Monday, September 30, 2019

Old Story Time

The story Emma based from the book â€Å"A World of Prose† and published by the author Carolyn Cole is about a woman named Emma who is a very beautiful lady of leisure, she has stepped down from an active social life after giving birth to Dorian in order to spend more time with her daughter Maria. Her husband Jack is a notorious cheater and he is not faithful to Emma. The setting of the story occurs in three places the York Residence, an unknown mall and at the old train station where the death of Emma took place.In the first setting of the story which takes place at the York Residence shows the two friends Maria and Dorian doing activities such as chatting about Dory’s Mother Emma, playing adult games and the support of each other. The moods and the themes displayed in that setting of the story is called Innocence which is epitomized by Dorian, the story is told from her perspective therefore we get a view of the innocence behind her misunderstanding of adult conversat ions and situations.Friendship which is shown in the friendship between Dorian and Maria, which is characterized by playing adult games. In the second setting which takes place at the unnamed mall shows Dory, Maria Mrs Robinson and Emma going to the mall to buy school cloths for Dorian because the summer was ending, while there the two friends Dory and Maria played games in the arcade while Mrs Robinson and Emma was having close conversations about sending both Maria and Dorian to a boarding school and about Emma having another child but Emma denied her because her husband Jack was not ready for Dory.While they were chatting, Dory and Maria wanted to go ice skating at the old train station and Emma decides to send them, the girls got their skates Emma hugged Maria before they left. The moods and themes displayed in that setting is called Love and family Relationship, there are two types of families in the short story, the nuclear and the single family. Dorian’s family is the nuclear family, consisting of mother, father and child. Maria’s family is the single family with her single mother Mrs Robinson.In the third or last setting which takes place at the old station shows Dory and Maria skating with the other kids at the old train station when the two girls caught a glimpse of the lady sitting on the steps wearing a black dress and long whit beads Maria pulled Dorian behind an old boxcar and Dory and Maria realises that it was her when they see their father with her they quickly assume that she was the lady at the train station. Maria belittles Dory quit a lot, and Dory indeed believes Maria to know and understand everything.But the game was over when Emma and Mrs Robinson arrive on the train and Emma experiences the mysterious lady with her husband she sadly sobs as she runs feeling cheated by own husband, she ran waiting to cross Georgia Avenue her husband grabbed her by her arm. She snatched away from him and ran into the street where an oncomi ng vehicle overruns her. The moods and themes displayed in that setting is called Innocence which is from Dory the story is told from her perspective therefore we get a view of the innocence behind her misunderstanding of adult conversations.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Understand Your Fats and Fibers

Dr. Joseph F. Robare Bad tats are saturated and trans tats. Saturated tats are mostly in meats, dairy products and tropical oils. Saturated fat raises both bad cholesterol and good cholesterol, while trans-fat only raises bad cholesterol. This makes trans fats technically worse than saturated fats. The better fats would be monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated will lower your cholesterol, and unlike polyunsaturated they do not lower your good cholesterol.Your best fats would be the omega-3s (fish oil). This fat has shown to protect people from sudden cardiac death (Schardt,2002). Before you can understand the difference between good and bad fats, you need to some information about them. There are four major types of fats: monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, saturated fats, and trans-fats. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are known as good fats because they are good for your heart, your cholesterol, and your overall health. These fats are found in o live, soybean, canola, and corn oils, avocados, fatty fish, and soymilk.Saturated fats and trans-fats are known as bad fats because they increase your risk of disease and elevate cholesterol. These bad fats can be found in high-fat cuts of meat, packaged snack foods, butter, cheese, vegetable shortening, fried foods, and candy bars. Foods containing trans-fats, or trans fatty acids, are harmful because they are known to increase the risk of heart disease, increase total cholesterol levels, and cause your healthy HDL (good) cholesterol levels to drop. They are also responsible for clogging arteries and causing obesity.Saturated fat is a fat that contains only saturated fatty acids, is solid at room temperature, and comes mainly from animal food products. Some examples of saturated fat are butter, lard, meat fat, solid shortening, palm oil, and coconut oil. Saturated fat tends to raise the level of cholesterol in the blood. Unsaturated fat is a fat that is liquid at room temperature a nd comes from a plant, such as olive, peanut, corn, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, or soybean oil. Unsaturated fat does not to raise the level of LDL (‘bad') cholesterol in the blood.Trans-fatty acids are an unhealthy substance that is made through the chemical process of hydrogenation of oils. Hydrogenation solidifies liquid oils and increases the shelf life and the flavor stability of oils and foods that contain them. Trans-fatty are acids found in vegetable shortening and in some margarine, crackers, cookies, and snack foods. Trans-fatty acids are also found in many deep-fried foods. Trans-fatty acids raise the ‘bad' (LDL) cholesterol and lower the ‘good' (HDL) cholesterol levels in blood, increasing the risk of heart disease.Trans-fatty acids are also known as trans-fat. Hydrogenated fats are saturated-like fats made from plant oils and fats that have been heated and pressure-processed. Hydrogenated fats are created when oil that is largely unsaturated, such as corn oil, has hydrogen added to it, causing fat to become more solid at room temperature. Lipids include such compounds as fats, fatty acids and cholesterol. Their most prominent function is providing energy for the body. Fiber and lipids are two different kinds of carbohydrates that are very important parts ofa human's diet.Fiber is what carries fats and cholesterol out of the body. It also helps in having a healthy diet and will help in managing your weight. Fiber is considered to be in the soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is a type of fiber in which the dissolves in the water to form a gel like material. This process can help lowering cholesterol and the levels of glucose in the human digestion. Soluble ?ber is tound in oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus, truits carrots, barley and psyllium. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2010).Insoluble fiber cannot be bsorbed as well as dissolved in the water; in its original form, it will pass the digestive tract. Insoluble fiber has benefits in t he digestive system. Insoluble fiber offers many benefits to intestinal health, including a reduction in the risk and occurrence of colorectal cancer, hemorrhoids, and constipation (My Food Diary). Some good sources of insoluble fiber and they are whole wheat in bread, rice, nuts as well as some vegetables.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Role of Icb in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: a Performance Evaluation of Icb Sponsored Mutual Funds

