Blue Borax Jewels

Blue Borax Jewels Borax beads are used to identify certain metals using the bead test. Make blue borax beads that resemble small jewels. Keep the jewels or use them to examine the characteristic blue color produced by cobalt. Borax Bead Materials boraxcobalt chloridewire loopcandle, gas burner, or alcohol lamp Procedure Gently tap the wire loop against a surface to make certain it is clean of any residue. Heat the loop in a flame to burn off any contaminants.Dip the hot wire loop in a small amount of borax. The heat of the loop should melt enough borax on contact to allow you to form a small borax bead. Heat the loop with borax in the flame until a white glassy bead forms. Remove the loop from the flame. Tap the loop against a surface to dislodge the borax bead. This is a white bead of pure borax, which you can now compare with the blue bead youre about to make.Making a blue bead, or a bead from any metal salt, follows much the same process, except you need to incorporate the metal into the bead. To make a blue bead, mix a small amount of cobalt chloride into a bit of borax. You may need to crush the cobalt chloride to grind it. You can use the back of a teaspoon to achieve this.Once the cobalt chloride and borax are mixed together, heat the clean wire loop and press the hot loop into the mixture. R eturn the coated loop to the flame to produce a blue bead. Tap the loop against a surface to free your bead so you can examine it. If you hold the bead up to the light, you should see a lovely translucent blue. If your bead is black, you used too much cobalt chloride. You can repeat the process using more borax/less cobalt chloride. The blue color is characteristic of the metal ion used to produce the bead, which was cobalt. More Colored Jewels Try using other metal salts to produce colored beads: copper sulfate - copper - blue greenferric ammonium sulfate - iron - yellow or golden brownmanganese salts - violetnickel salts - brownchromium salts - light green Learn More Bead Test to Identify Metals

Huygens Principle of Diffraction

Huygens Principle of Diffraction Huygens principle of wave analysis helps you understand the movements of waves around objects. The behavior of waves can sometimes be counterintuitive. Its easy to think about waves as if they just move in a straight line, but we have good evidence that this is often simply not true. For example, if someone shouts, the sound spreads out in all directions from that person. But if theyre in a kitchen with only one door and they shout, the wave heading toward the door into the dining room goes through that door, but the rest of the sound hits the wall. If the dining room is L-shaped, and someone is in a living room that is around a corner and through another door, they will still hear the shout. If the sound were moving in a straight line from the person who shouted, this would be impossible because thered be no way for the sound to move around the corner. This question was tackled by  Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), a man who was also known for the creation of some of the  first mechanical clocks  and his work in this area had an influence on Sir Isaac Newton  as he developed his particle theory of light. Huygens Principle Definition The Huygens principle of wave analysis  basically states that: Every point of a wave front may be considered the source of secondary wavelets that spread out in all directions with a speed equal to the speed of propagation of the waves.What this means is that when you have a wave, you can view the edge of the wave as actually creating a series of circular waves. These waves combine together in most cases to just continue the propagation, but in some cases there are significant observable effects. The wavefront can be viewed as the line tangent to all of these circular waves. These results can be obtained separately from Maxwells equations, though Huygens principle (which came first) is a useful model and is often convenient for calculations of wave phenomena. It is intriguing that Huygens work preceded that of James Clerk Maxwell by about two centuries, and yet seemed to anticipate it, without the solid theoretical basis that Maxwell provided. Amperes law and Faradays law predict that every point in an electromagnetic wave acts as a source of the continuing wave, which is perfectly in line with Huygens analysis. Huygens Principle and Diffraction When light goes through an aperture (an opening within a barrier), every point of the light wave within the aperture can be viewed as creating a circular wave which propagates outward from the aperture. The aperture, therefore, is treated as creating a new wave source, which propagates in the form of a circular wavefront. The center of the wavefront has greater intensity, with a fading of intensity as the edges are approached. It explains the diffraction observed, and why the light through an aperture does not create a perfect image of the aperture on a screen. The edges spread out based on this principle. An example of this principle at work is common to everyday life. If someone is in another room and calls towards  you, the sound seems to be coming from the doorway (unless you have very thin walls). Huygens Principle and Reflection/Refraction The laws of reflection and refraction can both be derived from Huygens principle. Points along the wavefront are treated as sources along the surface of the refractive medium, at which point the overall wave bends based upon the new medium. The effect of both reflection and refraction is to change the direction of the independent waves that are emitted by the point sources. The results of the rigorous calculations are identical to what is obtained from Newtons geometric optics (such as Snells law of refraction), which was derived under  a particle principle of light- although Newtons method is less elegant in its explanation of diffraction. Edited by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Financial statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Financial statements - Essay Example They have the duty of recording, analyzing, summarizing and reporting the financial performance and position of the company to both internal and external users of financial statements. Being sales department personnel, I work on generating invoices for the customers, sales tax return and other documentation in collaboration with accounts and finance department of the company. The financial statements of my organization provide various sorts of financial information. Fundamentally, it shows the financial position of my organization through balance sheet. Financial performance of my organization is disclosed through statement of comprehensive income. The activities relating to cash inflows and outflows are reflected through statement of cash flows. Statement of changes in equity shows the information relating to changes in the equity ownership of the organization. Last part of financial statement is â€Å"notes to the financial statements† which provide detailed workings and disclosures of accounting heads that are presented in other components of financial statements (Ramgopal,

MIS computer assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MIS computer - Assignment Example On the other hand, the following hardwares were purchased: a computer desktop PC whose feature is described as precision T7910; input devices such as mouse inclusive of a mouse pad and keyboard; output devices such as monitor and external speakers; secondary hard devices such as hard disks and optical storage device; a sound card; and Ethernet network card. The above preferred operating system-OS (window 7 64 bit) is ideal since it does not experience issues related to compatibility that was a thorn in the flesh for the earlier versions such widow XP and Vista. Moreover, its drivers are readily available except the Ethernet drivers which are usually available through the internet platforms (Emdadekh, 2010). The other required softwares such as word processor, spreadsheets, publisher, PowerPoint can be easily installed into the above specified OS as a package inform of office software. The latest version of office (office 2013) is of preference due to the fact that it is not only easier to use but also facilitates easier input techniques and analysis especially when using the spreadsheets. On the other hand, the program for creating PDF files is also easily installed from the internet inclusive of the PDF converter that enables one to convert the PDF script into other forms contained in the office 2013 especially when editing is required. It is prudent to comprehend that the data base management program is part of the office package and once installed one can easily create a data base. For the e-mail program, the provisions such internet browsers such as the Mozilla Firefox, the Google Chrome, and the internet explorer among others enable one to manipulate the e-mailing components of th e program (Emdadekh, 2010). Furthermore, Window 7 readily accepts installation of the latest versions of these browsers. In addition, the computer security system can be enhanced by installing internet security softwares

