How does Ridley Scott create and destroy gender stereotypes in Thelma and Louise?

In the 1991 film Thelma and Louise, the director Ridley Scott creates and destroys gender stereotypes successfully of that period in time and helps us to believe that the characters portrayed by Susan Surandon and Geena Davis were real. Here are a few examples of gender stereotypes: In the first scene of the movie, Thelma was in her kitchen wearing a frilly and flowery night gown and the phone was ringing and she called to her husband, â€Å"I'll get it.† This shows that Thelma is a house slave and Ridley Scott dipicts this as he films Thelma on a low angle and when Thelma's husband Darryl walks into the kitchen, he is filmed on a low angle to make him seem a lot bigger and fiercer than he really is. He is shown as already in his work uniform and this tells us that Thelma is a housewife and her entire day is pent locked up inside the house preforming chores. When Thelma is just about to ask Darryl if she can go for the weekend on a roadtrip with Louise, she got scared and ended up asking him if he wanted anything special for dinner that night. To which Darryl simply replies, â€Å"Thelma, I don't give fuck what we have for dinner tonight. I might not even make it home from work tonight.† This shows that Darryl is an unfaithful husband and is having an affair. Thelma suspects this and states, â€Å"it's funny how many people want to buy a carpet on a Friday night. You would have thought they would have forgotten about it for the weekend.† To that Darryl replies, â€Å"well it's a good thing your no regional manager then, and I am.† He then swings his keys around on his finger as if to say, I am better than you, you are worthless. The second scene I am going to describe is where Louise is at work in the diner that she work at and she is depicted as having her hair tied up in a neat bun, showing her as a couped up child who just wants to break free of her immaginary prison. She is wearing her usual uniform of a long white dress and apron. There is a pan shot of her at eye level moving across the diner serving people as she goes. This shows that women in this time cannot have highly paid jobs and they must either be a housewife or work in a dead end, minimum wage job where she does not get the respect that she deserves. The next scene I am going to describe is the scene in which Thelma is packing fro her road trip with Louise after Darryl had left to go to work. She had never had as much fun before and had never packed like it. She didn't know what she should take, so she just topples the contents of her drawers into many suitcases, she then looks in her bedside cabinet and takes out her earings and finds a revolver that Darryl had given her to protect herslef when he was a t work. Thelma takes the revolver out and holds it with her thumb and forefinger. This creates a gender stereotype as it shows that women aren't meant to hold guns. Thelma then drops it into one of her suitcases as if she didn't know the full capabilities of what damage the small silver thing in her hands could do. Later on in the movie, Thelma brings out the revlver when she is in Louise's car and turns to Louise and asks if Louise can take care of it. Louise replies shocked, â€Å"goddamnit Thelma, why in the hell did you brin g that?† To which Thelma replies, â€Å"snakes, bears, psycho killers. You never know what could happen, look can you take it? I don't even know how to use it.† â€Å"Well put it in my purse then,† Louise replies. This shows that Louise is a much stronger woman than Thelma and she had become tough after what happened to her in Texas. The last scene I am going to describe which creates gender stereotypes is the scene in the bar where Thelma and Louise are sitting at a table in a Western bar and the waitress walks up to them and asks if they would like andything to drink. The waitress is in the same conditions that Louise was in at the start of the movie in the diner. Louise states that she doesn't wnat any drinks, but Thelma orders two alcholholic drinks and the waitress nods and walks away. Louise looks surprised, â€Å"Thelma! I've never seen you like this, you're always so sedate!† â€Å"I've had it up to my ass with sedate!† Thelma smiles, â€Å"I just want to let my hair down.† This shows that Thelma is acting out of character and just wants to have fun. This is where the well dressed, well mannered, charming Harlan walks over to them. He is filmed on a very low angle. â€Å"Well hello ladies,† he says, â€Å"isn't this place a bit rough for bauties like you?† Thelma is flattered by the attention that Harlan gives her, but Louise doesn't buy it. She realises what Harlan is quickly as it shows a man just like him flattered her back in Texas. â€Å"Oh I'm sorry,† Louise states, â€Å"we're having private convorsation here.† â€Å"Oh right okay ladies,† Harlan says, visabaly dissapointed. Thelma holds him back, â€Å"no it's okay. He can stay.† The waitress returns and gives Thelma her drinks, â€Å"you're not bothering these poor girls are you Harlan?† â€Å"Nah,† Harlan replies, â€Å"I'm just being friendly.† â€Å"Your name's Harlan?† Thelma asks, â€Å"I had an uncle named Harlan.† Thelma then goes to dance with Harlan and he spins her aorund many times making her very dizzy and in need of fresh air. He is clearly taking advantage of her. Thelma states she need fresh air and Harlan takes her outside. Harlan then starts to take advantage of Thelma and then he says that he wont hurt her. This shows us that Harlan has no regard for Thelma's thoughts or feelings. Louise then bursts out of the bar holding the revolver that Thelma had put in her bag earlier and aims it at Harlan. Harlan just laughs and tells Louise to â€Å"suck his dick.† Louise then shoots Harlan in cold blood. This is the first real time that we get to see the gender stereotypes destroyed as women aren't supposed to show violence. Harlan's dead body is then shown at a high angle to show that his power and scariness from before had been torn away in an instant. Here is the second point of Ridley Scott's use of destroying gender stereotypes. This is the scene where Thelma and Louise meet up with young hustler JD and he asks for a ride. They drive with him and drop him off in the middle of a rainy city. Later on in the evening, JD knocks on Thelma's motel door and the two make passionate love. Then in the morning Thelma goes to see Louise at a cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ and they talk and Louise realises that JD must've stolen their money that Jimmy had given to Louise, the two women run back to their motel room frantically to find it ransacked and the money stolen. Louise collapses into tears as her last piece of energy and moral sense of dignity are shattered. Thelma then takes control and is filmed on a high angle to signify that know she is taking control. The old Thelma is gone and the new Thelma has taken her place. The new Thelma is the sort of Thelma who will do anything to survive. The next scene I am going to describe is the scene where Thelma and Louise stop to get a cup of coffee and when the two of them get back into the car, Thelma states that she is going to go and get some gum, so she takes Louise's handbag with the pistol still in it and goes into the nearest convenience store. When Thelma goes into the store, she pulls out the revolver and shouts to everyone, â€Å"good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is a robbery, now if nobody loses their head then no one will lose their head.† She then steals all the money from the till and runs out of the store shouting to Louise, â€Å"drive Louise! Go† â€Å"A store? You robbed a store?† Louise asks pedantically. â€Å"Well we needed the money didn't we? Now drive!† Thelma replies. This breaks the stereotype that all women must abide by the law at all times. The second to last scene I am going to describe is the scene where Thelma and Louise are driving through the desert when a police officer flags them down for speeding. The officer then take Louise back to his car and starts calling his colleagues. Louise asks if she is in trouble and the officer nods, big trouble. Thelma then appears at the officer's window and smiles at him and starts to flirt. The officer asks sternly for Thelma to return to her car, but Thelma produces the revolver and points it at the officer's head and demands for Louise to take his gun and shoot out the radio which she does, but then Thelma corrects her and says the police radio. This shows that although this is a dark film, Ridley Scott adds in a piece of comic relief. Thelma and Louise lead the distressed police officer to the trunk of his vehicle where Thelma shoots two air holes into the trunk and instructs the officer to get inside at which point the officer bursts into tears and Thelma asks him if he had a wife to which the officer nods. Thelma smiles and tells him, â€Å"you be nice to her. My husband wasn't nice to me and look how I ended up.† On which note, Thelma slams the lid shut upon the officer. The last scene I am describing is the scene at the end of the movie where Thelma and Louise have been evading the police successfully for a fair few minutes which breaks the stereotype that women are bad drivers, but they eventually get captured on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Behind Louise's convertible is about twenty police cars, a helicopter and at least forty heavily armed officers. The helicopter lands and a few suited FBI Agents get out, one of which is the one man in the forces who believes Thelma and Louise's story. Thelma turns to Louise and tells her she can't go back to the way she used to be as she had loved the experience. Louise nods and turns on the engines despite the officer's warnings of opening fire if they did not give themselves up to be arrested. Louise slams the car forward toward the edge of the Grand Canyon. The only FBI Agent that believes them sprints after them so that the police will not fire. He shouts trying to stop them, but Thelma and Louise are adamant. Their car flies off of the edge of the Grand Canyon and the screen flashes with images of the past two days adventure. In conclusion I believe that Ridley Scott provides the audience with a thrilling and extremely realistic insight into the sexism and gender stereotyping that was around in America at the time of the film's release. I believe that this film teaches a lesson to all American men who were racist at the point of the film's release.

