Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation Essay

Synopsis and Objectives In mid September 2005, Ashley Swenson, the chief financial officer (CFO) of a large computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) equipment manufacturer needed to decide whether to pay out dividends to the firm’s shareholders, or to repurchase stock. If Swenson chose to pay out dividends, she would have to also decide upon the magnitude of the payout. A subsidiary question is whether the firm should embark on a campaign of corporate-image advertising, and change its corporate name to reflect its new outlook. The case serves as an omnibus review of the many practical aspects of the dividend and share buyback decisions, including (1) signaling effects, (2) clientele effects, and (3) the finance and investment implications of increasing dividend payouts and share repurchase decisions. This case can follow a treatment of the Miller-Modigliani1 dividend-irrelevance theorem and serves to highlight practical considerations to consider when setting a firm’s d ividend policy. Suggested Questions for Advance Assignment to Students The instructor could assign supplemental reading on dividend policy and share repurchases. Especially recommended are the Asquith and Mullins article2 on equity signaling, and articles by Stern Stewart on financial communication.3 1.In theory, to fund an increased dividend payout or a stock buyback, a firm might invest less, borrow more, or issue more stock. Which of those three elements is Gainesboro’s management willing to vary, and which elements remain fixed as a matter of the company’s policy? 2.What happens to Gainesboro’s financing need and unused debt capacity if: a. no dividends are paid? b. a 20% payout is pursued? c. a 40% payout is pursued? d. a residual payout policy is pursued? Note that case Exhibit 8 presents an estimate of the amount of borrowing needed. Assume that maximum debt capacity is, as a matter of policy, 40% of the book value of equity. 3. How might Gainesboro’s various providers of capital, such as its stockholders and creditors, react if Gainesboro declares a dividend in 2005? What are the arguments for and against the zero payout, 40% payout, and residual payout policies? What should Ashley Swenson recommend to the board of directors with regard to a long-term dividend payout policy for Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation? 4. How might various providers of capital, such as stockholders and creditors, react if Gainesboro repurchased its shares? Should Gainesboro do so? 5.Should Swenson recommend the corporate-image advertising campaign and corporate name change to the Gainesboro’s directors? Do the advertising and name change have any bearing on the dividend policy or the stock repurchase policy that you propose? Supporting Computer Spreadsheet Files For students: Case_25.xls For instructors: TN_25.xls Hypothetical Teaching Plan 1.What are the problems here, and what do you recommend? The CFO needs to resolve the issue of dividend payout in order to make a recommendation to the board. She must also decide whether to embark on a stock repurchase program given a recent drop in share prices. The problems entail setting dividend policy, deciding on a stock buyback, and resolving the corporate-image advertising campaign issue. But numerical analysis of the case shows that the problem includes other factors: setting policy within a financing constraint, signaling the directors’ outlook, and generally, positioning the firm’s shares in the equity market. 2.What are the implications of different payout levels for Gainesboro’s capital structure and unused debt capacity? The discussion here must present the  financial implications of high-dividend payouts, particularly the consumption of unused debt capacity. Because of the cyclicality of demand or overruns in investment spending, some attention might be given to a sensitivity analysis cast over the entire 2005 to 2011 period. 3.What is the nature of the dividend decision that Swenson must make? What are the pros and cons of the alternative positions? (Or alternatively, Why pay any dividends?) How will Gainesboro’s various providers of capital, such as its stockholders and bankers, react to a declaration of no dividend? What about the announcement of a 40% payout? How would they react to a residual payout? The instructor needs to elicit from the students the notions that the dividend-payout announcement may affect stock price and that at least some stockholders prefer dividends. Students should also mention the signaling and clientele considerations. 4.What risks does the firm face? Discussion following this question should address the nature of the industry, the strategy of the firm, and the firm’s performance. This discussion will lay the groundwork for the review of strategic considerations that bears on the dividend decision. 5.What is the nature of the share repurchase decision that Swenson must make? How would this affect the dividend decision? The discussion here must present the repercussions of a share repurchase decision on the share price, as well as on the dividend question. Signaling and clientele considerations must also be considered. 6.Does the stock market appear to reward high-dividend payout? What about low-dividend payout? Does it matter what type of investor owns the shares? What is the impact on share price of dividend policy? The data can be interpreted to support either view. The point is to show that simple extrapolations from stock market data are untrustworthy, largely because of econometric problems associated with size and omitted variables (see the Black and Scholes article) .4 7.What should Swenson recommend? Students must synthesize a course of action from the many facts and considerations raised. The instructor may choose to stimulate the discussion by using an organizing framework such as FRICTO (flexibility, risk, income, control, timing, and other) on the dividend and share repurchase issues. The image advertising and name change issue will be recognized as another  manifestation of the firm’s positioning in the capital markets, and the need to give effective signals. The class discussion can end with the students voting on the alternatives, followed by a summary of key points. Exhibits TN1 and TN2 contain two short technical notes on dividend policy, which the instructor may either use as the foundation for closing comments or distribute directly to the students after the case discussion. Case Analysis Gainesboro’s asset needs The company’s investment spending and financing requirements are driven by ambitious growth goals (a 15% annual target is discussed in the case), which are to be achieved by a repositioning of the firm—away from its traditional tools-and-molds business and beyond its CAD/CAM business into a new line of products integrating hardware and software—to provide complete manufacturing systems. CAD/CAM commanded 45% of total sales ($340.5 million) in 2004 and is expected to grow to three-quarters of sales ($1,509.5 million) by 2011, which implies a 24% annual rate of growth in this business segment over the subsequent seven years. In addition, international sales are expected to grow by 37% compounded over the subsequent seven years.5 By contrast, the presses-and-molds segment will grow at about 2.7% annually in nominal terms, which implies a negative real rate of growth in what constitutes the bulk of Gainesboro’s current business.6 In short, the company’s asset needs are driven primarily by a shift in the company’s strategic focus. Financial implications of payout alternatives The instructor can guide the students through the financial implications of various dividend-payout levels either in abbreviated form (for one class period) or in detail (for two classes). The abbreviated approach uses the total cash flow figures (that is, for 2005–2011) found in the right-hand column of case Exhibit 8. In essence, the approach uses the basic sources-and-uses of funds identity: Asset change = New debt + (Profits − Dividends) With asset additions fixed largely by the firm’s competitive strategy, and with profits determined largely by the firm’s operating strategy and the environment, the remaining large-decision variables are changes in debt and dividend payout. Even additions to debt are constrained, however, by the firm’s maximum leverage target, a debt/equity ratio of 0.40. This framework can be spelled out for the students to help them envision the financial context. Exhibit TN3 presents an analysis of the effect of payout on unused debt capacity based on the projection in case Exhibit 8. The top panel summarizes the firm’s investment program over the forecast period, as well as the financing provided by internal sources. The bottom panel summarizes the effect of higher payouts on the firm’s financing and unused debt capacity. The principal insight this analysis yields is that the firm’s unused debt capacity disappears rapidly, and maximum leverage is achieved as the payout increases. Going from a 20% to a 40% dividend payout (an increase in cash flow to shareholders of $95.6 million),7 the company consumes $134 million in unused debt capacity. Evidently, a multiplier relationship exists between payout and unused debt capacity—every dollar of dividends paid consumes about $1.408 of debt capacity. The multiplier exists because a dollar must be borrowed to replace each dollar of equity paid out in dividends, and each dollar of equity lost sacrifices $0.40 of debt capacity that it would have otherwise carried. Whereas the abbreviated approach to analyzing the implications of various dividend-payout levels considers total 2005 to 2011 cash flows, the detailed approach considers the pattern of the individual annual cash flows. Exhibit TN4 reveals that, although the debt/equity ratio associated with the 40% payout policy is well under the maximum of 40 in 2011, the maximum is breached in the preceding years. The graph suggests that a payout policy of 30% is about the maximum that does not breach the debt/equity maximum. Exhibits TN5 and TN6 reveal some of the financial reporting and valuation implications of alternative dividend policies. Those exhibits use a simple dividend valuation approach and assume a terminal value estimated as a multiple of earnings. The analysis is unscientific, as the case does not contain the information with which to estimate a discount rate based on the capital asset pricing model (CAPM).9 The discounted cash flow (DCF) values show that the differences in firm values are not that large and that the dividend policy choice in this case has little effect on value. This conclusion is consistent with the Miller-Modigliani dividend-irrelevance theorem. Regarding the financial-reporting effects of the policy choices, one sees that earnings per share (EPS on line 30 in Exhibits TN5 and TN6) and the implied stock price (line 31) grow more slowly at a 40% payout policy, because of the greater interest expense associated with higher leverage (see the cumulative source on line 22). Return on average equity (unused debt capacity on line 28) rises with higher leverage, however, as the equity base contracts. The instructor could use insights such as those to stimulate a discussion of the signaling consequences of the alternative policies, and whether investors even care about performance measures, such as EPS and return on equity (ROE).10 Risk assessment Neither the abbreviated nor detailed forecasts consider adverse deviations from the plan. Case Exhibit 8 assumes no cyclical downturn over the seven-year forecast period. Moreover, the model assumes that net margin doubles to 5% and then increases to 8%. The company may be able to rationalize those optimistic assumptions on the basis of its restructuring and the growth of the Artificial Workforce, but such a material discontinuity in the firm’s performance will warrant careful scrutiny. Moreover, continued growth may require new product development after 2006, which may incur significant research-and-development (R&D) expenses and reduce net margin. Students will point out that, so far, the company’s restructuring strategy is associated with losses (in 2002 and 2004) rather than gains. Although restructuring appears to have been necessary, the credibility of the forecasts depends on the assessment of management’s ability to begin harvesting potential profits. Plainly, the Artificial Workforce has the competitive advantage at the moment, but the volatility of the firm’s performance in the current period is significant: The ratio of the cost of goods sold to sales rose from 61.5% in 2003 to 65.9% in 2004. Meanwhile, the ratio of selling, general, and administrative expenses to sales is projected to fall from 30.5% in 2004 to 24.3% in 2005. Admittedly, the restructuring accounts for some of this volatility, but the case suggests several sources of volatility that are external to the company: economic recession, currency, new-competitor market entry, new product mishaps, cost overruns, and unexpected acquisition opportunities. A brief survey of risks invites students to perform a sensitivity analysis of the firm’s debt/equity ratio under a reasonable downside scenario. Students should be encouraged to exercise the associated computer spreadsheet model, making modifications as they see fit. Exhibit TN7 presents a forecast of financial results, assuming a net margin that is smaller than the preceding forecasts by 1% and sales growth at 12% rather than 15%. This exhibit also illustrates the implications of a residual dividend policy, which is to say the payment of a dividend only if the firm can afford it and if the payment will not cause the firm to violate its maximum debt ratios. The exhibit reveals that, in this adverse scenario, although a dividend payment would be made in 2005, none would be made in the two years that follow. Thereafter, the dividend payout would rise. The general insight remains that Gainesboro’s unused debt capacity is relatively fragile and easily exhausted. The stock-buyback decision The decision on whether to buy back stock should be that, if the intrinsic value of Gainesboro is greater than its current share price, the shares should be repurchased. The case does not provide the information needed to make free cash flow projections, but one can work around the problem by  making some assumptions. The DCF calculation presented in Exhibit TN8 uses net income as a proxy for operating income,11 and assumes a weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) of 10%, and a terminal value growth factor of 3.5%. The equity value per share comes out to $35.22, representing a 59% premium over the current share price. Based on that calculation, Gainesboro should repurchase its shares. Doing so, however, will not resolve Gainesboro’s dividend/financing problem. Buying back shares would further reduce the resources available for a dividend payout. Also, a stock buyback may be inconsistent with the message that Gainesboro is trying to convey, which is that it is a growth company. In a perfectly efficient market, it should not matter how investors got their money back (for example, through dividends or share repurchases), but in inefficient markets, the role of dividends and buybacks as signaling mechanisms cannot be disregarded. In Gainesboro’s case, we seem to have the case of an inefficient market; the case suggests that information asymmetries exist between company insiders and the stock market. Clientele and signaling considerations The profile of Gainesboro’s equity owners may influence the choice of dividend policy. Stephen Gaines, the board chair and scion of the founders’ families and management (who collectively own about 30% of the stock), seeks to maximize growth in the market value of the company’s stock over time. This goal invites students to analyze the impact of the dividend policy on valuation. Nevertheless, some students might point out that, as Gaines and Scarboro’s population of diverse and disinterested heirs grows, the demand for current income might rise. This naturally raises the question: Who owns the firm? The stockholder data in case Exhibit 4 show a marked drift over the past 10 years, moving away from long-term individual investors and toward short-term traders; and away from growth-oriented institutional investors and toward value investors. At least a quarter of the firm’s shares are in the hands of investors who are looking for a turnaround in the not too distant future.12 This lends urgency to the dividend and signaling question. The case indicates that the board committed itself to resuming a  dividend as early as possible —â€Å"ideally in the year 2005.