INTERNSHIP REPORT Dept. of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. INTERNSHIP REPORT Role of ICB in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Sponsored Mutual Funds Supervisor Ms. Nafsaniath Fathemaf Lecturer Department of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. Submitted By Muhamad Abul Lyse 4th Year 2nd Semester (2nd Batch) Reg No: 0099730014 Dept of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet Date of submission: July 06, 2006 Date July 06, 2006 It is an immense pleasure for me to certify that this internship report entitled â€Å" Role of ICB in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A performance evaluation of ICB sponsored mutual funds† submitted to the department of Business Administration, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet is an original work done by Muhammad Abul Lyse, a student of BBA 2nd Batch of Department of Business Administration, bearing the Registration number 0099730014. He has successfully completed the internship program at Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and prepared this report on the aforesaid title under my supervision. I wish him every success in his endeavors. Signature: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Ms Nafsaniath Fathema Lecturer, Dept. of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology Sylhet-3114. July 06, 2006 Ms Nafsaniath Fathema Lecturer, Dept. of Business Administration Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology Sylhet-3114. Sub: Submission of internship report Dear Madam, Have the pleasure in submitting my internship report titled â€Å"Role of ICB in the Development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Sponsored Mutual Funds . As an integral part of my BBA degree, I have been assigned to work on the topic, with a view to well integrate the theoretical knowledge I have learned throughout my four years of study and thus to fine tune these knowledge with practical work experience in a financial institution like ICB, the pioneer and largest Investment Bank of the country. The Internship Program was very much valuable as it helped me to gain a real life experience working in a professional environment. I tried my best to get an in depth coverage of the topic and emphasized on using authentic data I am grateful to you for your kind suggestion and helpful advice in preparing this report. Once again, thank you very much indeed for giving me the opportunity to work under your kind supervision. Yours Sincerely Muhammad Abul Lyse Reg. NO: 0099730014 Department of Business Administration (2nd Batch) Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. Contents part one Chapter one : iNTRODUCTION CHAPTER TWO: icb and ITS FUNTIONS CHAPTER tHREE: role OF ICB IN THE CAPITAL MARKET OF BANGLADESH CHAPTER FOUR: PERFORMANCE OF icb CHAPTER FIVE: SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES OF ICB part two CHAPTER ONE: ICB SPONSORED MUTUAL FUNDS CHAPTER TWO: findings and recommendations of an actiOn an PLAN Detailed contents pART ONE CHAPTER 1: iNTRODUCTION 1. Objective of the Study1 2. Scope of the Study1 3. Methodology of the Study2 4. Limitations of the Study4 CHAPTER TWO: ICB AND ITS FUNCTION 1. Background of the ICB5 2. Objectives5 3. Functions of ICB6 4. Business Policy7 5. Capital Structure7 6. Share Price of ICB8 7. Share holding Position of ICB9 8. Products of ICB11 9. ICB at a Glance14 10. Investors Scheme of ICB16 11. Organization Structure of ICB20 12. ICB Mutual Funds22 13. ICB Unit Funds23 14. Development Activities of ICB27 CHAPTER THREE: ROLE OF ICB IN THE CAPITAL MARKET OF BANGLADESH 3. 1 Capital Market28 3. 1. 1 Role of Capital Market in the Economic Development of a Country28 3. 1. 2 Investment Process29 3. 2 Financial Market30 3. 2. 1 Objective of the securities Market30 3. 2. 2 The Role of Government30 3. 3 Financial Market of Bangladesh31 3. 3. 1 Money Market32 3. 3. 2 The non-Securities segment of the Capital Market32 3. 3. 3 The Securities-segment of the Capital Market32 3. 4 The Elements of Security Market33 3. 5 Creating a Supply of Good Securities in Market333. 6 The Origin and development of Capital Market in Bangladesh33 . 7 The Present Scenario of Bangladesh Capital Market35 CHAPTER FOUR: PERFORMANCE OF ICB 4. 1 Role of ICB in the Capital Market of Bangladesh36 4. 2 Operational Activities of ICB41 4. 2. 1 Consideration of Applications41 4. 2. 2 Commitment42 4. 2. 3 Disbursement 46 4. 2. 4 Loan Portfolio47 4. 2. 5 Trustee, Custodian, and Issue Manager48 4. 2. 6 Lease Financing49 4. 3 Portf olio Management50 4. 4 Other Operational Activities51 4. 4. 1 Advance against ICB unit and Mutual Fund certificates Scheme51 4. 4. 2 Consumer Credit Scheme52 4. 4. 3 Merchandising Operations52 4. 4. 4 ICB Mutual Fund52 4. 4. Transaction of Securities53 4. 5 Participation in International Activities53 4. 5. 1 ICB’s involvement with South Asian Development Fund (SADF)53 4. 5. 2 Investment in South Asia Regional Fund (SARF)54 4. 6 Financial Result of ICB 55 4. 6. 1 Total Expenditure56 4. 6. 2 Net Income56 4. 6. 3 Dividend57 4. 6. 4 Some Key Financial Ratios58 CHAPTER FIVE: THREE SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES OF ICB 5. 1 Subsidiary Companies of ICB595. 2 ICB Capital Management Limited (ICML)59 5. 2. 1 Background of ICML 5. 2. 2 Vision of the Company59 5. 2. 3 Mission of the Company60 5. 2. 4 Some Salient Features of ICML investors’ Scheme60 5. . 5 Advantages of ICML Investors’ Scheme61 5. 2. 6 Margin Loan61 5. 2. 7 Financial Performance of ICML63 5. 3 ICB Asset Management Li mited (AMCL)63 5. 3 ICB Securities Trading Company Limited (ISTCL)66 PART TWO CHAPTER ONE: ICB SPONSORED MUTUAL FUNDS 1. Some key issues of Mutual funds 68 1. Definition of Mutual Funds 68 2. Types of Mutual funds 68 2. ICB Mutual Funds 69 1. Nature of Business 70 2. How to buy existing Mutual funds 70 3. Management of the funds 70 4. Assets of ICB Mutual funds 70 5. Management fee, Charge etc. 71 6. Declaration of Dividend 71 3. Operational Highlights of ICB Mutual Funds 72 4. Financial Statement Analysis of ICB’s Mutual Funds 76 1. Earnings Per Share (EPS) 76 2. Dividend Per Share 78 3. Dividend Payout Ratio 79 4. Earning Yield Ratio 80 5. Dividend Yield Ratio 81 6. Price Earning Ratio 82 CHAPTER TWO: FINDINGS AND recommendation 1. Finding about The Capital market of Bangladesh83 2. 1. 1 Lack of Confidence83 2. 1. 2 Frequent Monetary Change83 2. 1. 3 Liquidity Crisis84 2. 1. 4 Volatile Market Situation84 2. 1. 5 Absence of good Securities85 2. 1. 6 Absence of Government initiative85 2. 1. 7 Market Maker85 2. 1. 8 Awareness85 2. 1. 9 Lack of knowledge85 2. 1. 10 Mass Participation86 . 2 Findings about Investment Corporation of Bangladesh86 2. 2. 1 Services stopped by ICB86 2. 2. 2 Unfair dividend Policy of Mutual funds86 2. 2. 3 Irredeemable Mutual funds87 2. 2. 4 Absence of efficiency in Portfolio management of MF87 2. 2. 5 Lengthy Processing87 2. 3 Recommendation of an Action Plan88 2. 4 Conclusion 90 Bibliography 92 Acronym and Appendices I. Appendix : Or anagram of ICB II. Appendix: Balance Sheet and Income Statement of ICB Executive Summary Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), established in 1976, is virtually the only Investment Bank in Bangladesh. In a broader sense, ICB is both an investment Bank and Development Financial Institution. (DFI). ICB plays a pivotal role to encourage and broaden the base of investment and thereby to help to develop a vibrant capital market in Bangladesh. ICB caters to the need of institutional support to meet the equity gap of emerging new companies. ICB works with a view to mobilise savings of general public and inspires small and medium savers for investment in securities. As s single entity, Government of Bangladesh holds majority shares of ICB (i. e. 27%). With diverse functions, ICB operates on commercial basis, provides financial assistance to projects subject to their economic and commercial viability and arranges equity and loans singly or through consortium of financial institution. Functions of ICB include; purchasing of shares and debentures including placement and direct participation, managing existing mutual funds and investment accounts, providing investment counseling to investors and helping government to its divestment programs. The following report titled â€Å"The Role of ICB in the development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Sponsored Mutual Funds† contains a comprehensive overview of ICB with special emphasis on ICB’s role in the development of capital market in Bangladesh. Likewise, an analysis of ICB sponsored Mutual funds is made with detail financial analysis as ICB since its inception, have been performing a pioneering role in the capital market of Bangladesh by managing the portfolios of ICB’s eight mutual funds. Since 1980, ICB floated a total of eight mutual funds with paid up capital of Tk 17. 0 crore. After taken a restructuring program of ICB under Capital Market Development Program (CMDP) initiated by the government of Bangladesh and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and in terms of power conferred in the ICB ordinance three subsidiary companies, namely (1) ICB Capital Management Limited (2) ICB Asset Management Company Limited and (3) ICB Securities Trading Company Limited have been created and made operational to carry out merchant banking, mutual fund operations and stock brokerage functions respectively. The report is divided mainly into two parts. Part One contains a comprehensive coverage of ICB with its role in the development of capital market in Bangladesh and Part Two establishes part one by analyzing the ICB sponsored Mutual funds as ICB plays a central role in the capital market of Bangladesh by managing its eight mutual funds. Part One consists of Four Chapters. Chapter One includes the objective, scope, methodology and limitations of the study. Chapter Two describes historical background, objectives, business policies, functions, capital structure and products of ICB. Chapter Three explain the financial market and various segments of financial market of Bangladesh. The chapter also establishes the role of ICB in the development of Capital Market in Bangladesh. Chapter Four illustrates the performance of ICB. Chapter Five includes a description of three subsidiary companies of ICB. Part Two consists of two chapters. Chapter one evaluates the ICB sponsored mutual funds. This chapter initially deals with some theoretical concepts of mutual funds and then an in-depth financial performance of ICB mutual funds. Chapter two includes some findings of the study with recommendation of an action plan. The report ends with a bibliography and an appendix. Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam, Head and Associate professor of the Department of Business Administration of Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet and All of the Teachers of the Department especially to my supervisor Ms Nafsaniath Fathema who constantly inspired, supervised, and encouraged me with valuable advice and cooperation through the whole period of my internship Program. I would also like to express my special regards to Ms Nasreen Sultana, AGM of the Personnel Department, who allowed and gave me the opportunity to work in Investment Corporation of Bangladesh, the pioneer Investment Bank of the country. I am also highly grateful to the authority of ICB and all the AGMs of various departments who helped me a lot and cooperated me during my internship period. I am in pleasure to the express my gratitude to the internship and placement committee of the Department of Business Administration especially to the oordinator of the committee, Mohammad Imtiaz Ferdous, also the Assistant Professor of the Department of Business Administration. I would like to extend my special thanks to Ms Sharmin, Senior Principal Officer of Personnel Department, Subashis Chakrabarti, Assistant librarian of the ICB and all the respective officers of ICB for their cordial cooperation and helpful advice. As the first work of my life, I would bear this fond memory of ICB for the re st of my life. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |PART ONE | | | | | | | | |CHAPTER ONE | | | | | |INTRODUCTIONS | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1. 1 Objective of the Study Learning by doing is an effective way of acquiring knowledge. To have a real life exposure, each student of Department of Business Administration, of Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology has to carry out an internship program as an integral part of his/her BBA degree. Since, only the theoretical knowledge can not make one fit for increasing competitive situation of the world, the internship placement committee had placed me at ICB for a period of three months. Other objective of this study is as follows: ? To relate academic knowledge with real life business world. ? To have an overall idea about the role of ICB in the capital market of Bangladesh with a special emphasis on ICB sponsored Mutual Funds[1]. ? To analyse the profitability of ICB sponsored mutual funds. ? To find out prevailing drawback and lacking of ICB, if there is any, and recommend an action plan. 1. 2 Scope of the Study The scope of this report is only one organisation i. e. Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and specially the Mutual Funds as it is the focus area of this report. It has been mentioned earlier, the main objective of the study is to analyse the role of ICB in the development of Capital market in Bangladesh with an emphasis on ICB sponsored mutual funds. The report gives an overview of ICB followed by a part on financial involvement of ICB. The report establishes the theoretical and conceptual framework comparing with which the capital market will be judged. There is one elaborate part that deals with the ICB sponsored mutual funds. The study will also present some problems of ICB observed during the internship coupled with some recommended action plan. 1. Methodology of the Study Methodology can be referred as underlying principles and rules of organization or the philosophical systems that work at the backdrop of any study. It clarifies the problems involving the research in a very ordered and systematic fashion. Strategies are det ermined at this stage for future implementation. In conducting any formal survey and preparing any research paper two kinds of data i. e. Primary Data and Secondary Data, are used. I tried my best to collect both types of data and information and have firm intention to emphasis on primary data as it is often up-to-date and more useful than any published information. Initially we collected raw data from departments of ICB and then sort out useful information relevant to my paper. Approaches and methods that have been used to prepare this report are as follows. 1. Personal interview: ICB has 25 departments and three subsidiary companies so far. I personally interviewed almost all AGMs of all departments and talked with the senior Principal Officer, principal Officer and other officer of concerned departments. 2. Briefing Session: Division heads (DGMs[2]) and department heads (AGMs) or their approved officials gave briefs about their respective departments. Information gathered from these sessions has been used in the report. 3. Published reports: a large amount of data are taken from the published sources such as ICB’s annual reports of previous years, Annual reports ICB Mutual Funds, Monthly review of Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchange. 4. Selection of the sample: the sample area of this study covers the head office of ICB. Since the central financial activities are done under surveillance of the Head office of ICB, so the selection of sample of this study is justifiable. Data collected from different divisions of ICB are all equally important segments of sample used in this study. ICB as a national investment institution has added a tempo in developing the capital market of Bangladesh. As a result of this importance the selection of ICB as the sample area of this study is presumably the demand of the time. 5. Time schemes: As stated earlier since the purpose of this internship program is an exposure to practical life, the ICB management has deputed me to all the division, departments, sections and cell to acquire hand-on-experience about each of them. I have visited the departments according to the following schedule. | |Name of the Departments |From |To | |   |   | |   | |1 |Personnel Department |27. 03. 2006 |28. 03. 006 | |2 |Secretary Department |29. 03. 2006 |   | |3 |Planning research and Business development Dept. |30. 04. 2006 |09. 04. 2006 | |4 |Management Information Dept. |10. 04. 2006 |12. 04. 2006 | |5 |Securities Analysis Dept. |13. 04. 2006 |16. 04. 2006 | |6 |Investor's Dept |17. 04. 2006 |19. 04. 2006 | |7 |Shares Dept. and reconciliation Cell |20. 04. 2006 |25. 04. 2006 | |8 |Unit sales Dept. |26. 04. 006 |27. 04. 2006 | |9 |Unit registration and collection Dept. |30. 04. 2006 |02. 05. 2006 | |10 |Mutual Fund Dept. |03. 05. 2006 |07. 05. 2006 | |11 |Central Acco unts Dept. |08. 05. 2006 |10. 05. 2006 | |12 | System Analysis Dept. |14. 05. 2006 |15. 05. 2006 | |13 |Programming Dept. |16. 05. 2006 |17. 05. 2006 | |14 |Loan Appraisal Dept/Lien Cell |18. 05. 2006 |21. 05. 2006 | |15 |SAARC Cell |22. 05. 006 |—- | |16 |Project Implementation Dept. |23. 05. 2006 |—- | |17 | Loan Recovery and Monitoring Dept. |24. 05. 2006 |25. 05. 2006 | |18 |Project Loan Account Dept. |28. 05. 2006 |—- | |19 |Public Issue Dept. |29. 05. 2006 |—- | |20 |Trustee Dept. |30. 05. 2006 |31. 05. 2006 | |21 |Law Dept. |01. 06. 2006 |04. 06. 2006 | |22 |Audit and Method Dept. |05. 06. 2006 |06. 06. 2006 | |23 |Department Control Dept |07. 06. 006 |—- | |24 |Establishment Dept. |08. 06. 2006 |11. 06. 2006 | |25 |public Relation Dept. |12. 06. 2006 |—- | |26 |ICB Asset Management Company Ltd |13. 06. 2006 |15. 06. 2006 | |27 |ICB Capital Management Ltd |18. 06. 2006 |20. 06. 2006 | |28 |ICB Securities Trading Ltd |21. 06. 2006 |2 6. 06. 2006 | Table 1. 1: Schedule of working at ICB 1. 4 Limitations of the Study Limitations are obvious in any study so do here. Since this is an internship report, the limitations regarding the internship programm has acted as the limitation of the study. The findings we figured out, and the recommendation we made may not be 100% accurate and may not represent the exact situation. Eventually, in completion of my study, a number of constraints and limitations I faced. These can be considered as follows: ? Performance analysis of ICB and its mutual funds may not represent the current condition of the organisation and its mutual funds as all the analysis are based on the data of June 30, 2005. Since the current year financial disclosures are not public yet, so the analysis is a little backdated. ? Officials of ICB maintain a very busy schedule. So they were not always able to provide enough time to enrich the intern students every time, even if they had the intention to do so. ? Due to security reasons and organizational privacy we didn’t have access to some core areas of ICB. ? I had to go almost every department of ICB during my three months internship programm at ICB. Three months is a very short span of time to get an in-depth knowledge about a giant organization like ICB. ? The area covered by the report â€Å"The role of ICB in the development of Capital Market in Bangladesh: A Performance Evaluation of ICB Mutual Funds† concerns a huge a number of activities and it is very difficult to sketch a total picture of the financial activities in a report of this short scale. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |CHAPTER TWO | | | | | |ICB AND ITS FUNCTIONS | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. 1 Background of the ICB The investment corporation of Bangladesh (I CB) was established on 1st October 1976, under â€Å"The Investment Corporation of Bangladesh ordinance, 1976† (no XL of 1976). The establishment of ICB was a major step in a series of measures undertaken by the Government to accelerate the pace of industrialization and to develop a well organized and vibrant capital market particularly securities market in Bangladesh. ICB caters to the need of institutional support to meet the equity gap of the companies. In view of the national policy of accelerating the rate of savings and investment to foster self –reliant economy, ICB assumes an indispensable and pivotal role. Through the enactment of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (Amendment) Act 2000 (no 24 of 2000), reforms[3] in operational strategies and business policies have been implemented by establishing and operating subsidiary companies with ICB as the holding company. 2. 2 Objective As the country’s Pioneer Investment Bank, ICB has been working to assist the small investors in mobilizing their savings. ICB works with a view to broaden the base of the investment of the country, ensure mass participation of general people in the capital market and thus to contribute towards the GDP of Bangladesh. ? To encourage and broaden the base of investments ? To develop the capital market ? To mobilise savings ? To promote and establish subsidiary companies for business expansion. ? To provide for matters 2. 3 Functions of ICB To develop the capital market of Bangladesh, and mobilise the savings of small investors, ICB carry out a range of diversified functions. With a solid view to foster and accelerate the economic growth of the country, ICB provides all sorts of financial services to the potential sector. Ensuring equal distribution of economic benefits gained by the economy among the grass root level is one of the main objectives of ICB. Various functions of ICB can be mentioned as follows. Unlike any other financial institutions, ICB maintains a portfolio of the government comprised of different securities of listed companies and helps government advising regarding fiscal and monetary policy of the country. As a market maker it floats mutual funds, issues unit certificates, underwrites securities and manages issuance of securities. | | | |Underwriting of initial public offering of shares and debentures | | |Underwriting of right issue of shares | |Basic |Direct purchase of shares and debentures including Pre-I[4]PO placement and equity participation | |Functions |Providing lease finance to industrial machinery and other equipments singl y or by forming syndicate | |Of |Managing investors' Accounts | | |Managing Open End and Closed End Mutual Funds[5] | |ICB |Operating on the Stock Exchanges | | |Providing investment counseling to issuers and investors | | |Participating in government investment program | | |Participating in and financing of, joint-venture projects | | |Dealing in other matters related to capital market operations | | |Trusty, Custodian, Bank Guarantee | | |Consumer Credit | 2. 4 Business Policy The corporation has adopted a realistic business policy framework within which its operation is conducted. The corporation, acts on commercial consideration with due regard to the interest of industry, commerce, depositors, investors and to the public in general. | | | | |To provide financial assistance to projects subject to their economic and commercial viability. | |Business |To arrange consortium of financial institutions including merchant banks to provide equity support to | |Policy |projects and thereby spread the risk of underwriting. | |Of |To develop and encourage entrepreneurs. | |ICB |To diversify investments in securities. | |To create employment. | | |To encourage Investment in IT sector. | | |To encourage Investment in joint venture capital/project. | 2. 5 Capital Structure | Capital Structure of ICB -as on June 30, 2005 (Tk in crore) | |Authorised capital |100. 