Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Humanities-issues in science and societies 3b Essay

Humanities-issues in science and social orders 3b - Essay Example Quite, the expense of the GM seed is twice or threefold the expense of the non-biotech seeds. By the by, it is clear that the appropriation of this biotechnology is by a long shot high in industrialized nations than in the creating ones. Exploration demonstrates that practically 91% of the worldwide fields planted by the GM seeds are amassed in six chief industrialized nations. They incorporate Canada, Argentina, United States of America, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay. Further investigation shows that, USA alone adds to 54% of the absolute GM food flexibly worldwide while the rest nations produce a sum of 80%. There are a few components have added to this dissimilarity and; thusly, the case introduced is bound to overwhelm except if in any case expressed (Miller and Lentz 240). Along these lines, this paper tries to show how political plans in the undiscovered markets, risky stands and vulnerabilities in wellbeing, high monetary expenses, and vulnerabilities in business sectors add to the dissimilarity in GM seeds offered to industrialized nations and creating nations. It has been of extensive worry fair and square industrialized nations have taken the benefit in abusing the likely grounds in creating nations. Deficient assets impede the advancement of bio-innovation in the creating nations. This deterrent is additionally because of deficient straightforwardness on the importance and the phases of executing GM food creation techniques. A nearby perception of Africa, for example, frames the premise of these politically slanted plans. Because of extreme dry spell and strength of the irritations, the universal enterprises have unequivocally enjoyed asserting famous capacity of harvest yields in these zones. Over the span of executing this arrangement of food creation, there develops restriction in any event, when these enterprises are eager to give them away (Koch and Askeland 180). Privately owned businesses and other establishment are in the publicity of

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Picture yourself as a stereotypical male

“Picture yourself as a stereotypical male” There is empirical evidence  to support the idea that males have a higher capacity for spatial reasoning than females. A large-scale 1995 meta-analysis found that on average, men outperform women in a cluster of tests related to spatial ability by nearly a full standard deviation, and in attempt to explain this, researchers have hypothesized about the impact of testosterone and differences in brain wiring in capacity for spatial thought. It has also been suggested that this difference in performance is in some way related to differences in math ability, given that college-bound females who perform well on SAT math also perform correspondingly well in mental rotation exercises. “Mental rotation” here refers to the act of visualizing rotations of two- and three-dimensional shapes in one’s mind, and tests of this ability have widely been used as one measure of spatial intelligence. Example of a mental rotation test. I’m guessing that you’re familiar with common notions that men are spatial and logical thinkers, while females are more verbally proficient. A man being tested for spatial ability might assume that he’s going to have an easier time than a woman of otherwise equal intelligence, his conclusion based not on sexism but on objective science. And statistically speaking, he’s right. It is true that men score higher on spatial reasoning tests, though you might have caught on that there’s a little bit more to this picture (why would a female MIT student publicize stereotypes that actively work against her?). If you’re now wondering whether I’m about to throw some kind of feminist rant at you, Ill give you a “well, sort of,” because calling out factual misconception is just as important as promoting feminist ideals here, and because I think those two go hand in hand anyway. I’ll largely put the romance of egalitarianism aside, though, to talk about empiricism. If you’ve ever done any kind of research, you’ll know that while correlation doesn’t imply causation, a controlled experiment can. As in, one can reasonably conclude that women score lower on certain types of tests as a result of them being women, and that some aspect of their womanhood has brought on this result. The question of interest, then, becomes “which aspect” a question which has evoked a number of hypotheses that incorporate innate or nature-driven difference. Is testosterone key? Are women’s brains wired differently in a way that impair their visualization ability, and if so, is this difference breadboarded by biology or by social environment (in perhaps the same way that the taxi driver brain physically adapts to enhance spatial mapping)? And could this potentially have something to do with the separation of labor of our hunter-gatherer predecessors? I think it’s important to acknowledge the very rightful discomfort that arises when scientific studies attempt to trace such differences to biologically determined origins. Yet, across decades of research, no biological cause has actually been identified as a suitable explanation for the spatial reasoning discrepancy. Studies regarding testosterone and mental rotation, for example, found inconsistent or absent effects across cultures, prompting inquiries into “differing cultural values” to account for the results. And gaps between men’s and women’s scores on some spatially-geared tests have significantly shrunk in the past few decades, which is interesting because noticeable evolutionary or nature-based development might take thousands of decades to take effect. (“Nurture”-based conditions are of course rapidly changing.) Still though, the gap has lingered, and a satisfying and empirically-supported explanation as to “what gives” was not achieved until 2008, when re searchers eliminated the performance gap under a single simple condition. In a now-famous study, psychologists at the University of Berlin falsely told participants that they had been selected to participate in a series of tests “to measure the ability to put oneself in someone else’s position” a fabrication devised to avoid confounding