† The board’s letter charges this dividend decision with some heavy signaling implications: because the board previously stated a desire to pay dividends, if it now declares no dividend, investors are bound to interpret the declaration as an indication of adversity. One is reminded of the story, â€Å"Silver Blaze,† written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the famous protagonist Sherlock Holmes, in which Dr. Watson asks where to look for a clue: â€Å"To the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime,† says Holmes. â€Å"The dog did nothing in the nighttime,† Watson answers. â€Å"That was the curious incident,† remarked Sherlock Holmes.13 A failure to signal a recovery might have an adverse impact on share price. In this context, a dividend—almost any dividend—might indicate to investors that the firm is prospering more or less according to plan. Astute students will observe that a subtler signaling problem occurs in the case: What kind of firm does Gainesboro want to signal that it is? Case Exhibit 6 shows that CAD/CAM equipment and software companies pay low or no dividends, in contrast to electrical machinery manufacturers, who pay out one-quarter to as much as half of their earnings. One can argue that, as a result of its restructuring, Gainesboro is making a transition from the latter to the former. If so, the issue then becomes how to tell investors. The article by Asquith and Mullins14 suggests that the most credible signal about corporate prospects is cash, in the form of either dividends or capital gains. Until the Artificial Workforce product line begins to deliver significant flows of cash, the share price is not likely to respond significantly. In addition, any decline in cash flow, caused by the risks listed earlier, would worsen the anticipated gain in share price. By implication, the Asquith–Mullins work would cast doubt on corporate-image advertising. If cash dividends are what matters, then spending on advertising and a name change might be wasted. Stock prices and dividends Some of the advocates of the high-dividend payout suggest that high stock prices are associated with high payouts. Students may attempt to prove that point by abstracting from the evidence in case Exhibits 6 and 7. As we know from academic research (for example, Friend and Puckett),15 proving the relationship of stock prices to dividend payouts in a scientific way is extremely difficult. In simpler terms, the reason is because the price/earnings (P/E) ratios are probably associated with many factors that may be represented by dividend payout in a regression model. The most important of those factors is the firm’s investment strategy; Miller and Modigliani’s16 dividend-irrelevance theorem makes the point that the firm’s investments—not the dividends it pays—determine the stock prices. One can just as easily derive evidence of this assertion from case Exhibit 7. The sample of zero-payout companies has a higher average expected return on capital (24.9%) than the sample of high-payout companies (average expected return of 9.4%); one may conclude that zero-payout companies have higher returns than the high-payout companies and that investors would rather reinvest in zero-payout companies than receive a cash payout and be forced to redeploy the capital to lower-yielding investments. Decision The decision for students is whether Gainesboro should buy back stock or declare a dividend in the third quarter (although, for practical purposes, students will find themselves deciding for all of 2005). As the analysis so far suggests, the case draws students into a tug-of-war between financial considerations, which tend to reject dividends and buybacks at least in the near term, and signaling considerations, which call for the resumption of dividends at some level, however, small. Students will tend to cluster around the three proposed policies: (1) zero payout, (2) low payout (1% to 10%), and (3) a residual payout scheme calling for dividends when cash is available. The arguments in favor of zero payout are: (1) the firm is making the  transition into the CAD/CAM industry, where zero payout is the mode; (2) the company should not ignore the financial statements and act like a blue-chip firm—Gainesboro’s risks are large enough without compounding them by disgorging cash; and (3) the signaling damage already occurred when the directors suspended the dividend in 2005. The arguments in favor of a low payout are usually based on optimism about the firm’s prospects and on beliefs that Gainesboro has sufficient debt capacity, that Gainesboro is not exactly a CAD/CAM firm, and that any dividend that does not restrict growth will enhance share prices. Usually, the signaling argument is most significant for the proponents of this policy. The residual policy is a convenient alternative, although it resolves none of the thorny policy issues in the case. A residual dividend policy is bound to create significant signaling problems as the firm’s dividend waxes and wanes through each economic cycle. The question of the image advertising and corporate name change will entice the naive student as a relatively cheap solution to the signaling problem. The instructor should challenge such thinking. Signaling research suggests that effective signals are both unambiguous and costly. The advertising and name change, costly as they may be, hardly qualify as unambiguous. On the other hand, seasoned investor relations professionals believe that advertising and name changes can be effective in alerting the capital markets to major corporate changes when integrated with other signaling devices such as dividends, capital structure, and investment announcements. The whole point of such campaigns should be to gain the attention of the â€Å"lead steer† opinion leaders. Overall, inexperienced students tend to dismiss the signaling considerations in this case quite readily. On the other hand, senior executives and seasoned financial executives view signaling quite seriously. If the class votes to buy back stock or to declare no dividend in 2005, asking some of the students to dictate a letter to shareholders explaining the board’s decision may be useful. The difficult issues of credibility will emerge in class with a critique of this letter. If the class does vote to declare a dividend payout, the instructor can challenge the students to identify the operating policies they gambled on to make their decision. The underlying question: If adversity strikes, what will the class sacrifice first: debt, or dividend policies? To use Fisher Black’s term, dividend policy is â€Å"puzzling,† largely because of its interaction with other corporate policies and its signaling effect.17 Decisions about the firm’s dividend policy may be the best way to illustrate the importance of managers’ judgments in corporate finance. However the class votes, one of the teaching points is that managers are paid to make difficult, even high-stakes policy choices on the basis of incomplete information and uncertain prospects. Exhibit TN1 GAINESBORO MACHINE TOOLS CORPORATION The Dividend Decision and Financing Policy The dividend decision is necessarily part of the financing policy of the firm. The dividend payout chosen may affect the creditworthiness of the firm and hence the costs of debt and equity; if the cost of capital changes, so may the value of the firm. Unfortunately, one cannot determine whether the change in value will be positive or negative without knowing more about the optimality of the firm’s debt policy. The link between debt and dividend policies has received little attention in academic circles, largely because of its complexity, but it remains an important issue for chief financial officers and their advisors. The Gainesboro case illustrates the impact of dividend payout on creditworthiness. Dividend payout has an unusual multiplier effect on financial reserves. Table TN1 varies the total 2005–2011 sources-and-uses of funds information given in case Exhibit 8, according to different dividend-payout levels. Exhibit TN1 (continued) Table TN1 Exhibit TN1 (continued) As Table TN1 reveals, one dollar of dividends paid consumes $1.40 in unused debt capacity. At first glance, this result seems surprising—under the sources-and-uses framework, one dollar of dividend is financed with only one dollar of borrowing. The sources-and-uses reasoning, however, ignores the erosion in the equity base: A dollar paid out of equity also eliminates $0.40 of debt that the dollar could have carried. Thus, a multiplier effect exists between dividends and unused debt capacity, whenever a firm borrows to pay dividends. Choosing a dividend payout will affect the probability that the firm will breach its maximum target leverage. Figure TN1 traces the debt/equity ratios associated with Gainesboro’s dividend-payout ratios. Figure TN1. Plainly, the 40% dividend-payout ratio violates Gainesboro’s maximum debt/equity ratio of 40%. The conclusion is that, because the dividend policy affects the firm’s creditworthiness, senior managers should weigh the financial side effects of their payout decisions, along with the signaling, segmentation, and investment effects, to arrive at their final decision for the dividend policy. Exhibit TN2 GAINESBORO MACHINE TOOLS CORPORATION Setting Debt and Dividend-Payout Targets The Gainesboro Machine Tools Corporation case well illustrates the challenge of setting the two most obvious components of financial policy: target payout and debt capitalization. The policies are linked with the firm’s growth target, as shown in the self-sustainable growth model: gss = (P/S ï€ ªÃƒâ€" S/A Ãâ€" A/E)(1 − DPO) Where: gss is the self-sustainable growth rate P is net income S is sales A is assets E is equity DPO is the dividend-payout ratio This model describes the rate at which a firm can grow if it issues no new shares of common stock, which describes the behavior or circumstances of virtually all firms. The model illustrates that the financial policies of a firm are a closed system: Growth rate, dividend payout, and debt targets are interdependent. The model offers the key insight that no financial policy can be set without reference to the others. As Gainesboro shows, a high dividend payout affects the firm’s ability to achieve growth and capitalization targets and vice versa. Myopic policy—failing to manage the link among the financial targets—will result in the failure to meet financial targets. Setting Debt-Capitalization Targets Finance theory is split on whether gains are created by optimizing the mix of debt and equity of the firm. Practitioners and many academicians, however, believe that debt optima exist and devote great effort to choosing the firm’s debt-capitalization targets. Several classic competing considerations influence the choice of debt targets: 1.Exploit debt-tax shields. Modigliani and Miller’s theorem implies that in the world of taxes, debt financing creates value.1 Later, Miller theorized that when personal taxes are accounted for, the leverage choices of the firm might not create value. So far, the bulk of the empirical evidence suggests that leverage choices do affect value. 2.Reduce costs of financial distress and bankruptcy. Modigliani and Miller’s theory naively implied that firms  should lever up to 99% of capital. Virtually no firms do this. Beyond some prudent level of debt, the cost of capital becomes very high because investors recognize that the firm has a greater probability of suffering financial distress and bankruptcy. The critical question then becomes: What is â€Å"prudent†? In practice, two classic benchmarks are used: a. Industry-average debt/capital: Many firms lever to the degree practiced by peers, but this policy is not very sensible. Industry averages ignore differences in accounting policies, strategies, and earnings outlooks. Ideally, prudence is defined in firm-specific terms. In addition, capitalization ratios ignore the crucial fact that a firm goes bankrupt because it runs out of cash, not because it has a high debt/capital ratio. b. Firm-specific debt service: More firms are setting debt targets based on the forecasted ability to cover principal and interest payments with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). This practice requires forecasting the annual probability distribution of EBIT and setting the debt-capitalization level, so that the probability of covering debt service is consistent with management’s strategy and risk tolerance. 3.Maintain a reserve against unforeseen adversities or opportunities. Many firms keep their cash balances and lines of unused bank credit larger than may seem necessary, because managers want to be able to respond to sudden demands on the firm’s financial resources caused, for example, by a price war, a large product recall, or an opportunity to buy the toughest competitor. Academicians have no scientific advice about how large those reserves should be. 4.Maintain future access to capital. In difficult economic times, less creditworthy borrowers may be shut out from the capital markets and, thus, unable to obtain funds. In the United States, â€Å"less creditworthy† refers to the companies whose debt ratings are less than investment grade (which is to say, less than BBB2 or Baa3). Accordingly, many firms set debt targets in such a way as to at least maintain a creditworthy (or investment grade) debt rating. 5.Opportunistically exploit capital-market windows. Some firms’ debt policies vary across the capital-market cycle. Those firms issue debt when interest rates are low (and issue stock when stock prices are high); they are bargain-hunters (even though no bargains exist in an efficient market). Opportunism does not explain how firms set targets so much as why firms deviate from those targets.

