Decision making Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Decision making - Assignment Example 2. You are on the team which was assigned to make the decision about whether or not to stop current production and fill the rush job order which has come in. The team is currently leaning toward telling the â€Å"big customer† who wants the rush order that the company will be unable to fill the job. Your role on the team is to stimulate dialectical inquiry. What will you point out to the team as you fulfill this role? [Remember that your job is to force â€Å"group members to ‘think outside the box’ and look at new ways to analyze the problem.†] -- In the spirit of lgical argumentation, I would encourage the team to look at the possible pitfalls of shifting production at this crucial point in time. Would it be worth the trouble on their end as prinary workers, to complete the requirements for the shift in production. What kind of problems will the large scale client face if we were to shift production mid-stream? Then, I would ask them to consider if they would actually be able to meet the deadline set by the big client for their order even if we suddenly change directions with the machines . 3. What would be your decision if you, alone, were presented with the dilemma? How would you come up with a decision? Are there questions you would want to ask before making a final decision? If so, what are those questions? --If it were all left up to me, I would turn down the mid sized order order or at least try to delay its completion until after my regular run has met its required number of orders. I would come to this decision after asking myself the

Ancient democracy to present democracy Essay Example for Free

Ancient democracy to present democracy Essay The word democracy is derived from two Greek words, demos, which means people, and kratos, which means rule. Today the word has come to mean exactly that, ruled by the people. Many ancient political Greek philosophers would use the phrase the governors are to be governed which we can relate to today. Even though the Greeks notion of democracy is dramatically different from our current democracy, it has been one of the most influential philosophies that have shaped the political thought of the United States. Ironically the term democracy is the most used term to describe the American government even though it has little meaning in our government today. The Athenian government was the first democracy known to the world. Athens had a government where all of the citizens took part in the decision making. Thus, everyone who qualified as a citizen could participate and did not have to be an elected representative. For one to be considered a citizen they first had to be born in Athens and had to be free. Next, once turned eighteen years of age he had to have at least two years of military training then serve in the navy or army. After he has served he could then vote. After the age of thirty he could be considered for council. The women of Athens were also considered to be citizen however they did not posses any political power. The Athenian democracy had three main branches which were the assembly, the council, and the jurymen. The assembly had the reasonability of making the policies for Athens. The assembly could be considered the legislative branch and it was made of eligible Athenian citizens. The council enforced administrative matters and the policies. They were also in control of the military and finances. The council was made of five hundred citizens and could be considered the executive branch. The jury men had the important yet tedious job of resolving disputes of the people. There were six thousand jurymen to manage this job in the courts. The Greeks of Athens had no single head of the government and no political parties. The United States has some similarities with Athenian democracy but very few. There are three branches, the legislative, executive, and the judicial which  are similar to the three branches of Athenss government. The legislative branch is made of the Senate and the House of Representatives. They are in charge of making the laws of the states. The House of Representatives consists of a representative from each state. There is one representative from each district in the state. The district in each state depends on the population of the state. There are four hundred and thirty five members of the House. Each of them only serve for two years and then have to run for re-election. The Senate consists of one hundred members. Each state has two representatives in the Senate. The Senate has three times the amount of service time than the House. The Executive branch is the president and his cabinet. The president gets to appoint his cabinet which consists of several positions, the Secretary of State, Attorney General, National Security Advisor, and more. The judicial branch has nine justices as apposed to six thousand, one that serve as the Chief Justice. Once they are appointed by the president they serve for the rest of their lives. As you can see, the American democracy doesnt quite fit the Greeks definition of democracy. They have appointed officials that can dictate how the people live. The Greek democracy actually consisted of citizens that could participate in political issues without being elected or appointed.

Nuclear Fusion Essay -- physics nuclear fusion

The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. Human and animal labor could not provide the power necessary to power industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. Usually coal, petrolium, and natural gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the total energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted faster than they are being replenished, which could result in an energy crisis. Nuclear fission produces highly radioactive waste that is expensive to dispose of properly. Nuclear fusion reactors would produce much less radioactive waste and would be more efficient than nuclear fission, but to date th ere have been no nuclear fusion reactors that have generated usable energy output. Why is fusion power, which could be very beneficial, so hard to come by? Nuclear fusion occurs when two atomic nuclei collide with enough energy to bind together to form one nucleus. Nuclear fusion occurs in the core of our sun, and is the source of its tremendous heat. In the sun hydrogen nuclei, single protons, fuse together and form a new nucleus. In the conversion, a small amount of mass is converted into energy. It is this energy that heats the sun. For nuclear fusion to occur, nuclei must have very high kinetic energies that will exceed the electrostatic repulsion between the nuclei. The extremely high temperature of the sun causes electrons to be stripped o... ... Power from nuclear fusion reactors would be a welcome achievement for the 21st century, and at the current rate of progress it seems likely that before the end of the new century energy will be available from nuclear fusion. It is estimated that it will take over a decade from the time a sustainable fusion reaction is achieved before fusion power will be available for use. But the attention being devoted to research is strong, the experiments are coming closer to fruition, and we are coming closer to having an almost limitless supply of energy. Bibliography 1) United States Department of Energy web site: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/sep/us/pecg.html (Accessed 11-22-2000) 2) Fundamentals of Physics Extended: Fifth Edition. David Hanley, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. 1997.

