Undertake an examination of the Marketing Environment of the UK book Essay

Undertake an examination of the Marketing Environment of the UK book retailing market - Essay Example y, being a highly competitive sector, also seems to have taken the cues and is bracing itself up in order to comply with the phenomenal rate of globalisation. According to the findings of Miyamoto and Whittaker (2005), â€Å"major UK publishers have been absorbed to huge media conglomerates, for instance, which pursue strategies to maximise profit through leveraging synergy effects of the publishing business and other media businesses on a global scale† (Miyamoto & Whittaker, 2005, P. 1). Owing to the basic fact that most business interests are centred on the need to maximise stakeholders’ value as well as corporate profit, British publishers are inclined towards inculcating this philosophy into their corporate goals. It is interesting to note that the UK market has gradually transformed from being cooperative to one that is predominantly free and competitive (Miyamoto & Whittaker, 2005, P. 3), and as a result the market characteristics have also changed. In the present business context, the British publishing industry is driven by corporate philosophy, its primary objective being the pursuit of individual profit. The British publishing industry has been observed to have a rich heritage as â€Å"publishing guilds were formed in London by the 14th century, and developed with the progress of the printing techniques in the middle of the 15th century† (Miyamoto & Whittaker, 2005, P. 3). London plays an important role in shaping the course of business for this industry as far as the UK is concerned as most of the functions that are associated with this industry are concentrated in this area. The UK also precedes most other economies in terms of crucial developments that were made to this profitable industry and this may be justified by the fact that â€Å"the division of firms in the value chain of the publishing industry was formed in the UK by the middle of the 19th century† (Miyamoto & Whittaker, 2005, P. 4). The UK publishing as well as book retail industry has gone

Human rights issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human rights issues - Essay Example The human rights declaration in 1948 was a major achievement for the United Nations. This was because, from different regions in the world, the human rights documents included values which were to be applied globally to all citizens across the world irrespective of gender, race or ethnicity. Moreover, the basic functions in which human rights were created to serve were to ensure equality among men in different spheres of life, and endowed individuals with an opportunity to have life, liberty and happiness in all corners of the planet. Human rights apply in all major contexts which characterized daily human activities around the planet. They are social, physical, emotional, and economical amongst others. What this simply means is that the values stated in the human rights document are applicable in all aspects of life. An example is when trading, there are human rights values which both parties must abide to exercise equality. The topic of human rights is of extreme importance to me b ecause in my understating it has made my world a better place. Unlike before where the world was full insecurities, today I know with course I can travel to anywhere within my country and to freely interact with any individuals whosoever I wish without developing fear or being discriminated because of gender, race or ethnicity. In addition, to other individuals, human rights is of extreme importance because in a century or year, characterized by globalization

Financial Ratio Analysis And Industry Averages Finance Essay

Financial Ratio Analysis And Industry Averages Finance Essay The price earning P/E ratio shows how attractive a firms stock is for investment. The P/E of Etisalat has increased from previous year 2009 which shows that in 2010 Etisalat has become more attractive for investments. Profitability Ratios Return on Common Equity (ROCE or ROE) ROE = Earnings after Tax à · Equity Shareholders fund x 100 This ratio shows the rate of return of the risk takers also referred to as the stockholders (Sinha, 2009). The ratio shows the stockholders or investors the rate of return of their investments in stocks of Etisalat. The following table shows the ROE ratio for Etisalat: Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Profitability ROE 20.41 22.17 The above table clearly shows that the rate of return for the shareholders of Etisalat has reduced from 22.17% in 2009 to 20.41% in 2010. Therefore the risk of investment in stocks of Etisalat has increased in 2010 comparing with the ratio of 2009. ROA (Return on Total Assets) Return on Total Assets (ROA) = (Net Income à · Total Assets) x 100 Higher ROA indicates the higher return on Assets, this ratio must be above the industry average to show greater returns on Assets (Brigham Houston, 2009). Note: another reason for a low ROA could also indicate the intentional use of debt for financing activities of a firm. The following table shows the ROA calculated for Etisalat. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Profitability ROA 9.74 12.40 The ROA for Etisalat has reduced in 2010 to 9.74% from 12.40% in 2009, which shows the reduced rate of return on assets, indicating the poor performance of Etisalat also showing the use of debt by the firm. Liquidity Ratios: Current ratio Current Ratio = Current Assets à · Current Liabilities The ratio shows the weak or stronger liquidity position of a firm, higher the current liabilities lower the current ratio and vice versa. The calculated ratios of Etisalat are shown in the following table: Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Liquidity Current Ratio 0.79 0.83 The liquidity position of Etisalat has reduce negatively when comparing current ratio of 0.79x in 2010 with 0.83x in 2009, consequently the ability of Etisalat to convert its assets into cash has reduced. Quick Ratio Quick, or acid test, ratio = (Current assets Inventories) à · Current Liabilities Quick Ratio also depicts the liquidity position of the firm to pay off short-term liabilities without relying on sales (inventories). The following table shows the calculated Quick Ratio for Etisalat. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Liquidity Quick Ratio 0.78 0.82 Acid test of Etisalat revealed that the liquidity of the firm to pay shot-term liabilities has reduced from 0.82x in 2009 to 0.78x in 2010. Asset Management Ratios Inventory Turnover Ratio Inventory Turnover Ratio = Sales à · Inventories This ratio shows the number of times inventories are turned over into sales, and higher value shows that the inventories are being held for longer times. The Inventory turnover ratio of Etisalat is shown by the following table. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Asset Management Inventory Turnover Ratio 100.96 115.03 The ratios in the table clearly show the ability of Etisalat to convert inventories into sales has increased shown by declining Inventory Turnover Ratio of 100.96x in 2010 from 115.03x in 2009. Debt Management Ratios Total Debt to Total Assets Debt ratio = Total Debt à · Total Assets This ratio shows in percentage the risk level faced by the firm, the debt ratio of Etisalat is shown with the help of following table: Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Debt Management Total Debt to Total Assets Ratio 6.34 4.52 The values in the table above show that the risk of investing in Etisalat has increased from 4.52% in 2009 to 6.34% in 2010. Financial Profile Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC and its Subsidiary The financial profile of Emirates Telecommunication is presented by the data retrieved from financial statements of the firm. Financial Ratio Analysis Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC and its Subsidiary 2010 and 2009 Data retrieved from the Financial Statements 2010 2009 AED000 AED000 Current Assets 4,671,779 2,224,887 Total Assets 12,519,678 9,531,905 Current Liabilities 6,441,462 3,676,842 Total Liabilities 7,423,911 6,740,365 Inventories 47,300 38,931 Sales Revenue 7,074,097 5,338,699 Interest 102,199 12,998 EPS AED 0.31 AED 0.06 N.I. 1,310,431 264,124 Market Value Per Share AED 2.72 AED 2.79 Total Shareholder Equity 5,095,767 2,791,540 Total Debt 904,735 3,000,000 The ratio analysis is conducted on the basis of data retrieved in the table bove. Ratio Analysis of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC and its Subsidiary: Market Value Ratios: P/E Ratio (P/E) Price/Earnings Ratio = Market Price Per Common Share à · Earnings Per Share The share price of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications for the year ended 31 December, 2009 was AED 2.786 and 31 December, 2010 AED 2.72 (Bloomberg, 2013). The following table shows the calculated P/E for Etisalat. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Market Value P/E 8.77 46.43 The price earning P/E ratio shows how attractive a firms stock is for investment. The P/E of Emirates Telecommunication has reduced drastically from previous year 46.43x in 2009 to 8.77x in 2010 which shows that in 2010 Emirates Telecommunication has become less attractive for investments. Profitability Ratios Return on Common Equity (ROCE or ROE) ROE = Earnings after Tax à · Equity Shareholders fund x 100 This ratio shows the stockholders or investors the rate of return of their investments in stocks of Emirates Telecommunication. The following table shows the ROE ratio for Emirates Telecommunication: Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Profitability ROE 25.72 9.46 The above table clearly shows that the rate of return for the shareholders of Emirates Telecommunication has increased from 9.46% in 2009 to 25.72% in 2010. Therefore the risk of investment in stocks of Emirates has reduced in 2010 comparing with the ratio of 2009. ROA (Return on Total Assets) Return on Total Assets (ROA) = (Net Income à · Total Assets) x 100 The following table shows the ROA calculated for Emirates Telecommunication. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Profitability ROA 10.47 2.77 The ROA for Emirates Telecommunication has increased in 2010 to 10.47% from 2.77% in 2009, which shows the increased rate of return on assets. Liquidity Ratios: Current ratio Current Ratio = Current Assets à · Current Liabilities The calculated current ratio for Emirates Telecommunication are shown in the following table: Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Liquidity Current Ratio 0.73 0.61 The liquidity position of Emirates Telecommunication has reduce negatively when comparing current ratio of 0.73x in 2010 with 0.61x in 2009, consequently the ability of Emirates Telecommunication to convert its assets into cash has reduced. Quick Ratio Quick, or acid test, ratio = (Current assets Inventories) à · Current Liabilities The following table shows the calculated Quick Ratio for Emirates Telecommunication. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Liquidity Quick Ratio 0.72 0.59 Acid test of Emirates Telecommunication revealed that the liquidity position of the firm to pay shot-term liabilities has increased from 0.59x in 2009 to 0.72x in 2010, which shows that Emirates Telecommunication is more liquid in 2010. Asset Management Ratios Inventory Turnover Ratio Inventory Turnover Ratio = Sales à · Inventories The Inventory turnover ratio of Emirates Telecommunication is shown by the following table. Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Asset Management Inventory Turnover Ratio 149.56 137.13 The ratios in the table clearly show the ability of Emirates Telecommunication to convert inventories into sales has decreased shown by increasing Inventory Turnover Ratio of 149.56x in 2010 from 137.13x in 2009. Debt Management Ratios Total Debt to Total Assets Debt ratio = Total Debt à · Total Assets The debt ratio of Emirates Telecommunication is shown with the help of following table: Financial Ratios 2010 2009 Debt Management Total Debt to Total Assets Ratio 0.07 0.31 The values in the table above show that the risk of investing in Emirates Telecommunication has reduced from 0.31% in 2009 to 0.07% in 2010. Industry Averages in Telecommunication Industry UAE The industry averages of the telecommunication for P/E, ROE, ROA, Debt Ratio and Current Ratio are: P/E P/E Industry Average Telecommunication Industry UAE 2009 2010 P/E Etisalat 9.69 10.31 P/E Emirates 46.43 8.77 2009 2010 P/E Industry Average 28.06 9.54 ROE ROE 2009 2010 Etisalat 22.17 20.41 Emirates 9.46 25.72 2009 2010 ROE Industry Average 15.815 23.065 ROA ROA 2009 2010 Etisalat 12.4 9.74 Emirates 2.77 10.47 2009 2010 ROA Industry Average 7.585 10.105 Debt Ratio Debt Ratio 2009 2010 Etisalat 4.52 6.34 Emirates 0.31 0.07 2009 2010 Industry Average 2.415 3.205 Current Ratio Current Ratio 2009 2010 Etisalat 0.83 0.79 Emirates 0.61 0.73 2009 2010 Industry Average 0.72 0.76

