Indian Ocean Region Essay Example for Free

Indian Ocean Region Essay Change and Continuity of Commerce in the Indian Ocean Region from 650 CE to 1750 CE. The Indian Ocean has always been a powerful trading region, between East Africa and China, that has caused religion, crops, languages, and people to spread. Through the rise and fall of powerful land and sea empires, trade routes shifted and control switched hands numerous times over history. The goods have remained fairly constant, compared to the traders and the powers behind them that changed from 650 C.E. to 1750 C.E. Spices, textiles, manufactured goods, and raw goods were staples on the many of the routes that led from the coast of Zimbabwe all the way to the ports of China. Early traders from Polynesia even traveled to Madagascar. With the rise of Islam and of the Mongol Empire, overseas trade slowed slightly because of the importance of the Silk Road as the main connection between China and Europe. However, as the Mongols declined, the Indian Ocean trade became more important to the empires o r kingdoms of China and the regional powers of India. The Chinese Ming Dynasty engaged heavily in foreign trade and they displayed their wealth with giant treasure ships and junks that sailed the day from China through the port of Malacca to the east coast of India. The ships carried silk and porcelain, goods that were in high demand in Europe and Arabia. The ships also picked up spices and hardwoods from Southeast Asian islands. In India, the majority of these goods were sent on dhows to the Arabian Peninsula, stopping at major important ports like Aden, and then continuing on to East Africa and the Swahili Coast states of Mogadishu, Kilwa, and Sofala. The ships sailed according to the monsoons, they then returned loaded with gold and ivory from Africa, to China where the cycle would restart. Eventually states like Gujurat and Calicut grew in importance in manufacturing and the textile production of cotton. The powers around the Indian Ocean remained in control, until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century. While Silk Road trade with Europe was thriving, Europeans wanted to cut out the Arab middlemen and get direct access to Asian goods. As the tools of navigation developed and new nation-states sought after trade and exploration, Portugal led the continent in the race to Asia. When Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498 by sailing around the tip of Africa, he was greeted with a mocking laughter of people he needed to trade with and was turned down most of the goods he had to trade. The powerful merchants of Gujarat and neighboring states were used to the highest quality goods so they did not want to trade with Gama’s poor quality goods. However, before long, Portugal took over almost all trade in the Indian Ocean, establishing ports like Goa in India and controlling strategic areas with their imperialistic manner. Around the same time, Britain also began its expansion and joined with joint-stock companies like the Dutch East India Company. They proceeded to dominate the region as well, taking land they thought suited their purposes. The sea empires and the cut off of foreign trade by the Ming dynasty did not greatly change the products traded, but did affect the overall trade system. Goods were now produced for the success of mercantilist people in European countries, not for the enrichment of local powers. While the trade routes and the goods that passed through them may not have been greatly changed, the impact of the European trading empires and the decline of nations like India and China changed who benefited from Indian Ocean trade and who were mostly involved.

Essay on the Myths of the African American Woman in Song of Solomon :: Song Solomon essays

Defying the Myths of the African American Woman in Song of Solomon    Throughout slavery, myths were created that tainted the image of the African American woman. These myths promote the misconceptions that African American women are promiscuous and are virtually useless. These myths caused these women to be degraded in the eyes of others as well as themselves. In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon womanhood is defined in ways that have destroyed these myths. Womanhood is defined according to one's sexuality, spirituality, beauty, identity, relationships, and motherhood.    Song of Solomon begins with one of the most arresting scenes in our century''s literature: a dreamlike tableau depicting a man poised on a roof, about to fly into the air, while cloth rose petals swirl above the snow-covered ground and, in the astonished crowd below, one woman sings as another enters premature labor. The child born of that labor, Macon (Milkman) Dead, will eventually come to discover, through his complicated progress to maturity, the meaning of the drama that marked his birth. Toni Morrison''s novel is a romance of self-discovery, a retelling of the black experience in America that uncovers the inalienable poetry of that experience, and a family saga luminous in its depth, imaginative generosity, and universality. It is also a tribute to the ways in which, in the hands of a master, the ancient art of storytelling can be used to make the mysterious and invisible aspects of human life apparent, real, and firm to the touch.    Milkman's independent aunt, Pilate, serves as the best but not the only example of the retention and use of African ways and culture. Pilate is seen as a conjure woman and this fact is made evident by her unnatural birth and the distinguishing feature of being born without a navel. This sets her apart from the rest of the community giving her almost immediate supernatural status. Not only can she be seen as a conjure women she should also be seen as a keeper of African cultural ways. She proves to be the the strength and preservation of her heritage and culture. Pilate in keeping with the African Spiritual culture seeks to repair the relationship of Macon and Ruth at Ruth's request. So with this knowledge gained from what seems, another world source, Pilate gives to Macon's wife Ruth a greenish powder to put in Macon's food to induce him to become sexually active with Ruth again.

