Influence of Climate Variability on Marine Ecosystems

Influence of Climate Variability on Marine Ecosystems Large variability in populations of small pelagic fish species have been observed in global oceans (Watanabe 2009). The flexibility in reproductive features of the spawning stock combined with environmental induced fluctuation in survival rate of offspring and overexploitation, can be the major reasons for such large variability in stocks of these species (Ganias 2009) and relation between large scale climate alteration and these fluctuation known as an important scientific and economic concern (Klyashtorin 2001). Hence over the last decades, since about 1980, recognizing the process by which variability in recruitment of small pelagic fish occur, became a main subject for international co-operation and researches (Alheit and Bakun 2009). However providing a reliable correlation between global climate conditions and long-term stock variability has been forgotten till that time (Klyashtorin 2001) and lack of scientific knowledge from the process which govern recruitment was widely ide ntified in the 1980s (and still is) as the important scientific problem which hindering successful management of populations of small pelagic fish (Alheit and Bakun 2009). Main focuses of these co-operation in 1990s has been concentrated on the influence of climate variability on marine ecosystems, mainly on small pelagic species. To improve the understanding from such relations several efforts have been done to correlate regular anchovy and sardine stocks alteration with the global and regional climate indices (Klyashtorin 2001). Synchronous outbursts alteration in populations of these two species, i.e. sardine and anchovy in North and South Hemispheres might shown the signature of same global climatic events in governing of the fish populations and such alteration became the subject of several studies in this case (Lluch-Belda et al. 1989; Lluch-Belda et al. 1992; Kawasaki 1992a, 1992b; Schwartzlose et al. 1999). In study which conducted by Kawasaki (1992a), has been shown that catches of Japanese sardine are related to climate alterations, explained as air and water surface temperature in hemispheric scale. In another study by Kawasaki (1994) concept of cyclic climate alteration has been applied to explain regular alteration in the Japanese sardine catches over previous 350 years. The same dependence to climate change has been suggested also for Californian sardine (Lluch-Belda et al. 1992). Beverton (1990) and Schwartzlose et al. (1999) in case of industrial fishery collapses of the sardine (Sardinops caerulea) fishery in the California current were thought environmental induced effects may play an important role. In another studies which conducted by Bakun (1990, 1996), correlation between the long-term variability of catch of abundant small pelagic fishes and the upwelling index has been investigated. In these studies author showed that the world climate changes come with significant alte ration in the atmospheric movement, direction and acceleration of largest oceanic streams, and upwelling strength. Therefore, regarding to this background, several detailed investigations have been conducted by FAO during the years 1994 to 2001 to investigate the condition and aspect of the world fisheries and tried to make a simulations from applying of new methods to have predictions from dynamics of fish stock. Hence in latest one, which has been conducted by Klyashtorin (2001), long term variability in catches of commercially valuable species and climate alteration has been investigated. The author showd a close correlation between the climate alteration and long-term variability of the main commercial stocks, including the small pelagic species over Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With regard to important of such topics several studies continue to investigate the climate induce effects on commercially important small pelagic species in recent years (e.g. Grà ¶ger et al. 2009; Watanabe 2009; Alheit et al. 2012; Alheit et al. 2014). Rising in the abundance of European anchovy in the North Sea in the late 1980s was connected to the signal and strength of the AMO (Alheit et al. 2012). Also, in another study by Alheit et al. (2014) the dynamics and migrations of small pelagic fish stocks in the eastern North and Central Atlantic in relation to AMO have been investigated. The authors believed that a complex ocean–atmosphere alteration which occurred in the mid-1990s lead to a â€Å"regime shift† in the ecosystems of these area and the small pelagic clupeoid fish stocks have affected by this shift. The autumn-spawning herring (Clupea harengus) stock in the North Sea can be another example of the commercially valuable North Sea herring. More recent evidence from a directional alteration occurrence in recruitment of this species has been reported by Payne et al. (2009) during the 2000s. In this study authors believed that recruitment is affected not only by parental-stock biomass, but it seems that the environmental induced alteration, also, may influence the recruitment of this species in North Sea and changes in such factors could be of equal, or even more important. Hence to understand better the reproductive failures of North Sea herring, Grà ¶ger et al. (2009) also studied large-scale climate proxies in the North Atlantic Ocean, (i.e. NAO and AMO), and their potential influences on stock regeneration of this species. Commercially important pelagic species, European anchovy, which support the main fisheries in the Black sea (Chashchin 1996; Daskalov 2003) also has shown significant variability during the last five decades (Gà ¼raslan et al. 2014). According by Niermann (2004) and Oguz (2005) several process including regional climate fluctuation, overexploitation, rising the input of anthropogenic induce nutrient