Abstinence :: essays research papers

Abstinence: To chose or not to choose?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many teenagers just don’t understand the responsibilities that go along with being sexually active, they don’t even think about them. But maybe they should sit back and think before taking part. People should not be having sex just to have it, but because they are in love. The only time premarital sex may be okay is in the boundaries of a loving, trusting relationship. Other wise you will most likely regret it when you get older.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is so much feeling that goes into being sexually active most teenagers wouldn’t even be able to handle the emotional stress that gets added to the relationship after engaging in intercourse. The person’s self-esteem is at high risk, how will people feel after the relationship ends? It has been prove that â€Å"While many people feel guilty for having sex, or feel hurt and used when a relationship ends after they participated in sex with the other person, abstinence affirms self-esteem.† (Affirming self-esteem 1). But then there are the small numbers of people that actually don’t regret abstinence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are ways to show the partner in a relationship that there is a lot of love for them without engaging in sexual intercourse. Instead of sex something’s that people chose to do are, go for a walk on the beach, give each other a massage, have a snowball fight, or make dinner together. Touching may be okay as long as you don’t exchange body fluids. Sex is only okay within the boundaries of love, and with out love it just isn’t worth it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are so many responsibilities that go along with being sexually active especially when in a relationship. People have to remember that they must remain faithful to the partner; being willing to compromise; standing by the partner, even no matter how difficult it gets which means everyone has to be willing to work things out with one another. The most important is to remember to always no matter what practice safe sex. So many feelings can be hurt if the break up happens after engaging in sex because it is such an intimate experience that people share with the ones they love. (Moe)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many teenagers also think that sex is a way to gain intimacy but â€Å"Genital sex is an expression of intimacy, not the means to intimacy. True intimacy springs from verbal and emotional communion† (Fryling 1).

Mice and men tension Essay

How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not want the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the e yes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not want the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that  he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not w ant the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While every one’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not want the silence present,  meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not w ant the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot,  and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not want the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not w ant the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse. How Does Steinbeck Create Tension in Chapter Three in Of Mice and Men Steinbeck creates tension by making the atmosphere before Curley’s dog gets shot very awkward. He does this by writing about how small noises draw everyone’s attention in the room to it: â€Å"He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all men in the room, so that he stopped doing it.† This quote gives a sense of tension, since tiny things like rippling cards can drew everyone’s attention. This makes it seem like a  very quiet atmosphere. While everyone’s attention is drawn to the small sounds, Candy just stares at the ceiling and eventually rolls over. This makes the reader feel that all Candy can think about is his dog being shot, and this also brings a tense feel. Tension is also created by Steinbeck using the word ‘silence’ to describe the atmosphere of the room leading up to the dog being shot. The characters do not want the silence present, meaning the shot will be heard by Candy. This will increase the awkward atmosphere in the room because no one is quite sure as to how Candy can be comforted. Slim tries to break the silence in the room by telling Candy that he can have one of his puppies. Slim tells Candy that he â€Å"can have any of them pups he wants.† However, Candy refuses to acknowledge his offer, strengthening the already tense atmosphere in the bunkhouse.

Native Son Book Analysis

The Native Son by Richard Wright centers on the character of Bigger Thomas and the violent acts that he commits out of discontentment with his position in society.   Throughout the novel, he rapes, murders and fights his way through life.   His thoughts are constantly consumed with violent and sadistic imagery.   It is the author’s intent to portray Bigger as a mere product of the ghetto.   Although there is some development as a character later in the novel for Bigger, he is still a failed human being.   His actions and decisions are ghastly and his lack of options ultimately leads to a life of crime.   Society is responsible for the criminal behavior of Bigger Thomas. Violence and cruelty are two characteristics that apply to Bigger and support his role as an unsympathetic character.   An early scene introduces us to the cruelty that Bigger is capable of.   Bigger violently chases a rat and kills the animal with an iron skillet.   He terrorizes his sister with the dark body and she faints out of fear. The violence escalates as the narrative continues on.   Although Jan and Mary attempt to relate to him, he reacts with violence.   While Mary’s murder is not planned, the gruesomeness in the disposal of her body is indisputable. â€Å"The head hung limply on the newspapers, the curly black hair dragging about in blood. He whacked harder, but the head would not come off†¦He saw a hatchet. Yes! That would do it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wright 70).   His brutality continues on after Mary’s death and his most vicious act occurs when he later flees with his girlfriend Bessie.   Sensing her fear, he rapes and kills her in an abandon ed building.   Not only is his behavior violent, but the allusions to his thoughts are sadistic as well.   â€Å"He felt suddenly as though he wanted something solid and heavy in his hand: his gun, a knife, a brick† (Wright 154). The setting of the novel is crucial in understanding the reasons that society is to blame for his violence.   The urban areas of the United States during the Great Depression are a place where success is possible for only those who are white and rich; a category that Bigger does not fit into.   The novel particularly focuses on the feelings of social unrest that were occurring during this time period.   This focus allows the reader to understand how naturalism plays a primary role in the creation of Bigger.   Naturalism can be defined as the way a character’s environment influences the character and his actions.   Naturalism sets forth the notion that a character is formed and makes choices in response to the environment in which he lives.   Bigger has been predestined to become the criminal that he becomes over the course of the novel.   Yet he does not embrace this destiny, he is fearful of it.   â€Å"The moment a situation became so that it excited somethi ng in him, he rebelled. That was the way he lived; he passed his days trying to defeat or gratify powerful impulses in a world he feared† (Wright 44).   In this particular scene, Bigger realizes that he has picked a fight with his friend Gus out of fear of robbing the white shopkeeper. Bigger is angry at his position in society and incensed by the helplessness that he feels.   â€Å"I'd soon as go to jail than take that damn relief job† (Wright 32).   He is intimidated by whites and reacts with anger when he is forced to deal with them.   He does not know how to behave in front of the Daltons and he is unsettled by their manner of speaking.   They attempt to be kind to him, but this just fuels his anger and adds to his discomfort.   His fury with his family is also apparent.   He hates them because they suffer and there is no hope for an improvement in their situation.   His hatred derives from the fact that he has the inability to make a better life for them. Bigger allows the crimes that he has committed to give meaning to his life.   â€Å"For a little while I was free. I was doing something. It was wrong, but I was feeling all right†¦I killed ’em ’cause I was scared and mad but I been scared and mad all my life and after I killed that first woman, I wasn’t scared no more for a little while† (Wright 185).   The reason that Bigger kills is out of fear. After putting a drunken Mary Dalton to bed, he is about to be discovered in a very bad situation: alone with a helpless white girl in her bedroom. Bigger is so afraid of the consequences of being alone with Mary that he kills her. After the murder, he discovers he has finally accomplished something and he is in a way proud of the murder.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"He felt that he had his destiny in his grasp. He was more alive then he could ever remember having been: his attention and mind were pointed, focused toward the goal† (Wright 141). Symbolism is a device that Wright uses to depict the relationship between blacks and whites in Native Son.   The novel opens with the scene of Bigger killing a rat that he has found in his apartment.   This act is a summary for the rest of the novel.   Bigger and his family are the cornered animals, forced into a situation by the whites of the society.   The rat and Bigger are violent with each other as are blacks and whites.   Bigger is a mere by product of this relationship that had been the standard in this society.   Racism and hatred have caused him to act out in a violent manner. The last section is especially pertinent to the idea that society is responsible for Bigger Thomas.   The lawyer Max's effort is not to deny Bigger has killed, but is instead to clarify his own vision of how Bigger became who he is and of how he therefore did what he did. Max tries to explain to whites, the judge and jury, why Bigger is the way that he is. Max tries to make it clear the reasons that society is to blame for Bigger’s actions.   The jury proves his point because they will have no part of Max's argument and decides to execute Bigger rather than imprison him. This sentence is virtually anticlimactic in its predictability. â€Å"Although he could not put it into words, he knew not only had they resolved to put him to death, but they were determined to make his death mean more than a mere punishment; that they regarded him as a figment of that black world which they feared and were anxious to keep under control† (Wright 257).  Ã‚   This scene when Bigger realizes that everyone is against him, merely reinforce his awareness of the way that blacks and whites are split within American society. The Native Son is undoubtedly a powerful work that depicts the relationship between blacks and whites in society.   This static relationship that is constantly repressing black people is the cause of the criminal actions that those who are reticent commit.   Bigger Thomas is an example of the effect of this relationship.   He can not be blamed for his actions because he felt cornered and reacted the only way that he knew how.   Unfortunately, the novel ends on a pessimistic note.   The whites of the jury do not realize their part in the making of Bigger Thomas and decide to sentence him to death. BIBLIOGRAPHY George, Stephen K. â€Å"The Horror of Bigger Thomas: The Perception of Form without Face in Richard Wright's ‘Native Son.'.† African American Review 31.3 (1997): 497+. Hamilton, Sharon. â€Å"Wright's Native Son.† Explicator 55.4 (1997): 227-229. Tuhkanen, Miko Juhani. â€Å"†A (B)igger's Place†: Lynching and Specularity in Richard Wright's â€Å"Fire and Cloud† and ‘Native Son.'.† African American Review 33.1 (1999): 125+. Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper and Row, 1940.

