...The story is more about the space race than space exploration in general. The Soviet Union's early space efforts are mentioned only as background, focusing entirely on an early portion of the U.S. space program. Only Project Mercury, the first operational manned space-flight program, is covered. The Mercury Seven were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. Emphasis is given to the personal stories of the astronauts and their wives rather than the technical aspects of space travel and the flights themselves. The storyline also involves the political reasons for putting people into space, asserting that the Mercury astronauts were actually a burden to the program and were only sent up for promotional reasons. Reasons for including living beings in spacecraft are barely touched upon, but the first option considered was to use a chimpanzee (and, indeed, chimpanzees were sent up first). Another option considered were athletes already accustomed to physical stress, such as circus trapeze artists. Wolfe states that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, however, insisted on pilots, even though the first crew members would not actually fly the spacecraft. When Gus Grissom lands at sea and exits his space capsule, saving the capsule seems more important to the recovery team than saving the pilot because of the value of the data. Wolfe contrasts the Seven with the Edwards test pilots, among whom was Chuck Yeager, who was shut...
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...Daniel L. Ratner William C. Overton, PhD, EN 102 Effectiveness in Writing 8 July 2007 Exactly What is the Right Stuff? When people ask what is needed to accomplish an impossible task, or achieve a goal that seems outside the grasp of human power, it is often said that the person who achieves that feat has “The Right Stuff.” This is not some item you can pick up in a store, or that is taught at an Ivy League college. “The Right Stuff” is the intestinal fortitude required to drive on and persevere far after it is said it is no possible. Since the dawn of time it has been wondered if it takes a person of almost god-like proportions to achieve impossible feats, or someone just crazy enough to try. I most cases this is really nothing more that a person with such drive and desire to prove their point they are willing to risk everything including their lives to make something happen. To properly categorize this concept of “The Right Stuff”, we must look at what has been done in its name. Weather it be BG Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, or the pioneers of the space program in the Mercury and Apollo space programs; one thing holds true they indeed has something that others did not, guts. When the word guts are used it is usually compared to a skateboarder or freestyle motocross rider doing something crazy and dangerous. This while brave and daring is nothing in comparison to the risk involved in the early space programs. People who in fact have this...
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...Murphy 11/1/13 Period 7 The Gemini Program The Gemini Program For millennia, mankind has stared up at the stars and imagined successful navigation throughout the final frontier. The inception of NASA’s Gemini Program in 1962 during the Space Race with the Soviet Union fulfilled the yearning of many star-gazers throughout history. It is truly a testament to human progress that with the Gemini Program we broke once inconceivable barriers and left this world we call our home if only for a short period of time. Even though the Gemini Program has been concluded for many decades, its impact on navigation through outer space, NASA, and human history will forever be remembered. The Gemini Program’s main intension was to innovate and improve the safety of space travel. The improvements and accomplishments reached because of Project Gemini were necessary to link the success of the Apollo Space Program started by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and the Mercury Project. More objectives set out by the Gemini Program included: increasing the length of time an unmanned shuttle can stay in flight, not only successfully but safely maneuvering a spacecraft to reach the rendezvous sight, and conducting experiments while in orbit to guarantee the safety of future launches and flights. When Canadian aerodynamicist, Jim Chamberlin designed the Gemini Program he was certainly ambitious in planning out his intensions regarding the future of space travel. The Gemini Program didn’t reach success...
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...back to California and started Gemini Electronics. With a goal to reverse the domination TV brands in America to an American company, Gemini shortly achieved 35 percent of the market share and became the largest TV producer in the U.S. Recommendations Geographically diversify into Central and South America market. Relocate manufacturing to Mexico while remain R&D and product development in America to reduce cost. Funding in R&D for new products that fit with the trend of technology. Advertising and promotion in the title of American made brand. Financial Analysis Since 2005, the profit per unit of LCD TVs has decreased almost 50% even though the sales has been increasing for Gemini due to constant increasing in total sales. At the same time, Plasma and HD DVD is following this path as well. Blue Ray DVD, Cable Sets and Home Theatres are rapidly increasing in sales in the past few years which led to increasing in total profits for those products. See Table 1. Both current ratio and quick ratio reached their highest in 2007 and remained at a stable level from 2008 to 2009. Current ratio of Gemini is a little below the industry level, but the quick ratio is way higher than industry average. This indicates that Gemini has a large amount of cash to support the recommended activities. See Graph 1. Both debt ratio and debt-to-equity ratio started decreasing from 2007 but it is still slightly above the industry average. Interest coverage ratio is gradually decreasing since 2005...
