Compare and Contrast: Palace of Fine Arts and University of Virginia

Compare and Contrast: Palace of Fine Arts and University of Virginia This essay paper is a comparative analysis of two architectural constructions, the Palace of Fine Arts and the University of Virginia. The designer behind the building of the University is Thomas Jefferson. In constructing the building, Thomas Jefferson used bricks extensively, as for the periodic manner, he used Neo-Classical. On the other manus, the architectural design of the Palace was done by Bernard Maybeck. The manner that Maybeck used in building the edifice is known as Beaux-Arts. As for the stuffs, the old building was built utilizing steel constructions and plaster as it was meant to be impermanent. The edifices portion an architectural subject in that they are both inspired by Roman architecture. The aim of this research is hence to larn how two different manners interpret from the same beginning of influence. Ocular Analysis Structure One The construction of the Palace is erected on a site that has a little semisynthetic laguna. The castle has a broad arbor that measures 340 m ( 1,100 foot ) . The formation of the arbor is an arch and it has a broad paseo that is framed by Corinthian columns placed in rows. In the center of the arbor is a rotunda that is centrally placed by the laguna ( Yu n.p ) . The purpose of the laguna was to those found in classical Europe. The unreal H2O organic structure was supposed to move as a brooding surface to mirror the brilliant construction and make a bird's-eye position that would be appreciated from a distance. In constructing the Palace of Fine Arts, Maybeck’s purpose was to make the visual aspect of Roman ruins in decay. Structure Two The University’s architectural construction is a brilliant edifice that resembles the neoclassical temples of Europe. The building features a Pantheon that measures two-thirds of the graduated table ( Kostof 625 ) . The pantheon is set at the caput of a lifting promenade with interrelated columnar marquees on the wings. In its planning, the library was housed by the Rotunda while the marquees were the life quarters for lectors every bit good as talk suites. Each marquee offers an separately alone representation of the classical Roman order design ( Kostof 625 ) . Stylistic Analysis Structure One The architectural manner that the Palace was built with is an look of the architectural neoclassical manner that was taught in Paris at theEcole diethylstilbestrols Beaux-Arts. Until the twelvemonth 1968, the direction manner of Beaux-Arts went on without any major breaks ( Middleton 10 ) . In the period between the old ages 1880 and 1920, the architecture in the United States was to a great extent influenced by the architectural manner of Beaux-Arts. The period between 1860 and 1914 saw the gravity of European designers who were non-French towards the academic centres of their natural states alternatively of being fixated on Paris ( Klein, Fogle, and Wolcott 38 ) . The mainstream forms of the Imperial Roman architecture were extremely emphasized by the preparation used for Beaux-Arts. These forms ranged from the period of the first emperor Augustus to those of the Severan dynasty, Italian Renaissance every bit good as Italian and Gallic Baroque. However, the preparation was applicab le on a wider series of theoretical accounts. Architects from America who learned the manner of Beaux-Arts were more inclined towards the Greek theoretical accounts. This was because of the 19Thursdaycentury American Greek Revival which gave the theoretical accounts historical prominence locally. The Beaux-Arts manner was dependent upon sculptural ornaments that were cautiously modern. It employed the usage of Italian and Gallic Baroque every bit good as Rococo designs assorted with pragmatism and impressionistic coating. Even though there was an attack of a renew spirit embodied in the manner of Beaux-Arts as opposed to a set of motives, the architectural manner included chief features such as: a level roof, symmetricalness, arched Windowss, elusive polychromy, arched pedimented doors, rusticated base with a raised first narrative and statuaries, mosaics, wall paintings, sculptures every bit good as other graphics combined in a subject that portrays the building’s individuality ( Klein, Fogle, and Wolcott 38 ) . The style’s classical architectural inside informations include acroteria, cartouches, Garlands, pilasters, bannisters, every bit good as an outstanding show of clasps with rich inside informations, back uping consoles and brackets ( Klein, Fogle, and W olcott 38 ) . There has been controversy every bit far as the Palace in relation to the Beaux-Art manner is concerned. The Palace was loved by the people but non given acknowledgment by the designers. Maybeck’s preparation was in conformity with the Gallic academic system but it is argued that his work is non suiting of the American Beaux-Arts architect’s ideals. This is because he restrained from adding design elements from his old plants. The Palace therefore was non able to be compared to any originals of European architecture ( Yu n.p ) . However, the Palace still bears features of the Beaux-Arts manner from its rusticated base, arches every bit good as its classical architectural inside informations like sculptures, pilasters and wall paintings. Structure Two The University’s architectural manner is defined by Neo-classical architecture. The manner was born of the mid 1800s neoclassical motion ( Hopkins 199 ) . The manner came approximately both as an branch of some Late Baroque features every bit good as a response against the Rococo manner that featured realistic adornment. The signifier of the architectural manner lies in the accent of the wall as opposed to chiaroscuro. It besides sustains separate individualities to each single portion ( Hopkins 199 ) . This architectural manner is picturesque and redolent and its frame is in line with the Romantic emotional response. Rationally the sense of neo-classism was to return to renaissance classism, Greek and Roman humanistic disciplines which were perceived as pure. The neoclassical architectural manner is characterized by a expansive portico with a porch built in full tallness. To add on, the portico’s roof is supported by full classical columns that are normally fluted with capitals that are flowery Corinthian or Ionic ( Hopkins 199 ) . The manner is besides symmetrical in footings of balance ; it has a centralized entry with a balanced agreement of Windowss on its wings. The neoclassical manner characteristics subtypes that are varied in roofing manner of the portico, breadth every bit good as tallness. Portico with level and curving roofs are seldom seen. Other specifying characteristics of the manner include elegant clean lines, orderly visual aspect and monolithic edifice size. The chief signifier that the neoclassical manner is based upon is the temple ( Hopkins 199 ) . The temple represented the purest signifier of classical architecture and this was an ideal construct of the manner. In planing the construction of the university, Jefferson blended assorted architectural manners. The edifice evokes the rules of European architecture of the Gallic, Grecian and Italian influence and is blended with the Chinese touch as good ( Jefferson and The Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . The blend of architectural influences is finally cast in edifice stuffs from America and showcased in an academic community. In an attempt to intermix the classicist manner even further, Jefferson used different stuffs from different countries. For case, the 3rd Pavilion was constructed with columns made from Italy and transported under the pretense of educational stuffs to the site, whereas the columns on the first marquee were made in Charlottesville ( Howard and Straus 189 ) . Jefferson pieced together the European architectural manners on the construction and blended them to his ain liking in an attempt to do it hold a alone American visual aspect ( Jefferson and The Politicss of Architect ure n.p ) . The characteristics of the university that are characterized with the neoclassical architectural manner are chiefly the columns, the building’s portico, and particularly the temple like design of the construction which is portion of the manners ideal. Cultural ( Historical ) Context Structure One The Palace of Fine Arts was built as one of the brilliant buildings of San Francisco’s Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915 ( Kale n.p ) . It was located towards the center of the expansive building of the expounding and it stood out as the most inspiring construction at the carnival. The Fair was in award of the Pacific Ocean’s find every bit good as the Panama Canal’s completion ( Maybeck and Elder 2 ) . There was besides an added intent to the Fair which was in jubilation of its ain rejoinder after the annihilating fire and temblor of 1906 ( The Palace of Fine Arts n.p ) . Once the site had been chosen and the basis had been developed, the Palace was the last construction to be erected. In representation of its civilization, the construction of the Palace was built to demo magnificence. This was done by puting the arch’s centre behind the rotunda to avoid their homocentric alliance in rings. Due to that, a wider arch was able to be built on t he same infinite ( Yu n.p ) . In its programs were a colonnade and a rotunda which amazed the commissioners and fulfilled Maybeck’s dream. The exhibition hall of the castle was built to house the graphicss of life creative person ( Maybeck and Elder 3 ) . Another component that shows significance to the civilization and events associated with the castle is its visual aspect. The castle looks like ruins of classical antiquities. Bing hailed as the exposition’s most reliable design, Maybeck added the elements of Roman and Greek antiquity and besides incorporated his ain creativeness to do the edifice unique ( Maybeck and Elder 5 ) . His thought was influenced by the construction was from Piranesi scratching of Roman ruin ( Yu n.p ) . His ideas were that there was a feeling of unhappiness to the edifice personalized by the sense that there is a soothing influence to beauty ( Yu n.p ) . The initial building of the castle was impermanent and non intended to last after the Fair was concluded chiefly because it was built on valuable land ( Maybeck and Elder 2 ) . With that impression in head, it was simply constructed with plaster which was supported by constructions of steel ( Yu n.p ) . The castle was nevertheless non brought down as a consequence of its influence on the people. In a saving of the civilization and influence of the castle, the destruction and rebuilding was set in gesture in 1964 ( The Palace of Fine Arts n.p ) . The columns and the rotunda were brought down and the edifice was rebuilt on a lasting footing with a steel construction merely as the initial building. The Reconstruction of the palace’s edifices was done utilizing lasting light weight concrete that was poured into topographic point. For the rotunda’s dome, steel I-beams were hoisted into topographic point ( The Palace of Fine Arts n.p ) . The sculptures and all the ornament we re freshly constructed by pouring concrete onto pre-casts of the figures so as to guarantee that the eventual consequence matched the original theoretical accounts. Structure Two Unlike the Palace of Fine Arts, the University of Virginia’s construction was non portion of a monolithic undertaking but instead a undertaking on its ain. The edifice hails as the country’s foremost province university ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . The building of the university edifice was non merely a general design but a design drawn by an architect full of the belief that the bosom of the American class lied within architecture. He considered a edifice as more than merely a wall construction but a symbol for the American political orientation ( Howard and Straus 187 ) . Jefferson besides perceived building as a procedure that was equal to making a state. Harmonizing to him, any American architecture was supposed to exemplify the split of cultural and political ties with Europe ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . He therefore went forth to put the criterions of the country’s architecture aesthetically every bit good a s politically. Jefferson hence went on to transfuse his educational and cultural ideals into the design and building of the University’s edifice. In a representation of the European culture’s influence, the visual aspect of the edifice is rather classical as a consequence of Jefferson’s influence from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . The similitude of the Basilica and the rotunda lies in their attack. The manner that leads to the Rotunda goes down towards a shaded transition lined with columns that leads to the chief focal point of the construction. Jefferson substituted the great rock Piazza with the broad natural infinite of the lawn ( Howard and Straus 189 ) . Alternatively of a position of the Italian metropolis of Rome, the university’s visitants are given a natural impressiveness of the Blue Ridge Mountains which can be viewed to the South ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . The university uses classical vocabulary to stand for America as the heir of European architecture manner. The aggregations of manners that are incorporated on the Lawn of the university are symbolic of the New World Order by Jefferson in both an architectural and rational sense ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . In planing the edifice, the European imposts have been revised, borrowed, integrated and so redone in an American manner in footings of stuffs, gustatory sensations and demands ( Howard and Straus 189 ) . The conundrums within the architecture do non halt with the random aggregation of manners but goes beyond. It really extends onto the Lawn’s layout. Jefferson’s version of classical manners incorporates the mixture of architecture of the Italian Villa, together with Doric columns and Corinthian pediments every bit good as Chinese Latticework and Gallic curves ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . He represented them in painte d wood and the ruddy brick of Virginia and eventually put them across the Lawn’s unfastened public infinite in contrast with each other. The Lawn’s physical infinite is therefore transformed into a vision of rational Inquisition and wonder ( Howard and Straus 189 ) . In constructing the university, Jefferson speaks through classical architecture and thoughts. Each of the structure’s marquees is in ocular communicating with the other ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . This consequence presents the bookmans and pupils on the Lawn with a argument from a structural every bit good as ideological position that culminates from the designer every bit good as the architecture. Another point that is portrayed by the cultural influence of the university’s construction is apparent from the Rotunda which is symbolic of power. Unlike the Basilica, Jefferson’s version is a secular cathedral which was built in testimonial to knowledge and power with a new universe order in head. The designs done by Jefferson are bordered on the simple facets of the neoclassic manner as opposed to the elaborate decorations of the cathedral by Bramante or the swerving colonnades by Michelangelo ( Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture n.p ) . The Rotunda is non symbolic to the ruins of the Roman Empire but instead accentuates the wonder of nature touching to the synchronism adult male and nature that is at manus in the university’s architectural stuff and its pure geometrical design ( Howard and Straus 190 ) . Decision The two constructions of the castle and the university are rather alone and do non associate in several facets. The two edifices are made by different designers, have different period manners and are varied in footings of their historical events as good. However, despite all these major differences, their manners are influenced from the same beginning which is the classical Roman architecture. The differences are marked by the single thoughts and constructs of the designers designs and their intent of intermixing them with the civilization and historical events during their times of building. However, beyond the differences are cardinal elements that are synonymous with the classical Roman architecture such as the classical architectural inside informations like the pilasters, sculptures and wall paintings on the castle and the Rotunda, columns and the temple like designs of the university. Conclusively even though the constructions are variously alone, these noteworthy elements from the classical Roman architecture are declarative of the inspiration behind the edifice of the constructions and how they are able to attest otherwise. Plants Cited Hopkins, George.Making Your Architectural Manner. Pelican Publishing, 2010. Howard, Hugh, and Roger Straus.Thomas Jefferson, Architect: The Built Legacy of Our Third President. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2003. Print. â€Å"Jefferson and the Politicss of Architecture† . Virginia. 2015. Available at: & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/jeff/jeffarch.html & A ; gt ; Kale, Shelly. â€Å"Overview: What Was the PPIE† . PPIE 100. 2015. Available at: & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ppie100.org/history/ & A ; gt ; Maybeck, Bernard R, and Paul Elder.Palace of Fine Arts and Lagoon: Panama-pacific International Exposition, 1915. San Francisco: P. Elder and Co, 1915. Print. Middleton, Robin.The Beaux-Arts: And Nineteenth-Century French Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1982. Print. Klein, Marilyn W, David P. Fogle, and Wolcott B. Etienne.Hints to American Architecture. Washington, District of columbia: Starrhill Press, 1986. Print. Kostof, Spiro.A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Print. â€Å"The Palace of Fine Humanistic disciplines† . Exploratorium. 1998. Available at: & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.exploratorium.edu/history/palace/index.html & A ; gt ; Yu, James. â€Å"Palace of Fine Humanistic disciplines† . UMD. 2015. Available at: & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //digital.lib.umd.edu/worldsfairs/record? pid=umd:1006 & A ; gt ;