00 | |Paid up capital |50. 00 | |Reserve |84. 11 | |Retained profit |5. 6 | |Long term govt. Loan |5. 25 | |Debentures |61. 80 | |Others |24. 89 | |Total |231. 41 | Source: Drawn based on the data of ICB Annual Repo rt 2004-2005 Figure 2. 1 Capital Structure of ICB Share price of ICB Share price of for the last year was as follows: Fig 2. 2: 2. 7 Share holding Position of ICB Equity participation from a range of institution along with the government of Bangladesh has made the capital structure of ICB as a unique. Nationalised banks, Private commercial banks, Bangladesh Bank including the general public have ownership in ICB. |Shareholding position of ICB (as on June 30,2005) | |Shareholder |No. of share holder |No. of shares |Percentage | |Governments of Bangladesh |1 |1350000 |27. 00 | |Nationalised Commercial Banks |4 |1137220 |22. 4 | |Development Financial Institution |2 |681550 |13. 63 | |Insurance Companies |3 |618286 |12. 37 | |Bangladesh Bank |1 |600000 |12. 00 | |Denationalized Private Com Banks |2 |454263 |9. 08 | |Private Commercial Banks |3 |28286 |0. 7 | |Foreign Commercial Banks |2 |26531 |0. 53 | |First BSRS Mutual Fund |1 |6900 |0. 14 | |Other Institution |9 |26949 |0. 54 | |General Public |927 |70015 |1. 54 | | Total|955 |5000000 |100. 00 | Table 2. 2: Shareholding Position of ICB Source: Annual Report 2004-2005 [pic] Figure: 2. 3 Shareholding position of ICB 2. 8 Products of ICB Private Placements ICB is authorized to act as an agent of the issuers and investors for private placements of securities. Under this arrangement, ICB places securities to individuals/institutions on behalf of the issuer for which it charges fees. ICB also acquires shares/securities for its own portfolio both in pre-IPO placement and equity investment. Underwriting[6] In order to raise long term equity from the primary market, the government bodies, enterprises, corporations or companies may seek intermediary assistance from ICB in the form of underwriting. Because of its long and proven experience, reputation, asset back up and established network of regional offices, ICB is in an excellence position to attract the potential investors to the proposed issue of shares, debentures and other securities for successful flotation of IPO and placement. Custodian and Banker to the Issues To act as the custodian to the public issue of Open-end & Closed-end Mutual Funds, ICB provides professional services. It also acts as the Banker to the issues and provides similar services through the network of its branches. Fees in this regard are negotiable. Mergers and Acquisitions Companies willing to expand their business through mergers or acquisitions or o divestment projects that no longer viable into present capacity of operation can contact the Corporation. ICB provides professional services & advices in respect of shaping up the cost and financial structures to ensure best possible operational results. Besides, in case of divestment, the corporatio n, through network and established business relationship, bring buyers and sellers together, help them to negotiate final agreement and advice on the emerging corporate structure. Advance against Unit Certificates Scheme Advance against ICB Unit Certificates Scheme was introduced in 1998, especially designed for the ICB unit- holders to meet their emergency fund requirements. One can borrow maximum Tk. 5 per unit by depositing his/her unit certificates under lien arrangement from any of the ICB offices where from such unit certificates were issued. The rate of interest on the loan is reasonable and competitive. Corporate Financial Advice Government enterprises and Companies intending to go public issue often seek professional & financial advice on corporate restructuring & reengineering. ICB through its expertise provide such services through its expertise. Lease[7] Financing ICB Provides lease finance mainly for procurement of industrial machinery, equipment and transport. ICB prov ides professional advice and financial assistance to the intending clients. The period of lease, rental, charges, and other terms and conditions are determined on the basis of type of assets and the extent of assistance required by the applicants. Since introduction of this scheme in 1999, good responses have been received from the intending lessees. Trustee to the debenture and Securities assets ICB is acting as a trustee to the debenture issues and asset-backed securitised bonds. ICB acted as trustee to the issues of 17 companies of which 7 companies has been redeemed successfully. Bank Guarantee scheme ICB introduced Bank Guarantee scheme in 2002-03. ICB provides (i) Bid Bond for enabling the business people to participate in any tender or bidding; ii) Performance Bond for helping the business community to continue their business smoothly by fulfilling their obligations promised by them to their clients; and (iii) Customs Guarantee for solving different disagreements between the customs authority and the business classes at the initial stage. The maximum limit of guarantee is Tk. 2. 00 crore and would be issued against at east 20% cash and 80% easily encashable securities or against 100% cash margin. Re-guarantee from other financial institution is required for guarantee against the amount exceeding Tk. 2. 00 crore. Consumer Credit Scheme As part of business diversification program, ICB has introduced â€Å"Consumers Credit Scheme† in 2003-04 considering at the need of various household commodities of different employees of govt. , semi-govt. autonomous bodies and some established private sector organizations. Under this scheme one can enjoy minimum Tk 1. 0 lac but maximum 5 lac credit facilities. The rate of interest on the loan is reasonable and competitive which is fixed by the board of directors of ICB considering the bank rate and with the guidelines of Bangladesh Bank. 2. 9 ICB at a Glance |Particulars |Cumulative up to June 30, 2005 (Tk in Crore) | |Authorized Capital |100. 00 | |Paid up Capital |50. 0 | |Financial Assistance to projects (Commitment) | | |No of projects |431 | |Amount |536. 87 | |Disbursement of project loan | | |No of projects |308 | |Amount |114. 2 | |Trustee to debenture issue | | |No of companies |17 | |Amount |184. 15 | |Trustee to issue of bonds | | |No of companies |5 | |Amount |134. 6 | |Custodian/Trustee to issue of Mutual Funds | | |No of funds |4 | |Amount |60. 00 | |Manager to the issue | | |No of companies |41 | |Amount |104. 9 | |Lease financing | | |No of projects |34 | |Amount sanctioned |92. 93 | |Public Issue (ICB Assisted) | | |No of companies |111 | |Size of issue (General public) |368. 3 | |ICB Investors’ scheme | | |No of accounts opened |77207 | |Investment made |760. 82 | |ICB Mutual Funds | | |Number |8 | |Capital fund |17. 0 | |Total market value of investment |67. 66 | |Dividend per certificate in eight mutual funds for the year 2004-2005, ranges | | |from Tk 15 to Tk 210) | | |ICB unit fund | | |Gross sale |940. 8 | |Rate of dividend for the year 2004-05=Tk12 per certificate | | |ICB’s Transaction in the Stock Exchanges including subsidiaries | | |DSE |769. 90 | |CSE |268. 73 | Financial Results (For the year 2004-05) (Tk in crore) |Income |170. 38 | |Net profit after Tax |21. 3 | |Dividend (Tk per share) |12 | |Manpower (as on June 0,2005) |396 | |No of shareholders ( as on June 30, 2005) |955 | 2. 10 Investors Scheme of ICB Investor scheme is one of the core functions of ICB. Through investors’ scheme, ICB ensures Participation of small investors in the capital market of Bangladesh. The Investors' Scheme was introduced in 1977 with the objective of broadening the base of equity investment through mobilising savings of small and medium size savers for investment in the securities market. In addition to Head Office, Investment Accounts are also operated at the 7 branch offices of ICB located at Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet, and Bogra. However in view of strategic changes in policy reform, from 01 July 2002 ICB stopped opening new accounts and ICB Capital Management Ltd. started opening and managing investment accounts. ICB will continue to provide services to its existing accounts only. Table 2. 3: Comparative operational activities of the investors’ scheme in 2004-2005 and 2003-2004 |Particulars |04-05 |03-04 |Increase/Decrease |Cum as on June 30, 2005 | | | | |(%) | | |No. f accounts opened | — | — | — |72207 | |No. of accounts closed |807 |776 |4. 26 |28327 | |No. of net operative accounts |48880 |49687 |-1. 62 |48880 | |Deposit received |22. 7 |27. 31 |-16. 62 |314. 87 | |Loans disbursed |159. 5 |58. 73 |171. 58 |707. 8 | |Investment Made |118. 26 |62. 91 |87. 98 |760. 82 | |Interest accrued |25. 09 |30. 48 |-17. 68 |— | |Interest waived |19. 06 |31. 26 |-39. 03 |55. 52 | |Recovery of margin Loans |179. 6 |103. 14 |74. 13 | —| |Fund withdrawal |40. 18 |13. 09 |206. 95 | —| Further steps were undertaken to enhance the quality and speedy service under the scheme like computerization of all activities and installation of merchandizing operation management software. This enables the management to offer better and quick service to the investors including instant supply of the financial statement, portfolio, balance of the accounts, etc. Installation of telephone banking system in Investors' Account enabling investors to collect information and operate their account over telephone was at the final stage of operations. Besides, installation of Electronic display system of DSE online trading on the floor of ICB has been set up. Through investors’ scheme ICB provides the following services. Authority of Operation An account may be operated by the account holder himself/herself or he/she may authorize to another A/c. holder of investors account of ICB by written consent in the prescribed form, some one else to operate the account on his/her behalf. In case of joint account holders, account may be operated by single or joint signatories or by authorised operator. Margin Loan Presently ICB grants loan up to two times i. e. at the ratio of 1:3 against the deposits of account holder(s) subject to a maximum of Tk. 3, 00,000. 00 to an account. However, management of ICB, at its discretion, may limit such loan. Loans are repayable as per repayment schedule given by ICB. In the event of default of loan repayment, the outstanding amount may be recovered by sale of securities held in the account. Portfolio Management The account holder may use his/her equity and the loan to buy securities which ICB keeps as collateral. Purchase and sale orders are executed by ICB within the shortest possible time, subject to the availability of fund in the account and scope of matching of buyers/sellers and securities in the stock exchanges. An account holder or his/her authorized person may place purchase/sale execution order in the prescribed form, indicating whether, the order is a limit order i. e. an specifying the max. /min. rice at which he/she is willing to buy /sale, or at a market price i. e. without any limit of price. The purchase and sale orders are valid for seven and ten days respectively, if not revalidated / cancelled otherwise by the account operator. Withdrawal of Securities/Funds All or any amount of fund or securities may be withdrawn from an accou nt subject to keeping of minimum credit balance of Tk. 5000. 00 in cash or in securities to keep the account running alive. Application against IPO All activities relating to application for securities and collection of allotment letter / refund warrant and certificates, as the case may be, against the IPO[8] are done by ICB on behalf of account holder. Collection of Securities and Benefits Right shares, bonus shares, dividends, interest, converted shares etc. accruing to an account are collected by ICB from the respective companies. Registration and custodial services Registration of shares/ securities with the company is made before the closure of the company's share / debenture transfer book, after completing all the required formalities, on behalf of the account holder. Volt and other custodial arrangement for assets of the account are provided by ICB. Counseling and data support In order to develop diversified and balanced portfolio to minimize risk and maximize profit, ICB provides professional advice to its clients. Data support in the form of securities analysis sheet, daily purchase/ sale position, statement and portfolio of each account, etc. are provided on demand and on regular interval. Income Incomes from investments by way of dividend, interest, bonus shares, capital gains etc. are credited to the respective account. Expense Interest on loan (currently-12. 5%) and brokerage (0. 5% for non CDS & 0. 5250% for CDS) on sale/ purchase of securities are charged to the respective account. To encourage the small and medium savers, ICB at present does not charge fees for most of the services rendered by ICB to its customers, including fees for management, investment advice, custodial service(for non CDS securities),etc. Closing of Account An account may be closed by written order subject to settlement of fees & dues, if any. There is no provision of revival of a closed account. Risk Management Risks of investments in the securities market are minimized through prudent & professional portfolio management. 2. 11 Organization Structure of ICB Management of ICB The head office of the corporation as per the requirement of the ordinance of ICB is located at Dhaka. The board of directors of ICB is very much rich as it consists of distinguished professional and managing director of other organization. The Board consists of 11 members including the Chairman and Managing Director. The Board of Directors consists of the following members. The Chairman and Managing Director (MD) are to be appointed by the government o The directors to be appointed by the government from among persons serving under the government. o One Director to be appointed by the Bangladesh Bank o The Managing Director of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB), ex offi ce. o The Managing Director of Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Shnagsta (BSRS) o Four other directors to be elected by the shareholders other than the government. ICB- its Divisions and Departments Investment Corporation of Bangladesh split, into 25 departments and 11 divisions in its head office. Beside that ICB has seven branches in different districts. These are situated at Dhaka (local office), Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Bogura and Barisal. ICB is functionally divided into two broad wings. One is operations wing and another is Administrative wing. The functions of operational wings involve the activities of project Financing, Planning Research and Business Development, Lunching Unit and Mutual Funds (launching if new funds is now stopped and currently the function is accomplished by ICB Asset Management Ltd), transaction and maintenance of Investor Accounts. The function of administrative Wing involve the activities of Account and Finance, Legal affairs, Implementation and Recovery, Project Implementation, Law and Public Issue. It is mentioned earlier, that ICB consists of 11 Divisions and 25 departments. The following table lists all the divisions and departments of ICB. An appendix at the pf the report contains the full Organ gram of ICB. Table 2. 4 |Division |Department | |A. Administration |01. Personel | | |02. Establishment | |B. Loan Appraisal |03. Loan Appraisal | | |04. Economic and Business Research | | |05. Securities Analysis | |C. Legal Affairs |06. Public Issue | | |07. Law | |D. Merchandising |08. Investors’ | | |09. Shares | | |10. Transaction | |E. Funds |11. Unit sales | | |12. Unit Registration and Procurement | | |13. Mutual Funds | |F. Computer |14. System Analysis | | |15. Programming | | |16. Management Information System | |G. Audit And Methods |17. Audit And Methods (Head Office) | | |18. Audit And Methods (Branches) | |H. Accounts and Finance |19. Central Accounts | | |20. Project Loan Accounts | |I. Implementation |21. project Implementation | | |22. Recovery and Follow-up | |J. Secretary’s |23. Secretary’s | | |24. Public Relation | |K. Branch and Subsidiaries control Division |25. Branch Control Department | 2. 11 ICB Mutual Funds It is a recognized principle that diversification of investment reduces risk. An individual may not have the time, expertise and resources to undertake such diversification. Here arises the advantage of a Mutual Fund. Mutual Funds pool the savings of a great number of investors and make investments in a wide array of securities. In Bangladesh ICB has pioneered Mutual Funds for the sake of investors and of the capital market. Mutual Funds are also known as close ended Mutual Funds. The issued capital of a Mutual Fund is limited, that is, a Mutual Fund offers a limited number of certificates for sale to the public. The amount of capital and the number of certificates of each Mutual Fund remains unchanged. ICB Mutual Funds are independent of one another. Price of Mutual Fund certificates after IPO is determined on the Stock Exchanges through interaction of supply and demand. The market price of a Mutual Fund certificates is available in Stock exchange quotations and in newspapers. An investor can purchase any of the existing eight ICB Mutual Funds certificates through the Stock Exchanges at the prevailing Market Price. The Mutual Funds are managed by ICB as fund manager for which receives commission @1%. ICB Mutual Funds Certificates holders shall have unfettered ownership in the assets of the Fund to which they are related. In case of winding up of the Corporation the assets belonging to any ICB Mutual Fund shall not be treated as the assets of the Corporation. At present management fee @ 1% on the paid up capital of the Fund is charged annually. No amount is charged on account of custodial and trust services. The net income received on investments of Funds on account of dividend, bonus, interest, capital gain etc. are distributed amongst the Certificate Holders as per decision of the Board of Directors of ICB. Board declares such income in the form of dividend at the end of July each year. Dividends declared by ICB in the past on the Mutual Funds were very attractive. A detail analysis on ICB sponsored mutual fund will be followed on the second part of the report. 2. 12 ICB Unit Fund Sponsored by the Government of Bangladesh, ICB Unit Fund was established on April 10, 1981. Its main objective is to mobilize savings through sale of its units to small investors and invest these funds in marketable securities. The scheme provides a potential source of equity and debt to industrial and commercial concerns and thus contributes to the industrial development of the country. Unit fund is an open ended Mutual Fund. It provides an opportunity to the unit holders to invest their funds in a well managed and diversified portfolio with a high degree of security of capital and reasonable yearly returns. Investment in Units is safe and ensures a continuous and regular source of income for the holders. Units are easily encashable. As such, investment in Unit is comparatively more attractive. By investing in this scheme an investor may derive personal benefit on the one hand and also contribute towards the economic development of the country on the other. ICB units are securities within the meaning of Trust Act. 1882. Issue, Transfer and Surrender of Unit Certificates (I) Units are available in 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, & 5000 denominations. The names with addresses of the holders are recorded and dividends are dispatched to them accorded and dividends are dispatched to them accordingly. II) Units may be transferred through prescribed transfer form duly filled in and signed by the transferor and transferee. No stamp duty is required for such transfers. (III) Units may be encased by way of surrendering the certificates along with the prescribed surrender forms duly filled in and sig ned by the registered holders and no prior notice is required. The certificates are required to be surrendered at the prevailing Repurchase Price. Price Fixation: Changes in repurchase prices of units are notified through the newspapers and price of a Unit is fixed periodically by ICB as its fund manager. Among others, valuation of the assets of the Fund is taken into consideration while fixing price of a unit. Public Participation The Fund is divided into units which are generally known as â€Å"ICB Unit†. Each Unit bears a certain value in the assets of the Fund. The Unit holders are the owners of the fund and only they are benefited from it. Unit certificates can be purchased in single or joint name (s). At present maximum of 10,000 Units can be purchased in a single or joint name(S) at a time. Units are not sold to institutions. Professional Counseling Professional Counseling is rendered to the prospective & existing investors who are eager to purchase ICB Units through ICB offices and authorized Bank branches. Presently this scheme is operated by ICB Asset Management Company Limited. Investment by Bangladeshi Citizens Abroad The Bangladeshi citizens living abroad may invest in certificates on fulfillment of the following terms and conditions: (I) The value of Units purchased is to be remitted through bank channel, (II) The money invested in Units and benefits thereon are not allowed to be repatriated, (III) The investors must mention their local and bank addresses in Bangladesh for convenience of registration of Units. Investment by Foreigners Residing in Bangladesh The foreign nationals residing in Bangladesh may also invest in Unit Certificates, provided they produce certificates to the effect that money being invested are their own savings and is not borrowed as loan or overdraft from any bank. These certificates are to be collected from a Gazetted Officer or a Banker not below the rank or Deputy General Manager. Fund Management The responsibility of managing the fund rests on ICB for which management fee @ Tk. 1. 25 per Unit (net outstanding) is charged. The Corporation also discharges the responsibility of loading and unloading of securities in and from the portfolio in the interest of the Unit holders. It is also the custodian of all assets of the fund. Dividend The total income earned on investment/ deployment of funds, net of expenditures incurred, in a financial year is distributed among the unit holders as dividend. Dividend is normally declared at the end of July each year by the Board of Directors of ICB. Dividend Warrants are dispatched soon after declaration of dividend. Since launching of the scheme in 1981 till FY 2004-05 the rates of yearly dividend declared/ paid are as under: Figure 2. 4: dividend performance of ICB unit fund The graph shows that the fund provides an attractive cash dividend each year to the highest of 25% in 1988-89 and to the lowest of 11. 01% in 2004-2005. Figure 2. 5: Dividend yield on ICB unit fund The graph shows a dividend yield on opening price of the unit fund. Tax Benefits (I) Investment in Units enjoys the benefit of Investment Allowance under Sec. 44 of Income Tax ordinance 1984. (II) Units are treated as approved securities in accordance with the Section 2993 of the Companies Act. 1994 and Insurance Act,   1938. These are also treated as Securities as per Sec. 20 of the Trust Act, 1882. Cumulative Investment Plan (CIP) Under this scheme a holder instead of receiving dividend may reinvest such dividend income accrued for purchasing Unit at a confessional rate. In such case, Units are issued at Tk. 1. 00 less than t he opening price of the financial year. 2. 13 Development Activities of ICB Equity support through consortium arrangement ICB inve

