Homework Essay

Chapter 18 p534 1.What is the key assumption of the basic Keynesian model? Explain why this assumption is needed if one is to accept the view that aggregate spending is a driving force behind short-term economic fluctuations. The Keynesian model shows how fluctuations in planned aggregate expenditure can cause actual output to differ from potential output. This method is necessary because if it were not used companies would have to change prices every time there was a possible change in demand or quantity shift in inventory. With this method short term economic flux can happen when the a company does shift their price to meet demand. 3. Define planned aggregate expenditure and list its components. Why does planned spending change when output changes relatively infrequently. What accounts for the difference? This is a total planned spending on goods and services including; consumption, investment, government purchases and net ports. If spending change happens infrequently then added goods go into inventory causing company to spend capital on invested inventory. Consumption function accounts for the difference between changes in expenditure. Chapter 19 1. Why does the real interest rate affect planned aggregate expenditure? Give examples. Because the raising or lowering affects the cost of borrowing, which affects consumption and planned investment (which all is a part of aggregate expenditure). If the Fed raises rates the housing market will slow down buying. If the Fed lowers rates more people are likely to buy homes and refinance. 2. The Fed faces a recessionary gap. How would you expect it to respond? Explain step by step how its policy change is likely to affect the economy. The Fed’s position is to eliminate output gaps and maintain low inflation. To eliminate a recessionary output gap, the Fed will raise the real interest rate.

Why Shift Attention To Second Generation Biofuels Environmental Sciences Essay

Second coevals biofuels are made from biomass-to-liquid engineerings, specifically cellulosic ethyl alcohol and Fischer-Tropsch gasification, and are intended to utilize lignocellulosic biomass. These engineerings are non by now commercially accessible. A figure of companies submit to some agro-fuel engineerings utilizing already bing provender stocks like palm oil or rapeseed oil as ‘second coevals ‘ like Neste Oil ‘s NExBTL Diesel, that consumes hard-hitting hydrogenation of fatty acids.Shift FROM FIRST GENERATION TO SECOND GENERATION BIO FUELSMany of the issues linked with 1st-generation biofuels can be sought out by the devising of biofuels which are manufactured from agricultural and forest left over ‘s and besides from non-food harvest provender stocks. Ligno-cellulosic feedstock is formed from specializer energy harvests grown on cultivable land, and at that place rather a few apprehensivenesss remain over viing land usage, although energy end products are expected to be high than if harvests grown for 1st-generation biofuels are produced on the same dirt. Additionally hapless quality land could besides possibly be utilized by the usage of 2nd coevals bio fuels.FEED STOCK YIELD AND ESTIMATION OF LAND AREA NEEDED[ 3 ] As we can see the tabular array gives us informations of the output of provender stock that is used for the production of 2nd coevals bio fuels, and besides the land that might be required for the sum of output. These 2nd-generation biofuels are relatively immature so they must hold all right potency for cost decreases and greater than before production efficiency degrees as more clip is base on ballss and research is done. Having an influence slightly from the future oil monetary values, they are likely to go an component of the solution to the job of traveling conveyance sector to the side of more sustainable energy resources. However, cardinal proficient and economic obstructions have still to come before they can be widely deployed. [ 4 ] Feedstock used by 2nd coevals engineerings include and their output is besides shown in the undermentioned tabular array: Dedicated agricultural production ( miscanthus, grass, etc. ) Agricultural production wastes ( straw, leaves, chaffs, etc. ) Dedicated forestry production ( wood ) A forestry and wood industry wastes ( subdivisions, sawdust, etc. ) Other wood residues, green wastes, portion of family waste, etc. Low-cost harvests, forest residues, wood procedure wastes, and organic fraction of the municipal solid wastes may all be utilized as ligno-cellulosic provender stocks. In the topographic points where these stuffs are gettable, production of biofuels should be made possible with practically no auxiliary land demands or consequence on nutrient and fibre harvest production. Though in a batch of parts these sorts of remains and waste provender stocks might hold unequal handiness, and therefore turning of vegetive grasses will be indispensable as options.BIO FUEL PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERISTICSHarvesting, treating, and presenting large volumes of biomass feedstock, with a needful quality, for whole of the twelvemonth, to a biofuels production works needs cautious logistical survey predating the investing in the works and its building. The program must be to cut down production cost, the cost of reaping and the cost of conveyance. Besides it should guarantee the economic feasibleness of the undertaking. This job is often insufficiently thought of when sing 2nd-generation options. The devising of biofuels utilizing ligno-cellulosic provender stocks may be done through 2 wholly separate fabrication paths. They include the undermentioned. biochemical – where enzymes and other micro-organisms convert cellulose and hemicelluloses mechanism of the provender stocks to sugars earlier to their agitation to do ethyl alcohol Thermo-chemical – for which gasification engineerings result in a synthesis gas ( CO + H2 ) through which a immense assortment of long C concatenation biofuels can be made. For illustration man-made Diesel The mentioned are non merely types or waies to the production of 2nd coevals biofuels, assorted researches are traveling on for others and betterments. They can do biofuels points like those which are produced via the cardinal waies or others which include di-methyl quintessence, methyl alcohol, etc.ECONIMICS OF BIO FUELSOn the footing of programs of assorted organisations the development of 2nd coevals biofuels initial full commercial-scale operation will likely get down by 2012. A little piece of informations demoing figures related to production of 2nd coevals can be seen in table 1. [ 1 ] Another major difference among biochemical and thermo-chemical paths comes to be that lignin constituent is a remnant of the enzymatic hydrolysis and therefore may be utilized for power coevals or possibly warming every bit good.BIO FUEL ENERGY BALANCENormally enzyme hydrolysis can be predictable to do up to 300 cubic decimeter ethyl alcohol / dry metric ton of biomass whereas the other path could bring forth like 200 cubic decimeter of man-made Diesel as shown in Table 2 [ 1 ] . There is an about same output in footings of the energy which is approx 6.5 GJ/t biofuels is since man-made Diesel has a larger value of energy denseness in comparative to volume than ethyl alcohol. Another chief thing that is different comes to be that biochemical waies produce ethyl alcohol in comparing to the thermo-chemical way which may be used to do a assortment of longer-chain hydrocarbons utilizing the synthesis gas.Technologies USEDCellulosic ethyl alcohol: This technique uses more energy than it really intends to do. Thus, sing usage and the end product consequences of energy it performs worse than 1st coevals maize ethyl alcohol. The undermentioned diagram gives the schematic of such a production [ 5 ] . A PRACTICAL PROCESS BY WHICH CELLULOSE ETHANOL IS PRODUCED Fischer-Tropsch gasification: Fischer-Tropsch gasification is utilized largely to bring forth Diesel from coal. It is a highly energy thorough process that is at the minute non at all commercially executable. It is of inquiry that use of Fischer-Tropsch gasification on a bigger graduated table may raise dodo fuel emanations. Following is an image of first bio-refinery ( a ) that was setup [ 6 ] and a Fischer Tropsch Section in China ( B ) [ 6 ] . ( a ) Image of the 1st Bio-Refinery ( B ) Fischer Tropsch Section in China [ 7 ] Above is shown the schematic of a Fischer-Tropsch gasification procedure. This is non a concluding version of the procedure as new betterments are being done to this new engineering every twenty-four hours. But however a basic thought can be interpreted from this scheme.Outputs of Bio Fuel in FutureTo bring forth 2nd coevals biofuels a broad scope of feedstock might be utilized. In add-on, the energy required for the intent of agribusiness and feedstock production can be reduced to a great extent. In immense transition services 2nd coevals provender stocks are predictable to be aptly transformed to biofuels. But, even though a high hereafter prospective may be present, at the minute it is non up till now confirmed that 2nd coevals biofuels will be improved in public presentation energy-wise, economically and with regard to carbon. Following is an extract from the European enchiridion to which presents the use of 2nd coevals bio fuels over the coming old ages as expected [ 2 ] . SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS AND CO2 EMISSIONSAlternatively of utilizing dearly-won nutrient harvests to do the bio-crude, second-generation biofuels for illustration agricultural waste are used. Second-generation biofuels processs do n't hold any consequence on supplies of nutrients. But one positive point is that they are decidedly environmentally much better and sustainable than the 1st coevals biofuels. If they are wholly made commercial, these advanced biofuels engineering can easy reconstruct fossil fuels with locally made biofuels which can in bend have positive effects like: Decreasing the demand for crude oil that is imported Lowering the emanation of nursery gases therefore diminishing of CO2A content per twelvemonth Opening new occupations, countries of research and skills peculiarly on rural sides Second coevalss biofuels are non at the minute commercial because of their production engineerings being in the research and development stairss. Assortment of feed stocks may be utilized to bring forth biofuels including lignocelluloses. Second coevals biofuels are for illustration bioethanol coming from cellulosic stuff. The ‘Technology Roadmap ‘ given in the ‘Vision Report ‘ explains coming up of these biofuels in 3 stairss which are, bettering the engineerings that exist, research and development of 2nd coevals biofuels and research and development of bio-refinery thoughts.REFRENCES[ 1 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.iea.org/papers/2008/2nd_Biofuel_Gen_Exec_Sum.pdf [ 2 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.compete-bioafrica.net/publications/publ/Biofuel_Technology_Handbook_version2_D5.pdf [ 3 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //ucanr.org/repository/cao/landingpage.cfm? article=ca.v063n04p191 & A ; fulltext=yes [ 4 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.etha-plus.ch/en/technique.html [ 5 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag? docid=145254590 [ 6 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //newenergyandfuel.com/http: /newenergyandfuel/com/2009/04/16/exploring-a-new-gasification-process/ [ 7 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //coalgasificationnews.com/tag/sasol/

