The Development of Graphic Design from the Very Beginning Free Essay Example, 2500 words

As a result of graphic designers and others fervently exploring the possibilities of these new digital tools, the market soon became saturated with digitization at the expense of individuation. Crisp digital solutions and a fashion for super-slick-vector-traced-one-size-fits-all-what-you-see-is-what-you-get images has emerged in recent years. In providing more answers than questions, the computer had removed any element of chance. In the crop of recent digital imagery, there has been little room for risk, for failure or, more importantly, for the hand of the artist to shine through the software had taken over. Originality and individualism had become far less important than cool control over a vector curve (Hand Made, 2007). While digital graphic design offers the immense possibility, flexibility and precise control, it was soon realized that this perfection of form was somehow lacking in aesthetic appeal. Images created solely on the computer in graphics programs that can produce flawless vector curves and impossibly straight lines retain a perfection that most Japanese artists and clients are uncomfortable with. There s something slightly embarrassing about it slightly too good, too smart, too egotistical. We will write a custom essay sample on The Development of Graphic Design from the Very Beginning or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page I think that it just led straight up a blind alley and as the process itself couldn t change, it was the artist that needed to initiate that change (Craig Atkinson cited in Hand Made, 2007). This lack of the human element, the perfection that the Japanese recognized early on as being flawed because of its perfection, could not remain unanswered by those who appreciate the subtleties of professional illustrations. Design, and the creative disciplines as a whole is beginning to have a resurgence in popular estimation.

Statistics Of Medicaid Fraud That Will Shock You - 1285 Words

Statistics of Medicaid Fraud That Will Shock You 1. In May of 2014, some 107 healthcare providers including doctors and nurses were arrested in several cities. These ones were charged with cheating the programs out of some $452 million in funds. 2. In 2010 federal officials arrested some 94 people who had filed false claims through Medicare and Medicaid, for a total of $251 million in fraudulent claims. 3. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force was formed by federal officials in 2007. The group visited some 1600 businesses in Miami at random, following up on billing to Medicare for durable medical equipment. Of those businesses, nearly one-third did not exist although they had billed Medicare for $237 million in the past year. 4. It was reported†¦show more content†¦This is the practice of routinely paying out every claim as it comes in and then only pursuing those that seem blatantly fraudulent, such as a dentist filing 991 claims in one day. 13. The Department’s Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has stated that they are planning on pursuing pre-claim adjudication to analyze patterns in claims before they are paid out, and are looking to abandon the â€Å"pay and chase† model within the next few years. 14. Some estimate that private insurers lose 1% to 1.5% of their revenue to fraud alone and credit card fraud is estimated to be at around 0.05%, while Medicaid and Medicare numbers are closer to 10% to 15%. One reason for this discrepancy is that private insurers and businesses like credit card providers may be more willing to invest in software and other technology that allows them to spot fraud much more quickly than government programs, and to do so before those claims and charges are paid. 15. Spending for healthcare is estimated to reach some $3 trillion in the U.S. in 2014 alone, although this amount does not currently keep up with the rate of inflation. 16. Claims pursued by the federal government in 2012 included unlawful pricing by drug manufacturers, illegal marketing of products and medical devices that have not been approved of by the Food and Drug Administration, and violations of law in regards to kickbacks and self-referrals. 17. The year 2012Show MoreRelatedLatino History and Culture6732 Words   |  27 Pagesmillion dollars. However, after war with The United States, Mexico’s political unrest continued (Meyer, Sherman Deeds, 1999). The Mexican Revolution: 1910-1929 Many Mexican were unhappy with their government, so after blatant election fraud, from an incumbent president, riots broke out and the revolution began. The revolutionary forces led by, among others, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza defeated the Federal Army, but later disagreed on how to organize the governmentRead More_x000C_Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis355457 Words   |  1422 PagesIntroduction to Statistics and Data Analysis This page intentionally left blank Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis Third Edition Roxy Peck California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Chris Olsen George Washington High School, Cedar Rapids, IA Jay Devore California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Australia †¢ Brazil †¢ Canada †¢ Mexico †¢ Singapore †¢ Spain †¢ United Kingdom †¢ United States Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis, Third

