Tsunami in Japan

The massive wave of water, as high as 10 metres in some parts, reached more than five kilometres inland. The meteorological agency issued its top-level evacuation alerts for the entire Japanese coast amid warnings of a tsunami of between six and 10 metres. Towns and farms around Sendai city in northern Japan have been engulfed by a seven-metre tsunami, while a four-metre wave swamped parts of Kamaishi on the Pacific coast. Residents have been ordered to high ground and stay away from the coast as tsunamis can strike in several waves. Seismologists say the quake was 160 times more powerful than the one that devastated Christchurch last month. Japanese television has shown pictures of a wall of water kilometres wide moving its way across the countryside, engulfing everything in its path. The Cosmo oil refinery in Chiba prefecture outside Tokyo has exploded, sending flames dozens of metres into the air, with firefighters unable to contain the inferno. It is one of more than 40 blazes burning across Japan. â€Å"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicentre within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours,† the agency said. A tsunami warning has been issued across the wider Pacific including Russia, the territories of Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Micronesia and Hawaii. Russia has evacuated 11,000 people from areas that could be affected, including Kuril islands and Sakhalin island. Hawaii has also ordered evacuations. The Bureau of Meteorology says there is no tsunami threat to Australia. The quake, already considered one of the worst in Japan's history, struck about 382 kilometres north-east of Tokyo at a depth of 24 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. The USGS reported at least eight strong aftershocks, including a 6. 8 quake on the mainland 66 kilometres north-east of Tokyo.

The Effect of Capital Structure on Share Prices based on the FTSE 100 Essay

The Effect of Capital Structure on Share Prices based on the FTSE 100 - Essay Example Further analysis of the literature has revealed that besides Market Value, the debt levels of the firm as well as the earnings offered to investors are other influential factors that determine the stock price. This paper aims to construct a regression model for the stock price of most FTSE 100 firms by accommodating these three parameters as variables. Further, the paper contains an elaborate statistical analysis to improve the model and remove any inconsistencies. Studies on Corporate Finance by researchers like Kevin (2006) have debated over the consequences of examining the fragmentation of the firm’s capital structure into various organizational parameters and have expressed the possibilities of analyzing their individual and collective influences on the movement of related share prices and their ultimate impact on returns to shareholders. A company’s capital structure consists of a multitude of assets in the form of equity, debt and other securities, each of which are included into the structure in proportions deemed necessary and sufficient by the firm. Studies by Modigliani and Miller (1958) conducted studies which demonstrate that in scenarios where the investment decisions are fairly stable, the market value of the firm stands invariant to its capital structure composition assuming that the financial markets are perfect in nature (i.e., markets comprising perfect competition and no friction) and provide tax-free returns. Further, Kleinbaum (2008) has shown that in cases where there is an additional component of protective debt covenants, the market value of the firm’s securities is not influenced by any changes in the capital structure. However, the value of the firm and the invariance of the security values can be vulnerable to taxation both at the firm as well as individual levels. This is also true in the case of debt covenants that are

Compensation, Rewards, and Incentives Research Paper

Compensation, Rewards, and Incentives - Research Paper Example The various compensation, rewards and incentives programs designed By IBM have facilitated the organization to draw quality and skilled workforce and maintain workplace satisfaction of the existing employees. Furthermore, the monetary and non-monetary incentive programs practiced by IBM have facilitated the organization to prevent competent and quality employees from leaving the organization along with motivating them to perform dedicatedly in the workplace. The benefit programs have enabled the organization to foster and deliver enhanced employee development. Furthermore, the benefit programs of IBM have facilitated the organization to profitably respond to the rapidly altering market and industry trends. The benefit programs have also facilitated IBM to maintain skilled and agile workforce within the organization. The increased level of employee satisfaction within the organization has enabled IBM to quickly and effectively meet the supply and demand scenario as well as positively manage and develop costs and other revenue generation prospects associated with its performance (Boudreau, 2010). These factors have had a deep-rooted impact on IBM’s attainment of being on the ‘Best Places to Work For’

Legal and Ethical Issues Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legal and Ethical Issues - Case Study Example The parents claimed that the culprit was initially detained by the local police, however once the culprit pretended to be logically, the culprit was released, the psychologist also used his influence to prevent the Poddar from any future arrest, and made a request to the police department to avoid taking any stern measures against Poddar. Legally, if the psychologist was aware about the killing, as alleged by the parents of Tatiana, then psychologist has violated the laws by supporting the murderer and providing assistance to the criminal. It was observed that 'the superior court sustained defendants' demurrers to plaintiffs' second amended complaints without leave to amend'. As per the protest of the parents on the legal grounds imposed liability on the defendants on two different grounds i.e. the failure on the part of the psychologists to inform and warn the prosecutors about the danger before and after its occurrence, it is correct to relate that the psychologist legally under an y law has no justification for hiding the truth and prevalent danger from the parents, police and courts, therefore as per law the psychologist has proven himself wrong through his actions which are violation of law, surprisingly the defendants forwarded and justified their actions in lieu with the California Tort Claims Act of 1963, according to which the defendants were under no compulsion to provide care and concerns for Tatiana (Lawrence, 2002). The parents of Tatiana held the psychologist responsible under Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. Legally it has been observed that the psychologist has performed such action which is contradicting to the injunctions of the laws, 'defendant therapists cannot escape liability merely because Tatiana herself was not their patient', and therefore the reference provided by the defendants is not credible and non-explanatory. Legally a professional is under compulsion to warn and inform the public and police from any expected criminal course of their patient, therefore it was the legal responsibility of the psychologist to alarm the prosecutors, 'when a therapist has observed that his patient has revealed a serious danger of violence to another, the psychologist is liable to incurs an obligation to use reasonable care to protect the intended victim against such danger' (Lawrence, 2002). As per law and legal perspectives the therapist was bound to take different precautionary measures to avoid such crime from occurrence, which in this case the psychologist failed to perform and execute. The failure on the behalf of the psychologist to inform the police, the court, and university administration and the parents has placed the psychologist under severe scrutiny for his failure to abide by the laws and regulations. Although the psychologist did inform the police at the later moment, however his actions were not enough to prevent the crime from occurrence, which could have been avoided because the psychologist was aware about the appr oach and feelings that were developed by Poddar towards Tatiana. The prosecutor blamed the psychologist, and accused him for his failure and reluctance to share the truth at initial