Dancing in the Night

It was a long, frigid night. The air was crisp and there was fog building up on the windows, as she sat and waited in the car for the night to end and daybreak to arrive. She had been fighting with her boyfriend of several years. As always, the fight ended with a loud WHACK†¦ Her face red with shame and damp with tears she shed. She did not know why she shed them- more for the pain or for the embarrassment. She sat in the car, her cries for pain dancing in the cold air, her breath becoming shorter on the intake. She wanted to break free. She wanted to break the chains over this abuse! Oh how she wanted to drive, drive anywhere and start her life over again. But again, as always, she had an excuse. She had reasoning for this crazy life, this notion of love. Thoughts swirling in her head. And then her breathing would dance in the frigid air once again. It was two o'clock in the morning. She had little clothing on to keep her warm. The only protection from the cold, besides the thin sheath of a jacket on her arms and an old scarf, was the array of goose pimples. She cupped her icy hands over her mouth and withdrew a hearty, deep breath. That still was not enough. She ran the scenario through her mind, trying to figure out where she went wrong, where she wronged the man whom she loved so dearly. All she could think of was how the thrashing of their bodies collided together, the pain she felt everytime he wanted to. She would tell him to stop, but he would stop at nothing. He always got what he wanted. These thoughts running through her mind were making her cry uncontrollably. She brought her hands to her face, gently cupping her rosy, tear stricken face. Pondering once again about her life, she could not understand one thing. She could not understand how this man, the man whom she has been with for so long, could be such an ass at times. He would man handle her, like she was one of the guys, when in reality she was frail, weak, a porcelain doll. He treated her in such a way that a savage young boy would do to a quaint dollhouse with glass dolls inside. She wiped a tear from her frozen left cheek. Rubbing her nose with the sleeve of the sheath, she gently blew. All of this crying left her nose terribly stuffed up, like traffic on a freeway during rush hour. He had broad shoulders with bulging veins, high cheekbones, a strong trunk, chiseled legs. Why would he force her? Why would he strike her? She could not think. She was almost frozen. Shaking once again from the cold night, she decided to try and get the heater to go on in her old Oldsmobile. Turning the key clockwise, pumping the break†¦ A load croak and moan spoke from within the car. Her luck- the car was dead. She knew nothing about cars. She was miles from home and from civilization. Her life was very complicated. This man spoke words of poetry about getting married and starting a family. Why would he strike her? He did not mean to though. He always bought her tulips after their fights. Pink and red ones. She loved the tulips he bought. They brought her back to her childhood. Her father was the same way. That is why she loved him so much. They are so much alike. She always fixed the same drink when they came home from a long day- Jack on the rocks. Then they would ask her to sit on their knee. Sometimes she would. When she would not, they would grab her pencil- like arm and force her down on their knee. They would never ask though. They would never ask if they could. They would just throw her frail body on the bed and pin her down. She would fight back, but after exuding so much energy, she would give in. And then the pain would begin. She never liked it. She never wanted her daddy to do this, her boyfriend to use that. After it was all over, she would sit and cry in the bathroom, blood oozing from her. Thinking about this made her flush once again and the heavens flowed from her angelic eyes. Six o'clock. Almost time for the rooster to crow. She made her way from the broken car to the side of the road. She saw some truckers pass by this secluded road during the night. She wondered if any of them had heat. What she would do for warmth right about now†¦ Then she spotted it- a large tractor-trailer coming her way. She withdrew her chaffed thumb from her pocket, shaking violently from the rough night of tears and lack of warmth. She still managed to shake her hip and open one more button on her jacket. She slightly exposed her sequin top from work the day before. She hid her tips in the hole of the right sleeve. All she needed was warmth and a place to lay her head. The tractor-trailer slowly grooved its way to a stop, like a train stopping on the tracks. The window disappeared into the door and the rough smile of this man was comforting to her. She opened up one more button and managed to say amidst the shaking, â€Å"Could ya give me a ride to the motel a few miles up? I seem to be havin' some car trouble. In return, I could give you some company- and anything else you might need, want, hafta have†¦Ã¢â‚¬  A half smile crept on her face. The driver had a sly smirk, as provocative thoughts ran through his head. He agreed to give her the ride. She agreed to his wishes. After all, that is how she met her boyfriend nearly three years earlier, running away from her daddy.

Should You Submit Your SAT/ACT Scores?

College applications are rarely straightforward, and as the process evolves over time, aspects that used to be fairly standard are becoming less so. This is especially true of standardized tests. While some colleges still place a great deal of weight on SAT or ACT scores, sometimes even using them as an initial screening tool, other colleges no longer require them at all. This leaves some college applicants wondering when and if they should submit their SAT or ACT scores. In this post, we’ll discuss how to decide when to submit your scores and when to withhold them. If you’re planning to apply to college this season, don’t send those score reports without reading this post first. Testing policies are different at each school. Some colleges require that you submit every score from every test you’ve taken. Some want to see only your highest section scores. Other colleges want to see only your highest composite score. It can all get a little confusing when you’re trying to apply to seven or eight different schools. Luckily, checking the score policy at each college is usually fairly straightforward. For one, when you log onto the CollegeBoard’s Score Report page and begin to select the schools you’d like to send your scores to, the form will automatically suggest which scores to send based on that specific school’s testing policy. This is a great tool, but it’s no substitute for doing your own research. The admissions page for each college generally lists its testing policy in an obvious place. If you can’t find it, check the FAQ page or contact the office of admissions directly. Â   The bottom line is that you need to understand the specific testing policy at every school you apply to in order to make an informed decision. Before you send any score reports, research the testing policy at each school on your list and come up with a score report plan for each school individually. Our students see an average increase of 250 points on their SAT scores. At , we recommend choosing only one standardized test and sticking with it. This means that if you choose the ACT, you should focus exclusively on the ACT, and the same vice versa if you choose the SAT. We know, though, that sometimes students choose to take both tests. In this case, you might have a trickier time deciding which score to submit, or wondering if you should submit them both. Â   You should only submit both scores if both are exceptionally impressive. Submitting both scores still won’t necessarily set you apart from someone who submits only one equally as impressive score, but at least it can’t hurt. If you’re not sure how impressive your scores are, you should look up how they compare to the test scores of last year’s admitted students. You can generally find this information through a simple web query. Your scores are considered impressive if they place comfortably above the 75th percentile of admitted students. Â   If your scores on the ACT and SAT are not equally impressive, do not submit both. Instead, only submit the scores that place you higher amongst other admitted students. Again, use the information available from a web query to see how last year’s admitted students faired. Then, select the scores that place you closer to the top. For example, if your SAT scores place you at the 75th percentile of admitted students, but your ACT scores place you at the 50th percentile, stick with your SAT scores. Even though your ACT scores are comfortably within the acceptable range, they aren’t as impressive as your SAT scores, and submitting them could take away from the good impression left by your SATs. Test optional schools are one of the scenarios that elicit the most questions about submitting test scores. While testing policies used to be fairly black and white, test optional schools definitely leave a gray area. In general, when a college application lists smoothing as optional, you should considered it required unless it will ultimately be a big strike against you. Basically, this means that you should still submit your best SAT or ACT score to a test optional school, unless it is poor enough to really count against you. You can determine this by checking the scores of admitted students from last year. If your score places you below the 25th percentile, think twice about submitting it. It might be best to discuss your options with your guidance counselor or eliciting advice from ’s Applications Guidance service. Here, you will be paired with a personal admissions specialist from a top a college who can provide step-by-step guidance through the entire application process, including selecting which, if any, scores to submit. To learn more about test optional schools, check out our post What Test-Optional Means for College Admissions . Of course, your best offense is always a good defense, so we suggest avoiding any questions about submitting test scores by maximizing your SAT or ACT performance from the get go. If you achieve a score you’re proud to submit, you won’t have to worry about it. For advice about preparing for standardized tests, check out these important posts: For more help preparing for your standardized tests, consider the benefits of ’s full service, customized SAT Tutoring Program , where the brightest and most qualified tutors in the industry guide students to an average score increase of 140 points.