The Trendy Green Drink the marking techniques on the packaging Arizonia green tea has used to appeal to its target audience.

The Trendy Green Drink the marking techniques on the packaging Arizonia green tea has used to appeal to its target audience. Having seen the packaging, the consumer picks up the drink out of curiosity, while other iced tea drinks have flashy fonts or colors for packaging, 'Arizona' Green Tea maintains its oriental look, providing a contrast that attracts the eye of the consumer and sells itself. The tea comes in a bottle with a light green opaque film around it. The film is illustrated and the top to the bottle is secured with a paper seal colored with an intricate and geometric design. The two other main ingredients follow the Green Tea wording on the label. The wording Green Tea itself is written in both English and Chinese.The target consumers are people still in or just out of college, therefore in their late teens to their late twenties. With a pale green background the bottle's illustrations are of a tree growing small pink flowers, as well as a golden sculpture and a blue river flowing in the back.English: Empty can of Arizona Green Tea littering ...The seal is around two inches in height and reache s the neck of the bottle. The 'Arizona' label itself is white and placed at a right angle, the rest of the wording is a dark green or black and a relatively smaller font.The illustrations on the film are simple and not intrusive, they provide the bottle with a calm look that high to mid-classcollege or recently graduated student might enjoy. By having not cluttered the bottle with very colorful or flashy images and given it, a simple, delicate design, the bottle seems calm. In a college or graduate student's life many things are changing and the students often try experiencing new non-traditional things, and the "packages record changing hairstyles and changing lifestyles" (Hine p.71). These new experiences may include less western ideas or products. 'Arizona' Green Tea does not thrust itself upon you but provokes a curious person to try it because it appears different. The tree illustrated on the bottle has tranquility provided by the simple curves with which it was draw and the li mitation to two colors, brown for the branches and pink for the flowers. The paper seal is intricate; contradicting with the rest of the bottle, keeping it from being too simple and therefore bland. In a way it is similar to many other products that have a tendency to "sell their bottle rather than the drink." (Hine p.72) The attraction to the product is brought around by a simple marketing idea, being unique.By having mentioned directly on the label the two other main ingredients, ginseng and honey, it gives a 'bonus' to the drink. It suggests that the product will provide you with energy and has been sweeten by a more health conscious sweetener. When someone twenty-years-old buys a beverage, usually they areattracted to caffeine, although in high school this was almost strictly done in order to be cool, during the college years its ideally to have more energy to work, ginseng is an alternative to caffeine and alternatives can be attractive. By the this time, often the person will have turned more health conscience as well, honey being natural, suggestively, has many advantages over other sweeteners. Usually in areas like Southern California, the target group of around the late teen to late twenties, try to become more educated as far as their health is concerned, regardless of whether it is or not, if it sounds more nutritious, it becomes more popular hence the reasoning for adding honey to the label.The 'Arizona' label itself is cleverly placed and colored, thus giving it the opportunity to be a larger font and yet not disrupt the tranquility set by other images. The white color allows the wording to blend in with the green background, especially with the position it has over the tree. The strong color contrast with the tree and the similarity with the pale green allows it to be large, easily read and not intrusive. This is another marketing trick although harder to accomplish, it tells the consumer the product name, without it being offensive.The words 'Gr een Tea' have a small font, but by having accompanied it with Chinese words, it gives the bottle animported look, which attracts the consumer group, a group who is always looking for new things. The two Chinese words on the bottle although small, give the suggestion that the product is not only meant for the average American but perhaps for an East Asian consumer. This makes the drink's package more daring in a way; because it suggests that it was not put on the self to satisfy only this target consumer (you). Thus, the age group can take it as having been challenged to try a new experience. In much the same way this is similar to the groups that wore jeans because they "stood strongly in opposition to the dominate conservative, middle-class consumer-oriented culture of American society," (Davis p.88) the drink and many other products help people in the age group, to in way, rebel against racist, 'only if its made in the USA' type and therefore in their view be different and more in ternationally aware.For its oriental, tranquil looks, suggestively more health conscience ingredients and international wording 'Arizona' green tea has gained popularity. It now follows the line of many other drinks which have entered this age group over the years, it appeals first to a few, who want to be different and then to almost everyone else to be more like the rebellious. 'Arizona' Green Tea has not only established a market for its product, but has become popular.

Tattoos a Fine Art Essay Example

Tattoos a Fine Art Essay Example Tattoos a Fine Art Essay Tattoos a Fine Art Essay Essay Topic: Lolita Tattoos a Fine Art Tattoos are considered fine art and are accepted more now than ever before. â€Å"Tattoos date back to 12,000 BC. The word tattoo comes from a Tahitian word tattow or ta-tu meaning to mark the skin† (Lori). Tattoos have been evident in many cultures throughout the centuries† the ancient Greeks tattooed spies, the Romans tattooed criminals and the Polynesians tattooed ranking members of their tribes† (Lori). Around the 1950’s tattoos lost popularity they picked up a stereotype of being on bad people: hoodlums, jail birds, or people that were considered social outcasts. In the 1960’s the outbreak of hepatitis caused tattooing to fall out of popularity. Around 1972 tattoos began to gain popularity again with new procedures for cleaning and better art work being presented. This is when tattooing started gaining its Statius of fine art. New and intricate work were being done, fantasy motifs some being influenced by Japanese high detail tattooing. This is where tattoo artist started learning how to improve on their work and to create master pieces if fine art. The more detail and intricate the work the better the show piece. Tattooing has flourished into a full artistic medium that is taking the world by storm with its endless variety of techniques and abilities to do just about anything as a tattoo design. â€Å"With the tattoo profession being gradually taken over by experienced artists, we are seeing many modern illustrative styles being tattooed, from comic book art to futuristic computer-generated designs. Classic painters; Such as Van Gogh and Dali, are being painstakingly interpreted on skin alongside modern masters such as Alex Grey and H. R. Ginger. In less than a century, tattooing has evolved to encompass every conceivable style of art† (Hope). Tattoo Artists are constantly pushing the boundaries of the art form by finding bold new ways of expressing themselves on a living canvas. Nevertheless, Tattoo Art has been looked down upon, if not completely ignored, for decades, which is silly when you think about it. I mean, isn’t â€Å"art† simply a means of expression and a form of communication? Now days people are getting portraits of loved ones, wild animals, murals, famous works of art, and even intricate designs tattooed on themselves. Some of these tattoos even tell stories about something that may have happened to them during their lives, or to memorialize someone special that has passed on. Tattoo art might seem a little superficial and decorative on the surface, but most tattoos usually have a deeper meaning even if that meaning is only known to the bearer. They are finding more and more people with tattoos as they are becoming more socially acceptable in today’s culture. One can find such people as:† Celebrities, sports heroes and even royalty are no strangers to body art including Angelina Jolie, Robert di Niro, Julia Roberts, Jason Giambi, Anna Kournikova, King Frederick of Denmark, Queen Olga of Greece and Princess Stephanie of Monaco† (Lori). There are such artist as Thomas Hooper who have people coming to him for his work that don’t really care what he puts on them as long as it’s a Hooper he has a waiting list six months long. He of course declines the offer and wants the clients input on the work. But he knows the reason people do this it is like buying a painting of a famous artist for a collection. Hooper has a style all his own and that is what has earned him the respect and following that he has. Hooper is not alone there are many tattoo artist in many major cities all over the world with huge followings; in New York Anil Gupta, another one in America is Steve Byrne who has people who seek him out where ever he might be at the time. Steve says that half of the people that he has tattooed have traveled to find him or just happened to have caught him at a convention in their area. Conventions have now become a big thing these are like a mobile art gallery, these are where people come to see works of art on other people. One might also be interested in the new tattoo technology; upgrades on machines, new colors, cleansers, shop supplies, techniques, and maybe even a lesson or two from a master. There are also clients there looking for artist in their area so they can get a look at their work. These are great places to go if one would like to broaden their horizon and become enlightened on the facts of tattooing. A lot of your tattoo artist â€Å"now have the coveted initials MFA (Masters of Fine Art) after their names and have studied in respected art schools† (Harris). These artists have very long waiting lists and are very expensive but as the saying goes one only get what one pay for, and if one wants a masterpiece one will have to pay for it just like if one were buying a fine painting. It’s guessed that 48% of people ages 17 to 25 have a minimum of one tattoo and 40% of people ages 26 to 60 have as a minimum of one tattoo (Lampica), but it is still a fact that there are more adult men that have tattoos then females that are tattooed. Dr. Lori, â€Å"Skin deep art: Tattoos have a long history† Sunday Living 2011 The Journal. September 27, 2009. journal-news. net/page/content. detail/id/525680. html? nav=5004 Harris, Paul. â€Å"Tattoos conquer modern art as needles and ink replace brushes† The Observer 2011 guardian 23 January 2011 uardian. co. uk/world/2011/jan/23/tattoo-artists-new-york Levins, Hoag. â€Å"The Changing Cultural Status of the Tattoo Arts in America† As Documented in Mainstream U. S. Reference Works, Newspaper and Magazines. 1996-2011 tattooartist. com/history. html Lampica, Lolita. â€Å"Fine art and Pleasure: Tattoo Art Earth† 2011-07-07 Go Articales . com 2011 http://goarticles. com/article/Fine-art-and-Pleas ure-Tattoo-Art-Earth/4923008/ Hope, J â€Å"Tattooing Today† 2011-7-8 Go Articales . Com 2011 http://goarticles. com/article/Tattooing-Today/4926576/