Just Take Away Their Guns by James Wilson Essay

Just Take Away Their Guns by James Wilson - Essay Example This paper illustrates that Wilson assumes various rhetorical choices to explain how the removal of the illegal use of guns must be the focus of the government. In the article, he employs logos or logical appeal with persuasive facts that are likely to appeal to an American audience majority of whom is security conscious and by his own admission, they are likely to control the gun control laws but they are not sure they are going to be effective. In this case, Wilson begins by stating that creation of tougher gun control laws is not an effective method of dealing with illegal possession of firearms. Legal restraint of citizens to possess guns has little effect in dealing with the illegal use of firearms. Many guns are stolen, borrowed, or attained through private purchases and therefore, the government gun laws would be ineffective. Wilson succeeds in selling this particular idea to the readers because, from a logical perspective, he has statistically proven that the guns used in cri me are guns acquired by illegal means which the new laws are not going to have any effect on. By so doing, he has managed to effectively prove that the new laws are redundant and misguided since they will be unlikely to address the problem at hand. Wilson further uses exemplification and appeals to expert opinions, to clarify the importance of ensuring that the public can access guns legally without limitations. Gun control supporters largely disregard the need for self-defense among the citizens citing that the government can provide this necessity. However, Wilson cites Gary Kleck, a criminologist who has conducted research, indicating that every year guns are fired for self-defense purposes more than a million times what the police use. This research, therefore, indicates that the numbers of citizens that defend themselves with guns are more than the number of arrests that occur for violent crimes. Wilson provides an example to show the legitimacy of self-defense that discourages criminal activity. It is evident from the National Crime Survey that citizens that defend themselves with guns are less likely to suffer a loss of property or be harmed than those that do not. Further, statistics indicate criminals are scared of victims with guns in many instances. Wilson adopts the definition rhetoric choice in helping the reader understand the importance of government efforts in seizing illegal firearms. He defines the word â€Å"frisk† as parting down an individual’s outer garments, which occurs during a physical search. Frisk is an important part of the operation that law enforcement agencies must be encouraged to adapt to remove illegal guns from the public. It is thus unequivocal that the government’s effort to search for illegal firearms from criminals is more important than disarming the citizens. This is because the main problem is caused by criminals in the procession of illegal weapons as opposed to law-abiding citizens who have obta ined guns for their own safety. Rhetorical Situation Due to the increased rate of gun violence, there is an urgency that has motivated exigency in the article is created by the call for tougher laws to restrict people from acquiring firearms legally.

War Propaganda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

War Propaganda - Essay Example Therefore, the poster is both appealing to the male population while being simultaneously convincing. The use of the American flag combined with a soldier blowing a trumpet is appealing. The actions of the soldier rhyme with the poster’s message â€Å"the call to Duty†. Additionally, the poster invokes patriotism in people who happen to view it. Thus, they view that it is their duty to join the army and defend their home country from invaders or enemies. Moreover, the poster’s simplicity is quite attractive. It implies that it is every citizen’s duty to be in the armed forces. The poster is catchy since it uses children in its campaign. Naturally, children tend to influence their parent’s decisions and choices. Thus, a child will encourage his/her parents to purchase war saving stamps. Also, the poster signifies that Uncle Sam cares for his children since one of the children is sitted in his arm. In addition to this, the poster’s message can be interpreted to mean that the war is going on for the sake of protecting American children from their enemies. Therefore, I like the use of children in war posters in an attempt to attract more support for the army. If Uncle Sam loses the war, it’s the children who suffer the most, hence the need for children to support the American army. I chose this poster mainly because its message is based on democracy. It implies that anyone joining the army would help spread democracy to regions experiencing dictatorial rule. Thus, the army will be liberating the rest of the world from oppression. On the other hand, the poster ensures that every American citizen is thinking and believing that the main reason America’s involved in the war is to spread democracy around the world. This is a clever way to manipulate the public by the government. Since time immemorial, the good side has always been fighting for democracy and liberation from dictators. Due to the poster basing its

INTERNATIONAL LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

INTERNATIONAL LAW - Essay Example World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement of Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) is a practical example of hard instrument model of international laws directed at regulation of subsides. A subsidy has been defined concretely to include financial support as well as price support extended by a government that creates an advantageous situation for certain industries. Alturai and Benares are neighbouring countries and currently both hold membership in World Trade Organisation. Alturai is facing recession in its steel industry so consequently, the government has formulated new economic policies. For instance, the government has extended and assured constant supply of iron that is the primary raw material for manufacturing steel. The stable and consistent supply of raw material will enable the steel industry to boost production. Additionally, the implementation of price ceiling is a significant incentive as suppliers will be able to reap the maximum possible profits. The element of increased profit will induce new suppliers to join the industry, prevent the steel industry from crashing, and ensue in more employment opportunities. The policies will also accelerate exports as the government has sanctioned to give credit equivalent to payment of custom duty for exports of steel. Lastly, the government being well aware of the need for innovation and cost competitiveness in the globalized market, has granted monetary assistance equivalent to 1% of sales value to be invested in research and development. Investment in research and development is imperative to ensure survival in today’s volatile, consumer oriented and globalised markets. Firms no longer have to only deal with domestic competition but also take on international competitors. Therefore, it is integral to explore technological opportunities. Foreign exchange earnings from exports are one of the fundamental macro-economic aims of a country. Hence, escalating exportation is not only fruitful for dom estic industry but for foreign exchange reserves as well. According to WTO SCM agreement, a subsidy encompasses three basic elements: a monetary contribution, by a government or public organization and provides a benefit. All of the stated criteria must be met for any financial contribution to be deemed as subsidy (International Trade Centre, 2009 b). Although various kinds of government incentives that do not actually involve financial contributions being made, however these can be thought as subsidies as they undermine competition. The US-Softwood Lumber IV case clearly states in its judgement that subsidies can be direct as well as passed indirectly in order to benefit certain parties. However, the SCM agreement demands that a financial contribution is a prerequisite for subsidy such as grants, loans, guarantees, fiscal incentives. Secondly, the contribution has to be made by or at the order of the government or a public entity within the country. Obviously, a subsidy must prove beneficial for the interest of the recipient; sometimes the benefit is easily identifiable whereas in other instances, it can be complicated (Macrory, Appleton, & Plummer, 2005). The EC-DRAMs Chips case is a clear reminder that a subsidy passed to only 6 out of 200 firms is enough to be labelled as a subsidy established under specificity. Article 1 of ASCM lays down the definition of a subsidy, clause1.1 states (WTO, 1995): â€Å"

Coca Cola Crisis in India 2003 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Coca Cola Crisis in India 2003 - Assignment Example It is important to note that this degree of trust is the cornerstone upon which any type of image recovery or customer trust will be built upon. Accordingly, these questions and answers will hinge upon building this degree of trust and seeking to engage key elements within the consumer base. Furthermore, an obvious recourse would be to attempt to re-engage the market with the understanding and belief that Coca Cola brand is investing all available energy and capital to remedy any quality control issues that might have existed previously. As a means towards accomplishing consumer trust on this matter, Coca Cola may wish to point to its civic activism within the recent past, both within India and around the world as a means to convince the shareholder of the serious nature in which Coca Cola takes such an action. As a means to accomplish both the long and the short term goals that have been mentioned, it will be incumbent upon Coca Cola to prove their overall level of seriousness by pr oviding demonstrable actions to the Indian marketplace that clear and decisive actions have been taken to remedy any prior shortfalls that may have been exhibited. How long would you evaluate the crisis? Unfortunately, a situation like the one that has been listed is not one that Coca Cola can recover from over the span of a few months or even years. Similarly, as anyone that is familiar with marketing will point out, the amount of time it takes to re-engage consumer trust and ensure the market that the firm is not typified by its most negative actions and the consequences thereof is a costly and time-intensive process. Due to the fact that the findings were so damning, it will take Coca Cola a very long period of time to both rectify the damage done to the brand’s image as well as to seek to effectively engage future consumers with the overall benefits of the brand. Although the process will not be quick or cheap, such is the responsibility of Coca Cola and defines any hope of increased future success within India. It should be noted that a great deal rests on the means by which Coca Cola attempts to re-engage its consumers.  Ã‚  

The 1912 Presidential Election Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The 1912 Presidential Election - Essay Example All candidates were aware of the massive changes sweeping across the American society and made dedicated efforts to answer the reforms necessary to maintain the Progressive order. Progressivism also necessitated the strategy of each candidate towards fighting corruption, modernizing every element of state machinery and reforming the economy in every possible way. Progressivism and the 1912 Presidential Election Israel says that the fact that the 1912 US Presidential election brought forth a significant reform in the American political system is simple enough to highlight the crucial role played by the Progressive Party (78). The Progressive Party not only succeeded in rising to prominence against the two main parties (the Democrats and the Republicans) but also succeeded in wielding significant influence over the next four years on issues on national importance. This is evident since the progressive party gained over 30% of the vote and had a strong contender – Theodore Roosev elt – as its presidential candidate (Berkin 34). ...  The Progressive Party strongly favored support for labor unions and wanted to maintain a tight grip on business enterprises in an effort to regulate American industry. Milkis says that these reformist beliefs stem from the very life of Roosevelt, who spent his early years growing up in a working-class neighborhood in New York (63). One of the primary persons responsible for the departure of Roosevelt was the incumbent president – William Taft. Taft had previously served under Roosevelt’s administration as the ‘Secretary of War’ until 1908 when he was finally chosen as Roosevelt’s successor to be president. However, Taft’s policies grew increasingly conservative in nature and began to create a rift within the party leading to a split in 1912 (Morrisey 25). Unlike Roosevelt, Taft favored lesser regulatory oversight on businesses and more freedom in the hands of business leaders. Taf t reasoned that such freedom was essential for sustaining innovation and productivity in the American economy and that he favored refraining from any external control on American enterprises unless absolutely necessary (Eisenstark 52). Against the backdrop of these two warring parties, the Democrats fielded Woodrow Wilson as their presidential candidate. The in-fighting between the two factions of the Republican Party proved favorable for Wilson as he had to contend with a disorganized opposition. In fact, these trends helped the Democrats resolve their internal differences and helped them evolve into a significant political force.