Semiotics of a Magazine Free Essays

Studying semiotics: When we are looking at the study of semiotics it means we are to analyze the use of signs and symbols that the magazine cover uses. When studying a picture, advertisement or magazine cover you can take almost anything as a sign or symbol, anything can represent anything at the discretion of the writer or editor. It is for us to interpret what each sign or symbol is representing to the best of our knowledge. We will write a custom essay sample on Semiotics of a Magazine or any similar topic only for you Order Now Semiotics are important in a work as they give us a better insight into the content, the ideology and what to expect within the magazine. After a close analysis of the semiotics of a magazine we can find out more about what it is about and can understand it more. By reading the signs and symbols it gives us a better sense of the type of magazine. â€Å"In Barthian visual semiotics, the key idea is the layering of meaning. The first layer is the layer of denotation, of what, or who, is being depicted here? The second layer is the layer of connotation, of what ideas and values are expressed through what is represented, and through the way in which it is represented? † (Van Leeuwen, 2001) The first step of the semiotic deconstruction of the cover is to â€Å"identify relevant signs and their dominant aspects† (Van Zoonen, 1994, p. 78) From a first glance at the magazine cover we can see that the masthead is in big and bold capitals as to stand out to the audience. People will look at the masthead and automatically recognize the magazine from the colours and font. The tone of orange and pink they use are colo urs that are represented as stereotypically girly colours. The sell lines on the left and right of the magazine are used to tell the audience what’s included in the magazine or who is in it. It will also give an insight to the genre of the magazine by showing what kind of articles are included and what kind of artists or people they interview or talk about. They include words such as â€Å"World exclusive† to make the audience believe they are getting something that nobody else has and that it is a must have. The header on this magazine reads â€Å"Britain’s No. 1 Women’s magazine†. This is to attract attention to the magazine on the shelf for other women to buy it other the understanding that if it is popular with everyone else then you should enjoy it too. The use of the white on the pink also stands out as the top is normally what you will see first on a magazine on the shelf in a shop. The main image used in this magazine is a picture of Angelina Jolie, who Is a popular actor and fashion icon. The image takes up nearly the whole background and is obviously being used as a big selling point of this magazine. She is not wearing any clothes from our view of the image and has her makeup done perfectly. This image is very sexualized by her facial expression and the amount of skin shown. The use of a pull quote with â€Å"I went from Nanny to Prostitute in 24 hours† , is used to draw the audience in to the magazine are want to read why this happened and gain their interest and attention . It shows that the magazine has these kind of gossip stories that some women have great interest in reading. Having isolated the major signs and aspects of the magazine we then must â€Å"continue to examine the paradigmusicatic of signs by asking what their absent opposites are and how they relate to each other syntagmatically†. This is to say that we need to find the assumptions made by a first look at the cover and to see if they have any opposites. The main image used in the cover is of a white western woman. This is the iconography of the western world as she is someone who would be famous throughout. If they had a darker woman of less significance on the page then you would feel that the magazine would not sell as many copies. Her hair is down and her facial expression and lack of clothing is very sexualized whereas if you were to have her uptight with hair tied up and in a formal outfit then you may think that people would not buy it as she doesn’t seem as open and laid back and less likely to be giving all her gossip in the interview. You feel that there is a kind of ethnocentrism related to magazines such as these as they often are associated with people associated with your own western culture and not from anywhere else. We can then being to denotate what is on the magazine cover. The colour scheme used is that of pink, orange and white. This is to associate the magazine directly to women as these are stereotypical female colours. The font used is a basic one and is often in bold; it is easy to read and stands out on the page. The cover lines feature â€Å"3 sex secrets that will change everything†, various lines about the celebrities included in the magazine and also â€Å"How to get rid of cellulite or at least hide it†, all the coverlines are related to either sex, image or celebrity lives. On a connotation level we can see that the connotations gathered by analysis of this cover they are predominantly about femininity and sexuality. Even thought his is a magazine for women we see that the main image used is a picture of, what we are made to believe, Angelina Jolie naked. She has her makeup done up and has a sexualized look in her eyes staring at the camera. This is a confusing decision in these magazines as you would feel that if you are to judge by how male magazines are made, with semi naked pictures of women also, then you would think that they would have a semi naked man on the cover to their magazine. The 21st century has shown a change back to when women have been used as objects in magazines like this in western civilization but is just taken to be the normality in this part of the world. â€Å"The re-sexualisation of women’s bodies, often displayed in public space and in near-soft porn forms, goes comparatively unremarked – except by those from other, less ‘liberated’ cultures†. Branston, 2010) The media has a huge control on how we represent women and men in a western civilisation. From what is read and seen in magazine we get the perceptions of this is how normal people should be and act and that is completely controllable and interchangeable by what the media chooses to do. This is a high pow er that we should try and move away from as it will control the world and people will always be aiming to be like the celebrities and people shown in these magazines and in the media. Research on media representations of gender has focused on how women are objectified and exploited in a media context and on the gap between social reality and media constructions of femininity and masculinity†( Devereux, 2003) The idea that celebrities mean so much in our society influences on people to be like them. Celebrities are just normal people that have perhaps a talent or a different look, but once the media throws them into the spotlight then it is our turn to idolize them. Magazines such as this one are filled with advertising and fake stories and the cover shows this by showing hidden advertising for a â€Å"? 5 dress that flatters everyone†. This kind of advertising draws people in to read ‘stories’ that are actually just ads for different products. â€Å"The po int of publicity and promotion is to turn advertising into news†(Turner, 2004) References: Branston, G. , Stafford, R. (2010). The media student’s book  (5th  ed. ). London: Routledge. Devereux, E. (2003). Understanding the Media. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Turner, G. (2004). Understanding Celebrity. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Van, L. T. , ; Jewitt, C. (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. London: SAGE. Zoonen, L. (1994). Feminist media studies. London: Sage. How to cite Semiotics of a Magazine, Papers