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Strategic Compensation - Assignment Example Person-focused pay is advantageous since it controls costs and motivates employees’ productivity. Employees should be rewarded according to their productivity and not according to amount of their salaries. The factors that an employee need to have in order to be entitled for rewards are work output quality, work output quantity, work safety records, work attendance, and monthly sales. The company in the case study need to implement the following four types of employees’ incentive plans. Management rewards plan that awards managers when they exceed or meet the sales, production, or profit objectives. Piecework plans that reward employees for every unity produced. Behavioral incentive plan that award employees for accomplishing specific behavior such as safety records and good attendance. Person-focused pay plans will be of broad significant not only to the employees but also towards the organization’s productions.This is because the plans will motivate employees’ productivity as well as controlling costs that the company incurs (Gregory, 2009). Therefore, the management should not use the roles of Jane and the shift leader to determine whether they should be entitled for overtime but factors such as work output quality, work output quantity, work safety records, work attendance, and monthly sales. Job evaluation is defined as an objective and systematic process that organizations use to compared all jobs performed by employees to determine the worth or value of each job category. The focus of job evaluation is to evaluate the job and not the workers who undertake the job (Robinson, Wahlstrom & Mecham, 2004). The criteria used for job evaluation include factors like skills needed, education qualification, job responsibilities and working conditions. Moreover, there are four main methods that managers use to evaluate jobs in their organizations. Job ranking-This method of job evaluation involves ranking all jobs done in an organization in an order of

Graffiti Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Graffiti - Essay Example Many consider graffiti as an art while others classify it as vandalism or degradation of environment. Graffiti is a broad term and encompasses all inscriptions or drawings produced hastily by using spray cans on a wall or other surface. Graffiti is also defined as a composition of pictures or words sprayed on a wall. The word graffiti is derived from an Italian word â€Å"groffitia† meaning â€Å"scribbling† or â€Å"inscriptions made on wax tablets using a stylus†. Graffiti has been used since prehistoric times to preserve or record signifying an individual’s existence by scribbling or scratching on an enduring medium. A study of history of graffiti reveals that from Neolithic period onwards, it was a common practice for nomads to leave marks in the form of scratches or inscriptions on rocks, signifying survival and success. During the Age of Enlightenment, graffiti was used by French prisoners to express their thoughts on the imminent rebellion. Moreover , during the golden age of French literature, many famous French authors mentioned graffiti in their work. Brassai, a French photographer, produced a famous photograph essay on graffiti in 1933. Graffiti was used as a weapon by the Nazis during the Second World War. Throughout the War, Nazis scribbled hate filled words and phrases against the enemies of the Third Reich on the walls of urban buildings. Graffiti was extensively used by students and labors throughout Europe during the unrest of 1960s and 1970s. (PEREIRA, S. 2005). Graffiti is of many types. Some of the important ones are as follows: i. Gang graffiti: The graffiti used by gangs to mark their territories and to convey threats to their opponents or trespassers. ii. Tagger graffiti: This type of graffiti is composed of either high volume simple hits or highly complicated art which is inscribed on streets. iii. Conventional graffiti: Conventional graffiti is almost always associated with â€Å"youthful experience† an d is mostly isolated. In addition, conventional graffiti is often spontaneous and therefore it is not associated with other crimes and disorders. iv. Ideological graffiti: Ideological graffiti is also known as hate or political graffiti and serves as a means of conveying political, racial, religious or ethnic messages. Factors associated with Graffiti: Many individuals associate the presence of graffiti with government’s failure to ensure safety of citizens and punish lawbreakers. Excruciating amounts of money are utilized by the government to remove graffiti each year. In the United States of America, approximately $12 billion are spent each year to clear graffiti. The problem of graffiti is not an isolated one and is therefore associated with other environmental crimes and disorders. (HAGAN, F. E. 2008). In most cases the following disorders are often associated with graffiti: i. Public disorders: As stated earlier, Graffiti is not an isolated problem, it is rather a proble m associated with various other crimes and disorders. One such disorder is public disorder which includes loitering, littering and urination in public areas. ii. Shoplifting: Shoplifting of materials used in graffiti is a common crime in areas where graffiti is widespread. iii. Gang violence: Gangs commonly use gang graffiti to convey threats of violence in order to mark their territories and threaten citizens. iv. Property destruction: Graffiti is often related to the destruction of property such as broken windows and slashed train and bus seats. (HAGAN, F. E. 2008). Envirocrime and Graffiti: Envirocrime is a broad term and encompasses a wide variety of disorders such as littering, fly posting, fly tipping and graffiti. Envirocrimes affects the whole community and renders the attractiveness of local environment. The effects of envirocrimes on a community are devastating and such crimes not only reduce the quality of life but also lower tourist attraction. Graffiti is applied and st reets are littered by a small number of individuals but such activities affect all the

The Role of Time Management Techniques in Avoiding Project Delays Dissertation

The Role of Time Management Techniques in Avoiding Project Delays - Dissertation Example Structured, systematic ways of managing the project and its risks are also imperative. Moreover, it is encouraging to find that the respondents perceive their senior management favourably, with senior management leadership and communication not being singled out as a cause of project delay. The study has likewise found that the outcomes of project delays include the work disturbance; cost variances; and operational losses. Disagreement is also apparent. However, these do not develop so gravely as to merit the termination of the contract or the filing of a legal case. The present study likewise found that the timely clarification of project objectives; solicitation of top management support; manpower selection; clarification of project restrictions; definition / identification of activity; spelling out the sequence of activity; and building a timetable of activity were all adequately practised by the construction and engineering players in Saudi Arabia. There is a need to further impr ove the timeliness with which the following facets of project management are carried out within their specific context: client consultation; manpower training; solicitation of the dedication of the project team; evaluation of the efficiency of client and contractor; risk and liability evaluations; clarification of end-users requirements; resource approximation; schedule development; schedule control; and overall impact vs. actual practise of time management technique

Monetary Policy (Finance) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Monetary Policy (Finance) - Essay Example The Fed comes out with the monetary policy in order to ensure a certain key objectives like, delivering price stability with a low inflation level coupled with an objective to support the Government's economic objectives of growth and employment. To have a look on how the Fed monitors the price related regulations to keep a check on inflation, we can consider a small example of the regulation on house and property prices. To take any decisions related to interest rates keeping in mind the ongoing inflation rate, the Fed must be thorough with the booming property prices and must take steps to ensure that the prices are not artificial. Government intervenes through its central bank to regulate the prices of many commodities, similarly it also regulates the prices of houses like any other important commodity. Fed has the responsibility to keep a check on asset prices including the prices of houses. There can be a number of reasons why the prices of houses may shoot up, like the simple rule of demand and supply has a definite impact. (Demand and Supply for Housing). Other reasons behind a change in property prices can be Mortgages. A mortgage is the money borrowed to buy a house, as for most people buying a house is not easy. Over the years mortgage market has picked up greatly and the current scenario is totally different from the one that existed in the beginning. (The UK Housing Market - Factors Influencing the Housing Market: Mortgages) The Fed has a monetary policy and uses the same to regulate mechanism of the economy and deal with such erratic swings in the prices of property. Like when it decides to change the interest rate, the government is trying to check the overall expenditure of the economy. A change in interest rates is mostly used to contain inflation, which is the result of lavish expenditure by the country. The Fed sets a fixed interest rate at which it lends money to financial institutions and depending on this interest rate, individual banks and other financial institutions set up their own interest rates, which apply to the whole economy. This interest rate also regulated the savings in an economy, which eventually results in capital formation and reinvestment. It is note that when interest rates are high, people prefer to invest money in government deposits that are less risky in nature than the stock markets and similarly high interest rates boost up the savings. Lower interest rates make asset a nd real estate prices go up, as people start ignoring conventional saving instruments and make use of the high growth ventures like shares and houses, which pushes up their prices. Interest rate change also affects exchange rates, as an increase in the interest rate in US will yield better returns to the investors compared to their overseas ventures. This phenomenon usually makes US dollar assets attractive, which pushes up the value of the currency vis a vis other currencies, and a stronger US dollar would mean less money would be shed on imports and less quantity of exports will take place as there will a lesser demand for products made in US because of the currency being strong. It is interesting to have a look at the process of how the bank sets interest rates. The primary step in this direction starts with the estimates of the money flow that

Environment, More Than Genetics, Shapes Immune System Coursework

Environment, More Than Genetics, Shapes Immune System - Coursework Example It was apparent that some people react strongly to vaccines than others, which causes the production of extra antibodies (Conover, n.p). This explains the variations experienced in the genetic setup of individuals, including identical twins. The article provided additional insights into this week’s reading because it explained the circumstances that influence variability in responses to vaccines. This is because it contains experimental findings that were attained by professional immunologists. The research presented in this article demonstrates a significant advancement in the field because it highlights the various aspects that cause bodies to react separately to antibody production. This is a further advancement in the field to expose more elements that influence reactions to vaccines. The one concern that came to mind after reading the article is how identical twins can record different variations, yet their genetic structure is similar. It does not differentiate from the fraternal twins who can possess varying genetic compositions.