Economic development Essay

Economic development and economic growth are both indicators of the economic position of the country. Economic growth is the growth in gross domestic product and economic development is related to growth in the standard of living and poverty. As you can see economic growth and economic development are not the same thing, economic development is far more than just growth in GDP as it involves indicators that are not purely economically related. However economic growth is an indicator of economic development but there are also several other factors that represent economic development. These indicators are; life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, daily calorie supply per capita, adult literacy rate, number of doctors per 1000 people, average years of schooling, availability of clean water, freedom of press, immunisation rates and levels of discrimination. As you can see these are generally not economic indicators but when they are combined they form the economic development figure. There are fifteen barriers to economic development, the first of these being a lack of physical capital. Lack physical capital is a significant barrier to the development of a country for several reasons. There is already a shortage of capital that further leads to less capital being produced; this creates significant problems for developing countries. In these countries the income levels are low leading to low savings and therefore little money for investment in capital. This lack of capital furthers the low productivity therefore the employment remains low. This also leads to a lack of demand for goods and services the low demand means that less needs to be produced therefore less capital needs to be produced. This then forces the country into a cycle of underdevelopment. This consequently creates a barrier for the country to develop. An example of this is in most less developed countries where they are in constant times of war and civil unrest. Their capital is destroyed through war making it difficult for the country to produce more capital. Also, Sierra Leone, the worlds least developed country, as shown by the human development index, has a GDP per capita of US$159 this creates significant problems for the economy and its development. A lack of human capital is the next barrier to development. This barrier is created through a lack of education and training of the population. It also relates to the general heath and wellbeing of the population. If the labour-force are getting sick then they are unable to work and therefore decreasing the labour capital. A current example of this situation is in South Africa. In South Africa the micro-economic impact of AIDS is very serious and is getting worse. Among skilled workers HIV prevalence is expected to peak between a fifth and a quarter percent by the year 2000, which is consequently depleting the number of skilled workers creating the lack of capital development barrier. These problems are also leading to a rise in insurance bills and the costs of health benefits rise. This therefore diverts government savings to pay for health care and as a result the availability of funds for investment will fall. AIDS is predicted to knock 0.3 to 0.4 percent off the annual growth rate. As you can see this is a severe barrier to development in these less developed countries. A strategy to this barrier is human resource development. The next barrier to development is a lack of savings. This also causes low levels of investment due to the low income leading to low savings. This low level of savings is also caused by several other reasons such as; poorly developed financial markets, holding of savings in traditional non-money forms, the purchase of unnecessary luxury items, cheap family labour reducing the incentive to save for investment and the general indebtedness of the population. The low incentive to reinvest profits by businesses also reduces the savings. Budget deficits by the government to make up for the low taxation revenue are also decreasing the amount being saved. When there is a lack of savings caused by any of these causes it forces the need to borrow form overseas that consequently leads to problems with the balance of payments. An example of lack of savings exists in Nigeria. In Nigeria there are severe problems with their currency. These begin with significant fraud problems also the majority of trading is done with cash in which until recently the currency did not exceed the equivalent of 50 cents. The next problem is that they don’t believe in banks, the only use of banks is to exchange foreign currencies for tourists, which leads to a lack of funds for investments. Also, Local traders keep all working capital stuffed in coca jars, as they believe business opportunities will disappear in the time it takes to make a withdrawal. Banks do not allow credit due to the fear of not being repaid. All of these factors contribute to a large barrier to development simply due to a lack of savings. This could be solved through improving the financial system. Another barrier to development is a lack of taxation revenue. A lack of taxation creates barriers as it means the government has little finances to use on economic development. The high unemployment, very low-income levels and difficulties in tax collection cause this lack of tax revenue. The government is then forced to collect tax mainly from customs duties, sales taxes and excises. These taxes can prove to be very inflationary and are also regressive. Another problem with these taxes is that they discourage investment and the creation of employment. Nigeria also has a problem with the collection of taxation. Most Nigerians that can afford to avoid paying taxes, as they believe that their money will be flinched by the corrupt government. This creates severe problems for the country, as there is no money for the government to use in investment to promote economic development. Improving the financial system will also help solve this barrier. The next barrier to entry is a lack of infrastructure. Less developed countries rarely have a sufficient supply of necessities such as roads, ports, sewerage, power schools or water- facilities etc. The main reason that this infrastructure is not being made is that the government simply cannot raise the funds to finance them due to their lack of taxation revenue. Another reason maybe that the government has chosen to finance defence spending or if they are in time of war, in which most LCD’s are. A lack of infrastructure restricts the free flow of goods and services and reduces the productivity of the labour force that further restricts the economic development of the country. In Africa infrastructure is very underdeveloped compared to the other less developed regions. They have 6 phone lines for every 1000 people compared to the average of 54 for other developing regions. Also their power supply is far less than the average of 300kw per 1000 peoples with 80kw this significant ly stops their development. In Nigeria there are serious problems with infrastructure causing business uncertainty. Telephones rarely work and the electric comes in periodic vengeful surges. Nigerian firms, particularly the state-owned ones due to the lack of taxation, devote little effort into maintaining their infrastructure and it therefore ends up breaking down. Reliable firms are so hard to come by that firms barter contacts: we’ll let you share the electricity from our generator if you can help us find spare parts for it. Firms wanting to set up in Nigeria face the problem known locally as BYOI (bring your own infrastructure) this shows how much of a problem infrastructure is in Nigeria. A lack of infrastructure could be solved in many ways such as encouraging enterprise, human resource development or improving the financial system. A lack of entrepreneurs is another barrier to economic development. Enterprise is essential in order for development to occur, as it is one of the key factors to production. In the less developed countries there tens to be a lack of entrepreneurs for several reasons. The first of these is the fact that there is a limited opportunity to make a profit, due to the lack of demand. The next reason is that the businesses not easily financed due to the low level of savings. The lack of infrastructure available also distracts these entrepreneurs. Another reason to the lack of entrepreneurs is that cultural beliefs often place little importance on monetary gain and entrepreneurs are thus given little status. The number of entrepreneurs is also reduced by the lack of education in these countries. The final reason is that it is risky for an entrepreneur due to the political and economic instability. An example of a lack of entrepreneurs is also in Nigeria as it closely relates to the lack of the infrastructure. The lack of infrastructure adds at least 25 percent onto a firms operating costs if it choses to set up in Nigeria, this is a significant deterrent for firms to set up and should be solved if the county wants to achieve economic development. A strategy that could be adopted to help this situation is encouraging enterprise. The next barrier to economic development is a lack of technology. There are several reasons why these less developed countries are not more technologically advanced. The first reason being that most new technology will involve some investment in capital that is lacking in these less developed countries. Also another problem is that the new technology will need skilled labour to operate it but skilled labour is also of shortage in a LCD. The next reason is that companies don’t really want to adopt labour saving technology when they already have cheap labour and there are high unemployment rates. The final reason that there is a lack of technology is that new technology is used to facilitate the achievement of economies of scale and the small markets in LCD’s reduce the incentive to mass-produce. The governments however, have managed to encourage technology into these LCD’s and most currently use modern technology that compliments the labour so workers maintain their jobs. A lot of the modern technology used in these counties is generally used in the foreign owned industries where they mass-produce in order to export to advanced markets. Over population and rapid population growth is another factor that causes a barrier to development. In these less developed countries the birth rates are often five times higher than in the more developed countries. The advances of medicine have also caused a fall in the deaths, which leads to a higher population growth. The growth of these countries is generally around 2 percent and their growth is usually below this figure, which therefore worsens the situation, and the real GNP per capita often falls. In the more advanced countries they generally have population growth of around 0.5 percent and their economic growth will usually be higher than that. This is where the widening gap occurs pushing less developed countries further away from more advanced countries. This high growth of the population also has the effect of increasing the labour force, but as there is little demand for labour the unemployment rate will tend to rise. Also, most of this population is below 15 or above 65 meaning they are unable to contribute o production but still need things such as food, water, clothing and shelter. This creates a problem known as dependency burden making development even harder. Governments in these LDC’s fight a tough battle with a rapid growing population and are always trying to slow this rate but they face several problems such as poor education, communication, lack of contraception and cultural attitudes. Africa is currently the fastest growing of all the developing regions with a growth rate of 3 percent over the past decade but with this high growth rate comes several associated problems. Africa has one doctor for every 20,000 people compared to an average 5000 people in developing countries and its infant mortality rate is the highest at 96 per thousand births almost double the developing countries average. Africans also have a life expectancy of 52 years where the average for developing countries is 64. As you can see that the effects of a high population are not beneficial to a developing country. This barrier to development can be solved with the population control strategy. The next barrier to development is inflation. Inflation in these countries is caused by the scare amounts of goods and services relative to the high population consequently causing demand pull inflation. The domestic supply is unable to match the domestic demand. The inflation rates in many of these countries gets above 200 percent compared to that of around 5 percent in most advanced countries. This high inflation has many unwanted effects such as decreased living standards and a reduction in real income, it also tends to redistribute the income from the poor to the wealthy therefore increasing the income inequality that already exists. A high inflation rate also causes the investment of non-productive assets such as antiques or gold, this money is therefore taken out of the economy reducing the funds available for investment. These high inflation rates also cause a reduction in the competitiveness of exporters and import competing firms that therefore leads to an increase in the countries current account deficit. Another effect that inflation will lead to is a falling exchange rate, which if the country has a large foreign debt will make it even harder to pay. Inflation is very high in most of the African countries and causes severe problems to their economy and development progress. Balance of payments problems is also another barrier to development of these less developed countries. The majority of LCD’s have problems with their external balance as the little income they do earn is used on imports and used to pay off interest on their foreign debts. As these countries are in deficit they are continually forced to borrow from overseas to finance their payments worsening their current account deficit even more. Many of these countries are also suffering from worsening terms of trade that also decreases their export revenue and thus further worsening their balance of payments. The WTO worldwide reduction of tariffs will help to assist this but government policies need to be implemented to seriously boost export revenue and turn the consumers away from imports. The strategy to help the balance of payments is import replacement. The next barrier to development that LCD’s face is a depletion of their natural resources. Many of these countries are highly dependent on one major export to create export revenue, create growth, employment and income and the reduction in the current account deficit. This creates problems as they may deplete natural resources without considering future production. This reduces the potential for further future development and growth. In Mauritius, they have cleared 25 percent of their forests in the last 19 years purely for export. This causes massive environmental effects and also is a serious concern, as when the resources run out the country’s economy will fail to stay afloat. This is the same in many less developed countries including many African counties and their dependency on oil. It can be helped with export development to have a wider range of exports and less dependency on one major export. Another significant barrier to economic development in these less developed countries is corruption and poor administration by the government. Corruption is a very common problem in LDC’s. The problem associated with this is that aid and government revenue is not all used in promoting growth, corrupt leaders and government officials take most of it. When a government is corrupt it causes most of their aid to be withdrawn forcing them to reform their political structures. This withdrawal of overseas assistance causes depletions in general living standards of the country. Another problem with these governments is that they know little or nothing about economics. These leads to several problems including poor administration and efficiency these lead to a poor ability to promote development. An example of this is in Nigeria where it has been estimated that in the last twenty years over two billion dollars of oil revenue from the country has been embezzled. This is mainly due to their last dictator who ordered the Nigerian Central Bank to deposit 15 million dollars a day into his own Swiss bank account. This works out to twenty percent of GDP and when you take into consideration that their NFD is over 40 percent of GDP, the country is not left with much money. A strategy that has been put into place for this specific barrier is the refusal to lend money to Nigeria from IMF. Natural disasters are another barrier to development in less developed countries. The effects of natural disasters such as floods or droughts have a much greater impact on less developed countries compared to that of advanced countries. Most LCD’s are prone to these natural disasters, which is a significant factor to their underdevelopment. In India they have times of severe droughts and flooding where 80 million people were affected. This has severely decreased their agriculture production and is consequently creating a barrier to their development. There is not much that can be done about natural disasters but do adjust to them and to adopt new ways to cope with them. Another significant factor preventing the development of less developed countries is war and civil unrest. Many LCD’s are in constant war and civil unrest, this causes several problems with development. The first of these problems is that entrepreneurs are discouraged by the countries instability also important infrastructure is destroyed and governments spend their little taxation revenue on maintaining order or producing weapons. Economies in war torn countries are unlikely to be operating at full capacity making it hard for development to occur. In Rwanda civil wars in the nineties have claimed the lives of almost 1,000,000 Rwandans. Most of the aid to the country was invested in weaponry and therefore not used in promoting economic development, as it should have been. This is how civil wars can create barriers to development. The only solution to this is to end the wars and focus the spending into promoting economic development. The final barrier to development is a lack of press freedom. Press freedom involves the exchange of ideas, criticism of government and increased awareness of world events and developments. This is something that most LCD’s do not have and therefore their economic development is limited. In Mexico the government allowed Televisa to have a monopoly in the television market if they didn’t play any anti-government shows and supported the government. In the eighties journalists were killed by the police in Mexico City if they published any anti-government articles. This is serious problem in these less developed countries and is usually the result of government corruption. The first strategy to promote economic development in these less developed countries is export development. This strategy involves assisting those producers who export to overseas markets. An increase in export development will earn foreign exchange and create unemployment and income and also help to solve problems with the balance of payments. The next strategy to promoting development is import replacement. Import replacement involves the shifting of demand away from imports and towards the domestically produced products. This can be done in several ways including the induction of tariffs on imports making them more expensive relative to the domestic product. This also encourages foreign investment as the foreign firms wish to have the same protection. Assisting domestic producers financially is another way of promoting this economic development, by subsidising and offering tax incentives to local producers it will increase their competitiveness with imports by the lower costs of production. However, replacing imports is only a short-term solution and therefore policies promoting long-term development must be applied. Human resource development is the next strategy to development. This development involves improving the size of the labour force and also the skills of the labour force. The labour force can be increased through improved health care and skills can be attained through things such as training and education. In Nigeria the World Bank is currently funding an $80 million project into their education as well as building a better and more consistent water supply. Also In Malaysia education investment has been amongst their highest priorities for decades, they have spent $731 million on improving their education levels to the level they are currently at Another way to promote economic development in these less developed countries is through encouraging enterprise. In most LDC’s there is a lack of entrepreneurs, in order to increase the quantity there are several solutions such as improving management and leadership training and tax incentives, subsidies and free loans. Cuba has introduced a group of people called the cuentapropistas, 170,000 entrepreneurs marking the arrival of a new business sector in the islands socialist economy. They account for 8% of the labour force and manage to put food on the table for one in ten Cuban’s. These new small businesses have been a result of reduced subsidies to state enterprises, increased foreign investment, and introduction of incentives in the agricultural sector and the legalisation of dealings in foreign currency. This has already had positive signs on the Cuban economy with growth in 1998 at 8 percent some 31percent higher than two years previous. Population control is another strategy to economic development. Rapid population growth is unwanted as it creates problems such as inflation and scarcity and therefore more poverty. There are plenty of methods that can be put into place to slow population growth. Some of these methods include maximum children policy such as China’s one child policy and free supplies of contraception. The Grameen bank is another contributor to helping population control in Bangladesh. The bank issue loans to woman and as part of the conditions to borrowing the money they must agree to have small families. This has proved to be a successful program all across the world and has helped to promote the small-scale development of many less developed countries. The next strategy to promote economic development is increasing the agricultural productivity. Agriculture is usually a major sector in the less developed countries and thus improving its productivity will significantly promote development. Improving the agriculture productivity can be done in many ways. Some of these include merging small farms to create larger more efficient ones and encouraging owner operators to increase the incentive to improve productivity there also several other ways in which these countries can improve their agricultural productivity. With 75 percent of the population living in rural areas, improving the efficiency of India’s agriculture is the key to attaining high growth and reducing poverty. Accelerating rural development and poverty reduction requires cutting spending on input subsidies; investing in rural infrastructure; providing more effective rural services, especially to the poor and socially excluded; improving management of water, forests, and other natural resources; liberalizing the rural economy, including the rural financial system. In the heart of India’s poorest region, the Bihar Plateau Development Project is increasing access to much-needed irrigation and safe drinking water by tribal communities and raising their incomes through the diversification of rural livelihoods. The project aims to reach 4.5 million people through a variety of institutional mechanisms, including water and sanitation committees, water user associations, and income generation schemes, all aiming to transfer skills and enhance people’s capabilities so that the benefits may be sustained once the project ends. This is one way in which India is proving to increase its agr icultural productivity. Another strategy to promoting economic development is by adopting intermediate technology. If a less developed country invested in new technology it may be forgiving employment possibilities, as most new technology is very labour intensive, this will consequently lead to a fall in employment. As these countries have an abundance of labour it is much easier, cost effective and better for the economy if they use intermediate technology that still requires high levels of labour. An example of this is Fred Hollows, Hollows uses local resources to create employment income and economic growth through the training of people to perform the medical tasks and also employment in the factories where the lens are created. The final strategy to promote economic development is to improve the financial system. In these economies there is a lack of savings and an insufficient financial system, this creates major barriers to development. Thus policies need to be adopted to improve this situation that promote growth and employment without generating high levels of inflation. The World Bank’s Executive Board approved a $506 million loan to support financial sector adjustment and reform in Colombia. The loan is part of a revised World Bank strategy for Colombia that includes intensified lending to help the country promote peace, ease the impact of the recession on the poor, and rebuild after their earthquake. It is also part of a $1.4 billion package to help bolster Colombia’s economy. â€Å"This financial sector adjustment loan reflects the World Bank’s confidence in Colombia’s wide-ranging reform strategy, which is critical to its effort to overcome the recession,† said An dres Solimano, director of the Bank’s program in Colombia. The financing of many of these strategies is usually funded through institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund institutions. The World Bank is a major force behind the development of less developed countries as it gives issues discounted loans to most of these countries. Another way that these countries can fund their development is through overseas aid. The are large amounts of money flowing out of the developed countries from governments and other aid organizations as aid into the less developed countries hoping to achieve economic development. For all of these less developed countries to achieve economic development, an effort from all developed countries with aid and advice must be contributed, but until then the world will not have any chance of abolishing poverty. References: – IFC – Building the private sector in Africa – The Economist January 15th 2000 – survey Nigeria – World bank – Rwanda development project – The Economist May 27th – Aids impact in South Africa – World Bank – Cuba’s Cuentapropistas – World Bank – India’s development – The Grameen Bank – Economic Development in Bangladesh – The Economist May 27th – Growth is good – The Economist Feb 22nd – Televista – World Bank press release, 11th June 1998