Signed vs. Unsigned in Programming

Signed vs. Unsigned in Programming The term unsigned in computer programming indicates a variable that can hold only positive numbers. The term signed in computer code indicates that a variable can hold negative and positive values.  The property can be applied to most of the numeric data types including int, char, short and long. Unsigned Variable Type of Integer An unsigned variable type of int can hold zero and positive numbers, and a signed int holds negative, zero and positive numbers. In 32-bit integers, an unsigned integer has a range of 0 to 232-1 0 to 4,294,967,295 or about 4 billion. The signed version goes from -231-1 to 231, which is –2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 or about -2 billion to 2 billion. The range is the same, but it is shifted on the number line.   An int type in C, C, and C# is signed by default. If negative numbers are involved, the programmer must change to unsigned. Unsigned Char In the case of chars, which are only 1 byte, the range of an unsigned char is 0 to 256, while the range of a signed char is -127 to 127. Stand-Alone Type Specifiers and Other Usages Unsigned (and signed) can also serve as standalone type specifiers, but when either is used alone, they default  to int. Objects of type long can be declared as signed long or unsigned long. Signed long is the same as long because signed is the default. The same applies to long and short.​

National Public Health Performance Standards Assignment

National Public Health Performance Standards - Assignment Example While answering these questions, responses given to the National Public Health Performance Standards helps in identifying the strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities available for investment by the public health. One of the national performance standards is to Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues. According to the crafters of this standard, its main service include providing health information, offering the public with health education and promotion of health activities which are designed to reduce the risk of health among the people, consequently promoting better health to the public (â€Å"Centre For Disease Control And Prevention†, 2013). Focusing on partnering health education and health promotion programs with schools, faith communities, and work sites, personal care providers, among others so as to implement and reinforce health promotion programs strengthens the standard. Through such programs, the public is aware of the most important health messages they wish to send across to the people. More particularly, the exploitation of a number of channels to communicate these messages such as the social media and media advocacy has successfully communicated these m essages to the people. Thus, the biggest strength of this standard is the effective communication of important health information and education to the public through different channels. School programs and religious organizations used as platforms for the spread of the information successfully make sure that all people receive the information on time. Outbreaks of diseases and immunization as well as education of the public on the various ways of maintaining their health is strength of the standard (â€Å"Centre for Disease Control and Prevention† 2013). Because of the application of these standards, I would expect the public to be more vigilant on the need to maintain their health. According to the feeding activities of the

In Freud's view what is the difference between the ego, id and Essay

In Freud's view what is the difference between the ego, id and superego, and how do they interact - Essay Example The Id Freud conceptualizes the id in terms of uncoordinated instincts, and as the unorganized part of the personality structure, the id only contains basic instinctual drives, and is present from the time individuals are born (McLeod). The id is the origin of human needs, wants, desires, and impulses, especially the sexual and aggressiveness-related drives, and it is governed by the pleasure principle, which is the psychic force that arouses the tendency to seek the immediate gratification of impulses as soon as they emerge. The id encompasses the libido, the primary source of the instinctual force, and it seeks to avoid pain or un-pleasure aroused by the rise in instinctual forces; in this respect, the id demands immediate satisfaction. When individuals satisfy their needs or drives, they experience pleasure; however, since the id does not care about reality or the needs of other people but its own satisfaction, it is not a stable personality. The fact that the id is present right from birth implies that it encompasses all the inherited traits, and the minds of babies being purely id-oriented, it implies that the id is important in babies since it contains the life instincts that are very important for pleasurable survival. For instance, when babies are hungry, they cry to be fed, and when they are wet, they also cry for their diapers to be changed; in this respect, the id enables the babies to seek immediate gratification. This explains why babies have no sense of wrong or right as the id knows no judgment of value, of what is wrong or right; in that respect, so long as there is a need it must be satisfied immediately. The Ego The ego, unlike the id, is the organized, realistic component of the psyche, which only acts according to the reality principle, and seeks to grant the id satisfaction in realistic ways that are beneficial in the long term rather than only in the short term. In this regard, Freud perceives the ego to be an individual’s conscienc e that makes them understand that their own desires may vary considerably from those of other people around them. In that sense, the ego will try to meet an individual’s needs but at the same time, it will consider the reality in the surrounding world since it understands that actions have consequences or effects, which may be positive or negative. The ego, therefore, plays a very fundamental function in individuals since it tries to balance thinking before carrying out decisions or before taking actions, to ensure that they bring benefits in the end rather than pain. The reality principle governing the ego is the regulating mechanism, which enables individuals to delay satisfying their immediate needs and drives until the appropriate time. For instance, the ego will enable individuals to wait patiently at a restaurant for their food, rather than grab food off other people’s plates; without the ego, individuals would be grabbing things from people as soon as they have felt a need that needs to be satisfied immediately. The Super Ego Unlike the id and the ego, the super ego plays a very fundamental moralizing role in the psyche since it aims for nothing short of perfection by incorporating ego’s ideals and punishing misbehavior with guilt feelings (Eugenes). According to Freud, the super-ego incorporates the learnt values and morals of society, which are gained from interactions within family and

Falling oil prices are bad for the economy Essay

Falling oil prices are bad for the economy - Essay Example This includes that of United States, which is one of the major consumers of oil and oil related products (Pahl & Anne, 33). This paper argues that the low prices of oil, as they are witnessed currently, are very harmful to the economies of the world. One of the major impacts of the falling oil prices is the destruction of economies that are heavily relying on oil. Examples include the Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and even Saudi-Arabia. In a recent rating of the Venezuelan debt capability, the country was downgraded, and this is because of a drop in the oil prices, by more than 40% (Johnson, 5). This is because the country had a very low level of international reserves and foreign exchange. Furthermore, Venezuela is also experiencing economic declines, and this is because it is unable to pay off its government workers, and offer essential services such as health care services. In fact, President Maduro was able to tour most oil producing countries, in a bid to influence them to reduce the production of oil, but he was unsuccessful. Russia is also another country that is negatively affected by a low price of oil (Johnson, 5). Just as Venezuela, the Russian economy is dependent on oil; as a result, the value of the Russian currency has depreciated. Just as Venezuela, the Russian bonds are trading at a very low price, and this means that the two countries are experiencing a recession. In a recent credit rating of Russia, the rates of defaults were very high, and this means that trading in Russian bonds or debts was very risky. This is an indication that the Russian economy is experiencing a recession, mostly because of oil, and partly because of the economic sanctions that the European Union has placed on Russia. Pahl & Anne (44) explains that cheap oil are not only hurting the economies of states that are relying on the production and exportation of