factors in their real study on gender identity priming. They prepared a text describing a day in the life of a “stereotypical woman” who takes care of her family, works part time, and is insightful, helpful, and agreeable. They also prepared an equivalently-structured text outlining the activities of a stereotypical manly man who is tough, risk-taking, and does weight training after work. Subjects were randomly given one of the two texts, and then asked: “If you were the person described in the text, which adjectives would you use to describe yourself?” Soon after participants described themselves with either the male- or female-associated traits, they were asked to take a mental rotation test presented as independent of the first part of the study, supposedly to measure their personal spatial aptitude. On this mental rotation test, women who were “primed” with the female identity scored an average of 3.86 on the exercise, compared to the female-primed males’ average of 5.14. Okay, expected. But then when primed with the male text, women scored an average of 5.49, while men scored 5.53… wait a second, what? As it turns out, there is zero statistically significant gender difference in mental rotation ability after test-takers are asked to imagine themselves as stereotypical men for a few minutes. None. An entire standard deviation of female underperformance is negated on this condition, just as a man’s performance is slightly hindered if he instead imagines himself as a woman. (well then.) Although this study is of course not a logically definitive answer to all things “nature versus nurture,” it does add a tremendous structural asset to the growing mountain of evidence that “natural” ability differences are confounded by identity and subconscious self-stereotyping. Demographic expectations may be subtle or overt, but they are omnipresent, and they are likely much more powerful than most of us have ever considered. A Good Night’s Sleep, A Hearty Breakfast, and Being White I’ve been taking standardized tests since I was nine years old. Back in elementary and middle school it meant this kind of magical week where homework wasn’t a thing and we had half the school day to do whatever we wanted, but come high school it was more this ugly ominous mutant mess of big words and big blue practice books. Hallway whispers insisted that “X person isn’t that ‘good, they only got X score,” and “I’m never going to college, I’m so stupid.” It was named the Scholastic  Aptitude Test, after all. Our guidance counselors always liked to talk about how we should take care to get eight hours of sleep and a nutritious breakfast on our testing days. Test prep was obviously first and foremost, but after that, there were a number of easilyGoogleable studies that correlated sleep with test performance and nutrition with test performance. It was sort of like this ritual mantra among counselors and parents: study, sleep, eggs for breakfast. If you had the trifecta covered, your score would be up to some combination of fate and the will of the Greek gods and there was nothing much else of concern. Some time last month I was browsing the Internet and happened upon a number of papers that really disturbed me. This reaction, I would say, was both due to their content and to the fact that I was priorly ignorant of their actually enormous implications for anyone who regularly test-takes. I found it 1) absurd that this isn’t common knowledge, and 2) upsetting that educators spread these cute little test tips while ignoring factors that affect students on potentially magnitudes greater. How about “Zeus is a fucking racist, kids,” or else “stereotype threat exists.” You may be familiar with the concept of stereotype threat. The term refers to a theorized mechanism by which people underperform (on tests, competitions, etc.) in response to awareness of stereotypes about their demographic group. It’s related to a largely subconscious apprehension about confirming the given negative stereotype, which hinders cognition, impairs concentration, and under some conditions reduces preparation or effort. This concept was conceived in a breakthrough study in 1995 entitled “The Effects of Stereotype Threat on the Standardized Test Performance of College Students.” Its introduction explains: “Whenever African American students perform an explicitly scholastic or intellectual task, they face the threat of confirming or being judged by negative societal stereotypes about their group’s intellectual ability and competence… and the self-threat it causes through a variety of mechanisms may interfere with the intellectual functioning of these students, particularly during standardized tests.” The study analyzed the effect on black participants, although similar effects surely apply to Hispanic and Native American people and any other group with academic prejudices working against them. “When participants arrived at the laboratory,” states the paper, “the experimenter (a White man) explained that for the next 30 minutes they would work on a set of verbal problems in a format identical to the SAT exam.” Half of the participants were told that their performance on the test would be diagnostic of their verbal reasoning abilities, or in their words, “a genuine test of [their] verbal abilities and limitations” due to “various personal factors involved in performance.” This was an engineered induction of stereotype threat, under which the test takers were given the impression that their score on the test was associated with their personal academic aptitude. In contrast, the researcher’s explanation in the non-diagnostic condition made no reference to innate ability and instead implied that a given participant’s score was associated with the kinds of problems they’ve been exposed to in the past, along with test-induced “psychological factors.” I want to point out how closely test scores are associated with intelligence in our common thinking. Obviously, we reason, one scores an A on a Real Analysis test because they’re really smart. Man, those smart kids at MIT are faced with some of the most brutal exams in the country. But I got an easy question wrong on my 8.02 midterm, so I must be pretty stupid or at least not destined for Physics. Such words and notions are thrown around so casually. With that said, I also want to show you exactly what happens when a