Significance of John Brown and Harpers Ferry Essay Example for Free

Significance of John Brown and Harpers Ferry Essay Since the Battle of Fort Sumpter, three months later, the first major battle during the civil war began on July 21, 1861 which was called The First Battle of Bull Run in Manassas. During this major battle, General Irvin McDowell commanded the large Union army while General Pierre G.T. Beauregard commanded the Confederate army. The Union perceived that they would make a quick and swift victory with very little loss, but it was the opposite. At the time both sides had inexperienced soldiers. When this war was happening the hundred of Manassas citizens left their homes to watch the battle unfold. Cannons and muskets would be fired all over and some misfires would end up at the civilians homes. At the start the Union was able a push the Confederates back to Henry Hill, but they would have their comeback. Beauregard make a strong defensive line controlled by General Thomas J. Jackson. Jackson held his ground successfully and gained the name Stonewall Jackson. The Confederates were able to capture Union artillery and chose to counterattack the Union soldiers. But it quickly lashed back at them when Union forces on the hill came down and broke the Confederates line of defense, forcing his complete retreat of the Bull Run. Thus this was a victory for the Union. The result of the battle left bodys riddled in the battlefield. Thousands of wasted soldiers died in that battle and was the largest and bloodiest battle during the Civil War. Other than scaring the scaring the citizens who were watching the entire battle the government was also shocked at the outcomes of this battle. Both sides came to the belief that this Civil War was going to become longer and more deadly as it goes on. From looking back at the battle one can see that it was not going to end quickly or any time soon. It became clear that it would last longer than people thought and that there was going to be more struggle. It also brought to people a clear image of what war was like. Thought the Union gained heavy losses, soldiers all across the Union gained moral for this victory and that they won. This war has also brought to the Generals attention that most of their soldiers are inexperienced and need to be trained and prepared for future battles. Politicians in the North were outraged by the high losses resulting from the battle, which gained in favor for the south and gave them hope that the Confederate army could defeat the Union.

stress and law enforcement Essays -- essays research papers

Management and Dealing with Stress in Officers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is important that law enforcement officers are able to handle stress and build his or her zone of stability. Officers have a ready-made support system in each other. They better understand the special problems and feelings that come with the job that friends and family members don’t. That doesn’t necessarily mean that this relationship with their fellow officers will cure all. Sometimes, because of the â€Å"macho† image that police officers uphold, they will give back negative feedback in a situation where an officer needs comfort. For example, an officer shoots someone in the line of duty and is having an emotional struggle with it, and a fellow officer (who thinks he is supporting that officer) makes a comment like, â€Å"Good job, that dirt bag deserves it.† In a situation like that, a fellow officer feels worse and more stressed. It is very important for management, whether police or correctional, to make sure that they can prop erly help out their officers when needed. There are many things that happen on the streets and in prison that can severely effect an officer. It is only with a good management system and staff that officers will have the proper support to move on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A major stressor is when a law enforcement officer must deal with death. No one is mentally or emotionally prepared to deal with death. When a law enforcement officer has to notify the next of kin, they must pass through stages of notification. The first stage is to prepare by creating a self-protecting sense of social distance for the officer. An experienced officer will be more concerned with containing the emotions of the recipient rather than their concern for how they will cope. The next stage is the delivery. It only takes a few seconds to deliver the news, and the officer will use their badge, uniform, and the formality of the delivery as a way to protect him/herself from this personal situation (Looney & Windsor 1982). Dealing with the pain that you see in other people is a major adjustment. It will take time and experience for a law enforcement officer to cope with this aspect of the job.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most traumatic event in a law enforcement officer’s job is dealing emotionally with the involvement in a shutting incident. Officers may suffer from pos... ...lp make a team run smoothly and efficiently. Support must always be shown from management to it’s officers. Reducing stress in officers can effectively help the team run better. Especially in times of need, like death, management needs to step up and use the techniques they have been trained to safely help their officers in troubled times. With a management that can properly help out their team, the team can move on and run efficiently and effectively. When officers need help with an aspect of the job emotionally, and management can step in to help, the officer will feel better knowing that management is on their side and that they are based one hundred percent. A good management can make the difference between and O.K. team and an outstanding team. References Jacobson, Edmund (1978). You Must Relax. New York; McGraw Hill. Looney, H. & J. L. Windsor. (1982) Death Notification: Some Recommendations. The Police Chief. March, page 30-31. Solomon, R. M. (1988). Post-Traumatic Trauma. The Police Chief. October, page 40-44. Solomon, R. M. (1990). Administrative Guidelines for Dealing with Officers involved in on-duty shooting situations. The Police Chief. February, page 40.