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...Gemini Electronics case analysis Analysis of financial statements Assignment Submitted by: Atrooba Jaffery (12133010) Nayla Saeed (15121001) Assignment# 3 Submitted to: Sir Naveed Mughal Date: 28/Jan/2016 Gemini Electronics case analysis Analysis of financial statements Assignment Submitted by: Atrooba Jaffery (12133010) Nayla Saeed (15121001) Assignment# 3 Submitted to: Sir Naveed Mughal Date: 28/Jan/2016 Gemini Electronics The company was founding in 2002 by Frank Wang, Gemini Electronics was the manufacturer of television in US. Gemini was the largest TV producer in US. In January 2010 Wang want Geographical expansion along with developing product offering so he could compete with Samsung, Sony, and LG in all market segments. The company has the growth chances as well as developing product offering. Now for that we do the analysis of company regarding his previous year performance and compare with the industry. Either he is going to right path or not. * Liquidity: * Particular interesting to short term creditors * It focus on current asset * General rule for current ratio should be at least 2:1 For the Gemini Electronics the current ratio is consistent and it is necessary in year 2006. But we note that Gemini is less liquid than the average firm in the industry, because the current ratio is lower than the industry. Industry average is 2.84. | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Current ratio | 2.22 | 2.34 | 2.68 | 2.52 |...
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...In the Jet Copies Case Study, we are introduced to three college students: James, Ernie, and Terri. They have discovered that they have a possible solution to two separate problems that they face: the need to make money and the lack of adequate copy services near the university that they attend. The three students decide to open their own copy service but soon discovered that they may have acted too soon in their decision. The first obstacle they had was the initial purchase of equipment. Without doing enough research, they purchased a copier for $18,000 that was obtained as a loan from Terri’s parents. After the purchase, they discovered that the particular brand they purchased had a history of frequently breakdowns. Although the copier manufacturer promised prompt repair service, the machine down time could range from one to four days. In order to hopefully alleviate too much lost revenue for the beginning company, the trio wanted to purchase a backup machine to use during the primary machine breakdowns. The cost of the second machine would be $8,000. Before they approached their parents for another loan, they wanted to determine if it would actually be a profitable move or an unnecessary purchase on a whim. To do this, they set up a simulation to determine how often the main copier could break down within a fifty-two week period. They decided that if the simulation showed that they lost more than $12,000 in revenue with just the one copier they would go ahead with...
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...Knowledge, skill and ability, by themselves, can not guarantee performance. The linking factor is motivation. Performance is a vital link in Expectancy Theory. There are linkage between effort and performance, performance and reward, rewards and value, as perceived by people. Hence performance evaluation or appraisal plays a vital role in “Expectancy Model” of employees’ motivation. Does this word performance means effectiveness, efficiency or productivity of things like less numbers of accidents, less absence or grievances? Effectiveness is the achievement of objectives, efficiency is the ratio of output to input in terms of money or effort. Productivity is again number of items produced. But there are jobs where all these factors are not explicit or quantifiable. For example, a supervisor who is a task- master may get better productivity but the workers are unhappy and non-cooperative. Elsewhere morale and motivation of workers are very high but outputs in terms of numbers are less. Does this mean the second supervisor is less effective than the first? Systemic performance appraisal, has been adopted by various organizations, as a means of helping the supervisors/managers to evaluate the work of their subordinates. This will also assist the workers/juniors to come up in their career through promotion, based on their objective assessment of their performance. It also serve the purpose of knowing the effectiveness of recruitment and selection process as well as training and development...