Nation’s Advantages of Affirmative Actions Essay Example for Free

Nation’s Advantages of Affirmative Actions Essay Consistent with the exact characterization of affirmative action, the truth is that affirmative action programs have improved the gender, ethnic, and racial diversity of many workplace, educational, etc. settings in the United States. This diversity helped enhance the lives of every American in several ways, including better health, improved learning, and more secured communities. Affirmative action benefited the higher education since social and intellectual development of both minority and non-minority students are improved in ethnically and racially diverse educational settings (American Psychological Association, 1999, p. 1). One outcome, for instance, is the increase in the numbers of students belonging to ethnic minorities who grow to be student peers of majority students. The Nation’s Health, on the other hand, also benefited from affirmative action in the sense that much can be medically learned from the racial and ethnic groups that will consequently result to the benefit of every Americans. For instance, despite the fact that ethnic minority Americans usually experience poorer physical condition than non-minorities, yet in several cases and even in the face of extreme poverty rates and other risks to health, these groups experience lesser levels health problems, particularly chronic disease, which can be the basis for several medical research (American Psychological Association, 1999, p. 1). The Need of Persistent Implementation of Affirmative Action Decades ago, an African-American mother was three times as expected to die of complications in the course of childbirth as white mother, and at present she is over three times as expected to die in the course of her childbirth (Richey, 2003). The mortality rate for blacks was twice that for whites, and at present it is a little over twice as whites (Richey, 2003). From 1978 to present, four times as many African-American families survived with incomes lower than the poverty line than white families. For black teens, the unemployment rate is thrice that of whites, and for black adults it is twice as whites. Unfortunately at present, every statistics relatively remained unchanged. In 1978, African-American corresponded to 11. 5 percent of the United States’ population, but they were only 1. 2 percent of the judges and lawyers, 2. 3 percent of the dentists, 2 percent of the physicians, 2. 6 percent of university and college professors, and 1. 1 percent of the engineers (Richey, 2003). At present, blacks correspond to roughly 12. 3 percent of the country’s population, and are 5. 1 percent of the judges and lawyers, 4. 1 percent of dentists, 5. 6 percent of physicians, 6. 1 percent of university and college professors, and 5. 5 percent of engineers (Richey, 2003). Although such statistics proved that affirmative action has helped to strengthen the black professionals’ ranks, yet African-American in general has been left behind. Notwithstanding all the discussions of the establishment of a black middle class, the position of the black community to white American has relatively remained the same. As such, affirmative action must be continually asserted to put in place mandatory and voluntary efforts by local, state, and federal governments, schools, and private employers to combat inequalities and encourage fair hiring and promotions of qualified individuals. Reverse Discrimination Stimulated by annoyed white men, a reaction against affirmative action started to accumulate. To conservatives, the system opened the door for education, promotions, or employments to minorities and at the same time, closed the door on whites. Conservatives resented the thought that a number of incompetent minorities were receiving blanket advantages on the American system (Brunner, 2007). Quotas and preferential treatment turned into contempt expressions. Even more controversial was the allegation that a number of minorities benefited from playing the part of professional victim. By the late 70s, deficiencies in the policy started to show up in the course of its excellent objectives. In 1978, reverse discrimination became a concern, exemplified by the celebrated Bakke case (Brunner, 2007). Because of a certain medical school’s separate admissions policy for minorities and reservation of 18 out of 100 places for minority students, the school had been rejecting Allan Bakke, a white male, for two years in a row and in its place had accepted less competent minority applicants. Because of unjust discrimination against a white applicant, the Supreme Court banned affirmative action programs’ rigid quota systems. However, in the same ruling, the Court sustained affirmative action’s legality per se. The dispute concerning affirmative action has as well grown more difficult and murky as the public has come to realize its complexity. Several liberals, for instance, can appreciate the prejudice of affirmative action given that white employees with seniority were laid off, whereas black workers often retained their jobs. Many conservatives, on the other hand, were pushed to get a hold of a better option to the imposition of a stringent quota system.

From Romantic to Victorian Essay -- essays research papers

From Romantic to Victorian   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Victorian Age came after the Romantic Age and took place between the years of 1832 and 1901. Throughout the Romantic Age many authors/poets concentrated and focused on the rights of the people, as well as the idea of individualism. We are going to see how those beliefs helped spring into the Victorian Age. There are three main things concerning the Victorians during this specific time period: evolution, industrialism, and women. Along with these three comes doubt. These changes were confusing to many and began to make them wonder if what they had believed in all these years wasn’t true after all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The evolution doubt came into effect when two men began to question nature and disturb the originality of the way things are suppose to be. These two men were Marx and Darwin. Although Marx isn’t mentioned as much as Darwin, we know that he was a very radical person who began to question the economic injustice of things, as well as the class system. Darwin on the other hand, was questioning the Bible and how things got to be the way they are. He brought about the idea of â€Å"natural selection† and that lead to biblical/religious doubts in people. Before Darwin came out with his idea on natural selection and evolution, scientists had exhibited doubt when the Neanderthal skeletons were discovered. This was the beginning of religious doubt. It wasn’t until Darwin came out with his explanation that people really began to take into consideration...