Tesco Plc. 2012 Annual Accounts compare them with Sainsbury Plc. as appropriate

Tesco was established in 1919 and now has become the largest retailer in the UK, the second largest retailer measured by profits and third largest retailer measured by revenues in the world. It has operations in 14 countries with 520,000 people employed and millions of customers served every week (Tesco, 2013). Tesco’s 2012 Annual Report has just published, through which we can critically analyse the company’s operational and financial conditions.There are numerous relationships between the figures published in the annual report, and ratios have been commonly used for conducting a quantitative analysis of these relationships (Atrill and McLaney, 2013). They are calculated by comparing the current year numbers (2011-12) with previous years (2010-11) and other companies. Hence, J Sainsbury plc (known as Sainsbury’s) is chosen since it is the major competitor of Tesco at home. The ratios can be classified into five categories, namely profitability ratios, liquidity ratios, activity or efficiency ratios, gearing ratios and investment ratios. When using the ratios to assess two companies’ performances, relevant social, political and economic changes will all taken into account.Profitability Ratio Profitability ratios are the ratios used to assess a company’s capability to generate earnings in comparison to its expenses and other relevant costs. Major profitability ratios include return on investment (ROI), return on capital employed (ROCE), gross profit margin and net profit margin. Firstly, ROI is a concept evaluating the efficiency of an investment, and equals to ‘net profit after tax’ dividing ‘shareholders’ funds’. For Tesco, its ROI for the financial year 2011-12 was 15.8, decreased by 1.9% from previous year. Nevertheless, it is still better than Sainsbury’s, which got only 10.6%. Therefore, it can be argued that in general the investment on Tesco is more efficient and you can get bette r return.Besides ROI, ROCE is a similar concept which is a relative profit measurement demonstrating the return the business generated from its gross assets. A higher ROCE shows that the company is using its capital more efficiently. In consequence, ROCE should be higher than company’s capital cost, otherwise it tells us that the company is not employing its capital effectively and is not generating shareholder value.It is calculated by ‘profit before interest and tax’ diving ‘shareholder’s funds + long-term debt’. Tesco’s ROCE for the financial year 2011-12 was 13.3%, higher than previous year’s 12.9% and Sainsbury’s 11.1%. The rise of ROCE to some extent resulted from the discontinued operation of Japan. From this point of view it can be argued that Tesco made a right decision to exit from Japan where its investment failed to generate good returns (The Telegraph, 2012).Moreover, gross profit margin and net profit margin are the other two commonly used profitability ratios. The former is defined as the percentage between ‘gross profit’ and ‘sales’, whereas the latter is the percentage between ‘net profit’ and ‘sales’. For Tesco, the two ratios both decreased compared to previous year: The gross profit margin reduced from 8.5% to 8.2% and the net profit margin reduced from 6.0% to 5.9%. It means that this year the company failed to control cost as well as last year. The reduction was caused by various reasons. First of all, the economic downturn in the UK, particularly the high petrol prices and falling real incomes affected  customers’ discretionary spending significantly(BBC News, 2012). In addition, 2012 was a transition year for Tesco .The company not only changed its chairman, CEO and a number of other senior managers, but also made some adjustment on organisational structure and business focused. Finally, the company decided to increa se investment so that to improve customers’ shopping trip, making trading profit declined. In spite of these challenges, Tesco still outweighed Sainsbury’s on profitability, which got 5.4% and 3.6% respectively.Liquidity ratios The second category of ratios called liquidity ratios, which are utilized to determine the ability of a company to pay off its short-term debts. There are important as companies must ensure that these ratios are liquid otherwise they may have problem in paying back its creditors. Two important liquidity ratios are current ratio and acid test ratio.Current ratio measures ‘current assets’ (cash +debtors + stock) against ‘current liabilities’. Tesco’s current ratio in 2012 was 2.01, reduced from 2.12 in 2011. The current asset was rising, but it failed to offset the bigger rising of current liabilities, which was mainly led by the increased short-term borrowings. In 2012 there was a â‚ ¬1500 million medium term n ote (MTN) matured. Nevertheless, it still outperformed Sainsbury’s, whose current ratio was 1.84 in 2012. Because Tesco’s current ratio for the past two years were both greater than 2, it means that the company has no problem to meet creditor’s demands.Acid test ratio differentiates current ratio by excluding stock from the equation as stock may not easily be converted into cash. Tesco’s acid test ratios for the past two years were 1.56 (2011) and 1.45 (2012) respectively. Though decreased by 7.1%, it still great than 1 and Sainsbury’s 0.99, again indicating that Tesco has enough short-term assets to cover its short-term liabilities without selling inventory.Activity/Efficiency Ratios This category of ratios, which mainly includes ratios such as asset turnover,  stock turnover, debtor days and creditor days, measures how well a company utilizing its internal assets and liabilities.Primarily, asset turnover, which equals to ‘sales’ di viding ‘total assets’, measures how efficiency a company is in using its assets to achieve sales revenue to the company. Tesco’s asset turnover ratio in 2012 was 1.27, lower than its previous year’s 1.28 and Sainsbury’s 1.81. Since those companies with low profit margins tend to have high asset turnover ratio whereas companies with high profit margins tend to have low asset turnover ratio, Tesco has bigger profit margin than Sainsbury, and