Ethical Issues with Illegaly Downloading Music

For years now people have found ways to take music off the Internet and put it onto their own computer, iPod, or blank CD. It all started in 1999 with the creation of Napster. Napster introduced a revolutionary new idea that was to forever change the way people thought about music: peer to peer file sharing. Peer to peer file sharing, often abbreviated as simply p2p, allows different users swap songs, with no regards for copyright infringement.Now the most popular way to take music off the Internet is to use one of many YouTube to mp3 converter sites These sits allow you to copy a URL from a YouTube video and paste it into a text box on the YouTube to mp3 site which will then convert the video into a music file that is downloaded onto your computer. Many people have different feeling about using these new YouTube to mp3 sites and using older sites similar to Napster. Either way, using sites like that is simply taking music off the web at no cost to oneself. I will go on to defend the idea that illegally downloading music is stealing.Illegally downloading music is no different then going into a store and taking a CD right off the shelf and walking out without paying. I will base my defense on the concept that the artists and the people involved in the music industry have rights. Whenever a song is downloaded off the Internet illegally it is a violation of the artists and the people involved in the music industry’s rights. My first premise is that artists and people in the music industry have the right to be compensated for their hard work. Most artists dream to make it big one day and be paid for the songs that they write and sing.When a person puts in the hard work that it takes to make it to the top they should be compensated for their efforts. However, the artists do not make the music and hit records all on their own. There are many people behind the scenes that contribute to the making of albums. For example there are the people who control the audio equipment and run the recording studio. Everyone involved in the music industry has the right to be compensated for the work that they have done. It is not right for someone to essential go to work, make a product, and then have someone else take it free of charge.My second premise is that illegally downloading music is a form of stealing. Taking something that does not belong to you is against the law. Taking someone thing that has a known money value and not paying one cent is down right stealing. One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12. 5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U. S. jobs lost, a loss of $2. 7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.So not only are revenues are being affected by this music theft but jobs are being stolen away as well. Some people feel that the artists do not deserve all of the money that it costs to purchase one of their albums or even a single song off of iTunes. When you see pictures, videos, and interviews of music artists they do not look or sound like they are struggling to get by. Now-a-days artists are making profits off of country and worldwide concert tours. Some are even paid for personal appearances. Others have teamed up with various brand names and started endorsing their products while being paid to do so.To the average person it does not feel like taking songs off the Internet is actually affecting the artists themselves. If these famous artists are living the good life it should not matter that the average Joe saves a few dollars and downloads music off the internet. To contour the argument that artists have other ways of making money I will approach the issue in two ways. First of all stealing is stealing. Taking something that does not belong to you is wrong and will always be viewed as wrong. It does n ot matter what is being stolen or whom it is being stolen from.Second of all, as I have mentioned earlier, the artist are not the only people involved in the creating of songs and albums. As the Internet grows and the vast number of illegal downloads grows with it peoples jobs are shrinking. Less and less artists will be able to make music if the up and comers are not making any money to live off of. If new artists are forced to find other ways of making money their music career may never take off. If the number of people making music decreases so will the need for so many behind the scenes people.Overall illegally downloading music off the Internet is what it is, stealing. These actions not only affect the artists but so many more people that we do not always consider. Some feel that it is ok the take music from these famous artists but if it continues less and less music will be created, causing the high percentage of unemployment to only grow larger. When you steal from someone y ou are using him or her as a means to an end. No one should be used as a means to an end, especially when it comes to his or her livelihood.