Resource Allocation Essay

Project management is the discipline of defining and achieving targets while optimizing the use of resources: time, money, people, materials, energy, space, etc. , over the course of a project. The most important resources that project managers have to plan and manage on day-to-day basis are people, materials, equipment and working capital. Obviously, if these resources are available in abundance then the project could be accelerated to achieve shorter project duration. On the other hand, [Avoid using colloquial language, slang or jargon in formal writing (14)] if these resources are severely limited, then the result more than likely will be a delay in the project completion time. Depending on the type of resources, the costs of providing an abundance of such resources to accelerate project completion time can be very high. However, if resources are readily available and excess premiums are not incurred to use them on the project, then project cost should be low, as some project costs are resource related while others are likely to be time dependent. In seeking professional services for the design and construction of our garage with living quarters, the management team has been confronted with a broad variety of choices. The services solicited are based on past history and excellent referrals. The Ransom family has selected the following individuals for the organizational structure of the garage project, all team member functions, responsibilities, qualifications, and capabilities are defined, as well as where each member fits into this structure. [Comma splice and/or run-on sentence. Rewrite as two sentences, or separate with a semicolon. (32)] The Ransom’s are confident that this group of individuals will form a cohesive team to complete the project within scope, budget and time. Ransom Family James Sampson is a low-level manager who will function as project manager. As PM he has been given the authority by the board of directors to resolve any resource allocation issues that may arise. James reports directly to the board of directors. His qualifications are over 20 years of experience in the areas of industrial engineering, materials and operations management. His academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and an MBA specializing in quantitative business analysis and business statistics. James will serve as liaison for the city planning commission. James has the following skills and abilities: principles and practices of contemporary project management, strategic, conceptual and analytical thinking, adaptability and flexibility including ability to manage pressure, ambiguity and change, team leadership, interpersonal, communication, and project management skills. Jody Bryant is a functional manager in charge of Contract Administration and Documentation. She reports to James Sampson. Jody’s qualifications are 18 years experience in the area contract administration and associated policies, and procedures. Her academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA specializing in technology. She maintains contract administration systems that ensure that contractors perform in accordance with the terms, conditions, and specifications of their contracts and/or purchase orders. Her responsibilities include: documentation and record keeping, receiving, evaluating and acting on engineering and other change proposals, negotiating cost and schedule impact relating to change orders and other contract modifications. She also ensures timely submission of required reports. Rose Matos is functional manager in charge of structure and on-site management. She reports to James Sampson and Jody Bryant. Rose has 15 years experience designing beams, columns, walls, floors, roofs, and foundations of various structures. She will be responsible for overseeing Big Time Builders, Keep-em Happy Architectural, Martin Grading, and other of contractors such as electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and industrial engineers. James Vann Haigler is functional manager over quality assurance. Vann, as he prefers to be called, has an extensive background in quality assurance management, which includes a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, specializing in Computer Science. He has over 13 years of experience in QA, 3D graphics applications. Vann reports to James Sampson, and is responsible for the overall management of activities related to the sampling, and release of raw materials and components. This includes, but is not limited to, writing of specifications and SOPs, control of artwork, shop floor testing, resolution of Sub-standard Material Reports, and maintenance of vendor files. He guarantees a level of quality for the end client, and is focused on creating a quality deliverable. Task and Responsibility Matrix After the project is organized, there is a need to define what roles and responsibilities for each member of Team B. Within the project the labor will not be specificity be accomplished by the team members but from sub-contractors, however each task must be carried out in order to complete the project. [This sentence is confusing. Reword for clarity] In order to insure that all tasks are carried out in the necessary order described within the Statement of Work the overseeing of the tasks are divided and assigned to various team members according to the members role which is defined by; responsibility, approval and support. With this in mind, the team has developed a task/responsibility matrix to keep track of these steps.

The Explorer Doughter

The Explorer’s Daughter Background Kari Herbert, whose father was a polar explorer, lived as a child with her family in northwest Greenland in the Arctic. She was so fascinated by the place she returned there later as an adult to write about it. The book from which this extract is taken is partly a memoir (a form of autobiography) and partly a travel book, giving the reader information about this strange and beautiful place, its people and its animals. She found that the way of life of the Inughuit people was changing under the impact of the modern world, but that they still retained aspects of their traditional way of life, for instance hunting for food and driving teams of dogs. A major part of the passage is an account of a hunt for narwhal whales. Hunting is a very emotive issue and many conservationists argue that whales should be protected. Kari Herbert’s feelings are divided on this topic. She sympathises with both the narwhal and the hunters, who face incredible danger. They hunt in kayaks – flimsy canoes – in water so cold that they would die quickly if their kayak overturned. What can I say about language? This passage has many purposes. The writer uses language in differing ways to fulfil these. She uses description to convey the beauty of the setting, gives us information about the Inughuit and the narwhal, dramatises the hunt, and gives us an insight into her own thoughts and feelings. Complete the following table to help you sort out these various strands. Kari Herbert sympathises with both hunter and hunted, and this tension is shown in this passage. Complete the following table to highlight this aspect of the passage Pharagraph by Pharagerph Paragraph 1 â€Å"†¦ spectral play of colour. † This sentence shows a sense of immediate aroma. It is an imagery so give a strong sense of place and setting. â€Å".. butter-gold.. † This text shows a sense of wealth â€Å".. shifting light. † is Poetical Paragraph 2 â€Å"dead of winter† This is a metaphor – weaker setting the tone is ominous and there is the sense of place and danger Paragraph 3 â€Å"dead of winter† is a metaphor to show a weaker setting. The whole of paragraph 3 has an ominous tone. It shows a sense of place and danger. Paragraph 4 The whole of paragraph 4 has a shift in tone from paragraph 3; it is more factual, informative and for example shows this by using technical words. It is also the biggest paragraph. In the context you find out that the community really relies on the hunting and how dangerous it is. Paragraph 5 â€Å".. clustered.. † The word clustered is a powerful connotation, it means that the women are scared so they huddle together and try to comfort each other. â€Å"It was like watching a cast, waterborne game with the hunters spread like a net around the sound†. This sentence is imagery. It has added adverbs to show how scared the women were and how much their husbands are important in their life. Paragraph 6 â€Å"†¦ gently picked up his harpoon† thought and care, focus on the actual hunt and the text also switches back to the hunters. â€Å"†¦ two heads and one bladder† not high-tech technology, limited, she respects them because they are using a harpoon, she is sympathetic to the narwhal and the hunters, dramatic. â€Å".. urge†¦ † to show how strongly she wanted the narwhal to survive â€Å"†¦ o dive, to leave, to survive† – triad Paragraph 7 â€Å"The dilemma stayed†¦ † This shows that she's not that sure who to be sympathetic for, the narwhal or the hunters but her sympathy gets switched back to the hunters un this paragraph. â€Å"How can you possibly eat seal? † is a view point of society this shows that the modern person thinks that this is a crime. -she build s up her argument, these are the points of her argument â€Å"use every part of the animal† – so theres no waste/leftover â€Å"imported goods can only ever account for†¦ † â€Å"do not kill for sport†