Chinas Urbanization as a Spectacle Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Chinas Urbanization as a Spectacle - Case Study Example The spectacles build up in the cities to an extent that it turns into an image. To create room for these spectacle projects, city residents are repeatedly displaced and relocated while migrants are ejected (Laurence, 2012; Wing, 2009). This form of urbanization is a clear depiction of China’s shallowness. The magnificent architecture is copied from the west and is a clear show of China’s lack of appreciation of their culture. The new city undoubtedly indicates China’s lack of confidence by replacing structure depicting their culture with those from a dissimilar civilization. The architectural problems China is facing emanates from the attempts to merge the western devised design with the Chinese culture. The belief that Asian like hiding problem is verified by the manner in which China has used the magnificent architectures to cover the predicaments facing China ranging from excessive pollution to the miserable displaced families. The spectacle is an invention characterized by shadow and light that China borrowed directly from western culture. Chinese sprawl is apparent from space with American Culture tailored in the architectures (Campanella, 2008; Ren, 2011). The skyscrapers are a depiction of a deteriorating culture and a mere cover-up of a failing economy. The developments led to vast migration from the rural areas to urban centers to an extent that the urban population overtook that in the rural areas. From the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese culture started depreciating and in the next few years, the culture might become extinct (Wing, 2009). One of the consequences of the development of spectacle city is the increased abuse of Labour rights with the migrants into the metropolis earning meager wages while working in poor working conditions. The mass migration is expected to cause immerse strains in aspects pertaining to housing, transport as well as increase the rate of pollution (Laurence, 2012).

Case summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case summary - Assignment Example Most customers could find their way in since they have in mind that all the items they may wish to have are available hence increasing the number of customers thereby making huge profits. The cool music system in supermarket industries makes customers to feel much entertained while carrying out their shopping. However, almost all supermarket industries provide their customers with a wide range of items at their points. This enables most customers to find their way in. Trader Joe came up with a unique way of promoting his business nature by producing products which were not offered initially by other supermarkets such as black rice, whole bean coffees and sprouted wheat bread. Trader Joe later offered an extensive line of the private label items with brand names such as Trader Ming’s, Trader Jose and Trader Joe among others. All the labels were bearing the name ‘’Trader’’. This is an indication that he didn’t want to lose this title and popularity. On the other hand, Trader Joe stores could be found in old trip malls locations which maintained footprints. However, the nature of the prices was favorable and most of the customers could find their way in more especially during busy Saturday morning. Trader Joe also was paying his staff members more than what they were expecting including the retirement payments. Such offers could act as motives to the workers hence could make them to work open heartedly during their time of work. Trader Joe also organized the firm to offer health care benefits to all part time employees (Nicholas 67). Despite all the success, Trader Joe services attracted some imitators such as the Tesco which was the third largest retailer launched some small nearby markets in western United States. The firm drew some concepts which created competition between them (Nicholas 59). Trader Joe on the other side did not invest in technology within the store.

Planet--61 Vir c Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Planet--61 Vir c - Essay Example The three planets forming the planetary system of 61 vir are vir b, vir c, vir d (table 2). They were discovered by a team of astronomers including Steven S. Vogt, Robert A. Wittenmyer, R. Paul Butler, Simon O’Toole, Gregory W. Henry, Eugenio J. Rivera, Stefano Meschiari, Gregory Laughlin, C. G. Tinney, Hugh R. A. Jones, Jeremy Bailey, Brad D. Carter, and Konstantin Batygin. The data leading to discovery of this planetary system was obtained from W. M. Keck observatory in Hawaii added to the observations made by Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) in New South Wales, Australia. The research was conducted in affiliation with National Science Foundation and NASA, who supported the research (Stephens). Table 1: Parameters of star 61 virginis 61 VIR Parameter Parameter Value References Year Stellar Type G5V Takeda et al. 2007 Mass 0.942(-0.029+0.034) solar masses Takeda et al. 2007 Radius 0.98Â ±0.03 solar radius Takeda et al. 2007 Age 8.96 (-3.08+2.76) Gyr Takeda et al. 2007 Distan ce from Solar System 27.8 light years Takeda et al 2007 Planets 3- Vir b, vir c, vir d Vogt et al. 2010 Table 2: Characteristics of planet 61 vir c (Vogt et al., 1366) 61 VIR C CHARACTERISTICS Characteristic Value Distance from its star (Semi major axis) 0.2175 (Â ±0.0001) AU Mass of Planet (M.sin i) 0.0573(Â ±0.0035)MJ Discovery method/date code RV09 Sibling Planets Vir b and Vir d Orbital period 38.012Â ±0.036 days (Epoch JD 2453369.166) 38.021Â ±0.034 days (Keplerian orbital solutions) Eccentricity 0.14 61 VIRGINIS: 61 Viginis or HD 115617, is located at a distance of 28 light years (8.52 parsecs from the solar system, and is a part of the constellation virgo, along with many other stars namely Spica, ? virginis, ?virginis 70 virginis, chi virginis. The constellation virgo can easily be located on the basis of Spica, which is the brightest star of this constellation. Continuing on the curve formed by the seven major stars of ursa major, known as big dipper; to the star Arctur us of bootes constellation; the star spica can be located. The star belongs to the category of GV5 star, i.e. it is a main sequence star of G type while V is indicative of its luminosity. Main sequence refers to the stage of the life of a star. Stars occupying a position on Hertzsprung-Russel plot as a consequence of their absolute levels of brightness and colour index are known as main sequence stars (figure 1). Both of these properties are dependent on the mass of star which in turn is determined by the chemical composition and chemical reactions responsible for energy of the star (Habets and Heintze, 193). Figure 1: Hertzsprung-Russel plot (http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net) Thus the primary feature of a main sequence star is that it is in hydrostatic equilibrium, converting hydrogen in its core to helium by nuclear fusion; while simultaneously increasing in size. They form 91% of the stars known, are also known as dwarf stars in contrast to the rest which are known as white dwar fs (8%) and giants (1%). Our sun is a main sequence star and so is Virginis 61. The main sequence stars are further classified in to spectral classes depending on their temperature and other features such as luminosity and mass. Vir 61 belongs to spectral class G5, i.e. with a surface temperature of 10,000? C, Mass of 0.92 solar mass, luminosity 0.8 solar luminosity and lifespan of 15 billion years. (Habets and Heint

The Timucua Indians of Northern Florida Essay Example for Free

The Timucua Indians of Northern Florida Essay The Timucua Indians: All were settled agricultural peoples, as skilled with their hoe as they were with canoes or with bows and arrows. They lived in villages, where they cultivated corn, beans, and other crops. Noted warriors, they fiercely resisted early attempts to bring them under submission, but co existed peacefully with the Spaniards for most of the first 198 years of Spanish occupation. Source: Muller, Peter O., Gannon and Fernald, Edward, A. â€Å"Florida† Microsoft Encarta 2006 (DVD), Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation 2005 The Cherokee- were divided into seven matri lineal clans that were dispersed in war and peace moieties (half-tribes) The people lived in numerous permanent villages, typically placed along rivers and streams. Some villages belonged to the war moiety, the rest to the peace moiety. Cherokee families typically had two dwellings: rectangular summer houses with cane and walls and bark or thatch roofs, and cone shaped winter houses with role frames and brushwork covered by mud or clay. The Cherokee crafted pottery as well as baskets. The bask, or Green Corn Ceremony, was a time of Thanksgiving, Forgiveness, Rekendling of Sacred Fires and Spiritual Renewal. It was held in Mid-to late summer, when the corn was ready for roasting. Source: Waldman, Carl â€Å"Cherokee† Microsoft Encarta 2006 (DVD). Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation 2005 (Writer’s notes: These are the only pictures I got) Source: University of Washington Libraries, Digital Collections. Comparing the Timucua and Cherokee Indian tribes. Both of them are engaged in Agriculture. I think, the Timucua are the warrior type. Mentioning their skills with canoes and bow and arrow. The attitude of resisting early attempts to bring them under submission. For me, it is a rigid culture and thinking. While the Cherokee, who were subdivided Into seven matri lineal clans or half tribes, were the flexible type of people. Since being a warrior means to kill people, who are supposedly the enemy. The Cherokee, though, they also have their warrior clans. But the practice of Green Corn Ceremony made them the exact opposite of the Timucua Indians, who are more on skills, this is about physical attributes. While the Cherokee is on non-physical attributes. To be a warrior, means being engaged in wars or warfare, which means about being fierce and destructive. But on the other hand, for the Cherokee,I consider them to be the constructive, and productive type of people. Though, the Timucua, for being resistive against their enemies must have spent a lot of time developing and training for the skills in war. It is like choosing two things. You resist, but you will become less productive, yet if you submit, then you will learn something new and perhaps will have a much better life. Now, what it means to submit to a superior force, who were their enemies at that time, is it becoming a slave and their self-respect gone. Perhaps, for the Timucua, it is better to fight and die. At this moment, presently we have the advantages in terms of education. The Indian tribes, are then considered as ignorant, but history is actually the judge of which each of us shall learn something. For me, a warrior thinks differently. And it is something which is unique for a tribe, or a culture, something inherent, of which one cannot take away or get rid of it. The only way perhaps, is to find a way to help him change his mind.