from rivers, and, the ctenophore (comb jelly) M. leidyi and regime shift can be responsible for such variability. Evidence has shown that not only human related activities but also environmental fluctuation can play important role in controlling anchovy production in the Black sea and such hypothesis was investigated several studies (e.g. Niermann et al. 1999; Daskalov 2003; Oguz 2005; Oguz et al. 2006). These studies have been shown strong correlation between local climatic variations such as those derived by the NAO and fluctuations of anchovy population in this Sea. Many anthropogenic induced pressure including pollution (e.g. domestic and industrial run-off, the development of vast oil and gas fields) and uncontrolled fish exploitation, also, altered significantly the Caspian sea environment during the last 3 decades. These alteration that has resulted in poor management can be caused in increasing â€Å"environmental degradation† and damaged in coastlines and trophic base of the Caspian sea (Mamedov 2006). Fisheries sector play an important role in the Caspian sea. Total annually catches for the commercially valuable fish in this sea, for instance beluga, sturgeon, and Caspian roach were around 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes, in the past decades. Such state in fisheries production was not changed till the early 1950s, then, thereafter small pelagic species fisheries has significantly increased in central and southern part of the Caspian sea to atone the decrease in catches of the aforementioned more important fish species. Total catch of kilka species has mainly maintained in level of 300,000 and 400,000 tonnes during the period between 1960 to 1980 (Barannik et al. 2004). During the past three decades kilka species and some other commercial fisheries in the Caspian Sea were suffered from significant decreases. Such decreases has been observed in total catch of the major commercial species of kilka in the Caspian, anchovy kilka, which suffered significantly from alteration (decrease trend). The catch of kilka by Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran dropped from 182,700 t in 2000 to 74,700 t in 2001 and maintained really low after this time (Mamedov 2006). Over the period 2000 to 2011 a continuous decline of catches has been observed, the stock dramatically collapsed in 2001 and reached to its historical minimum in 2011. Dramatic collapse in mainly fisheries resource of the Caspian sea and also failure of biodiversity and ecosystem persistence in this sea became a widespread concern in the regional and internationally scales. With regard to the important role of the kilka fisheries as main source of income and protein for Iranian people in coastal area of the Caspian sea, such dramatic collapses might have unfavorable influences on economy and local protein intake (Fazli 2007). Accordingly Bagheri et al. (2004) reported economic losses around US$15 million, from decrease of anchovy kilka catches off Iranian over period of 1998 to 2001. Hence, as elsewhere, sustainable management of small pelagic fish can be vital for the fisheries and the ecosystem health of the Caspian sea. Several studies has been conducted in case of kilka species in the Caspian Sea which according by Mamedov (2006) this studies started in 1940s. The study of kilka species has been followed by others for instance Prikhod’ko (1975), Paritskiy (1989), Mamedov (2006) and Fazli (2007). Many studies has conducted in Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea. the most of these previous studies were subjected to biological characteristics, ecologic features, distribution and stock assessment of the kilka (e.g. Pourgholam et al. 1996; Fazli and Besharat 1998; Fazli 2007; Karimzadeh 2011; Aliasghari and Parafkandeh Haghighi 2013). However in previous studies several mechanisms have been proposed as reasons of aforementioned fluctuation of the kilka species in the Caspian Sea during the last decade (Mamedov 2006; Daskalov and Mamedov 2007; Fazli 2007; Kideys et al. 2008; Roohi et al. 2010; Fazli 2011). Accordingly the recent study on anchovy kilka by Daskalov and Mamedov (2007) reported several candidate mechanisms which may be responsible for such a decline of the kilka species. In this study authors believed that the major stress factor for the Caspian sea pelagic ecosystem in the past decades was the invasion of the ctenophore (comb jelly) M. leidyi. This invasion and spread of the ctenophore M. leidyi in the Caspian Sea has been introduced as the most possible primary cause of recruitment failure and the stock collapse of this specie, although other factors, including overfishing, climate change and seismic activity suggested as factors may negatively influenced dynamics of this species. Although in previous studies the effect of the climate and environmental variability on kilka species has been mentioned as one of the hypothesis that may be responsible for the fluctuation of the kilka species the detailed information about the role of climate and environmental variability on fluctuations of these commercially important species during the last decades was (still is) not clear. To our knowledge, however, only few long-term studies are currently available in relation to climate and environmental variability in the Caspian Sea (e.g. Nezlin 2005; Lougheed 2006; Moradi 2013; Fendereski et al. 2014) that mainly focused on the dynamics of Chl-a concentration, and also physical and chemical characteristics of the Caspian Sea. Despite the widely used hypothesis of the role of climate changes in fluctuations of small pelagic species there is still no detailed investigation on kilka species in the Caspian Sea during recent years. Hence, in this study the following objectives a nd hypothesis has been defined to illustrate the role of climate driven effects on the fluctuation of these kilka species.