Provide information and advice to young people Essay

1.1 – explain the importance of providing accurate and up to date information and advice to children and young people 0/3 The importance of up to date and accurate information and advice to the young people we care for is crucial, more so for the young people we are catering for as their behavioural needs are of a demanding nature and they need clarity when asking questions, to be able to give clean consice answers and asking the young person to repeat what was said to clarify helps de-escalate situations, puts young peoples minds at ease and also promotes trust in that adult. If we provide information that has been superceeded then we are undermining ourselves, eg: â€Å"child A you cant go to the city on your own as you haven’t completed any form of independent trip and it wouldn’t be safe† and then finding out that it had been agreed that going into the city would be the first step for their planned independence but you haven’t been told due to lack of communication. This then has a huge impact on that relationship with that child. They don’t feel that you care because you didn’t know about the plan, they think that your untrust worthy and change your mind. All of this can be avoided with being able to effectively communicate and provide to the young people up to date advice and information. The same priniciple applies when dealing with things like medical issues, some adults in the home may have some medical training but if they speak out of turn and try and diagnose or offer advice which is no longer relevant they they too could damage their relationship although having said that I have been quite negative the positives to providing up to date information and advice are the polar opposites, they help build firm relationships based on trust and acknowledgement of need and desire to help, belief in what you are saying and trying to do. The positives of providing up to date advice and information cannot be over looked in dealing with young people with behavioural difficulties and attachment disorde rs. 1.2 – explain the role of practitioners in providing impartial information and advice to children and young people 0/3 As a practioner in a young peoples care home I have a role of providing impartial adice to the young people, I can do this by offering support to them in making informed choices about areas that they are worried about or need more advice, I also have to look at whether they would be safe from explotation and explore this area with them, supporting them in preparation for employment; helping them create CV’s, running mock interviews for jobs, helping them wear appropriate dress and have good person hygiene. I as a practioner also need to make sure that I can send a young person the right direction or have them read the meterphoical sign posts that I give so that they can seeks upport for personal issues and relationship advice, through the use of our in house systemic therapists, the LAC nurse visits, legal aid and advocacy. As a carer in this role I need to support the young person in their own personal saftey. 2 – Establish and address the information and advice needs of children and young†¦ 2.1 – encourage the participation of and engagement with children and young people to establish their information and advice needs 0/3 I currently am supporting a young girl in the care home to take an active role in establishing her information and need for advice, I am able to do this by providing her with details of professionals; Doctors, opticians, dentists and general health care professionals. I encourage her in making her appointments, keep an accurate record and use that information to inform others and make arrangements, this is most recently been on show as I wanted her to have her immunistations completely up to date. This involved a long conversation with her about what she has had and what she is missing, this then lead to a trip to the doctors to get a print out of what she needed and where she could organise getting them, we then sat together and made phone calls and arranged dates for her to have the update jabs, this was then passed onto the duty care manager in the house who would write it in the house diary. This support and encouragement for getting things right shows that you have confidence in that young person and believe that they know what they are doing and you trust that. The encouragement for seeking advice comes to me within my working practice on a more personal level for the young people, I actively encourage and advise them to partake in restorative  meetings when nessecary and to seek out the support and advice from our in house therapists. Currently the young person that I work closely with has refused to speak about seeing a therapist, even just for a general conversation and when the in house therapist is in she avoids them as much as possible even exiting a room as they enter. On the opposite side though she has struggled with restorative meetings in the apst but now can understand the need for the process and actively welcomes it. We can also see that because of the investment in restorative practice that her behaviour has improved allowing her to fully involve herself in her educational studies, taking ownership of completing her BTEC food course and gaining certificates, seeking out for herself suitable work experience, taking active steps to create a better enviroment by working in the house garden and creating her own health and fitness rountines; going for walks in the morning. 2.2 – select information from appropriate sources that will best meet the needs of the young person 0/3 As carers in the house we have a responsibility to provide appropriate souces that will best meet the needs of our young people, we can do this by placing in the house college prospectus’ as this inspires a future and that we have placed certain colleges information around that we know that the young people can achieve this, we also can place information on their in house computers, CV builders, career planning software, connexions type websites on their bookmarks on the internet. We also need to be inclusive in what we provide so that we have information that can be accessed by young people with physical or sensory needs, or different languages, these are tailored to those children specficially and left in places that those children tend to spend lots of time, this could be having a prostectus in brail for a young person who has a visual impairment. We as an organisation need to also have a selection of information avaliable for the young people that will meet their needs, we have a contacts folder sitting in the house that has numbers for our local police community support officers, dentists, opticians, local places for Saturday job poteintial etc. This set of information is taken to meetings with the care team and the managers meetings during the week and is updated to meet the specific needs of our  young people 2.3 – verify the accuracy and currency of information before presenting it to the young person 0/3 We as carers need to make sure that the information that we provide is accurate and current, there is no point putting an information booklet about whats up and coming in our area when its two years out of date, as responsible adults all information that is avaliable to the young people needs to be accurate and current, this stops disappointment and the possibility of negatvie behaviours being presented due to not being able to do what they want. We can also see the need for accurate information when we are offering phone numbers for things like doctors, the need to provide the young people with accurate and current information about their savings in the bank, their trust fund at the house, their day to day activity money, clothing budgets and toiletries budget. We actively encourage the young people to take ownerhsip of these and encourage a regular meeting to discuss these so that the young person is kept as up to date as possible. This as they leave the care home comes more appare nt as we woud look at what current benefits if any the young person would be entitled to and how they would claim those, providing accurate records of transactions, pay slips etc. 2.4 – explain approaches to managing situations when the child and young person’s choices are different to those of their carers 0/3 When approaching situations when the young persons choices are different to those of us as carers we need to be able to demonstrate good listening skills and encourage the young people in our care to give an explanation for their choices, supporting these if the explanation holds but also offering realistic and proprotianal alternatives when their explanation doesn’t make sense etc. We as responsible adults who value the input from the young people have to mediate between the two ideals from young person to carer and use this to come up with a defined plan. This will also lead to us as carers having to diffuse heated situations either between us and the young person or between the young person and a peer, these situations then provide a good basis for restorative meetings, which shows the young people their growth in negotiation and diplomacy. We as carers through the use of positive intrigue  can almost sign post our young people to areas for relevant support and informatio n to gain what they need for what they are aiming for.

Finance and Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance and Accounting - Essay Example The companies’ compliance with IFRS standards can effectively help predict the future financial outcomes and reduce irresponsible cosmetic accounting practices. The company’s compliance with all International Financial Reporting Standards will translate to better prediction of forecasting future business outcomes. For example, the compliance with standards requires that the company present the historical sales amount s for the past two years. If the sales for 2010 is $ 250,000 and sales for 2011 is $295,000. Any keen financial statement analyst or reader can easily forecast next year’s forecasted sales will exceed $300,000, all other factors being equal (Wiley 14). Further, relevant and valid financial information (balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows) must be relevant to the needs of the financial statement users. To relevant, the financial statements must comply with the predictive value tenets of the International Financial Reporting St andards. Consequently, the financial statement users can increase the reliability of the decision makers (Epstein 13). The International Financial Reporting Standards required that the financial statement should be prepared to enhance the decision making process (Jermkowcz 29). For example, International Financial Reporting Standards require the entities to report long term loans under the liabilities section of the financial reports. ... Compliance will make the forecasting activity more realistic (Porter799). In terms of forecasting value of the International Financial Reporting Standards, the financial reports should be prepared using the fair market value in recording sales or other related amounts. For example, the buyer agrees to the seller’s ?2,000 selling price pegged for one factory production equipment. Consequently, the factory production equipment is recorded in the company’s assets portion of the company’s balance sheet at ?2,000. The amount represents the customer’s fair market value of the purchased equipment. Specifically, the fair value portion of the International Financial Reporting Standards can be found in IFRS no. 2, IFRS no. 3, IFRS no 7, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) no 16, IAS no. 39, IAS no. 40, as well as IAS no 41 (Walton 13). During the preparation of financial statements, there are many situations when International Financial Reporting Standar ds insists on focusing on ensuring the predictive or forecasting goals. For example, the standards describe the company’s financial assets as any resource that is controlled by the entity as a consequence of the entities’ prior transactions. Such asset items must have future economic benefits flowing into the business equation. Consequently, the standards require the companies to raise or lower their asset values, depending on external factors (Shamrock 8). (b) Creative accounting (causes, techniques, & effects) Cosmetic accounting causes trigger some impacts. The company’s desire to seek the bank’s approval of their long term loan applications prods the company to increase its revenues. Normally, banks base their loan approvals on