Friday, September 27, 2019

Red Bull Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Red Bull - Essay Example â€Å"Diversified companies have broader missions and business definitions than single-business enterprises. The entrepreneurial challenge in developing a strategic vision is to think creatively about how to prepare a company for the future† (Manage, 2003). This preparation for the future, above all, needs to be based on realities rather than just dreaming. #2 Red Bull has not bought out any other successful products, other than Red Bull and its diet incarnation. In terms of explaining why not, one can look to the case’s presentation of the discovery (much the same way America was so-called discovered, with other people living there) of Red Bull’s unique flavor. â€Å"Mateschitz, international marketing director for Blendax, a German toothpaste producer, encountered Krating Daeng, a tonic syrup that Red Bull Beverage Company had been marketing in Thailand for years† (Red, 2009). This was one, rather than a group, of tasty Thai tonic syrups; as a result, Red Bull has one beverage which has been strikingly successful; the company does not presently even need a more diverse product base, although it certainly will in the future. #3 In terms of the reasons for a high degree of customer loyalty at Red Bull, one can go through the Marketing Mix of price, product, promotion, and placement. Internally, some companies have strict and transparent controls, while others may not. While the focus in general is on the effectiveness of internal controls, the specific components of internal control are by no means consistent across all energy drink companies. Pricing can be differentiated to segments, with premium pricing being established for Red Bull. Placement has been mentioned in the case, in terms of grass-roots marketing as well as other channels. Ultimately, the company employs product positioning along lines of customer segmentation to reach groups who are

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Artist Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Artist Research - Essay Example The two images, the mother/daughter, and the Rites of Passage show tensions coming up as the digital representation connects with both the photographic or analogue view. Both images are created using a video digitizer and then superimposed on a live video image. The final images are as photographs from the computer monitor. Joan Truckenbrod uses various phenomena in her work in trying to make an impression in the eye. Both of these works are envisioned into the natural world that at many times is invisible from the naked eye. She uses phenomena such as wind currents reshaping material in their path and electrical vibration with electrons theatrically playing. Her algorithmic images extended into color and transformative patterns (Renee Diane Klaas, 2) The invisible phenomena in motion are represented by patterns from sequential series and finally they are transferred on fabric by used of xerography. As a digital artist, Joan Truckenbrod’s work is truly a masterpiece. To start with the images are truly eye catching and only then does an artist realize the energy and effort put in making the images a reality is just incredible. She is a pioneer in the digital arts being a professor in Art and Technology Department at The School of Art Institute in Chicago. She is among the first artists to exhibit digital images in the 70’s. Art is a story and Joan can tell her stories and express what she sees in her world in a very creative manner. The use of various phenomena in the production of her digital images is just remarkable (Renee Diane Klaas, 2).Any artist viewing her work can realize that digital production goes beyond algorithmic images but the artist has to put in a lot of creativity in balancing the different phenomena so that the final product is remarkable. Both her works show the deep inspiration of an artist expressing herself to the world. Works of art should not only be by impulse or the desire of an artist to be busy.

Donna Karan SWOTT Business Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Donna Karan SWOTT Business Analysis - Case Study Example The brand has stores located in over 123 cities all over America, and is employing over 2000 people. Effective branding and marketing strategies has helped it expand internationally and it is now a well-known international brand with stores in countries like China, Canada, and Dubai. There are over 20 stores in China, 2 in Canada, and 4 in Dubai and today, Donna Karan International is worth millions. The availability of an online store has further increased the market share of the company. Furthermore, the brand got an increased footing with Donna Karan being labeled as an nnovative and world-class fashion designer, whose clothes are worn by many famous personalities. She has also won numerous awards during her career. Karan won the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award in 1977 and once again in 1982; The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) named her Menswear Designer of the Year 1992 and Women’s wear Designer of the Year 1990 and 1996. She was also presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the CFDA in 2004. Weaknesses: 1. The breakthrough in the international market is not as widespread as other brands; 2. Controversy over the use of fur; 3. Fake imitations affecting brand sales. Compared to other brands such as Chanel etc., DKNY has quite little market share internationally. It still needs more expansion and advertising strategies to compete with other, more popular brands in places like Asia. For this, they might have to cater to the type of audience in these places and design products accordingly. The sales of the brand were also adversely affected by the controversy surrounding the brand over the... The availability of an online store has further increased the market share of the company. Furthermore, the brand got an increased footing with Donna Karan being labeled as an nnovative and world-class fashion designer, whose clothes are worn by many famous personalities. She has also won numerous awards during her career. Karan won the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award in 1977 and once again in 1982; The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) named her Menswear Designer of the Year 1992 and Women’s wear Designer of the Year 1990 and 1996. She was also presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the CFDA in 2004.Weaknesses:1.  The breakthrough in the international market is not as widespread as other brands;2.  Controversy over the use of fur;3.  Fake imitations affecting brand sales.Compared to other brands such as Chanel etc., DKNY has quite little market share internationally. It still needs more expansion and advertising strategies to compete w ith other, more popular brands in places like Asia. For this, they might have to cater to the type of audience in these places and design products accordingly.   The sales of the brand were also adversely affected by the controversy surrounding the brand over the use of fur. PETA, the animal rights group, started a campaign in 2008 against Donna Karan for the use of fur in her products. This obviously presented the brand in a bad light. Moreover, with luxury brands like DKNY, there always tend to be fake imitations which sell at much lower prices.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The Scapegoat MAM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Scapegoat MAM - Assignment Example Edward soon becomes a local celeb as a result of his ability to cut hair and trim hedges. This capability to do extra things makes people take advantage of Edward. For instance, Jim uses Edward to break into his parents house but unfortunately Edward is trapped in the automatic locks. He is then accused of crime and people including Jim who was using him takes Edward as a scapegoat. Similarly, in our community scapegoating occurs to individuals who are famous and can do extra things (Stereotypes of Persecution, 19). Out of envy and jealous of the community members especially those with same abilities, such an individual is considered as a threat. False accusations are alleged against such person with an aim of disgracing him or her (Stereotypes of Persecution, 14). For instance, Joyce claims that Edward tried to rape her. However, these allegation are not real. The community members looks everywhere for possible indications to confirm their suspicion against the individual. In most cases, individuals taken as scapegoats are innocent and defenseless. They usually undergo through judgment and unfair punishment for crimes they did not

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Intelligence Reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Intelligence Reform - Essay Example After World War 1, America intelligence hard work paid attention on code breaking against Germany and Japan. In 1941 president Franklin Roosevelt established the first peacetime civilian intelligence after discovering that it was inevitable to escape involvement of the world war 2.the offices were developed to manage the activities of a number of agencies. Nevertheless, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the United States experienced its mostly expensive intelligence disaster (Zegart 25). The intelligence failure because of assessing â€Å"misconceptions, collection gaps, bureaucratic confusion and well-planned Japanese denial and deception† resulted to the development of a larger and more varied agency in 1942 (Calabrese 11). The US intelligence agency faces the challenge of widespread lack of trust in its power to undertake its mission competently and legally. Existence of increased terror group like al Qaeda has been a major challenge for intelligence policy makers (Kantor 35). The ability to control any source of information retrieved is also a major pitfall. Intelligence agency need also to change its old tactic of viewing things instead it needs to incorporate the developing technology to counter enemies. The September 11 attacks necessitated the intelligence to reform its tactics to counter other terrorist attacks. The attack was termed as a major failure for the intelligence team therefore reinvention and revitalization techniques ought to be embarked (Calabrese 14). The intelligence reforms have also embarked on techniques that involve counterintelligence missions. The techniques involve finding out loopholes within the intelligence team to ensure past mistakes are not repeated and terror attacks are prevented. In the past intelligence involved speculation about problems or what was anticipated to happen. Evidence of information were hidden and