Conrail Case Study Essays

Conrail Case Study Essays Conrail Case Study Essay Conrail Case Study Essay The Railroad revolution in the united States began in the early 1 sass. The developed infrastructure was used for freight transportation business. In the mid-sass the industry experienced explosive growth, followed by significant consolidation in 1870. The rail road companies initiated expansion through acquisitions in attempt to reduce marginal costs and increase their market share. As a result of this competition, a number of cartels were formed; therefore the federal government intervened and established regulation on railroad mergers, infrastructure construction and divestment. On the other hand, the government initiated enormous investments in highway infrastructure, which resulted in the emerging of the trucking industry. Together with innovations in motor and tire technologies, the trucking industry began gaining significant market share of the freight transportation business from the rail road companies. As a result, the six largest railroads in the Northeast filed for bankruptcy. In response to the failures, the Congress passed the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 in order to deregulate the railroad industry, which resumed the mergers and acquisitions activity. The following analysis will investigate the economics of the offer for Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) by CSS Corporation (CSS) and Norfolk Southern Corporation (Norfolk). The stand-alone bidders, CSS and Norfolk would value the target, Conrail, based on its fundamentals, however if both bidders are present they would enter price wars and legal battles, therefore this would inflate the offered price for the target. In particular the acquirers have to take into account of the opportunity cost of losing the bidding war (I. E. Going significant proportion of their revenue going forward) as calculated in Question 3. According to our analysis, the value of opportunity cost of losing the bid war can be as high as 13% of total offer price (calculated in SQ). In this case, although the synergy impact between Norfolk and Conrail is lower compared to that with CSS, the value of opportunity cost of Norfolk losing the bid is significantly higher, which brings Norfolk potential offer pric e higher than that of CSS (1 16. 84 vs.. 114. 36) -? calculated in SQ. If they were stand- alone bidders, Coxs potential offer price is significantly lower (105. 44), and Norfolk offer price is c. 102. However, since CSS, Conrail and Norfolk are in tauter market with high concentration of market power, believe the bidding war is naturally the product of this market structure. The following analysis would provide further details of the synergies of the potential deals. In 1 973, following the Regional Reorganization Act, the government established Conrail (the target), out of the remains of the six bankrupt, Northeastern railroads. The company became the 2nd largest in the region and it was privatized in 1987, via PIP (the largest in LOS history at the time). On 15 October, 1996 the CEO of CSS announced $8. Ban merger with Conrail. Due to he friendly nature of the offer, both management boards claimed significant synergies, including operations improvement, cost efficiencies and compatible cultures. This horizontal merger would create value by consolidating overlapping operations. CSS, the largest company in the East (freight transportation market share 38. %) operated 1 8,645 track miles and 29,537 employees. Conrail possessed 29. 4% of the Eastern freight transportation market with 1 0, 701 track miles and 23,51 0 employees. The network expansion would link Midwestern, Northeastern CSS cities with Canadian cities; therefore the CSS-Conrail company would also capitalize on North American Free Trade Agreement NONFAT(1 994). The merger CSS-Conrail would result in significant operating synergies, in particular in completeness of the distribution network. Although Coxs had important presence in the railroad business, the company also provided diversified transportation services, including ocean container shipping, barging and contract logistics services. The combination of intermediate services (transportation of truck trailers and container by rail-car) and network expansion would result in higher operation efficiency to compete with the trucking industry. In addition, he maritime and the railroad presence of the merged company would result in economies of scope. The universal container would promote better branding and it would open the business to international trade. The industry consolidation and the merger of CSS and Conrail would create the 2nd largest company in US and the largest in the Eastern region; therefore the company would increase its market power in the freight transportation business, gaining revenues from its competitors Norfolk and the trucking industry companies. The financial synergies of the deal would lead to improved economies of scale in financing. The size of the merged firm would increase the debt capacity and tax debt shield, therefore dilute financing costs. Although the management of both CSS and Conrail were convinced in the success Of this merger, individually the companies were the least efficient (higher operating ratio) among the three leading railroad companies in the East. This potential weakness could result in a concern about the management synergies of the deal. Following the merger announcement of $8. Ban of CSS-Conrail in 1996, the third largest railroad company in the Eastern region, Norfolk proposed a hostile offer of $9. Bin for Conrail. The concerns of a potential merger between CSS and Conrail would have significant implications for the transportation system and for the shipping public, which would pose a serious threat to Norfolk market share. Although the operating synergies for Norfolk-Conrail would be of a similar nature, I. E. Horizontal merger resulting in higher market share, expanded rail network, increased revenues and cost reduction, the bidder could offer stronger management synergies. Norfolk was recognized by the industry specialist as the most efficient (lowest operating ratio) and best managed railroad in the united States. In addition, Norfolk would have used cash as a payment method, which suggests that the company would borrow money, therefore benefit from higher Tax Shield. The case states that the bidder was backed by a consortium of banks, ready to fund the acquisition. This suggests that Norfolk has good access to the capital markets. Given the presence of the two competitors, CSS and Norfolk, the merger with Conrail resulted in bidding wars and legal battles. To close a good deal, the created value from the merger should exceed the costs, premium paid and transfer to other parties (source Lecture Notes FEMME): AAA + AP + C The bidding war would inflate the share price of the target, therefore would increase significantly the premium paid AP. From 14 October 1996 to 16 January 1997, the blended value of the CSS offer per share increased by 15% from $89. 07 to SSL 02. 16. On the other hand, Norfolk bid also increased by to $115. 00 per share in cash. In addition, the legal battles against the CSS-Conrail mergers increased the cost associated with organizing the deal C. The length of the price wars also resulted in decreased stock prices of the bidders and an increase of the targets stock price. Question 2 Deals Not Chosen: Santa Fee pacific (Jinn pacific) and Kansas City Southern are not taken because these offers did not go through. Therefore, the accepted value of the target companies was not determined, hence very biased: Potential synergies were probably rather biased since these bids were not accepted by the target Fundamental value of the target was probably undervalued since these bids were rejected Control premium was probably not correctly captured in the bid price Deals Chosen: Santa Fee Pacific (Burlington Northern), Chicago and North Westerner, Southern Pacific are chosen because: They are completed deals Both the targets and acquirers are from same industry of Conrail, and I would assume that they have the same risk exposure to the economy and industry The deal dates are within recent past Company sizes are closer to the target company in term of total asset value However, please note that the % operating synergy of chosen deals are significantly higher than that of either CSS or Norfolk Southern s deals, the derived equity price for Contrails deal is likely to be significantly lower due to lower synergy effects. Since we do not have any deals with similar synergy effects as