Government Spying Essay Example for Free

Government Spying Essay Austin Bryan Period-1 http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2006/intell-060101-voa01.htm In some instances, governments believe that it is okay to spy on their citizens in order to preserve their freedom. I personally find this concept to be absurd. Living in a country that’s history is founded upon freedom of its citizens, and escaping oppression of tyrant governments, leaves me very skeptical on this concept. I believe that if the government is spying on its citizens it is actually taking away their freedom rather than preserving it. Living in an era of increasing technology has made it much easier for a government to spy on its citizens. Because of this, it has become a problem in many places around the world. Think about back in elementary school when you had pen pals from other countries. How would you feel if the government was able to intrude on your personal life just because you made contact abroad? For us in America, a government spying on its citizens sounds pretty crazy right? In 2006 president Bush did just that by enabling a â€Å"Government Phone Tap†. President Bush thought in order to preserve citizen’s freedoms that is was justified to tap into people’s phones and emails. The only people that were supposed to be the recipients of phone tapings where those who were making calls abroad, particularly to suspected al-Qaida connections. Not only is this a complete violation of peoples constitutional rights and privacy, but Bush also neglected the need for a warrant in this instance. To this day many immigrants from other countries come to America seeking asylum from oppressive governments. America is supposed to be a safe haven where people’s rights and privacy are protected under the constitution. Acts of government espionage upon its own citizens like this are completely unacceptable. I believe that the only way from a government to protect its citizen’s freedom is to respect everyone’s freedom regardless of circumstances.

African-Americans Fighting for Equality Essay Example for Free

African-Americans Fighting for Equality Essay African-Americans have been fighting for equality and freedom every since they were taken from Africa as slaves. They were stolen from their families and separated only to be servants to others as they were belittled, beaten, put down and treated as nothing. Many things have changed over the centuries, but African-Americans still fight everyday for different types of acknowledgements and equality. They have fought hard over the centuries to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights. Through the Civil Rights Movement African Americans played important roles American history with courage, strength, and struggling to live equal in America. We have learned about important people and events throughout history, but the fight against discrimination, segregation and isolation have not always been focused on. This paper will highlight how some of the well known and unknown people contributed towards the Civil Rights Movement, in which continues to be fought in present time. â€Å"Racial segregation was a system derived from the efforts of white Americans to keep African Americans in a subordinate status by denying them equal access to public facilities and ensuring that blacks lived apart from whites† (Lawson, 2009). Slaves lived in quarters far away from the master houses on the plantations, the only ones that lived in the house were the special chosen. â€Å"By the time the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) that African Americans were not U. S. citizens, northern whites had excluded blacks from seats on public transportation and barred their entry, except as servants, from most hotels and restaurants. When allowed into auditoriums and theaters, blacks occupied separate sections; they also attended segregated schools. Most churches, too, were segregated. † (Lawson, 2009). Rosa Parks was famous for her courage to stand for her right to sit where ever she wanted on a bus, but she was not the first or only one to make this choice. There was a fifteen year old girl that was arrested nine months earlier, but she was not attributed to the act because of her status of being a foul mouth tomboy and getting pregnant right after the incident (Young, 2000). Also when Rosa Parks was approached by the bus driver to move there were other African- American people sitting next to her, but because she spoke up first history gives her credit and was noticed by Dr. Martin Luther King. It needs to be known that many people were courageous in their act to fight for equal rights. Basically Parks was at the right place at the right time, â€Å"Parks arrest sparked a chain reaction that started the bus boycott that launched the civil rights movement that transformed the apartheid of Americas southern states from a local idiosyncrasy to an international scandal. It was her individual courage that triggered the collective display of defiance that turned a previously unknown 26-year-old preacher, Martin Luther King, into a household name† (Younge, 2000). Dr. Martin Luther King name goes down in history as the most well known activists through the years. He was known as a non violent activist, in which he adapted the philosophy from Gandhi, which was respected not only by the black race but also by all other races. King’s speech â€Å"I Have a Dream† became what African-American’s live by for centuries to come. Also there was the, â€Å"We Shall Overcome† speech on August 23, 1963. King’s words at the capital that day were a defining moment of the Civil Rights movement† (Bowles, 2011). King fought for civil rights until the day he was killed. There was a protest at Fisk University in Nashville in which three students was disgusted at the fact blacks could not sit at the lunch counters to eat. C. T. Vivian, Diane Nash and Bernard Lafayette protested with others in Nashville on April 19, 1960. â€Å"Nash confronted Mayor Ben West. In what she calls a divine inspiration, she asked the mayor to end racial segregation. He appealed to all not to discriminate. She asked him if he meant that to include lunch counters. He sidestepped. She said, Mayor, do you recommend that the lunch counters be desegregated? West said, Yes, and the battle was won. Within days, integration began† (Weier, 2001). While civil rights activists were fighting on the home front, African American men and women honorably performed their duties in two world wars. They bravely entered a military that was at odds about their presence and the appropriate roles for blacks. While more than 400,000 African American soldiers were going through basic training, receiving their assignments or facing the enemys bullets in World War I, riots against black citizens were escalating in the United States. By the time the Second World War ended, over one million black forces returned home to the U. S. equivalent of apartheid. Yet, with the knowledge of conditions at home, black soldiers still distinguished themselves in battles for freedoms, which they were unable to enjoy (Blakely, 1999). Discrimination was popular in the 1900’s and African-Americans stood up to be treated as equal Americans as the whites, especially in the World War II. â€Å"While willing to fight for their country, some also made a stand against discrimination while they served. For example, on April 12, 1945, the U. S. Army took 101 African American officers into custody because they directly refused an order from a superior officer. This was a serious charge because, if convicted, they would face the death penalty† (Bowles, 2011). They wanted to get acknowledged for their bravery and accomplishments in the war just the white soldiers. America waited decades for the African –American soldiers of the World War II to get the proper acknowledgements they deserve, which was too little too late. â€Å"These men were willing to die for the country; they were not eligible for many of the honors for their service. Though many deserved it, no African American could receive the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for bravery. Bill Clinton corrected this error 50 years later, bestowing the medal on seven men, but just one, Vernon Baker, was still alive (Bowles, 2011). These men were known as the Tuskegee Airmen and most of them died before receiving their honors. There were numerous movements and people, even African-American women whom had a hand in battling for equality. They had to fight not only for equality from racism, but also dealing with being judged by their gender. â€Å"The Womens Service Section (WSS) investigated federally controlled railroad stations and yards at the end of World War I. Few women worked in car cleaning before the war, and railroad management preferred to block women workers, especially African Americans, from gaining any kind of foothold in railroad work. African American women were the single largest group of railroad car cleaners during this period but they were routinely denied adequate facilities, including toilets, locker rooms, and dining facilities throughout the railroad system. By raising the issues of facilities, workers rights, and public health, these women shaped federal policy and widened the agenda of the WSS to include a direct attack on segregated workplaces† Muhammad, (2011). Black women wanted to have the same rights as others for going to school with safety and security. â€Å"In Brown v Board of Education (1954) the Supreme Court reversed its ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. They held that school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the US†. There were other significant African-American movements that changed history. â€Å"Starting in the 1960s, blacks in Akron began to push for an end to discrimination using various tactics, such as political action, workshops, and employment drives. Opie Evans edited the Akronite and began pushing for changes in his magazine. Protests widened to include sit-ins and other demonstrations† (McClain, 1996). African-Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr . and Malcolm X have become icons of the 1950’s and 1960’s, but the organizational skills and grassroots activism of women such as Ella Baker , Septima Clark , Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer propelled the movement forward to many successes and inspired a new generation of activists. African-Americans have come a long way fighting for equality and freedom every since the slavery time. They won their freedom and more equality than the ever had along with ending segregation. Many things have changed over the centuries, but African-Americans still fight everyday for different types of acknowledgements. They have fought hard to end segregation, most of discrimination, and isolation to attain equality and civil rights. References Blakely, Gloria. (1999). The 20th Century in CP Time: 1900-1949 We are a People. Sentinel,p. A8. Retrieved July 16, 2012, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 490544881). http://proquest. umi. com/pqdweb? did=490544881sid=2Fmt=3clientId=74379RQT=309VName=PQD Bowles, M. D. (2011). American History 1865- Present, End of Isolation, San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved on June 11, 2012 from https://content. ashford. edu/books/AUHIS204. 11. 2/sections/sec3. 7 Lawson, S. F. (2009). â€Å"Segregation. † Freedom’s Story, TeacherServe. National Humanities Center. Retrieved on July 16, 2012 from http://nationalhumanitiescenter. org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/segregation. htm | | Mcclain, S. R. , (1996). The Contributions of Blacks in Akron: 1825-1895, A Doctoral Dissertation, Retrieved on july 17, 2012 from http://www. ci. akron. oh. us/blackhist/timeline/index. htm Muhammad, R. (2011). SEPARATE AND UNSANITARY: African American Women Railroad Car Cleaners and the Womens Service Section, 1918-1920. Journal of Womens History, 23(2), 87-111,230. Retrieved July 16, 2012, from Research Library. (Document ID: 2377762701). http://proquest. umi. com/pqdweb? did=2377762701sid=3Fmt=3clientId=74379RQT=309VName=PQD Weier, A. (2001). She Socked Segregation Civil Rights Leaders Still Inspires Students, Madison Capital Times. Madison, WI, Retrieved July 27, 2012 from ProQuest. http://search. proquest. com/docview/395202519? accountid=32521 Younge, G. (2000). She Would Not Be Moved. The Guardian. London, UK. , Retrieved July 28, 2012 from ProQuest. http://search. proquest. com/docview/245609939? accountid=32521.