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...Adelphia Communications Corporation Credit Analysis ______________________________________________________________________________ Overview We have performed a credit analysis on Adelphia Communications Corporation using information provided for the years 1992-1996. We compared Adelphia’s company practices to standard industry practices; evaluated its ability to repay debt; looked at Adelphia’s competitive position in the telecommunication industry; and evaluated its business strategy to grow and remain competitive within the industry. We based our analysis and recommendations on key business risk issues as discussed in the following: a) business risks of the company and the industry; b) possible warning signs of trouble at Adelphia; c) assessment of the company’s financial capability to cover operating and debt obligations; and d) appropriateness of Adelphia’s financial strategy in correlation with the overall industry. Finally, we gave recommendations for Adelphia to consider in the event the company does not obtain the new bank loan. Adelphia and the Industry The industry is highly competitive and capital intensive. Growth is necessary to remain competitive. This requires upgrades of cable systems and expansion of services, such as internet and phone services. By acquiring existing cable networks, companies in the industry are able to forego some of the initial expense associated with expansion. Adelphia’s growth strategy primarily focuses on acquisition rather than...
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...The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was a set of events and conditions that led to the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprimemortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages. The percentage of new lower-quality subprime mortgages rose from the historical 8% or lower range to approximately 20% from 2004 to 2006, with much higher ratios in some parts of the U.S.[1][2] A high percentage of these subprime mortgages, over 90% in 2006 for example, were adjustable-rate mortgages.[3] These two changes were part of a broader trend of lowered lending standards and higher-risk mortgage products.[3][4] Further, U.S. households had become increasingly indebted, with the ratio of debt to disposable personal income rising from 77% in 1990 to 127% at the end of 2007, much of this increase mortgage-related.[5] After U.S. house sales prices peaked in mid-2006 and began their steep decline forthwith, refinancing became more difficult. As adjustable-rate mortgages began to reset at higher interest rates (causing higher monthly payments), mortgage delinquencies soared. Securities backed with mortgages, including subprime mortgages, widely held by financial firms, lost most of their value. Global investors also drastically reduced purchases of mortgage-backed debt and other securities as part of a decline in the capacity and willingness of the private financial system to support lending.[1] Concerns about the soundness...
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...CASE STUDY: The first contract will be held between Agro developer and reward seeker and this contract will be a mudarabah contract. In this contract reward seeker will provide capital and agro developer will work as mudarib. This is an unrestricted mudarabah because reward seeker is only interested in reward whether the mudarib can invest the finance in any business. Firstly agro developer and reward seeker sign MOU. [pic] Contents of Mudarabah Contract: • This is unrestricted mudarabah. • This is short term mudarabah and mudarabah will be liquidated at the end. • Profit ratio will be 70% & 30% after excluding all expense (compensation of loss if any) • Mudarib as agro Developer will give access to your A/C • Reward Seeker is providing Rs five (5) lakh • Mudarabah contract is signed at the date of 01-01-2011 Now the Agro developer is doing another contract with the former to utilize the mudarabah capital. Agro developer enter in the salam contract with former at the date of 03-01-2011. Agro developer has verified that the former have 2 jareeb of land and he has no money to caltivate the land wit a potato. The average production of one jareeb is _________ ton and the average price of potato at the time is Rs 10 /kg. The agro developer has to provide a seeds and fertilize. The type of seeds for potato is ronaldo which give better average production. The price of ronaldo is Rs ________ per 50kg and the demand...
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...20% excess air C_8 H_18+15(O_2+3.76N_2 ) □(→┴ ) 8CO_2+56.4N_2+〖9H〗_2 O+10O_2 Molar mass of octane= 114 kg/kmol Converting calorific value of octane to kJ/mol; 43.7 MJ/kg×1000kJ/MJ×114/1000 kg/mol=4981.8 kJ/mol Molar mass of nitro methane= 61 kg/kmol Converting calorific value to kJ/mol; 11.3 MJ/kg×1000kJ/MJ×61/1000 kg/mol=689.3 kJ/mol Determining the molar consumption of octane to produce 100kW power. Assuming ideal efficiency. 100kJ/s×1/4981.8 mol/kJ=0.02007 mol/s For 0.2007 mol/s of octane, we would require 0.301 mol/s of air (20%excess) As volumetric efficiency of the engine remains the same, we assume that the air flow rate is the same in each case. Thus we will use 0.301mol/s of air for the dragster fuel mix. Using the ratio of reactants from the balanced equation, we require 0.013mol/s of (9CH3NO2 + C8H18). The power output with the dragster fuel would therefore be;...