Conrail, would chose these three deals to value Conrail. Multiples Not Chosen: Offer price per PEPS and Book Value as a Multiple of offer price are not used because of the following reasons: Both PEPS and book value are highly affected by accounting decision and standards (GAPS vs.. FIRS) adopted by companies, which make the multiples on these very hard to be compared across companies Both PEPS and book value can sometimes be negative if negative earnings are sustained over long period of time PEPS is affected by capital structure, which IS vastly different across firms. This characteristic makes the offer price multiple on this item not very useful to identify value of there firms Both PEPS and book value can be manipulated by the company management Book Value does not reflect the intangible side of the business such as employee skills, brand name etc. Book Value reflects the assets on historical basis, making it very hard to compare across companies with different asset ages due to high inflation and many major technological advances over time PEPS is not stable since it is affected by the business cycle, and/or one-off events (asset sale, debt write-offs etc.. The offer price and book value are not consistent with each other since the price is net cost of bet, however, book value includes debt Enterprise value/Sale multiple is not used because of the following reasons: Sale is quite distant from the bottom line of the business since it does not capture cost structure of the business, compared to EBITDA or Free Cash How Sale does follow business cy cle, which make it hard to compare across business Multiples Chosen: Enterprise Value/Belted multiple is chosen because: Consistent between numerator and denominator since both of them are pre- debt measures. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, whereas Enterprise value includes both debt and equity This ultimate is not affected by differences in capital structure across firms EBITDA is the least affected items in the financial statement by the accounting standards EBITDA is closest item to Free Cash Flow, which can be used to indicate quality of earnings EBITDA is usually positive as well, especially in the railway case where depreciation tends to be high due to asset intensive Since the question does not state the timing of the takeover, I would assume that the takeover time is SQ 1996 As offs 1996, the long term debt is $2094 million (Exhibit 6), and the cash amount is $33 million. Therefore net debt mount as of SQ 1996 32061 million The EBITDA (last SQ) is 1017 (Exhibit 6) The number of fully diluted shares outstanding is 90,500,000 at acquisition Below is the summary of the valuation by multiples: The multiple valuation method gives a range of Contrails value between $73 and S 124, with the average value of $104 per share Question 3 Part a) Valuation of Conrail Growth Rate: In response to the failures, Congress passed the Staffers Rail Act of 1 980, a deregulatory act that gave railroads the ability to set prices in competitive markets, abandon profitable lines and pursue merger and acquisition. This has had major impacts on the market between 1980 and 1995, where companies significantly restructured their businesses with better dispatching system, cutting cost program, and abandoning unprofitable lines. Since the Act came into force in 1980, I would assume that the impact Of the program was not as extensive in 1 sass, and the Contrails growth was a sustainable one rather than event-driven growth post 1995. In addition, since the market is already rather mature, I would assume that inflation is to be used for projecting future sustainable growth of Conrail, which is 3% Appendix 6) Risk Free Rate: since the cash flow of Conrail is ongoing concern with indefinite cash flow horizon, hence the duration of cash flow will be rather high. Using Asset Liability duration matching, I would assume that 30 year bond is the one that have the most similar duration profile as Contrails cash flow. Therefore the risk free rate I would use to value Conrail in this case is 6. 3% Timing: since the timing is not indicated in question I would assume that the timing of the valuation exercise as of SQ 1 996 and no takeover activities or announcements have happened Marginal Tax Rate: 35% is assumed (Exhibit b) Market Return: 14. 1 % is the average annual return for S index (Source: Bloomberg) Cost of equity: I would assume that the current leverage ratio will remain the same going forward The current Conrail beta will remain the same as 1. 30. Assuming the market is the efficient and satisfying all the CAMP assumptions, I use CAMP to derive the cost of equity. Re=6. 83% + 1. 30 (14. 1% 6. 83%) = 16. 28% Equity Market Capitalization: is the price pre-bid (as Of 14/10/1996) (assuming the remaining the same due to no activity) multiplied by the number of shares in the market (77,628,000) (Exhibit 2). Equity market capitalization is $5,51 1 Leverage Ratio as of SQ 201 6: assuming the leverage ratio is constant going forward and the leverage ratio is net debt / (Equity market capitalization) = 206115511. 588 = 37. 3% Debt beta: since the debt leverage ratio is rather low, I would assume that debt beta equals O UN- levering Contrails Beta: Unlearned beta levered beta / (1+ ratio) 1. 3 / (1 + 0. 65 * 0. 373) = 1. 046 Identifying interest rate of the debt: assume that the debt rating can be identified using the interest coverage ratio. Below is the table from ONLY Stern (http://pages. Stern. You. Due/-?dammar/New_Home_page/ dateable/ratings. HTML) Assuming that rating of the debt is determined using the last year (1996) for rating going forward. The credit rating of Conrail Bond is A, hence its interest rate is 7. 71 % Assumption about the credit rating of Contrails Debt: the future merger between Conrail and either of CSS and Norfolk Southern likely to improve the Coverage Ratio, hence likely to improve the credit rating of the debt. However, since the success of the merger really depends on Surface Transportation Board decision of competitive access to certain key markets. Hence, from the perspective of the bank, it is highly risky and the bank is not likely to upgrade the debt rating. Also, since after the merger, both acquirer and acquirer become one company, the bank is likely to kick at both to decide the debt rating. Since this involves lots of assumptions, would assume that no financial synergy is achieved by the merger with either acquirer. Standalone Equity Value of Conrail: assuming that the market is efficient, and the market price of Conrail fully reflects the fundamental of business. Equity Value of Conrail in this case is then $71 , which is on 14th October 1 996 the day prior to CSS-Conrail announcement. A CSS Merger Growth Rate: assuming the synergy cash flow grows at the inflation rate of 3% beyond year 2000 (as explained above) Discount Rate for the merger CSS: I would assume that there is no debt attached to the synergy. Also, since I do not have the information CSS share volume, the unlearned beta of CSS cannot be calculated. Therefore, I would assume the unlearned beta is the same for both CSS and Conrail. Hence, I would use the Contrails cost of unlearned equity to value the merger as below: = 6. 83% + 1. 046 * (14. 10% 6. 83%) = 14. 43% Valuation Without opportunity cost of losing the bid Terminal Value as of 1 996 = [488. 80 * 1. 03 / (0. 1443 factor of year 5 = $2,245 million Opportunity cost of losing the bid Terminal value as of 1 996 [127. 4 * 1. 03 / (0. 1458 factor of year 5 = -585. 14 million Value of equity value/share of Conrail from the point of view of CSS: Pre-merger: $71 synergy: (871. 02 + 2245) / 90. 5 = $34. 4 Opportunity Cost: (222. 7 + 585. 14)/90. 5 = $8. 92 Total Offer Price: SSL 14. 6 B Norfolk Southern Merger not have the information Norfolk Southern share volume, the unlearned beta of Norfolk Southern cannot be calculated. Therefore, I would assume the unlearned beta is the same for both Norfolk Southern and Conrail. Hence, would use the Contrails cost of unlearned equity to value the merger as below: = 6. 83% 1. 046 * (14. 10% 6. 83%) = 14. 43% Terminal Value as of 1 996 = [442 * 1. 03 / (0. 1443 0. 03)]*Discount factor of year 5 52030 Opportunity cost Of losing the bid Terminal Value as of 1 996 = [-208 * 1. 03 / (0. 1443 0. 03)]*Discount factor of year 5 = -$955. 33 Value of equity value/share of Conrail from the point of view of CSS: Pre-merger: $71 Synergy: (776. 6+2030) / 90. 5 $31 opportunity cost: (387. 95 + 955. 33)/90. = $14. 84 Total Offer Price: SSL 16. 