The Future of Geomic Research in the United States essays

The Future of Geomic Research in the United States essays Too often, when the term genetic engenering is uttered, people envision a world of geneticly "perfect" people where thouse who are normal are looked down on by genetic supermen. The fact that this vision could not be further from the truth does not dissuade the nay sayers from vemonently dissparaing the practice of genetic engenering, in any of its many forms. The truth of the matter is that the genetic feilds of study, particularly the feild of genomics (the study of sequences of genes known as genomes), have bee revollutionised recently and have become a science of prevention and prediction rather than one for the creation of superhuman beings. The future of genomic research is, however, in question as federal funding in the United States has not been keeping level with the new advances in research. "Early in the development of their discipline, geneticists treated the unit of inheritance, or gene, as a purely formal concept; their experiments consisted cheifly in analyzing the characteristics of individuals in order to determine the genetic constitutions (genotypes or genomes) of those individuals. In recent times - and it is difficult to say exactly when this change began - geneticists began explorations at higher and lower levels of organization than the individual. In decending to the molecular level, geneticists were concerened with the physiochemical nature of the gene"(Ravin 2). In other words therecent advances in genetics and genomics have led to a revolution within the field. With this shift in attitude came a new focus on genomes and gene structure. The United States has done relativly little to encourage the growth of these genome studies, at least when you compare federal spending with that of the private sector. "In 2000 the private sector had already overtaken public sources in funding geonomics research, US$3 billion to US$2 billion. This trend is only expected to continue" ("Genomics and Health Inequa...

Free Essays on Whati It Takes

Why should I be Accepted to Your High school is a strange time. After three years of trying to develop identity and friends in middle school, students are expected to mature immediately on the first day of ninth grade, but I never did this. I never fully realized in the earlier grades how important high school success, as measured by GPA, would be to my future life, and as a result I am applying to college with seemingly contradictory measures of my ability to perform college-level work. If I had worked and studied hard rather than hanging out with friends and viewing high school as an opportunity to socialize, I would not have to apply to school with a 1300 SAT and a 2.7 GPA. Had I taken my grades in my earlier years seriously, I could have been a college's dream candidate. This year I have made an earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. However, after performing poorly for three years, my GPA cannot reflect the tr ansformation I underwent at the start of this year. Dedicated to making something of myself, I finally matured and am now trying to lessen the consequences of my past actions. Armed with my new attitude and my understanding of the extreme importance of earning good grades to signal my capacity to work responsibly, I assure you that I will never revert to the student I once was. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose my classes that resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning. I enjoy the freedom to pursue my own interests and anxiously anticipate the ability to choose my own class schedule in college. While I understand that college will be significantly more challenging than high school, I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am also willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, I will be forced to take required courses that I might be less than enthusiastic about. H... Free Essays on Whati It Takes Free Essays on Whati It Takes Why should I be Accepted to Your High school is a strange time. After three years of trying to develop identity and friends in middle school, students are expected to mature immediately on the first day of ninth grade, but I never did this. I never fully realized in the earlier grades how important high school success, as measured by GPA, would be to my future life, and as a result I am applying to college with seemingly contradictory measures of my ability to perform college-level work. If I had worked and studied hard rather than hanging out with friends and viewing high school as an opportunity to socialize, I would not have to apply to school with a 1300 SAT and a 2.7 GPA. Had I taken my grades in my earlier years seriously, I could have been a college's dream candidate. This year I have made an earnest effort to improve my work ethic. My grade point average is rising and my study habits are improving. However, after performing poorly for three years, my GPA cannot reflect the tr ansformation I underwent at the start of this year. Dedicated to making something of myself, I finally matured and am now trying to lessen the consequences of my past actions. Armed with my new attitude and my understanding of the extreme importance of earning good grades to signal my capacity to work responsibly, I assure you that I will never revert to the student I once was. In retrospect, I believe that it was my inability to choose my classes that resulted in my lack of enthusiasm on the ride to school each morning. I enjoy the freedom to pursue my own interests and anxiously anticipate the ability to choose my own class schedule in college. While I understand that college will be significantly more challenging than high school, I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am also willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, I will be forced to take required courses that I might be less than enthusiastic about. H...

Profile of Carlos the Jackal

Profile of Carlos the Jackal Named Ilich as a paeon to Lenin (whose full name was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin) by his Marxist father, Ramirez was later known as Carlos the Jackal. His nickname came in part from the novel, The Day of the Jackal, a thriller once found by authorities among his belongings. Background Born in 1949 in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was raised. He was also schooled in England and attended university in Moscow. After his expulsion from the university in 1970, he joined the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a pan-Arab leftist group then based in Amman, Jordan. Claim to Notoriety Ramirez most famous terrorist move was the takeover of OPEC headquarters in Vienna at a 1975 Conference, where he also took 11 members hostage. The hostages were eventually transported to Algiers and freed. Although later debunked, assumptions that Ramirez had a hand in killing two of the Israeli athletes taken hostage at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich added to his reputation as a ruthless and effective terrorist. Indeed, many of Ramirez feats had murky origins and unclear goals and sponsors- which also gave the self-proclaimed terrorist a mysterious glamour. A 1994 review of David Yallops Tracking the Jackal: The Search for Carlos, the Worlds Most Wanted Man suggests that the OPEC kidnappings may have been sponsored by Saddam Hussein, rather than by the PFLP, as has been suggested, or by Libyan leader Muammar Al Qaddafi: Although it has long been thought that the armed attack on a Vienna meeting of the oil cartel and the kidnapping of 11 of the oil ministers were conceived and paid for by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the book makes a persuasive case that behind it was actually Saddam Hussein, seeking an increase in the price of oil to finance his impending war with Iran. Mr. Hussein intended Carlos to use the kidnapping as a pretext to assassinate the Saudi opponents of a price rise, Mr. Yallop says, but the unreliable Carlos sold out his employer, as he so often did, and instead took a $20 million ransom from the Saudi Government (the hostages were in fact released). Where He Is Now The Jackal was arrested by the French in 1994, in Sudan where he was living. He was convicted for several murders in 1997 and as of 2017 is still in prison. Cross-Links Ramirez has expressed admiration for Osama bin Laden from prison, and more broadly for Revolutionary Islam, which is the title of a 2003 book he published from prison. In it, the jailed terrorist showed shades of his lifelong affiliation with leftist secular groups whose vision of conflict is shaped by class differences describing Islam as the sole transnational force capable of standing up the enslavement of nations.