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 8. Waiting For The Damn …

8. Waiting For The Damn Fight To Start Already â€Å"Jeez, Paul, don't you freaking have a home of your own?† Paul, lounging across my whole couch, watching some stupid baseball game on my crappy TV, just grinned at me and then – real slow – he lifted one Dorito from the bag in his lap and wedged it into his mouth in one piece. â€Å"You betterVe brought those with you.† Crunch. â€Å"Nope,† he said while chewing. â€Å"Your sister said to go ahead and help myself to anything I wanted.† I tried to make my voice sound like I wasn't about to punch him. â€Å"Is Rachel here now?† It didn't work. He heard where I was going and shoved the bag behind his back. The bag crackled as he smashed it into the cushion. The chips crunched into pieces. Paul's hands came up in fists, close to his face like a boxer. â€Å"Bring it, kid. I don't need Rachel to protect me.† I snorted. â€Å"Right. Like you wouldn't go crying to her first chance.† He laughed and relaxed into the sofa, dropping his hands. â€Å"I'm not going to go tattle to a girl. If you got in a lucky hit, that would be just between the two of us. And vice versa, right?† Nice of him to give me an invitation. I made my body slump like I'd given up. â€Å"Right.† His eyes shifted to the TV. I lunged. His nose made a very satisfying crunching sound of its own when my fist connected. He tried to grab me, but I danced out of the way before he could find a hold, the ruined bag of Doritos in my left hand. â€Å"You broke my nose, idiot.† â€Å"Just between us, right, Paul?† I went to put the chips away. When I turned around, Paul was repositioning his nose before it could set crooked. The blood had already stopped; it looked like it had no source as it trickled down his lips and off his chin. He cussed, wincing as he pulled at the cartilage. â€Å"You are such a pain, Jacob. I swear, I'd rather hang out with Leah.† â€Å"Ouch. Wow, I bet Leah's really going to love to hear that you want to spend some quality time with her. It'll just warm the cockles of her heart.† â€Å"You're going to forget I said that.† â€Å"Of course. I'm sure it won't slip out.† â€Å"Ugh,† he grunted, and then settled back into the couch, wiping the leftover blood on the collar of his t-shirt. â€Å"You're fast, kid.I'll give you that.† He turned his attention back to the fuzzy game. I stood there for a second, and then I stalked off to my room, muttering about alien abductions. Back in the day, you could count on Paul for a fight pretty much whenever. You didn't have to hit him then – any mild insult would do. It didn't take a lot to flip him out of control. Now, of course, when I really wanted a good snarling, ripping, break-the-trees-down match, he had to be all mellow. Wasn't it bad enough that yet another member of the pack had imprinted – because, really, that made four of ten now! When would it stop? Stupid myth was supposed to be rare, for crying out loud! All this mandatory love-at-first-sight was completely sickening! Did it have to be my sister? Did it have to be Paul? When Rachel'd come home from Washington State at the end of the summer semester – graduated early, the nerd – my biggest worry'd been that it would be hard keeping the secret around her. I wasn't used to covering things up in my own home. It made me real sympathetic to kids like Embry and Collin, whose parents didn't know they were werewolves. Embry's mom thought he was going through some kind of rebellious stage. He was permanently grounded for constantly sneaking out, but, of course, there wasn't much he could do about that. She'd check his room every night, and every night it would be empty again. She'd yell and he'd take it in silence, and then go through it all again the next day. We'd tried to talk Sam into giving Embry a break and letting his mom in on the gig, but Embry'd said he didn't mind. The secret was too important. So I'd been all geared up to be keeping that secret. And then, two days after Rachel got home, Paul ran into her on the beach. Bada bing, bada boom – true love! No secrets necessary when you found your other half, and all that imprinting werewolf garbage. Rachel got the whole story. And I got Paul as a brother-in-law someday. I knew Billy wasn't much thrilled about it, either. But he handled it better than I did. ‘Course, he did escape to the Clearwaters' more often than usual these days. I didn't see where that was so much better. No Paul, but plenty of Leah. I wondered – would a bullet through my temple actually kill me or just leave a really big mess for me to clean up? I threw myself down on the bed. I was tired – hadn't slept since my last patrol – but I knew I wasn't going to sleep. My head was too crazy. The thoughts bounced around inside my skull like a disoriented swarm of bees. Noisy. Now and then they stung. Must be hornets, not bees. Bees died after one sting. And the same thoughts were stinging me again and again. This waiting was driving me insane. It had been almost four weeks. I'd expected, one way or another, the news would have come by now. I'd sat up nights imagining what form it would take. Charlie sobbing on the phone – Bella and her husband lost in an accident. A plane crash? That would be hard to fake. Unless the leeches didn't mind killing a bunch of bystanders to authenticate it, and why would they? Maybe a small plane instead. They probably had one of those to spare. Or would the murderer come home alone, unsuccessful in his attempt to make her one of them? Or not even getting that far. Maybe he'd smashed her like a bag of chips in his drive to get some? Because her life was less important to him than his own pleasure†¦ The story would be so tragic – Bella lost in a horrible accident. Victim of a mugging gone wrong. Choking to death at dinner. A car accident, like my mom. So common. Happened all the time. Would he bring her home? Bury her here for Charlie? Closed-casket ceremony, of course. My mom's coffin had been nailed shut†¦ I could only hope that he'd come back here, within my reach. Maybe there would be no story at all. Maybe Charlie would call to ask my dad if he'd heard anything from Dr. Cullen, who just didn't show up to work one day. The house abandoned. No answer on any of the Cullens' phones. The mystery picked up by some second-rate news program, foul play suspected†¦ Maybe the big white house would burn to the ground, everyone trapped inside. Of course, they'd need bodies for that one. Eight humans of roughly the right size. Burned beyond recognition – beyond the help of dental records. Either of those would be tricky – for me, that is. It would be hard to find them if they didn't want to be found. Of course, I had forever to look. If you had forever, you could check out every single piece of straw in the haystack, one by one, to see if it was the needle. Right now, I wouldn't mind dismantling a haystack. At least that would be something to do. I hated knowing that I could be losing my chance. Giving the bloodsuckers the time to escape, if that was their plan. We could go tonight. We could kill every one of them that we could find. I liked that plan because I knew Edward well enough to know that, if I killed any one of his coven, I would get my chance at him, too. He'd come for revenge. And I'd give it to him – I wouldn't let my brothers take him down as a pack. It would be just him and me. May the better man win. But Sam wouldn't hear of it. We're not going to break the treaty. Let them make the breach. Just because we had no proof that the Cullens had done anything wrong. Yet. You had to add the yet, because we all knew it was inevitable. Bella was either coming back one of them, or not coming back. Either way, a human life had been lost. And that meant game on. In the other room, Paul brayed like a mule. Maybe he'd switched to a comedy. Maybe the commercial was funny. Whatever. It grated on my nerves. I thought about breaking his nose again. But it wasn't Paul I wanted to fight with. Not really. I tried to listen to other sounds, the wind in the trees, it wasn't the same, not through human ears. There were a million voices in the wind that I couldn't hear in this body. But these ears were sensitive enough. I could hear past the trees, to the road, the sounds of the cars coming around that last bend where you could finally see the beach – the vista of the islands and the rocks and the big blue ocean stretching to the horizon. The La Push cops liked to hang out right around there. Tourists never noticed the reduced speed limit sign on the other side of the road. I could hear the voices outside the souvenir shop on the beach. I could hear the cowbell clanging as the door opened and closed. I could hear Embry's mom at the cash register, printing out a receipt. I could hear the tide raking across the beach rocks. I could hear the kids squeal as the icy water rushed in too fast for them to get out of the way. I could hear the moms complain about the wet clothes. And I could hear a familiar voice†¦. I was listening so hard that the sudden burst of Paul's donkey laugh made me jump half off the bed. â€Å"Get out of my house,† I grumbled. Knowing he wouldn't pay any attention, I followed my own advice. I wrenched open my window and climbed out the back way so that I wouldn't see Paul again. It would be too tempting. I knew I would hit him again, and Rachel was going to be pissed enough already. She'd see the blood on his shirt, and she'd blame me right away without waiting for proof. Of course, she'd be right, but still. I paced down to the shore, my fists in my pockets. Nobody looked at me twice when I went through the dirt lot by First Beach. That was one nice thing about summer – no one cared if you wore nothing but shorts. I followed the familiar voice I'd heard and found Quil easy enough. He was on the south end of the crescent, avoiding the bigger part of the tourist crowd. He kept up a constant stream of warnings. â€Å"Keep out of the water, Claire. C'mon. No, don't. Oh! Nice, kid. Seriously, do you want Emily to yell at me? I'm not bringing you back to the beach again if you don't – Oh yeah? Don't – ugh. You think that's funny, do you? Hah! Who's laughing now, huh?† He had the giggling toddler by the ankle when I reached them. She had a bucket in one hand, and her jeans were drenched. He had a huge wet mark down the front of his t-shirt. â€Å"Five bucks on the baby girl,† I said. â€Å"Hey, Jake.† Claire squealed and threw her bucket at Quil's knees. â€Å"Down, down!† He set her carefully on her feet and she ran to me. She wrapped her arms around my leg. â€Å"UncaJay!† â€Å"How's it going, Claire?† She giggled. â€Å"Qwil aaaaawl wet now.† â€Å"I can see that. Where's your mama?† â€Å"Gone, gone, gone,† Claire sang, â€Å"Cwaire pway wid Qwil aaaawl day. Cwaire nebber gowin home.† She let go of me and ran to Quil. He scooped her up and slung her onto his shoulders. â€Å"Sounds like somebody's hit the terrible twos.† â€Å"Threes actually,† Quil corrected. â€Å"You missed the party. Princess theme. She made me wear a crown, and then Emily suggested they all try out her new play makeup on me.† â€Å"Wow, I'm really sorry I wasn't around to see that.† â€Å"Don't worry, Emily has pictures. Actually, I look pretty hot.† â€Å"You're such a patsy.† Quil shrugged. â€Å"Claire had a great time. That was the point.† I rolled my eyes. It was hard being around imprinted people. No matter what stage they were in – about to tie the knot like Sam or just a much-abused nanny like Quil – the peace and certainty they always radiated was downright puke-inducing. Claire squealed on his shoulders and pointed at the ground. â€Å"Pity wock, Qwil! For me, for me!† â€Å"Which one, kiddo? The red one?† â€Å"No wed!† Quil dropped to his knees – Claire screamed and pulled his hair like a horse's reigns. â€Å"This blue one?† â€Å"No, no, no†¦,† the little girl sang, thrilled with her new game. The weird part was, Quil was having just as much fun as she was. He didn't have that face on that so many of the tourist dads and moms were wearing – the when-is-nap-time? face. You never saw a real parent so jazzed to play whatever stupid kiddie sport their rugrat could think up. I'd seen Quil play peekaboo for an hour straight without getting bored. And I couldn't even make fun of him for it – I envied him too much. Though I did think it sucked that he had a good fourteen years of monkitude ahead of him until Claire was his age – for Quil, at least, it was a good thing werewolves didn't get older. But even all that time didn't seem to bother him much. â€Å"Quil, you ever think about dating?† I asked. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"No, no yewwo!† Claire crowed. â€Å"You know. A real girl. I mean, just for now, right? On your nights off babysitting duty.† Quil stared at me, his mouth hanging open. â€Å"Pity wock! Pity wock!† Claire screamed when he didn't offer her another choice. She smacked him on the head with her little fist. â€Å"Sorry, Claire-bear. How about this pretty purple one?† â€Å"No,† she giggled. â€Å"No poopoh.† â€Å"Give me a clue. I'm begging, kid.† Claire thought it over. â€Å"Gween,† she finally said. Quil stared at the rocks, studying them. He picked four rocks in different shades of green, and offered them to her. â€Å"Did I get it?'7 â€Å"Yay!† â€Å"Which one?† Vlaaaaw/obdem!!† She cupped her hands and he poured the small rocks into them. She laughed and immediately clunked him on the head with them. He winced theatrically and then got to his feet and started walking back up toward the parking lot. Probably worried about her getting cold in her wet clothes. He was worse than any paranoid, overprotective mother. â€Å"Sorry if I was being pushy before, man, about the girl thing,† I said. â€Å"Naw, that's cool,† Quil said. â€Å"It kind of took me by surprise is all. I hadn't thought about it.† â€Å"I bet she'd understand. You know, when she's grown up. She wouldn't get mad that you had a life while she was in diapers.† â€Å"No, I know. I'm sure she'd understand that.† He didn't say anything else. â€Å"But you won't do that, will you?† I guessed. â€Å"I can't see it,† he said in a low voice. â€Å"I can't imagine. I just don't†¦ see anyone that way. I don't notice girls anymore, you know. I don't see their faces.† â€Å"Put that together with the tiara and makeup, and maybe Claire will have a different kind of competition to worry about.† Quil laughed and made kissing noises at me. â€Å"You available this Friday, Jacob?† â€Å"You wish,† I said, and then I made a face. â€Å"Yeah, guess I am, though.† He hesitated a second and then said, â€Å"You ever think about dating?† I sighed. Guess I'd opened myself up for that one. â€Å"You know, Jake, maybe you should think about getting a life.† He didn't say it like a joke. His voice was sympathetic. That made it worse. â€Å"I don't see them, either, Quil. I don't see their faces.† Quil sighed, too. Far away, too low for anyone but just us two to hear it over the waves, a howl rose out of the forest. â€Å"Dang, that's Sam,† Quil said. His hands flew up to touch Claire, as if making sure she was still there. â€Å"I don't know where her mom's at!† Til see what it is. If we need you, HI let you know.† I raced through the words. They came out all slurred together. â€Å"Hey, why don't you take her up to the Clearwaters'? Sue and Billy can keep an eye on her if they need to. They might know what's going on, anyway.† â€Å"Okay – get outta here, Jake!† I took off running, not for the dirt path through the weedy hedge, but in the shortest line toward the forest. I hurdled the first line of driftwood and then ripped my way through the briars, still running. I felt the little tears as the thorns cut into my skin, but I ignored them. Their sting would be healed before I made the trees. I cut behind the store and darted across the highway. Somebody honked at me. Once in the safety of the trees, I ran faster, taking longer strides. People would stare if I was out in the open. Normal people couldn't run like this. Sometimes I thought it might be fun to enter a race – you know, like the Olympic trials or something. It would be cool to watch the expressions on those star athletes' faces when I blew by them. Only I was pretty sure the testing they did to make sure you weren't on steroids would probably turn up some really freaky crap in my blood. As soon as I was in the true forest, unbound by roads or houses, I skidded to a stop and kicked my shorts off. With quick, practiced moves, I rolled them up and tied them to the leather cord around my ankle. As I was still pulling the ends tight, I started shifting. The fire trembled down my spine, throwing tight spasms out along my arms and legs. It only took a second. The heat flooded through me, and I felt the silent shimmer that made me something else. I threw my heavy paws against the matted earth and stretched my back in one long, rolling extension. Phasing was very easy when I was centered like this. I didn't have issues with my temper anymore. Except when it got in the way. For one half second, I remembered the awful moment at that unspeakable joke of a wedding. I'd been so insane with fury that I couldn't make my body work right. I'd been trapped, shaking and burning, unable to make the change and kill the monster just a few feet away from me. It had been so confusing. Dying to kill him. Afraid to hurt her. My friends in the way. And then, when I was finally able to take the form I wanted, the order from my leader. The edict from the Alpha. If it had been just Embry and Quil there that night without Sam†¦ would I have been able to kill the murderer, then? I hated it when Sam laid down the law like that. I hated the feeling of having no choice. Of having to obey. And then I was conscious of an audience. I was not alone in my thoughts. So self-absorbed all the time,Leah thought. Yeah, no hypocrisy there, Leah,I thought back. Can it, guys,Sam told us. We fell silent, and I felt Leah's wince at the word guys. Touchy, like always. Sam pretended not to notice. Where's Quil andJared? Quit's got Claire. He's taking her to the Clearwaters'. Good. Sue will take her. Jared was going to Kim's,Embry thought. Good chance he didn't hear you. There was a low grumble through the pack. I moaned along with them. When Jared finally showed up, no doubt he'd still be thinking about Kim. And nobody wanted a replay of what they were up to right now. Sam sat back on his haunches and let another howl rip into the air. It was a signal and an order in one. The pack was gathered a few miles east of where I was. I loped through the thick forest toward them. Leah, Embry, and Paul all were working in toward them, too. Leah was close – soon I could hear her footfalls not far into the woods. We continued in a parallel line, choosing not to run together. Well, we're not waiting all day for him. He'll just have to catch up later. ‘Sup, boss?Paul wanted to know. We need to talk. Something's happened. I felt Sam's thoughts flicker to me – and not just Sam's, but Seth's and Collin's and Brady's as well. Collin and Brady – the new kids – had been running patrol with Sam today, so they would know whatever he knew. I didn't know why Seth was already out here, and in the know. It wasn't his turn. Seth, tell them what you heard. I sped up, wanting to be there. I heard Leah move faster, too. She hated being outrun. Being the fastest was the only edge she claimed. Claimthis, moron, she hissed, and then she really kicked it into gear. I dug my nails into the loam and shot myself forward. Sam didn't seem in the mood to put up with our usual crap. Jake, Leah, give it a rest. Neither of us slowed. Sam growled, but let it go. Seth? Charlie called around till he found Billy at my house. Yeah, I talked to him,Paul added. I felt a jolt go through me as Seth thought Charlie's name. This was it. The waiting was over. I ran faster, forcing myself to breathe, though my lungs felt kinda stiff all of a sudden. Which story would it be? So he's all flipped out. Guess Edward and Bella got home last week, and†¦ My chest eased up. She was alive. Or she wasn't dead dead, at least. I hadn't realized how much difference it would make to me. I'd been thinking of her as dead this whole time, and I only saw that now. I saw that I'd never believed that he would bring her back alive. It shouldn't matter, because I knew what was coming next. Yeah, bro, and here's the bad news. Charlie talked to her, said she sounded bad. She told him she's sick. Carlisle got on and told Charlie that Bella picked up some rare disease in South America. Said she's quarantined. Charlie's going crazy, 'cause even he's not allowed to see her. He says he doesn't care if he gets sick, but Carlisle wouldn't bend. No visitors. Told Charlie it was pretty serious, but that he's doing everything he can. Charlie's been stewing about it for days, but he only called Billy now. He said she sounded worse today. The mental silence when Seth finished was profound. We all understood. So she would die of this disease, as far as Charlie knew. Would they let him view the corpse? The pale, perfectly still, unbreathing white body? They couldn't let him touch the cold skin – he might notice how hard it was. They'd have to wait until she could hold still, could keep from killing Charlie and the other mourners. How long would that take? Would they bury her? Would she dig herself out, or would the bloodsuckers come for her? The others listened to my speculating in silence. I'd put a lot more thought into this than any of them. Leah and I entered the clearing at nearly the same time. She was sure her nose led the way, though. She dropped onto her haunches beside her brother while I trotted forward to stand at Sam's right hand. Paul circled and made room for me in my place. Beatcha again,Leah thought, but I barely heard her. I wondered why I was the only one on my feet. My fur stood up on my shoulders, bristling with impatience. Well, what are we waiting for?I asked. No one said anything, but I heard their feelings of hesitation. Oh, come on! The treaty's broken! We have no proof – maybe sheis sick†¦. OH, PLEASE! Okay, so the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong. Still†¦ Jacob.Sam's thought came slow, hesitant. Are you sure this is what you want? Is it really the right thing? We all know what she wanted. The treaty doesn't mention anything about victim preferences, Sam! Is she really a victim? Would you label her that way? Yes! Jake,Seth thought, they aren't our enemies. Shut up, kid! Just 'cause you've got some kind of sick hero worship thing going on with that bloodsucker, it doesn't change the law. They are our enemies. They are in our territory. We take them out. I don't care if you had fun fighting alongside Edward Cullen once upon a time. So what are you going to do when Bella fights with them, Jacob? Huh?Seth demanded. She's not Bella anymore. You gonna be the one to take her down? I couldn't stop myself from wincing. No, you're not. So, what? You gonna make one of us do it? And then hold a grudge against whoever it is forever? I wouldn't†¦ Sure you won't. You're not ready for this fight, Jacob. Instinct took over and I crouched forward, snarling at the gangly sand-colored wolf across the circle. Jacob!Sam cautioned. Seth, shut up for a second. Seth nodded his big head. Dang, what'd I miss? Quthought. He was running for the gathering place full-out. Heard about Charlie's call†¦. Were getting ready to go,I told him. Why don't you swing by Kim's and drag Jared out with your teeth? We're going to need everyone. Come straight here, Quil,Sam ordered. We've decided nothing yet. I growled. Jacob, I have to think about what's best for this pack. I have to choose the course that protects you all best. Times have changed since our ancestors made that treaty. I†¦ well, I don't honestly believe that the Cullens are a danger to us. And we know that they will not be here much longer. Surely once they've told their story, they will disappear. Our lives can return to normal. Normal? If we challenge them, Jacob, they will defend themselves well. Are you afraid? Are you so ready to losea brother? He paused. Or a sister? he tacked on as an afterthought. I'm not afraid to die. I know that, Jacob. It's one reason I question your judgment on this. I stared into his black eyes. Do you intend to honor our fathers' treaty or not? I honor my pack. I do what's best for them. Coward. His muzzle tensed, pulling back over his teeth. Enough, Jacob. You're overruled.Sam's mental voice changed, took on that strange double timbre that we could not disobey. The voice of the Alpha. He met the gaze of every wolf in the circle. The pack is not attacking the Cullens without provocation. The spirit of the treaty remains. They are nota danger to our people, nor are they a danger to the people of Forks. Bella Swan made an informed choice, and we are not going to punish our former allies for her choice. Hear, hear,Seth thought enthusiastically. thought I told you to shut it, Seth. Oops. Sorry, Sam. Jacob, where do you think you're going? I left the circle, moving toward the west so that I could turn my back on him. I'm going to tell my father goodbye. Apparently there was no purpose in me sticking around this long. Aw, Jake – don't do that again! Shut up, Seth,several voices thought together. We don't want you to leave,Sam told me, his thought softer than before. So force me to stay, Sam. Take away my will. Make me a slave. You know I won't do that Then there's nothing more to say. I ran away from them, trying very hard not to think about what was next. Instead, I concentrated on my memories of the long wolf months, of letting the humanity bleed out of me until I was more animal than man. Living in the moment, eating when hungry, sleeping when tired, drinking when thirsty, and running – running just to run. Simple desires, simple answers to those desires. Pain came in easily managed forms. The pain of hunger. The pain of cold ice under your paws. The pain of cutting claws when dinner got feisty. Each pain had a simple answer, a clear action to end that pain. Not like being human. Yet, as soon as I was in jogging distance of my house, I shifted back into my human body. I needed to be able to think in privacy. I untied my shorts and yanked them on, already running for the house. I'd done it. I'd hidden what I was thinking and now it was too late for Sam to stop me. He couldn't hear me now. Sam had made a very clear ruling. The pack would not attack the Cullens. Okay. He hadn't mentioned an individual acting alone. Nope, the pack wasn't attacking anyone today. But I was.

Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final - Essay Example The physical environment includes topography of the country, climate and the amount of rainfall. Presence of the forest and valleys helps in formation of rainfall which in turn improves the climate of the Amazon and is environs. The relationship between these physical elements it to be should all point towards a healthy environment. The trends manifested are that demand for land is increasing with the ever increasing population and unemployment thus leading to deforestation. Also, in most of the rich countries the pressure on forest has subsidized due to manageable population levels (The Economist, 2010a). As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pointed out, â€Å"Tackling climate change, water scarcity, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and addressing shifting demographic and consumption patterns, will require bold new approaches.† (Ki-moon, 2011: 5) Q2: The social domain in deforestation is that people are to exercise self responsibility in the preservation of forests and the organisms that dwell in there. This is because forests are being cleared for agricultural purposes. There are campaigns by NGOs, vigils and FAO who are in the front line to protect the survival of the rainforests. According to a recent report by the Royal Institute of International Affairs, it showed that illegal logging has been greatly reduced in Brazil, Indonesia and Cameroon. In the DR Congo the forests have not been greatly affected but the recent trends show that with ever increasing population the forest is bound to clearance and other illegal logging activities. Most tropical deforestation is due to the ever expanding commercial ranching and agriculture propelled by the rocketing domestic and global demand for food, biofuel and fiber. Therefore, foreign governments and investors are scouting to buy cheap and well watered tropical land( The Economist, 2010b) Q3: The government of Brazil has formed a committee involving 14 ministries to design and execute plan for red ucing Amazon deforestation. Monitoring and controlling of illegal logging have been stepped up. Moreover, Brazil has installed advanced and transparent remote sensing systems for monitoring deforestation, relaying monthly and yearly estimates which are then posted to the internet. Also, in the pipeline is system for detecting illegal logging (DETEX) which is being developed. By Brazil advocating for lower prices for soya beans in the international community market brings down the levels of deforestation by 52% since 2004. In addition, due to the difficulties in attaching property rights to tree species, the Brazilian government has liaised with other NGOs and the international community on legal protection of tree species( The Economist 2010c) Q4: With the ever increasing population the Brazilian Government faces the challenge of overpopulation, debilitating poverty and scarce job opportunities experienced in the country. Before the global crisis the economy was robust and it averag ed to about 4.4% yearly from 2004-2007 and 6.4% for the first three quarters of 2008. The global recession hit the economy hard leading to jobs being lost and collapse of industries. Between November 2009 and March2010 almost 500 thousand jobs were lost in Brazil. The government in its bid to boost the economy it increased wages, social transfers and made