84 Please note: the equity values of Conrail calculated above are absolute maximum value that both CSS and Norfolk Southern will pay for Conrail since the gain in revenue from competitor is highly risky, subject to the decision of SST B. Technically, the discount rate should be higher and probability should be applied on this portion of incremental synergy. Part b) Contrails Market Capitalization as a standalone value Pros Since Conrail is rather large company, I would assume that it is w ell covered by analysts and practitioners in the financial market. Hence, it can be safely assumed the market is efficient and the price of Conrail is fundamentally reflected in its price Easy and quick way to determine the value of Conrail Cons The market is highly fluctuated dependent on Stage Of the market Ignore the control premium since the stock price does not assume the control power of the stock owner There might be information available to the acquirers but the market is not aware of. Therefore the market price does not reflect the information Question 4 The stand-alone bidders, CSS and Norfolk would value the target, Conrail, based on its fundamentals, however if both bidders are present they would enter price wars and legal battles, therefore this would inflate the offered price for the target. In particular the acquirers have to take into account of the opportunity cost of losing the bidding war (I. E. Losing significant proportion of their revenue going forward). According to our analysis, the value Of opportunity cost of losing the bid war can be as high as 13% of total offer price (calculated in SQ). In this case, although the synergy impact between Norfolk and Conrail is lower compared to that with CSS, the value of opportunity cost of Norfolk losing the bid is significantly higher, which brings Norfolk potential offer price higher than that of CSS (116. 84 vs.. 114. 36) calculated in SQ. If they were stand-alone bidders, Coxs potential offer price is significantly lower (105. 44), and Norfolk offer price is c. 02. However, since CSS, Conrail and Norfolk are in mature market with high concentration of market power, I believe the bidding war is naturally the product of this market structure. Question 5 CSS Friendly Offer: Two-tiered transaction of the purchase 90. 5 Mil lion Conrail Shares (acquisition shares) Inc. Apron. 1. 3 million common shares owned by management and directors. 1 CSS to pay USED 92. 5 per share on cash for 0% of Contrails acquisition shares (Front-end offer) to be completed in 2 stages (regulatory reasons) a Stage 1: CSS to acquire 19. 7% of the shares (17. 86 million shares at USED 92. 5 per share) b stage 2: CSS to acquire 20. % of the shares (after shareholders approved the deal) The reason why the front-end offer was split as such is given Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law in which Conrail Shareholders would be required to opt-out of the Pennsylvania Statue before CSS could purchase more than 19. 9% of the shares. For the opt-out vote, CSS had 17. 86 million shares from the first-stage tender offer, management had 1. Million shares and employees trust had 13 million shares. Since management was in favor of the merger, parties in support had 35. 5% of the acquisitions shares and would require another 14. 6% to vote in f avor of theopt-out for it to pass. Following shareholders approval it would be possible to complete the second cash tender offer. 2 Following cash tender offers, CSS would exchange shares in ratio of 1. 8561 9:1. (CSS:Conrail) for the remaining 60% of Contrails Shares (back-end- offer). The back end offer is calculated by multiplying the ratio with the Coxs closing price on the bid announcement day. A Based on closing price on the id announcement day, blended value of CSS was USED 86. 77 per share (23. 5% premium over Contrails pre-announcement stock price of USED 71. 00) b 06/11/1996 CSS increased front-end offer. In 19/1 2/1996 CSS increased back- end offer. 16/01/1 997 was the eve of shareholder vote The blended value in Exhibit 8 is calculated by weighted average affront-end and back-end offers: The blended value was adjusted in 19/12/1 996 and 16/01/1 997 to reflect the completion of Coxs first stage tender offer. Blended value idea is to have a single value of the combination of both the front-end and back-end offers given they were done with different set of eights (40% and 60% respectively). Its major limitation is that it calculates both Front-end and Back-end offers on the same day ignoring the time element. The time element is essential for a correct valuation given there are a set of events that need to happen in between the first cash tender offer from the front-end offer until the back-end offer and hence both would happen on a different set of dates. The back-end offer is sensitivity to the time because it is reliant on prices given its proposition to exchange of shares based on a ratio. Question 6 CSS intended to take control of Conrail through a combination of financial orientations, deals with management and limiting Contrails susceptibility to other acquisitions. By definition, the most important aspect of the aqua session was through the ownership of Conrail stock. However, in order to make the acquisition easier for CSS, CSS wanted to control access to Conrail. CSS tried to do this by placing barriers to prevent Conrail from back-tracking from the deal, such as: A breakup fee of $mm in the event Conrail chose not to proceed with the takeover. The breakup fee is a crude and obvious deterrent for Conrail, as well as for any new potential bidder. It would no longer make sense for Conrail to pull out of the agreement unless it discovered it would be more than $mm worse off if the deal went ahead -? which was highly unlikely. The deterrent for any new bidder is that they would now have to beat Coxs offer by $mm in order to become more attractive for Contrails management to choose their new bid. Offer of 15. Mm newly issued lock-up shares to CSS at the same price as the initial Front-End tender. This reduces many of the fees and complications associated with purchases on the stock exchange. It also means that this 20% of stock would not be subject to shareholder whims and s a certainty to CSS regarding how it will obtain 20% of the required shares. It made sense to exercise the option only if shareholders voted to opt-out of the fair value statute (described below), because if shareholders did not opt out of the fair value statute, common stock to the value of 20% of Conrail would have been needlessly created. If CSS purchased shares that were already outstanding, they could simply resell them on the open market, and Conrail would not have created these additional shares. Conrail suspends Poison Pill option to offer new shares at 50% discount in order to protect itself against an unsolicited takeover. This mitigates one of Contrails biggest threats against Coxs ownership. Should there be a change in management that is no longer willing to proceed with the takeover, the poison pill option will no longer be available to deploy. A no-talk clause, which prevents Conrail from entertaining other bids. This clause is valid unless it interferes with the boards fiduciary duty to shareholders (and if it seems unlikely that CSS would be able to complete the deal). Conrail board members, to an extent, had license to define Fiduciary Duty as they pleased, and since the board had already agreed to the CSS bid, Norfolk would have to replace board members in favor of the deal. This would be difficult, since Conrail had a classified board, which meant only a third were up for election each year so it could take years before the decision to go with CSS was overturned by which time the CSS deal would have been consummated. Further complications to the deal were Pennsylvania Business Laws. Coxs bid to take control of Conrail included a Front End offer to purchase at $11 0 per share with cash, 40% of the shares it needed to take control. The Back End offer was to exchange the remaining 60% of the shares it needed, or shares in the new company at the rate of 1. 85619:1. 0 plus a further $16 of new convertible preferred stock. This created a blended value to the Back End of $105. 07 per share. The difference in prices (SSL 10 vs. $105. 07) meant that the bid was subject to a Pennsylvania fair value statute, which stated that an acquirer must tender all shares at the same price. An acquirer cannot tender at different prices, unless shareholders explicitly vote to opt out of the fair value statute. CSS now had to persuade Conrail customers to vote to opt out of this statute. It attempted to do this by running adverts in financial newspapers hampering its proposed takeover.