Treatment of Rituximab in Pemphigus Vulgaris Patients

Treatment of Rituximab in Pemphigus Vulgaris Patients Part 3: Clinical Research 2 INTRODUCTION Pemphigus is the name of a group of life-threatening blistering diseases of the skin and mucous membranes. The base of treatment for this disease is corticosteroids; however, recently, new drugs, such as rituximab, have been verified for more severe forms of it. In the authors previously unpublished study, the effect of rituximab on variation in the laboratory indices of pemphigus vulgaris patients is addressed. After investigation of the files of pemphigus patients who received rituximab in Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran from 2008 to 2013, 39 patients were entered into the study. All patients had lab sheets containing CR (creatinine), urea, ALT (alanine aminotransferase), AST (aspartate aminotransferase), Plt (platelet), Hgb (hemoglobin), and WBC (white blood cell) before and after receiving rituximab. The patients received rituximab 4 times at a dosage of 500 mg in 4 successive weeks. The lab results before receiving the first dose of rituximab were compared to the results after receiving treatment. The effect of rituximab on the variation in lab indices with the adjustment effect of age, gender, disease duration, sites of involvement, received adjoins, and the background disease were also investigated. In the initial analysis, rituximab only had a significant effect on urea reduction. In the CellCept ® (mycophenolate mofetil) receiving subgroup, the mixed consumption of rituximab led to a significant reduction in WBC. In the subgroup having background disease, rituximab had a statistically significant impact on platelet reduction. In the subgroup having no background disease, rituximab had a statistically significant effect on urea reduction. The lab indices were shown to have no significant relationship with age and disease duration. Thus, it can be predicted that disease duration and age would have no effect in the relationship between rituximab and lab indices variations. Although in stratified single-variable analysis for adjusting the effect of other variables (involvement sites and received adjoins) on the relation of rituximab and lab indices, some of these variables showed interacting effects with rituximab on the variations of lab indices. However, due to the low volume of sample and non-normal distribution of most of these variables, it was impossible to do multivariable analysis for investigation of their independent and interactive effects on variations of lab indices in an integrated manner, therefore, we can not make certain comments about their relationships. Chapter 1 Pemphigus is the name of a group of life-threatening blistering diseases that have characteristic acantholysis leading to formation of intraepithelial blisters in mucus and skin [1]. The acantholysis process is induced via attachments of flowing autoantibodies to adhesion molecules in the cells [2]. Patients with pemphigus have mucosal erosions, blisters, papules, and cutaneous erosions. The different types of pemphigus are pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigus foliaceus, immunoglobulin A (IgA) pemphigus, and paraneoplastic pemphigus. Different types of pemphigus are differentiated by clinical symptoms, related autoantigens, and histological methods. Pemphigus vulgaris has mucosal and mucocutaneous involvement. The blisters are acantholytic and suprabasal. The autoantibodies responsible for the disease are against desmoglein (DSG) 1 or both desmoglein 3 and 1. Pemphigus foliaceus only involves the skin. The blisters are acantholytic and subcorneal. The responsible autoantibodies are against desmoglein 1. IgA pemphigus has the form of grouped erythematous crusts, papules, and vesicle plucks. Blisters can be subcorneal or intraepithelial and acantholytic. The responsible autoantibodies are against desmocollin (DSC) 1 [3]. Paraneoplastic pemphigus involves vast and resistant stomatite along with different cutaneous findings. The responsible autoantibodies are against desmoplakin (DSP) or other desmosomal antigens. Pemphigus vulgaris is the most common type of pemphigus, but is still very rare. The chance of its occurrence is between 0.1 to 0.5 per 100,000 people [4]. Pemphigus often happens among adults and the average age of onset is 40 to 60 years old. It is very rare among children [5,6]. Its prevalence is almost the same in the 2 sexes [7]. Almost all the pemphigus vulgaris patients have mucosal involvement. The mouth is the most common site of involvement and is often the first site of involvement. Other mucosal membranes such as conjunctivae, nose, esophagus, vulva, vagina, cervix and anus are rarely involved [8]. As mucosal blisters are fragile and burst easily, in clinical examination it is difficult to find intact blisters, and instead the examiner tends to find mucosal erosions. Buccal and pa latal mucosa are the most common sites of blister involvement in the mouth cavity [9]. Mucosal involvement can be very painful. This pain often increases by chewing and swallowing, which can result in improper alimentation and weight reduction. Most of the patients also have cutaneous involvement appearing in the form of soft blisters in healthy skin or erythematosus. The blisters easily break, resulting in painful erosions. Pemphigus vulgaris rarely causes pruritis. Almost any part of body skin can be involved, but the palmar aspects of the foot and hands are rarely involved. The Nikolsky sign is often observed among these patients (mechanical pressure on the healthy skin results in blistering). Pemphigus is diagnosed based on the clinical, histological, immuno-pathological symptoms and laboratory findings. Even in cases where the clinical symptoms are intensively supporting pemphigus, laboratory investigation is still needed to confirm the diagnosis, as other diseases may have the same symptoms. The first line of treatment of pemphigus is systemic corticosteroids, an d addition of adjuvants may also be needed. Patients who do not respond to the first line of treatment might need additional interventions. In such patients, cyclophosphamides, rituximab, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) or plasmapheresis may be helpful. Initial treatment of pemphigus vulgaris is systemic glucocorticoid, which is often applied in combination with other non-steroidal immunosuppressants such as azathioprine and mycophenolate mofetil. Pemphigus resistant to treatment is a type of pemphigus that does not respond to the aforementioned treatments. Pemphigus is a chronic disease that needs long-term treatment. A retrospective study was conducted during 1982-1993 on 40 patients [8]. On average, these patients achieved complete remission after 7.7 years; 25% had remission after 2 years; 50% after 5 years; and 75% after 10 years [8]. Most pemphigus vulgaris patients respond to initial treatments [9]. The first step, in the patients who do not respond to initial treatment, is increasing the dosage of systemic corticosteroids (1.5-2 mg/kg of prednisolone per day) or adjuvant drug. The adjuvant drug can also be changed (changing azathioprine to mycophenolate mofetil). In resistant cases, cyclophosphamides, rituximab, IVIG, and plasmapheresis could also be used. As pemphigus is an auto-immune disease caused by autoantibodies, treatments that reduce B cells are investigated [10-13]. Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody that targets CD20, located on B-lymphocytes, as its antigen. This drug has been shown to have profound effects on pemphigus treatments [13,14]. In a multicenter study conducted on 14 pemphigus vulgaris patients and 7 pemphigus foliaceus patients, both groups were resistant to systemic glucocorticoids and experienced several relapses during glucocorticoid tapering. They were then put on 1 cycle of rituximab with a weekly dosage of 275 mg/m2 for 4 weeks, and this addition proved advantageous [15]. Although, severe infections were reported in the patients under rituximab treatment, its effect on risk of infection is not clear, as other immunosuppressants were also concurrently used. Reactions during injection are among the most common side effects of rituximab. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism, long-term hypogammaglobu linemia, and neutropenia were also common among the patients under rituximab treatment. Regarding the excellent impact of this drug on treatment of resistant pemphigus, and also on other diseases such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), vasculitis, lymphocytic leukemia, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), we decided to evaluate the effects of this drug on the variation of lab parameters such as white blood cell (WBC), Hemoglobin (Hg), platelet (Plt), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, and creatinine (CR). So far, no study has been conducted on investigation of these variations due to receiving rituximab. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES Major Objective Investigation of laboratory variations after injection of rituximab in pemphigus vulgaris patients. Minor objectives of the project: Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices by adjusting for the effect of age Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices by adjusting for the effect of gender Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices by adjusting for the effect of other treatment methods Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices by adjusting for the effect of disease duration Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices by adjusting for the effect of disease involved sites Determination of rituximab impact on laboratory indices by adjusting for the effect of Underlying disease Application objectives: Enhancement of health level among pemphigus vulgaris patients and paying attention to laboratory effect of patients after rituximab consumption. Research questions or hypotheses: Rituximab affects the laboratory indices Rituximab affects the laboratory indices with age effect adjustment Rituximab affects the laboratory indices with gender effect adjustment Rituximab affects the laboratory indices with disease duration effect adjustment Rituximab affects the laboratory indices with previous treatment effect adjustment Rituximab affects the laboratory indices with other disease effect adjustment Rituximab affects the laboratory indices with involved sites effect adjustment Chapter 2 Literature Review In 1997, rituximab was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma of B-cell that was resistant to chemotherapy. After that, it was applied for treatment for other diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Wegeners granulomatosis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and Sjà ¶grens syndrome. Ten years later, its impact on the treatment of blister diseases such as pemphigus was shown [16]. In a 2006 study by Larrar et al, 2 children with autoimmune hemolytic anemia who were treated with rituximab experienced acute thrombocytopenia and neutropenia [17]. They resolved in several days, which showed that these hematologic effects are directly dependent on the toxicity of rituximab. In a study by Chairwatanatorn et al in 2003, neutropenia following application of rituximab was tested in 53 patients [18]. All patients except one were under Hodgkins lymphoma treatment. Eight cases of grade 4 neutropenia were observed after 1 to 5 months of rituximab treatment (5 patients only received rituximab and 3 patients were also under additional chemotherapy); 3 patients advanced toward sepsis. Neutropenia was not related to other diseases or treatments, and was related with reduction of neutrophil precursors, except for one of the patients whose bone marrow had hypoplasia. All cases of neutropenia occurred among the patients whose polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) were normally or weakly reduced [18]. In a study by Tesfa et al in 2008, neutropenia occurred 4 or more weeks after rituximab treatment in lymphoma patients [19]. However, the mechanism of how rituximab causes neutropenia is still unknown. In a retrospective study of 113 lymphoma patients under rituximab treatment (alone or along with chemotherapy), 8 patients (7%) had neutropenia. The average onset was 88 days after receiving their last dosage of rituximab. The average time interval of neutropenia was 54 days. Four of the 8 patients underwent stem cell transplantation, 3 patients had neutropenia with fever and 2 of them needed granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment. In the patients who had neutropenia, a cessation in maturation was observed in the promyelocytes category (the same as congenital neutropenia or