Advanced Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advanced Organizational Behavior - Essay Example Most recently and after thorough research, various findings were noted and this trend of treating human labor as machines gradually started changing. This has led to contemporary approaches the recognize and appreciate the human labor by taking into consideration their needs and emotions as paramount elements that need to be managed effectively (Cooper & Barling, 2008, p. 127). According to French (2011, p. 143), the contemporary approaches are concerned with the development and growth of people towards achievement of higher levels of creativity, competency and fulfillment since these people are the principal resource of any organization. This approach helps the employees to become better regarding work terms and responsible as it tries to create a conducive environment in which people can fully contribute in order to improve their abilities. People in an organization have diverse motivation and needs that are of high concern. There is the innate potential of people to be creative, predictive, independent and capable of effectively contributing positively to the objectives and functions of the organization. The management has realized that businesses are social systems that have both emotional and psychological factors have a significant influence on productivity. Best performance can only be improved through good human relations and proper organizational behavior. Managers nowadays consult employees in matters that affect the staff. The staff is also allowed to take part in various decision-making processes in the organization through their representatives (Knights & Willmont, 2007, p. 51). Various staff unions have been allowed in organizations and they act as the main voice for the staff. It is fully responsible for negotiating on behalf of the staff. Grievances by the staff are also channeled through these staff unions. This brings about harmonization at the work and best systems are put in place to ensure best relations between the staff and the managers (Martin& Fellenz, 2010, p. 147). Â  

Other than the obvious (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams) Essay

Other than the obvious (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams) which American political or military leader do you think had - Essay Example The founding fathers of America worked hard to make a revolution that was both resolute and changeable, and tried to supply basic principles that could be re-interpreted, changed, or even thrown out completely should they not prove considerable to the general population. This spirit of flexibility fits well with the Enlightenment conception of the renaissance man- a man who could be objective, while still participating actively in the revolution. These characteristics perhaps had their culmination, though, in the political figure of Samuel Adams. A well-educated, powerful advocate of freedom and liberty, Adams was an articulate architect of the American revolution as we know it, or would like to; that is, a revolution which is the servant of the people it represents, not their master, and a revolution that led to a government which is an ongoing continuation of the American revolution’s free spirit. One of the main ways that Adams contributed to the Revolution was the way in w hich he led crowds. When the Stamp Act of 1765 ordered the colonists to purchase stamps from England, Samuel Adams began to protest in earnest. He told the crowd what to do. In 1766, the Stamp Act was ordered, and Adams warned the crowd that if their trade goods were going to be taxed, their land would be next, along with everything else they had. Adams also planned, and participated in, the Boston Tea Party. To help coordinate the resistance to what he saw as attempts by the British government to violate the Constitution to the detriment of the colonies, in 1772, Adams and his colleagues set up the basic framework of the revolution, connecting the rhetoric and complaints of patriots throughout the colonies, and organizing resistance against the British. Increased resistance to British policy led to the Boston Tea Party 1773, and, thanks to Adams, the advent of the American Revolution. After Parliament approved compulsions in 1774, Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadel phia, which was convened to coordinate a response to the harsh colonial rule of George III. Adams helped guide the Congress to the issuance of the Declaration of Independenc

The contemporary hospitality industry qcf 5 Assignment

The contemporary hospitality industry qcf 5 - Assignment Example In absence of an appropriate definition, hospitality has been defined differently by various authors, where the definitions range from philosophical to commercial perspective. Brotherton (1999) defined hospitality as: â€Å"A contemporaneous human exchange, which is voluntarily entered into, and designed to enhance the mutual well being of the parties concerned through the provision of accommodation, and/or food, and/or drink†. Lashley (2000), on the other hand, defined hospitality as a relationship between guests and hosts, which is neither platonic nor extremely economic in nature. Then again, O’Connor defined hospitality in terms of behaviour and experience. According to the author, consumers are hardly interested in buying service delivery, they rather purchase the experience associated. The quality of service defines memories of the experience and quality of overall event is related to the fact that consumers are buying an occasion. The hospitality industry is one of the major sectors within the service industry that include accommodation, event panning, theme parks, catering services, transportation and various aspects of tourism industry. The development of the hospitality industry is mainly dependent on disposable earnings of individuals and their leisure time (Hemmington, 2007). In this paper, major aspects of the hospitality industry will be discussed in a detailed manner highlighting on current scope, role and diversity in the same and organisational structure of various hospitality organisations. Recent studies by several organisations suggest that the hospitality industry is one of the largest and rapidly growing industries in the global business sector. According to a report, ‘Global hospitality insights’ by Ernst & Young (2014), investment in the hospitality industry has increased considerably in recent years, despite growing economic and political uncertainty in the business industry. The report suggest that among the various

Managerial Decision Making (see instructions) Essay

Managerial Decision Making (see instructions) - Essay Example Managers in todays business environment are faced with numerous often-unplanned events that require decision-making. In the past it was more common for a manager to decide the course of action individually or within formal groups. Important decisions in the business circle are now deemed too risky or important to be made entirely by one person. A manager must seek the right advice from several different sources. Decisions made by group when dealing with problems and issues take place everyday in the life of an organization. Today it is often common for many managers to seek involvement from lower level employees in the decision making process whenever it can be done. However it is not always possible just to ask a colleague what they should do. Most decisions will require a process of a greater degree of subordinate participation; these decisions can be made through a variety of different ways such as committees, task groups, departmental participation and so forth. It is said that making decisions in a group allows for every angle to be looked at and every possible idea to be created with every decision from a group offering the best solution this method of decision-making. This paper hopes to discuss advant ages of group decision-making using several theories and some real life case studies. We will see how participation in decision-making affects companies decisions; we will look at several helpful models i.e. vroom-jago model and all referencing it to real life situations and quotes from famous persons in the field (Schwenk, 1990, p.161–176) Managers as part of their job are faced with many decisions in which they have to undertake, it is up to the managers themselves to decide in what kind of way they want to make the decision and solve the problem. However groups can offer an essential feature in decision making for an organisation. As Coghlan points out: Membership of teams and groups shape perception and participation in organisational

Public University Analysis (#2) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Public University Analysis (#2) - Essay Example The current trend is that the organisations only have to report their contributions but the proposal will make their financials weaker since they have to show their share of liabilities. The effect of the proposed GASB will be an increase in the pension liability for public agencies. The income that the institution receives from its activities is an economic factor that affects the organisation’s future growth and success. The higher the income obtained by an entity from its operations, the higher the growth and success of that institution. (The Times 100) The inflation rates being experienced in the economy affect the growth of the institution since inflation rates affects the price of commodities. When these rates are high it reduces the spending power of the institution since there is an increase in the prices of commodities. The recession, like the one in 2008, caused a slow rate in growth of an institution since the economy is experiencing a slump. The recession also limits the success that an organization might have due to it reporting reduced sales. (The Times 100) Interest rates increase the borrowing costs of an institution and reduce the funds that an institution might try to get from borrowing due to the high costs of borrowing. (The Times 100) High borrowing costs also limit the growth of an institution since much of the capital is borrowed and therefore no in the control of the shareholders, which is not an ideal situation. Federal Pell grants are recorded under non-operating revenues (expenses) together with private gifts, state hospital fee grants, Build America Bonds federal interest subsidies and net investment income. All these are accumulated to give the net non-operating revenues. Federal Pell grants are also included in the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards as well as the

Data Mining in Chain Hotels Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Data Mining in Chain Hotels - Assignment Example Databases can be used by several users seeking businesses in this sector. It helps them to overcome challenges of competition and meet the demands of the market. Â  This study seeks to develop a database for hotel chain management operating 20 hotels in 4 countries. The data mining for the store of information for each hotel and performs analysis with regard to the given hotel. For each hotel the data warehouse will store its name, type, address, country, region, postcode, phone number, and the name of the manager. The data also include different types of rooms like single, double, family, suits, etc. Each room may also incorporate certain optional features, such as refrigerator, kitchenette, or laundry. The system should have each room described as room’s type, size, number of beds, the maximum number of customers, refrigerator (Boolean), kitchenette (Boolean), laundry (Boolean). The capacity of the hotel chain to accommodate customers is limited. The database should help the management on how to price the hotel rooms in order to realize maximum revenue collection. Looking at the capacity of the hotel over time given in the data ware house, they can easily come up with the prices. Comparison between the occupancy rate (utilization) and the vacancy rate is considered. Â  The hotel chain’s capacity to accommodate customers is limited. Each hotel has a set number of rooms. The primary source of revenue is accommodation in hotel rooms. The biggest challenge the company faces is determining how to price the hotel rooms. If they are priced low, the hotels will be constantly booked and therefore customers will be forced to try other hotels in competition with The Grande Chat and if the rooms are priced too high, a lot of rooms will remain empty. The hotel chain management wants to realize profits. The only way is to use the data mining to realize their underlying, interesting patterns and relationships that lie hidden within the analysis (Data mining).

