use of such strategies in speech.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Business Law Essay -- essays research papers

It is a question concern the law of contracts in particular, the law of misrepresentation. It is my objective to identify the difficult concept of different kind of misrepresentation and analyze why it is problematic. Misrepresentation is a false statement designed to encourage the other party to enter a contract. To prove a statement to be a misrepresentation, 7 essential conditions must be satisfied: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A statement must be made by word or conduct. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The statement must be factual. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The statement must be false. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The offeree must have reasonable relied on the statement. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The offeree must have been misled by the statement. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The statement must be material to the contract. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The statement must be a factor in including the offeree to enter a contract. In the law of misrepresentation, there are three kinds of misrepresentation. Fraudulent misrepresentation can be illustrated by Polaroid Far East Ltd. v Bel Trade Co. Ltd. (1990), where BTC, who was offered a special discount price by promising not export or re-export their product, re-exported PFEL ¡Ã‚ ¦s films to North America and Europe. It was held that BTC had devised a deliberate scheme to buy film at a lower price and to re-export it, and were liable for fraudulent misrepresentation. Fraudulent misrepresentation simply ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Harpo Productions Inc

HARPO Productions Inc. is a privately held company and it was founded by Oprah Winfrey and her lawyer Jeff Jacobs in 1986; a production company that used her first name spelled backwards. In 1988, the company took full charge of Winfrey’s show. It also includes HARPO Films and HARPO Radio, Inc. The facilities are on the city’s Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago and with additional offices in Los Angeles. In 1990s, â€Å"This Company had annual revenues of about $150 million with the number employees working for this company† (Encyclopedia of Chicago). The HARPO Productions, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of HARPO Entertainment Group. The organization has grown to include over 220 people, of whom 68 percent are women and has a modest turnover of 10 to 15 percent. In 2002, The Oprah Winfrey Show impressed the industry with an average of 7. 2 million viewers per episode, beating the second-ranked show by 35 percent. (â€Å"Oprah. com†) The HARPO Productions Inc. is the â€Å"umbrella company† for the entertainment and media entrepreneur, talk show, host, actress, and producer Oprah. Winfrey used her popularity on television to expand into movie production and publishing, making her the most successful African American business owner in the United States and one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world. † (â€Å"Reference for Business†) The HARPO Productions Inc. is one of the most successful corporation in the entertainment history. HARPO Productions Inc. has an internship program to help students and you ng professionals offering a platform in the business world. This will provide the possibility for them to be hired in a future and become successful intern’s students who demonstrate dedication and good learning skills. Oprah is the most interested and committed to concentrate on important topics in order to help others to succeed in life, for example – alcoholism or building family relationships. Throughout the years she has learned how many people suffer with these two big issues, and therefore; she dedicated many of her shows specifically to this topic. Moreover; it helped a lot to increase the power of her show and her popularity in many different ways. The main goal is to help people to feel better in their own lives. The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Oprah Winfrey started her career in 1973 as a broadcasting reporter on a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee. Later, in January 1984, she began to host WLS-TV' program – a morning talk show in Chicago, which in September 1985 became â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show†. According to Business Network BNET â€Å"on September 8, 1986. ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show' was televised nationwide. Less than a year later, the program was ranked the top syndicated talk show in the United States†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. In June 1987 the show received three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Host, Outstanding Talk/Service Program, and Outstanding Direction. † The â€Å"Oprah Winfrey Show† stayed number one day time talk show for 12 years strait and winning twenty five Emmys plus seven that went to Oprah herself. Despite Oprah's difficult childhood, in 1988 she became â€Å"the first woman in the history to own and produce her own talk show†. (www. fundinguniverse. om) Today, Oprah is an owner and the chair of HARPO Productions Inc; along with HARPO Stu ¬dios, HARPO Films, HARPO Print LLC; and HARPO Video, with a total net worth of over $1 billion. Oprah is the Chairman and Chief Executive officer but Erik Logan and Sheri Salata have been named Co-Presidents of HARPO Productions Inc. Both are to continue being presidents with remaining base at HARPO Productions headqua rters in Chicago. Tim Bennett was the active president until May of this year and Douglas J. Pattison is the Chief Financial Officer. According to the article â€Å"Bloomberg Businessweek† the â€Å"Salata and Logan will lead HARPO Productions efforts as the company develops new programming beyond for â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show† for the syndication, prime, cable, radio, digital, and emerging platforms. † The idea is for Salata to continue in her role as the executive producer until the end of â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show† 25th season that is going to be next year in 2011. Oprah Winfrey announced an agreement with the Discovery Health Network in which she will over the net work, renaming it OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). With a network under her name, she hopes to inspire viewers to greater actions. Oprah is a leader through her show and on-air book club because she motivates the viewers