Colonial Discourse in Jane Eyre :: Essays Papers

Colonial Discourse in Jane Eyre The plot of Jane Eyre is well known and it is not my intention to outline it here. Instead I want to draw attention to a number of key points which relate to the theme of colonies and colonialism. The figure of the first Mrs Rochester, the insane and promiscuous Creole who stands in the way of Rochester's marriage to the modest Jane is the most obvious example of Bronte's use of the colonies to provide the material for her work, but there are other moments of interaction throughout the novel. As a child, Jane is fond of likening her position to that of a slave, but Bronte distances her character from the slavetrade in the West Indies by placing the model for Jane's slavery in the Far East, where England has no hand in the business. The slave metaphor is repeated throughout the novel to describe the position of women in British society, but it is always distanced. When Jane eventually comes into her inheritance from her uncle, the source of her wealth is Madeira, another slave society. Jane acts in an honourable fashion by dividing her wealth with her cousins who saved her, but the means of her independance is undeniably due to the colonies. The treatment of India is important in this context. St. John Rivers wants Jane to join him as his wife on a missionary expedition to India, but Jane sees the discipline and severity of his character as too stifling for her to thrive in. The implication is that she would revert to her former slave position under his influence. But Jane recognises that although his discipline is too much for her, he will do extremely well in India, perhaps indicating that the Indians are in need of such a severe influence to keep them under control. Colonial Discourse in Jane Eyre :: Essays Papers Colonial Discourse in Jane Eyre The plot of Jane Eyre is well known and it is not my intention to outline it here. Instead I want to draw attention to a number of key points which relate to the theme of colonies and colonialism. The figure of the first Mrs Rochester, the insane and promiscuous Creole who stands in the way of Rochester's marriage to the modest Jane is the most obvious example of Bronte's use of the colonies to provide the material for her work, but there are other moments of interaction throughout the novel. As a child, Jane is fond of likening her position to that of a slave, but Bronte distances her character from the slavetrade in the West Indies by placing the model for Jane's slavery in the Far East, where England has no hand in the business. The slave metaphor is repeated throughout the novel to describe the position of women in British society, but it is always distanced. When Jane eventually comes into her inheritance from her uncle, the source of her wealth is Madeira, another slave society. Jane acts in an honourable fashion by dividing her wealth with her cousins who saved her, but the means of her independance is undeniably due to the colonies. The treatment of India is important in this context. St. John Rivers wants Jane to join him as his wife on a missionary expedition to India, but Jane sees the discipline and severity of his character as too stifling for her to thrive in. The implication is that she would revert to her former slave position under his influence. But Jane recognises that although his discipline is too much for her, he will do extremely well in India, perhaps indicating that the Indians are in need of such a severe influence to keep them under control.