Marketing Metrics for Essex Property Trust Essay

Via analyzing and discussing the interrelated financial ratios over these three years, the performance and developing trend of Essex Property Trust Inc. Will be measured and understood. Moreover, this study illustrates what the two rivals BRE Properties and Brandywine Realty Trust’s positioning were in property industry. 1. 3 Methodology The companies’ official website has comprehensive information like histories and backgrounds of company, internal and external environment that influencing business running, every detail of financial data and even critical issues. Therefore, it is the most critical resource. In addition, there are other useful methods such as academic reports, journal articles, books and electronic database that provide theoretical knowledge’s about each metric. 1. 4 Limitations However this report has some vital limitations because it is based on the financial statements which reflected historical facts are open to human accruals, error, interpretation and estimation like refunds accounts and depreciation accounts. In order to attract more investors, the economic performance can be inflated by intentionally manipulating figures on inancial reports (Dennis, 2010). Furthermore, besides the financial factors in financial reports, other several elements including economic, social, and environment can also influence an enterprise’s financial position. Thus, due to ignorance of other factors, the financial position disclosed by accountants may be inaccurate. Last but not the least, the financial statement only took quantitative factors into account but fails to disclose information like integrity of management, prestige and reputation of the business with public, customer’s satisfaction, employees’ loyalty and efficiency, etc. hat also impacts business decision making (Dennis, 2010). 2. Real estate investment trust (REIT) Industry and company’s historical background George M. Marcus as the real estate entrepreneur formed Essex Property Corporation in 1971 and after 23years the company became Essex Property Trust, Inc. when it gained the portfolio of 16 multifamily communities. Essex is a self-managed and self-administered integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) in West Coast of America. In 1960, REITs created by congress is a type of real estate firm that provides opportunities for all Americans to invest in income-producing real estate not just for affluent. The method of this investment is similar to the bonds and stocks investments through mutual funds by many Americans (REIT, 2012). Essex develops, manages and acquires multifamily residential properties in the specific provinces like the San Francisco, Southern California and the Seattle metropolitan area and Essex relates to land and its appreciation on it like offices, apartments and hotels. Essex’s Property Portfolio so far Multi-family: [pic] Office: [pic] Retail: other unclassified [pic] Specialty: unclassified [pic] According to the above table charts published by Essex in March of 2013, there are 166 communities comprising 29,506 apartment units and total approximately 315,900 square feet of four commercial buildings which are located in major regions of California and Washington under the property portfolio. Besides the existing markets, Essex intended to evaluate some new markets by identifying new areas and developing new unconsolidated joint venture projects. . Conceptual framework Marketing metric can be defined as a measuring framework which quantifies a dynamic, trend, or characteristic and also can be used by practitioners in marketing monitoring and business planning to explain diagnose causes, phenomena, project the results of future events and share findings in order to justify marketing programs, decide on financial allocations and evaluate their marketing performance (Farris et al. 2010). It’s more effective to use a portfolio of metrics because it can assist managers with maintenance of productive focus on markets and customers and identification of weaknesses and strengths in both execution and strategies (Bazley et al. 2004). [pic] There are seven specific metrics adapt to measure Essex company’s performance and analyze competitors’ positions. According to the above figure, they are return on equity (ROE), Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), year-on-year growth revenue, return on investment, profitability metrics, efficiency calculations and capital structure ratios. Gross profit margin, net profit margin and cash flow to sales ratio are three critical basic figures that will be used to measure entity’s profitability (Bazley et al. 2004). Then, in order to identify company’s business efficiency, Return on asset and asset turnover ratio will be calculated as well. Finally, there are three capital structure ratios including equity ratio, debt ratio and debt equity ratio(Mcdonald and Mouncey, 2009). The most vital reason to choose those metrics is that they can maximize the accuracy of measurement about an entity’s heath and estimation on the basis of other data. Moreover, they are also interrelated to each other (Birt et al. 2010). 4. Marketing metrics Briefly, The critical purposes of using following particular metrics are judging business performance, evaluating plans, quantifying market opportunities, identifying leverage points for improvement for Essex and recognizing its peers’ threats for the past three years and predict the trend in near future(Farris et al. 010). 4. 1 Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) As an alternative for a cash-based profit measure, EBITDA can be also defined as the profit before interest, taxation and depreciation and amortization expense. Because it excludes financing and tax charge besides asset diminution, its main aim is to measure entity’s raw operating earnings compare and analyze prof itability between companies (Birt et al. 2010). Figures in US$ and ‘000 |2010 |2011 |2012 | |Essex |277,861 |338,679 |456,888 | |BRE |228,219 |255,066 |306,542 | |Brandywine |370,880 |379,556 |383,484 | Based on the above chart, it apparently illustrates that both of them tried to raise their EBITDA and therefore decline their operating cost. Among them, Essex had the most dramatic increasing trend in EBITDA by changing amount of US$179,027,000 during three years. 4. 2 Profitability metrics Under this category, there are three basic metrics: gross profit margin, net profit margin and cash flow to sales ratio to calculate entity’s profit. Gross profit margin refers to the percentage of sales revenue that results in gross profit which measures profitability in selling, producing and buying goods before other expenses are taken into account (Birt et al. 2010). Higher value means better likelihood of success to divide more satisfactory return to owners and cover more other expenses (Atrill et al. 2008). Net profit margin reveals the proportion of sales revenue results in profit before interest and tax (Birt et al. 2010). This ratio is the most appropriate measure of profit from trading operations which is before took any costs of servicing long-term finance into account (Atrill et al. 2008). Cash flow to sales ratio reflects a proportion of cash flow from operating activities compared to its net sales revenue can be used to measure an entity ability to convert its sales into cash. Higher value means more efficient productivity and creditworthiness and indicates the firm has more ability to grow (Business Dictionary, 2012).