Coincidence of Cycles in Credit and Property Markets

Coincidence of Cycles in Credit and Property Markets Abstract What caused the financial crisis that is sweeping across the world? What is the role of debt and leverage in causing asset market bubbles to form and collapse? What keeps asset prices and lending depressed? What can be done to remedy matters? This paper will present a qualitative review of the role of debt and leverage in causing asset market bubbles to form and collapse in the real estate market under the context of the global financial crisis. Long-run causality appears to go from property prices to bank lending. Literature Review The direction of causality between bank lending and property prices The causality between bank lending and property prices goes in both directions. Property prices may affect bank lending via various wealth effects (Hofmann, 2003). First, due to financial market imperfections, households and firms may be borrowing constrained. As a result, households and firms can only borrow when they offer collateral, so that their borrowing capacity is a function of their collateralisable net worth. Since property is commonly used as collateral, property prices are therefore an important determinant of the private sectors borrowing capacity. Second, a change in property prices may have a significant effect on consumers perceived lifetime wealth, inducing them to change their spending and borrowing plans and thus their credit demand in order to smooth consumption over the life cycle. Finally, property prices affect the value of bank capital, both directly to the extent that banks own assets, and indirectly by affecting the value of loans secured by property. Proper ty prices therefore influence the risk-taking capacity of banks and thus their willingness to extend loans. The literature in the last few decades referred to risk-taking behavior of financial market participants in times of abundant liquidity, banks leverage targeting behavior and a portfolio real balance effect of other financial intermediaries. Financial intermediaries, which must maintain an adequate ratio of capital to assets, can be deterred from lending, or induced to shift the composition of loans away from bank-dependent sectors such as small businesses, by declines in the values of the assets they hold (Bernanke Gertler, 2000). Bank lending, on the other hand, may affect property prices through various liquidity effects. The price of property can be seen as an asset price, which is determined by the discounted future stream of property returns. An increase in the availability of credit may lower interest rates and stimulate current and future expected economic activity. As a result, property prices may rise because of higher expected returns on property and a lower discount factor. Property can also be seen as a durable good in temporarily fixed supply. An increase in the availability of credit may increase the demand for housing if households are borrowing constrained. With supply temporarily fixed because of the time it takes to construct new housing units, this increase in demand will be reflected in higher property prices. This potential two-way causality between bank lending and property prices may give rise to mutually reinforcing cycles in credit and property markets. A rise in property prices, caused by more optimistic expectations about future economic prospects, raises the borrowing capacity of firms and households by increasing the value of collateral. Part of the additional available credit may also be used to purchase property, pushing up property prices even further, so that a self-reinforcing process may evolve. Potential simultaneity problems are controlled for the direction of causality between bank lending and property prices, as studied by Gerlach and Peng (2002). Bank lending, which was transformed into real terms by deflation with the CPI (consumer price index), is defined as total credit to the private non-bank sector. Cross-country comparisons of the development of bank lending are flawed by differences in the definition of total credit across countries. These differences in definition will be reflected in the results of the empirical analysis. Differences exist, for example, with respect to the treatment of non-performing loans (NPLs) in national credit aggregates. A drop in property prices will on the one hand have a negative effect on the extension of new loans. On the other hand, it will give rise to an increase in NPLs. The estimated effect of property prices on bank lending will therefore depend on whether banks are forced to write off NPLs quickly or not. For instance, Japan and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) experienced severe banking crises in the late 1980s or early 1990s, which were preceded by a collapse in property prices. While NPLs were quite quickly cleansed from banks balance sheets in the Nordic countries, this was not the case in Japan. To a broader view, bank lending has contributed significantly to the real estate bubble in Asia prior to the 1997 East Asian crisis. Quarterly residential property price indices were available for all countries except for Japan, Italy and Germany. For Japan and Italy, semi-annual indices were transformed to quarterly frequency by linear interpolation. For Germany, a quarterly series was generated by linear interpolation based on annual observations from the first quarter of each year. In order to obtain a measure of real property prices, nominal property prices were deflated with the CPI. Residential property prices may not fully capture the property price developments, which are relevant for aggregate bank lending. Credit aggregates comprise bank lending to households and enterprises. The appropriate measure of property prices for the empirical analysis would therefore be aggregate property price index, comprising both residential and commercial property prices. For most countries, the available commercial property price data are available only in annual frequency and represent only price developments in the largest urban area of the country. The use of these data in empirical analysis is therefore quite problematic. In the few countries where high quality commercial property price data are available, such as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, residential and commercial property prices are closely correlated, suggesting that residential property prices may act as a proxy for omitted commercial property prices in the empirical analysis. The short-term real interest rate is measured as the three months interbank money market rate less four quarter CPI inflation. The short-term real money market rate serves as a proxy for real aggregate financing costs. A more accurate measure would be an aggregate lending rate. Representative lending rates are, however, not available for most countries. Empirical evidence suggests that lending rates are tied to money market rates, implying that money market rates are a valid approximation of financing costs. The global financial crisis and debt explosions A chain of events, beginning with unexpected losses in the U.S. subprime mortgage market, was destined to bring the global financial system close to collapse and to drag the world economy into recession. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis between 2007 and 2009, economists have paid more attention to the role of debt and leverage in causing asset market bubbles to form and collapse. For instance, the asset price inflation and rising leverage for the United States exemplified nearly all the signs of a country on the verge of a financial crisis-indeed, a severe one. Then, we find that asset market collapses are deep and prolonged. Obviously, the transparent global banking system shows that the main cause of debt explosions is not the broadly critically valued costs of bailing out and recapitalizing. In essence, the crucial drivers of debt increases are the inevitable collapse in tax revenues that governments suffer in the wake of deep and prolonged output contractions, as well as often-ambitious countercyclical fiscal policies aimed at mitigating the downturn. Firms private investment and asset market valuation are negatively associated with their top lenders real estate exposure. Global firms have a flexible average and they can get the leverage market, so there is an opportunistic approach about it. The characteristic huge buildups in government debt are driven mainly by sharp falloffs in tax revenue and, in many scenarios, big surges in government spending to fight the recession, declared by Reinhard and Rogoff (2008). The rise in real government debt in the three years follows a banking crisis, tending to explode with a rise at an average of 86% in the major post-World II episodes (Reinhard and Rogoff, 2008). Using the money amount of borrowing from the banks is the amount of credit available to the firm. Lang, Ofek, and Stulz (1996) find that future growth and investment are negatively related to leverage, especially for real estate firms with high debt ratios. In the current economic background, the effects of firms collateral losses may also depend on firm leverage, with highly leveraged firms investing less owning to more binding borrowing constraints. Hofmann (2003) suggests that property price cycles, reflecting changing beliefs about future economic prospects, drive credit cycles, rather than excessive bank lending being the cause of property price bubbles. Most asset classes have derivative markets. Professional investors assume that property derivatives market worked property, and the deleveraged REIT returns are closely linked to underlying market. Real estate invest in real estate debt (in effect deleveraging), use derivative trades for liquidity or use long-short trading to take positions on market views, and need to buy real estate at all. Purchaser gets low cost, diversified returns without alpha. Seller hedges underlying assets or reinvests cashflow. If there are some products that allow them to invest to increase the house price, then the investors can hedge against the increase of the house price and build up my investment. The investors could track the increase of the house prices and reduce the exposure of the house. They can diversify in the portfolio. A derivative market will give you pricing information for the pricing symmetry. The U.S. real estate is strongly distorted by derivatives and arbitrage argued by Schiller. The global financial crisis and leverage: worsening the impact of collateral losses and borrowing The factors that determine the leverage level are: financial covenants, property market/cycle, income to repayment ratio, sum of deals, maintain credit rating, dividend policy, competitor debt levels, tax benefits, and other factors. They are weighted from the largest proportion to the smallest proportion respectively. Leverage does hurt growth in the sense that it worsens the impact of collateral losses. Figure 1 explores the impact of a lower steady-state leverage ratio, 25% instead of 50% as in the baseline scenario. The figure shows that a reduction in leverage significantly moderates the cycle. Figure 1. The effects of leverage on responses to an asset-price boom and bust Notes: Comparison of high steady-state leverage (ratio of net worth to capital of 0.5, as in baseline simulations) and low steady-state leverage (net worth-capital ratio of 0.75). Monetary policy is assumed to target expected inflation aggressively. For example, firms or households may use assets they hold as collateral when borrowing, in order to ameliorate information and incentive problems that would otherwise interfere with credit extension. Under such circumstances, a decline in asset values (for example, a fall in home equity values) reduced available collateral, leads to an unplanned increase in leverage on the part of borrowers, and impedes potential borrowers access to credit. Supportive of the bubble-size hypothesis shows that the greater the gain prior to the shock between 1986 and 1989, the greater the fall in the post-shock period. Leverage is significantly positive, probably suggesting that firms that can secure borrowing are better firms and those with better relationships (Gan, 2007). Lamont and Stein (1999) show that house prices into metro areas with high levels of leverage are more sensitive to income shocks than house prices in metro areas with less leverage. At an individual level, Genesove and Mayer (2001) show that leverage has a large impact on seller reservation prices in a downturn, affecting both the probability of sale and the subsequent sales prices. Others have shown that liquidity affects refinancing behavior and mobility. While Case and Shiller (1988) use surveys to show that market conditions affect the reported expectations of recent home buyers, few papers have explored the role of information and psychology on expectations formations and transactions prices. Leverage drives up volatility of returns and bad timing issues, and LTV based lending is highly risky with the characteristics of being both pro-cyclical and vulnerable to downturns. Income/earning based constraints are more robust, and NB debt maturity, downside risk and refinancing risk are both crucially important for the leverage performance. Non-contractibility imposes limits on borrowing: and debt contracts secured on land are the only financial instruments that creditors can rely on (Miller and Stiglitz, 2010). This puts a strict upper limit on the amount of external finance that can be raised: so the rate of expansion of the small businesses is determined not by their inherent earning power but by their ability to acquire collateral. Even without intermediaries, a credit-constrained market economy-where collateral is used to handle repudiation risk-can exhibit liquidity crises and asset price crashes (Geanakoplos, 2003). Highly leveraged borrowers can very easily become insolvent. Giacomini et al. (2015) show highly leveraged REITs produce lower average returns and lower Sharpe ratios over cycle and much greater falls in bear markets. Leverage is producing the worst risk adjusted return. If their net worth were only 5% of assets held as collateral for loans, a correction of asset prices in excess of this would be enough to wipe out their net worth-even before fire-sales begin. As Koo (2011) describes it, the collapse of an economy-wide asset bubble could be the economic equivalent of the collapse of a supernova-with the black hole of insolvency threatening to swallow whole sectors of an over-leveraged economy. The consequences of technical insolvency were seen as so severe, indeed, that a preemptive strategy of concealing the true balance sheet position was apparently in Japan (Koo, 2011). As lending is liberalized and leveraged increased at the same time that prices are inflated (as the result, in p art, of banks capital reserves growth), moral hazard further undermines lenders incentives to price loans efficiently and exacerbate these underlying forces for the provision of excessive credit (Herring and Wachter 1999). The impact of leverage (recall irrelevance proposition-but also costs of financial distress and no tax shield for REITs) is dependent upon market perception of management ability, and CAPM (or factor models) can be used to assess the risk premium. The study covers the short-term and long-term dynamics of the assets, correcting for leverage in the direct real estate