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 18

Marketing - Essay Example Studies have shown the increased rate of smokers among the population especially among the youth. â€Å"Smoking kills around 114,000 people in the UK each year.† (Petrie 2007). It is where the relevance of the product and the topic under study lies. The topic is chosen in order to analyze the prospects of the company by launching the product. The final report is in the form of a report addressed to the top level executives of the company. The report is intended to conduct a study in detail about the marketability of ‘smokers’ choice’. The product aims to carve a niche of the health product market through the launch of smoker’s choice. Therefore, the report studies in detail the average smokers in the population, the market position of the toothpaste, the customer acceptability, etc. It is a report that uses standard statistical tools for the data analysis and interpretations. The primary aim of this report is a market study. The report is intended to study the market and to make required changes in the strategies if needed. This is a company project and the organization is going to benefit by knowing its market and market position. The tooth paste ‘smoker’s choice’ is launched by the company named Oral Care Plc. â€Å"The oral care market is worth $7.5 billion at retail and headed for $8.9 billion by 2012.† (Oral care products on the U.S. 2007). The tooth paste is the main product of the company at present. The product is aimed at conquering dual markets, the health care and the personal care sector. The tooth paste is very effective in whitening the teeth. But the main feature of the product is that it helps to stop the smoking habits of the people. The mouth after being brushed with smokers’ choice brings a bad taste when it comes in contact with smoke thus helping the people to stop the smoking habit. The toothpaste will keep this effect in the mouth for 18 hours. Even though the product belongs to the

Relationship Between Globalization And National Identities Essay

Relationship Between Globalization And National Identities - Essay Example This project stresses that having examined the impact of globalization on national identity, it would suffice to conclude that the relationship between the two variables is complex; however, what is clear enough is that national identities are still crucial features in today’s era of globalization and will remain unchanged through the coming decades. The perceived negative impact of globalization and advancements in communication technologies on national identities is insignificant because national identities in the so-called global village are not fragmented as it has been previously suggested. This paper makes a conclusion that despite the presence of strong sub-state national identities, devolution as well as separatist movements in the UK, an imminent disintegration of Britain is quite unlikely and the increasing cultural diversity of the society does not necessarily complement or threaten national identities. Countries are defined by their unique national practices that are framed in unique national symbols; national practices within countries contribute immensely to people’s everyday experiences. In that respect, national identities are inseparable from national practices and as long as these practices endure, national identities are here to stay and cannot decline even in the face of the increasing threat of globalization and advancement in information communication technologies.

Economic impacts of natural disasters on the United States Research Paper

Economic impacts of natural disasters on the United States - Research Paper Example Despite falling victims of such calamities for the last decades, efforts to perplex policy formulators have been evidenced. However, the policy makers are uncertain over what can be done to tackle the menace associated with the occurrence of the natural calamities (Yamamura, 2013). There has also been little guidance offered by academics, and this has greatly affected the bitty approaches employed in tackling the issue from a number of disciplines (Alexander). This paper seeks to analyze the economic impacts of natural disasters in the United States. From contemporary literature, the concept of natural disaster is used to refer to the geophysical events that are characterized by a substantial departure from the normal climatic conditions. For instance, the occurrence of a flood that signifies substantial departures from the mediocre rainfall level within a geographical region forms a typical natural calamity. In some instances, the occurrence of these calamities might be predictable and are known to follow some geographical and seasonal patterns as it happens for typhoons and hurricanes (Fang, 2012). Others show vast irregularity in their occurrence, as it takes the case of floods and earthquakes. It is trivial to distinguish between technological and natural hazards. Most technological hazards occur as a result of the activities of human beings. Other social hazards occur which too should be differentiated from natural calamities. Natural calamities have impacted the economy of the United States either positively or negatively for the many instances of their occurrence. In some cases, occurrence of natural disasters leads to infrastructural improvements and the adoption of better and improved technologies in the event of their occurrence. For instance, in a study discussing the earthquake that took place in Alaska in 1964, which provided for a chance of modernization and upgrade of the

Genetic Engineering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Genetic Engineering - Essay Example As an initial matter it is necessary to define what is meant by genetic engineering. This process is known by many terms, such as genetic engineering, genetic modification, and the splicing of genes. Generally speaking, genetic engineering is the manipulation of genes outside of the reproductive process. It is more accurate to refer to this type of endeavor as a collective set of processes; indeed, as stated by the Union of Concerned Scientists, â€Å"genetic engineering refers to a set of technologies that are being used to change the genetic makeup of cells and move genes across species boundaries to produce novel organisms. The techniques involve highly sophisticated manipulations of genetic material and other biologically important chemicals† (â€Å"What is Genetic Engineering?†, 2005: np). In short, genetic engineering is comprised of a wide array of separate processes designed to manipulate genes for specific purposes. Genes determine an organism’s traits and characteristics. These processes, therefore, refer to the transfer and the manipulation of genes in an effort to create new traits, to emphasize certain traits, and to eliminate negative traits. These types of changes do not occur naturally; quite the contrary, they are created by human beings. These processes can be broken down into separate sub-processes of isolating a gene, manipulating that gene, and the reintroduction of new DNA into a cell in order to generate new traits. In sum, genetic engineering is the manipulation of the basic building blocks of an organism in order to create a new organism or an organism with particular traits. The designs transmitted through reproduction can thereby be studied and changed to accomplish a variety of purposes. This is, to be sure, an area which has generated much enthusiasm and much fear. The excitement generated by advances in genetic engineering is pervasive. Indeed, as stated by Curran, genetic engineering raises issues of

Questions & answers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Questions & answers - Assignment Example As the CMO, Dr. Yeasted is on the finance body making suggestions and approvals for any budgeting to be carried out. In his role, he has to prioritize issues in order for the most important and necessary at the moment to take precedence in the budget and also have to explain the same to the staff. The strategic plan at the moment in the hospital is that of trying to streamline the hospital activities and quality with the new health care policies such as the managed care and affordable care act. This is still what he worked on and the success is starting to be evident. Prior to him becoming a CMO, Dr. Yeasted was a Board member of the same hospital and hence has a cordial relationship with the board members including the chairman. This relationship is free of tension as they have known each other for long and have also worked together as physicians. The most enjoyable thing is that he gets to change the life of the community by simply making the correct decisions and implementation of the policies which is part of his job as a CMO. The least enjoyable is attending and participating in meetings which take up majority of his time (Kassel, 2015). I was surprised that the CMO had many roles up their sleeves and sometimes even did not find to practice medicine. I thought their life was just easy as there were other administrators and the Board in the hospital and hence he only had to do the approving and nothing else. According to Dr. Yeasted, in as much a health care administrator is busy with office work and meetings, he or she needs to set aside side time to visit the patients and interact on an informal basis with the staff to not only create rapport but learn more about the hospital. The CMO advices the students who wish to become administrators to become conversant with the issues of finance and take precaution about it. The finances are different from other organizations and hence need different strategies to handle them as well as know how to

Reflection Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reflection Journal - Essay Example it comes to understanding corporal social responsibility and corporate citizenship, I must find the elusive answers on how the two concepts relate to the business and society fields. The society fields in this case entails business ethics, stakeholder management, sustainability and growth delivery. This paper gives a personal reflection on corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship. It is true that corporate social responsibility of an organization is driven by philanthropic aspects such as the commitment to promote or improve the livelihoods of workers and people in a given community. The philanthropic aspects are summarized as a pyramid of corporal social responsibility through moral management of the stakeholders of the organization. However, over years the corporate executives have faced challenges in implementing corporate social responsibility to the society. According to Caroll (1991, p. 40), the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic expectations have become unattainable in the society and might be considered as a pyramid. This is because the organizations only give credit to ethical and philanthropic functions. However, all the four aspects require close attention since they play various roles in ensuring the organization gives corporal social responsibility is achieved in the society. For the organization to achieve its objectives of reaching out to the society, it should implement the four aspects in the following ways. One of the major aspects to be considered should be the philanthropic responsibilities. Therefore, I propose that each executive member should encourage corporate social responsibility by being a good corporate citizen that contributes resources to the community. Secondly, the executives should adopt ethical responsibilities that consider one to be ethical and bear the responsibility to do the right things and avoid any harm to the society. Also, one should have the legal responsibility of obeying the laws provided

Global Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Business Plan - Essay Example Checking inflation, lowering the deficit, and bettering the efficiency of public sector continue to be vital challenges confronting the government. (The Economy of Costa Rica) Costa Rica continues to be one of the safest and most attractive countries for foreign investment in Latin America. The Costa Rican government, its ministries and F.I.s keep up a distinctly pro-US and continental position with regard to financial security and tax laws. The avowed objective is to attract mainly the companies that are on the technological forefront to leverage Central America's most educated, computer literate and highly disciplined workforce together with the modern production infrastructure the nation is presently building. Currently, the economy is being changing over from its long-term dependence on coffee, bananas and cattle rearing to electronics like microprocessor production and high-tech telecommunication services. The pro-investment friendly climate and government policy of transforming the country into the Silicon Valley of Latin America has lured major companies like Acer, Microsoft, GE, Intel Corporation to make considerable investments in the country bot h financially as well as physically, with major production and distribution facilities. (Doing Business in Costa Rica) During 1998, in the course of its entire history, Costa Rica is set to earn a major part from high technology exports than from coffee or bananas or from the flourishing tourism industry. The World Bank has highly rated the country in terms of political and financial health. In the annual conference, the World Bank commended the nation as possessing one of the most stable and robust democracies among the Latin American countries. World Bank also praised the country because of the healthy growth rate and some of the best social indicators in the continent. The country is one of the strongest advocates of continental trade zone, and already possesses its own agreement with Mexico and other nations of the region. The number of tree trade zones of the country and tax holiday opportunities is lucrative. They extend benefits like exemption from import duties on capital goods, components, raw material; unlimited profit repatriation, exemption of tax on profits for 8 years and a 50% exempti on for the subsequent four years. (Doing Business in Costa Rica) Even though the country is not an offshore financial centre in the conventional sense, it favourable tax structure implies that it could have been categorized as a tax haven some decades ago. But it was not until recently that the government came to know of its tax haven potential and started to enact laws and market this sector of economic activity. The country possess a lot of characteristic feature which renders it a distinct advantage compared to other offshore jurisdictions inclusive a perceived on shore jurisdictional status, rock bottom taxes and a fiscal policy that does not differentiate between residents and non-residents for taxation purposes. Off-shore activity is at present booming in Costa Rica and a number of popular companies have established operations, however the industry is yet just in its early stages. A major offshore banking industry is not present primarily due to the fact that the industry came out of the shackles of state control in the year 1996. (Offshore Business Activities in Costa Rica) The financial institutions in the