Does CSR Work? Essays -- Business Essays

Does CSR Work? Adam Smith founded the modern study of economics on the premise that all businesses are driven by the invisible hand to seek as much profit as possible while society will take care of itself. However, as the public’s opinion of big business has steadily declined in the recent decades, big business has developed a social conscience to improve all aspects of society from worker compensation to protecting the environment to helping the needy. As Stephen Cook indicates in the January 2003 edition of Management Today: â€Å"Everyone cares these days. You can hardly walk through the door of a major company in the western world without tripping over stacks of glossy reports telling you how they care for the environment, their community, their stakeholders.† John G. Ruggie believes that the increase in corporate social responsibility (CSR) stems from three reasons: 1) companies have made themselves targets by doing â€Å"bad† things in the past (Shell in Nigeria; N ike in Indonesia), 2)public perception that the global marketplace is more police-able and international rules and standards are more enforceable, 3) companies large growth as made them the only ones capable of policing themselves in a global capacity. However, two questions arise from this new branch of the corporate hierarchy: 1) does CSR produce results? And 2) does the public care about CSR. Gereffi et al. and John G. Ruggie both indicate that the social pressure has pushed corporations to act: Under increasing pressure from environmental and labor activists, multilateral organizations, and regulatory agencies in their home countries, multinational firms are implementing â€Å"certification† arrangements—codes of conduct, production guidelines, and monit... ...ally responsible, only a minority will punish socially irresponsible companies. Cook indicates similar trends in the UK where only 20% of the people would be prepared to boycott a product on social grounds. Cook, goes on to indicate, however, that the number of people who care is steadily increasing: â€Å"there’s been a 40% surge in UK purchases of ‘fair trade’ products giving a better deal to third world farmers.† As more and more of the world’s population becomes aware of the growing need for corporations to maintain a strong sense of social responsibility, corporations are adopting self-regulatory policies to please the public and enhance their own reputation. All this benefits both the consumers and corporations until a company makes another Enron-like blunder. Then all the good credentials these pacesetting companies have accumulated disappears instantly.

Behavioral Risk Factors and Oral Health

It has been found that as socioeconomic status increases, the incidence of disease, illness, and their impacts decrease (Reisine, 1009).   Specifically, large disparities exist for differences in oral health.   Socioeconomic status is usually measured by â€Å"income, education, or occupational prestige that offer advantages to individuals and families† (Reisine, 1009).   Some base it on the neighborhood that one lives.The frequency of tooth-brushing, dental check-ups, and the consumption of sweets and soft drinks affect dental health ( Ylà ¶stalo, 195).   It is recommended by dentists to brush teeth with a toothpaste containing fluoride daily to prevent tooth decay.   Dental check-ups are encouraged every six months.   In some households, baking soda is used for tooth-brushing.   Although it is inexpensive, it does not contain fluoride.Oral infections and cardiovascular diseases have common biological and behavioral risk factors such as poor diet, smoking, and excessive alcohol use.   The health of one’s mouth affects the health of the rest of the body. The process of digestion begins in the mouth.â€Å"Psychosocial determinants could act as a link between general health behavior and dental health behavior† (Ylà ¶stalo, 194).   Consistency, control, self-worth, life satisfaction, and optimism have been linked to several health outcomes (Ylà ¶stalo, 194).   For example, people that are optimistic tend to recover better from illnesses.In conclusion, the connections between oral and general diseases are because of unhealthy habits; they can result from a person’s socioeconomic status and lifestyle.   These unhealthy behaviors are risk factors for overall health.ReferencesReinsine, Susan T. and Walter Psoter. (2001, October).   Socioeconomic Status and Selected   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Behavioral Determinants as Risk actors for Dental Caries. Journal of Dental Education, 1009-1015.Ylà ¶stalo. P .V., Ek, E., Laitinen, J., and M.L. Knuuttila. (2003). Optimism and Life Satisfaction as Determinants for Dental and General Health Behavior-Oral Health Habits Linked to Cardiovascular Risk Factors. Journal of Dental Research, 82(3): 194-199.