indices. Results suggest that long-run REIT market performance is more closely related to the direct real estate market than to general stocks, similar response to shocks in fundamentals. Asset market features that hamper arbitrage processes The inefficiencies in underlying asset market include high round trip transaction costs, illiquidity and time to trade, real management costs, and heterogeneity and alpha (the retail portfolio preference). An obvious reaction to market inefficiency is arbitrage. Arbitrage signifies taking advantage of pricing inefficiencies without any exposure to risk, and creates abnormal profits (no free lunch). When arbitrage speculators enter the market, adding liquidity, it is reasonably assumed that these are mostly short-term investors, as arbitrage investors by their nature tend to buy and sell more rapidly than most other investors. Theoretical analyses suggest expected margin should be zero or close to zero for the underlying asset markets and rational margins (arbitrage portfolio). However, in practice consumers and FI do not arbitrage in the housing market (Farlow, 2004). Arbitrage in the real estate market is risky for several reasons. First, a player has to be sure that there are enough players in the market that are also arbitraging: an insufficient proportion of arbitrageurs might cause the inefficiency to persist. The execution time is more painful for the buyers than the sellers. In any one market, there are more buyers than sellers. Second, another risk is the impossibility to obtain general agreement on the deviation from a certain fundamental value. Third, houses are heterogeneous assets that rarely have close substitutes and hence are traded in segmented markets. In addition, no central exchange exists so information is far from perfect. Furthermore, the relatively high transaction costs and the absence of short-selling opportunities in housing markets make arbitrage even riskier (Hong and Stein, 2003; Farlow, 2004). Money illusion in real estate implies the failure of consumers to evaluate alternatives during a period of inflation due to a difference between nominal and real values. It plays an important role in real estate because it generally deals with long-term projects and frictions, like short-sale constraints, which makes it difficult to arbitrage mispricing away. There are several ways of the improvement of the market: the lack of liquidity, the pricing issue, the inability to arbitrage, the trench to pension funds and so on. Hence, it is better to exploit momentum in this risky market than to try to fight against it in time of excess. When the real estate portfolios lack momentum effects, they would rather have big margins. Professional investors should get rid of their retail portfolios while they are actually selling and trading. Research Methodology An iconic model with high leverage and overvalued collateral assets is used to illustrate the amplification mechanism driving asset prices to overshoot equilibrium when asset bubble bursts-threatening widespread insolvency and what Richard Koo calls a balance sheet recession (Miller Stiglitz, 2010). For the purpose at hand-to study the dangers posed by excessive leverage and how capital restructuring may be needed to avert economic collapse when an asset bubble bursts-we make use of a stripped-down framework of heterogeneous agents with explicit credit constraints but no intermediaries (Miller Stiglitz, 2010). Before considering what happens when an asset bubble collapses globally, consider how things evolve with perfect foresight, starting with small businesses that borrow up to the hilt and happily postpone consumption of traded goods to some later date. Their flow of funds accounts show land holdings, denoted evolving as: or, in symbols,  where is the amount of one-period borrowing to be repaid as (R is one plus the one-period interest rate), is price of land, and measures the productivity of land in this sector. The credit constraint, assumed to bind at all times, is that borrowing gross of interest matches the expected value of land, i.e. As the degree of leverage is keyed to expectations of future prices, there will be more lending when capital gains are in prospect-as was true for sub-prime lending according to Gorton (2008). This will be crucial when an asset bubble is considered. But with perfect foresight of future land values, substitution into (1) yields an accumulation equation for small businesses who use all their net worth to make down payments on land, namely: where the expression in parentheses on the left is the down-payment required to purchase a unit of land and the term on the right measures both the productivity of those resources in this sector and SB net worth. By adding an asset bubble to a canonical model of highly leveraged businesses, Miller and Stigliz (2010) have highlighted the vicious downward spiral that may develop when asset prices begin to fall and have outlined a variety of measures that may be used to check this-with the government stepping in because of the externalities and moral hazard involved. The authorities in both the US and UK have of course undertaken extraordinary financial interventions, amounting in total to around three quarters of GDP (Miller and Stigliz, 2010). The arbitrage scenario of the asset market bubbles Suppose in addition to the fundamentals (net rents), we define a periodic bubble component b; then any of the following form will also satisfy arbitrage conditions and be rational: , with . Thus, if at time t an asset is overvalued by an amount , a rational investor will still purchase such an asset, if the degree of overvaluation is expected to grow by a rate equal to or greater than the appropriate discount rate. In turn, this implies that a necessary condition for housing bubbles to form is serial correlation in price changes. However, to anticipate results below, in our model housing bubbles will be self-limiting because new supply is being built. Panel unit roots and co-integration tests As a tentative attempt to partly overcome this problem, I exploit the rather large cross-section dimension of my analysis to perform unit root and co-integration tests. Asa first step I perform standard augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root tests (Dickey and Fuller, 1981) to test for the order of integration of the time series under investigation. The ADF test regression is of the form: Allowing for a maximum lag order of four, the lag order was determined by sequential t-tests eliminating all lags up to the first significant at the 5% level. The test regression for the level of each variable contained a constant and a trend; the test regression for the first difference contained only a constant. The ADF test statistic is the t-statistic of . If is significantly smaller than zero, the null hypothesis of a unit root can be rejected. I also report a panel ADF test proposed by lm et al. (2003). They show that the standardized average of the N individual ADF test statistics (6) has a standard normal distribution, where is the average of the individual ADF test statistics and and are respectively the mean and the variance of the distribution of the ADF test statistic. The appropriate mean and variance adjustment values are tabulated in Im et al. (2003). The test is one sided. The 1%, 5%, and 10% critical values are -1.96, -1.64, and -1.28. Large negative values therefore imply a rejection of the null of a unit root. On the whole, the results suggest that the natural logs of real bank lending, real property prices and real GDP are integrated of order one. This conclusion is suggested both by the individual country level tests as well as by the panel tests. The short-term interest rate appears to be a borderline case. The null of non-stationarity is rejected at least at the 10% level in seven countries out of 20 countries. The panel unit root test strongly suggests that the real interest rate is a stationary process. Given the results of the unit root tests we test in the following for the presence of a long-run relationship between real bank lending, leverage and real property prices. The level of the real interest rate is not allowed to enter the long-run relationship. The Johansen approach is based on maximum likelihood estimation of a cointegration VAR model, which can be formulated in vector error correction form: (7) where x is a vector of endogenous variables comprising the log of real bank lending, leverage and real property prices. is a vector of constants and is a vector of white noise error terms. Since I want to allow for deterministic time trends in the levels of data I leave the constant unrestricted. The rank of the matrix indicates the number of long-run relationships between the endogenous variables in the system. The cointegrating rank hypothesis for the Johansen trace test is specified as against the alternative . The lag order of the VECMs was determined based on sequential likelihood-ratio tests, eliminating all lags up to the first lag significant at the 5% level. The 1%, 5% and 10% critical values are respectively 35.65, 29.68, and 26.79 for , 20.04, 15.41, and 13.33 for for and 6.65, 3.76 and 2.69 for I also report the result of a panel cointegration trace test proposed by Larsson et al. (2001). Policy Suggestions Flexible inflation targeting Under the accommodating policy, the bubble stimulates aggregate demand, leading the economy to overheat. In contrast to the accommodative policy, the more aggressive inflation targeting policy greatly moderates the effects of the bubble. As with the case of bubble shocks, the results indicate that the policy that responds aggressively to inflation and does not target stock prices works best. Under inflation targeting monetary policy is committed to achieving a specific level of inflation in the long run, and long-run price stability is designed the overriding or primary long-run goal of policy. Inflation targeting is generally characterized by substantial openness and transparency on the part of monetary policymakers, including for example the issuance of regular reports on the inflation situation and open public discussion of policy options and plans. Regulatory initiatives to control excessive lending in real estate markets Banks have overextended their lending during periods of high asset inflation, exposing themselves to greater portfolio risks during periods of declining asset value. Bank lending to related parties, as bank owners sought to capture the gains from their speculation, has aggravated the adverse impact of speculative lending. In response, regulatory authorities have increasingly restricted lending for real estate and to related parties-as well as lending concentrated on a few borrowers. Restrictions on related lending have been difficult to implement, however, because disclosure rules are generally poor, and in Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand, banks and firms have interlinked ownership, and companies are closely held (Stiglitz and Uy, 1996). Although governments established priorities for lending-and discouraged lending for real estate and consumer goods-they still employed commercial standards. Prudential regulations, particularly capital adequacy requirements and controls on real estate lending, are essential and replicable. The adaptability of government policies-the ability to abandon policies when they fail and to change policies with changing circumstances-is clearly a lesson of general applicability, although it is hard to design institutions that capture that lesson. A monetary policy regime focuses on asset prices rather than on macroeconomic fundamentals may well be actively destabilizing. The problem is that the central bank is targeting the wrong indicator. As an alternative metric for evaluating policy responses to bubbles, Bernanke and Gertler (2000) computed the unconditional variances of output and inflation under the four different policy scenarios (accommodative versus non-accommodative on inflation, responding to stock prices versus not responding). Conclusion Over the last few years, the coincidence of cycles in credit and property markets has been widely documented and discussed in the economic policy oriented literature, In this paper, I analyse the causes of this coincidence. From a theoretical point of view, the relationship between bank lending and property prices is multifaceted. Property prices may affect credit via various wealth effects, while credit may affect property prices via various liquidity effects. Previous empirical studies were not able to disentangle the direction of causality, since the focus was usually on one of these effects bot not on both. Long-run causality appears to go from property prices to bank lending, rather than conversely. This finding suggests that property price cycles, reflecting changing beliefs about future economic prospects, drive credit cycles, rather than excessive bank lending, in the wake of financial liberalization or overly loose monetary policy, being the cause of property price bubbles. However, there is also evidence of short-run causality going in both directions, implying that a mutually reinforcing element in past boom-bust cycles in credit and property markets cannot be ruled out. References Bernanke, B. and Gertler, M., 2000. Monetary policy and asset price volatility (No. w7559). National bureau of economic research. Case, K.E. and Shiller, R.J., 1988. The behavior of home buyers in boom and post-boom markets. Farlow, A., 2004. The UK housing market: bubbles and buyers. Oriel College. Gan, J., 2007. The real effects of asset market bubbles: Loan-and firm-level evidence of a lending channel. Review of Financial Studies, 20(6), pp.1941-1973. Geanakoplos, J., 2001. Liquidity, default and crashes: Endogenous contracts in general equilibrium. Genesove, D. and Mayer, C., 2001. Loss aversion and seller behavior: Evidence from the housing market. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(4), pp.1233-1260. Gerlach, S. and Peng, W., 2005. Bank lending and property prices in Hong Kong. Journal of Banking Finance, 29(2), pp.461-481. Giacomini, E., Ling, D.C. and Naranjo, A., 2015. Leverage and returns: A cross-country analysis of public real estate markets. The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 51(2), pp.125-159. Gorton, G.B., 2008. The panic of 2007 (No. w14358). National Bureau of Economic Research. Herring, R.J. and Wachter, S.M., 1999. Real estate booms and banking busts: an international perspective. Hofmann, B., 2003. Bank lending and property prices: Some international evidence. Hong, H. and Stein, J.C., 2003. Differences of opinion, short-sales constraints, and market crashes. Review of financial studies, 16(2), pp.487-525. Koo, R.C., 2011. The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japan? Great Recession. John Wiley Sons. Lamont, O. and Stein, J.C., 1997. Leverage and house-price dynamics in US cities (No. w5961). National bureau of economic research. Lang, L., Ofek, E. and Stulz, R., 1996. Leverage, investment, and firm growth. Journal of financial Economics, 40(1), pp.3-29. Larsson, R., Lyhagen, J. and Là ¶thgren, M., 2001. Likelihoodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ based cointegration tests in heterogeneous panels. The Econometrics Journal, 4(1), pp.109-142. Im, K.S., Pesaran, M.H. and Shin, Y., 2003. Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels. Journal of econometrics, 115(1), pp.53-74.<