Experiecing Cosmetology Essay Example for Free

Experiecing Cosmetology Essay Cosmetology is fun and It’s a great way to express your creativity. There are so many styles and ways to do things in cosmetology. I’ve always loved to do hair and make-up, I like to do a lot of experiments and that’s why cosmetology is so interesting to me. These past couple weeks I’ve learned so much about cosmetology. I had the chance to meet so many talented people. I’ve also had the chance to go to places that are known for their awesome work. I’ve even experienced the life before becoming a cosmetologist. Its been a great life changing experience and I’ve learned so much from it. Make-up is one of my favorite things to do. I thought I knew so much about make-up but the truth is that I didn’t. There are so many things to learn about make-up. When I was at M. A. C Cosmetics in the Lehigh Valley Mall I learned so many new things. I even learned about what to do when the make-up is off your face. When a girl is using make up she should constantly be taking care of her face. She should be cleansing her face everyday twice a day, day and night. There are cleansers for different skin types. Milk or cream cleanser is for dry skin and a foam or gel cleanser is for oily skin. She should also tone her face, toners refresh, hydrate, and soften the skin. Toners should also be used twice a day everyday; after cleansing and before moisturizing. Moisturizing should also be done; oil free moisturizer is for oily skin and richly emollient cream is for dry skin. Moisturizer should have UVA and UVB protection. Exfoliating is also another thing to do after make-up is off the face. Exfoliating scrubs helps smooth the skins surface. Last but not least, masking; masking soothes the skin and draws out all of impurities that have been deep in skin. It should be applied at least once a week. Now the fun part is putting on the make-up. Its fun but it also has to be done right if you want to look good. When using make-up the right shade of foundation needs to be used. There are three types of shades; fair, medium, and dark. When in process of choosing the right shade the client should start with two or three different shades that are close to skin tone. Apply a little bit of each shade on the cheek and start blending each one. The one that seems to disappear is the right shade. To apply the foundation the right way a dot needs to be applied on the forehead, nose, and both cheeks. Start blending downward and outward with fingertips, make-up sponge, or foundation brush. The downward motion prevents build up of make-up under fine facial hairs. There also a lot of different foundation types. We have sheer which provides light, transparent coverage. There’s also medium coverage which provides semi-sheer coverage; and last we have full coverage which provides opaque color and a great finish. The eyes are always the attention grabber when it comes to make-up. The magic behind eye make-up is so cool. To begin with concealer is needed to even out the shades. Concealer is also good to keep eye make up from smeering. To apply concealer its needed to start at the bridge of nose, under the eyes, and on the eye lids. Concealer is applied with a concealer brush. Another good thing to do is to apply concealer on the trouble spots so that they are less noticeable. There are also many different concealer types. There’s cream to powder concealer which provides medium-full coverage and a creamy finish. Theres the liquid concealer with a sheer coverage and a light finish. Finally, there’s cream concealer which gives full coverage and a dewy finish. The powder is the next step. Powder is applied with a brush across the forehead and down the bridge of nose. The brush is used in downward motion along the sides of the face to avoid buildup under the fine facial hairs. Then there’s the blush which is like the same process but gives a nicer color. Blush is applied on the apple of the cheek and outward towards the hairline. There are also a lot of different blush types. We have the cream, the powder, and the liquid stains. The powder is good for oily skin, the cream is good for dry skin, and the liquid stains are good for all skin types. Shadow casting to me is the best part because all the colors are available and this where creativity comes to use. There are so many styles possible when it comes to shadow casting but they have to be done right. First, start by taking a large shadow brush and sweep light color over the whole lid; it brightens the area. Then use a medium to dark color on the crease; starting at the outter corner and working inward. It turns out to look beautiful. Then the eyeliner comes in to make the eyes pop out even more. There are so many different ones to use. There’s liquid, to crayon, to pencil, its just so great how there’s so much variety. The one that fits the face best is the one to choose. Then after the eyeliner comes the finishing touch which is mascara. It makes the eyes look so fabulous! The way to get the best curls is by using a lash curler before applying the mascara on the lashes. The lips always make a statement and the one that goes best with lips is the right one. If a girl has big luscious lips and she’s going for a casual look its not a good idea to use a bright vibrant color. She’s better off going with something light. If her lips are small she can use a bright color to make them a little more live. She can have gloss which provides a great shine. The sheer tints go more for a natural look. The mattes are more a flat and opaque finish. I’ve learned so much with this experience and I even got to interview a real make-up artist! Her name was Kim Clouser, she showed me so many things. She’s actually a make-up artist for Clinique. Kim actually didn’t got to school to learn to be a make-up artist she just learned through on-sight training. Kim loves her career as a make-up artist. When I asked her if she loved her career as a make up artist she clearly stated, †yes, nothing better than making a woman feel beautiful. † I felt so inspired when I was interviewing her because she seemed liked she really loved what she did. Kim actually decided she wanted to pursue this career when she was in her â€Å"teenage years†. In her opinion she says that â€Å"M. A. C Cosmetics† is the best make-up. At M. A. C you can find the best quality make-up to feel beautiful! I use it myself and it’s the best I’ve ever used. Through my experienced I’ve also learned a lot about hair. I love doing hair but not as much as doing make up, because with hair you really have to be careful with what is being done. With hair a hair stylist is working with chemicals and irons and she really has to be good at what she does. I got the chance to spend a little time at empire beauty school and at a salon. Through my experience I learned how to wash hair. Washing hair is actually cool because it feels good on the person you’re washing it. Professional shampoo and conditioner has to be used. The hair has to be washed at least three times and it needs a good treatment as well. Then afterwards the rollers should be put in the hair. Putting rollers in is actually pretty complicated. Its not as easy as it looks. The hair has to be parted in different sections and they have to be even. It must be done with a small comb. Then when the rollers are done the customer needs to be in the hair dryer for at least 45 minutes. Afterwards the hair needs to be blow dried. I love the blow drying part because that’s when the end results start showing up. Blow drying is tricky; the Hair Stylist needs to know how to hold the hair blower and the brush at the same time! She also needs to know how to move the brush and what type of brush to use depending on the length and type of hair she’s blow drying. After that’s done she gets to straighten or curl the hair depending on what style. If curling the hair she uses a curling iron. That’s the tricky one because she needs to know what curls to do and how to hold the iron. Straightening is the easiest part. With curling she needs to know how to do convex curls and concave curls. Convex curls give a lot of volume and it lifts the curls. Concave on the other hand creates a hollow flat design. My favorite ones are the convex curls they’re so full of volume! I also had the chance to interview a hairstylist her name was Alexandra Pontoski. When I asked her if she loved her career she shouted† I love my career!! †. She was â€Å"21† when she decided that doing hair was what she wanted to do. In her opinion â€Å"Sebastian† hair products are the best because â€Å"it’s the brand that she was trained with†. Alexandra went to â€Å"Metro Beauty School† to learn how to become a hair dresser. Alexandra really loves her career and she’s planning on staying in the field for a long time. My experience has been great! I’ve met wonderful people who are passionate about what they do. I am so grateful that I got to meet all of those wonderful people and that I learned so much from them and that I got the chance to hang with them for a little. They took they’re time and dedicated themselves to helping me with this project. I really didn’t like the hair part because its so complicated. The make-up was my favorite and I’ve always loved to do other girls make-up. Like Kim said â€Å" nothing better than making a woman feel beautiful† that’s how I see it too! To me this is a life changing experience its something that I can look back at and tell my children and grandchildren about. I got to live one of my dreams for a little.