The Dirty Thirties Essay Example for Free

The Dirty Thirties Essay I have chosen the years of 1930 to 1940 as one of the most significant decades in Canadian history. I believe this because it might have been one of the hardest decades to live in. Reasons being that we had suffered greatly by the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash and the enormous 1928 wheat crop crash Canadians were barely making any money or just not having anywhere to work because the demand was very very low. Food was running out and the average working Canadian was making less than $1000 a year! The Federal Department of Labor had said that familys needed between $1200 and $1500 a year to maintain the minimum standard of decency. It was a very depressing time, most familys had retreated to farms where they could grow their own food and barely sustain a low quality of living. Being that an estimated 33% Canada’s gross income had been coming from exports the whole country was suffering. This caused many workers to be laid off and the ones that hadn’t been, their salarys were cut down to a fraction of what they had been getting before. Tens of thousands of people had been totally dependent on government relief, which was greatly affecting Canada’s infrastructure. The depression slowly came to end when the war had been announced. There was a great demand for men to become soilders and support the war effort. More and more young men had started lining up outside military recruitment facilities, most of them trying to make their first dollars! The depression had taken its toll, and forced lots of men to join the war effort due to the simple fact that this was the only way to make money at the time witch is pretty sad when you come to think about it. But this wasn’t the end of the depression, it had whent on after the 1940s. Ammunition, supplies, equipment, and weapons had grown in great demand. With less and less men being around due to leaving for the service many woman had replaced men in the work field. Later on getting names like â€Å"Rosie the Rivetor. †

Aircraft Maintenance Hanger Construction Bid

Aircraft Maintenance Hanger Construction Bid Introduction Many hangar projects are erroneously started in what should be the fourth step project execution. Bypassing the first three planning steps usually leads to frustration and project failure. There is no way to shorten the process by skipping any particular step. Planning the development of any construction site ultimately saves time, effort, and money. All of the project pre-planning and preparation to this point begins to pay off. During the project execution phase project manager completes the project design and funding, solicit bids, award the construction contract, build the hangars, and move in tenants. There will be changes that must be incorporated into the project plan (change in funding sources, regulations, stakeholders, size of project scope), and using the principles of project management can ensure the best possible outcome. This case is about the construction bid for an Aircraft maintenance hanger. ABC Construction Company is in the business of the Aircraft hanger construction. The company has bid for the construction of Aircraft hanger at one of the client site. The Project Manager of the ABC Construction Company has been entrusted with the responsibility of coming up with the project management plan for the entire construction. The following sections provide the baseline plan, progress of the activities against the plan on a given date (15/12/2010) and the efforts by the project manager to bring the plan to the original schedule. The second part of the task is to develop a project cost plan for the main contractors preliminaries associated with the construction of the aircraft hanger. When calculating the preliminary costs, following information is referred: NRM Group element 10 guidance Drawings of the Aircraft hanger Contractors master program The cost plan also discusses the implications of earned value techniques on the project as part of the project control process. The discussion also includes examples to illustrate the application of the earned value techniques in the management of the preliminaries costs. Finally, the value engineering process is conducted to the project, and a better deal is offered the client, which has a better value but at a lower price. The value engineering report prepared as part of this process demonstrates each step of the value engineering process. Time and resource planning and control Project scheduling Assuming the project starting date is of 06/09/2010, and 5 working days a week with Saturday and Sunday as holidays. Based on the tasks lists provided to you, Input activity information into Microsoft Project and schedule the hanger. Based on the schedule that you have generated using Microsoft Project, provide the following outputs: project schedule information (activity ID, activity description, activity duration, predecessors, skilled labor, unskilled labor, early start, early finish, late start, late finish, and total float); CPM network diagram; Bar charts; and Project resource profiles (skilled labor and unskilled labor). Program control By now, you should have developed your baseline schedule for the office building. As an exercise in monitoring and control, you will be required to monitor and control your project based on certain deviations from your initial project plan. Save your initial schedule plan as a baseline schedule and identify all the critical activities; Assume the current date to be 15/12/10 and induce delays into your project based on the following considerations: Due to the problem for the selection of the color of bricks, the hanger starts on 15/10/10 instead of 06/09/10; all activities in progress on 22/10/2010 are delayed by 3 days each; all activities in progress on 01/11/2010 are delayed by 5 days each; all activities in progress on 20/11/2010 are delayed by 2 days each; Update the project and save this as actual project information. After updating, please provide the following information Project schedule information (activity ID, activity description, activity duration, predecessors, skilled labour, unskilled labour, early start, early finish, late start, late finish and total float); Barcharts; Project resources profiles (skilled labour, unskilled labour); and Critical activity list. Do a comparison between both baseline and actual schedules. For comparison, you may compare activity start and finish dates under both situations. Since your project should have been delayed, it is your duty as a project manager to bring the project back on schedule with the least cost. Using 15/12/10 as a current date, try compressing some activities (these activities should not have started yet) and bring the project back on schedule. Compression should be logical and at a minimum cost. This may require several trials. Assume that the extra cost incurred as a result of activity compression is  £50/worker/day. After bringing back your project on schedule, please provide the following information: Project schedule information (activity ID, activity description, activity duration, predecessors, skilled labor, unskilled labor, early start, early finish, late start, late finish and total float); Bar charts; Project resource profiles (skilled labor, unskilled labor); and Critical activity list. Do a comparison between baseline, actual and updated schedules. For comparison purposes, you may compare activity start and finish dates under all situations. All the above details related to above questions have been entered into MS-Project and the three mpps are enclosed with the assignment. Cost Plan Develop a project cost plan for the main contractors preliminaries associated with the construction of the aircraft hanger. The Project cost plan includes the schedule of costs to be incurred during the project and the associated estimates. These are the costs which are expected to be incurred as a result of the completion of project activities. The schedule of activities and the resource plan feeds into the Cost plan and hence it is prepared subsequent to them. As a result of the project planning activities, the project manager is aware of the details regarding the project and hence the refinement of project budget can take place. This activity is particularly important when the project in full or part is expected to be executed under a contract. This is not to undermine the importance of accurate cost planning for the in-house projects as accurate and realistic cost plan helps in effective monitoring and of costs during the execution of the project. The monitoring of the cost helps the project manager to execute the project within the budget. Following three activities are important to develop the cost plan The expected cost identification and estimation Estimation of schedule when these costs would be incurred Cost per activity/task estimation The development of the cost plan for simple projects may only involve the consideration of the overall cost vis-à  -vis the project activities on the schedule of activities. Nevertheless, the situation is different for the complex projects, where, a detailed cost plan needs to be drawn in order to effectively monitor the overall expenditure. The NRM is also known as New Rules of Measurement. It provides a structured basis for preparing order of cost estimates and elemental cost plans including all the costs and allowances forming part of the cost of the building to the client but which are not reflected in the measurable building work. NRM covers the non-physical aspects of a project that the client may require as part of his overall budget for the project. NRM rules for order of cost estimating Information required Constituents Measurement rules Floor area Functional units Elements floor area, Element unit quantities Updating historic costs Preliminaries Contractors overheads and profit Discuss how earned value techniques could be employed on the project as part of the project control process including examples to illustrate their application to the management of the preliminaries costs. Earned Value Analysis (EVA) was developed by the US Department of Defence to determine the performance of large military procurement contracts. Its techniques can still be applied to the smaller projects currently in use today. Indeed, as Microsoft Project allows drilling down through and across a project, specific variances and general trends can be easily found. EVA looks at three basic parameters: What value of work SHOULD have been accomplished to date? How much value has been realized to date? How much has actually been spent to date? By comparing these parameters, an objective assessment of cost AND schedule performance can be gained. Instead of simply concentrating on how much time has been taken to achieve progress, earned value looks at how much value has been achieved so far. For example, take the following project summary task: This project started on time, but it is currently expected to finish 5 days late. This project is expected to overspend by $1,280 approximately 13% greater than its baseline cost. So far (as of the projects status date), the project is behind schedule to the value of $1,600 worth of work. In addition the current best estimates indicate that it will (if things continue as planned) overspend by $2,004, which is $725 more than forecast in the topmost example. Whilst these figures may not indicate large overspend or overrun, these figures are from a sample project containing ONLY seven tasks. If there were 70 tasks (or even several hundred tasks), the potential for error becomes much larger. Value Engineering Efforts to reduce the Cost Value Engineering is defined as an organized effort directed at analyzing the functions of systems, equipment, facilities, services and supplies for the purpose of achieving the essential functions at the lowest life cycle cost consistent with the required performance, reliability, quality and safety. Numerous other terms (value management, value analysis, etc.) are also used when referring to VE. While there are subtle differences among these terms they all refer to-generally the same process. There types of benefits associated with the VE exercise in the current case are First Cost Reduction: These reductions are attributed to the VE program only when required project functions or features can be delivered at the reduced cost. Simple cost cutting e.g. reducing cost at the expense of required features or functions is not VE. VE first cost reductions are counted as VE savings to the extent that dollars are withdrawn from approved budgets based on the results of VE studies. Life Cycle Cost Reduction: LCC reductions are based on the aggregate of first cost and anticipated future cost in maintenance and operations. When additional first cost is required to implement a specific VE suggestion, this can be offset by other VE suggestions which reduce initial cost. If the project budget must be increased to accommodate the additional investment, first cost savings derived from other projects may be used for this purpose after appropriate approvals. As long as they do not entail first-cost project budget increases, VE suggestions based on apparent life-cycle cost reductions may be adopted without formal LCC analysis. However, LCC reductions will be counted as VE LCC savings only when supported by sufficient economic analysis. Value Improvement: Value improvement is a subjective expression referring to a projected or apparent favorable shift in cost/worth ratio. The objective of all VE suggestions is value improvement, whether or not cost reductions are involved. VE suggestions maybe to reduce life cycle cost with no reduction or a lesser reduction in worth, to increase worth with no increase or a lesser increase in life-cycle cost, or (ideally) to increase worth and reduce cost. All VE suggestions which involve adjustments in worth should be related to specific forms of such adjustment (e.g., productivity, flexibility, expandability, aesthetics, etc.), whether or not they also involve cost adjustments. Following two studies were conducted as part of the VE exercise: The completion of Concept Design The completion of Tentative Design As it is a new construction projects, the first study at Concept Design is intended to review basic design decisions that pertain to areas such as: Siting and building orientation Building form, shape and massing Layout Occupiable to gross area relationships Design criteria Building systems selection options Space program options Building space/volume parameters Vertical and horizontal circulation Major Mechanical-Electrical-Plumbing (MEP) considerations Overall energy considerations Site access/egress Overall phasing/scheduling plans (as appropriate) Sub-soil conditions and geological data Utility availability The second study at Tentative Design will focus on more detailed design decisions including (as applicable): Specific building system design Specification and performance requirements Proposed design details Layout options within overall building geometry Specific MEP system selections Site paving, grading and utilities Phasing and scheduling plans Major constructability issues The basic approach is intended to consider macro level issues at Concept Design and more micro level issues at Tentative Design. In general, decisions made as a result of the first study will not be reconsidered in the second study unless significant new information is available. Furthermore, design changes implemented as a result of the studies will generally be considered to be within the bounds of the normal design process. VE Job Plan The recommended VE methodology (Job Plan) used by the VE team during the Workshop had five distinct phases. Briefly, these phases are: Information Phase: During this phase, the VE team gains as much information as possible about the project design, background, constraints, and projected costs. The team performs a function analysis and relative cost ranking of systems and sub-systems to identify potential high cost areas. Speculative/Creative Phase: The VE team uses a creative group interaction process to identify alternative ideas for accomplishing the function of a system or sub-system. Evaluation/Analytical Phase: The ideas generated during the Speculative/Creative Phase are screened and evaluated by the team. The ideas showing the greatest potential for cost savings and project improvement are selected for further study. Development/Recommendation Phase: The VE team researches the selected ideas and prepares descriptions, sketches and life cycle cost estimates to support the recommendations as formal VE proposals. Report Phase: The VE consultant will work in concert with the A-E and the PBS representative to produce a preliminary written VE Report which is intended to represent the results of the VE workshop activities, and meet the VE Program objectives. Finally, post workshop, all the suggestions were collated and classified into three categories of high, medium and low complexity. The suggestions associated with the current projects were as follows Modification of architectural designs: The hangar roof was designed to be an opaque structure. This roof can be made transparent through the ample use of the transparent glass which would allow more volume of sunlight. The high amount of sunlight during the day would result in the low usage of electricity and hence reduction in the variable cost of the running the hangar. Substitution of building wall material: Building wall material is designed to be made up of steel which can be replaced with high grade brick. The brick would also keep the temperature under control within the hangar. Reuse of existing materials such as fencing: The material used in fencing can be reused in the construction activity as the fence would not be required eventually. Use of Solar power: The Solar power can be effectively used to heat the water as well as to provide the night time lighting. This would reduce the variable cost of running the hanger. References Cooks, Sarah (2002), A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMI, 3rd Edition (PMBOK Guides) Public Procurement Directorate (2007), [Internet], Public Procurement best practices guide, Available at :< http://www.publicprocurementguides.treasury.gov.cy/OHS-EN/HTML/index.html?7_4_3_cost_of_project_development.htm>, accessed on: 25 May 2010 Homepage (2007), [Internet], Aircraft Hanger development guide, Available at :< http://www.aopa.org/asn/hangar-execution.pdf>, accessed on: 25 May 2010 Jack J. Champlain, Auditing Information Systems, Second Edition (2003), Pages 277, 278, 279 280, John Wiley Sons Publication. Mulcahy, Rita (2003), Risk Management, Tricks of the Trade ® for Project Managers, 4th edition, RMC Publications. Mulcahy, Rita (2003), PMP Exams Prep, RMC Publications. Rich, Jason R, Design and Launch an Online E-Commerce Business in a Week, Entrepreneur Press, 2008, ISBN: 1599181835, 9781599181837. Schwalbe, Kathy (2009), PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) reference and Information Technology Project Management, 6edition.