Rate of Conversion of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) into Nitrogen

Rate of Conversion of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) into Nitrogen 1.1 Chapter Introduction: This chapter gives some basic information of the thesis. Firstly, some background information about selective catalytic reduction(SCR) technology, aqueous and dry ammonia, NOx gas and its conversion. Secondly the reason and the motivation for choosing this research project. Then the aim, objectives and methodology is described. Finally, the progress of project, plan and the conclusion is given. 1.2 Background Information: 1.2.1 Selective Catalytic Reduction(SCR) Technology: SCR technology is an advanced emission control technology used to reduce the quantity of hazardous gases that come out through the exhaust of a diesel engine. It injects a reducing agent into the exhaust of a diesel engine with the help of a catalyst. The reducing agent is usually automotive grade Urea and it is known as a Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF). A chemical reaction occurs that converts the Nitrogen Oxides(NOx) into Nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. SCR technology is made to allow the exhaust gases pass through the reducing agent to take place a chemical reaction in an oxidising atmosphere. The Selective word is used because it reduces the amount of NOx using a reducing agent in a catalyst system and the chemical reaction is called as Reduction where the DEF is a reducing agent that sets a chemical reaction with NOx and converts it into nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide (CO2) Figure 1 SCR System (Howard, n.d.) This technology is the most cost effective and fuel efficient technology used to reduce the emission of a diesel engine. The diesel truck engines produced after January,2010 must meet the new EPA standard. SCR reduces NOx emission up to 90% while on the other hand reducing hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emission by 50-90% and particulate matter (PM), 30-50%. More emission reduction for PM can be achieved by attaching this system with the diesel particulate filter. SCR system is widely used in a marine vessel, cargo vessels, ferries, tugboats, large utility boilers, industrial boilers, and municipal solid waste boilers etc. 1.2.2 SCR reducing agent Ammonia: Some reductants are used in the SCR system such as anhydrous ammonia, aqueous ammonia and urea. These three reductants are widely available in the large quantity. Anhydrous ammonia is highly toxic and difficult to store, but it does not need any conversion, it can be used as it is to operate in the SCR. Anhydrous ammonia is a compressed liquid form of ammonia which does not contain water in it. Anhydrous ammonia is an important industrial cleaner that cleans the harmful bacteria and shines the industrial metal. The large amount of anhydrous ammonia stored requires more caution and safety. Stronger concentration of ammonia can cause burning and some fatal issues. In 1947, a ship filled with solid form of ammonia called as ammonium nitrate exploded in the Galveston Bay of Texas, resulting in number of deaths. Hence using anhydrous ammonia is SCR system is dangerous. (Lepore, n.d.) Urea is easy and safe to store but it is required to convert into ammonia through thermal decomposition to use as a reducing agent in SCR. Urea is very safe, stable, non-volatile, non-flammable and non- explosive. It can be safely transported, stored and handled. But the disadvantages of Urea are it may cause an extra emission of a nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide which are harmful gases for environment as well as living organism. It may cause a contamination and corrosion at the point of injection, leakage of Urea may cause a formation of a white precipitate salt and when mixed with a water then the formed Urea solution can cause scaling blockage in SCR system. Aqueous ammonia which is known as ammonium hydroxide must be hydrolysed to be used and it is comparatively safer to store and transport than anhydrous ammonia. Larger volume of aqueous ammonia will be required as compared to anhydrous ammonia to control the same NOx efficiency. Aqueous ammonia is available in a concentration of 19 percent and 29 percent by weight. For the 29% of aqueous ammonia, the volume required 3.4 times that of anhydrous ammonia and for 19%, the volume required is 5.3 times that of anhydrous ammonia. There are some common things between aqueous ammonia and anhydrous ammonia SCR installation. It has storage tanks, pumps and injection valves. The controlling is same that of anhydrous ammonia. (Salib, n.d.) 1.2.3 NOx conversion: SCR technology was established in 1970s and mainly used in stationary sources and still it is measure strategy for the reduction of NO. The high frequency and the ability to react with the NOx selectively to form nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. When the exhaust gases pass through the SCR system a chemical reaction takes place. The ammonia or other reductant such as urea is injected and mixed with the exhaust gases before entering the catalyst chamber. The following reaction takes place in the conversion of NOx. (Majewski, n.d.) 6NO + 4NH3 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 5N2 + 6H2O 4NO + 4NH3 + O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 4N2 + 6H2O 6NO2 + 8NH3 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 7N2 + 12H2O 2NO2 + 4NH3 + O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 3N2 + 6H2O NO + NO2 + 2NH3 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 2N2 + 3H2O 2nd equation shows dominant reaction mechanism. 3rd to 5th reactions above include nitrogen dioxide reactant. The 5th reaction is very fast reaction. NO2 is responsible for the promotion of the low temperature SCR in this reaction. In diesel SCR system, the level of NO2 is increased to enhance the conversion of NOx at low temperature. In some reaction water is produced that shows moisture is always exist in diesel exhaust. If the NO2 content increases NO level in the feed gas increases. N2O formations are also possible as shown in the reaction below, (Majewski, n.d.) 8 NO2 + 6 NH3 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 7 N2O + 9 H2O 4 NO2 + 4 NH3 + O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 4 N2O + 6 H2O Some Undesirable procedures happening in SCR systems incorporate a few focused, nonselective reactions with oxygen, which is copious in the system. These reactions can either deliver optional emissions or, best case scenario, ineffectively consume ammonia. Partial oxidation of ammonia may deliver nitrous oxide (N2O) or elemental nitrogen, individually. Complete oxidation of ammonia, is shown in the following equation 2NH3 + 2O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ N2O + 3H2O 4NH3 + 3O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 2N2 + 6H2O 4NH3 + 5O2 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 4NO + 6H2O The SCR procedure requires exact control of the ammonia injection rate. A deficient injection may bring about unsuitably low NOx changes. An injection rate which is too high outcomes in arrival of undesirable ammonia to the climate. These ammonia emissions from SCR system are known as ammonia slip. The ammonia slip increments at higher NH3/NOx proportions. As indicated by the prevailing SCR reaction, 2nd equation the stoichiometric NH3/NOx proportion in the SCR system is around 1. Proportions higher than 1 altogether increment the ammonia slip. By and by, proportions near 0.9 and 1 are utilized, which limit the ammonia slip while as yet giving tasteful NOx changes. The alkali slip diminishes with expanding temperature, while the NOx transformation in a SCR catalyst may either increment or lessening with temperature, depending upon the specific temperature range and catalyst system, as will be examined later. 1.2.4 Diesel engine exhaust system: The first motivation behind a fumes framework was to securely course fumes gasses from the motor so they can be depleted into the earth, while additionally giving lessening of burning clamor. Fumes gas, nonetheless, contains parts that are hurtful to human wellbeing or potentially the earth. Thus, emanation levels of these fumes gas parts got to be distinctly directed. Since directed discharge levels are regularly much lower than that which can be accomplished through in-barrel control measures, the fumes gas must be dealt with after it leaves the motor. In this manner, while fumes frameworks keep on serving their unique capacities, they have developed into one of the basic components utilized for contamination control and reduction in cutting edge motors. A fumes framework from a diesel traveler auto is outlined in Figure 1. The fumes framework is regularly associated with the ventilation system, which gathers fumes gasses from the motor chambers fumes ports. In light-obligation applications, exhaust systems and diesel particulate channels (DPF) can be put either in the nearby coupled position to the ventilation system (the converter in Figure 1) or in the underfloor position (the particulate channel in Figure 1). The decision of area is controlled by the accessibility of space and the sought temperature profile, with the nearby coupled area giving introduction to the most noteworthy conceivable fumes gas temperatures. The after-treatment gadgets and their channeling are in some cases alluded to as the hot end of the fumes framework, while the suppressors and the tailpipes are the cold end of the fumes framework. The hot end channeling may incorporate the downpipe or front pipe (not present in the design appeared in Figure 1) which associates the ventilation system with the exhaust system, and additionally funneling between the impetus and the particulate channel. The after-treatment framework is associated with the suppressor by the inside pipe The presentation to high temperature, alongside different components, for example, quality necessities and synthetic introduction, decide the decision of fumes framework materials. Debilitate Brakes. Debilitate frameworks may likewise incorporate various segments. Some diesel trucks are outfitted with a fumes brake, which utilizes the fumes gas weight for vehicle braking, to facilitate the requests on wheel brakes and increment their life span. By actuating a throttle valve put in the fumes framework when the motor is creating no yield and braking is required, fumes backpressure and accordingly the torque required to pivot the motor is expanded. In motors furnished with a variable geometry turbine (VGT), the turbine vanes might be utilized to throttle the fumes stream rather than a different throttle valve. The adequacy of fumes brakes can be enhanced with an element that holds the fumes valve open constantly (bleeder brake). This can be proficient with an actuator that pushes the fumes valve and keeps it open through every one of the four motor strokes. Exhaust Brakes: It can be fitted to an assortment of medium-obligation diesel motors including overwhelming get trucks planned to pull moderately substantial trailers. Their application and adequacy is constrained by the greatest weight that the fumes framework segments upstream of the throttling valve can support. Deplete brakes have little effect on fumes framework commotion. Fumes brakes are just a single approach to utilize the motor to help in vehicle deceleration. Pressure discharge brakes-occasionally alluded to as motor brakes- open the fumes valve close to the highest point of the pressure stroke and discharge the packed air into the fumes framework before it can push the cylinder down amid the extension stroke. Pressure discharge brakes are frequently joined straightforwardly into substantial obligation diesel motors, for example, those utilized on Class 8 trucks. They give a fundamentally higher braking impact than fumes brakes without expanding deplete framework backpressure. They are being that as it may, significantly more exorbitant and require exceptional commotion concealment measures to keep away from intemperate fumes framework clamor. Waste Heat Recovery: Future fumes frameworks may likewise incorporate fumes gas vitality recuperation frameworks. In the diesel motor, the fumes gas enthalpy speaks to a critical portion of the synthetic vitality of the fuel-up to more than 30%-which is a standout amongst the hugest wellsprings of warm effectiveness misfortune. Debilitate warm recuperation frameworks may run from basic warmth exchangers to complex advances, for example, thermoelectric. An illustration vehicle with a fumes gas warm exchanger is the 2006 Citroen C4 Picasso, where squander fumes warm exchanged by means of the cooling framework is utilized to even more quickly warmth the lodge. Consider went for utilizing thermoelectric generators to deliver power from waste fumes warm in light-and substantial obligation diesel motors has been supported by the US Department of Energy 1.3 Reason and motivation for the research: Day by day the use of vehicle is increasing rapidly so that the emission of exhaust gases such as CO, NOx and CO2 are also increasing. Ammonia is basically known for being harmful for the environment, additionally adds to the development of particulate matter that has related to unfriendly wellbeing and environmental effects. In industries, the emission of NOx is rapidly increasing and it has become mandatory to control the impact or the emission of such hazardous gases. It may not be decreased but it can be controlled or converted into non-hazardous gases with the help of some reducing agents. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are an extremely important and essential group of air polluting chemical compound. This clarifies why NOx are critical air toxins and how NOx is formed and react in the air. This notice likewise talks about the standards on which all NOx control and pollution prevention technologies are based; accessible NOx technologies for different combustion sources; and performance a nd cost of NOx technologies. Following are some toxic effect of NOx: It creates photochemical smog It causes acid rain and nitrate particulate It increases the risk of respiratory conditions and increases the response to allergens It causes a formation of ground ozone which is associated with adverse health effect. This thought motivated to design a technology to convert such gases into non-hazardous gases. Because of the expanding awareness with air quality, stricter emission limits have been formed, which will be much further fixed for off-expressway diesel motors in the coming years. Depending upon the application and the area, distinctive emission limits apply. The most stringent emission regulation is as of now forced by the European Union (EU) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in USA. Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) and (Particulate Matter) are the main focused pollutant on which the technology is being developed. An extra test emerges from the fact that, depending upon the application, distinctive test cycles must be utilized for the confirmation of engines. The engines are worked just in chosen regions of the engine map during particular accreditation runs. Just steady state test cycles are utilized for heavy vehicle engine with a power output more prominent than 560 kW. For versatile machinery engine with a power output beneath 560 kW. During the steady state test cycle, the engine is worked at steady speed and load while the emission estimation is directed. After every emission estimation, the working point is changed and the following estimation will be performed. At long last, the general test cycle result is calculated by a weighted sum of all estimations. During the NRTC test, the motor is worked completely transient, with a constant estimation of the emission. Along these lines, the after-treatment system has additionally to have the capacity to perform under transient conditions. Thi s reality prompts to requirement, e.g. highly exact urea dosing. This can be obtained by using the SCR technology The aim of this research project is to investigate the rate of conversion of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) into Nitrogen and water when the NOx gas is passed through the reducing agent. Within this aim there are number of objectives: Determine the Mount the test rig. Set temperature and amount of ammonia. Adjust the pressure load of the exhaust gas. Pass the gas through the test rig. Take the 1st default reading without using ammonia and SCR catalytic converter. Attach aqueous ammonia and SCR catalytic converter and again take the readings Testing Conditions at 25%, 50% and 75% of full load of engine The amount of ammonia injection is determined Keep the load of engine constant and increase the flow rate of ammonia and take readings on various flow rate. Increase the load of engine and repeat the same procedure. Compare the readings and plot the graph. The same procedure is repeated to get test results of 5 injection rate and determine the optimum level of ammonia injection. The above procedure is conducted at exhaust gas temperature in range of 300 °C 500 °C and depends on the load of diesel engine. Purchase a SCR catalytic converter and ammonium hydroxide (aqueous ammonia). Second hand SCR catalytic convertor is available on www.for-sale.ie (For-sale, n.d.) Take permission to use the diesel engines and the other required equipment from the college lab. Determine the airflow of exhaust gases based on size of the diesel engine Airflow measurement with the help of U-tube manometer. Measurement of engine speed using RPM indicator. Arrange Rotameter to measure the amount of ammonia released in the chamber. Mount the experimental rig. Solve the errors and find solutions for the problems that will occur during the investigation Hence the progress of the research concludes that the aqueous ammonia is suitable for the conversion of NOx in the SCR system as it is widely available and safest to store. In addition to it aqueous ammonia is inexpensive.