Net Present Value and Cash free essay sample

Need to consider what types and which cash flows should be included in capital budgeting analysis. Damp;D was producing and marketing two major product lines: 1. Lift-Off: Low –suds, concentrated powder. 2. Wave: Traditional powder detergent. Questions amp; Answers: . If you were in Steve Gasper’s place, would you argue to include the cost from market testing as a cash outflow? If I’m Steven Gasper’s I would not include the cost from market testing as a cash outflow. The reason is because the cost from market testing was considered as sunk costs. A sunk cost is an outlay that has already occurred, hence by decision under consideration would not been affected by the costs. Since sunk costs are not incremental cost they should not be included in the analysis. In this case initial cost for Blast, $500,000 for test marketing, which was conducted in the Detroit area and completed in the previous June was consider as a sunk cost and it will not affect Danforth amp; Donnalley Laundry future cash flows regardless of whether or not the new branch is built. 2. What would your opinion be as to how to deal with the question of working capital? Working capital management deals with the management of current assets which are inventories, payroll, and other cash needs and receivables from customers, account receivable, and also procedures financing these assets. In our opinion, have two basic questions involves in working capital policy: (i) What is the appropriate amount of current assets for the firm to carry both in total and for each specific account and (ii) How should current asset be financed. Therefore, the most important element in best buys working capital policy is its inventory management. Refer to the Danforth amp; Donnalley laundry, McDonald suggest to add another $200,000 in working capital, because they estimate this money would never leave the firm and would always be in liquid form, for the first time; it consider outflow but hence inflow. In our opinion, some additional cash is required to conduct operations in Damp;D laundry because additional some cash is needed in order to reserve for some contingency, or as a â€Å"parking place† for funds prior to an acquisition, a major capital investment program, or the like. That concept has been applied to more complex businesses, where it is used to analyze the effectiveness of a firm’s working capital management. Under relaxed current assets policy, Damp;D laundry would hold relatively large amounts of each type of current asset and under a restricted current assets policy; company would hold minimal amounts of these items. Current assets are necessary, but there are costs associated with holding them. Therefore, if Damp;D can manage its current assets more efficiently and thereby operate with smaller investment in working capital; this will increase Damp;D laundry profitability. 3. Would you suggest that the product be charged for the use of excess production facilities and building? Would this opinion change under the hypothetical assumption that needed production facilities for the current line of powdered detergents were at 55 percent of capacity and expected to grow at a rate 20 percent a year and maximum production capacity was 100 percent? What would be the present value of this cash flow given the fact that the currently proposed new plant would involve cash outflows of $5 million in three years (assuming that acceptance of the Blast project would not affect the size of the proposed outlay, only the timing, and that the new plant and facilities would be operable indefinitely). (Hint: Assume that the introduction of Blast would only move the need for a new plant ahead by one year, that the cash outflow would remain at $5 million regardless of when incurred, and that the plant would operate indefinitely. In our opinion, the excess usage of production facilities and building would not be charge into Blast. The reasons of this are:- a) When the machine was bought for Lift-Off productions the cost has been calculated; and b) In obtaining the machine and building for Blast productions no cash payment has been made. Since the production of Blast will occupy current excess capacity, no incremental cash flows are incurred; hence, none should be charged against Blast. Would you suggest that the cash flows resulting from erosion of sales from current laundry detergent products be included as a cash inflow? If there was a chance that competition would introduce a similar product were Damp;D to fail to introduce Blast, would this affect your answer? Yes, it should be treat as an incremental cash flow for the reduction in the sales of the Lift-Off and Wave, referred to as erosion. These lost sales are included because it a cost (a revenue reduction) that the company must bear if it choose to produce the new product (Blast). It will not affect our answer if there was a chance that competition would introduce a similar product at time Damp;D fail to introduce Blast. This happen due to the fact that for constructs cash flow we ignore the competitor effect. 5. If debt is used to finance this project, should the interest payments associated with this new debt be considered cash flows? No. We discount project cash flows with a cost of capital that is the rate of return required by all investors (not just debt holders or stockholders), and so we should discount the total amount of cash flow available to all investors.