Theories in the marketing communication framework

Theories in the marketing communication framework According to Kotler (2003, p.563) A way of looking at the whole marketing process from the viewpoint of customer Fundamentally, marketing communication is the essential process to convey the message between corporations and consumers which is to make the target audience trust the brand and marketer Burnett (1993). It has the different methods to reach the audience but the main aim is to build the medium which can inform and persuade the consumers. Also, marketing communication is the method to establish the invisible relationship between firm and customers. To ensure the audience correctly received the message is primary step. By using marketing communication, consumers can understand about firms, products and brands (Kotler and Keller, 2006). One fact which needs to be noted is that the difference between advertising, marketing communication and promotion. It has been claimed that advertising is part of marketing mix which is wider and complex than advertising. However, it is hard t o distinguish the slight difference between. Therefore, they mean the same meaning in this report. Traditionally, there are several elements in the marketing communication which includes advertising, sales promotion, sponsorship, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Even though there has been divided into several elements to distinguish the difference. There is still some room which is overlapped. Hence, it shows the importance of integrated marketing communication. Moreover, it has been claimed that there are some tools which also can be in the marketing communication mix such as packaging, word of mouth, point of sales, E-marketing and exhibitions. It has been stated that there are two categories, namely, above the line and below the line. Above-the-line include advertising which needs to pay the space for promotion such as TV commercial, radio or newspaper and magazine of press. Below the line consist of sales promotion and publi c relations (Smith and Taylor, 2004). The main reason to choose integrated marketing mix is that the message and information can extensively reach the target audience by all channels as well as more suitable and effective methods to achieve marketing communication objectives. By multi-channels promotion, it increase the awareness of brand and comprehend the message. After this, the purchase action could be expected happen by consumers Patrick et al., 2004, Smith and Taylor, 2004) Hence, each marketing communication mix element has the particular function to promote the brand in marketing campaigns. Nowadays, TV commercial, sponsorship, sales promotion are popular and essential marketing communication tools to be used in beer promotion campaign. Also, it has been found that words of mouth play the major role to influence the some beer customer. These marketing communication mix elements will the discussed as below. In beer promotion campaign, Advertising: Advertising is the primary element in the marketing communication mix. It is common to find that majority of audiences consider advertising equal to promotion. According to Kotler and Keller (2006) Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of idea, goods or services by an identified sponsor. It is a general definition of advertising but shows the key point of characteristic which are the promotion for product or service by a sponsor. It has also been admitted that advertising is suitable to build the long term brand image and create the initial awareness. It is controversial issue to distinguish which element is the most influential one in the marketing mix. However, it still needs to be admitted that advertising take the majority part of promotion budget in the campaign regularly as well as widely reach the mass target audience. Furthermore, TV advertising would is arranged the most money because it costs more than other categories like press or radio. In other words, although advertising takes most spend of promotion, it is still the low cost for each unit person (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). Therefore, from firms perspective, advertising seems to be the economical methods to reach most consumers (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Moreover, advertising can play the major role to supplement the rest of tools which efficiently enhance the awareness of campaign and increase sales. For example, it is evidential that most sales promotion messages are conveyed by advertising to reach most audiences. In addition, public relations event such as event sponsorship needs the advertising support to announce the information which also can enhance the awareness (Burnett, 1992). However, there are some limitations of advertising which have been argued. Firstly, it is hard to prove that audience would purchase the products after receiving the commercial message. In other words, the sequenced process needs to be demonstrated more evidences. (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Also, there are several vital cause which can influence the purchasing such as reasonable price, convenient location and quality product (Burnett, 1992). Therefore, advertising can be the influential facts to brand awareness and attitude. Even the direct effect for stimulating purchasing needs to be considered the relationship, it still can be the functional tools in marketing communications. Sponsorship: Sponsorship is in the sub-category of public relations which is to build a relationship and corporation image (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). The definition of sponsorship is that the firms invest the money or in kind to expect the potential revenue to achieve the marketing objectives (Meenaghan, 1991; Berrett, 1993). In recent years, sponsorship has been popular and divided from public relations to be an independent tool in the marketing communication mix which show that the use of sponsorship is increasing and more different types of sponsorship are developing (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Although most of firms keep a limited budget for sponsorship, in some sponsored activities the cost is still a great deal of money such as Carling sponsor as a title to Carling cup. Moreover, the world cup and Olympic both are the popular event which have attracted many aggressive sponsor to invest in it. It has been claimed that sport, arts, education and broadcast are the most popular categories for sponsorship (Smith and Taylor, 2004). It has been claimed that audiences can be aware of the sponsor brand and evoke the brand in the purchasing occasion which increase the brand recall and add the brand into the considered brand portfolio. The brand awareness would be higher than advertising promotion and get more involvement. Moreover, sponsor would evaluate the applicability of event which can be expected to convey the positive emotion and attitude to audiences. Therefore, sponsor expects to link the positive to their brand. In the sport, audiences also can be persuaded with the sport stars endorsement which can enhance the purchasing possibility (De Pelsmacker et al, 2004). It can be concluded that perfect sponsorship could to increase the positive attitude to sponsor and sponsored activities both. However, there are some potential risks of sponsorship which need to be noted. For example, the negative facts influence the sponsored entities which impact the sponsors directly or indirectly. It often happens in sport sponsorship like the sponsored teams or players do not play well in the match. It can be found that Carling and Guinness sponsor the different sport league not particular teams or player that would be a considered sponsorship strategies. In addition, overlapped sponsorship shows the extreme commercial image which could make audiences ignore the message (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Hence, even sponsorship cost generally would be lower than advertising, it still need to be consider punctiliously. Ensuring the sponsored objective will be achieved and can be suitable to marketing communication objective. Also, budget and effectiveness measurement have to be planned in the process. After these, to integrate sponsorship into other communication mix element will reinforce the promotion campaign effectiveness (De Pelsmacker et al, 2004). Sales Promotion: Sale promotion is a short-term promotion to stimulate the consumer buying behaviour (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). The function of sales promotion is not similar with other elements which to increase the long term relationship with consumers. It focuses to increase the sales immediately. There are two ways to achieve the sales. One of these is to encourage the current customers purchasing more products or another one is to attract the new customers attention to purchase. Therefore, it can be concluded that the features of sales promotion is to use simulative offers encourage the customers buy product in the limited time. Also, the measurement of sales promotion is easier to conduct than other communication mix tools (De Pelsmacker et al, 2004). Many tools can be used in the sales promotion such as couponing, sampling, premiums, contest and money-off. Those of instruments are planned to be used in different categories of products. Also, there are some particular sales promotion tools f or trade like point -of tail materials and merchandising. One fact which it needs to note is that sales promotion would be often implemented with advertising which can enhance the effectiveness of campaign. By using sales promotion information in advertising, it would be effective to encourage from awareness to purchase (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Even though sales promotion has been admitted to increase short-term sales influentially, the long-term effect to the brand and sales also needs to be considered. It has been stated that consumers would be used to the price reduce and disregard the quality of products. Moreover, sales promotion would offer a reference price in their mind which makes them more sensitive to the price. Therefore, sales promotion would need more striking price promotion to attract the consumer in the future (De Pelsmacker et al, 2004). In beer industry, sales promotion is often used to compete with other brewers in special period like world cup or Xmas. The re also has some regular sales promotion which tried to be incentive for consumers. In recession, sales promotion are increasingly important to the total sale and integrate more communication mix elements to boost the sales. Hence, it can be expected that more sales promotion would be emphasized in the future. Words of mouth: Word of mouths is a strong medium for marketing communication. It is difficult to contend with friends recommendation by advertising or other communication mix elements. Also, it has been claimed that consumers are more likely to change their brand preference by advice than promotion mix. Thus, by people communication, experience, reputation and recommendation can be conveyed and believed effectively. Moreover, mass media has been claimed that it is not efficient to reach the besieged audience. Words of mouth can be the tool to break the barrier (Smith and Taylor, 2004). With the development of internet, the communication channel is convenient and the information is overload. The experience and feeling can be spread extremely fast which is not like other communication mix elements that could not be measured and control simply by promoters (Berrett, 1993). Even it is complicated to control words of mouth and ensure the content of communication to the brands or products, the impressive communication mix campaign could be the topic to be discussed and increase the positive attitude (Smith and Taylor, 2004). Therefore, words of mouth would be the most influential and uncontrollable part of marketing communication mix. Hierarchy of effect models: One of the prime theories in the marketing communication framework is hierarchy of effect model which logically explains the sequential tasks of marketing message influence. On other words, it affects the consumers awareness to purchase action which is assumed that the relative step would ideally push through to next process. First process is cognitive part which means consumers have received the message and like to awareness. Second process is affective part that shows the attitude and reaction to the promotion messages have been generate in the step. The final process is behaviour part which is the actual purchase to the promoted brand (De Pelsmacker et al, 2004). According to these three main processes, many different models have been created and AIDA is one of the models and often to be referred. AIDA: AIDA model is the fundamental theory in the hierarchy of effect model. It was created by Elmo Lewis who claimed that the influential process of marketing communication can be divided into four steps: Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. It used to be used for sales training. However, it has been the most influential theory to explain marketing communication work nowadays. The model is explained that the process how to shift consumers from the beginning of unawareness to perceived the message and shows the reaction to action (Pickton and Broderick, 2005). Firstly, awareness is that the audiences have noticed and been aware of the promotion. Then, the audiences understand and believe the messages as well as feel interested to the advertising or brands. Following this, the message arouse consumer desire to look for this advertised product or brand. Finally, consumers do the action to purchase. In addition, it has been claimed that each marketing communication mix element can be influ ential to particular step in AIDA model. Firstly, Advertising and public are suitable to build awareness to make consumers know the brand as well as feel interested for the product. However, advertising are not effective to increase the immediate purchase. Meenaghan, T. (1991) The role of sponsorship in the marketing communications mix, International Journal of Advertising, 10 (1) pp.35-47 Berrett, T (1993) The sponsorship of amateur sport-government, national sport organization and corporate perspectives, Society and leisure, 16(2), 323 346. De Pelsmacker et al, (2004) Marketing Communications: A European Perspective, 2nd ed. Essex: Pearson Prentice Hall.