Great War - Changes In Peoples Attitudes About Government :: World War I History

How far did the Great War change people's attitudes about how big a part a government should play in peoples's lives? "War" declared Trotsky, "is the locomotive of history" (Bourne, 1989,p. 191) When considering the attitude of the people towards the change governmental intervention had in their lives, one must consider a number of different aspects. The scene must firstly be set by ascertaining the mood of the people upon the outbreak of war, and this Bourne eloquently describes: "The British urban working class was the oldest industrial workforce in the world. Its class-consciousness was very strong. It was well organised. It had a sharp awareness of its industrial strength. It was quite remarkably strike-prone. It was also riven with divisions, petty snobberies and subtle distinctions. It was disciplined and deferential, conformist and hedonistic, patriotic and loyal. It showed little interest in radical ideologies. It had a vast fund of goodwill towards Britain` s national institutions, especially the monarchy and parliament. From the point of view of a hard- pressed government in time of war, the working class was far from intractable. There was, however, a sticking point. This was `fairness`, a concept deeply rooted in Anglo-Saxon culture. Government could ignore `fairness` only at its peril. (Bourne, 1989, p. 204) These were the people the government were given the task of cajoling into acquiescence, people that had become accustomed to Free Trade, private enterprise and minimal governmental interference. Despite this scenario however, political Liberalism was seen to be evolving in response to social problems and the rise of labour, and the war became "the locomotive" which accelerated the change in British politics and society. It was only when the pressures of war were brought to bear, that the government gradually abandoned its laissez faire principles in favour of direct control. The goal was to fight a war, but simultaneously preserve the living standards of the civilians, so as to uphold morale on the home front and in the factories needed to supply the military front. Bourne suggests that: "The nature of this interference was characteristic. It involved a series of ad hoc responses to specific problems. These were made of necessity and not through choice. There was no overall plan and no philosophy of action." (Bourne, 1989,p. 192) The desperate need for munitions was an early realisation of the need for state control, which later extended to shipping in 1916, food in 1917,coal in 1917, and food rationing in 1918.

Knowledge of Good in Platos The Republic Essay -- Philosophy Religio

An Intellectual Knowledge of Good in Plato’s Republic Socrates might be a wise philosopher but one of his ideas strikes me as particularly naive. In the allegory of the cave, he tells Glaucon that "in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort [Â ·] and that this is the power upon which he [the intellectual] would act rationally" (517b-c). In other words, he seems to be implying that knowledge of goodness is a sufficient condition for being good. A person who has seen what goodness is will henceforth act in a way that is good. Is this belief justified? For instance, we sometimes do things that we know are not good but we do them nonetheless and feel guilty after that. If, as such cases imply, knowledge of goodness is not a sufficient condition for being good, then Plato's dream of a utopia ruled by philosopher-kings could well be a nightmare. The philosophers who are supposed to have attained the "idea of good" (and are thus privileged to hold the citizens together "by persuasion and ne cessity" [519e]) might turn out to be dictators. What is this idea of good which Socrates is talking about? According to him, it is the "universal author of all things beautiful and right" and the "source of reason and truth in the intellectual" (517c). But it does not make any sense to me that a mere idea alone can produce great achievements with attributes like beauty, justice, reason and truth. Could it be that my interpretation of Socrates' "idea of good" as a mere idea is mistaken? Perhaps what Socrates means is more than just an intellectual idea of good. Perhaps what he means when he says that one sees the idea of good is that one experiences goodness itself directly. In that case, se... ... he really has no solid evidence to back him up. If there is no evidence to show that the capacity for goodness is innate in human beings and that people who have seen what goodness is will want to be good, then there is also no justification for the belief that attaining the idea of good is sufficient for being good. Basically, Plato's vision of utopia lies on the fundamental premise that the philosopher who has seen the light will "either in public or private life" fix his eye on this light (517c). In other words, he believes that the philosopher who has attained the idea of good will necessarily become good. But there is no justification for such a belief (at least not in the allegory) and hence, his idea is not obviously sound. Work Cited Plato. Republic. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. 8 Jan. 2001. .

The Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet Essay -- Health Nutrition Diet Exerc

The Advantages of a Vegetarian Diet Having a healthy dietary method can reduce the chances of receiving many health diseases. These health diseases include obesity, heart disease, and cancer. By consuming certain foods and nutrients in one’s diet the risk factors for these health diseases can be reduced. A healthy dietary method that is beneficial to reducing and/or improving these health diseases is the vegetarian diet. The vegetarian diet follows a dietary pattern that is characterized by the consumption of plant-like foods and the avoidance of flesh foods (meat, poultry, and fish). The foods in this diet provide the body with many essential nutrients. This is why many health benefits have been associated with the vegetarian diet. This dietary method has been linked to reducing the causes of obesity, heart disease, and cancer. With the vegetarian diet the chances of becoming obese are lowered. Obesity is one of the most common chronic diseases. According to the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention every one in three Americans are considered to be obese. An individual is considered obese if they have a Body Mass Index (BMI) level of thirty or greater. The BMI level measures one’s body weight while taking into consideration height. Obesity is a condition of having excess body fat. Due to vegetarians consuming less fat in their diet, body fat, and BMI levels, is generally lower. This implies that the chances for becoming obese will be decreased. Consuming the foods in the vegetarian diet is what leads an individual to have a lower BMI level. This is because less fat and fatty acids are being consumed. There is also a high amount of fiber in the vegetarian diet. Fiber is an essential nutrient and can cause... ...sterol and fats and high levels of phytochemicals. The vegetarian diet is one that provides the body with many essential nutrients. These nutrients include fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. All of these nutrients aid in providing the body with the minerals that can help to prevent health diseases. As can be seen with the vegetarian diet there are many health benefits that can prevent, or be treatment for, health diseases. According to the American Dietetic Association the vegetarian diet is healthy and recommended for obtaining the nutrients needed for better health. A vegetarian diet is low in cholesterol and fatty acids and these are the factors that contribute to many health diseases. The nutrients that the vegetarian diet contains are beneficial and reduce the chances of becoming obese, getting heart disease, and being diagnosed with cancer.

Groupon Strategy

1. How have companies like Groupon affected the pricing strategy of firms? Historically, companies have issued coupons in order to attract new business or irregular customers that seldom purchase a company’s products and/or services, with the hope that they come back more often. This is consistent with the idea that getting new customers is more expensive that maintaining a customer base.Companies’ approaches when issuing coupons have usually been one of three: 1) taking a small hit (loss) in order to stimulate subsequent buys (â€Å"loss leaders†), 2) incentives and bonuses (free items when another one is purchased), or 3) making a lower profit, but nevertheless a profit, by issuing price discrimination coupons. All in all, these approaches usually constitute a minimal economic encouragement that only super-couponers seem to really take advantage of.Groupon and its competitors, on the other hand, offer discounts that are usually much more aggressive, usually 50% or more off the retail price (keeping half of the transaction value for itself). Since these social, mass deals reach high numbers of consumers, these daily coupons that make available large discounts have eroded from the consumers’ minds the idea of a fixed retail price. Companies that do use the Groupon approach hope in the mass success of the discount and that a portion of those new customers will become regulars.But for companies that don’t adopt the Groupon model for issuing discounts, they risk losing or never getting those customers that don’t want to pay the full retail price, specially if those customers never bought any goods or services from them. Nowadays, companies’ pricing strategies that don’t consider the effect of online social coupons on their own margins might lose their appeal if they continue issuing regular, unattractive coupons that average consumers would not consider appealing enough. The consumer is not necessarily depend ent on the terms dictated by the vendor anymore. . How have companies like Groupon affected consumers’ perceptions of prices? For consumers other than super-couponers, meaning, those consumers that are not like bargains but don’t spend the time to hunt for the best deal, Groupon and its competitors have been revolutionary: these companies find attractive businesses, negotiate with them the deals, and deliver the coupons in convenient, effortless ways for consumers to find (online, in mobile devices, via e-mail and social media as friends’ recommendations, etc. ).For these consumers that didn’t or maybe couldn’t find the best deals, the best deals and finding them, making the purchase experience fast and convenient. And even for free, if enough of your friends buy a deal you recommended to them. In this sense, the buying experience has become a more interactive, social experience, where the best deals and shared and echoed online. This is making cus tomers exponentially smarted, maybe not about the true cost of products and discounts, but certainly about what they and their friends are willing to pay for them.Groupon has also broadened the standards of what consumers are willing to spend money on, especially when it comes to more unusual experiences that were not part of a buyer’s purchasing habits. As long a the price is low enough, Groupon is making it possible for consumers to spend their money on great deals for, likely, unnecessary but gratifying experiences, sharing with others the buying experience and, who know, a hot air balloon ride. 3. What is the downside for firms using Groupon? How can firms mitigate it?Some businesses have argued that the Groupon – offering deep discounts for daily deals, usually with a maximum number of coupons available – disproportionally benefits consumers more than businesses. These firms complain that discounts purchased on Groupon, for example, are great for attracting large crowds of customers who never materialize on the promise to become regular customers. This type of situations leaves the firm at a loss, having provided goods or service 75% below their retail price and without the returning customers to make up for it.To mitigate this, firms should work with Groupon and the like to find better ways to reinforce policies, such as making a deal available for first time customers only. Or by offering a discount that is only good if a required number of future purchases is pre-bought. Of course, these approaches would likely scare off a number of customers genuinely interested in assessing the quality of a product and service, not wanting further commitment. Psychologically, it might be hard for consumers to become regular customers and have to pay twice for a product or service they’ve already experienced for half the price.The best solution is for firms to offer such a high quality or differentiated product, service, and/or customer exp erience that costumers will want to come to come back. 4. What will be the long run effect of companies like Groupon? Groupon and similar companies will likely become the standard way coupons and discounts are offered to most consumers. Offering discounts through these firms will become an entry requirement for many new businesses, especially those offering more obscure or less common products and services.Nevertheless, any business in any market could potentially benefit from offering discounts through online social mass coupon firms, such as Groupon. Today, it has become a sound approach for firms that are not attracting enough buyers and traffic with their retail prices. If retailers don’t make the necessary adjustments to their pricing strategies now, they might have to come to Groupon or its competitors as a last resource to increase revenue through an attempt to increase consumer traffic and online buzz (added bonus advertising for using Groupon).It is unlikely most fir ms attempting to remain unchanged in regards to its pricing strategy will stay relevant for long; they must acknowledge the pricing threats of Groupon and the like. Customers, either by choice or by constant exposure to aggressive online discounts, are become smarter and savvier shoppers. The retail price is becoming dangerously easy to avoid for firms not willing to recognize new pricing strategies.

The Oort Cloud

The Oort be veil The Oort hide is a grand drove of some 2 trillion comets orbiting our esthesis in the most long-distance reaches of our solar brass, extending from beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto erupt to 100,000 time the Earth-sunshine distance. Almost one-third the distance to the warm star. While the planets are confined to a flattened disk in the solar system, the Oort foul forms a spherical photographic plate centered on the Sun, which gradually flattens big money to an extended disk in the sexual region, called the Kuiper belt.Bright comets observed through telescopes or with the raw eye get impel out of the Oort demoralize or Kuiper belt, and become macroscopical when they get close to copious so that the Suns energy piece of ass transform the go up ices into gases. These gases drag off the embedded dust, and we guarantee the light reflected from the dust as a tail. Comets are the leftover icy expression blocks from the time of planet formation, which formed in the region of the out planets. Essentially thesecomets are dirty s forthwithballs, composed primarily of water supply ice, with some carbon monoxide and other ices, in addition to interstellar dust.When their orbits passed close enough to the giant planets to be affected, some were thrown toward the Sun and some were tossed outward toward the distant reaches of the solar system, the spherical swarm we now call the Oort subvert. Some of the comets sent indwelling hit the inner(a) rocky planets, and believably contributed a significant amount of maritime water and organic material, the building blocks of life, to Earth. Comets that lie with in the Oort asperse are particularly important scientifically because they have been unbroken in a perpetual ample freeze since the formation of our solar system 4. 6 billion years ago.This core that they preserve, nearly intact, a record of the chemical conditions during the first few million years of the solar syst ems history, and can be apply to unravel our solar systems origins oft equivalent an archaeologist uses artifacts to decipher an ancient civilization. The Oort cloud is thought to occupy a vast space from somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 AU (0. 03 and 0. 08 ly)12 to as far as 50,000AU (0. 79ly)3 from the Sun. Some estimates place the outside edge at between 100,000 and 200,000 AU (1. 58 and 3. 16 ly). 12 The region can be subdivided into a spherical outer Oort cloud of 20,00050,000 AU (0. 20. 79 ly), and a doughnut-shaped inner Oort cloud of 2,00020,000 AU (0. 030. 32 ly). The outer cloud is only weakly bound to the Sun and supplies the long-period (and possibly Halley-type) comets to inside the orbit of Neptune. 3 The inner Oort cloud is also known as the Hills cloud, named after J. G. Hills, who proposed its existence in 1981. 13 Models annunciate that the inner cloud should have tens or hundreds of times as many cometary nuclei as the outer halo131415 it is seen as a possi ble source of impudently comets to resupply the relatively tenuous outer cloud as the latters numbers are gradually depleted.The Hills cloud explains the continued existence of the Oort cloud after billions of year The outer Oort cloud is believed to find out several trillion item-by-item objects larger than approximately 1km (0. 62mi)3 (with many billions with absolute magnitudes brighter than 11corresponding to approximately 20km (12mi) diameter), with neighboring objects typically tens of millions of kilometres apart. Its total sight is not known with certainty, but, assuming that Halleys comet is a suitable prototype for all comets inwardly the outer Oort cloud, the estimated combined mass is 3? 025kg (7? 1025lb or round five times the mass of the Earth). sooner it was thought to be more abundant (up to 380 Earth masses), but improved acquaintance of the size distribution of long-period comets has led to much lower estimates. The mass of the inner Oort bedim is not cur rently known. If analyses of comets are deputy of the whole, the vast majority of Oort-cloud objects consist of miscellaneous ices such as water, methane, ethane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide.However, the discovery of the object 1996PW, an asteroid in an orbit more typical of a long-period comet, suggests that the cloud may also contain rocky objects. Analysis of the carbon and north isotope ratios in both the Oort cloud and Jupiter-family comets shows exact difference between the two, despite their vastly separate regions of origin. This suggests that both originated from the original protosolar cloud,a cobblers last also supported by studies of mettlesome size in Oort-cloud comets by the recent impact study of Jupiter-family comet.