Kostmann disease) [19]. A study by Otrock in 2005 addressed 2 patients who had acute thrombocytopenia after receiving rituximab [20]. One of the patients had hairy cell leukemia and the other one suffered from mantle cell lymphoma. In these patients, thrombocytopenia improved without the need of any treatment after several days. The reason for this is unknown. A study by Leo et al was conducted in 2004 for investigating the safety of rituximab [21]. In this study, the mixture of fludarabine, rituximab and cyclophosphamide was applied for treatment of follicular lymphoma. Surprisingly, severe thrombocytopenia with World Health Organization (WHO) grades 3 and 4 were observed in the patients, which resulted in the end of trial. Cytological and serological analysis was based on direct toxicity of rituximab. Chapter 3 Investigation Method 39 Therapy resistant pemphigus patients in Razi Hospital in Tehran, who had received rituximab from 2008 to 2012 were considered for inclusion in this retrospective cohort study. Data was collected before and after rituximab treatment. The variables included WBC, Hg, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea, and Cr and age, gender, involved sites, previous therapies, underlying disease, and disease duration. Test sheets associated to before and after rituximab application, containing WBC, Hg, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea and Cr were compared. Type of Study This study is a retrospective cohort study conducted on the pemphigus patients resistant to therapies who had received rituximab in 2008-2012. Studied Population Therapy-resistant pemphigus patients who were treated with rituximab in Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2008-2012. Inclusion Criteria Pemphigus patients who did not respond to the initial therapies (therapy-resistant pemphigus), and then were treated with rituximab. Exclusion Criteria Patients with no required tests before application of rituximab in their file Patients with no follow-up after receiving rituximab Patients whose first follow-up, after the last dosage of rituximab, is greater than 1 month. Sampling Method According to the available files, files of all the patients who had received rituximab from 2008 to 2012 were considered for inclusion. Data Collection The data collection tool included a checklist divided into 2 parts: one for the data before and one for the data collection after rituximab treatment. The variables included WBC, Hg, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea, and Cr and age, gender, involved sites, previous therapies, underlying disease, and disease duration. Project Implementation After studying the files of therapy-resistant pemphigus patients, the patients who had required data in their files were entered into the research. Rituximab treatment was defined as receiving 4 doses of 500 mg for 4 weeks, along with normal saline. Test sheets associated to before and after rituximab application, containing WBC, Hg, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea and Cr were compared. (The maximum time interval between the second test sheet and the last dosage of rituximab could be 1 month.) Data Analysis Finally, the finalized cases that had the inclusion criteria, were analyzed in Stata statistical software (StataCorp, Texas, USA) in terms of variations in WBC, Hg, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea and Cr after application of rituximab as the major variable and investigation of minor variables. Problems and Limitations As the base of this research was on filed files of hospital, inadequacy of data either before or after rituximab application excluded a bunch of samples from the study in a way that among 105 available files, only 39 files had the required data. Variables Major variables: quantitative measurement of white blood cells (WBC), Hemoglobin (Hgb), platelets (Plt), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), ALT, urea, and creatinine (Cr) before and after application of rituximab Minor variables: Gender Age Involved sites Previous therapies Underlying disease Disease duration The data of variables were collected according to the positive findings in the patients files (Table 1). Table 1 Patient variables. Title Variable Type Quantitative Qualitative Scientific Practical Definition Measurement Method Scale Independent Dependent Continuous Discrete Nominal Ranking WBC Number of WBC per ÃŽ ¼(mu)L of blood File reading Cell/mCl Hgb Amount of hemoglobin File reading Gr/dl Plt Number of plackets in patient blood File reading Cell/mcl AST * Amount of AST File reading IU/L ALT Amount of ALT File reading IU/L Urea Microgram of urea per deciliter of blood File reading Mg/dl Cr * Keratin amount File reading Mg/dl age * Years from birth File reading year gender * According to patient phenotype File reading Male/female Underlying disease * Existence of systemic disease File reading Having/not having Previous therapies * Received adjoin before rituximab File reading Azathioprine, IVIG Cyclophosphamide, CellCept ®, methotrexate Involved sites * Involved sites before starting rituximab File reading Upper body, lower body, face. Genitalia, sculp, mucus Disease Duration Months passed from onset to receiving rituximab File reading Month WBC white blood cell, Hgb hemoglobin, Plt platelet, AST aspartate aminotransferase, ALT alanine aminotransferase, CR creatinine, IVIG intravenous immunoglobulin Chapter 4 Results Among 105 therapy-resistant pemphigus patients who received rituximab treatment in Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran from 2008 to 2012, only 39 patients managed to enter the study. The others were excluded due to inadequate data. Also in the included patient group, the maximum time interval between the last dosage of rituximab and follow-up was 1 month. The data of the remaining 39 patients were analyzed by Stata statistical software (StataCorp, Texas, USA) and the following results were obtained: The age of the patients ranged from 16 to 67 with a mean of 36.46 years. Their disease duration from the beginning of the disease until receiving rituximab ranged from 5 to 84 months with a mean of 39.30 months. Of the patients, 25 (64%) were men and 14 (36%) were women. It does not seem that the sex difference is related to therapy-resistant pemphigus, it is rather associated with the data collection method and exclusion of patients with incomplete files. Investigation of the involved sites showed that 25 patients (64%) had mucosal involvement, 20 patients (51.3%) had upper body involvement, 18 patients (46.2%) had lower body involvement, 19 people (48.7%) had genitalia involvement, 23 people had facial involvement, 36 people (92%) had body involvement, and in 22 patients (56.4%) the scalp was involved. The lab result variations of the mentioned patients were investigated in terms of the involved sites. The patients, before application of rituximab, were simultaneously under treatment with prednisolone and other adjoins. To summarize the unsuccessful treatments, 5 patients had cyclophosphamide, 18 of them received CellCept ® (mycophenolate mofetil), 7 people (17.9%) had intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), 5 patients were treated with methotrexate, and 22 patients had azathioprine. All these patients did not respond to corticosteroid and had active disease. In terms of variation in lab test results after receiving rituximab, the patients were investigated in terms of the previous adjuvants as well. Among 9 patients, 12 of them (30.8%) had systemic underlying diseases such as hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) and many more. The major variables were WBC, Hgb, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea and Cr before and after application of rituximab. Before Receiving Rituximab: The WBC range was 4,000-14,800 with average of 10,092. The Hgb range was 9.1-16.8 with average of 13.8. The Plt range was 100,000-683,000 with an average of 243,384. The AST range was 6-64 with average of 24.56. The ALT range was 10-143 with average of 43.92. The Urea range was 12-145 with average of 37.25. The Cr range was 0.5-1.2 with average of 0.87. After Receiving Rituximab: The WBC range was 5,400-19,000 with average of 9,964. The Hgb range was 7.4-16.7 with average of 13.42. The Plt range was 110,000-440,000 with average of 232,512. The AST range was 10-121 with average of 25.43. The ALT range was 12-144 with average of 48.46. The Urea range was 15-54 with average of 29.12. The Cr range was 0.6-1.2 with average of 0.85. The WBC had no statistically significant variations. The Hgb had no statistically significant variations. The Plt had no statistically significant variations. The AST had no statistically significant variations. The ALT had no statistically significant variations. The Urea had statistically significant variations. The Cr had no statistically significant variations. After receiving rituximab and adjusting for the effect of gender: The WBC had no statistically significant variations. The Hgb had no statistically significant variations. The Plt had no statistically significant variations. The AST had no statistically significant variations. The ALT had no statistically significant variations. The Cr had no statistically significant variations. In the case of Urea, we concluded that it depends on gender, as in men the variation was significant while in women the variations were not statistically significant. When investigating the results with adjustment of the involved sites, the following results were obtained: In patients with lower body involvement, rituximab had no significant effect on WBC, Plt, AST, ALT, Urea and Cr, but it had significant impact on Hgb reduction. In patients whose lower body was not involved, Urea significantly increased after receiving rituximab. In patients whose lower body was involved, rituximab caused a significant reduction in Cr, Urea, and Hgb. In patients whose upper body was not involved, rituximab had no significant effect on the variables. In the patients with or without facial involvement, rituximab had no significant impact on any of the variables. In patients whose genitalia region was involved, rituximab has no significant impact on any of the major variables. In patients with no genitalia involvement, rituximab resulted in significant reduction of urea. In patients with body involvement, rituximab resulted in significant reduction of urea. In patients with scalp involvement, rituximab resulted in significant reduction of urea. The adjustment of previous therapies was also addressed. As all the patients received prednisolone, the effect of adjoins (azathioprine, CellCept ®, cyclophosphamide, IVIG and methotrexate) was addressed: In patients who had received cyclophosphamide, rituximab has no statistically significant impact on the major variables. In patients who had not received cyclophosphamide, rituximab led to statistically significant reduction of urea. In patients who had received CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil), rituximab has statistically significant impact on reduction of urea and WBC. In patients who did not use IVIG adjoin, rituximab had a significant impact on reduction of urea. In patients who did not use methotrexate adjoin, rituximab had significant impact on reduction of urea. In patients who used azathioprine adjoin, rituximab had significant impact on reduction of urea. The adjustment impact of systemic underlying diseases (such as HTN, DM, IHD) was also addressed. In patients with systemic underlying disease, rituximab had significant impact on platelet reduction. In patients with no systemic underlying disease, rituximab had significant impact on urea reduction. There was no statistically significant relationship between the lab test result variations and disease duration and age (Table 1 through Table 8). TABLES Table 1 Age distribution in the studied patients Min Max Standard Deviation Average Age 16 67 13.48 36.48 Table 2 Disease duration distribution in the studies patients Min Max Standard Deviation Average Disease duration 5 84 20.28 29.30 Table 3 Absolute and relative frequency distribution of patients based on their gender Number % Men 25 64.1 Women 14 35.9 Total 39 100 Table 4 Absolute and relative frequency of involved sites at the time of rituximab injection. Frequency % Upper body 20 51.3 Lower body 18 46.2 Face 23 59 Genitalia 19 48.7 Body 36 92.3 Mucus 25 64.1 Scalp 22 56.4 Table 5 Absolute and relative frequency of received adjoins before application of rituximab Frequency % cyclophosphamide 5 12.8 CellCept ® 18 46.2 IVIG 7 17.9 methotrexate 5 12.8 azathioprine 22 56.4 IVIG intravenous immunoglobulin Table 6 Absolute and relative frequency of the patients based on having or not having underlying disease. Frequency