this advantage has been expanded. We should also realize that companies in the retail industry like Tesco and Sainsbury tend to have higher asset turnover ratio than companies in other industries because of their competitive even cutthroat pricing.In addition, the stock turnover ratio indicates how many times a company’s stock is sold and replaced over a period, for instance a year, and is calculated as ‘cost of sales’ divided by ‘stock’. According to this formula, we can get the r esults of 17.50 and 16.48 for Tesco in 2011 and 2012 respectively and 22.48 for Sainsbury’s in 2012. The numbers are within the appropriate interval. A very low stock turnover rate may indicate overstocking whereas a overtop rate may point to stock shortage, which further result in the loss in business. From this point of view, both of the companies manage the stock appropriately.Thirdly, debtor day measures the number of days, on average, that customers take to pay. The formula is ‘debtors (accounts receivable) / sales * 365’. Companies should ensure that its debtor ratio is neither too high nor too low. Otherwise it may face potential risks of either losing customers or losing profit by bad debt. Since most of the retailing business is cash business, supermarkets usually have very short debtor days. Tesco’s debtor days for the past two years were 14 days (2011) and 15 days (2012) respectively while Sainsbury’s has a even shorter debtor day of 5. C reditor day, on the other hand, measures the number of days, on average, that companies take to pay its suppliers.It is calculated by ‘accounts payable / cost of sales * 365’. From the formula we can get that Tesco had 60 creditor  days for the past two years. Together with a very short debtor day, it is evident to see its bargaining power in the market. This helps Tesco maximize profits. Sainsbury also has a big creditor day of 47 days, indicating its strong bargaining power as well.Gearing Ratios Another category of ratios is defined as gearing ratios, including gearing and interest cover ratio. Gearing is defined as the portion of net assets financed through debt rather than equity, and the calculation formula is ‘long-term debt / shareholders’ funds + long-term debt’. The aim of the calculation of gearing ratio is to see whether the company is able to get a healthy long-term financing. Tesco and Sainsbury’s both have good gearing ratios. For Tesco, its gearing ratio in 2012 was 38.4%. In comparison with 40.8% in 2011, it reduced by 5.9%. The decreased gearing reflected Tesco’s stable debt position despite the investment in assets growing. For Sainsbury’s, its gearing ratio in 2012 was 31.7%, meaning that it used even smaller portion of debt to finance net assets.Investment Ratios The final category of ratios is referred to as investment ratios, which are mainly calculated to meet the interests of shareholders and potential investors of the company. The most commonly used shareholder returns rations include dividend per share, dividend yield, and earnings per share (EPS).First, dividend per share, equalling ‘dividend paid’ divided by ‘number of shares’, reflects the belief of the company’s management towards its future growth. For instance, a growing dividend means that the company’s management is confident that the growth can be sustained. Tesco’s 2012 fu ll year dividend was 14.76p, which was an increase of only 2.1% on last year, but lower than Sainsbury’s 16.1p. Although the company continued the record of consecutive years of dividend growth in the FTSE 100, for its shareholders, 2012 was a tough year. The company’s management explains that this was due to their new strategy to forego some short-term profit to re-invest in the long-term health of the business.Second, dividend yield shows how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. In the absence of any capital gains, it equals to the return on investment for a stock. Dividend yield can be calculated according to the formula ‘dividend per share / Market price per share’. On 30th March 2013, Tesco and Sainsbury’s dividend yield were 4.24 and 4.14 respectively.Furthermore, earnings per share, known as EPS and calculated as ‘profit after tax’ dividing ‘number of shares’, shows the profit ( or loss) made by every issued share. It is an important indicator of a company’s profitability, and also the single most significant factor in determining the share price. In 2012 Tesco’s EPS was 37.4p, increased by 2.1% from 2011 and higher than its competitor Sainsbury’s 28.1p. Consequently, we can argue that Tesco achieved a modest profit growth in 2012 and it is more profitable than Sainsbury’s.Non-financial performance analysis Financial information particularly the ratio analysis has its limitations. Therefore, we need to analyse non-financial information as well. Primarily, from the scale of the business, Tesco definitely enjoys a larger business scale. It has businesses in 14 countries throughout the world and the total stores numbers is 6,234 in 2012. By contrast, Sainsbury’s on operates in the U.K. with around 1,000 stores. Additionally, from the brand reputation and value aspect, Tesco in general outweigh Sainsbury’s to a large ex tent, particularly in global markets. Nevertheless, at home Sainsbury’s brand awareness is almost as famous as Tesco since the company is using competitive pricing strategy and providing fresh goods to improve customer loyalty.Conclusion To sum up, this essay has used five categories of ratios to critically assess the financial performance of Tesco in view of previous year’s results and the competitor Sainsbury’s. Generally speaking the company delivered modest profit growth in a challenging economic environment, with a strong international performance largely offset by a reduction in UK profits. Owing to strategic changes on organisational structure and business focused,  Tesco’s financial performance was negatively affected. Nevertheless, in many aspects such as profitability and liquidity it still outperformed its major competitor Sainsbury’s. It is confident that the company is able to pass the period of change and development smoothly and it s future prosperity can be expected.