Life Outside of Life in Hawthorne’s Wakefield Essay -- Hawthorne Wakef

Life Outside of Life in Hawthorne’s Wakefield Efficacy lies at the heart of human desires for immortality. Characters throughout literature and art are depicted as wanting to step aside and see what their world would be like without their individual contributions. The literary classic A Christmas Carol and the more recent, but ageless, film It’s Wonderful Life both use outside influences (three ghosts and Clarence the Angel, respectively) to demonstrate Scrooge’s and George Bailey’s significance to the lives of others. Differently, however, is the desire of Mr. Wakefield, himself, to actually step outside and beyond the boundaries of his existence to see his own significance in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Wakefield. Furthermore, the characters of the two aforementioned works are enlightened through the importance of their actions and their lives. Wakefield is altered through his experience, but has no such consciousness of his transformation. A work of literature affects the reader by appealing to his or her matter of perspective. Though contrasting out of context, two particular assessments of Wakefield-- one derived from an existentialist viewpoint, the other stemming from a truly feminist archetype— do agree on the conflict of Mr. Wakefield’s actions versus himself and the inconclusive nature of that conflict. Furthermore, both points of view attack Wakefield for his insensitivity toward the good Mrs. Wakefield. In a critique and analysis of the work (which has only recently been granted the attention it so deserves), Agnes Donohue addresses Hawthorne’s "castigation of Wakefield" for not knowing his own unimportance by asking questions of an existentialist nature. She proposes expansions on E.A.Robinson’... ... in the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield. The evidence of this is the thesis that Wakefield’s status lies in his recognition by others. Once he is not recognized, he is belittled and not only sees the ridiculousness of his actions, but also his inefficiency in general; furthermore, through the ordeal he has only seen his wife’s proficiency in her ability to carry on with out him (Kelsey 20). Although he should lose faith in himself as an effective human, husband, and master the absurdity of Hawthorne’s tale lies in the anomaly of Wakefield’s return home as if having been gone no longer than the week he intended to stay away. However, because Hawthorne judged not the actor but the actions, we still rally in the wonderment of knowing "each for himself, that none of us would perpetrate such a folly, yet feel as if some other might" (Hawthorne 76).

othello :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women in Othello are very profound. They are very dependent on their men. During the 16th Century, women were traditional and accustomed to being submissive to their men/husband. Desdemona secretly married Othello a â€Å"Moor† (a black man). She is devoted to her husband, and respects and obeys his wishes. Even though Othello can be cruel to Desdemona, his wife Desdemona responds to her husband in a way that she gets her point across, and still respects Othello. Women during the 16th century were not highly honored by men. During that time women in Othello were very dependent on men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Desdemona father has learned that she has married Othello. Her father Senator Brabinto is very furious. Desdemona has come to confront her father: â€Å"How to respect you. You are the Lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter. But he’s my husband, and you, preferring you before her father, So much I challenge that I may profess. Due to the Moor my Lord†(lit.act1sceneIII v186-91) Desdemona is saying she loves and respects her father the same as her mother did, but she also respects her husband, and will stand by Othello.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emilia’s is the wife of Iago. Emilia is cynical, and a worldly woman. She speaks as though she understands and knows men very well. To Emilia men are callous and betraying. They want whatever they can not have, and what they have they do not want. Her relationship with her husband is unworthy. Iago lies and will do anything to get what he wants. Emilia is asked by her husband to steal a handkerchief of her mistress (a maid), Desdemona. Emilia refuses to do such a thing. She love Desdemona and would never hurt her. Coincidently Emilia found the handkerchief lying on the floor. She surprised Iago with the handkerchief, and he is well pleased. Emilia’s regard for Othello is unpleasant. She realizes that Othello is very jealous towards Desdemona, his wife, and she does not like how he speaks to Desdemona.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Is he not jealous† (lit act III scene1 v 22) â€Å"‘Tis not a year or two show us a man. They are but stomach, and we all but food; they eat us hungerly; and when they are full they belch us† (act III scene4 v 99-102) Emilia is stating that when men bellies are full and they had enough to eat they move on to the next meal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bianca, a very fair looking woman, and is only mentioned in small detail.

Human Trafficking Essay -- Ethical Issues, Sexual Exploitation

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Acts of 2003 and 2005 have defined sex trafficking as a commercial sexual act or acts that are induced by fraud, coercion, or in which the person to perform these sexual acts are under the age of eighteen Blackburn, Taylor and Davis (2010). The sex industry in Cambodia and Thailand consists of men, women, and children. In order for there to be enforced labor and sex trafficking there has to be forms of illegal immigration to these economies, though not all human traffickers are kidnapped or forced into sex work, many choose to do this work. Singh and Hart (2007) have labeled Thailand as a country of many prostitutes and its reputation derives from human trafficking and sexual exploitation, especially sexual exploitation of children. Sex trafficking is used to entice tourists to the country to please sexual fantasies Blackburn, Taylor and Davis (2010). Blackburn, Taylor and Davis (2010) indicate estimating human trafficking and sexual exploitation data is difficult provide. Although, it is estimated that thirty thousand children involved in the Thai sex trade is up to seventy-five thousand children younger than the age of sixteen working in brothels, bars, and nightclubs, and that Thailand’s gross income ranges in the twenty-two billion dollars. Singh and Hart (2007) claim their estimates differ from the reality of the true number of commercial sex workers. Though similar to Blackburn, Taylor and Davis (2010) they provided that the number range from sixty thousand to seventy-five thousand to four hundred thousand sex workers in Thailand. According to Singh and Hart (2007), The World Tourism Organization reported in 2004, th... ...at beach resort near Bangkok, Thailand and many pedophiles from around the world come there. Since there are organizations like Fight Against Child Exploitation which influence the prosecution of pedophiles after they return to their country. The authors state the police are a part of the sex trafficking problem in both Cambodia and Thailand because brothels pay monthly payment to the police for protection, and some brothels are private owned by government, military, or police officials. The Royal Cambodian National Police attempted to develop a special unit on human trafficking and juvenile crime, because this effect produced little progress, the entire national police department was told to get training on human trafficking, child exploitation, ethical behavior that led to corruption, and receiving serves from prostitutes Blackburn, Taylor and Davis (2010).