The Many Infectous Diseases Caused by Streptococcus Pyogenes Essay

Streptococcus Pyogenes: Multi-Purpose Monsters Streptococcus pyogenes is a type of group A streptococci that causes many infectious diseases. This bacteria is commonly found in a variety of organisms, but is usually harmless unless the organisms defenses are compromised. When detrimental, group A streptococci cause infections such as impetigo, ecthyma, scarlet fever, and necrotizing fasciitis. Each of these infections displays different symptoms and requires different treatment. These treatments are primarily by antibiotics, because antibiotics are still the chief cure for GAS bacterial infections. One of the most interesting, rare, and fatal infections caused by streptococcus pyogenes is necrotizing fasciitis, and though it can cause some severe symptoms, a simple dose of antibiotics can prevent or even cure this dangerous infection. Streptococci are a large, diverse group of bacteria that are gram-positive cocci (Sharma). Streptococcus Pyogenes, a group A Streptococcus, is a universal organism that can cause many different diseases in humans (Sharma). Group A Streptococci are commonly referred to as GAS and they are commonly identified on blood agar plates as white or gray colonies (Sharma). They commonly appear in pairs or short chains that are non-motile and non-spore-forming (Sharma). Additionally, they have a fermentative metabolism, and are facultative anaerobes that require blood to grow (Todar). For this reason, GAS bacteria are often found in mammals. It is estimated that 15%-20% of all healthy individuals harbor this pathogen in their bodies, specifically their respiratory tract—without signs of disease (Todar). However, it is believed that the bacteria can cause harm if the organism’s defenses are compromised or th... ...July 2008 . DeLeo, Frank R., and Michael Otto. Bacterial Pathogenesis Methods and Protocols. Methods on Microbiology 431. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2008. â€Å"Necrotizing Fasciitis (Flesh-Eating Bacteria).† WebMD. 6 Dec. 2007. Healthwise Inc. 14 July 2008 . Rene, Caravano. Current Research on Group A Streptococcus . Paris, France: Excerpta Medica Foundation, 1968. Sharma, Sat, MD. â€Å"Streptococcus Group A Infections.† eMedicine. 5 May 2006. WebMed. 24 July 2008 . Todar, Kenneth. â€Å"Streptococcus Pyogenes.† Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology. 2002. University of WIsconsin-Madison. 14 July 2008 .

The Grapes Of Wrath Essay: The Malice of Society -- John Steinbeck

Malice In Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family represents the thousands of migrant families who came to the west with the fantasy of obtaining a peaceful life after the Dust Bowl. Conversely they are faced with something resembling the epitome of human cruelty. Business owners and Californians do what they can to keep the Oklahoma families from breaching the invisible line that divides the privileged and the poor. This line, which only exists in the mind, causes people to loose their sense of humanity. The following quote describes the attitude of the wealthy: â€Å"And in the little towns pity for the sodden men changed to anger† (Steinbeck 434). In the beginning of the novel, Steinbeck describes the devastating Dust bowl that settles â€Å"on the corn, on roofs,† and blankets â€Å"the weeds and trees† (Steinbeck 3). His use of imagery instantly installs the picture of destruction into the reader’s mind. The Dust Bowl is the beginning of the hardships that are to come for the migrants. There is an anecdote of a turtle who struggles to get to the other side of the road. The turtle struggles up the embankment like the families struggled to get to California. When he was trying to cross the highway he was nearly hit twice, which is similar to the business owners and Californians running over the Oklahoma people. This small chapter symbolizes the entire journey of the Joad family, in turn it symbolizes the journey of all the Oklahoma people. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. The crops eventually fell and â€Å"the owners of the land came onto the land† (Steinbeck 31). The Oklahoma families are forced to leave the land that they lived on for generations. There isn’t any negotiating. It was either flee or die of ... ...ld be compared to the story of Moses and the Hebrews. The Californians and the wealthy business owners symbolize the Pharaohs while the migrants symbolize the enslaved Hebrews. However the happy ending to Moses’ story doesn’t correspond with the ending of the Joads or other families. In the end, they are still impoverished, homeless, and hungry. While Egypt suffered plagues, the Californians and business owners suffer none. There isn’t any reason for the vindictiveness of the Californians and wealthy business owners to cease. Steinbeck uses the story of one family to ultimately cry out to everyone that â€Å"food must rot, must be forced to rot† (Steinbeck 349). The ones forcing poverty upon the migrants are the same ones sitting comfortably in their chair reading The Grapes of Wrath. Works Cited Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.

Emily Dickinsons Use of Humor and Irony Essay -- Emily Dickinson Poem

Emily Dickinson's Use of Humor and Irony While much of Emily Dickinson's poetry has been described as sad or morose, the poetess did use humor and irony in many of her poems. This essay will address the humor and/ or irony found in five of Dickinson's poems: "Faith" is a Fine Invention, I'm Nobody! Who are you?, Some keep the Sabbath Going to Church and Success Is Counted Sweetest. The attempt will be made to show how Dickinson used humor and / or irony for the dual purposes of comic relief and to stress an idea or conclusion about her life and environment expressed by the poetess in the respective poem. The most humorous or ironic are some of the shorter poems, such as the four lined stanzas of "Faith" is a Fine Invention and Success Is Counted Sweetest. In "Faith"..., Dickinson presents a witty and biting satirical look at Faith and its limitations. While it still amuses readers today, it must be mentioned that this short poem would have had a greater impact and seriousness to an audience from the period Dickinson lived in. Dickinson was raised in a strict Calvinist household and received most of her education in her youth at a boarding school that also followed the American Puritanical tradition she was raised in. In this short, witty piece Dickinson addresses two of the main obsessions of her generation: The pursuit of empirical knowledge through science, faith in an all-knowing, all-powerful Christian god and the debate on which was the more powerful belief. In this poem Dickinson uses humor to ease her position in the debate on to the reader. Dickinson uses her ability to write humourously and ironically (as seen in her suggestion of the use of microscopes) to present a firm, controversial opinion into w... ...ntuate the humor in the juxtaposition of the objects in order not to trivialize her own beliefs, but allows enough humor to enter the description to stamp the poem with the child-like free spiritedness found in ...Nobody.... Again in this poem, the poetess' desire for seclusion and unconventionality is expressed eloquently through a light-handed treatment of the subject matter. In conclusion, it can be stated the examples of Emily Dickinson's work discussed in this essay show the poetess to be highly skilled in the use of humor and irony. The use of these two tools in her poems is to stress a point or idea the poetess is trying to express, rather than being an end in themselves. These two tools allow her to present serious critiques of her society and the place she feels she has been allocated into by masking her concerns in a light-hearted, irreverent tone.