Assignment #2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

#2 - Assignment Example Zoe was born out of an affair between Judge Payton- who owned large plantation in Louisiana, and his black slave. Zoe found herself in a society that was not tolerant towards blacks. She appreciated the fact that she was not purely a white. In fact, there are cases where she referred to herself as unholy because she had traces of a black person, especially in her eyes. When she met George and he confessed his love for her, she pointed out to the fact that the law did not allow for the marriage between the blacks and the whites. She considered herself more of a black than a white, though the father was a white. However, in the last scene of this play, Zoe did not die as many people had predicted when she said that she would commit suicide. However, she was happily united with George. By changing this scene, the author would have succeeded in demonstrating the negative effect of the racial segregation that riddled the American society. However, the author would have lost the opportunity to point out at the fact that it is possible to overcome racial segregations as is witnessed at the end of the story. The play, Shenandoah, is very interesting. According to Delmore (37), this play became very popular when it was published. It was a success for many people found relevance in the book. It was not only popular during this time because of its richness in emotion and humor, but also for the content. The play depicts the enmity that existed between North Americans and the Southerners. These two regions have been considered as brothers and had treated each other as such. However, this was not the case at this point. This volatility could even be witnessed in families. The fact that this play presents a different angle to life made it very popular. Charlie Anderson, who was widowed, would not let his son fight amongst themselves. He tries to ensure that his sons would be at peace with one another. This made the society have hopes that peace could prevail

Global Interdependence Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global Interdependence - Article Example Colonialism was responsible for the expansion of the slave trade, and the exploitation of colonies to make the colonial powers richer. Without colonialism it is doubtful that capitalism would have developed as rapidly and as widespread as it did. Colonialism also formed relationships between the colonies and the colonial powers that have heavily influenced global interdependence. The third article was by Davis and is about what the author terms as Victorian Holocausts. The main point of this article is that the colonialism of the Late Victorian Period had a detrimental affect upon the colonies, especially those in Africa. Davis contends that through a combination of greed, negligence, and apathy the colonial powers caused starvation, poverty, and backwardness. The colonial powers were responsible for making the developing countries poorer after they finally gained independence. These three articles when studied together offer different insights into how contemporary global interdependence came about. The Westad article concentrated upon the influence that the United States has had on shaping the world after the Second World War. Westad contends that the United States played a much greater role in shaping the post-war world due to the superpower rivalry with the Soviet Union. In contrast the Cesaire article places the most importance on the experience of colonialism. Stating it was one of the most important factors in the shaping of contemporary global interdependence. Colonialism as an experience remains very important in our understanding of how the modern world was shaped. The Davis article offers a great amount of detail as to how misrule and exploitation by the colonial powers has continued to have a highly detrimental affect upon the wealth as well as the stability of many former colonies, particularly in Africa. To be honest these three articles are most useful for understanding

Critically evaluate the sustainability of the supply of phosphorus to Essay

Critically evaluate the sustainability of the supply of phosphorus to UK agriculture - Essay Example Inorganic phosphorus is available in the soil in form of insoluble mineral complexes (Schmidt & Schaechter, 2012, pp. 514). The insoluble form cannot be absorbed by plants. The organic matter accounts for 20-80% of phosphorus in the soil. Only 0.1% of the soluble phosphorus is available for uptake by plants. The current situation that involves loses at every step of phosphorus life cycle contributes to concerns about future supplies and water and soil pollution, both in the UK and worldwide. Efficiency in its production, use, recycling and minimization of waste could lead to major strides being made towards a sustainable phosphorus use. This would set the world on the path towards resource efficiency and ensure that phosphorus reserves are available for future generations. Globally, phosphorus resources are abundant and reserves are significant. However, there are a number of factors implying that the security of phosphorus should be monitored in the UK. UK has few phosphate bearing rocks reserves. In 2008, there was price volatility in which the cost of phosphorus rock rose by 700%, contributing to an increase in the price of fertilizers. Improving the use of recycled phosphorus in the UK and the world, as a whole, would help in safeguarding the supply and distribution of phosphorus both at regional and global level. Economically, diversifying phosphorus supply to the UK businesses, which rely on it, would improve their resilience faced by any future price instability and other trends that might aggravate their important dependency. Farming practices that help in feeding billions of people in the UK involve the use of phosphate fertilizers, manufactured from the phosphate rock. The rock is a non-renewable resource, and it is being used widely since the end of the 19th century. The dependence on the phosphate rock for food production calls for sustainable management practices to ensure that it is economically available to UK farmers. The use of phosphorus in th e UK agriculture is associated with several types of potential environmental impacts. Little amounts of phosphorus restrict plants growth, resulting in soil erosion. The use of too much phosphorus leads to losses of the nutrient to surface water, leading to eutrophication. More sustainable practices, for instance better management of field applications and enhanced phosphorus recycling, can contribute to improvements in productivity and reduced environmental impacts. UK scientists are starting to qualify in phosphorus production through food production and consumption systems. By estimation, only one-fifth of the mined phosphorus in UK is consumed as food by humans. The remaining portion is used in agriculture, retained in soil, released in the aquatic environment or lost in food waste. High crop yields in UK, fundamentally, depend on mined phosphate rock. In a small population, famers could adequately obtain agricultural yields by fertilizing the soil with phosphorus derived from h uman and other animals’ excreta. Population growth in the UK in the 18th and 19th centauries stimulated the production of food, resulting in rapid depletion of soil nutrients. Farmers, therefore, started using large amounts of off-farm sources of phosphorus, including guano, phosphate rock and bone meal. Phosphate rock, which was cheap and plentiful, became the widely preferred source. Consequently, UK farmers adopted new farming methods like planting high

The Effects of Technology on Warfare Research Paper

The Effects of Technology on Warfare - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that Clausewitz, Maude, and Graham define war as the â€Å"act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will†. War requires a party to defeat its adversary, till such time that the adversary does not offer any more resistance. Violence equips itself with the innovations of science and technology to compete against violence. A strategy is defined as the assimilation and deployment of the objects of war to thwart the opponent. The conduct of warfare depends on the military tactics and strategies employed. Tactics help to put strategies into effect by making decisions that do not necessarily have a long-term effect. With changes in the character of war and advances in technology, strategies and tactics have seen a change in their meaning. This paper explores the effects of technology on warfare and alterations in the internal threads that accompany technological breakthroughs. The paper also addresses how technology re quires a reformulated conceptual change in war-making. The first part of the paper deals with warfare in the early period, before Napoleon began his conquests. It then sheds light on the method of warfare used by Napoleon. The paper explores the use of technology in different wars such as the US Civil War, the First and the Second World Wars, the Gulf War and the Lebanese War, helping to establish how wars were lost or won by using technology and demonstrating its role in war-making. The latter part of the paper examines how technology mandates a subsequent change in internal threads, followed by a conclusion.  For the most part of history, strategies were considered to be the art of how the general conducted warfare and was aimed to tackle problems such as breaking into a fort, arranging the armed forces in a tactical maneuver to give them the advantage over the opponent force etc. Strategies began to change in the past two centuries primarily due to the concept of policies that had the support of the public, international coalitions, and technological advances. As a result, it became increasingly difficult to tell national policies apart from military policies.

Business environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business environment - Assignment Example The region has long been established as the leading European zone for attracting private investment. In fact, at present it is UK's most successful region for attracting foreign direct investment, and is among the top five in Europe. The West Midlands is the address of nearly 2,000 overseas companies from 34 different nations, employing roughly 9% of the region's workforce - nearly a quarter of a million people. Birmingham itself can boast of almost 300 overseas companies, which employ over 36,000 people. International and famous companies based in the West Midlands include Peugeot, Ford, BMW, Fujitsu, Oracle, Gap, Denso, IBM, NEC and Johnson Controls. A little over the last ten years, the West Midlands experienced real economic growth with GDP increasing by around 29%, an additional 240,000 people in employment, a fall in unemployment rates from 12.1% to below 8% (2000), economic activity rate at par with the rest of the country, an employment rate of around 74% (1998-1999 to 2003), higher than the national rate at the start of the three year period (1998-99) and a higher percentage of employees in high technology sectors than the national average in 2000 (Mitra, 2001). Despite noticeable indicators of development and progress, the West Midlands maintains its status of an under-achieving region. It has under-performed in almost all major areas judging by the economic indicators, if overall performance in the UK is used as a standard. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head in 1999 was 6% below the national average in spite of an increase of nearly 2% from 1998. On the Index of Local Deprivation, the West Midlands has two districts in the top 10 and 6 in the top 50 most deprived areas. In 1997, likewise, the West Midlands had the second lowest manufacturing productivity levels. Gross Value Added per GDP per head has stayed around 6% below the national average throughout the 1990s. Since 1990, unemployment rates have remained above the national average. Finally, the number of VAT- registered businesses has fallen faster than the national average. Compared to EU regions similar to the West Midlands (using the GVA metric), the latter is at par with most other regions and slightly below Bourgogne (France). SMEs in the West Midlands Economy With statistical trends elsewhere, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the largest share of all enterprises in the West Midlands. The region is composed of small firms, which would imply that small business activity is characteristic of the region's business and economic scenario. The sectoral spread of the firms portray the profile of the region with its mix of traditional industrial ands agricultural activities, combined with business and financial services. Reflecting overall national patterns, and indeed that of the West Midlands region, no one sub-region has more than two sectors with greater than 20% of the business sites in those sectors. Potential Sources of Support Across the region, Advantage West Midlands is setting up a variety of strategies and business support programmes aimed at motivating and promoting wealth creation and the diversification of the region's economy. Working in alliance with other organisations, the objective is to provide the business support required