Case Analysis of Sutton Health Essay

This network identified that traditional payment processing system had limitations that hindered the effective collecting of revenue. What with the recession, healthcare organizations have seen an increase in the inability to collect debt from the self-pay, the uninsured and underinsured patients. This has caused a lot of struggle when it comes to the organizations to meet the operational margins and the profits. I find there are a number of reasons for the new increase in patient’s debts, the most common are, poor accounting practices, lack of patient information and correct demographics. There is new governance that is designed to provide more coordinated care to said patients (Gleeson,2010). There are five geographic regions that reflects the health care access to the customers of Northern California. Each of the five regions will have governance structure and it will oversee many of the Sutter affiliated medical facilities and also the hospitals. In its effort to increase point of service collections and improve the overall revenue cycle Sutter health took steps to measure performance using a handful of specific primary benchmarks, empowering PFS staff to assume responsibility for every individual account they handle, ensure each registration is analyzed using a rules engine to identify problems before patients leave the registration desk and ensure PFS staff receive appropriate co mprehensive training to excel under the new system† (Souza, McCarty, 2007). Obtaining the correct patient information plays a large part on non-collectable debt because patients are not able to be reached. These limitations were associated with limited access to accurate information by the account representatives, ineffective performance measures and fragmented centers of the service provision. The Sutter Health program developed a system that was comprised of solutions that were geared towards overcoming these limitations. The key problems and issues, is that the United States healthcare system is characterized by huge upkeep from collecting revenue from patients. This situation is brought about by a health care insurance system which entails high deductible pay health plans and as well as higher co-payments plan. (Souza, McCarty, 2007). This situation has been made worse through the large proportion of the population not having healthcare coverage. The traditional health care system has had a hard time meeting their target revenue collection. This is due to several problems that attached along with the traditional payment system. Unlike when dealing with the payments through insurance claims but also dealing with the up-front payments that are required by the hospital for payment of services before the patient could even receive the service (Souza, Mccarty, 2007). So this means that the patient services staff (PFS) has to have complete and accurate information about above said client. This presented a problem for the traditional payment system where much of the customer payment system was processed in the back end. This system also required that the PFS staff ask for money from self-pay patients, but the PFS were not accustomed to this under the traditional system. The PFS staff found it hard to wait for the back end section to process customer information and to provide a breakdown of the patients payment details. So this became a tedious task for hospital accounting departments as well as for patients that had to wait a longer period before receiving services. The inefficiency of the traditional system not only resulted in low quality services, but also in low revenue collections. The system provides such a broad range of health care services, which include acute, sub- acute, home health, long term, outpatient care as well as physician delivery systems. These services are provided through an integrated health care delivery approach that gives the system the ability to deliver a full range of healthcare products and services. rks. Sutter also recognized that the traditional system did not provide a means for analyzing selected data nor did it generate required detailed report on demand. This led to more cost as the hospital had to rely on programmers to generate such reports. The front desk staff also lacked real time information which hindered their ability to serve the client without consulting the back end staff. It also meant that the front desk staff could not monitor the patients progress (Souza, McCarty, 2007). Another challenge was that the PFS members were not empowered enough to be held accountable for each patients accounts they dealt with and it reduced the amount of accountability among the staff. These are some of the key challenges that the Sutter system were meant to address. The solutions that were employed by Sutter Health was an attempt to overcome the challenges stated above. Sutter Health implemented certain changes in the fore mentioned system that would make their operation more efficient. The strategies identified by the Sutter program entailed transferring most of the back end tasking to the front desk; providing accurate and complete information to managers and upfront staff; providing more effective performance evaluation and integrating all data elements within the system (Souza, McCarty, 2007). Allowing front desk staff to handle much of the payment process was deemed to have an effect on the efficiency of the process. Various solutions were employed to ensure that this is achieved. One of these solutions entailed using benchmarks to measure performance by the Patient Service Staff (PFS). Sutter identified a handful of primary benchmarks which included; Unbilled A/R days, Gross A/R days, Major A/R days, Cash Collection,percentage of A/R over 90, 180, 360 days (Souza, McCarty, 2007). This benchmark introduced shorter periods with which staff performances could be evaluated. This move was timely especially when onsidering that the industry has changed and things happen in terms of hours and days but not months. Another solution involved empowering the PFS members to have full responsibility over the accounts they are dealing with. This move was meant to increase a sense of responsibility and accountability as each individual members will be responsible for his or her own account (Souza, McCarty, 2007). This also gave the PFS members more autonomy to act as they saw fit and this improved the speed and efficient of service delivery by these staff members. The program also provided the PFS members with tools, that enabled them to automate their accounts, sort out their accounting using various means and seen their performances based on the achievement of the target. PFS and other accountant representatives were presented with individual dashboards that helped in the tracking of their progress in meeting targets. This also helped in enforcing the benchmarks set by this program. Sutter’s health program also introduced a front end collecting system as means of overcoming the mentioned problems. The pint of access collecting system introduced an opportunity for the health care facilities to reduce claims and denials. Though this system the patient records are analyzed before the patient leaves the registration desk. This enables the front desk staff to identify problems such as bad debt, patient or invalid patient type early enough and take the necessary corrective action. The Sutter health program also embarked on a comprehensive training program that was designed to support the existing PFS members and the registration staff. This gave staff the necessary competence to deal with the tools provided by this system. The training program also eliminated the need to hire formally educated staff to operate the system that would and more than the $10-$20 an hour paid to current registration and PFS staff. For example, registration staff who were not used to asking patients for money were trained in effective communication skills. The training was also designed to introduce autonomy and effectiveness which acted as a motivator to the employee.