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda Book Review

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is a very clever and amusing story based on a unique premise. Sixth grader Dwight, whom the other kids consider to be a clueless screwup, makes an origami Yoda figure that seems much wiser than Dwight is. Dwight wears the origami figure on his finger and when the other middle school kids have problems and ask Origami Yoda what to do, he always seems to respond with clever, though garbled, answers that solve their problems. But can his answers be trusted? Thats the dilemma for Tommy, a sixth grader who needs the answer to a very important question. Can he depend on Origami Yodas answer or not? Before he asks the question, which Tommy says is about this really cool girl, Sara, and whether I should risk making a fool of myself for her, Tommy decides to investigate. The Books Format and Appearance Much of the fun of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda lies in the appearance and format of the book and the differing perspectives on the worth of Origami Yodas answers. In order to decide if he can depend on Origami Yodas answers, Tommy decides he needs scientific evidence and asks kids who received answers from Origami Yoda to share their experiences. Tommy reports, Then I put all the stories together in this case file. To make it even more scientific, Tommy asks his friend Harvey, who is an Origami Yoda skeptic, to share his perspective on each story; then, Tommy adds his own. The fact that the pages look crumpled and after each case, Harvey and Tommys comments look handwritten adds to the illusion that this book was really written by Tommy and his friends. Furthering this illusion are all of the doodles Tommys friend Kellen drew throughout the case file. Although Tommy says this first made him angry, he realizes, some of the doodles almost look like people from school, so I didnt bother trying to erase them. Origami Yoda Solves A Problem The questions and problems the kids have are spot-on for middle school. For example, in his account, Origami Yoda and the Embarrassing Stain, Kellen reports that Origami Yoda saved him from embarrassment and an in-school suspension. While hes at the sink in the boys bathroom at school before class, Kellen spills water on his pants, and he reports, It looked like I had peed in my pants. If he goes to class that way, hell be teased unmercifully; if he waits for it to dry, hell get in trouble for being late. Origami Yoda to the rescue, with the advice, All of pants you must wet and Dwights translation, ...he means you need to make all of your pants wet so it doesnt look like a pee stain anymore. Problem solved! Harvey is not at all impressed with Origami Yodas solution while Tommy feels  that it did solve the problem. What confuses Tommy in this case and for most of the book is that Origami Yodas advice is good, but if you ask Dwight for advice, it would be terrible. In addition to the humor in each of the accounts and the differing views of Harvey and Tommy, there is also a growing awareness on Tommys part that there is more to Dwight than a kid who is weird and always gets in trouble. The book ends with Tommys decision, based on the appreciation he has gained for both Dwight and Origami Yoda, and the happy result. Author Tom Angleberger The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is the first novel by Tom Angleberger, who is a columnist for the Roanoke Times in Virginia. His second middle-grade novel, which came out in the spring of 2011, is Horton Halfpott.