Journal of Korean Melodrama Peppermint Candy (1999) Movie Review

Journal of Korean Melodrama Peppermint Candy (1999) - Movie Review Example The movie shows that it was the manipulative and oppressive society that led Yongho to commit suicide out of the sufferings that the social system caused him. The movie opens up to show that Yongho was a young business and then he eventually loses his enterprise and his money due to the bankruptcy. He also goes through a failed marriage with a Honja who is a woman he used. He eventually loses his dreams of marrying Sunim, his true love, and becoming a photographer. The movie explores these events through the psychological exploration of Yongho. The viewers are clearly shown how these psychological issues are caused because of an oppressive society in which Yongho loved. The society killed his individuality and his innocence to make him a person with no hope and no love. The director also explores how the political, economic, and social crisis of Korea in the 1980s and 1990s affected Yongho. His character was such that the Korean audience could relate to easily as he was a symbol of degradation of the society. Thus the movie clearly showed how the repressive and manipulative social system could absolutely tear an individual apart. The society was a militarized and patriarchal society which was male oriented. The issues displayed in the film explore the masculine ideology that was present in the Korean society at that time. The most important element which showed the masculine ideology was the militarized society that shaped Yongho’s life. The military control over Korea influenced the masculine ideology which prevailed in the state. The elements that portrayed the masculinity were the organized use of violence and avoidance of the reproductive activities which are culturally feminine. Another element which clearly showed the masculine ideology in the movie was the marginalization of women. The movie was about a man’s life from a male perspective and it totally failed to portray the

Life Expectancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Life Expectancy - Essay Example However, these life expectancy levels do not necessarily mean that all are expected to live for these ages. One may die earlier or even later based on the lifestyles and other occurrences that may not be expected to occur. Life expectancy at birth is the number of years that a new born child is expected to live before they die. According to WHO, life expectancy at birth has increased world over by 6years since 1990. This has been so due to increased healthcare, technology and social conditions. Other factors that are direct determinants of life expectancy are physical fitness, general health conditions and poverty. The discouragement of smoking in England or the alternative encouragement of physical fitness has augured well towards encouraging the increase in the life expectancy. As such, since this practice has continued to receive positive response from the citizens, life expectancy in England is expected to continue increasing. The growth of the same in the United States of America is slightly below this rate and the reasons for this are discussed herein. Eileen Crimmins-2004 proposes that reductions in mortality were as a result of a reduction in the load of chronic inflammation and infection. The health improvements in Europe can highly explain the effected change. The improvement of the different aspects of healthcare production can be highly praised for the reduced mortality rates in the United Kingdom. From wide studies, it has been reported that improved technological application in healthcare delivery, milestone coverage in genetic engineering and an increased awareness of diseases and viruses (Vallin, MesleÃŒ  &Valkonen, 2001). Medicinal delivery has been experiencing an increased rate of technological advancement in the last decade. This can be clearly highlighted by the introduction of the targeted Cancer Therapy, natural Orifice

Social Networks in Work Places Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Networks in Work Places - Essay Example On the other hand, there are no given limitations that employees can deal with the websites that are work related without involving themselves with the recreational or personal sites that influence their level of output. The involvement of employees and employers in the online networks facilitates the publicity to malware, lack of privacy and other related factors and hence the concentration of the employees on their daily routines are affected and influenced negatively. This results to decreased production and profit levels.2 Since the discovery and introduction of technological advanced, electronics that are used to ease the communication gap between different individuals from different locations there has been complaints from many employers of the effects of these social networks on the productivity of the employees. There has been debates on the effects of these social networks on the general economical development and growth of different companies. The online social networks hav e been regarded as the most influential since their access is commonly by use of mobile phones or computers. The employees in most companies have access to these electronic gadgets and to the internet in their work places.3 This illustrates that the employees can engage themselves with the social networks online during working hours. This usually causes negative effects on the level of their productivity and the levels of realized profits from the employers. This aspect has caused most of the employers to install other gadgets to regulate and control the use of the internet in their companies. Some of the employees as a barrier or abuse can regard this to privacy and social life involvement. On the other hand, the employers see it as a way of controlling and sealing the degree of idleness and loopholes that influence productivity. The rights of both parties, employees and employers, seem to be violated but there should be an understanding between rights, privileges, work responsibil ities and abuse of work contracts. The realization and introduction of aspects that involves the concepts of the employers’ expectations from the employees with respect to their social life should be addressed in advanced and in most cases included in the employment contracts. Consequently, a closer look on the effects of employees involvement to social networks, mostly online should be critically analyzed since they are at times beneficial to the company or organization if used properly.4 The fact that the employees at times visit the websites that are not work related does not mean that they do this every time they access the internet. The social networks that are usually accessed online can assist in the beneficial part of the organization or company. From a deeper perspective, social networks can be termed as areas where people obtained all sorts of data and information.5 The interconnection of the system allows the users to assist one another, take steps to achieve goals and objectives and transmit the different information from one section to another. Social networks cannot be abolished in the work places due to their importance and improvement degree on the business world. On the other han

Life Expectancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Life Expectancy - Essay Example However, these life expectancy levels do not necessarily mean that all are expected to live for these ages. One may die earlier or even later based on the lifestyles and other occurrences that may not be expected to occur. Life expectancy at birth is the number of years that a new born child is expected to live before they die. According to WHO, life expectancy at birth has increased world over by 6years since 1990. This has been so due to increased healthcare, technology and social conditions. Other factors that are direct determinants of life expectancy are physical fitness, general health conditions and poverty. The discouragement of smoking in England or the alternative encouragement of physical fitness has augured well towards encouraging the increase in the life expectancy. As such, since this practice has continued to receive positive response from the citizens, life expectancy in England is expected to continue increasing. The growth of the same in the United States of America is slightly below this rate and the reasons for this are discussed herein. Eileen Crimmins-2004 proposes that reductions in mortality were as a result of a reduction in the load of chronic inflammation and infection. The health improvements in Europe can highly explain the effected change. The improvement of the different aspects of healthcare production can be highly praised for the reduced mortality rates in the United Kingdom. From wide studies, it has been reported that improved technological application in healthcare delivery, milestone coverage in genetic engineering and an increased awareness of diseases and viruses (Vallin, MesleÃŒ  &Valkonen, 2001). Medicinal delivery has been experiencing an increased rate of technological advancement in the last decade. This can be clearly highlighted by the introduction of the targeted Cancer Therapy, natural Orifice