Leadership Behavior in the workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Leadership Behavior in the workplace - Essay Example It also gives a narrative criticism on the article journal by examining female entrepreneurs’ management style as an application of a relational frame. The articulation of abstract in this article is decent. This is because the first line of the article contains the purpose of the research in an exhaustive manner. For example, this paper reports the result of a qualitative analysis of female entrepreneurs’ and their roles in their organizations using Relational Theory. The report of content analysis of group shows that women used a relational approach in working with employees and clients lacks the problem statement, which should appear in the second line of an abstract. The article does not explain the approach that the research employed in the third sentence of the abstract. Instead, it articulates some of the relational skills required in a place of work such as preserving, mutual empowering, achieving and creative team. The abstract indicates the findings of the research clearly in the fourth line. The findings show that Relational Theory is a useful frame in identifying and explicating women entrepreneur in their own bu siness. Finally, a concluding statement about the research is lacking in the abstract. The title of the article is appropriate. This is because it provides a thought of what is contained in the articles. It makes use of a particular theory, Relational Theory to answer subjectively the problem statement, leadership Behaviour in a work place (Xiaojun, 2014). Some of the in-text citation of the article is not in reference to American Psychology Association (APA) format. For example in page 1, the introduction of an in-text, citation at the beginning of a sentence should not make use of quotation marks as contained in this article. In addition, the use of page numbers in the in-text citation on the same reference applies to Modern Language Association (MLA) format. Therefore, this is a shortcoming since the referencing style used in the

Risk management and insurance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Risk management and insurance - Assignment Example They can also create awareness on their employees and other personnel in the organization to ensure that they conduct safety precautions to prevent fire outbreak in the organization. 10 It is important for any organization to have a risk management plan against any possible risks that may be harmful for their organization. That is why organization B decided to take action against its risk of fire outbreak in its premises. Its first alternative was to take an insurance cover from an insurance company. However, the premiums for the coming years seems became so high that the organization decided to seek for an alternative course of action in risk management. The management is looking for a cost effective means of risk management that is effective yet at an affordable price. This paper is aimed at answering the main question that is: the alternative course of action that organization B should take to ensure that it manages its risk of fire effectively. The paper has thoroughly discussed an efficient process of decision-making that will enable the manager to choose an effective and efficient technique to manage the possible risk. The paper has discussed various alternatives to insurance policy. It also focuses on the process of selecting effective techniques of risk management. It is important that the organization conducts an analysis and comes up with the most effective technique to minimize its risks incurred. That is why this paper has conducted a thorough description and analyses of all the possible courses of action for the organization to ensure that it makes the best choices to prevent incurring losses. It ends with a conclusion that sums up the whole paper. There are four alternative courses of action that the organization can take: risk retention, risk sharing, risk avoidance, and loss control. Risk avoidance requires the

Whistleblowers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Whistleblowers - Essay Example sible member of the Littlebury community in which I have lived all my life, it is imperative for me to report the health and safety lapses on the part of Wooden to the concerned statutory bodies. 2) In case I choose not to report the situation, it will be because Wooden is a source of livelihood to a majority of the people in Littlebury. Any legal or statutory action leading to the closure of wooden will jeopardize the livelihood of many people at Littlebury, most of who are either known to me or are related to me. Also, I have worked for 10 years at Wooden. Being a senior and loyal employee, I feel that I do enjoy a measure of intimacy with the top management and can convince them to ameliorate the situation at the earliest. 3) My reporting the health and safety lapses at Wooden could perhaps end up saving the lives of many of my friends and colleagues. Besides, once the situation at Wooden is brought to the attention of a statutory body like Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the organization may take the appropriate measures to improve the health and safety scenario at Wooden. This will certainly better the things for all the employees serving at Wooden. 4) My failure to report the health and safety lapses at Wooden could result in debilitating and dangerous consequences in both a long term and short term perspective. The abundance of wood dust at Wooden’s premises could seriously jeopardize the health of many of my co-workers in a long term perspective. Also, as Karen has reported sparks at her work station, going by the fact that wood dust is highly inflammable, this could certainly lead to a serious accident that may put to risk the life and well being of many of the employees serving Wooden and the town residents. 5) In a technical context, a whistleblower is a person serving as an employee at a government organization or at a private agency who chooses to disclose the wrongdoing, mismanagement, corruption, or illegality at one’s