Unexpected Inflation

Unexpected In? ation and Redistribution of Wealth in Canada Cesaire A. Meh, Canadian Economic Analysis, and Yaz Terajima, Financial Stability One of the most important arguments in favour of price stability is that unexpected in? ation generates changes in the distribution of income and wealth among different economic agents. These redistributions occur because many loans in the economy are speci? ed in ? xed-dollar terms. Unexpected in? ation redistributes wealth from creditors to debtors by reducing the real value of nominal assets and liabilities. This article quanti? es the redistributional effects of unexpected in? ation in Canada.To this end, we ? rst provide comprehensive evidence of the nominal assets and liabilities of various economic sectors and household groups. We ? nd that the redistributional effects of unexpected in? ation are large even for episodes of low in? ation. The main winners are young, middleincome households, who are major holders of ? xed-rate mortgage deb t, and the government, since in? ation reduces the real burden of their debt for both groups. The losers are high-income households and middle-aged, middle-income households that hold long-term bonds and nonindexed pension wealth. T here is ongoing research on potential re? ements to monetary policy regimes in countries with low and stable in? ation. In Canada, for example, a systematic review of the current in? ationtargeting framework is underway (see the other articles in this issue). An issue that has received relatively less attention is the redistributional effects of unexpected in? ation. 1 Redistributional effects occur because many savings, investments, and loans in the economy are speci? ed in money terms (i. e. , not adjusted for in? ation); unexpected in? ation therefore redistributes wealth from lenders to borrowers by lowering the real value of nominal assets and liabilities. The analysis of these effects may be important since the welfare costs of in? ation depend not only on aggregate effects but also on potential redistributional consequences. Our calculations show that, even with an episode of low in? ation, the redistribution can be sizable. While this is a wealth transfer from one agent in the economy to another, a sense of who wins and who loses is essential in order to assess transitional costs and potential public support for reform. The goal of this article is to provide insight into the redistributional effects of in? tion in Canada. The article is a summary of the recent research of Meh and Terajima (2008). 3 The article proceeds as follows. The ? rst section documents nominal assets and liabilities (i. e. , ? nancial assets and liabilities that are denominated in Canadian dollars and not fully indexed to in? ation) held by different economic sectors and 1 2 . 3 In this article, we focus on in? ation that is either unexpected or partially unexpected. If in? ation were completely expected, the change in the real value of the nominal cl aim would be incorporated in the contract.Hence, there would not be any redistribution. On the other hand, lower-than-expected in? ation redistributes wealth from borrowers to lenders. Meh and Terajima (2008) build on Doepke and Schneider (2006) who document nominal assets and liabilities in the United States and develop a methodology to compute the redistribution of wealth caused by in? ation. UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 43 household groups, while the second part describes the methodology used to compute the redistribution of wealth induced by unexpected in? ation.Using this methodology and the documented nominal positions, the third section quantitatively assesses the redistribution of wealth under episodes of low and moderate in? ation. The ? nal part of the article concludes. Nominal Assets and Liabilities Unexpected in? ation generates redistributions because most ? nancial assets and liabilities are speci? ed in money terms. For example, payments on ? xedrate mortgage contracts, bank deposits, non-indexed de? ned-bene? t pension plans,4 government and corporate bonds, and other types of loans are generally not adjusted for unexpected in? ation.Hence, when in? ation is high, the value of these assets and liabilities falls in terms of purchasing power, since the prices of other goods and services go up with in? ation, but payments on these ? nancial claims are ? xed. The extent of the changes in the purchasing power of ? nancial assets and liabilities also depends on the term to maturity, as we will show later on. In this section, we document Canadian holdings by type and maturity in various categories of assets and liabilities. Speci? cally, we look at asset and liability positions for three sectors: household, government, and non-residents. We also consider different groups of households. The objective is to show that, among these different groups of agents, holdings of nominal assets and liabilities differ in both qualitatively and quantitatively important ways. Given that these differences exist, there is potential for redistribution among them following in? ation shocks. (SFS). The NBSA documents the ownership of ? nancial and non-? nancial assets and liabilities by sector. We use the NBSA to compute the net asset and liability positions of the household, government, and foreign sectors.The SFS is a household survey data set on income and wealth. We use the 2005 wave (the latest available), involving about 5,000 households, with weights to produce Canadian aggregates. It provides a comprehensive picture of assets and liabilities. For the sake of consistency, we use the 2005 NBSA and focus our analyses on the year 2005. Categories of nominal assets and liabilities Following Doepke and Schneider (2006), nominal assets and liabilities are de? ned as all ? nancial claims that are denominated in Canadian dollars and not fully indexed to in? ation.We report net nominal positions (i. e. , assets minus liabilities) in four categories, de? ned as follows:6 †¢ Short-term – ? nancial assets and liabilities with a term to maturity less than or equal to one year (e. g. , domestic currency, bank deposits, consumer credit, and short-term paper) †¢ Mortgages – all mortgage claims †¢ Bonds – non-mortgage and non-pension nominal claims with maturity greater than one year, including government and corporate bonds and bank loans †¢ Pensions – employer pension plans without provisions for indexing bene? ts to the cost of living, including both de? ed-contribution plans and non-indexed de? ned-bene? t plans7 We distinguish among these categories because they differ in maturity structure. Differences in maturity will emerge as a key factor in assessing the extent of potential redistribution. Unexpected in? ation generates redistributions because most ? nancial assets and liabilities are speci? ed in money terms. Sect oral positions Data We use two main data sets, both provided by Statistics Canada: the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA) and the Survey of Financial Security 4 5 Non-indexed de? ned-bene? pension plans are those where retirees receive ? xed payments not adjusted for in? ation. Since all businesses are owned by their shareholders, we allocate business sector portfolios across the three sectors, based on each sector’s equity holdings. Table 1 shows net positions in each category, as well as the overall net nominal position (NNP) for each sector. Positions are expressed relative to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005. Positive numbers indicate net lending; negative numbers, net borrowing. 6 7 For more details, see Meh and Terajima (2008). Another type of plan is the indexed de? ed-bene? t plan. These plans are treated as real assets, since in? ation will not affect them. 44 UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 We obs erve that households are the main net nominal lenders overall, with NNP at 40. 14 per cent of GDP. The government sector, at about 43 per cent of GDP, is the main counterparty borrowing from households. The foreign sector has a positive but small NNP of 2. 85 per cent of GDP. Households tend to lend through short-term claims, bonds, and pensions, and borrow through mortgages.The government sector borrows mainly through bonds; it also borrows through short-term claims and pensions. 8 The non-resident sector lends in mortgages and bonds and owes in pensions. 9 These observations suggest that households are the likely losers of unexpected in? ation, since it lowers the purchasing power of their lending (i. e. , savings). Table 1: Net Nominal Positions as a Percentage of GDP Sectors Short-term claims Mortgages Bonds Pensions NNP Households 12. 25 -11. 94 22. 14 17. 69 40. 14 Government -7. 60 3. 19 -29. 67 -8. 91 -42. 99 Non-residents -4. 65 8. 75 7. 53 -8. 79 2. 85Table 2: Nominal Posi tions as a Percentage of Net Worth by Age Age Cohort Under 36 36–45 Short-term claims Mortgages Bonds Pensions NNP 4. 83 -37. 95 -2. 63 -0. 05 -35. 80 -1. 01 -13. 57 4. 70 -1. 31 -11. 19 46–55 1. 48 0. 07 6. 50 5. 01 13. 06 56–65 2. 40 4. 48 7. 90 7. 36 22. 14 66–75 9. 00 3. 55 6. 70 8. 68 27. 93 Over 75 12. 27 3. 29 7. 68 8. 65 31. 89 Household groups We now look at the household sector in more detail, using the SFS data set. We examine three classes (low-income, middle-income, and high-income) and six age groups (under 36, 36–45, 46–55, 56–65, 66–75, and over 75) to observe differences within the sector. 0 Table 2 presents the overall positions for each age group as a percentage of the group’s net worth. We observe that the NNP increases with age, implying that households shift from being net borrowers to net lenders as they get older. Most of the borrowing of the young is from mortgages. With age, more lending (i. e. , saving) is observed in pensions and in liquid short-term claims. This implies that young households will gain from unexpected in? ation while older households will lose. Qualitatively, these patterns generally hold across different income classes, although with different magnitudes.Table 3 shows the positions of the three income classes, with the long-term category combining mortgages, bonds, and pensions. 11 The general pattern of â€Å"borrowing more when young and lending more with age† holds across different income classes. We observe, however, that levels of borrowing relative to their net worth among young middle-income and low-income households are relatively larger than they are for high-income households, mainly because the portfolios of low-income and middle-income households are concentrated in residential real estate (mortgages). This implies that while the young generally bene? from in? ation, bene? ts are likely concentrated among low-income and middleincome h ouseholds. Table 3: Nominal Positions as a Percentage of Net Worth by Age and Income Class Age Cohort Under 36 36–45 High-income Short-term claims Long-term claims Medium-income Short-term claims 5. 83 2. 24 -28. 71 4. 39 7. 01 5. 49 20. 55 9. 07 20. 29 14. 91 18. 97 3. 86 -6. 52 -3. 73 5. 89 -1. 97 18. 40 -2. 36 19. 89 8. 48 19. 03 8. 56 21. 26 46–55 56–65 66–75 Over 75 Long-term claims -95. 27 Low-income Short-term claims 18. 90 Long-term claims -71. 01 -0. 06 -27. 07 5. 04 -8. 30 13. 84 6. 89 12. 58 1. 7 10. 96 12. 79 8 The government sector is a borrower in pensions as it holds liabilities from employer pension plans to its employees. 9 The borrowing in pensions by the non-resident sector indirectly re? ects the pension liabilities of the business sector. As previously mentioned, we allocate business sector portfolios across the three sectors, based on each sector’s equity holdings. 10 The classes are de? ned based on a mix of income and wealth . For simplicity, we use the terms low-income, middle-income, and high-income to refer to each class. See Meh and Terajima (2008) for the details. 1 The distribution of households as well as that of net worth by age group and income class is shown in Meh and Terajima (2008). UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 45 How In? ation Causes Redistribution Given the observed differences in nominal positions among households, government, and non-residents, unexpected in? ation should induce redistributions of real wealth. But how do we begin to identify the pattern and quantify the extent of the redistributions? The size of wealth redistribution depends on how economic agents adjust their expectations to in? tion surprises. We follow Doepke and Schneider (2006) by considering two scenarios that provide upper and lower bounds on the redistribution of wealth. The upper bound is captured by a â€Å"full-surprise† scenario (hereaft er FS). In this scenario, during several years of experiencing in? ation shocks, agents do not anticipate that shocks will continue in subsequent periods; nominal interest rates remain unchanged and the in? ation shock lowers the real value of nominal positions each period, regardless of the duration of these positions. Wealth redistribution from in? tion The goal of this section is to use the nominal positions documented above, combined with the methodology just described, to estimate the redistribution of wealth for an in? ation episode. Historically, in? ation episodes with different magnitudes lasting for extended periods have occurred. For example, between 2000 and 2004, the average in? ation rate in Canada was generally higher than the in? ation target rate of two per cent. To illustrate the in? ation-induced redistribution of wealth, we will consider a hypothetical in? ation episode that lasts ? e years with an in? ation shock of one per cent, starting in the benchmark year 2 005. 12 Redistribution across sectors Table 4 summarizes the sectoral present-value gains and losses induced by an in? ation episode with one per cent shocks that continue for ? ve years, beginning in 2005, under the FS and IA in? ation scenarios. Table 4: Redistribution of Wealth across Sectors as a Percentage of GDP, with a One Per Cent In? ation Shock Lasting Five Years Households Sectors Net Full-surprise scenario -1. 95 -1. 26 Gains 12. 53 7. 61 Losses -14. 48 -8. 86 2. 09 1. 49 -0. 14 -0. 3 Government Non-residents The size of wealth redistribution depends on how economic agents adjust their expectations to in? ation surprises. The lower bound is given by an â€Å"indexing ASAP† scenario (hereafter IA), where agents adjust their expectations after the initial shock to take into account the full duration of the shock. This scenario is also known as a gradual in? ation episode, since in? ation is partially anticipated. Under the IA scenario, the nominal yield curve is adj usted upwards to incorporate the in? ation shock. As a result, under the IA scenario, in? tion-induced gains or losses depend on the maturity of the nominal position. The position is â€Å"locked-in† at the pre-shock nominal interest rate until its maturity date but must be discounted using the new nominal rate, resulting in a lower present value. Intuitively, present-value gains or losses for a claim are larger under the FS scenario because all the positions are affected equally by the in? ation episode. Under the IA scenario, however, long-term positions are affected more drastically than shorter positions. Agents are able to mitigate their losses on instruments that mature before the in? tion episode ends. Our calculations are based on a present-value analysis, described in Box 1. Box 2 discusses how we assign terms to maturity for each category of claims. Indexing ASAP scenario It is apparent from the table that, under the two scenarios, the household sector loses, while the government sector wins. The household sector loss and the government gain are both large. Under FS, the household losses amount to 1. 