Economic Impacts Essay Example for Free

Economic Impacts Essay The Attack on the World Trade Centre in Manhattan had happened on September 11, 2001. The attack had led to the destruction of numerous buildings and lost of lives. This had greatly affected not only the citizens of the United States. The incident had also affected the economy of the country. According to the report of Mr. George Kahn (2001) , the vice-president   and economist of Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas, US economic growth had already slowed dramatically. Based on the experiences in the year 1996 to 1999, a growth in the GDP has been experienced. It is only logical to think that GDP will continue to rise in the next few years. However, Real GDP has slowed to a 2.8% rate of growth last year. Unemployment had moved down from 3.9% in th year 2000 to 4.9% in August. The slowdown in the economy had led to unexpected increase in energy prices and re-evaluation of the prospects for corporate earnings. Prices in the stock market have been affected, and consumer spending began to slow down. In early September, prices on energy began to stabilize and consumer spending had hold-up. Although manufacturing activity continued to decline but in a slower rate as compared to what happened in the early part of the year. However, this has all changed after the attack in September 11. 2001. Looney (2002) has used categories to differentiate the different economic impacts of the attack in the United States. His categories were based on two types. First is the nature of the impact and second is the length of time the economy has affected the country. In this paper, the author would use the length of time the impact has on the economy. These effects would be divided into three parts: The short-term impact, the medium-term impact and the long-term impact. Short-term impacts of the economy can be further categorized into two. These are the immediate short-term direct impact and the immediate short-term indirect impact. Looney (2002) had enumerated several short-term impacts after the September 11, 2001 attack. For the immediate short-term direct impact, it was stated that Lower Manhattan of New York had lost an approximate of 30% of its office space because of the attack. Reports stated that an estimate of 200,000 were destroyed or relocated out of New York City. Estimated cost of destruction of physical assets in businesses amounts to $ 14Billion for private business, $ 1.7Billion for the local and state assets and $ 0.8Billion for federal enterprises. Rescue, cleanup operations and other cost related to these two is approximately $11 Billion. Total direct costs as computed by Looney (2002) in the article, is estimated to be at around $27.2 Billion. However, Mr. Alan Hevesi, had considered other factors that was not included in the article of Robert Looney. Hevesi (2001) considered the lost of human capital which is estimated to be at $11 billion. These are the lives of the workers who had been killed during the attack. This figure is based on the expected earnings during the personâ€⠄¢s remaining work life. Indirect short term impacts of the attack are the following: Consensus forecast for the GDP growth of the US economy is lowered by 0.5 percentage points in the year 2001 and 1.2 percentage points in the year 2002. Implied projected cumulative lost from the attack up to the year 2003 is estimated to be half a trillion dollars. Private sector investments went down the same with their inventory levels. The attack had shown the government that an additional investment is needed for the security of the country. It is estimated that an increase of 9.25% in defense spending was used by the government. Firms such as security and information technology had increase in demand. Federal Reserve had lowered the price of credit and and temporarily liquidated their assets to safeguard the integrity of the financial system and save businesses from bankruptcy. Aside from the impacts stated above by Looney (2002), Hevesi included factors such as disabilities and trauma to be at $3Billion, business interruption, training and liability losses to be at $21 Billion, Net Lost Rents of $ 1.05 Billion from both the damaged and destroyed buildings and Lost wages which amounts to $9.6 Billion In the medium term, Looney had defined several sectors that had been affected by the attacks. Five areas were highlighted on his report and these are the Insurance, Airlines, Tourism and other service industries, Shipping, and Defense. Losses of the Insurance industry are estimated to be at $30 to $58 Billion. These losses are the highest record in the history of the country. Primary insurers have increased their premiums and dropped their coverages for terrorism related risk, this in turn had affected other key industries. Strongest impacts of the insurance were seen in the aviation, tourism, transportation, construction and energy generation sectors. Commercial property and liability insurance rates have been raised by 30% on the average. The terrorist had used airplanes in order to trigger the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This had lead in putting the aviation industry in a weak position. An estimate of 20% decrease on the service orders had been ecperienced by airlines. Government support and airline passenger traffic was below normal and an estimate of 100,000 layoffs has been announced. Employment opportunities which were normally up in October and November fell by 80,000 or an estimate of 8% from the expected. Another sector that has been greatly affected is the tourism and service sector. These include hotels, tours, automobile rentals, travel agencies, and civilian aircraft manufacturers. As stated by Looney (2002), hotels have reported higher vacancy rates and employment in the sector as a whole fell by 58,000 in October and November. Relative Equity Values declined by 15%. Preliminary report of Fiscal Policy Institute in New York (2001) included attendance of people in the Broadway theatres had also decreased.. The Shipping sector was in a way affected by the attack, Maritime shipping rates had increased from 5 to 10 percent on average in the two weeks after the attack. Relative stability of freight rates ,despite the decrease in fuel costs and under-utilized capacity of the ships implied that transportation cost had increased because of the attacks Defense sector had experienced a significant increase on security-related programs in the budget for the year 2003. An additional budget of $48Billion was proposed for national defense. Homeland security budget was also increased from $20 Billion in 2001 to $38 Billion in 2002. An enhancement on the training of first responders which are the fireman, police and rescue workers were done, total preparation amounted to $8 Billion for domestic defense spending. The Fiscal Policy Institute or FPI (2001) included in their report losses on advertising because after the attacks commercial runs on television networks were cut down. FPI (2001) had estimated that there would be a 1,000 reduction in advertising employment and a 3% drop of revenues would be experienced by the advertising sector. Looney (2002), enumerated five effects in the   economy. These effects are higher operating costs, higher level of inventories, higher risk premium, Shift of resources t the military defense, and the shift away from globalization. As stated above, several increase in spending for defense had been experienced by the country, and higher insurance premiums were also done in the industry.   The attacks and also led to longer wait for time activities because several sectors and consumers are already cautious. These three reasons had led economist to say that higher operating costs maybe experienced by the industries in the country. Since businesses had been interrupted because of the attacks, several companies were not able to resume immediately. Businesses may be required to hold larger inventories at scale for fear that their suppliers may not be able to give the materials that they needed on time. An evidence on these was shown in the article of Looney wherein the auto industry production was interrupted because availability   of components were not immediately shipped out because of the delays in the crossing of the US-Canada Borders. The attack may have lead investors to avoid risking their money in businesses. As a result, higher risk premiums may be passed on to businesses in the form of higher interest rates, and lower equity prices. This could also lead to lower equity prices, business investment lowering and smaller capital stocks. The attack had been a terrorism activity. In response to this issue, the government would most likely divert their attention in strengthening the country’s defense through the military. Many resources may be diverted to military use. Research and Development Resources can be also shifted to concentrate on the development of new devices to thwart terrorism activities. Since there had been interruption in the cross-borders of the country, investors may think twice in investing abroad and concentrate on domestic investments. During this time, the â€Å"anthrax† scare is already being shown in the media. Several investors and the government may have taken this into consideration as such higher cost could be experienced because the businesses and the government would closely inspect items going in and out of the country. In the Chicago GSB magazine, the authors have included economic recovery for the country. According to Kevin Murphy, part of the debate team, expected recovery of the economy may occur within 15 months after the attack. Measured loss in the economy is estimated to be at 0.6% of the total asset of the country. Judging from the percentage of economic loss, the percentage shows a very minimal figure. Gary S. Becker, another part of the team had also stated that the country had retained basically all the human capital prior to the attack and because of this, the US economy would recover fully. It has been 6 years since the attack of the terrorist in the United States. Prior to the attack the economy of the country is already in the decline stage and this had been accelerated by the attack in the World Trade Center. Although the attack had greatly affected the economy, it is necessary to think on the before situation of the country because that situation had also affected the impact of the attack. The economy of the United States had already recovered since then, however, same security measures are still being by the country to address the issue of terrorism.