The Biological Effects Of Ionizing Radiation Biology Essay

The Biological Effects Of Ionizing Radiation Biology Essay The biological effects of ionizing radiation are determined by both the radiation dose and the radiation quality ionization density. To understand the radiation protection concerns associated with different types of ionizing radiation, knowledge of both the extent of exposure and consequent macroscopic dose absorbed gray value, as well as the microscopic dose distribution of the radiation modality is required. The definitions of these variables are discussed below but in general to advance the knowledge of the biological effects of different radiation types one needs to know the dose absorbed, the radiation quality and effectiveness of a particular radiation type to induce biological damage. In this study the biological effect of high energy neutrons is compared to that of a reference radiation type 60Co ÃŽÂ ³-rays for a cohort of donors, mostly radiation workers. Comparisons are made at different dose levels in blood cells from each donor to ascertain the relative biological effectiveness of the test radiation modality against that of a recognized reference radiation (Hall, 2005). Such studies are essential to determine the radiation quality for high energy neutron sources applicable to practises in radiation protection. In some nuclear medicine applications radionuclides are used to treat malignant disease. For this the use of short lived alpha particle emitters or other radiation modalities that deliver high ionization densities in cells, are particularly attractive. This as the cellular response in relation to inherent radiosensitivity of the effected cells is thought to be more consistent compared to the use of radionuclides that emit radiation with a lower ionization density e.g. ÃŽÂ ²-particles. The relative biological effectiveness of the high energy neutrons used in this study is followed as a function of the inherent radiosensitivity of different individuals. This allows the identification of cell populations that are relatively sensitive or relatively resistant to radiation. As such research material is available to investigate cellular response too Auger electrons. The latter is known to induce biological damage akin to that of alpha particles. A short description of the physical and biological variables applicable to this study is summarised below. Ionizing Radiation The term ionizing radiation refers to both charged particles (e.g., electrons or protons) and uncharged particles (e.g., photons or neutrons) that can impart enough energy to atoms and molecules to cause ionizations in that medium, or to initiate nuclear or elementary-particle transformations that in turn result in ionization or the production of ionizing radiation. Ionization produced by particles is the process by which one or more electrons are liberated in collisions of the particles with atoms or molecules (The International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements [ICRU] Report 85, 2011). Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter Ionizing radiation is not restricted to ionization events alone. Several physical and chemical effects in matter such as: heat generation, atomic displacements, excitation of atoms and molecules, destruction of chemical bonds and nuclear reactions may occur. The effects of ionizing radiation on matter depend on the type and energy of radiation, the target, and the irradiation conditions. Radiation can be categorized in terms of how it induces ionizations: Directly ionizing radiation, consist of charged particles such as electrons, protons and alpha particles. Indirectly ionizing radiation consists of neutral particles and/or electromagnetic radiation such as neutrons and photons (ÃŽÂ ³-rays and X-rays). Ionising radiation interacts with matter by: Interaction with the electron cloud of the atom, or by Interaction with the nucleus of the atom. Types of ionizing radiation linked to this study ÃŽÂ ³-rays Ionizing photons (ÃŽÂ ³- and X-rays) are indirectly ionising radiation. These wave like particles have zero rest mass and carry no electrical charge. Low energy (E>2m0c2) may be absorbed by atomic nuclei and initiate nuclear reactions (Cember, 1969). The charged electrons emitted from the atoms, produce the excitation and ionisation events in the absorbing medium. Neutrons Neutrons, similar to ionizing photons are indirectly ionizing radiations; however, these particles do have a rest mass. There is negligible interaction between neutrons and the electron cloud of atoms since neutrons do not have a net electrical charge (Henry, 1969). The principle interactions occur through direct collisions with atomic nuclei during elastic scattering events. In this process, ionisation is produced by charged particles such as recoil nuclei and nuclear reaction products. The production of secondary ionising photons will result in the release of energetic electrons. In turn these charged particles can deposit energy at a considerable distance from the interaction sites (Pizzarello, 1982). Auger electrons Auger electron emission is an atomic-, not a nuclear process. In this process an electron is ejected from an orbital shell of the atom. A preceding event, e.g. electron capture (EC) or internal conversion (IC) leaves the atom with a vacant state in its electron configuration. An electron from a higher energy shell will drop into the vacant state and the energy difference will be emitted as a characteristic x-ray (Cember, 1969). The energy of the x-ray (Ex-ray) being the difference in energy (E) between the two electron shells L and K. Ex-ray = EL -EK Alternatively, the energy may be transferred to an electron of an outer shell, causing it to be ejected from the atom (Fig. 1). The emitted electron is known as an Auger electron and similarly to the x-ray has an energy: EAuger = EΆ -EB where: EΆ = the energy of inner-shell vacancy energy of outer-shell vacancy EB = binding energy of emitted (Auger) electron Auger emission is favoured for, low-Z materials where electron binding energies are small. Auger electrons have low kinetic energies; hence travel only a very short range in the absorbing medium (Cember, 1969). File:Auger Process.svg Fig. 1: Schematic representation of the Auger electron emission process, where an orbital electron is ejected following an ionization event. Dosimetric Quantities Several dosimetric quantities have been defined to quantify energy deposition in a medium when ionizing radiation passes through it. Radiation fields are well described by physical quantities such as particle fluence or air kerma free in air are used. However these quantities do not relate to the effects of exposure on biological systems (International Commission on Radiological Protection [ICRP] Publication 103, 2007). The absorbed dose, D, is the basic physical quantity used in radiobiology, radiology and radiation protection that quantifies energy deposition by any type of radiation in any absorbing material. The International System of Units (SI) of absorbed dose is joule per kilogram (J.kg-1) and is termed the gray (Gy). Absorbed dose, D, is defined as the quotient of mean energy, dÃŽÂ µ, imparted by ionising radiation in a volume element and the mass, dm, of the matter in that volume (Cember, 1969). The absorbed dose quantifies the energy imparted per unit mass absorbing medium, but does not relate this value to radiation damage induced in cells or tissue. The radiation weighted dose (HT) is used as a measure of the biological effect for a specific radiation quality on cells or tissue. It is calculated from equation where DT,R is the mean absorbed dose in a tissue T due to radiation of type R and wR is the corresponding dimensionless radiation weighting factor. The unit of radiation weighted dose is J.kg-1 and is termed the sievert (Sv). Radiation weighting factors are recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (International Commission on Radiological Protection [ICRP] Publication 103, 2007) and are derived from studies on the effect of the micro-deposition of radiation energy in tissue and on its carcinogenic potential. Linear Energy Transfer (LET) Ionizing radiation deposits energy in the form of ionizations along the track of the ionizing particle. The spatial distribution of these ionization events is related to the radiation type. The term linear energy transfer (LET) relates to the rate at which secondary charged particles deposit energy in the absorbing medium per unit distance (keV/ µm). LET is a realistic measure of radiation quality (Duncan, 1977). The LET (L) of charged particles in a medium is defined as the quotient of dE/dl where dE is the average energy locally imparted to the medium by a charged particle of specified energy in traversing a distance dl (Pizzarello, 1982). For high energy photons (x- and ÃŽÂ ³-rays), fast electrons are ejected when energetic photons interact with the absorbing medium. The primary ionization events along the track of the ionizing particle are well separated. This type of sparsely ionizing radiation is termed low-LET radiation. The LET of a 60Cobalt teletherapy source (1.3325 and 1.1732 MeV) is in the range of 0.24 keV/ µm (Vral et al., 1994). Neutrons cause the emission of recoil protons, alpha particles and heavy nuclear fragments during scattering events. These emitted charged particles interact more readily with the absorbing medium and cause densely spaced ionizing events along its track. The p66(Be) neutron beam used in this study has an ionization density of 20 keV/ µm and hence regarded as high-LET radiation. Auger electrons travel very short distances in the absorbing medium due to their low kinetic energies. All the energy of these particles is liberated in small volumes over short track lengths. Ionization densities are therefore very high, up to 40 keV/ µm this is comparable to high-LET alpha particles (Godu et al., 1994). Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) The degree of damage caused by ionizing radiation depends firstly on the absorbed dose and secondly on the ionization density or quality of radiation. Variances in the biological effects of different radiation qualities can be described in terms of the relative biological effectiveness (RBE). RBE defines the magnitude of biological response for a certain radiation quality compared to a distinct reference radiation. It is expressed in terms of the ratio (Quoc, 2009): Megavoltage X-rays or 60Co ÃŽÂ ³-rays are commonly employed as the reference radiation since these are standard therapeutic sources of radiation. Thus for an identical dose neutrons the biological effect observed would be greater, compared to 60Co ÃŽÂ ³-rays. The fundamental difference between these radiation modalities is in the spatial orientation or micro deposition of energy. Furthermore, RBE varies as a function of the dose applied increase in RBE is noted for a decrease in dose. By evaluating dose response curves (Fig 2), it is evident that the shoulder of the neutron curve is much shallower (smaller ÃŽÂ ²-value) compared to the reference radiation curve. Therefore changes in RBE are prominent over low dose ranges (Hall, 2005). Fig 2: Dose response curves based on the linear quadratic model demonstrate differences in RBE as a function of dose. Through evaluation of the biological effect curves it is apparent that the RBE for a specific radiation quality may vary. This is characterized by the type of tissue or cells being investigated, dose and dose rates applied oxygenation status of the tissue, energy of radiation and the phase of the cell cycle and inherent radiosensitivity of cells. The RBE increases with a decrease in dose, to reach a maximum RBE denoted RBEM this is calculated from the ratio of the initial slope of the dose response curves for both radiation modalities. RBE LET relationship For a given absorbed dose, differences in the biological response for several cell lines, exposed to different radiation qualities have been demonstrated (Slabbert et al., 1996). Cells exposed to a specified dose low LET radiation do not exhibit the same biological endpoint than those exposed to same dose high LET radiation. This since with low LET radiation a substantial amount of damage may be repaired because the energy density imparted to each ionization site is relatively low. The predominant mode of interaction for this radiation type is indirect through chemical attack from radiolysis of water. As the LET increases, for a specific dose, fewer sites are damaged but the sites that are located along the track of the ionizing particle are severely damaged because more energy is imparted. Thus the probability of direct interaction between the particle track and the target molecule increases with an increase in LET. The RBE of radiation can be correlated with the estimates of LET values. However, as the LET increases, exceeding 10keV/ µm it is no longer possible to assign a single value for the RBE. Beyond this LET, the shape of the cell survival curve changes markedly in the shoulder region compared to low-LET. Since RBE is a measure of the biological effect produced, comparison of the low-LET and high-LET curves will reveal that RBE increases with decreasing dose (Hall, 2005). The average separation in ionizing events at LET of about 100 keV/ÃŽÂ ¼m is equal to the width of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) double strand molecule (Fig. 3). Further increase in LET results in decreased RBE since ionization events occur at smaller intervals than DNA molecule strand separation (Fig. 3) and this energy imparted does not contribute to DNA damage. Fig 3: Average spatial distribution of ionizing events for different LET values in relation to the DNA double helix structure (Hall 2005). Cellular Radiosensitivity Tissue radiosensitivity models In 1906 the radiobiologists Bergonie and Tribondeau established a rule for tissue radiosensitivity. They studied the relative radiosensitivities of cells and from this could predict which type of cells would be more radiosensitive (Hall, 2005). Bergonie and Tribondeau realized that cells were most sensitive to radiation when they are: Rapidly dividing (high mitotic activity). Cells with a long dividing future. Cells of an unspecialised type. The law of Bergonie and Tribondeau was later adapted by Ancel and Vitemberger; they concluded that radiation damage is dependent on two factors: the biological stress on the cell. the conditions to which the cell is exposed pre and post irradiation. Cell division causes biological stress thus cells with a short doubling time express radiation damage at an earlier stage than slowly dividing cells. Undifferentiated rapidly dividing cells therefore are most radiosensitive (Hall, 2005). A comprehensive system of classification was proposed by Rubin and Casarett, cell populations were grouped into 4 categories based on the reproduction kinetics: Vegetative intermitotic cells were defined as rapidly dividing undifferentiated cells. These cells usually have a short life cycle. For example: erythroblasts and intestinal crypt cells and are very radiosensitive. Differentiating intermitotic cells are characterized as actively dividing cells with some level of differentiation. Examples include: meylocytes and midlevel cells in maturing cell lines these cells are radiosensitive. Reverting postmitotic cells are regarded as to not divide regularly and generally long lived. Liver cells is an example of this