95 per cent of GDP (or $26. 8 billion), while the government gain is 2. 09 per cent (roughly 5 per cent of NNP). The non-resident sector loses, but the loss is small, just 0. 4 per cent of GDP. To understand these ? ndings, recall that, under FS, gains and losses are directly proportional to the initial nominal positions. Since the household sector is the economy’s main lender and the government sector is the main borrower, it is not surprising that these sectors are the most dramatically affected by the shock under the FS scenario. 12 Under the current in? ation-targeting framework, in? ation has not exceeded expectations by one per cent for ? ve consecutive years. However, as a hypothetical scenario, we suppose price-level shocks that push in? tion to the upper bound of the range speci? ed in the current framework. The current annual in? ation target is two per cent with the target range extending from one to three per cent. 46 UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 Box 1 Present-Value Analysis of Redistributions1 Full-surprise (FS) Scenario We start with an explanation of how unexpected in? ation changes the purchasing power of a nominal claim. Consider an -year, zero-coupon bond with a total nominal yield at time of . In the absence of unexpected in? tion, the present value of one dollar earned in periods through investment in this ? nancial claim is given by are then summed over all claims to derive the net redistribution. Indexing ASAP Scenario The indexing ASAP scenario corresponds to a onetime announcement at period that, starting from the current period , in? ation will be percent higher than expected during each period for the next periods. Assuming that the announcement is credible, bond markets will immediately revise their in? ation expectations and i ncorporate these updates into the nominal yield curve.Assuming that the real curve does not change after the shock and that the Fisher equation holds, the new nominal interest rate used to discount . Therefore, the present a claim is value, , of a claim under IA is , where indicates the exponential function to base . Suppose that at time , there is a one-time surprise increase in in? ation of per cent per year that lasts for periods. Under the FS scenario, since the in? ation shock in each subsequent period is unanticipated, market expectations do not adjust and the nominal term structure is unchanged.As a result, only a proportion, , of a position’s present value remains, and this proportion falls as the size and duration of the shock increase. The present value of , is thus given by this nominal claim under FS, This equation shows that the present value of a onedollar claim at time is independent of the term to maturity of that claim. The present-value gain or loss, , is gi ven by As can be seen from this equation, in contrast to the FS scenario, under IA, a ? nancial position of maturity will be affected only for the periods of its duration, before which the agent is assumed to reinvest at the pre-shock real yield.This is analogous to the agent’s reinvesting in a claim that offers a nominal rate of return that has been indexed to take the in? ation announcement into account. The present-value gain or loss of a claim of maturity under IA is given by: The net present value of gain or loss depends only on the size and duration of the shock and the initial nominal position. The gain is, indeed, proportional to the . pre-shock position, with a coef? cient of If , then there is a gain from the in? ation episode; otherwise, there is a loss. In order to derive the total gain or loss of an economic agent (e. g. , a sector r a household), is calculated for each claim with a term to maturity . The gains or losses 1 This methodology to calculate redistribu tion can be applied to compare the size of redistribution under different monetary policy regimes such as in? ation targeting and price-level targeting. This point is summarized in Crawford, Meh, and Terajima (this issue) and analyzed in detail in Meh, Rios-Rull, and Terajima (2008). Hence, under IA, the present-value gain or loss depends on (i) the size of the shock ( ), (ii) the duration of the shock ( ), (iii) the initial nominal position , and (iv) the maturity of the claim ( ).On the other hand, as mentioned above, the gain or loss under the FS scenario for any position is independent of its maturity. The IA scenario provides a lower bound for gain or loss on a claim, since it assumes full adjustment of expectations to the path of in? ation following the initial announcement. The total gain or loss of an economic agent is derived in the same way as in the FS scenario, based on the sum of the gains and losses from each claim. UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 47 Box 2 Term-to-Maturity StructureIn this box, we describe how terms to maturity are determined for each claim. For ? nancial short-term claims, we assume that they all have one-year terms to maturity, such that we set = 1. For mortgages, we apply the distribution of ? xed-rate mortgages by term in 2005. 1 The distribution is obtained using the Canadian Financial Monitor data set from Ipsos Reid Canada, which is compiled from a household survey containing detailed mortgage information. Chart A presents the distribution of mortgages across terms of mortgages, weighted by outstanding balances. It shows that the most common term of Canadian ? ed-rate mortgages is ? ve years. Based on the fractions we obtain from Chart A, we assign a weight for each . For example, we assign a 60 per cent weight to . We take a similar approach for bonds. We derive a maturity distribution from quarterly data on the maturity and face value of federal government deb t. 2 Chart B shows the distribution from the fourth quarter of 2005. We assume that the distribution of terms to maturity for federal government bonds approximates that for all instruments in this category. For pensions, we focus on two types of pension plans: de? ned-contribution and non-indexed de? ned-bene? t plans.For de? ned-contribution plans, we assume that the average investment portfolio is approximated by the holdings of Trusteed Pension Plans. 3 The assets of Trusteed Pension Plans are given in the NBSA. We compute the distributions of these assets over terms to maturity and use them to assign weights to each value. For non-indexed de? ned-bene? t plans, we assume a ? xed stream of annual post-retirement payments. When calculating the present-value 1 The term of mortgage is the length of the current mortgage agreement. A mortgage can have a long amortization period, such as 30 years, with a shorter term, such as 5 years.When the term expires, a new term agreement can begi n at the prevailing interest rate. The term of mortgage, rather than the amortization period, is relevant for our analysis. These data were obtained from the Bank of Canada’s Communication, Auction and Reporting System database. See Meh and Terajima (2008) for more details. Trusteed Pension Plans hold approximately 70–75 per cent of employer pension plan assets. See Meh and Terajima (2008) for more details. gains and losses of pension assets, we apply the formulas in Box 1 to each payment, then sum all the gains or losses.In assigning the term to maturity of each payment, we set based on the difference between the current age of the household and the age at the time of the payment. Chart A: Distribution of Fixed-Rate Mortgages by Term % 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Six months One year Two years Three to four years Five years Seven years Ten or more years Chart B: Distribution of Government Bonds by Term to Maturity % 15 10 5 0 1 yr. 10 yr. 20 yr. 30 yr. 2 3 48 UNEXPECTED INF LATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 It is also clear that gains and losses are generally smaller under IA.The household sector loss under IA is 1. 26 per cent of GDP (or $17. 3 billion), compared with 1. 95 per cent under FS. This change is driven by a reduction in the losses associated with the sector’s net savings in long-term bonds and pensions relative to the FS case. The change is offset somewhat, since instruments with a shorter maturity are less sensitive to gradual in? ation, and the gains associated with the sector’s net debt in mortgage markets shrink relative to the FS case. The government gain drops from about 2. 1 per cent of GDP under the FS scenario to about 1. 5 per cent under the IA scenario—i. . , it shrinks by almost one-third. This occurs because the government borrows through some bonds that have maturities of less than ? ve years. The non-resident sector’s losses, although small, increase f rom 0. 14 per cent of GDP under FS to 0. 23 per cent of GDP under IA. Finally, Table 4 shows gross redistributions for the household sector—i. e. , it distinguishes between losses associated with lending and gains associated with borrowing. It should be clear from these results that net calculations substantially understate how much wealth is shifted around. Under FS, the household sector gains 12. 3 per cent of GDP and loses 14. 48 per cent, implying a total gross redistribution of 27. 01 per cent of GDP. In other words, household wealth worth 27 per cent of GDP is reshuf? ed. Under IA, the total gross redistribution is 16. 47 per cent of GDP. Table 5: Redistribution of Wealth across Households as a Percentage of Net Worth by Age and Income Class, with a One Per Cent In? ation Shock Lasting Five Years Age group Under 36 Full-surprise scenario All High-income Middle-income Low-income Indexing ASAP scenario All High-income Middle-income Low-income 1. 66 0. 26 3. 91 2. 66 0. 44 -0. 18 1. 15 1. 15 -0. 54 -0. 74 -0. 3 0. 28 -0. 84 -0. 76 -0. 94 -0. 42 -0. 83 -0. 82 -0. 89 -0. 17 -0. 82 -0. 86 -0. 81 -0. 56 -0. 34 -0. 55 -0. 19 0. 14 1. 74 0. 13 4. 34 2. 53 0. 54 -0. 10 1. 28 1. 32 -0. 63 -0. 80 -0. 55 0. 16 -1. 07 -0. 85 -1. 26 -1. 01 -1. 36 -1. 34 -1. 42 -0. 69 -1. 55 -1. 45 -1. 64 -1. 15 -0. 53 -0. 68 -0. 42 -0. 16 36–45 46–55 56–65 66–75 Over 75 All Redistribution between household types Even though the household sector as a whole loses from surprise in? ation, the loss (or gain) is not uniform across different types of households. For different groups of households, we calculate the redistribution of wealth induced by the in? tion episode described above. Table 5 reports the present-value gains and losses as a percentage of the average net worth of each group for FS and IA. Overall, with respect to age categories, young households bene? t from in? ation and older households lose. On the income dimension, the right column of t he table indicates that high-income households lose the most and the loss declines as income becomes lower. Speci? cally, the main winners are young, middleincome households with large, ? xed-rate mortgage debts. Their gain as a proportion of mean net worth is large: 4. 34 per cent under FS and 3. 1 per cent under IA. The second group of winners is the young, lowincome group, who enjoy, on average, gains between 2. 53 per cent and 2. 66 per cent of their average net worth. The gains of the young low-income group come largely from their holdings of student loans and mortgage debt. Note that this group actually experiences greater gains under IA. As in the case for the non-resident sector, this occurs when there is a maturity mismatch. More speci? cally, while the gains associated with their net borrowing positions in bonds and mortgages do not vary much between in? tion scenarios, the losses associated with their savings in short-term instruments are mitigated under IA, since these c laims mature before the shock has ended. The main winners are young, middleincome households with large, ? xed-rate mortgage debts. More age groups among low-income housholds bene? t from the in? ation episode than those among the middle class or the high-income under FS. This is because low-income households remain net borrowers through to age 56, and therefore the youngest three groups among the low-income are winners. In general, older middle- and high-income households bear most of the losses under the two in? tion scenarios. More speci? cally, under the FS scenario, high- and middle-income households over age 75 are the sector’s greatest losers, with losses accounting for 1. 45 per cent and 1. 64 per cent, respectively, of their respective average net worth. These losses are UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009 49 mainly owing to their large positions in bonds and non-indexed de? ned-bene? t pensions. Table 5 also shows that most high-income households lose from the in? ation episode. Older middle- and high-income households bear most of the losses . . owing to their large positions in bonds and non-indexed de? ned-bene? t pensions. Conclusion In this article, we quantify the redistributional effects of unexpected in? ation in Canada. To this end, we ? rst provide comprehensive evidence of the nominal assets and liabilities of various economic sectors and household groups. We then conduct experiments examining the redistributional consequences of various in? ation episodes. The key ? nding is that the redistributional effects of unexpected in? ation are large even for episodes of low in? ation. For example, during an episode of low in? tion, where in? ation is one per cent above expectations for ? ve consecutive years, the loss of wealth among the household sector as a whole could amount to the equivalent of two per cent of GDP, or $27 billion. Among the main winners are young, middle-income households, who are major holders of ? xed-rate mortgage debt, and the government, since in? ation reduces the real burden of their debts. The losers are a combination of highincome households; middle-aged, middle-income households; and old households, who hold long-term bonds and non-indexed pension wealth.Non-indexed pension assets play an important role in the losses of old households. A natural question arising from these results is whether these redistributions have implications for the aggregate economy and welfare. These issues are analyzed in recent research by Meh, Rios-Rull, and Terajima (2008), whose ? ndings are also summarized in Crawford, Meh, and Terajima (this issue). Literature Cited Crawford, A. , C. A. Meh, and Y. Terajima. 2009. â€Å"Price-Level Uncertainty, Price-Level Targeting, and Nominal Debt Contracts. † Bank of Canada Review, (Spring): 31-41. Doepke, M. nd M. Schneider. 2006. â€Å"In? ation and the Redistribution of Nominal Wealth. † Journa l of Political Economy 114 (6): 1069–97. Meh, C. A. , J. -V. Rios-Rull, and Y. Terajima. 2008. â€Å"Aggregate and Welfare Effects of Redistribution of Wealth under In? ation and Price-Level Targeting. † Bank of Canada Working Paper No. 2008-31. Meh, C. A. and Y. Terajima. 2008. â€Å"In? ation, Nominal Portfolios, and Wealth Redistribution in Canada. † Bank of Canada Working Paper No. 2008-19. 50 UNEXPECTED INFLATION AND REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN CANADA BANK OF CANADA REVIEW SPRING 2009