Monday, September 23, 2019

Tourism system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tourism system - Essay Example A large amount national income comes from the tourism industry. Such vast amounts of information and data have to be stored and processed and should be distributed to the customers as efficiently as possible. Information technology plays a very important role in the tourism industry because through the use of information technology, several devices can be implemented which are used to store large amounts of information. Tourism industry was never a very renowned industry and people were not very interested in tourism industry. IT was only recently due to the technical advancements in technology. The advancements in Information Technology resulted in both the quantitative and the qualitative aspects of the economy of a nation and also advancements in the tourism department consequently fueling and sustaining an impressive growth rate over the years (Franke, 2003). This brings into focus the role of IT in tourism education geared at nurturing the necessary skills in potential managers in the industry to make the industry influential and effective. The benefits of implementing Information Technology in tourism industry can only be observed through the development in the tourism industry all over the world. Information Technology when applied to tourism industry, it takes the level of the tourism industry to a whole new level where touris... ome into play while implementing Information Technology in tourism - the information about the tourist places, the kind of places people would like to live in, the type of technology to be used and many such factors (Baggio, 2006). Each one has an important role to play in tourism. Tourism is characterized into three different components: Transport Sector Accommodation Sector Attraction Sector Transport Sector Transport is a major contributor to the development of the tourism industry. Transport helps link the origin and the destination areas through some means of transport. This means of transport could be any moving vehicle. Transport includes many entities such as holiday makers, business travelers, relatives, travelers, and other such entities. Transport facilitates the movement of these entities from one place to another. Before setting out on a journey of any kind, every traveler makes sure which Transport Company has a good safety record (Vich-I-Martorell, 2002). To this effect, airplanes coaches and even taxis are equipped with good communication equipment. An airplane requires highly sophisticated and highly advanced technical instruments to ensure passenger safety. Today's airplane has this highly advanced technical instruments and flies with the help of modern information technology equipment. A deep understanding and detailed weather information, altitude information and other such small but important information is provided by Information Technology. This information is given to the pilot. Using this information the pilot can communicate with the ground control during emergencies. With information technology in place, it is easy for airplanes to communicate to any airport during emergencies. In-flight entertainment is also a product of information

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Classical to the Post-Modern Eras Essay Example for Free

Classical to the Post-Modern Eras Essay In this essay, I’m going to trace the development of Classical Music from the late 1750s to the Post-Modern era in the 2000s and provide a brief history of music, and how they link together to form what we have today. There are many preconceptions of what the history of music is. Some people think it is mainly a biography of composer’s lives, but they are wrong. The history of music is primarily the history of musical style. In order to appreciate this, it is essential to become acquainted with the different sounds and to hear them in their contexts. Fashions in history change with the generations, like fashions in musical tastes. Lets first start with the classical music, Classical is an era; it is from about 1730 to just after 1800. A few people who contributed to the music in the Classical era are: Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Classical period focused on the opposite types of sounds- music during that period was orderly, uncluttered, well planned and precise. Music was expected to be technically pleasing and grounded in certain traditions and styles that had been approved by the public, often quite formal. Composers were seen as workers who were hired to write music that would please their employer (Sagebiel). The classical period of music combined harmony, melody, rhythm, and orchestration more effectively than earlier periods of music. The classical period is best known for the symphony, a form of a large orchestral ensemble. The symphonic pieces generally had three movements, the sonata, the minuet and the finale. Building of the achievements of earlier composers, Haydn, and Mozart brought the symphony to its peak in the last twenty years of the 18th century. Haydn excelled in rhythmic drive and development of theme-based music (Bishop 325). Mozart also added to the symphony by contrasting memorable lyric themes in full sounding orchestral settings. There are many styles of music within classical music, including symphony, opera, choral works, chamber music, Gregorian chant, the madrigal, and the Mass. A Classical composition will fluctuate in mood. Not only there are contrasting themes within a movement, but there also may be striking contrasts even within (Vardy). In Classical music, there is a flexibility of rhythm. A classical composition has a wealth of rhythmic patterns. Classical music is basically homophonic. However, texture is treated as flexibly as rhythm. Classical melodies are among the most tuneful and easy to remember. The Classical composers interest in expressing shades of emotion led to the widespread use of gradual dynamic change crescendo (gradually getting louder) and diminuendo ( gradually getting softer). By varying the finger pressure on the keys, a pianist can play more loudly or softly. Classical works show a great deal of musical sophistication and use development, key changes, variation, musical phrases of varying lengths, counterpoint, polyphony and advanced harmony development. It uses very specific instruments, most markedly those invented before mid-10th century and adopted in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as instruments like violin, cello, viola, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and other instruments in the orchestra and solo instruments such as piano, harpsichord, organ and guitar. The classical period had a musical style that was consistent, which means that if you were a composer in this time period; you knew what was expected of you. Haydn had a huge influence on the development if Classical music and so did Beethoven but he chose to focus on a more romantic style which had a simple chord structure. This brings us to the Romantic era; The Romantic music period began in 1825 and ran until 1900. Several historical themes were at work during this period, including the increasing role of science as a worldview, the rise of nationalism in Europe, and a growing appreciation for the arts. The style of the Romantic music period is generally characterized by a wider range of dynamics, a greater variety of instruments, more dramatic melodies, more extreme tempos, fuller harmonies, and expanded formal structures within the compositions. Some of the most famous composers of all time lived and worked during the Romantic music era. Schubert, Chopin, Wagner, Brahms, and Mahler are among the most recognizable names. The transition from nineteenth-century Romanticism to twentieth-century Modernism is perhaps one of the big points in music history. Because the speed of twentieth-century innovation in all areas has been so accelerated, music has also moved from one new idea to another with such speed that no previous era can be compared to. Technology and scientific discovery are probably the basic influences on musical creativity and production. Dissonance became very important and in fact most of the pieces are made up of dissonant chords (Palisca). During the Modern era, many new musical techniques emerged. They were seen in melody , harmony , rhythm, meter, texture, tonality, and sonority . It is important to note that during the twentieth century not all changes in music were a revolution or a return to old ideals. Contrapuntal textures in music dominate the Modern era. While, homophonic textures are present, it is to a lesser degree and with less importance. During the 20th century, tone color has become a more important element of music then it was ever before. It has a major role which is creating variety, continuity and mood. Consonance is no longer in use in the 20th century. 20th century music sound fantasy like, distant and mystifying. Chords are never as fundamental as it is in previous centuries. Poly chords are created by placing one traditional chord over another. The rhythmic vocabulary of the 20th century was expanded with increased emphasis on irregularity and unpredictability. The Melody was very elusive.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Physical Impacts of Alcohol Abuse

Physical Impacts of Alcohol Abuse Alcohol use and abuse can affect the liver, central nervous system and the kidneys. The result of the constant use of alcohol can be noted and examined in patients using numerous methods. These methods utilize the body’s reaction towards alcohol using biochemical markers like ÃŽ ³-glutamyl tranferase (GGT), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Although biochemical markers can easily tell the clinician about the use and abuse of alcohol, genetic markers may also contribute to the dependence of alcohol. Alcohol use and abuse is associated with multiple illnesses such as cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis. Alcohol consumption has many negative effects that increase with age, ranging from short term reactions like dehydration and ethanol poisoning to chronic reactions like liver failure and alcoholic fatty liver disease. The result of alcohol consumption is reactive changes in the body such as an increase of enzymatic activity and concentration as well as the decrease of enzymatic activity and concentration due to tissue destruction. The enzyme ÃŽ ³-glutamyl tranferase (GGT) activity is one of the most sensitive tests for alcohol use. The enzymes activity rises when there is acute hepatocellular damage present commonly is patients with alcoholic liver disease (G. Bbosa, D. Kyegombe, W. Anokbonggo, A. Lubega, A. Mugisha and J. Ogwal-Okeng, 2014). GGT is such a sensitive marker that the levels will also be increased even if no hepatic or biliary damage is present in the patient suffering from alcoholism. GGT levels increase drastically in the serum of patients abusing alcohol chronically, an increase of 2-3 times the normal value is most commonly present (S. Kavitha, V. Venkatraman and K. Jeyaprakash, 2013). GGT serum levels can also be raised in patients with digestive disorders and mostly only indicates alcoholism in patients who abuse the substance excessively. High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are more commonly decreased in older patients suffering from alcoholism than in younger patients and are used rather as a confirmation marker than an initial indicator. The HDL-C levels in the serum will be decreased in the patients presenting with alcohol abuse (S. Kavitha, V. Venkatraman and K. Jeyaprakash, 2013). The enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) can be used to indicate alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis, but proves difficult to provide accurate results in the absence of liver damage. The enzyme is also found in multiple other organs like the brain and the kidneys and is more likely to be used as a confirmation of liver disease than a definitive diagnosis (D. Adler, 2013). The levels of AST in the patients’ serum will be increased up to 4 times the normal ranges in cases of liver damage. The increased AST levels, when indicating alcoholic liver disease, is most likely due to cellular necrosis due to excessive alcohol consumption. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is overly produced in patients with hepatic injury and in alcoholic patients (M. Hyder, M. Hasan and A. Mohieldein, 2013). The disadvantage of this test in that the levels only significantly increases if severe hepatic damage is already present, but the major advantage is that ALT is only present in the liver (R. Van Dyke, 2012). ALT will be increased 4-6X in cases of alcoholic cirrhosis and 7-10X in cases of alcoholism with alcoholic liver disease. The ratio of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) can also indicate alcoholic liver disease with a ratio greater than 2:1 with respect to AST:ALT. This result is mostly due to low ALT levels in the serum because of hepatic necrosis, pyridoxal-5’-phosphate deficiency or mitochondrial AST leakage (M. Adak, A. Thakur and K. Adhikari, 2012). The ratio is mostly used as an affirmative test as the ratio only rises above 2 in severe cases of alcoholic liver disease. Sialic acid Genetic predispositions to alcoholism have not been completely identified, but studies have indicated genes that may be responsible. These genes are known as the Mpdz, the Kcnj9 and the GABRA2 genes. Although these genes are used theoretical markers rather than actual indicator to alcohol dependence there is a correlation between the severity of the withdrawal symptoms and the risk of alcohol dependence (K. Buck, L. Milner, D. Denmark, S. Grant and L. Kozell, 2012). The GABRA2 gene is located on chromosome 4p12 and regulates the production of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) which acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014). Alcohol can affect the signalling pathway of the GABA system if a variation is present in the GABRA2 gene increasing the pleasure derived from the consumption of alcohol above normal levels which can greatly increase the risk of alcoholism in the persons who have this variation (D. Dick and A. Agrawal, 2008). Alcoholism poses a serious health threat to the medical community causing many serious complications in a healthy lifestyle. Testing for GGT is seen as the most sensitive test, but has the one drawback of having quite a bit of interferences, which can be cancelled out if brought into the equation. ALT and AST tests the livers general homeostasis and should rather be handled as a complimentary test along with a test such as GGT in order to confirm a diagnosis. Genetic markers for alcohol abuse have not been fully discovered as of yet, although a variation in GABRA2 is known to increase the risk of alcohol dependence due to its effects on the GABA pathway when alcohol is consumed. References: G. Bbosa, D. Kyegombe, W. Anokbonggo, A. Lubega, A. Mugisha and J. Ogwal-Okeng. (2014). Chronic Alcohol Consumption Affects Serum Enzymes Levels in the HIV-Infected Patients on Stavudine (d4T)/Lamivudine (3TC)/Nevirapine (NVP) Treatment Regimen. Pharmacology Pharmacy. 1 (5), 181-194. M. Adak, A. Thakur and K. Adhikari. (2012). Study of Biochemical Markers in Alcoholic Liver Disease: Hospital-Based Case Control Study. Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences. 3 (3), 987-995. S. Kavitha, V. Venkatraman and K. Jeyaprakash. (2013). Biochemical Markers and Age Onset Involved In Heavy Alcoholism.  Asian Journal of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Research. 4 (1), 80-87. D. Adler. (2013). The Difficulty of using a Biological Marker for Alcohol Use: A Recent Historical Overview.  Sound Neuroscience: An Undergraduate Neuroscience Journal. 1 (1), 1-8. K. Buck, L. Milner, D. Denmark, S. Grant and L. Kozell. (2012). Discovering genes Involved in Alcohol Dependence and other Alcohol responses Role of Animal Models.  Alcohol Research: Current Reviews. 367-374. U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2014).  GABRA2.  Available: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/GABRA2. Last accessed 02 September 2014. D. Dick and A. Agrawal. (2008). The Genetics of Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence.  Alcohol Research Health. 31 (2), 111-118. R. Van Dyke. (2012). Liver Tests: Use and Interpretation.  Open Michigan. 1 (1), 1-60. M. Hyder, M. Hasan and A. Mohieldein. (2013). Comparative Levels of ALT, AST, ALP and GGT in Liver associated Diseases.  European Journal of Experimental Biology. 3 (2), 280-284.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Bimatoprost Monotherapy in CACG Patients with Extensive PAS