Birthing Environments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Birthing Environments - Essay Example The design of the birth environment has remained a great concern in the society right from the olden days when maternity hospitals were scarce and unpopular for many societies in the world. The essence of this paper is to evaluate the social and cultural aspects associated with childbirth as a normal life event and to which these aspects are integrated while designing the physical birth environment. Childbirth as an ordinary life event has a great significance in all societies of the world because it provides the society with the capacity to propagate its generations into the future. Even long before the invention of medicine, earlier generations regarded childbirth as a sensitive and attention-demanding process that required proper preparation right from the pregnancy period up to the moment of child delivery. In fact, the modern design of physical child birth environment has borrowed a lot of its features from the traditional practices. Emphasis of nursing care during childbirth to day can be perceived as an improved version of mid-wifely that was common in the past and is still persistent today in some cultures. Although medical practice has refined the childbirth process, there is still much that remains unsatisfying among many women who still feel the need for improvement of the design of the birth environment. Even with the introduction of maternity facilities in the medical sector, women are still yet to be contented with the birth environment provided in these hospital facilities (Squire, 2009). The social and cultural aspects of childbirth define the ideal environment that birthing should take place. While the older generations experienced home birth, currently a great number of women populations receives medical pregnancy care and deliver on the maternal environment. For instance, Australia recorded 0.2% home births among all women who delivered in 2004, while the rest delivered maternity care units in the country (Foureur, Leap, & Homer, 2013). Whethe r childbirth occurs at home or in the hospital, the serenity and the conduciveness of the environment during this process will determine the comfort that the woman receives while delivering. For instance, the privacy and freedom of the woman during the process are paramount and in some extent determines the ease of delivery. The environment, to some extent, determines the nature of the birth process, whether natural or caesarean. In this view, the physical environment where a woman delivers affects the ease of the process, comfort and care that are available for a woman to deliver successfully. The cultural perspective of child birth is historical and varies from society one society to another, but it is indisputable that each society accords great significance to the process. For instance, in the Hawaiian society, the birthing stones provided a physical environment for birth among Wahianas. In this society, childbirth was a process that started right from the time a woman became pr egnant and ended when the baby was delivered. The cultural significance that this society attached to the entire process emanates from equal importance that is accorded to the child that is delivered in the process. The Wahianas believed that Kukaniloko was a birth environment who those children who had a spiritual tie

Business environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business environment - Assignment Example The region has long been established as the leading European zone for attracting private investment. In fact, at present it is UK's most successful region for attracting foreign direct investment, and is among the top five in Europe. The West Midlands is the address of nearly 2,000 overseas companies from 34 different nations, employing roughly 9% of the region's workforce - nearly a quarter of a million people. Birmingham itself can boast of almost 300 overseas companies, which employ over 36,000 people. International and famous companies based in the West Midlands include Peugeot, Ford, BMW, Fujitsu, Oracle, Gap, Denso, IBM, NEC and Johnson Controls. A little over the last ten years, the West Midlands experienced real economic growth with GDP increasing by around 29%, an additional 240,000 people in employment, a fall in unemployment rates from 12.1% to below 8% (2000), economic activity rate at par with the rest of the country, an employment rate of around 74% (1998-1999 to 2003), higher than the national rate at the start of the three year period (1998-99) and a higher percentage of employees in high technology sectors than the national average in 2000 (Mitra, 2001). Despite noticeable indicators of development and progress, the West Midlands maintains its status of an under-achieving region. It has under-performed in almost all major areas judging by the economic indicators, if overall performance in the UK is used as a standard. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head in 1999 was 6% below the national average in spite of an increase of nearly 2% from 1998. On the Index of Local Deprivation, the West Midlands has two districts in the top 10 and 6 in the top 50 most deprived areas. In 1997, likewise, the West Midlands had the second lowest manufacturing productivity levels. Gross Value Added per GDP per head has stayed around 6% below the national average throughout the 1990s. Since 1990, unemployment rates have remained above the national average. Finally, the number of VAT- registered businesses has fallen faster than the national average. Compared to EU regions similar to the West Midlands (using the GVA metric), the latter is at par with most other regions and slightly below Bourgogne (France). SMEs in the West Midlands Economy With statistical trends elsewhere, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the largest share of all enterprises in the West Midlands. The region is composed of small firms, which would imply that small business activity is characteristic of the region's business and economic scenario. The sectoral spread of the firms portray the profile of the region with its mix of traditional industrial ands agricultural activities, combined with business and financial services. Reflecting overall national patterns, and indeed that of the West Midlands region, no one sub-region has more than two sectors with greater than 20% of the business sites in those sectors. Potential Sources of Support Across the region, Advantage West Midlands is setting up a variety of strategies and business support programmes aimed at motivating and promoting wealth creation and the diversification of the region's economy. Working in alliance with other organisations, the objective is to provide the business support required

Industrial Haygene Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Industrial Haygene - Lab Report Example The length of the stain discoloration is an indication of the measured substance. The tube is graduated in percentage carboxy hemoglobin therefore readings are done directly from the graduations. The detector tubes measure air contaminants in the concentration range of occupational exposure limits. Their characterization is application dependents as illustrated in figure 2. The measurement assembly comprises of the Drager tube and pump. The gas detector pump delivers a precise volume of sample gas (usually 100mL) while simultaneously pulling it through the detector at a desired rate (figure 3). The pumps can either be short term or long term depending on user applications (Drager 25). They are dependent of external energy sources hence their diverse applications. In order to provide greater maneuverability, an extension hose may be utilized in hard to reach areas. There is a close relationship between the Carbon monoxide content of exhaled air. The respiratory carbon monoxide test is a reliable as well as efficient method for measuring carboxyhemoglobin content of blood (Dragger 38). The aim of this experiment is given a process of determining carbon monoxide concentration. The pump was routinely checked for leaks and suction capacity. Air was blown (exhaled air) into a 1L sampling bag with the aid of a resistance tube. The Drager tube, pump and were connected as in figure 5. The bellows of the Drager pump was then compressed to a maximum level and released. Suction is automatic on release of the bellows. The gas detector pump draws out air from the sample bag into the gas detector tube. Observe the length of the discoloration and read the graduations on the beaker. Carbon monoxide tube produces a light brownish green discoloration. The process was repeated two more times using different gas detector tubes. It is paramount that observations are

Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Philosophy Essay 1. Settings: I scheduled my AA meeting for Tuesday September the 18th at 10 p.m. at the Sobe Room in Miami Beach (1718 Bay Rd. Miami Beach, Fl. 33139). When I arrived I noticed that the parking was far away from the actual meeting point. The meeting point was a church type structure with no sing or any other identification. The door was open so I just went in; I waited about 5 minutes for the meeting to start. The meeting took place in a large room, and the chairs were organized in a semicircle and at the front there was a kind of podium. In the Sobe Room all meetings are open, so I didn’t have to set an appointment. In the meeting were about 50 people, I guess because it was in south beach the majority were young people under 40. There were mostly white males, followed by white females some Latin and some African Americans. There were about 15 people who were there for the first time. I didn’t have to say why I was there but I did have to say my name when everyone else did. 2. Philosophy Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. The primary purpose of AA is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. Although AA was founded on Christian principles and by white men, the organization has evolved to be multicultural. AA doesn’t keep a list of members names, but estimates that it has 2 million members who come from all backgrounds. The philosophy behind Alcoholics Anonymous is that alcoholism is a disease. Even if someone stops drinking, they are not cured. The individual is a recovering alcoholic. The organization follows a 12-step structure designed to help the recovering alcoholic have a healthy mind and spirit. By following the 12 steps in sequence, the recovering alcoholic can improve their thought processes and work on healing their emotions. 3. Therapeutic content Even though AA is an independent organization and is not based on psychological or therapeutic research or interventions, they have adopted some techniques of different theoretical models to help the group members deal with their illness. AA uses techniques from diverse psychological theoretical models such as existentialism, gestalt, and narrative therapy. The existentialism theory invites clients to explore their being and ask themselves philosophical questions such as what is the meaning of live, how do actions define individuals and to continually revise their set of values. AA uses this approach in its program when they talk about the greater power, the purpose of their lives, etc. Gestalt theory sees each client as a unique individual and states that any change made by the client has to be his or her own decision, gestalt therapy is also very confrontational, and in both characteristics are included in the AA program. AA states that the client will get better if and only they really want it and commit to it. Also AA uses an approach similar to the narrative therapy by treating the addiction as an illness and as a problem independent of the client, it externalizes it to try to confront it. 4. Impressions and significance: When I arrived to the meeting the first thing that called my attention was the fact that we had to park really far away from the actual site (about two blocks) I later found out that it was purposely made this way so the members wouldn’t feel self conscious about having their cars outside of something that could be affiliated with alcoholism. I entered the location, it wasn’t an actual church, but it had a church like structure. The doors were opened and most people seemed to know each other, before the meeting started some people said hi to me but no one asked any questions. The meeting began with a shot prayer called the serenity prayer, which had me thinking about some contradictions found in the AA philosophy since they claim not to have any religious affiliation but it certainly felt a little inclined towards the Christian side. After the prayer everyone introduced themselves (most people said their names and I’m an alcoholic, but some didn’t) I said my name but gave no further information. Then someone proceed to talk a little about the AA program and the 12-step structure. After the greeting process a guy (27) stood up and went to the podium. He started by repeating his name and saying he was an alcoholic. He said that since this time he saw a lot of new faces he wanted to share his story again. The man shared a very powerful story about his involvement with alcohol, he stated he started drinking around the age of 14, he said that at the moment he thought he was just having fun and doing the same that everyone else did, but that now that he thinks about it he realizes he was using alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with the confusion he was facing about his sexuality. He stated that he came out of the closet at the age of 16, that it was a very difficult time and that he was dating older men who encouraged him to drink. He continued talking about what coming out had done to the relationship with his family members; he described the time as very painful and he cried while telling the story (some of the people in the meeting cried as well). He said that his mother was very supportive since the beginning, that his younger brother had a hard time understanding; he said that he was a jog in school, so no one expected him to come out since he wasn’t â€Å"the gay type†. But that the real issue was with his father, as soon as he gave him the news the father became very angry and he kicked him out of the house. He said that he sort of expected the reaction but thought that he would eventually get over it, but that that hadn’t happened yet, and that it’s been 10 years and 7 months since the last time he spoke with his father. He said that he joined AA when he was 23, he decide to attend a meeting because he and his partner were having terrible fights while he was under the influence of alcohol and he even tried to hit him once. At that point the partner threatened with leaving him if he didn’t get treatment. He stated that it was the best decision he made in his live. He has now been sober for 3 years and 4 months. Before going to the meeting I had many opinions about what I would find there, I was sure that most people would be people of low socioeconomic status probably many homeless and very angry people. I was afraid of being forced to speak and that they wouldn’t understand the reason that I was participating in the meeting. I expected to see a lot of people praying, singing, and hugging at the end. But the truth is that the reality was very different to what I had in my imagination, I think my perception was heavily influenced by movies I’ve see about it. One thing that caught my attention was the first to realize that most people in the group were people with jobs and life situations fairly normal. But mostly I was surprised that people were a bit cold and distant. I was hoping that dodos were united and friendly to each other but not the case. For me the story of gay guy was very powerful and I felt good to see people around me responding positively and nodding. One thing I did not like was the strong Christian influence of the program; I feel that excludes many people who do not feel identified with this dogma. I think AA is a very powerful tool and can help many clients, but I also think is not for everyone. I would recommend it to clients with maladaptive behaviors that do not have the skills to deal with day-to-day problems. I think that a person has to be religious to some point to really identify with the program. I would not recommend this program to teenagers because I think that there are other programs more suitable for this population.