Understanding Equivalent Equations in Algebra

Understanding Equivalent Equations in Algebra Equivalent equations are systems of equations that have the same solutions. Identifying and solving equivalent equations is a valuable skill, not only in algebra class, but also in everyday life. Take a look at examples of equivalent equations, how to solve them for one or more variables, and how you might use this skill outside a classroom. Key Takeaways Equivalent equations are algebraic equations that have identical solutions or roots.Adding or subtracting the same number or expression to both sides of an equation produces an equivalent equation.Multiplying or dividing both sides of an equation by the same non-zero number produces an equivalent equation. Linear Equations With One Variable The simplest examples of equivalent equations dont have any variables. For example, these three equations are equivalent to each other: 3 2 54 1 55 0 5 Recognizing these equations are equivalent is great, but not particularly useful. Usually an equivalent equation problem asks you to solve for a variable to see if it is the same (the same root) as the one in another equation. For example, the following equations are equivalent: x 5-2x -10 In both cases, x 5. How do we know this? How do you solve this for the -2x -10 equation? The first step is to know the rules of equivalent equations: Adding or subtracting the same number or expression to both sides of an equation produces an equivalent equation.Multiplying or dividing both sides of an equation by the same non-zero number produces an equivalent equation.Raising both sides of the equation to the same odd power or taking the same odd root will produce an equivalent equation.If both sides of an equation are non-negative, raising both sides of an equation to the same even power or taking the same even root will give an equivalent equation. Example Putting these rules into practice, determine whether these two equations are equivalent: x 2 72x 1 11 To solve this, you need to find x for each equation. If x is the same for both equations, then they are equivalent. If x is different (i.e., the equations have different roots), then the equations are not equivalent. For the first equation: x 2 7x 2 - 2 7 - 2 (subtracting both sides by same number)x 5 For the second equation: 2x 1 112x 1 - 1 11 - 1 (subtracting both sides by the same number)2x 102x/2   10/2 (dividing both sides of the equation by the same number)x 5 So, yes, the two equations are equivalent because x 5 in each case. Practical Equivalent Equations You can use equivalent equations in daily life. Its particularly helpful when shopping. For example, you like a particular shirt. One company offers the shirt for $6 and has $12 shipping, while another company offers the shirt for $7.50 and has $9 shipping. Which shirt has the best price? How many shirts (maybe you want to get them for friends) would you have to buy for the price to be the same for both companies? To solve this problem, let x be the number of shirts. To start with, set x 1 for the purchase of one shirt. For company #1: Price 6x 12 (6)(1) 12 6 12 $18 For company #2: Price 7.5x 9 (1)(7.5) 9 7.5 9 $16.50 So, if youre buying one shirt, the second company offers a better deal. To find the point where prices are equal, let x remain the number of shirts, but set the two equations equal to each other. Solve for x to find how many shirts youd have to buy: 6x 12 7.5x 96x - 7.5x 9 - 12 (subtracting the same numbers or expressions from each side)-1.5x -31.5x 3 (dividing both sides by the same number, -1)x 3/1.5 (dividing both sides by 1.5)x 2 If you buy two shirts, the price is the same, no matter where you get it. You can use the same math to determine which company gives you a better deal with larger orders and also to calculate how much youll save using one company over the other. See, algebra is useful! Equivalent Equations With Two Variables If you have two equations and two unknowns (x and y), you can determine whether two sets of linear equations are equivalent. For example, if youre given the equations: -3x 12y 157x - 10y -2 You can determine whether the following system is equivalent: -x 4y 57x -10y -2 To solve this problem, find x and y for each system of equations. If the values are the same, then the systems of equations are equivalent. Start with the first set. To solve two equations with two variables, isolate one variable and plug its solution into the other equation. To isolate the y variable: -3x 12y 15-3x 15 - 12yx -(15 - 12y)/3 -5 4y (plug in for x in the second equation)7x - 10y -27(-5 4y) - 10y -2-35 28y - 10y -218y 33y 33/18 11/6 Now, plug y back into either equation to solve for x: 7x - 10y -27x -2 10(11/6) Working through this, youll eventually  get x 7/3. To answer the question,  you could apply the same principles to the second set of equations to solve for x and y to find that yes, they are indeed equivalent. Its easy to get bogged down in the algebra, so its a good idea to check your work using an online equation solver. However, the clever student will notice the two sets of equations are equivalent without doing any difficult calculations at all. The only difference between the first equation in each set is that the first one is three times the second one (equivalent). The second equation is exactly the same.