Automatic Quantification of the Myocardial Extracellular

Automatic Quantification of the Myocardial Extracellular Automatic Quantification of the Myocardial Extracellular Volume by  Cardiac Computed Tomography: Synthetic ECV by CCT Thomas A Treibel, MBBS1,2, Marianna Fontana, PhD,1,2, Jennifer A Steeden PhD2,3, Arthur Nasis, MD1, Jason Yeung, MBBS4, Steven K White, BSc, MBChB1,2, Sri Sivarajan4, Shonit Punwani, PhD4, Francesca Pugliese, PhD1, Stuart A Taylor, MD4, James C Moon, MD1,2, Steve Bandula, PhD4 1Barts Heart Centre, St Bartholomews Hospital, London, UK. 2Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK. 3UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Medical Physics, London, UK. 4Centre for Medical Imaging, University College London, London, UK. Manuscript Type: Original Manuscript Manuscript: 3924 words (all including) No conflict of interest declared. Funding: TAT and SB are supported by Doctoral Research Fellowships from the NIHR, UK (NIHR ­DRF ­ 2013-06-102 / NIHR ­DRF ­ 2011 ­04 ­008). MF and SKW are supported by Clinical Research Training Fellowships from the British Heart Foundation (grants FS/12/ 56/29723 and FS/10/72/28568). JCM is directly and indirectly supported by the University College London Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and Biomedical Research Unit at Barts Hospital, respectively. FP: this work form part of the translational portfolio of the Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit at Barts, which is supported and funded by the NIHR. SAT is an NIHR senior investigator. This work was undertaken at University College London Hospital, which received a proportion of funding from the UK Department of Health National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centres funding scheme. ABSTRACT [TT1] Background: The quantification of myocardial extracellular volume fraction (ECV) by Cardiac Computed Tomography (CCT) can identify changes in the extracellular space due to fibrosis or infiltration. Current methodologies require laboratory blood hematocrit (Hct) measurement which complicates the technique.   The attenuation of blood (HUblood) is known to change with anemia. We hypothesized that the relationship between Hct and HUblood could be calibrated to rapidly generate a synthetic ECV without the need to formally measure Hct. Methods: This retrospective study received institutional review board approval. The association between Hct and HUblood was derived from forty non-contrast thoracic CT scans using regression analysis. Synthetic Hct was then used to calculate synthetic ECV, and in turn compared with ECV using blood Hct in a validation cohort with mild interstitial expansion due to fibrosis (aortic stenosis, n=28, ECVCT = 28 ±4%) and severe interstitial expansion due to amyloidosis (n=27; ECVCT = 54 ±11%, psynthetic ECV was correlated with collagen volume fraction (CVF) in a separate cohort with aortic stenosis (n=18). All CT scans were performed at 120kV and 160 mAs. Results: HUblood was a good predictor of Hct (R2=0.47; p), with the regression model (Hct = [0.51 * HUblood] + 17.4) describing the association. Synthetic ECV correlated well with conventional ECV (R2=0.96; p with minimal bias and 2SD difference of 5.7%. Synthetic ECV correlated as well as conventional ECV with histological CVF (both R2=0.50, p). Finally, we implemented an automatic ECV plug-in for offline analysis. Conclusion: Synthetic ECV by CCT provides instantaneous quantification of the myocardial extracellular space without the need for blood sampling. KEYWORDS: Computed tomography; Myocardial tissue characterization; Extracellular matrix; Myocardial extracellular volume fraction; Myocardial fibrosis; cardiac amyloidosis. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AL amyloidosis = Immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis AS = Aortic stenosis CCT = Cardiac computed tomography CMR = Cardiovascular magnetic resonance CVF = Collagen volume fraction ECV = Extracellular volume fraction HU = Hounsfield units INTRODUCTION Extracellular volume fraction (ECV) quantification by cardiac computed tomography (CCT) 1-5 and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) 6, 7 is a promising new imaging biomarker for interstitial expansion due to myocardial fibrosis and cardiac amyloid deposition. Emerging data suggests ECV predicts outcome as well as left ventricular ejection fraction 8, 9 and there is increasing interest in targeting the interstitium during the development of heart failure therapy.10 Current methodologies for ECV quantification require blood hematocrit (Hct) measurement, which adds a layer of complexity and is potentially a barrier to easy clinical implementation. Alternatively, for CMR, Treibel et al. recently proposed a synthetic ECV technique, removing the need for Hct measurement by utilizing the relationship between relaxivity of blood and lab measured Hct.11 It is unknown if a similar approach can be used for CCT, although a relationship between anemia and unenhanced blood attenuation has been observed.12-17 For example the aortic ring sign and dense intra-ventricular septum on unenhanced thoracic CTs suggest underlying anemia.17-19 We hypothesized that the relationship between Hct and unenhanced blood attenuation (HUblood) could be used to estimate a synthetic Hct, permitting immediate synthetic ECV calculation without blood sampling. We used existing patient cohorts1, 4 to investigate how synthetic ECV (a) compares to conventional ECV, and (b) correlates with the reference standard collagen volume fraction. We also tested implementation of an automated synthetic ECV measurement plug-in within the open-source DICOM viewer OsiriX.20 MATERIAL AND METHODS This study is a retrospective analysis of prospectively acquired data, received local ethical approval and conformed to the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study received no industry support.   All participants provided informed and written consent. Exclusion criteria were uncontrolled arrhythmia or impaired renal function (estimated glomerular filtration rate ECV CCT Protocols. The CCT protocol consisted of three steps: first, a low dose non-contrast scan to obtain baseline attenuations; second, contrast administration with a contrast-enhanced 1-minute acquisition and a 5 minute delay to allow blood to myocardial contrast equilibration; third, a repeat scan to re-measure blood and myocardial attenuations. CCT examinations were performed on a 64-detector row CT scanner (Somatom Sensation 64; Siemens Medical Solutions, Germany).1, 4 A topogram was used to plan CT volumes from the level of the aortic valve to the inferior aspect of the heart, typically a 10 cm slab. Cardiac scans (tube voltage, 120 kV; tube current-time product, 160 mAs; section collimation, 64 detector rows, 1.2-mm section thickness; gantry rotation time, 330 msec) were acquired with prospective gating (65%-75% of R-R interval), and reconstructed into 3-mm-thick axial sections with a B20f kernel. All pre- and post contrast acquisitions were performed and reconstructed with the same parameters and matched the level of the pre-contrast scan. The iodinated contrast material used was iohexol (Omnipaque 300; Nycomed Amersham, Oslo, Norway; 300 mg of iodine per milliliter) at a standard dose of 1mL/kg and injection rate of 3ml/sec without a saline chaser. Image Analysis. CCT image analysis was performed using a free and open-source Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine viewer (OsiriX v4.1.2; Pixmeo, Bernex, Switzerland) independently by two experienced readers blinded to all other study data. For Hct estimation, regions of interest (ROIs) were placed in in a single axial slice in the center of the right atrium. The mean area of these ROIs were 4.8 ±1.2cm2. ROIs were drawn in the myocardial left ventricular septum and blood pool in the contrast-enhanced 1-minute acquisition in axial sections and propagated to the pre-contrast and post contrast acquisitions. Myocardial and blood attenuation values (pre-and post contrast only) were used to calculate the ECV fraction from the ratio of the change in blood and myocardial attenuation (ΆHU) corrected by the blood volume of distribution (1 Hematocrit): ECV   =   (1 Hematocrit) x (ΆHUtissue / ΆHUblood) Synthetic Hematocrit and ECV Methodology 1. Derivation of synthetic Hematocrit To derive a regression model predicting hematocrit from pre-contrast HUblood, clinical unenhanced CT scans of the thorax were retrospectively analyzed (120 kV; reconstructed at 5mm slice thickness and B70F soft tissue kernel). These were consecutive clinical CT scans of the thorax for investigation of malignancy, fibrosis or infection. Datasets were included if the patients had a contemporaneous paired laboratory measured Hct (within 20 days, median 8 days). HUblood was analyzed in a single axial slice through the center of the right atrium. This was chosen to minimize beam-hardening artifact from the spine (compared to aortic blood pool) and partial voluming of papillary muscles in the left or right ventricular blood pool. Synthetic Hct was obtained from the equation describing the linear regression line between laboratory HUblood and Hct. 2. Creation of a synthetic ECV Equation Blood hematocrit was substituted by the derived synthetic Hct to derive a synthetic ECV: Synthetic ECV   =   (1 synthetic Hct) x (ΆHUtissue / ΆHUblood) 3. Validation of synthetic ECV For validation, we used existing patient cohorts to investigate how synthetic ECV (a) compares to conventional ECV with laboratory blood hematocrit,4 and (b) correlates with the reference standard collagen volume fraction.1 3a. Clinical Validation Cohort In order to test synthetic ECV across a range of ECV values, the cohort used by our group to validate ECV by CT in amyloidosis was chosen; this comprised of two sub-groups with differing degrees of extracellular volume expansion: I. patients with cardiac amyloidosis (typically high ECV), comprising of 26 patients with systemic amyloidosis (21 males, age 55 ±10 years; 18 with transthyretin amyloidosis; 8 with systemic AL amyloidosis) with varying degrees of cardiac involvement; II. A comparator group of 27 age- and sex-matched patients with severe aortic stenosis (19 male, age 68 ±8 years) who typically exhibit only mild ECV elevation. Scans were performed between January and December 2013. In the clinical cohort, contrast administration was performed using a bolus only approach with a 1 mL/kg bolus of iohexol and post-contrast imaging at 1 minute (for segmentation) and 5 minutes (for post contrast analysis), as validated by our group previously.4 3b. Histological Validation Cohort For histological validation, the performance of synthetic ECV against a histological measure of fibrosis, the collagen volume fraction (CVF), was tested in a second smaller cohort of patients with severe AS, who underwent intra-operative biopsy (no overlap with clinical cohort). This cohort had been used by our group to validate ECV by CT again histology:1 Consenting severe AS patients (n = 17, median age 71 ±10 years, 76% male) underwent CCT between July 2010 and February 2012. Biopsies were obtained and stained with picrosirius red for histological measurement of collagen volume fraction (CVF) as previously described.21 In the histology cohort, contrast administration followed primed iodinated contrast material infusion (bolus plus maintenance infusion) with a 1 mL/kg bolus of iohexol followed by a maintenance infusion of at a rate of 1.88 mL/kg per hour for 25 minutes, when the post contrast imaging was performed.1 4. OsiriX Plugin To facilitate offline analysis and to exemplify future inline automation by scanner manufacturers, an automatic synthetic ECV plug-in was developed for OsiriX. Statistical analysis Analyses were performed using SPSS (Chicago, IL, USA, version 22). All data are presented as mean  ± SD. Normal distribution was assessed by using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Differences were assessed using unpaired, two-sided student t-tests (significance level p). Agreement between conventional and synthetic ECV was analyzed using the Bland-Altman method. The significance of the difference between two correlation coefficients was tested using the Fisher r-to-z transformation. RESULTS[TT2] Step 1. Derivation cohort 40 thoracic CT scans with contemporaneous Hct samples within 20 days (mean 8 ±7 days) of the scan were included (n=40, 53% male, age 60 ±20 years) with a broad range of Hct (mean 38.2 ±6.0%; range 24.7-50.7%) and HUblood (mean 40 ±8; range 20-55). The linear regression equation was:   (sHct = [0.51 * HUblood] + 17.4) with R2=0.47 p (Figure 1). Step 2. Creation of the synthetic ECV Equation Blood hematocrit was