to change their habits. †I said from the beginning that this was an opportunity to step out of the box and make the kinds of shows that make my heart sing,† She noted. â€Å" It’s about unleashing the power of human potential; that’s what it’s all about† (Oprah. com). As the years progressed, Oprah quickly realized that she needed to drastically change the direction which her show was heading. She used renewal strategy to differentiate her show from other day time talk shows. She moved away from thrilling and controversial stuff and started using more positive topics. She began to focus on promoting constant inspiration and personal and professional growth. The main targets are women ages18 and up but Oprah is not shying away from male's listeners either. Several of her shows were done specifically for men or were focusing on men's issues. Her show began to feature poetry, music, literature, as well as human issues, which helped to create much stronger relationship with her audience. To expand her audience, Oprah added to her repertoire Oxygen Media a cable channel, O – The Oprah Magazine, and the Oprah's Book Club on-air reading club. All of these medias have the same core value – they all promote personal growth and share the life-enriching mission and message of the founder and guiding force of HARPO Productions Inc. – Oprah Winfrey. The fundamental believe of HARPO Productions Inc. is that media can make a positive difference and that individuals can change the world for better place. This includes the definition of social responsibility â€Å"to do the right things and act in ways that are good for society†. (textbook, pg 93) Some of the examples of making the world a better place are topics related to spirit, health, relationships, books, money, world, and community. For instant: Oprah is reaching out to her audience with plea to help children of abuse. She â€Å"initiated The National Child Protection Act†(www. fundinguniverse. com) in 1993, the Oprah Bill, which established a â€Å"national database of all convicted child abusers. † (www. fundinguniverse. om) Several of her shows were done on catching predators, child molesters, convicted child sexual offenders, and interviews with detectives and police officers dealing with this particular issue were Oprah asked her audience to help to catch these fugitives. The viewers respond was enormous because her listeners are mainly women and moms and for them the number one priority is the safety of their children. Another example would be the creation of â€Å"Oprah's Angel Network† where Oprah is encouraging her audience to do charitable work (volunteer for Habitat for Humanity) and make â€Å"charitable financial contributions†(www. fundinguniverse. om) for example to provide scholarships for college students. Oprah understands that not everybody have means to help financially and therefore according to Look to The Stars, The World of Celebrity Giving â€Å"Oprah gave 300 members of her audience $1000 each to donate to a charity of their choice. † Also, she encourages her viewers to help out in their own communities by donating time and skills. There is no surprise why in 2004, Oprah Winfrey show became the top-rated day time talk show for 17 years with 48 million viewers, or why she was awarded with â€Å"Favorite Talk Show Host† at the 30th Annual People's Choice Awards that year. The HARPO Productions Inc. Strategic Management Process of identifying companies mission, goal and strategy was extremely successful. According to â€Å"HARPO Creative Works† the â€Å"mission statement for Oprah Winfrey Show is to use television to transform people's lives; to uplift, entertain and enlighten; to make viewers see themselves differently; and to bring a sense of fulfillment into every home. † If Oprah didn't change the curse her show was heading, she would be probably stuck somewhere in between all the other similar day time talk shows as Maury Povich show or Martha Stewart show. This is exactly why HARPO Productions Inc. has been so triumphant. HARPO Productions Inc. competitive strategy is to be significantly different. Oprah successfully managed to differentiated her talk show from all the other shows that use scandalous, shallow, and sensational topics. She became an icon and yet stayed approachable at the same time. According to â€Å"Syndication’s Stars: Trustworthy And Influential† the â€Å"Influential Personality Index† illustrates how far ahead from other competitors Oprah's personality ranked. Influential Personality Index Oprah Winfrey 554 Dr. Phil McGraw 306 Tyra Banks 236 Judge Cristina Perez 235 Ellen DeGeneres 223 Judge Lynn Toler 215 Judge Joe Brown 208 Judge Judy Sheindlin 195 Rachael Ray 187 Regis Philbin 186 The undeniable bond between her and her audience based on trust, honesty, and truth ensures loyal viewers. Moreover; the fact that Oprah shares her personal life, her personal struggles and AHA moments with her audience makes her even more human and real, therefore; her audience can relate, which creates even stronger connection in between the two. There are not that many talk show hosts that reveal the true ups and downs of their personal lives to their viewers. For example Martha Stewart is a convicted felon which makes her a less trustworthy as a role model. The strong connection is not limited to only U. S. audience. The Oprah Winfrey Show is available to over 120 countries worldwide. Some of the episodes focus on global issues and perspectives, which would be another area where Oprah show is differentiating itself from the other shows. The geocentric attitude episodes are focusing on women and the lifestyle in different countries, probable issues and problems women have to face on everyday basis, but also what might be enriching for U. S. women when they see what other cultures do, don't do, or do differently. For that matter the show features â€Å"the world's most engaging guests from the famous to everyday people all changing the world in which we live. † (harpocreativeworks. tv/info) Oprah is reaching out to every home on the planet with the mission â€Å"to make viewers see themselves differently; and to bring a sense of fulfillment. â€Å"(harpocreativeworks. tv/info) There is no other show that does that. The purpose of each show is to inspire the audience and let each message provoke an actions. The talk show host Oprah Winfrey with her dynamic personality has an unique power of â€Å"Magic Touch†. She can turn books into bestsellers, every product mentioned on her show experiences rocketing sales. According to Latif Lewis' article from Daily Finance â€Å"an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show [illustrates] just how influential the media mogul can be on product sales†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. It's quite amazing, the effect that a vote of confidence from one human being can have† on success of single product or business as a whole. Moreover; Oprah's enormous competence consists in turning â€Å"no names† into a brand names. The article of Latif Lewis, â€Å"Oprah's magic touch can make or break your business† talks about Lisa Price and her â€Å"beauty and skin-care line† and how this not so known beauty products had a very valuable promotion: â€Å"an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show†. After that, Lisa Price was experiencing extremely high demand for her products. She made some financial deals and her â€Å"company took off. Carol's Daughter stores can now be found in several U. S. states and the products are carries in retailers like Sephora and Macy's†.