The reflection of the case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The reflection of the - Case Study Example Passion is another vital concept to bear when starting a business. A person with the passion to engage in a particular venture is often successful as opposed to an individual who does not engage in it passionately. This is because this passionate person is often optimistic and optimism is vital in business. This is as shown in the case where Vivek Khuller thought of the idea of combining SFX and the Ticketmaster (Wasserman, 1). One of the major points to understand with relation to entrepreneurship is the manner in which the market is developed and divided. In the contemporary business environment, this is referred to as market segmentation. Market segmentation refers to the manner in which a company focuses on a large group of people who are the target market and then figuring out the ones with similar needs and operating with each group differently. After carrying out market segmentation, different approaches are then incorporated to ensure that all the different needs of the various individuals are met. After the entrepreneur establishes in the market, it is vital to ensure that he increases the taskforce that he has. With the increase in the task force, the consequent of this is that the market will extend and every segment gets a manager. This in the case is after Khuller had joined forces with other 5 individuals and consequently had to share the market and profits with them (Wasserman, 9). Another point to consider is concerning the full life cycle in business. This involves carrying out of various steps that assist in determining the condition of the commodity. The first step normally involves the identification of the manners through which customers get to know the commodity. There is then the collection of information about how the consumers use the commodity. Moreover, there is the determination of the expected need of

Briefing Paper on Cadbury Schweppes (Business Environment) BTEC Higher Essay

Briefing Paper on Cadbury Schweppes (Business Environment) BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business - Essay Example P1. The purpose  of Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury Schweppes seeks to: increase share prices; meet customer by addressing their demands and awarding them the best quality and prices; challenge rival companies by keeping up with their prices; and, make more profit. In order to meet these objectives, Cadbury Schweppes seeks to develop a good reputation by an aggressive advertising heavily, increase sales and market share by always seeking new ideas in its product and packaging. The core purpose of Cadbury Schweppes rests in â€Å"working together to generate brands that people love.† Cadbury Schweppes seeks to be judged as a company that is among the best within the business world for being successful, significant, and admired. One of the Cadbury Schweppes goals relates corporate social responsibility, which centres on high reputation as a great company to work for and one that is socially responsible to consumers and communities across the globe (Nelson College London 2013,p. 2). P 2. Employees and customers satisfaction Cadbury Schweppes maintain regular and open discussions with all its stakeholders and utilizes diverse ways to communicate with the diverse stakeholder groups. Consumers have an opportunity to contact the company through various means on a daily basis; moreover, Cadbury Schweppes undertakes market research to track the changing consumer trends and utilize surveys and market research panels to determine what consumers think. Cadbury Schweppes also has ongoing discussions with its customers in which wholesalers and retailers provide the vital link to consumers. Cadbury Schweppes works with customers to deliver highly appealing products of high-quality (Blowfield and Murray 2011, p. 51). The company appraises its suppliers based on a set of standards including ethical labour practices and environmental protection before doing business with them, and stipulates their principles and standards to be maintained during the relationship. Cadbury Schw eppes has a tradition of fostering a direct, two-way involvement and communication with employees. Managers regularly hold individual and team meetings to inform colleagues regarding the business and hear about their views. Cadbury Schweppes also score highly in its corporate social responsibility. In 2011, Cadbury Schweppes ranked in the top ten of the FTSE 100 in terms of community investment as it seeks fresh and better ways of building stronger communities. Some of the benefits include motivating employees by utilizing company resources to support causes that they care about, and building loyalty among who are proud to work for the company that is socially responsible and a good neighbour. The community engagement has also helped the company to develop a better understanding among employees of the diverse nature of society, and improve team working via employee participation in community activities. The extent to which Cadbury has met its objectives concerning customers and empl oyees Cadbury Schweppes’ central objective centres on â€Å"working together to create brands that people love† and some of the most popular brands include Cadbury Dairy Milk, Flake, Roses, Trebor mints, Bassett’s range, and Maynards range including Wine Gums and sours. Cadbury Schweppes is governed by five goals with regard to balancing stakeholders and their interests: (1) delivering superior shareholder performance; (2) profitably and significantly