Bimatoprost Monotherapy in CACG Patients with Extensive PAS Intraocular Pressure-Lowering Efficacy of Bimatoprost in Chronic Angle-Closure Glaucoma Patients with Extensive Peripheral Anterior Synechiae: A Preliminary Study Introduction Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, affecting an estimated 64.3 million people aged 40–80 years, and this figure is expected to increase to 70 million in 2020.1 Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is the more common form of glaucoma, but because angle-closure glaucoma (ACG) is more prevalent in Asia, the continent that accounts for 60% of the world population, ACG causes a disproportionate burden of morbidity.1,2 ACG is also more critical due to its greater likelihood to cause blindness than OAG.3 ACG is defined by a partially occludable angle and elevated intra-ocular pressure (IOP) of more than 21 mmHg, with no or mild symptoms until very late in the disease and vision loss becomes evident. Detection by gonioscopy reveals very narrow angle with appositional contact between the iris and trabecular meshwork.4,5 This area of contact increases gradually and asymptomatically, with peripheral anterior synechiae (PAS) forming and spreading circumferentially, usually involving at least 180 degree-angle, which then increases IOP.3,6,7 The exact mechanism of PAS formation is not clearly understood, but it is known that the formation of PAS starts as the peripheral part of the iris adheres to the Schwalbe’s line and extends towards the angle recess. PAS is considered to be present when the adhesion of the iris reaches the mid-trabecular meshwork and its extent exceeds one clock hour on indentation gonioscopy. (Yoo et al. 2007) The level of IOP is directly related to the extent of the angle closure.4,7 The goal of treatment therefore is directed towards reopening of the angle and preventing and/or stopping nerve damage, and reduction of IOP.3 High IOP is a clinically important risk factor associated with progressive optic-disc changes and visual field loss.10 Aside from obstruction of the trabecular meshwork, Bodh et al. reported that the elevation of IOP may be caused by prostaglandin E1 and prostaglandin E2-mediated increase in secretion or the breakdown of blood aqueous barrier and corticosteroid-induced elevation. (Bodh SA, Kumar V, Raina UK, Ghosh B, Thakar M. Inflammatory glaucoma. Oman Journal of Ophthalmology. 2011;4(1):3-9. doi:10.4103/0974-620X.77655.) The Early Manifest Glaucoma Progression Trial, which evaluated the impact of reducing IOP in patients with OAG with normal or elevated IOP, showed the benefit of treatment (using laser trabeculoplasty plus topical betaxolol hydrochloride) on delaying the glaucoma progression in terms of visual field loss and optic disc changes by an average of 18 months longer than patients who did not receive treatment. An average reduction of IOP by about 5.1 mmHg resulted in less frequent progression and occurred significantly later in treated patients. (Heijl A, et al. 2002) Laser iridotomy is the standard initial approach to ACG.9,10 Treatment of acute ACG (AACG) can be satisfactorily treated with laser iridotomy alone, which is associated with good prognosis.8 However, chronic cases, after iridotomy with significant amount of PAS and suboptimal IOP control, require the use ÃŽ ²-adrenoreceptor antagonists (ÃŽ ²-blockers), topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, or selective ÃŽ ±2-adrenoreceptor agonists.10 A review of randomised controlled trials showed evidence that prostaglandin analogs and ÃŽ ²-blockers are recommended as monotherapy for the treatment of CACG when iridotomy has failed.9 Prostaglandin analogs have proven efficiency in lowering IOP in OAG with less side effects than ÃŽ ²-blockers.11 In addition, several trials have shown prostanoids to be more effective in reducing IOP than ÃŽ ²-blockers, topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, or selective ÃŽ ±2-adrenoreceptor agonists also patients with OAG.12However, recent studies have demonstrated that prostaglandin analogs such as latanoprost, bimatoprost and travopost to be effective in lowering IOP in chronic ACG (CACG), even in the presence of 360-degree PAS.10A meta-analysis on the efficacy of anti-glaucoma drugs in patients with open-angle glaucoma, tension glaucoma or ocular hypertension showed bimatoprost to provide the greatest reduction in IOP.13 Bimatoprost monotherapy has been demonstrated to decrease IOP in CACG patients with at least 9 clock hours of PAS on gonioscopy. However, the IOP-lowering efficacy of bimatoprost in eyes with extensive PAS is not fully understood. It has been suggested that that bimatoprost increases the aqueous outflow through the uveoscleral or the trabecular pathways being blocked by PAS in CACG.14 This prospective, interventional case series was conducted to determine the efficacy of bimatoprost monotherapy in CACG patients with extensive PAS. References: 1. Tham YC, Li X, Wong TY, Quigley H a., Aung T, Cheng CY. Global Prevalence of Glaucoma and Projections of Glaucoma Burden through 2040. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Ophthalmology. 2014;121(11):2081-2090. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2014.05.013. 2. Quigley H a, Broman a T. The number of people with glaucoma worldwide in 2010 and 2020. Br J Ophthalmol. 2006;90:262-267. doi:10.1136/bjo.2005.081224. 3. Rafael CastanÃÅ'Æ’eda-DiÃÅ' ez, Mariana MayorquiÃÅ' n-Ruiz CE-L and OA-D. Current Diagnosis and Management of Angle-closure glaucoma. In: Dr. Pinakin Gunvant, ed. Glaucoma Current Clinical and Research Aspects. InTech; 2011. doi:10.5772/18123. 4. Yuji Kondo TY. Epidemiology of angle closure glaucoma. In: Chul Hong, Yamamoto T, eds. Angle Closure Glaucoma. Kugler Publications; 2007:278. https://books.google.com/books?id=PV6ehhSdis0Cpgis=1. Accessed February 22, 2015. 5. Harmohina Bagga G Chandra Sekhar. Chapter 9. Primary Angle-Closure Glaucoma. In: Saxena S, ed. Clinical Ophthalmology: Medical and Surgical Approach. Jaypee Brothers Publishers; 2011:877. https://books.google.com/books?id=5jynsUAXg-ECpgis=1. Accessed February 22, 2015. 6. Mittal S. Classification of glaucomas. In: Garg A, ed. Mastering the Tech. of Glaucoma Diag. Management. Jaypee Brothers Publishers; 2006:556. https://books.google.com/books?id=CA6kwpx9A9YCpgis=1. 7. Lee JY, Kim YY, Jung HR. Distribution and characteristics of peripheral anterior synechiae in primary angle-closure glaucoma. Korean J Ophthalmol. 2006;20(2):104-108. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2908823tool=pmcentrezrendertype=abstract. Accessed February 22, 2015. 8. Salmon J. Chapter 13: Gonioscopy. Section 3: Diagnosis of Glaucoma. In: Sharaway T, ed. Glaucoma: Medical Diagnosis and Therapy. Elsevier Health Sciences; 2009:668. https://books.google.com/books?id=-1wtvjCY6dcCpgis=1. 9. Saw SM, Gazzard G, Friedman DS. Interventions for angle-closure glaucoma CRD summary Authors ’ objectives. Database Abstr Rev Eff Qual Rev. 2003:2-5. 10. See JLS, Aquino MCD, Aduan J, Chew PTK. Management of angle closure glaucoma. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2011;59 Suppl:S82-S87. doi:10.4103/0301-4738.73690. 11. Yu A W-LU. [Mechanisms , clinical profile and role of prostaglandin and prostamide analogues in antiglaucomatous therapy ] Article in German. Kin Monbl Augenheilkd. 2013;230(2):127-132. doi:10.1055/s-0032-1327946. 12. Ishida N, Odani-Kawabata N, Shimazaki A, Hara H. Prostanoids in the therapy of glaucoma. Cardiovasc Drug Rev. 2006;24(1):1-10. doi:10.1111/j.1527-3466.2006.00001.x. 13. Valk R Van Der, Webers CA, Schouten JS, Zeegers MP, Hendrikse F, Prins MH. Intraocular pressure-lowering effects of all commonly used glaucoma drugs: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Database Abstr Rev Eff Qual Rev. 2005. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2005.01.042. 14. Gupta V, Srinivasan G, Sharma A, Kapoor KS, Sihota R. Comparative evaluation of bimatoprost monotherapy in primary chronic angle closure and primary open angle glaucoma eyes: a three-year study. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther Off J Assoc Ocul Pharmacol Ther. 2007;23(4):351-358. doi:10.1089/jop.2006.0107.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The art of loving :: essays research papers

The Art of Loving is a slim volume of only a little over a hundred pages yet it packs one hell of a punch. Written some fifty years ago, here is a more damning indictment of modern society than anything the existential crowd of Bertrand Russell, Albert Camus or Jean Paul Sartre could cook up. The Art of Loving is a very concise and pithy read, it is written in the terse lucid style of gospel, each word in each line serving a critical function. This is not a writer’s style nor is a critic’s but that of a scientist, impartial and wholly objective – some may think of it as cold. But it is also easy to see that it is written by a man who is completely at ease with his ideas, who has followed them to their natural conclusion – that Love is a dead flower; and only one in a million may ever resurrect it in his or her life. Something as audacious a title as The Art of Loving could only have been pulled off by a man of the calibre of Bertrand Russell, and as a social philosopher, reformer and rebel Erich Fromm is no less great a name. As a psychoanalyst, he diverged from the typical Freudian obsession with unconscious drives and insisted on the importance of economic and social factors for mental well-being. His works are noted for their emphasis on a â€Å"sane society†, one which is based on rational human needs and where individuality is not compromised in the name of economics or authority. Erich Fromm is one of the pivotal figures in the Humanist movement that reared its head for a short flicker after World War II. His highly influential works (including Man for Himself, Escape from Freedom, The Sane Society, etc.) paint the pathetic picture of dazed consumer and encourage a renaissance of new, enlightened values to salvage our humanity. And it’s more than just talk – in The Art of Loving, Fromm quotes effortlessly from Marx, Huxley, Rumi and several religious texts to hammer in his points. Is Love really an art? Undoubtedly, he answers, in as much as Life itself is an art – which has a very nice ring to it, but seems to be a wholly outdated formula – and which is where our problems begin. The world is a Market today, Fromm says, and our whole culture is based on the idea of a â€Å"mutually favourable exchange†.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Homosexuality and Misogyny in Frankenstein Essay -- Frankenstein essay

Homosexuality and Misogyny in Frankenstein      Ã‚  Ã‚   In Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein suffers an extreme psychological crisis following his violation of what is considered a fundamental biological principle.   His creation of life undermines the role of women in his life and the role of sexuality, and allows existing misogynist and homosexual tendencies to surface.   Victor represses what he has uncovered about himself, and it merges into a cohesive whole in his psyche that becomes projected on the instrument of revelation, the monster.      Victor's creation allows him to split his sexuality into independent components.   There are three fundamental purposes to sexuality presented in Mary Shelley's narrative:   the psychological benefits of companionship, the unique physical pleasures of sexuality, and the desire to pass on one's genes and behaviors through procreation.   In social animals, the process of choosing partners for sexual intercourse and companionship is founded on reproductive goals.   Victor's ability to create life independently eliminates the importance of reproduction in choosing companions and sexual partners.   Each of the three elements of Victor's sexuality become separated, and then associated with his principal contemporaries, the people closest to him:   Henry Clerval as companionship, Elizabeth Lavenza as reproduction, and the monster as sexual pleasure.    Elizabeth at one time or another represents all female roles to Victor.   In turn, she is Victor's cousin, sister, mother, and wife.   These are not figurative relationships, implied by the text; they are actual labels applied to Elizabeth, by Victor's parents while he is still a child.   When she joins the family, she is his cousin, a... ... kill his brother, and to be rid of Elizabeth and also of the conflict that his relationship with Clerval brings.   The implication is that anyone who follows the split to its logical conclusion will find themselves in crisis, when they inevitably upset their mental balance, as Frankenstein did in rejecting women.    Works Cited    Lowe-Evans, Mary.   Frankenstein: Mary Shelly's Wedding Guest. New York:   Twayne Publishers, 1993.    Maslow. A.H: 'A theory of human motivation' (Psycol. Rev, 50, 370-396, 1943)    Oates, Joyce Carol.   "Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe." Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.   Ed. Harold Bloom.   New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.    Shelly, Mary.   Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus.   New York: Penguin Books, 1978.    Tropp, Martin.   Mary Shelly's Monster.   Boston:   Houghton Mifflin, 1976.   

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Cultural enrichment Essay

Last February 17, 2009, I went to the ISU Juried Student Exhibition which was located in the Center for Performing and Arts Gallery building. The juror of the exhibition was Mr. Ronald Leax, Halsey C. an Ives Professor of Art in Washington; University, St. Louis, MO. Most of the paintings that were being exhibited illustrate beauty and nature. I’ve noticed that most of the people that were there during the time of my visit appear uninterested with the art that was surrounding them. They barely noticed and appreciated art in its raw form because most were just busy eating and chatting. They practically didn’t understand why their teacher sent them to the gallery; I believe they just went there for the sake of the class credits that they are going to get. But they were also a few who knew what art and beauty was, they showed their appreciation by praising and scrutinizing the works in the gallery. Other people were also busy having their pictures taken beside the beautiful paintings. As for myself, I was really intrigued by the works and the masters behind those paintings. How I wished I could come up with such art pieces that to me seemed like it was done during the middle ages. It was also entertaining to watch how some paintings depicted things about religion and politics it shows that people are really concerned with the current events happening and are even able to express it through art. It was also fascinating to watch the paintings that were cross-over from realism to non-objectivism. Those kinds of paintings are the ones that entertain the naked eye without much thought provocation. Those paintings are the ones that caught my eye because it is relaxing and entertaining to look at them. At the end of the day, I just hope that more would learn to appreciate the beauty of art rather than be overly absorbed from school or from work. They should see that art is relaxing to the soul and to the mind so people who are stressed out could go to art exhibits to unwind and to refresh their souls.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Consider the representation of women in James Bond films