Learning Team Objective Essay

During weeks four and five, we learned all about methods a company can have a picture of their overall fiscal rankings. A few of the subjects dealt with include using a report of cash flows to observe the coming in and going out of cash, assessing fiscal reports, the way to report the issuance of the various kinds of stock and dividend payments, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act influence. A report of cash flows indicates the receipt and payment of cash for the organization. The direct method is desired by the FASB, even though both ways are acceptable, and shows cash receipts and payments in operations whereas the indirect method changes net income which does not influence cash. To get commenced with a report of cash flows, the organization must change its net income from an accrual basis to a cash basis. Ultimately, an organization may decide their free cash flow to find out the amount of money is remaining after adjustments for capital expenses and dividends have been completed. The 3 methods of assessment are the horizontal, vertical, and ratio analysis. Horizontal assesses the fiscal report data during a period of time. This decides the increase or reduction which has occurred. Vertical analysis reports every item like a percent of base sum. This decides what amount of the total assets are existing assets or what amount of the net sales are selling expenditures. Ratio analysis reports the connection amongst the chosen items of the reports. This decides liquidity of assets, profits of the organization, and the solvency ratio informs if the organization is likely to survive over a long interval of time. Investors are able to use the cash flow report to find out if the organization has adequate cash to increase operations and pay dividends. The organization may use the information in the cash flow report to assess the effectiveness of operations. Cash flow from funding activities shows any modifications in debt, loans, or dividends. Issuing stock or rising long-term borrowing is actually a cash inflow. Paying dividends or decreasing liability is a cash outflow. Moreover, cash flow from operating activities calculates the modifications in cash flows from operations needing a calculation of the modifications in account balances in the balance sheet between accounting intervals. Scenarios may happen which result in unethical accounting routines because of lacking in the financial controls set down and followed by higher administration people. All six of these methods not just require to be set up but they must be adopted and enforced as well by way of assessment and follow-up. In case even one of the controls isn’t set up in that case the opportunity may become open for unethical conduct. For instance, in case you don’t specify duty by just having one individual accountable in that case it results in a lack of accountability if something is incorrect. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was put into operation in 2002 as a result of great number of unethical and fraudulent scenarios abounding in companies. This Act says that all publicly operated organizations should have noted internal fiscal controls in the organization. Organizations must submit an assessment of the effectiveness and value of their internal controls with their conclusion of year fiscal package. Regular outside audits are carried out to make sure compliance by the companies with this Act. In case violations are found anytime, penalties and fines might be enacted upon higher administration level people to include imprisonment. To conclude, over weeks 4 and 5 we have learned all about the ways of creating cash flow reports, the way to apply the 3 different ratios when deciding how nicely or lousy the organization is performing fiscally, the way to report journal entries of the issuance of stock and common stock and the way to announce and enter payments from dividends, and lastly the way to stay ethical in accounting and be in conformity with SOX.

Mercury Athetic

Net Present Value of Mercury Athletic Enterprise The results of my financial analysis based on the Free Cash Flow Method considering the base case of financial projections and assumptions for Mercury Athletic Footwear collated and developed by John Liedtke indicate that that the project to acquire Mercury Althletic has a positive net present value at $243,025 (in thousands) [ given by PV(FCF)=86,681+ PV (Terminal Value) =156,343] which is also greater than the recommended acquisition price of $186,216 (in thousands),therefore Active Gear Inc. hould proceed with the acquisition of Mercury’s operation. Free Cash Flow The free cash flow from Mercury’s business operations was determined using the base case for the consolidated operating income, expenses, tax rate and depreciation to determine the net operating profits after tax (NOPAT) for the years 2007-2011. Free cash flow was then calculated using the formula (FCF= NOPAT + Depreciation-? Net Working Capital -?Fixed Asset s) which was evaluated at $21,240, $26,727, $ 22,097, $25,473 and $29,545 for the years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. The Cost of Debt and the Cost of Equity The next step was to determine the coast of debt, using the assumptions made by Mr. Liedtke which outlines a tax rate of 40%, the cost of debt of 6% for a leverage of 20% debt. The after-tax cost of debt (RD) was determined to be 3. % [using RD =(R*(1-Tax Rate), where RD =after rate cost of debt, R= cost of debt] The cost equity estimated using the CAPM approach, Surfside Footwear was selected as a comparable company since its EBIT Margin of 9. 3% was the same as the average consolidated EBIT Margin of Mercury Athletic for period 2004-2006, the Equity Beta for Surfside from Exhibit 3 was 2. 13. The risk free was determined to be 4. 69% using US Treasury Bills Yield given in the case Footnotes on page 7. The 5 year T-bill yield was selected as†¦