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc Case-Study

Almost every aspect of the complexity of the merger can be explained through Rhone-Poulenc’s financial constraints. RP’s motives to acquire Rorer were to create crucial capital for its own strategic entry into pharmaceuticals. RP could not buy Rorer either in cash or shares due to the following factors: First, RP had limited ability to pay with borrowed cash. The company was more levered than other firms in the industry. Rhone-Poulenc didn’t want to borrow all the cash because it would have affected in a negative way to its balance sheet despite the fact that it borrowed for the cash portion of the deal.Second, Rhone-Poulenc couldn’t pay with internally generated cash because, during the announcement time, RP was a net cash user in connection with its great capital spending requirements and the recession felling on chemicals markets. Third, RP could not pay with debt securities. It is logical that if the company was too highly levered to borrow and pay in cash, it was too highly levered to swap debt securities for shares. Fourth, Rhone-Poulenc could not pay with RP common shares or with cash raised from selling equity.A deal based on shares would not have been approved by old shareholders because the deal would have diluted the value of individual shares and it would have not been profitable because the RP’s management believed the company’s share price was undervalued. Rhone-Poulenc could not offer standard common stock because it didn’t have any, so it had to offer only nonvoting certificate of investment as a state-owned company as it was.2. In case of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc, the shareholders of Rorer received a CVR that enabled them to receive additional gains from the possible shortfall of the future stock price and to persuade the Rorer shareholders to continue as the minority equity investors in the Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. Rhone-Poulenc could not pay with RP common shares or with cash raised from selli ng equity. A deal based on shares would not have been approved by old shareholders because the deal would have diluted the value of individual shares and it would have not been profitable because the RP’s management believed the company’s share price was undervalued.Rhone-Poulenc could not offer standard common stock because it didn’t have any, so it had to offer only nonvoting certificate of investment as a state-owned company as it was. 3. The assumption is that RP is not going to use its right to extend the maturity of the CVRs, and they are thus expiring in July 31, 1993. We have used the binomial tree to value the CVRs as a put option. The value of a CVR is thus $5. 54, and the aggregate value is $231. 64 million. Secondly, we have calculated the value of the CVRs in August 1991, assuming this is the date when the case was written.In addition, I am still assuming that RP isn’t going to extend the maturity. I’ve used almost the same method as i n the previous calculation and the value of a CVR is $2. 78, and the aggregate value is thus $116. 34 million. 4. The investor can see the offering quite attractive. This is due to the fact that they now have limited their downside risks with the put option. This means the minority have an effective hedge against the possibility of failure of the upcoming merger. Rhone-Poulenc managed to entice all the shareholders of the acquired Rorer with its somewhat complicated three-stage transaction.The initial tender offer and giving the rights to control RP’s HPB was attractive enough for Rorer to accept the deal. The Contingent Value Rights gave the minority shareholders the rights they thought were valuable enough to close the deal. Rorer believed that the whole package was indeed worth of $36. 50 per share. Rorer benefited from the announcement of this deal and gained about $632 million in new value. However, RP’s non-voting common shares decreased 4. 4 percent, or $175 mil lion, in value. The fact is, all in all, that RP has a huge liability due to the CVRs.In the worst case scenario, the share price falls below $26. 00 and the liability would thus be ($49. 13 – $26. 00) * 41. 8 million = $966. 83 million, which is the maximum amount of RP’s liability. The maximum liability was perfectly hedged, providing RP a delta neutral position. Extra. RP would prefer the share price to stay higher than $49. 13 until 1993, and $53. 06 until 1994. This is because in these cases RP would not be obliged to pay CVR-holders the cash payments. Thus if the share price would be higher than $49. 13 in the expiration date of the CVRs, RP would not extend the maturity of the Contingent Value RightsIntroduction A merger between Rorer Group, Inc and the Human Pharmaceutical Business (HPB) of Rhone-Poulenc (RP) S. A. generated a major multinational pharmaceutical company, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (RPR) on July 31, 1990. The expectations concerning takeover of Rorer ha d aroused in the late 1980s when the considerably low cash balance and rising level of debt seemed to slow down its strategy of growth by acquisitions. The rumors had reassurance in 1989 when Rorer made a bid to take over the pharmaceutical business of A. H. Robins and lost the opportunity.Just a short time after this, the $3. 2 billion merger of Rorer and RP was announced. A year later the company had shown rapid post-merger integration and initial synergy gains. RP had practically no position in the United States and Japan, but on the other hand it had a strong market share in some European Community markets. Thanks to Rorer’s U. S. connections, the new company ranked among the top three in Europe and had improved its position in the United States. Rorer’s Robert Cawthorn continued as RPR’s CEO and almost all the new senior executives came from Rhone-Poulenc.The markets expected RP to slowly take over the company because it owned 68% of RPR’s shares. Th e French government owned 100% of Rhone-Poulenc’s voting common stock. RP was the seventh largest chemical manufacturer in the world and it gave the minority shareholders a contingent value right (CVR) that promised to pay them on July 31, 1993, any shortfall between $49. 13 and the then prevailing stock price. Rorer Goup, Inc’s main factor in its growth strategy had been a program of acquisitions, because sales growth in the company’s existing product lines was characterized as mature.As usual, there were several skeptics associated to this merger. They were worried about the cultural integration and independence. The skeptics pointed out the company is French, yet the management team is mainly American, they have a American-style mission statement (â€Å"Our Mission is to become the BEST pharmaceutical company in the world by dedicating our resources, our talents, and our energies to help improve human health and the quality of life of people throughout the w orld†) and the lack of interest of the American executives to learn French. The market outlook for the industry wasn’t favorable for the company.The cost of new-product development in the industry was rising and yet the number of new drug applications worldwide had fallen. It was also predicted that the governments would get tougher on the cost of drugs in an effort to slow down rapidly rising health costs. Other risks to consider were patent expiration and competition from low-priced generic drug manufacturers and decreasing product life cycles. In turn, the world population was aging, analysts noted that computers and biotechnology were aiding new-product development and different analysts recommended to buy the RPR’s stock on the long term. . The $3. 2 billion merger was consummated in a three-stage transaction, by which Rhone-Poulenc obtained 68% of Rorer’s common stock (91. 6 shares), which was enough to permit Rhone-Poulenc to consolidate Rorerâ€⠄¢s results for financial reporting. First, Rhone-Poulenc would tender for 50. 1% (43. 2 million shares) of Rorer’s common stock for $36. 50 cash per share. Rhone-Poulenc increased its debt/capital ratio to 45% by borrowing the funds to finance the tender offer. The debt/capital ratio was considerably high compared to its competitors ratio of 20-30%.Second, Rorer assumed $265 million of RP debt (guaranteed by RP), made a $20 million cash payment to RP, and issued 48. 4 million new common shares to RP in exchange for RP’s HPB division. Analysts believed that Rorer’s bylaws would require at least 85% of all shares be voted in favor of the issuance of new shares and, more generally, of this entire transaction. Third, Rhone-Poulenc issued the 41. 8 million CVRs to the remaining minority shareholders in Rorer. A CVR entitled the holder to the right, at the end of three years (July 31, 1993) or four years, at RP’s option, to a cash payment of US$49. 13 (or $53. 6 if the payment were made at the end of four years) reduced by the higher of the value of the RPR share at that date or $26. Thus, if the value of the RPR share exceeded $49. 13 (or $53. 06), there would be no payment. The maximum amount of RP’s liability on December 31, 1990, was 5 165 million French francs at the date of the issuance of the rights. The maximum amount of RP’s liability at the date of issuance was hedged. Any changes in the value of the CVRs resulting from fluctuations in exchange rates, as well as the amortization of the cost of the hedge, were recorded directly into the consolidated equity of RP.The CVRs were quoted on the American Stock Exchange and traded independently of the shares of EPE, which were listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Rorer and RP jointly released its own estimate of the package value of CRV and minority share in RPR to be worth $36. 50 and thus equal to the price at which RP was offering for shares of RPR. Rorer’s in vestors responded positively to the merger arrangements. Rorer shares increased by 28% net of the changes in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index over the week during the week of the announcement. This gain equaled about $632 million in new value.Simultaneously, RP’s nonvoting common shares lost 4. 4% net of market during the announcement week, or about $175 million. Almost every aspect of the complexity of the merger can be explained through Rhone-Poulenc’s financial constraints. RP’s motives to acquire Rorer were to create crucial capital for its own strategic entry into pharmaceuticals. RP could not buy Rorer either in cash or shares due to the following factors: First, RP had limited ability to pay with borrowed cash. The company was more levered than other firms in the industry.Rhone-Poulenc didn’t want to borrow all the cash because it would have affected in a negative way to its balance sheet despite the fact that it borrowed for the cash portion of the deal. Second, Rhone-Poulenc couldn’t pay with internally generated cash because, during the announcement time, RP was a net cash user in connection with its great capital spending requirements and the recession felling on chemicals markets. Third, RP could not pay with debt securities. It is logical that if the company was too highly levered to borrow and pay in cash, it was too highly levered to swap debt securities for shares.Fourth, Rhone-Poulenc could not pay with RP common shares or with cash raised from selling equity. A deal based on shares would not have been approved by old shareholders because the deal would have diluted the value of individual shares and it would have not been profitable because the RP’s management believed the company’s share price was undervalued. Rhone-Poulenc could not offer standard common stock because it didn’t have any, so it had to offer only nonvoting certificate of investment as a state-owned company as it wa s.The form of the deal solved Rhone-Poulenc’s financial problems and it made possible for the firm to generate capital for its human pharmaceutical business and raise equity via obtaining Rorer’s shareholders to remain as minority equity investors in the Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. It would be natural to RP to want to issue equity for part of the deal but for the reasons mentioned above, it could not do so. 2. Contingent Value Right (CVR) is a type of right given to shareholders of an acquired company that ensures them to receive additional benefit if a specified event occurs.CVRs are handy tools that may help deal makers surmount challenging deal design problems. The use of CVRs is relatively rare, but they are useful when the seller company is seeking protection for the remaining minority shareholders who might be vulnerable to unfair treatment by the acquirer, the seller’s board may be concerned the buyer’s share price may not retain its value if the dea l’s projected synergies are not achieved, the integration is not smooth, or the buyer’s legacy business does not perform as expected.In case of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc, the shareholders of Rorer received a CVR that enabled them to receive additional gains from the possible shortfall of the future stock price and to persuade the Rorer shareholders to continue as the minority equity investors in the Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc. Rhone-Poulenc could not pay with RP common shares or with cash raised from selling equity. A deal based on shares would not have been approved by old shareholders because the deal would have diluted the value of individual shares and it would have not been profitable because the RP’s management believed the company’s share price was undervalued.Rhone-Poulenc could not offer standard common stock because it didn’t have any, so it had to offer only nonvoting certificate of investment as a state-owned company as it was. Shareholder s selling their Rorer shares to Rhone-Poulenc were paid in three forms. They received totaling $1. 7 billion, shares in Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and CVRs. If, at the end of three years, the RPR share price did not exceed $98, Rhone-Poulenc had to pay CVR holders the difference between the share price and $98, to an upper limit of $46 per CVR.If the RPR share price was below $52 on August 1, 1993, RP would have to pay the CVR holders $1 billion (in FRF over 5 billion). By the end of 1991, the price of the CVR had fallen by 4/5 of its value. Its close at under $1 reflected the good performance of the group. RP took the opportunity to buy all the CVRs it had been offered. During the first year after issue, the group gathered in 20. 7 million CVRs, half the total number issued. 3. The assumption is that RP is not going to use its right to extend the maturity of the CVRs, and they are thus expiring in July 31, 1993.We have used the binomial tree (Exhibit A) to value the CVRs as a put option. The value of a CVR is thus $5. 54, and the aggregate value is $231. 64 million. I have assumed risk-free rate of 8. 20 percent, which is the yield of a 3-year U. S. Treasury note. The standard deviation was given, 18 percent, and we have used it to calculate u and d enabling me to calculate p also. We have used $36. 50 as S(0). Secondly, we have calculated the value of the CVRs in August 1991, assuming this is the date when the case was written. In addition, we are still assuming that RP isn’t going to extend the maturity.We have used almost the same method as above (Exhibit B) and the value of a CVR is $2. 78, and the aggregate value is thus $116. 34 million. Only difference is that we used 0. 172 (=0,18*(SQRT(11/12)) as standard deviation, since there is not full year until maturity. We have used 8. 09 percent as the risk-free rate, which is the yield of a 2-year Treasury note. The share price in August 1, 1991 was $45. 75, which is the value of S(0) in my calculations. As we can see, the value of the CVR is considerably smaller in the latter case, due to the decrease in the time value of the put option. 4. The investor can see the offering quite attractive.This is due to the fact that they now have limited their downside risks with the put option. This means the minority have an effective hedge against the possibility of failure of the upcoming merger. The investors are receiving a cash payment of $49. 13 (or $53. 06 in the case of RP extending the maturity) minus the then prevailing share price or $26. 00. In one hand their shares can gain possible extra value and in the other they have a limit for the possible losses. Rhone-Poulenc managed to entice all the shareholders of the acquired Rorer with its somewhat complicated three-stage transaction.The initial tender offer and giving the rights to control RP’s HPB was attractive enough for Rorer to accept the deal. The Contingent Value Rights gave the minority shareholders the rights they though t were valuable enough to close the deal. Rorer believed that the whole package was indeed worth of $36. 50 per share. Rorer benefited from the announcement of this deal and gained about $632 million in new value. However, RP’s non-voting common shares decreased 4. 4 percent, or $175 million, in value. The fact is, all in all, that RP has a huge liability due to the CVRs.In the worst case scenario, the share price falls below $26. 00 and the liability would thus be ($49. 13 – $26. 00) * 41. 8 million = $966. 83 million, which is the maximum amount of RP’s liability. The maximum liability was perfectly hedged, providing RP a delta neutral position. This is possible through adjusting the ratio of CVRs and RPR equity, in the case of price changes of these CVRs. Extra question RP would prefer the share price to stay higher than $49. 13 until 1993, and $53. 06 until 1994. This is because in these cases RP would not be obliged to pay CVR-holders the cash payments.Thus if the share price would be higher than $49. 13 in the expiration date of the CVRs, RP would not extend the maturity of the Contingent Value Rights. I have calculated the value of the CVRs in case the maturity is extended until 1994. The calculations are in the Exhibit C, and the value of a CVR is thus $5. 57 and the aggregate value is $232. 89 million. In 1993, if the share price is S(uud) = $43. 70, the CVRs’ maturity might be extended, because now there would be a possibility of the share price to increase to $52. 32 and the extension would have been preferable.