cell type, these cell types exhibit a degree radioresistance. Fixed postmitotic cells do not divide. Cells beloning to this classification are regarded to be highly differentiated and highly specialized in both morphology and function. These cells are replaced by differentiating cells in the cell maturation lines and are regarded as the most radioresistant cell types. Nerve and muscle cells are prime examples (Hall, 2005). Michalowski proposed a type of classification which divides tissues into hierarchical (H-type) and flexible (F-type) populations. Within this classification cells are grouped in 3 distinct categories: Stem cells, that continuously divide and reproduce to give rise to both new stem cells and cells that eventually give rise to mature functional cells. Maturing cells arising from stem cells and through progressive division eventually differentiate into an end-stage mature functional cell. Mature adult functional cells that do not divide Examples of H-type populations include the bone marrow, intestinal epithelium and epidermis; these cells are capable of unlimited proliferation. In F-type populations the adult cells can under certain circumstance be induced to undergo division and reproduce another adult cell. Examples include; liver parenchymal cells and thyroid cells. The two types represent the extremes in cell populations. It should be noted that most tissue populations exist between the extremes, these exhibit characteristics of both types where mature cells are able to divide a limited number of times. The sensitivity to radiation can be attributed to the length of the life cycle and the reproductive potential of the critical cell line within that tissue (Hall, 2005). Cell cycle dependent radiosensitivity As cells progress through the cell cycle various physical and biochemical changes occur (Fig. 4). These changes influence the response of cells to ionizing radiation. Variations in radiosensitivity for several cell types at different stages of the cell cycle has been documented (Hall, 2005). Following the law of Bergonie and Tribondeau that cells with high mitotic activity are most radiosensitive, it was found that cells in the mitotic phase (M-phase) of the cell cycle are most sensitive. Late stage gap 2 (G2) phase cells are also very sensitive with gap 1 (G1) phase being more radioresistant and synthesis (S phase) cells the most resistant (Domon, 1980). Fig. 4: Cell cycle of proliferating cells representing the different phases leading up to cell division. The G0 resting phase for cells that do not actively proliferate has been included since T-lymphocytes naturally occur in this phase (Hall, 2005). Nonproliferating cells, generally cells that are fully differentiated, may enter the rest phase G0 from G1 and remain inactive for long periods of time. Peripheral T-lymphocytes seldom replicate naturally and remain in G0 indefinately. Lymphocyte Radiosensitivity The hematopoietic system is very sensitive to radiation. Differential blood analyses are routinely employed as a measure of radiation exposure. This measurement is based on the sensitivity of stem cells and the changes observed in the constituents of peripheral blood due to variations in transit time from stem cell to functioning cell (Hall, 2005). It has been shown that lymphocytes, although they are resting cells (G0 phase) which do not actively proliferate nor do have a long dividing future hence do not meet the criteria of a radiosensitive cell type as described above are of the most radio sensitive cells. The reasons for their acute sensitivity cannot be explained (Hall, 2005). Furthermore two distinct subpopulations T-lymphocytes with respect to radiosensitivity were found in peripheral blood. The small T-lymphocyte which is extremely radiosensitive and disappears almost completely from the peripheral blood at doses of 500 mGy (Kataoka, 1974, Knox, 1982 and Hall, 2005). Cytogenetic expression of ionizing radiation induced damage The primary target in radiotherapy is the double helix deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule (Rothkam et al. 2009). This macro molecule contains the genetic code critical to the development and functioning of most living organisms. The DNA molecule consists of two strands held together by hydrogen bonds between the bases. Each strand is made up of four types of nucleotides. A nucleotide consists of a five-carbon sugar (deoxyribose), a phosphate group and a nitrogen containing base. The nitrogen containing bases are adenine, guanine, thymine or cytosine. Base pairing between two nucleotide strands is universally constant with adenine pairing with thymine and guanine with cytosine (Fig. 5). This attribute permits effective single strand break repair since the opposite strand is used as a template during the repair process. The base sequence within a nucleotide strand differs; the arrangement of bases defines the genetic code. The double helix DNA molecule is wound up on histones and bou nd together by proteins to form nucleosomes. This structure is folded and coiled repeatedly to become a chromosome. Fig. 5: The double helix structure of a DNA molecule consists of two neucleotide strands held together by hydrogen bonds between the bases. Figure modified from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_22 by P Beukes. Ionizing radiation can either interact directly or indirectly with the DNA strand. When an ionization event occurs in close proximity to the DNA molecule direct ionization can denature the strand. Ionization events that occur within the medium surrounding the DNA produce free radicals such as hydrogen peroxide through radiolysis of water. Damage induced by ionizing radiation to the DNA include base damage (BD), single strand breaks (SSB), abasic sites (AS), DNA-protein cross-links (DPC), and double strand breaks (DSB) (Fig. 6). Fig. 6: Examples of several radiation induced DNA lesions. Figure modified from Best B (9) by P Beukes. Low-LET radiation primarily causes numerous single strand breaks, through direct and indirect interaction (Hall, 2005). Single strand breaks are of lesser biological importance since these are readily repaired by using the opposite strand as a template. High-LET radiation damage is dominated by direct interactions with the DNA molecule. Densely ionizing radiation has a greater probability to induce irreparable or lethal double strand breaks since energy deposition occurs in discrete tracks (Hall, 2005). The number of tracks will be fewer but more densely packed compared to low-LET radiation of equivalent doses. Several techniques to quantify chromosomal damage and chromatid breaks have been established. These range from isolating DNA and passing it through a porous substrate or gel (Hall, 2005) by applying an external potential difference too advanced techniques of visually observing and numerating chromosomal aberrations of interphase cells. Cytogenetic chromosome aberration assays of peripheral blood T-lymphocytes to assess radiation damage include but are not limited to: premature chromosome condensation (PCC) assay, metaphase spread dicentric and ring chromosome aberration assay (DCA), metaphase spread fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) translocation assay and cytokinesis blocked micronuclei (CBMN) assay (Fig. 7). Fig. 7: Different cytogenetic assays on peripheral T-lymphocytes for use in biological dosimetry. Figure modified from Cytogenetic Dosimetry IAEA, 2011. PCC occurs when an interphase cell is fused with a mitotic cell. The fusion causes the interphase cell to produce condensed chromosomes prematurely. Chromosomal aberrations can thus be analysed immediately following irradiation without the need for mitogen stimulation or cell culturing. Numeration of dicentrics in metaphase spreads has been used with great success to assess radiation damage in cells since the 1960s (Vral et al, 2010). The incidence of these aberrations follows a linear quadratic function with respect to the dose. Unstable aberrations like dicentrics or centric rings are lethal to the cell hence not passed on to daughter cells (Hall, 2005). In contrast translocations are stable aberrations; these are not lethal to the cell and passed on to daughter cells. Examination of translocations thus provides a long term history of exposure. Although the abovementioned techniques are very accurate and well described, the complexity and time consuming nature of the assays has stimulated the development of automated methods of measuring chromosomal damage. Micronuclei (MN) formation in peripheral blood T-lymphocytes lends itself to automation, since the outcome of radiation insult is visually not too complex with limited variables. DNA damage incurred from ionizing radiation or chemical clastogens induce the formation of acentric chromosome fragments and to a small extent malsegregation of whole chromosomes. Acentric chromosome fragments and whole chromosomes that are unable to engage with the mitotic spindle lag behind at anaphase (Cytogenetic Dosimetry IAEA, 2011). Micronuclei originate from these acentric chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes which are excluded from the main nuclei during the metaphase/anaphase transition of mitosis. The lagging chromosome fragment or whole chromosome forms a small separate nucleus visible in the cytoplasm of the cell. Image recognition software can thus be employed to quantify radiation damage by applying classifiers that describe cell size, staining intensity, cell separation, aspect ratio and cell characteristics when numerating MN frequency in BN cells. The classifiers are fully customizable depending on cell size, staining technique or cell type that will be used. Rationale for this study The principal objective of this study is to define RBE variations for high-LET radiation with respect to radiosensitivity. Specifically this is done for very high energy neutrons and Auger electrons. In general the response of different cell types vary much more to treatment with low-LET radiation compared to high-LET radiation (Broerse et al. 1978). Radiosensitivity differences have been demonstrated for different cancer cell lines (Slabbert et al. 1996) as well as various clonogenic mammalian cells (Hall, 2005) exposed to both high and low-LET radiation. In general there is an expectation and in certain cases some experimental evidence to support less variations in radiosensitivities of cells to high-LET radiation. Furthermore the ranking in the relative radiosensitivity of cell types changed for neutron treatments compared to exposure to X-rays (Broerse et al. 1978). To quantify the radiation risk of individuals exposed to cosmic rays or mixed radiation fields of neutrons and ÃŽÂ ³-rays, several experiments were conducted to ascertain biological damage induced by neutron beams of various energies (Nolte et al., 2007). Clonogenic survival data (Hall, 2005), dicentric chromosome aberrations (Heimers 1994) and micronuclei formation (Slabbert et. al 2010) have been followed. Chromosome aberration frequencies have been quantified and this represent radiation risk to neutron energies ranging from 36 keV up to 14.6 MeV (Schmid et al. 2003). To complement these studies additional measurements have been made for blood cells exposed to 60 MeV and 192 MeV quasi monoenergetic neutron beams (Nolte et al. 2007). Comparisons of RBE values obtained in these studies are shown in figure 1. Significant changes in the maximum relative biological effectiveness (RBEM) of these neutron sources are demonstrated as a function of neutron energy, with a maximum value of 90 at 0.4 MeV. RBEM drop to  ±15 for neutron energies higher than 10 MeV and it appears that the RBEM remain constant up to 200 MeV. The RBEM value of 47 -113 reported by Heimers et al. (1999) is not consistent with these observations. Fig. 1: RBEM values for neutrons of different energies after Nolte et al. (2007) The data shown in Fig. 1 was obtained by using the blood of a single donor. This to ensure consistency in the biological response for different neutron energies used in different radiation facilities in different parts of the world. Keeping the donor constant has the advantage that only a single data set for the reference radiation was needed. These measurements were done over several years. In all these studies, dicentric chromosome aberrations were followed. As informative as these investigations may be, it is doubtful if RBE values obtained from blood samples from a single donor are indeed representative for the wider population to state radiation weighting factors. It is unclear if RBE values for high energy neutrons will vary when measured with cells with different inherent radiosensitivities. Warenius et al. (1994) demonstrated that the RBE of a 62.5 MeV neutron beam increases with increase in radioresistance to 6 MV X-rays. Similarly Slabbert et al (1996) using a 29 MeV p(66)/Be neutron with an average energy of 29 MeV, noted a statistically significant increase in the RBE values for cell types with increased radioresistance to 60Co ÃŽÂ ³-rays. Although these investigators used 11 different cell types, few of these were indeed radioresistant to 60Co ÃŽÂ ³-rays. Close inspection of the data shows that the relationship between neutron RBE and radioresistance to photons disappear when the cell type with the highest resistance to ÃŽÂ ³-rays (Gurney melanoma) is removed from the data set Slabbert et al. 1996). In a follow up study the authors failed to demonstrate the relationship for a p(66)/Be neutron beam but such a relationship was demonstrated for a d14/Be neutron beam (Slabbert et al. 2000). It therefore appears that the relationship for RBE and radioresistance is dependent on the selection of cells used in the study as well as the neutron energy. Using lymphocytes Vral et al. (1994) demonstrated a clear reduction RBEM values for 5,5 MeV neutrons with an increase in the ÃŽÂ ±-values of dose effect curves obtained for 60Co ÃŽÂ ³-rays. This for lymphocytes obtained from six healthy donors. Using only four donors Slabbert et al. (2010) also demonstrated a relationship between RBEM neutrons and radiosensitivity to 60Co y rays. In the latter case the RBEM values are lower as can be expected since these investigators used a higher energy neutron source. Although a significant relationship between these parameters has been demonstrated by the investigators, the cohort of 4 donors in the study is very small. In fact 2 out of the 4 donors have different RBEM values but appear to have the same radiosensitivity. A study using larger number of donors with blood cells exposed to high energy neutrons is clearly needed. This in particular too verify the findings above indicating a different wR for donors of different sensitivity. The studies of RBE variations with neutron energy by Schmid et al., (2003), Nolte et al. (2005) and were conducted dicentric formations observed in metaphase spreads. It is known that more than six months were used to analyse the data for different doses for blood cells obtained from a single donor exposed to a single neutron energy. It follows that some method of automation to assist the radiobiological evaluation of cellular radiation damage is needed to quantify wR values as a function of radiosensitivity. Recently a semi-automated image analysis system, Metafer 4, this holds promise to test numerous donors for micronuclei formations Study to include more participants hence Metaferà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.