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...Key Issues The ALPES S.A. case deals with Charles River Laboratories (CRL) and their consideration of a joint venture proposal with an animal vaccine company in Mexico. The senior V.P. is preparing to present the proposal of a $2 million investment for the firm. The CEO, Jim Foster, is concerned with the associated risks that CRL would be undertaking if they accept this venture. Key issues of concern are; the partnership with a relatively small, family run business; having operations in Mexico, which could pose difficulties; maintaining CRL’s focus on U.S. expansion; and the proposed partner’s lack of funds to invest, which will leave CRL to bear the entire cost of the venture. Internal Analysis: Business Strategy Diamond 1. Arenas Charles River Laboratories (CRL) is currently the market leader for the commercial supply and production of global laboratory animal models used in the development and testing of new pharmaceuticals, as well as discovery research. The most recent product development is that of SPF eggs, which are used in the development of human vaccines that have not yet been converted over to the newer production technology. 2. Vehicles Charles River Laboratories has two different options at this time for vehicles that will enable them to enter new arenas. These consist of entering into a joint venture, or other type of agreement, with ALPES, or making use of the SPAFAS franchises. Although the initial intention to purchase the existing franchises...
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...1. Consider the same items above in the horizontal analysis for the vertical analysis. A1c. Trend Analysis - The candidate provides a logical evaluation, with sufficient support, of the company’s strengths and weaknesses based on the trend analysis results. Some things to consider are: 1. What is trend analysis? 2. What information does a trend analysis provide, what does trend analysis tell you about Competition Bikes? Think about the company’s past performance and compare it to the forecasted performance. 3. What is the data telling you? Are there any concerns with the trend analysis going forward? A1d. Ratio Analysis - The candidate provides a logical evaluation, with sufficient support, of the company’s strengths and weaknesses based on the ratio analysis results. Some things to consider are: 1. Discuss all ratios, not just a few. 2. How does the current year compare to last year? How does the current year compare to the...
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...Second, management needed to decide whether to invest excess funds in new or existing businesses, or to return them to the companies shareholders by paying higher cash dividends or repurchasing stock. To resolve the first issue, it is recommended that the Marriott corporation calculates several coverage ratios so that it can evaluate it's ability to cover the costs associated with varying levels of debt. There are three coverage ratios, corresponding to the costs associated with increased debt leverage, recommended by Higgins n his book. These ratios are times interest covered, times burden covered, and times common covered. To calculate these ratios EBIT is divided by a specific cost, or sum of costs, to determine how well profits are able to support them. Alternatively, “percentage EBIT can fall” could be calculated with regards to each type of cost, to determine the percentage amount that EBIT could decline from its expected level before the corresponding coverage ratio drops to 1.0. A coverage ratio of 1.0 is critical because any lower coverage indicates that operating income will be insufficient to cover the financial burden under consideration. While each ratio is associated with a specific burden imposed by debt, they all communicate this similar concept. While...
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..."A House Divided" in 17th Century The seventeenth century proved to be a century of change as men and women crossed the Atlantic for various reasons. Some moved to escape bad marriages, some moved from poverty, and others moved from troubling royal policies. Whatever their reasons were, the colonists had one common goal--- to strive for a better life. Sharing this common bond, Americans banded together and fought for independence during the Revolution. As the Revolution ended, Americans felt overjoyed and united. They managed to overlook some of the differences between them that would eventually lead to an intense conflict in the years to come. Social, economical, and political differences between the two regions would eventually become so intense that they would cause one of the bloodiest battles of all time--- the Civil War. Differences began as early as the years of the colonial period. To begin, the Northern and Southern colonies developed vastly different economies. The Chesapeake colonies' most important staple crop became tobacco. Tobacco affected nearly every aspect of their lives. The colonies were able to collect many duties on tobacco. Harvesting tobacco called for a great deal of work. However, the colonists were unprepared for this work. They were lazy and greedy. Whenever possible, planters in Virginia and the Southern colonies purchased able-bodied workers who were capable of getting the job done. In all of the Southern...
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