Othello Act 2 Summary

Iagos evil plan begins to take shape in Othello Act 2. Our summary works through Act 2 scene-by-scene to guide you through the complex plot that drives Shakespeare’s Othello. Act 2 Scene 1 Montano the Governor of Cyprus and two gentlemen discuss the tempestuous weather which has defeated most of the Turkish fleet. A Third gentleman enters to decry the end of the war; â€Å"News lads! Our wars are done. The desperate tempest hath so banged the Turks that their designment halts.† He explains that a noble Venetian ship weathered the storm and Michael Cassio, Othello’s Lieutenant has arrived on shore. Cassio is said to be concerned about Othello’s ship which was caught up in the storm. Cassio enters concerned about Othello â€Å"O let the heavens give him defence against the elements, For I have lost him on a dangerous sea†. A sail is spotted at sea, the hope is that it is Othello’s ship; however, Cassio identifies the ship as Iago’s. On the ship are Roderigo, Desdemona and Emilia among others. Cassio explains to Montano about the marriage between Othello and Desdemona and his arrangement for Iago to provide for her shelter and protection. Desdemona enters asking about her husband, Cassio says; â€Å"The great contention of the sea and skies parted our fellowship†. Cassio introduces himself to Emilia, Iago puts his wife down by telling him that she talks too much he then goes on to say of women in general: â€Å"You are pictures at the door, bells in your parlours; wildcats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries; devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and hussies in your beds.† Iago is encouraged by the women to further develop his cutting and satirical use of ‘praise’ for their amusement. Cassio and the ladies go off as Iago ruminates on his plot to make Cassio appear to be having an affair with Desdemona. Othello’s trumpet sounds, he has arrived. Desdemona and Othello have a loving exchange of words and Iago says in an aside that despite their obvious love now, he will ruin their union. Othello confirms that the Turks are defeated. The group leave Iago and Roderigo alone on stage. Iago tells Roderigo that Desdemona is clearly in love with Othello, Roderigo refuses to believe it. Iago believes that Cassio does love Desdemona but that she loves Othello and acknowledges that Othello would prove to be a good husband to her. Iago admits to loving Desdemona too but not out of lust more out of revenge that because Othello ‘slept with his wife’ then he should sleep with his; â€Å"For that I do suspect the lusty Moor hath leapt into my seat, †¦And nothing can or shall content my soul Til I am evened with him, wife for wife.† Failing this, Iago wants to put Othello in to a jealousy so strong that he will not be able to trust his wife again. Iago will use Michael Cassio as Desdemona’s supposed suitor in order to get closer to Othello and to put Cassio’s character in to disrepute. Act 2 Scene 2 Othello’s Herald enters to read a proclamation; he invites the victorious soldiers to come and celebrate his nuptials with him. He encourages them to dance and feast and enjoy themselves. He blesses the isle of Cyprus and Othello. Continue reading by visiting our contents page  of scene guides to Shakespeare’s Othello.