substituted by the derived synthetic Hct to derive a synthetic ECV: Synthetic ECV   =   (1 ([0.51 * HUblood] + 17.4)x (ΆHUtissue / ΆHUblood) Step 3. Validation Step 3a. Clinical cohort Baseline characteristics of twenty-six systemic amyloidosis and twenty-seven AS patients are shown in Table 1.In this cohort, Hct were mean 41.4 ±3.8% (range 29.3-47.4%) and HUblood mean 40.2 ±3.9 (range 29.3-50.1). Synthetic ECV, calculated using the regression model to derive HCT,and conventional ECV were highly correlated (R2=0.96; p) with a 5.7% SD of differences and minimal bias (2.4%) on Bland-Altman analysis (Figure 2). ECVCT was significantly higher in amyloid patients with definitive cardiac involvement than aortic stenosis (54 ±11% versus 28 ±4%, p Step 3b. Histology cohort Baseline characteristics of the histology cohort are described in Table 2.The mean histological CVF of the 17 biopsies was 18  ± 8% (range 5% to 40%), Hct were 40.2 ±4.6% (range 29.4-46.4%) and HUblood 37.7 ±4.2 (range 29.5-45.1). Synthetic and conventional ECV both correlated well with collagen volume fraction (R2 = 0.50, p vs. R2 = 0.50, p ; Figure 3) and did not differ statistically on Fisher r-to-z transformation (p = 0.8). Step 4. Automatic synthetic ECV plug-in in OsiriX Example output of the OsiriX plugin are shown in Figure 4, and the code is provided in the supplementary data. This plugin involves three simple steps: I. Manual segmentation of the blood pool in the pre- and post-contrast images; II. The plug-in automatically estimates blood hematocrit using the attenuation relationship defined above; III. The plug-in produces a three-dimensional myocardial ECV volume, where each image voxel represents an ECV value. Reproducibility Inter- and intra-observer agreement was excellent for myocardial (ICC = 0.92 and ICC = 0.94, respectively) and blood pool (ICC = 0.96 and ICC = 0.99, respectively) attenuation measurements. Similarly for ECV, excellent agreement was found (ICC = 0.95 and ICC = 0.98, respectively). Repeat sampling variability was tested in 44 patients who underwent two samples a median of 4 hours apart. Test:retest variability of laboratory hematocrit was higher than expected (n=44, variability 10% with hct:hct R2=0.86.11 DISCUSSION Identifying interstitial heart disease is important for diagnosis and prognosis,10 and myocardial extracellular volume fraction (ECV) can be measured non-invasively by CCT.1-4 However, its measurement is complicated by the necessity for venous blood sampling, image analysis and then offline ECV calculation. This process is cumbersome and a major obstacle for implementing this technique into routine clinical practice. In this manuscript, we simplify the technique by calculating ECV without blood hematocrit. This development arose out of a need to simplify ECV measurement to make it more clinically applicable. We utilize the relationship between hematocrit and blood attenuation (the attenuation of blood decreases with anemia)12-14, 17-19 to derive a synthetic hematocrit for immediate synthetic ECV calculation without blood sampling. We show that synthetic ECV was highly correlated to conventional ECV, and had a similar association to the histologic reference standard of CVF. The implementation of an offline automated processing tool provides a significant aid to workflow, allowing for ECV measurement in routine clinical practice.   Automated synthetic ECV can be implemented inline on CT scanners with test performances approaching that of conventional ECV measurement. ECV quantification by CT, despite it lower signal to noise ratio, has key advantage over CMR: The CT approach is cheaper and widely available, can be completed in 5 minutes, and the scanner design can accommodate patients with obesity and claustrophobia (CMR is not suitable in around 10% of patients due to claustrophobia or many cardiac pacemakers).22 Furthermore, ECV by CCT can provide high-resolution 3D ECV volumes with whole heart acquisition and limited cardiac motion. Finally, the concentration of iodine has a linear relationship with th e CT attenuation value, which is not affected by fast exchange mechanism like CMR T1 mapping (depending on cell size and contrast dose, fast transcytolemmal water-exchange may reach its limits), which do not apply to CT.23, 24 ECV (by CMR or CT) allows quantification of a key pathophysiological pathway in heart failure: interstitial expansion due to diffuse myocardial fibrosis (or in rare cases by deposition of amyloid fibrils).1-4 As the CMR field is showing, ECV is diagnostic in certain diseases, tracks myocardial remodelling and predicts outcome.25, 26 Interstitial expansion can be global (hypertension, aortic stenosis) or focal (hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy), therefore high spatial resolution and whole heart coverage is important. Due to the aforementioned advantages of CT over CMR, ECV by CT will undoubtedly receive greater attention as part of comprehensive assessment of the heart by CT coronary angiography, perfusion and myocardial tissue characterization. Limitations[TT3] The study has limitations. In the derivation cohort, the mean interval between Hct samples and CT 8 days. Normal within-subject variation in Hct between 1 day and 1-2 months in a healthy adult is actually very low (3%), but together with an analytical variation (3%) this may explain a relative change of >10% between two successive Hct values.27 The control cohort used in this study comprised of patients with AS rather then healthy volunteers, but, given the exposure to ionizing radiation and contrast, patients with AS were deemed as adequate control cohort, avoiding exposure of healthy volunteers. For the same reasons, variability of repeat synthetic ECV was not tested. Development and validation were performed using a single scanner platform, therefore this regression model is only valid for 120 kV and an X-ray tube used in a specific CT vendor. Spectrum of the X-rays emitted by a CT X-ray tube substantially varies among CT vendors. In addition, low KV scans are increasingly used to reduce radiation exposure to the patients. Consequently, multiple regression models for different KV settings as well as for different CT vendors should be carefully prepared for synthetic ECV by CCT. Other factors that may affect the attenuation of blood such as temperature28 and other blood constituents such as macromolecules, fat and iron require further investigation. The 64-slice-CT-system employed here reflects commonly available systems, but did not offer iterative reconstruction algorithms, dual energy acquisition and larger detector arrays that allow acquisition of whole heart, isotropic volumes of in one heart beat and at low radiation dose. In single-source 64 detector rows CT, myocardial CT attenuation is not homogenous due to artifacts, especially in the inferior wall and lateral wall. In the current study, we only included data from ROIs in the left ventricular septum. The accuracy of synthetic ECV should be validated in other segments in LV myocardium, if synthetic ECV by CT is more widely available and used in patients. Furthermore, 3D image registration and processing, reduces the errors of whole heart ECV maps.29 CONCLUSION Synthetic hematocrit derived from the relationship between blood hematocrit and blood attenuation allows quantification of the myocardial extracellular volume fraction by cardiac computed tomography without the need for blood sampling. ECV shows great potential, allowing myocardial tissue characterization with negligible effect on workflow and radiation dose. However wider adoption requires simplification and automation of the established technique synthetic ECV offers this. 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J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2016;10:237-241. 6.Ugander M, Oki AJ, Hsu LY, et al. Extracellular volume imaging by magnetic resonance imaging provides insights into overt and sub-clinical myocardial pathology. Eur Heart J. 2012;33:1268-1278. 7.Banypersad SM, Fontana M, Maestrini V, et al. T1 mapping and survival in systemic light-chain amyloidosis. Eur Heart J. 2015;36:244-251. 8.Wong TC, Piehler K, Meier CG, et al. Association Between Extracellular Matrix Expansion Quantified by Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and Short-Term Mortality. Circulation. 2012;126:1206-1216. 9.Wong TC, Piehler KM, Kang IA, et al. Myocardial extracellular volume fraction quantified by cardiovascular magnetic resonance is increased in diabetes and associated with mortality and incident heart failure admission. Eur Heart J. 2014;35:657-664. 10.Schelbert EB, Fonarow GC, Bonow RO, Butler J, Gheorghiade M. Therapeutic targets in heart failure: refocusing on the myocardial interstitium. 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Radiological profile of anemia on unenhanced MDCT of the thorax. Eur Radiol. 2008;18:1863-1868. 18.Wojtowicz J, Rzymski K, Czarnecki R. Severe anaemia: its CT findings in the cardiovascular system. Eur J Radiol. 1983;3:108-111. 19.Doppman JL, Rienmuller R, Lissner J. The visualized interventricular septum on cardiac computed tomography: a clue to the presence of severe anemia. Journal of computer assisted tomography. 1981;5:157-160. 20.Jalbert F, Paoli JR. [Osirix: free and open-source software for medical imagery]. Revue de stomatologie et de chirurgie maxillo-faciale. 2008;109:53-55. 21.Flett AS, Flett AS, Hayward MP, et al. Equilibrium contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the measurement of diffuse myocardial fibrosis: preliminary validation in humans. Circulation. 2010;122:138-144. 22.Rosmini S, Treibel TA, Bandula S, et al. Cardiac computed tomography for the detection of cardiac amyloidosis. J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2016. 23.Moon JC, Messroghli DR, Kellman P, et al. Myocardial T1 mapping and extracellular volume quantification: a Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and CMR Working Group of the European Society of Cardiology consensus statement. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2013;15:92. 24.Coelho-Filho OR, Holland DJ, Mongeon FP, et al. Role of Transcytolemmal Water-Exchange in Magnetic Resonance Measurements of Diffuse Myocardial Fibrosis in Hypertensive Heart Disease. Circulation. Cardiovascular imaging. 2013;6:134-141. 25.Banypersad SM, Banypersad SM, Sado DM, et al. Quantification of Myocardial Extracellular Volume Fraction in Systemic AL Amyloidosis: An Equilibrium Contrast Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Study. Circulation. Cardiovascular imaging. 2013;6:34-39. 26.Wong TC, Wong TC, Piehler KM, et al. Myocardial extracellular volume fraction quantified by cardiovascular magnetic resonance is increased in diabetes and associated with mortality and incident heart failure admission. European Heart Journal. 2013. 27.Thirup P. Haematocrit: within-subject and seasonal variation. Sports Med. 2003;33:231-243. 28.Bydder GM, Kreel L. The temperature dependence of computed tomography attenuation values. Journal of computer assisted tomography. 1979;3:506-510. 29.Nacif MS, Liu Y, Yao J, et al. 3D left ventricular extracellular volume fraction by low-radiation dose cardiac CT: assessment of interstitial myocardial fibrosis. J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2013;7:51-57. FIGURES Figure 1: Derivation of synthetic hematocrit from the attenuation of blood Thoracic CT scans (n=40, 53% male, age 60 ±20 years) with contemporaneous hematocrit samples (mean interval 8.8 ±7.3 days) of the scan were used to create a regression line between hematocrit (Hct; 38.2 ±6.0%; range 24.7-50.7%) and blood attenuation (HUblood; 40.7 ±8.0; range 19.5-55.2). The regression line between Hct and HUblood was linear (R2=0.47 p) with a regression equation for synthetic Hct = [0.51 * HUblood] + 17.4). Figure 2: Validation of synthetic ECV vs conventional ECV in AS and Amyloid Synthetic ECV, calculated using the regression model,and conventional ECV were highly correlated (R2=0.96; p) with a 5.7% SD of differences and minimal bias (2.4%) on Bland-Altman analysis (right image). Figure 3: Histological Validation of Synthetic ECV Synthetic and conventional ECV both correlated well with collagen volume fraction (R2 = 0.50, p vs. R2 = 0.50, p ) and did not differ statistically. Figure 4: OsiriX Plugin workflow To facilitate offline analysis and allow future inline automation, an automatic synthetic ECV plug-in was developed for Osirix. Following manual segmentation of the blood pool in the pre- and post-contrast images, the plug-in automatically estimates blood hematocrit using the attenuation relationship defined above, and produces a three-dimensional myocardial ECV volume from pre- and post-contrast CCT data.