Since 1962, when the first film was produced, a total of 22 James Bond films have been made. The James Bond franchise has become extremely popular and well-known all over the world. Although each film is unique in its own way and the storyline differs from film to film, there are certain generic features that have become things the audience recognises and expects to find in all Bond films. These features include gun fights, car chases (usually featuring an Aston Martin), exotic locations, gadgets, villains and last, but certainly not least, girls. All of these things make up a kind of ‘Bond cocktail' that the audience of these films has come to love and that has made these films as successful as they are. Umberto Eco described the Bond narrative as, ‘a series of moves on a chess board, with characters playing out their usual functions. ‘ This refers to how the Bond films all have similar pieces or ingredients and they each have a part to play to make up this ‘Bond cocktail' like how chess pieces all have different moves they can make. One of the most important of those generic features is the Bond girls. Bond girls also have certain criteria that the audience expects them to fulfill in the films and they have become famous for. The connotations of the term Bond girls are normally attractive, desirable and sexually available, especially to Bond. However, Bond is often seen to use the women as playthings for his pleasure that he often sleeps with and then discards. They are regularly portrayed as needing Bond's protection and acting in a very passive and submissive manner towards Bond. However, it is debatable as to whether this is not the case with all women in Bond films and some people believe that some Bond women are liberated and they use Bond themselves rather than it being the other way round. The definition of liberated is ‘not bound by traditional or sexual roles' and for this to apply to the female characters in Bond films they would have to avoid fulfilling their traditional roles in the films. The traditional role of women would be as housewives that stay at home and do domestic tasks while the men go out to work. In sexual terms women would traditionally get married and settle down and only have sexual relations with one man. A big traditional role of women is that they are second to men and men are more dominant and have power over women. Two Bond films where women play very large parts and are showcased in a number of different ways are, ‘Goldfinger' and ‘The World Is Not Enough'. Goldfinger was first screened in 1964 and was one of the first Bond films produced; at a time when audiences were just being introduced to the ‘Bond cocktail' and more specifically, Bond girls. The story follows Bond as he tries to spoil the plans of the villain Goldfinger who aims to contaminate all the gold in Fort Knox so that his own gold increases dramatically in value. This would severely damage the world economy and Bond has to stop Goldfinger from detonating a nuclear bomb in order to save the gold. One of the main women in this film is Pussy Galore; she is a pilot employed by Goldfinger that is repeatedly given the job of escorting and taking care of Bond, before switching sides, with Bond's influence, and helping to stop Goldfinger. The other two women that play important parts in the film are sisters, Jill and Tilly Masterson. Jill initially works for Goldfinger, before meeting with Bond and then being killed by Goldfinger as punishment. Following this, Tilly attempts to murder Goldfinger for revenge; however she becomes involved with Bond in the process before also being killed by Goldfinger's henchman, Oddjob. ‘The World Is Not Enough' was released almost 40 years later in 1999, meaning it was aimed at a more modern audience and this is visible throughout the film. The storyline is similar to that of ‘Goldfinger', as a villain (this time a man called Renard) is attempting to blow up a stretch of oil pipe line with a nuclear bomb, meaning the only supply of oil can come through one pipeline. This pipeline is owned by Elektra King who is initially meant to be innocent and under Bond's protection until it is revealed she is working with Renard. Bond then faces the task of stopping the bomb with the help of a nuclear physicist called Dr. Christmas Jones. Apart from Christmas and Elektra there is one other woman that has a big role in the film and that is M (head of MI6); which contrasts with ‘Goldfinger' in which M was a man. In the 1960's the roles of women were changing a lot. During the Second World War women had been given the opportunity to go and do â€Å"men's† jobs in factories as the men were abroad fighting the war. After this women began to move closer to equality with men and they started to have their own freedom. They were no longer just housewives that were inferior to men and this attitude continued into the 1960's. In Goldfinger this is visible because the women in Pussy Galore's flying circus are pilots, which is quite a difficult and complicated job. However, there are also parts of this film that show that women may not have reached complete equality with men yet, as some of the female characters appear weak both physically and mentally and are left out of important events. Feminism is all about recognizing the need for women to have equality with men and feminists work to create that equality. In history there have been three major waves of feminism and one of those took place just after the Second World War, continuing up until the start of the 60's. This surge in women campaigning for equality worked alongside the fact that women had proven themselves in men's jobs during the war and, although some men disliked it, women did make a very large step towards full equality with men. In the 1990's, attitudes towards women had changed even more and were very similar to today. Women had equality with men and could pretty much do any job that would have before been seen as a job purely for men. This is shown in ‘The World Is Not Enough' where Dr. Christmas Jones is a nuclear physicist which is an extremely hard job and she must be very intelligent to do it. However, some of the Bond girls in the film still seem to just be used as sexual objects by Bond and this would suggest they are not fully liberated despite reaching equality with men. Two key parts of both the films are the opening credits. In ‘Goldfinger' images from the film are projected onto the body of a woman, who is painted in gold, using multi-layering. The connotations of gold are things like precious and artistically-pleasing and this could be a metaphorical symbol for women, as the girl is motionless and very passive so she does appear to be something to be looked at and appreciated visually. Gold is also a high value commodity that can be bought and sold and this could also symbolise women being almost like possessions that men can own and that they can be bought and traded. However, the women is also wearing a bikini, which was a fashionable item of clothing in the 60's and could be worn just to emphasise that the woman is to be looked at because it is a very revealing piece of clothing. But, this could also show the liberation of women because it shows the more liberal attitude of the 60's that allowed women to be more open and free sexually. The opening credits in ‘The World Is Not Enough' differ slightly from those in ‘Goldfinger' as there is now more than one girl and they are covered in oil rather than gold. This shows that the film is more modern, as oil is probably now as, if not more, valuable than gold and this means that it has the same kind of connotations as gold; it is very expensive and precious. However, these titles contrast to those in ‘Goldfinger' because the women are a lot more active and are dancing, but they are dancing in quite a provocative way which could mean the audience is being invited to look at them and admire them, which is similar to ‘Goldfinger'. The girls are also completely naked which represents how women have become even more sexually liberated since ‘Goldfinger' and nudity had become more acceptable with the audience. An important part of the titles in ‘The World Is Not Enough' is the song and more specifically the lyrics. Firstly, the song is sung by a woman and the notable lyric is, ‘We know when to kiss, we know when to kill. ‘ This suggests that women are very smart and devious and can be killers just as easily as they can be lovers, which goes against the traditional idea that they are very affectionate and maternal and not violent at all. This could also be directly linked to the character of Elektra King who uses her body throughout the film to seduce men to get her own way and is also involved with her father's murder at the start. In ‘Goldfinger', the first female character we meet is a dancer. She is quite attractive and very scantily-clad, which shows she is dressed to be looked at and to entertain the men she is dancing for. This is shown by a high angle camera shot that initially picks her out among the men and they are all looking at her body. When Bond is speaking to his friend he looks over at the dancer and says, ‘I have some unfinished business to attend to. ‘ This is quite derogatory because he isn't referring to her as a person, which also suggests she doesn't mean very much to him. The word ‘business' is especially important here because he is kind of saying she is like a job that he has to complete and nothing more. When he then goes to see her she is initially naked in the bath and there is a camera shot of her bare back, this shows that she is vulnerable and Bond has the power in the situation because he is fully-clothed and standing over her. Then when she goes to kiss Bond he accidentally pokes her with his gun and she jumps back. That incident has a bit of sexual innuendo and when she asks him why he carries it around he jokes that he has an ‘inferiority complex'. This is sarcasm because he is actually a confident and dominant man. However, the dancer has actually double-crossed Bond and this is shown when a man walks into attack him when the dancer distracts him with a kiss; this is revealed with an extreme close-up of the girl's eye, where Bond sees the reflection of the attacker. He then uses her as a shield against the man, which suggests that she didn't mean anything to him and he puts himself before women, although it could just be because he realizes what she has done to him. This shows that Bond was tricked by the girl and she used her body to get to him, but then she was also being used by someone else to get to Bond, so she still isn't in control. Bond seems surprised that she double-crossed him, when he looks at her and says, ‘very shocking. ‘ This could suggest that he didn't expect a woman to do that to him and perhaps he underestimated her and didn't expect a woman to be that cunning. The next time we see Bond he is again with a woman and this time it is a character called Dink, who is massaging Bond whilst he relaxes on a sun lounger. This suggests that he uses women for pleasure and it is also shown that he has control over her when his friend Felix comes over. He introduces her and then says, ‘Dink say goodbye. ‘ This is an imperative, so he is not asking her to do something he is ordering her around. He then says it is ‘man-talk,' which shows that women are kept out of matters of business and they are kind of a liability. The way he talks to her with short words in short sentences also suggests that she is not very bright and gives the impression men are seen to be more intelligent than women. Finally, he slaps her bottom to dismiss her and that is very disrespectful, but she doesn't argue and just does what he says, so it appears Bond has power over women and can get them to do what he wants. A slightly similar character to Dink in ‘The World Is Not Enough' is Doctor Molly Warmflash. She is seduced by Bond when she is giving him a check up and she gives in straight away, saying, ‘you'll have to promise to call me this time. This tells us that this has happened before and it appears she can't resist Bond so again he has this kind of power over women and they find him very attractive. However, he is just doing it to get a clean bill of health, so although he may get a bit of enjoyment out of it he is still just using her to get what he wants. The difference is that she is a doctor so she is obviously quite intelligent, but even so she doesn't act professionally and is quite happy to be used by Bond. She is on top of Bond though which is a position of power, but it is still clear that Bond is in control. A complete contrast to the characters of Dink and Doctor Warmflash is the character of Money Penny. She appears in both films as she works for MI6, which is quite an important job, and is always dressed very respectably. She is also very conservative and holds traditional views and this is shown in ‘Goldfinger' when she says, ‘The only gold I know about is that on your third finger. ‘ This shows that she obviously thinks marriage is important and she is showing that she is attracted to Bond, but she wants something more than just sex, she wants a proper relationship. This is shown in ‘The World Is Not Enough' when Bond offers her a cigar and says, ‘You know what you can do with that. ‘ This could well be linked to the Bill Clinton sex scandal that had just taken place at the time, in which President Bill Clinton had been accused of having sexual relations, involving a cigar, with a woman in the White House. Money Penny then chucks the cigar in the bin to show that she isn't interested in that kind of a relationship with Bond. So Money Penny is an example of a Bond girl that doesn't get seduced by Bond and is more interested in marriage than just a sexual relationship. However, Bond then doesn't seem very attracted to her which might suggest he isn't interested in settling down and just wants to stick to sleeping with women and then moving on. The next woman that Bond meets in ‘Goldfinger' is Jill Masterson. When he first sees her she is helping Goldfinger cheat at cards and she is dressed in a very revealing bikini and is lying in quite an alluring pose. Bond then finds out that she is being paid to be seen with Goldfinger as well when he says, ‘What else does he pay you for? ‘ Here he seems to be suggesting that Goldfinger might be paying her for sex which links back to the idea that women could be seen as a possession that can be bought. However, she denies doing anything else and is clearly holds no allegiance to Goldfinger because she is then very fickle and changes sides. There are a lot of camera shots on her body during this scene that expose the fact she is only wearing a bikini, so it is again inviting the audience to look at her. She is also very passive and at no point does she try to stop Bond and it is clear he is in complete control over her which is also shown by the fact she is lying down and he is looking down at her. Then Bond quite clearly looks down her top at her breasts when she leans upwards and she doesn't seem to care, she is quite happy for him to look at her. However, she is then left out of Bond's conversation with Goldfinger, which shows that women are kept out of important affairs. This happens again when Bond receives a phone call in his hotel room and he pushes Jill's face out of the way. This is quite disrespectful, but Jill just lies back and doesn't seem to care – she is happy to do what Bond wants her to. This gives the impression that women are just seen as something to give Bond pleasure and when it comes to matters of business he sees Jill as a bit of an annoyance. They are then fully-clothed in bed which is testament to the fact that full nudity was not acceptable in films at the time. Bond is then knocked out and he finds Jill lying naked on the bed covered in gold paint. She has been murdered and yet she is glamourised in her death as she is covered in gold. Bond is extremely business like about her death and shows very little emotion despite the fact that it was partially his fault. After this he just moves on and appears to forget Jill completely, which supports the idea that Bond looks to girls purely for pleasure and then is happy to discard them afterwards. In the most recent Bond film, ‘The Quantum of Solace', there a girl called Agent Fields that dies in a similar fashion. However, she is covered in oil instead of gold, and although oil is valuable it isn't at all glamorous and the black colour actually symbolises fear and death. There is also a shot of Jill Masterson in ‘Goldfinger' where there is a cushion placed in the way of her bottom and this is because the audience at the time wouldn't of approved of that level of nudity. However, in ‘The Quantum of Solace' there is an almost identical shot of Agent Fields, but there is no cushion hiding her. This shows that audiences have changed over the years and nowadays nudity is much more acceptable. Later in the film Bond runs into Jill's sister, Tilly Masterson, and she appears to be very different to her sibling. Tilly is a lot more active as she is driving aggressively and tries to shoot Goldfinger twice to get revenge for him murdering her sister. She is also dressed very respectively with her hair tied back and she uses very assertive language when speaking to Bond; seemingly unaffected by Bond's charm like her sister was. Another difference between her and her sister is that she is a lot more independent and says to Bond, ‘I can take care of myself. ‘ This contrasts to the typical Bond girl that would need Bond's help and protection. She does, however, appear to be very much governed by her emotions and says, ‘I want to kill him. When she says this she sounds almost like a little girl that is really upset and angry that they can't have there way. This is when it becomes clear that she is being controlled by her emotions, which is a more womanly characteristic because traditionally women are more emotional. She also misses Goldfinger when she tries to shoot him and then later on she is making lots of noise in the forest when Bond is silent. These things show that she isn't as skilled as Bond and it suggests that women aren't supposed to be doing the kind of work Bond does and they are incapable. It is when they are in the forest that Bond takes control and Tilly starts to become more like her sister was before she died. She becomes more passive and follows Bond's orders. Her hair is also down now, which seems like a very minor change but it symbolises the fact she has turned into more of a typical Bond girl. Then Bond there is a car chase and Tilly appears to admire Bond and all the gadgets he has in the car and even smiles a bit when before she had been serious the whole time. Bond's charm also seems to start to take an affect on her now, which suggests that