Positioning of Apple, Blackberry and Nokia

Positioning of Apple, Blackberry and Nokia Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The companys best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools; and iOS, a mobile operating system. As of August 2010, the company operates 301 retail stores in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc., for its first 30 years, but removed the word Computer on January 9, 2007, to reflect the companys ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of September 25, 2010, Apple had 46,600 full time employees and 2,800 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $65.23 billion. For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010. The company has also received widespread criticism for its contractors labor, environmental, and business practices. Segmentation: According to Michael J. Croft (1994), segmentation is to divide a market by a strategy directed at gaining a major portion of sales to a subgroup in a category, rather than a more limited share of purchases by all category users. Market segmentation is one of the steps that goes into defining and targeting specific markets. It is the process of dividing a market into a distinct group of buyers that require different products or marketing mixes. A key factor to success in todays market place is finding subtle differences to give a business the marketing edge. Businesses that target specialty markets will promote its products and services more effectively than a business aiming at the average customer. Opportunities in marketing increase when segmented groups of clients and customers with varying needs and wants are recognized. Markets can be segmented or targeted using a variety of factor. The bases for segmenting consumer markets include: Demographical bases (age, family size, life cycle, occupation) Geographical bases (states, regions, countries) Behaviour bases (product knowledge, usage, attitudes, responses) Psychographic bases (lifestyle, values, personality) A business must analyze the needs and wants of different market segments before determining their own niche. To be effective in market segmentation keeps the following things in mind: Segments or target markets should be accessible to the business Each segmented group must be large enough to provide a solid customer base. Each segmented group requires a separate marketing plan. Apple is such a band whose core competence in innovation. For apple to keep its market share it needs not only to concentrate on its research and development but also on segmenting its market efficiently and reaching them with its new products. Customers View of Segmentation: Customers segment themselves and take no notice of how companies segment their market(s). When choosing between competing products and services, customers select the proposition that meets their needs better than any other. To win market share, therefore, a company must ensure that their offers meet these needs better than any other at a price they perceive as providing superior value for money (which does not necessarily mean it has to be the cheapest). As this is how customers operate in a market, then a segmentation project should have these as its segmentation criteria. On its own this approach to segmentation, while able to provide you with an invaluable insight into how to win a customers business, still requires you to know how to reach them. The input to this part of a winning proposition, provided by a detailed understanding of who the customers are and where they are to be found, is clearly very important and plays a crucial part in our segmentation process. In addition, by really understanding what underpins a customers choice we gain an insight into their motivations, which will lead you to understand what promotional stance to take? Interestingly, all the reputable marketing books and marketing courses which look at the alternative approaches to segmenting markets include needs-based segmentation (sometimes called benefit segmentation) in their reviews. They also conclude that needs-based segmentation is by far the most successful approach. This is the approach taken by The Market Segmentation Company, for which we have developed a series of practical steps, tried and tested in numerous markets around the world, and incorporated into our segmentation process. Positioning of Apple, Blackberry and Nokia: Blackberry handset is no longer concerned with the occurrence of iPhone. Because of not all people switch off from their Blackberry handset to iPhone gadget, this statement was stated by researchers from UBS Investment Jeffrey Fan after successfully interviewed 222 people in UK and 106 people in United States when they would buy iPhone 3G. According to Cellular News, 106 of iPhone buyers in United States, only five people, or 4.7 percent are Blackberry users. In fact, three of that number doesnt intend to sell their Blackberry after buying Apple iPhone. About 30 percent of 106 people use Motorola and Samsung. With each contributing is 15 percent, said the Cellular news. In UK, from 222 people who purchased the iPhone, only eight people or 3.6 per cent claiming to have it switch from Blackberry to iPhone. Only one person is interested in using them, iPhone and Blackberry. However, 18 percent of these respondents claim to have a corporate Blackberry so that they cannot take down the handset made by Research in Motion (Rim). From 222 people in UK, the 28 percent is former Nokia users, while 20 percent is former Sony Ericsson users, Fan explained. Fan detailed more about this research, although the research is limited, but it can prove that the market segment of Blackberry and iPhone users is very different so it will not become a significant threat to Rim. In above countries, the majority of iPhone 3G buyers have used first version of iPhone. In UK is about 29 percent and in United States is about 37 percent. Even, some iPhone operator in several countries also sells Blackberry handset as alternative of iPhone by selling Blackberry with cheaper price. For example, the T-Mobile of United States reduced the price of Blackberry Curve by USD 50, to USD 99. According to Wilbur Schramm (1954), Schramms third model is based on the convergence or network approach. Due to various kinds of noise there are chances that the message gets distorted till it reaches the receiver, to overcome the problem he introduced the concept of feedback which helps the sender to modify the information from what he observes or hears from the receiver or the audience. The communication process now takes a circular form as both parties take on the roles of sender and recipient. Schramms model emphasizes on the importance of feedback for the information to reach the receiver in the same manner as desired by the sender. Feedback is essential in the business environment to ensure that the constituencies interpret the information correctly from the companies. Apple, Blackberry and Nokia: The iPhone was growing explosively, but its market share was barely a third of Nokias 68 million smart phones. Despite the massive coverage of the iPhone success in the United States, RIM with its Blackberry still leads the U.S. Smartphone market, with a share of over 30%. Apple had less than 30%, while Android-based phones (Google) were catching up fast. In the second quarter of 2010, Nokia held onto 33% of the mobile phone market. In the Smartphone market, Nokia sold 24 million such devices, up 42% from a year earlier. The overall Smartphone market grew at about the same rate, so Nokia held its share from a year ago, at 40.3%, and actually grew share slightly from the first quarter of this year. So in the global Smartphone rivalry, Nokia still had the lead, while RIM and Apple followed. The winners of the Smartphone market will be determined by global success. So is Nokia; in so much internal turmoil that it is reportedly considering replacing its CEO. Despite the softening of Nokias market share in the United States, Nokia has managed to expand its global position, especially in the high-growth large emerging markets; including China, India, Brazil and Indonesia. In a global rivalry, it would be a fatal mistake to think of these markets as second-tier. Apple is yet to open a store in India. India has such a huge market. Nokia with leading market share in India Apple should look at it if it sights at global leader in mobiles. True, until the 1980s, the lead customers in the most advanced industries were still in the United States, Western Europe and Japan. The G-7 nations dominated talks on international economics. And what was good for California was good for the world. Today, the lead customers are increasingly in the emerging world. The G-7 has been replaced by the G-20. The U.S. market is no longer enough for global leadership. In the global markets, the new mantra is, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra: If you can make it in Shanghai, you can make it in New Delhi, too. And yet, as Nokia has found out the hard way, the United States remains necessary for sustained global success. And the U.S. market is the main source of concerns about Nokias corporate future. In high-tech business, a solid presence in the United States is not just about a market share. It is about ensuring a role in cutting-edge innovation. Apple has hugely targeted youth and people having higher interest in technological products. The major setback for apple is it doesnt support office applications. Apple needs to concentrate on overseas expansion of its market. It is able to reach its target audience in some of the developed countries, but not having full length operations in a country like India is a big loss for any industry. Apple Ad Campaigning: In the past two decades, Apple Inc. has become well known for its advertisements, which are designed to reflect a plan of marketing their products to creative individuals. Their most significant ad campaigns include the 1984 Super Bowl commercial, the 1990s Think Different campaign, and the iPod people of the 2000s. Apples portable music player, the iPod, has been showcased as a piece of contemporary art in New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. Since the original Macintosh Super Bowl commercial in 1984, which mimicked imagery from George Orwells 1984, Apple has maintained a style of homage to contemporary visual art in many of its more famous ad campaigns. For example, the Think Different campaign linked Apple to famous social figures-including artist John Lennon and social activist Mahatma Gandhi. Apple has been criticized for its sometimes questionable use of modern art as an inspiration for its marketing campaigns-at times re-creating a short film or music video shot-by-shot for its commercials. Some artists have documented entering into rights-negotiations with Apple, only to have Apple pull out of the discussions, then use the artistic imagery anyway. As a result, several lawsuits have been filed against Apple by artists and corporations alike, such as visual artist Louie Psihoyos and shoe company Lugz. These claims were later confirmed. In 1997, the Think Different campaign introduced Apples new slogan, and in 2002 the Switch campaign followed. The most recent advertising strategy by Apple is the Get a Mac campaign. Today, Apple focuses much of its advertising efforts around special events, and keynotes at conferences like the MacWorld Expo and the Apple Expo. The events typically draw a large gathering of media representatives and spectators. In the past, special events have been used to announce products such as the Power Mac G5. Apple Branding: Unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors. Over time, this image becomes associated with a level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumers mind. Thus brands help harried consumers in crowded and complex marketplace, by standing for certain benefits and value. Legal name for a brand is trademark and, when it identifies or represents a firm, it is called a brand name. Apple Computers is the epitome of self-empowerment and self-fulfilment combined in one brand. How else to describe a Cult Brand whose original slogan for the Macintosh was, the computer for the rest of us? Of course, the rest of us were those brave individuals who wanted to control their own destinies and break free of the systems controlling grip and authoritarian ways. In the eighties, Apple painted this dark controlling force as being IBM, while in the nineties it became Microsoft and Bill Gates. As Christopher Escher, former VP of Corporation Communications, noted: They turned computers, which are essentially a product for business people to crunch numbers with, into symbols of self-realization and liberation against social constraints. Apple has a branding strategy that focuses on the emotions. The Apple brand personality is about lifestyle; imagination; liberty regained; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology. The Apple br and personality is also about simplicity and the removal of complexity from peoples lives; people-driven product design; and about being a really humanistic company with a heartfelt connection with its customers. The 2009 results of Virtues ranking of the most social brands is in, and Apple came out on top.   Apple is one of the most powerful relationship brands, so its not surprising that people talk about it across the social Web.   In fact, Apples iPhone brand took the ultimate top spot in the list of the most social brands, while Apples iTunes brand ranked 6th, and the Apple parent brand ranked 8th.   Interestingly, according to an article from Adweek, the only other companies to have multiple brands ranked in the top 20 of Virtues list were Sony (for both the parent brand and PlayStation) and Microsoft. Apple was successful till the launch of Iphone4 but after the launch of Iphone4 it faced problems regarding the signal problem. The issue relates to the mobile phone signal, with users reporting a drop in signal strength when the phone is held. After knowing from the analysts that recalling Iphone4 would cost the millions, Apple boss Steve Jobs held a meeting after the launch and tried to suppress the problem by offering free bumpers for the customers perceiving it would boost the signal. But, there were still a lot of customers left behind un-satisfied. Positioning: In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Re-positioning involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market. De-positioning involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market. It is widely recognized that Apple is a premium brand that demands and earns a price premium.   This price premium spans the entire Apple product line-up encompassing the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, software, and accessories.   Apples positioning is aligned with targeting a less price sensitive customer.   As a result, Apples culture and internal activities are structured to meet the needs of these customers; strategists call this needs-based positioning.   Apple has thus created a culture and a set of activities to differentiate it from rivals in order to meet the needs of their target customers. If Apple were to attempt to compete for all customer segments, it would have to lower product prices.   The danger with such an approach is that it would not only undermine and erode the companys premium brand image but it would also undermine the companys culture and internal activities. Andreasen and Kotler, (2008) suggest three levels of product features. They are: Core, Tangible, and Augmented (Refer to appendix 1). Core Product. What is the core benefit your product offers?. Customers who purchase a camera are buying more than just a camera they are purchasing memories. For Apple core product is its brand. Actual Product: All cameras capture memories. The aim is to ensure that your potential customers purchase your one. The strategy at this level involves organisations branding, adding features and benefits to ensure that their product offers a differential advantage from their competitors. These are tangible. IPhone come with a beautiful packing. Apple made iTunes the activation agent for the IPhone, thus making customers familiar with its product. Augmented product: What additional non-tangible benefits can you offer? Competition at this level is based around after sales service, warranties, delivery and so on. John Lewis a retail departmental store offers free five year guarantee on purchases of their Television sets, this gives their `customers the additional benefit of piece of mind over the five years should their purchase develop a fault. Apple has setup a Genius bar and offers warranty for the product. This helps its customers to have confidence in the brand thus enables them to buy their product. Apple took care that its product not reaching the decline stage. When 2G seemed to reach decline stage it came forward with 3G and it continued till 4G.Each time it kept on increasing the price which benefited the company. Competitor Actions: Brand attitude also depends on competitor actions. A downturn in Hewlett-Packards attitude occurred during two quarters in which Canon ran some hard-hitting comparison advertising about Hewlett-Packards printers, the most visible Hewlett-Packard product with respect to advertising exposure. More dramatic was the impact of Windows 95. A product intended to neutralize Apples user-friendly comparative advantage, on Apples brand attitude. For the first quarter of 1994 (when Techtel respondents, some of whom were beta version testers, first began to provide opinions about Windows 95) to the fourth quarter of 1997, we find a very strong negative interrelationship (i.e., a correlation of -.95) between the attitudes toward Apple and toward Windows 95. Conclusion: Brand is all-important. Apple is one of the most established and healthy IT brands in the World, and has a very loyal set of enthusiastic customers that advocate the brand. Such a powerful loyalty means that Ample not only recruits new customers, it retains them i.e. they come back for more products and services from Apple, and the company also has the opportunity to extend new products to them Apple is definitely perceived as a premium brand from the customers perspective. But in case of Iphone4, Apple lost reputation from its customers. It felt in a race for cannibalizing their own products and tried to skim off the profits. Even it tried to repair its lost reputation from the customers it was not acceptable from such highly perceived company. Customers expect high valued products from Apple they might take all possible measures to care about its next product. Else, they may fall behind by miles in this market competition. Biblography: Brassington, F., Pettitt, S. (2007). Essentials of Marketing. Essex: Prentice Hall. Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, w. M., Ferrell, O. C. (2006). Marketing Concepts and Strategies (5th ed.). London: Houghton Mifflin. Fill, C. (2007). Communications: Contexts, Strategies and Applications. London: Financial Times Press. Johnson, G., Scholes, K. (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. London: Prentice-Hall. Kotler, P., Armstrong, G. (2006). Principles of marketing. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.