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Why and How Have Liberals Supported the Fragmentation

Why and how have liberals supported the fragmentation of political power? (15) Why Liberals are concerned about power, most basically, because power constitutes a threat to liberty. Their concern about concentrations of power is rooted in their emphasis upon individualism and its implication that human beings are rationally self- interested creatures. Egoism determines that those who have the ability to influence behaviour of others are inevitably inclined to use that ability for their own benefit and therefore at the expense of others.The greater the concentration of power, the greater will be the scope of rulers to pursue self-interest and, thus, the greater corruption. Lord Acton stated â€Å"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men. † behind Acton’s famous quote about power and corruption, he points out the liberal belief that, since human beings are individuals and therefore egoistical, they are bound to us e power – the ability to influence the behaviour of others to benefit themselves and they will use, or abuse, others in the furtherance of that goal.In essence, the greater the power the greater the scope for using and abusing others in the pursuit of self-seeking ends. Such thinking has shaped liberalism in a number of ways. In particular it has encouraged them to endorse the principle of limited government brought through constitutionalism and democracy. Liberals thus support, for example, codified constitutions, bills of rights, the separation of powers, federalism or devolution, as well as regular, free and fair elections, party competition and universal suffrage. Constitutionalism delivers limited government either by legally ring-fencing government (e. . , codified constitutions and bills of rights or fragmenting government power so creating a network of checks and balances (e. g. , the separation of powers, bicameralism and federalism). Democracy delivers limited gover nment because it bases government on a system of popular consent and accountably that also enables the public (through competitive elections) to rid themselves of unpopular or corrupt governments. The fragmentation of power brings many significant benefits. It creates a network of checks and a balance, ensuring that power is a check on power.Different bodies and institutions will eventually act as a check on each other. Fragmented government therefore creates internal constraints that prevent government from becoming a tyranny against the individual. Furthermore, it ensures that those who exercise power have only a limited ability to influence other citizens, thus preventing absolute power. How Traditionally, liberals have always supported fragmented government, checks and balances. Power within liberal democracies is separated between the legislature, executive and judiciary which act as both independent and inter-dependent bodies.The separation of powers emphasises it cuts on powe r into smaller pieces – thus preventing concentrations of power from developing – and that it creates internal tensions amongst institutions and power-holders which further diminishes the capacity of each to abuse or tyrannise the general public. Liberals support constitutionalism and consent because they fear that government may become a tyranny against the individual, based on the assumption that power is inherently corrupting and concentrations of power will lead to absolute corruption.This assumption is rooted in the liberal view of human nature: as individualism implies self- interest, those with power over others are apt to abuse it for their benefit and at the expense of others. Constitutionalism is the theory or practice of restricting government power through the establishment of a framework of constitutional regulations, usually involving the fragmentation of power to create a network of checks and balances. Liberal constitutionalism is expressed through supp ort for various external and internal devices, such as codified constitutions, bills of rights, the separation of powers, federalism or devolution, and so on.Liberal support for consent is evident in support for electoral democracy in general and, more specifically, sympathy for referendums and proportional representation. Consent is the principle that the right to govern derives from the willing agreement of the governed, who thus view the actions of government as rightful or legitimate. Consent is often in practice associated with the act of voting and therefore institutionalised through a system of electoral democracy. Liberals emphasise the importance of constitutionalism and onsent because both are mechanisms for protecting or enlarging the sphere of individual liberty by restricting the capacity of government to encroach upon the individual. This commitment to limiting government reflects the underlying liberal fear that power is inherently corrupting, a consequence of egoism, meaning that government is always liable to become a tyranny against the individual. Constitutionalism achieved this aim through formal, institutional and often legal restrictions upon government officials and bodies.Consent achieves it by ensuring that politicians are publicly accountable and, ultimately, removable. ? Federalism, based on the principle of shared sovereignty, devolution, parliamentary government, cabinet government and so on. ? Power is devolved from the centre to regions and at local levels. In the UK: regional assemblies- welsh assembly; Scottish parliament ? Human rights act: giving people rights in law which means that they have a check to defend themselves from being discriminated against by those in authority