all women become attracted to Bond after a while and supports the idea that Bond girls can't resist Bond. However, Bond then tells her to, ‘Run when I tell you,' which results in her being killed by the henchman Odd Job. Bond at first seems quite concerned and runs over to her, but then he seems to shut out his emotions once again and puts her behind him. This is similar to how he reacted when Jill died, it just seems to annoy him a bit and apart from that he doesn't seem to care. The main female character in ‘Goldfinger' is Pussy Galore and the first thing that is noticeable is her name. The name is very suggestive and another name that is a bit suggestive is Doctor Molly Warmflash from ‘The World Is Not Enough'. Those names are another example of the sexual innuendo that is in both of the Bond films and the name of Pussy Galore could have come from the fact that in the book written by Ian Fleming that the film is based on, Pussy was a lesbian. When Bond first wakes up to see her he says, ‘Who are you? I must be dreaming. Bond says this because Pussy Galore is very attractive and she is well-dressed, but the clothes she is wearing are quite tight-fitting and show off her body. She is friendly towards Bond, but immediately tells him she isn't interested in him when she says, ‘Turn off the charm – I'm immune. ‘ This gives the impression she isn't attracted to Bond and this is different from the idea that women can't resist Bond. She is a pilot for Goldfinger, which is quite a challenging job and Bond appears surprised when she tells him. She also has her own flying circus which shows she is a successful women and independent as she has her own business. All the pilots in this flying circus are also female which again goes against the traditional idea that women can't do jobs like piloting aircraft. She has to transport Bond on the plane and he seems to think he is in control because he swings on the chair, acts very relaxed and when she threatens him with a gun he explains it would shoot through the fuselage to try to make her look stupid. However, she doesn't appear phased by Bond and stands over him in a position of power and ignores his witty remarks towards her so she is actually the one in control. The camera shots also show this because they are mainly from Bond's perspective looking up at Pussy or from her perspective looking down at Bond; this emphasises her position over him. On board the plain there is a servant called Mai Lee who balances Pussy Galore out because she is more of a typical Bond girl. Her job is to serve Bond and she is very considerate and apologetic towards him. She also needs his help to put the plane steps down when they arrive, which suggests women are weaker and they need Bond's help, however Pussy Galore goes against this as she does everything without Bond's help and is very independent. Bond also looks at her bottom when she walks away from him which again shows women as something to look at. Later in the film Goldfinger hints that Pussy Galore should dress up to seduce Bond and distract him and this suggests that women are maybe a weakness of Bond's and he can't help himself. This links back to earlier in the film when Bond first meets Tilly Masterson and says to himself, ‘Discipline 007. ‘ This is because he was already told off by M for getting involved with women during his missions. Pussy agrees to it, but she also explains that she won't get any pleasure out of it when she says, ‘Business before pleasure. This suggests that she sees it purely as business and again is not attracted to Bond at all. It makes sex seem almost like a kind of business when it would normally be for pleasure. Pussy then dresses more in a more revealing way and puts on a friendlier front to seduce Bond, saying, ‘I'm completely defenseless. ‘ Here she is actually using Bond which contrasts to the way that Bond usually uses women and shows that women can control Bond as well as he can control them. Pussy Galore and Bond then end up having a kind of play fight in a barn and Pussy defends herself well because she knows Judo. This is unusual because women aren't normally expected to fight and perform martial arts, which again shows how skilled she is. However, Bond then gets the upper hand and ends up on top of Pussy and at this point her attitude and character change very rapidly. Bond tries to kiss her and at first she resists and fights back, but then she just gives in and kisses Bond. This is a very big piece of evidence to support the idea that the women can't resist Bond because Pussy had appeared didn't seem to be attracted to him and had been in control of Bond, but then everything changed. This could also show that it isn't that the women can't resist Bond, but they don't want to resist Bond as she gave in so easily. This also signals Pussy's change of sides and she helps to stop Goldfinger. When we next see her she is wearing light colours and this is symbolic of her change to the good side. Bond says he, ‘appealed to her maternal instincts. ‘ Which would suggest that women are caring and don' want to hurt anyone; however this motherly attitude is twisted earlier on in the film. When the pilots go to drop sleeping gas on Fort Knox they call it ‘Operation Rock-A-Bye-Baby' which is a nursery rhyme a mother would sing to nurture her child but they are actually killing people. The final part of the film shows Pussy Galore trying to signal a rescue helicopter after her and Bond jumped out of a plane with a parachute, however, Bond pulls her back and says, ‘This is no time to be rescued. ‘ After this he covers them with the parachute and it is clear that he wants to make love to her. This shows that she is a completely changed character because she has succumbed to Bond's charm and is now a traditional Bond girl. She is also positioned underneath Bond so he is in a position of power over her. ‘The World Is Not Enough' shows women as being a lot more active than in ‘Goldfinger' and this is seen with the cigar girl who is the first woman to appear in the film. She is very business like and is wearing a suit so she looks completely professional. However, she is also quite attractive and you can tell Bond notices this when she says, ‘Do you want to have a look at my figures,' and he replies with, ‘I'm sure they're all perfectly rounded. Here he is obviously referring to her body rather than the mathematical figures she is referring to, but Bond's charm doesn't rub off and she looks at him angrily. However, Bond could be saying this because he doesn't because he doesn't think that a woman should be involved with business affairs and that is why he made the joke about body, because when she goes and sits to the side he becomes a lot more serious in conversation with the men in the room. However, the girl then kills the banker Bond is speaking to and runs off, which shows that women are obviously just as capable as men at killing people. Bond then meets her again in a boat chase around London. During this she is dressed in red, which symbolises danger and could be a metaphor for how dangerous the women is. She has a bigger boat than Bond which gives her a bit of power over him and she also fires a gun at him during the chase; showing she isn't afraid to kill again. Despite this whole action sequence though she still remains dry and always looks beautiful, where as Bond is soaked. This could again show that she has power over him, or it could suggest that she is still something to be looked at. During the course of this she seems very in control and dangerous she sacrifices herself at the end when Bond has caught her after saying, ‘You can't protect me; not from him. ‘ This shows that she is actually very scared and fearful despite putting up a fearless front during the boat chase. A female character with a very important role in ‘The World Is Not Enough' is the head of MI6, M. This differs from ‘Goldfinger' in which M was a man and it reflects that, in reality at the time, the head of MI6 was a woman called Stella Remington. Obviously this role gives M a lot of power and is the first woman we have seen that actually has power and control over Bond and he has to follow her orders. She also fits the role very well and remains calm when the bomb goes off in the building she is in. However, she does show her emotions at a funeral, when she hugs Elektra in a kind of motherly role. Later on in the film Bond accuses her of letting herself be ruled by her emotions when he says, ‘With all due respect, I don't think you should be here. This is after M has come to see Elektra and then, when Elektra reveals that she is actually in league with Renard, M realises that she did actually make a bad judgment based on her emotions and she loses control and slaps Elektra. This incident suggests that women may always be governed in some way by their emotions and that they can't always control them because M slaps Elektra out of anger. The idea of emotions clouding a woman's judgment suggests that men are more in control of there emotions and don't let them get in the way; this is shown by the cold heartedness Bond seems to show at the death of the women in both films. Earlier in the film however, M does show that she is perfectly capable of keeping her emotions locked up when she explains how she advised Elektra's father to not pay the ransom for Elektra when she had been kidnapped before. She says, ‘Against every instinct in my heart, every emotion as a mother. ‘ This again refers to the maternal instincts of women and how they want to be affectionate and care about people; however it also shows that they can ignore those maternal instincts as well and act more like a man – putting their emotions aside. The thing that stands out most about M though is that fact that Bond treats her with a great deal of respect, even when he thinks she is in the wrong, and this is shown again with the quote above in which Bond says, ‘with all due respect. ‘ M is possibly the only woman that Bond willingly allows to control him and that he has a completely professional relationship with. Finally, M shows that she is very clever and capable to fend for herself, when she uses a clock to send out a signal to Bond after she has been captured by Elektra and Renard. Elektra is possibly the most important woman in ‘The World Is Not Enough' because she is a villain and she manages to use and manipulate Bond during the course of the film. She tricks Bond, at first, into believing she is innocent and they end up making love with each other. This shows again that Bond's desire for women is almost a weakness for him because initially he says to Elektra, ‘This is a game I can't afford to play. ‘ Here he is referring to getting into a relationship with her, because M had told him not to. However, he then ends up sleeping with Elektra, which suggests he couldn't resist her. This is a role reversal because it is typically women that can't resist Bond, but here it is the other way around. During the bedroom scene, both Bond and Elektra are on top which could symbolise a balance of power between the two. There is also more nudity than in the scene between Bond and Jill Masterson in ‘Goldfinger' which reflects the fact that it is aimed at a more modern audience which now finds nudity more acceptable. During that scene, Elektra also reveals to Bond how she escaped her kidnappers, ‘I seduced the guards. I used my body. This shows that she is willing to use her body to get what she wants and that could very well be what she was doing at exactly that moment with Bond because it gave her power over him. This is because Elektra then turns on him later on after he accuses her of being with Renard, ‘You used me, you used me as bait. ‘ Here she is referring to him sleeping with her and it shows how manipulative and clever she is because she is making Bond feel guilty when it is actually her in the wrong. Elektra is also the only woman that actually seems to appeal to Bond's emotions in the films. When he sees a tape of her after she escaped from her kidnappers she is crying and Bond touches the screen and seems genuinely sorry for her and he appears to care for her a lot. Later in the film, Renard teases Bond with the fact that he slept with Elektra before him, ‘I broke her in for you. ‘ Bond gets really angry at this because he realises that Elektra was just using him. The language Renard uses here is very derogatory and sexist and suggests that he was in control of Elektra and took advantage of her; however she could again have been using Renard to get what she wanted. The way Elektra uses her body to manipulate men and get what she wants is quite ironic because that is what Bond normally does to other women and it proves that it can work the other way around. In the casino Elektra draws a queen of hearts and this could also be a symbol of the way Elektra uses her body to play with men's emotions of love and with their lust to get her way. Finally, Bond is put in an execution chair and Elektra is slowly tightening the screw that can break his neck when she says, ‘I've always had a power over men. This is symbolised by the fact that she is on top of Bond in a position of power and she also has the power to kill him. She is also obviously referring to how she has used her cunning to manipulate Bond and he is now completely vulnerable whilst she is in control. However, Bond counters this by saying, ‘You meant nothing to me; you were just one last screw. ‘ This is again sexual innuendo because he is referring to when he had sex with her and also to the fact that she is about to kill him with one last turn of the screw on the chair. After this Bond escapes and points a gun at Elektra. It appears, at first, that his emotions are affecting him because he doesn't seem to want to kill her, possibly because she is a woman. He does shoot her though and afterwards he doesn't seem to care very much. This shows that Bond puts his emotions aside and links back to the idea that the Bond girls don't mean anything to him and he just discards them and moves on. The final Bond girl in ‘The World Is Not Enough' is Doctor Christmas Jones. When we first see her there is quite a long camera shot that pans up her body and this again invites the audience to look at her and admire her body, like an object. She wears some very tight-fitting clothes that emphasise her body and are quite revealing as well, but she also wears some scientific clothes that show that she is obviously very intelligent because she is an IVA Nuclear Physicist. At first she doesn't appear at all attracted to Bond and says, ‘Are you just hoping for a glimmer too. ‘ Here she is putting him down and it again questions whether Bond girls actually find Bond irresistible. Christmas is also very professional and even when she is in danger she appears calm and looks like she can look after herself. At one point however, Bond grabs her to remove her from danger and this could be for either of two reasons. It could be because she is a woman and he cares for her, or it could be because he realises he is going to need her help. Later on it is clear that Doctor Jones is more intelligent than Bond, but he still seems to control her and tell her what to do and she doesn't object. Later in the film, she dresses up and uses her body to lure Zukovsky and distract him. She is very clever, but she still needs to use her beauty, which suggests that Bond girls can't just be intelligent; they have to be attractive as well. She is also left out of the business conversation between Bond and Zukovsky despite the fact she is very smart and knows what is going on. This links back to the idea that women can't be involved in business affairs and don't have a part in making decisions. At the end of the film, Bond makes two jokes about Doctor Jones that involve sexual innuendo. First he says, ‘I've always wanted to have Christmas in Turkey,' and then he says, ‘I thought Christmas only comes once a year. ‘ These witticisms both refer to him sleeping with Doctor Jones and again she has given into Bond's charm by doing so. Her behaviour is similar to that of Pussy Galore in ‘Goldfinger' in the way that she initially resisted Bond and didn't seem attracted to him, but then gave in and ended up sleeping with him like a typical Bond girl. In conclusion, I think there are examples in the Bond films of girls that are like the stereotypical Bond girls that are attractive, sleep with Bond and require his protection before he just discards them and moves on. These women, like Jill Masterson and Molly Warmflash, appear to be used by Bond partly for his pleasure and partly to get what he wants. However, there are other characters, Elektra King especially, that use Bond themselves to get what they want. The main way they seem to do that is by using their bodies; as it appears Bond is at times incapable of resisting his desire for women. Another important thing to note is that in ‘Goldfinger' the only woman that really had any power and an important role was Pussy Galore. Where as, in ‘The World Is Not Enough' nearly all of the female characters have power and a big role to play. It is also the only film where any women have power over Bond, because M is obviously his boss and at times Elektra King has power over him as well. This proves that Bond is not always on control of women. This change in attitude over time is most likely because attitudes towards women changed and they gained equality with men by the time ‘The World Is Not Enough' was made, while they were still moving towards equality at the time ‘Goldfinger' was released. These historical factors are the most likely reason for the kind of evolution of Bond girls to the point where they sometimes control and out-smart Bond where as he used to always have power over them. Overall, Bond girls do appear to be liberated to a certain extent because they are not always bound by traditional sexual roles, which is shown by the way they are sometimes on top and in control in bedroom scenes. However, there are many instances where Bond has power and control over women and nearly every woman in the films seems to find him irresistible, which suggests that Bond girls are not completely liberated because they still appear in a lot of aspects to be inferior to men. Although, in the more recent films, Bond girls seem to be liberated in nearly all aspects they still don't appear to be quite there yet. I think Bond girls never will be fully-liberated either, simply because if they were they wouldn't be fulfill the well-known criteria of Bond girls and would therefore ruin the Bond cocktail. However, I may be wrong and, referring back to the quote by Umberto Eco, perhaps Bond girls could be the queen in the game of chess and they have the ability to move in any direction making possible for them to change without ruining the formula.