test is perceived to be “diagnostic” of a negatively stereotyped person’s intelligence: (hah.. ha ha…ha…excuse me for a second while I unleash a blood curdling scream in the general direction of anyone who has ever complained about affirmative action.) Black students under the “score is based on your personal intellect” condition performed significantly worse than whites, while the black participants who were given the alternate context performed with zero significant difference. Stereotype threat impaired both the rate and accuracy of their work, as they spent on average 94 seconds per question in the diagnostic condition versus 71 seconds without it. Interestingly, no differences were found between the conditions in self-reported anxiety; the paper notes that “these measures may have been insensitive, or too delayed.” In another part of this study, sixty-eight Stanford undergraduates were told they were participating in a study on Lexical Access Processing, or “the visual recognition and processing of words.” The task was made up of 80 word fragments with missing letters, which as the experimenters intended could be completed in a number of different ways. For example, “ _ _ _ T E” could be anything from “flute” to “white” and “D U _ _” could be “dust” or “duty” or “dumb” and so forth. “Stereotype Activation” would be defined as the completion of words relating to race, and the “Self-Doubt Activation Measure” would measure the completion of words related to anxiety over failure. The diagnostic versus non-diagnostic conditions were defined similarly to the previous portion: The results were really no less upsetting. According to this study, black undergraduates at Stanford (i.e. some of the most academically accomplished students in the country) are significantly more likely to be thinking “D U M B” and “R A C E” when their ability is reflected by their score. And as determined by the previous portion, these anxieties whether the students report having them overtly or not can have very real consequences for their test performance and their resulting academic achievement. “My Entire Gender is Counting on Me:” More Tales of Literal Impaired Cognition If you’re a female or demographic minority in STEM, the cute comic above might evoke some not-so-cute memories of a familiar and horrifying scenario in which you feel judged in a class of an out-group majority. Maybe it won’t surprise you to know that a girl’s math performance is empirically shown to decrease in proportion to the number of male test-takers around her, or that conscious reminders of gender differences will significantly decrease females’ math test scores. This week’s episode on “Graphs That Will Make You Want To Cry,” featuring a math test composed of “challenge” problems in another famous stereotype threat study.   There have been hundreds of equally alarming studies regarding stereotype threat and of similar identity-related conditions that impair performance. I don’t think we have time to recount every one in detail, but I’ll leave you with some more interesting findings. Regarding women in math: research at Indiana University found that females’ performance decreases significantly after simply watching a video showing “dominant” male behavior, and at Harvard they found that Asian-American women perform better or worse on math assessments depending on which identity is highlighted to them. A 2005 study showed that girls score much lower than boys on an identical test when it was described as a “math test,” but slightly (though non-significantly) better than them when its a “problem solving” test. Another study suggested that female AP Calculus test-takers would benefit if the demographic bubble-filling were postponed until after the exam. Similar findings have been shown regarding racial identities: for example, asking black students to indicate their race before a test both significantly increases their anxiety and lowers their test scores. Black students’ performance under a diagnostic condition is improved when the test administrator is black as opposed to white (that 2.9% black MIT faculty tho) and black participants taking what was actually an IQ test scored better  when the same questions were presented as a test of “hand-eye coordination.” Unsurprisingly, the same stereotype threat effects that were initially found for black test-takers were also found to apply to Latinos and students of low socioeconomic status. More recently, neuroscientists have begun to examine the effects of this condition under an fMRI. Under a control (non-stereotype threat) condition, Dartmouth undergrads engaging in mathematical problem-solving showed activation in the typical brain regions associated with problem solving. In the stereotype threat condition they were reminded that ‘‘research has shown gender differences in math ability and performance,” a reminder that I know I would personally take to mean “try harder.” However, regardless of this expected greater effort, participants showed no evidence of heightened activation in problem-solving areas and instead showed activation in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, which is implicated in the processing of not “trying harder” but rather of negative thoughts and emotions. In other studies, inducing stereotype threat has been shown to temporarily reduce working memory capacity, which is one of the strongest correlates with general intelligence… and as an interesting self-referential side note, is also related to  mental rotation ability. The negative impacts of this cognitive burden aren’t limited to test-taking, though: thoughts of stereotypes degrade women’s performance in activities from chess to negotiation to driving. Nor does it apply only to women and people of color; the same mechanism is thought to cause men to find social sensitivity more difficult, psychology majors to test worse than science majors, and drug users to score worse on a memory task when faced with this expectation. Michelle I’m Pretty Sure You’re Just Reminding Everyone of Stereotypes with this Post… You guys wanna know a few things? I’m a girl, and I’m white. My favorite movie is James and the Giant Peach. I am somewhat soft-spoken, though I like to sing really loudly in my room. I can be introspective to the point of self-torture and procrastinate to the point of well, future-self torture. I’m studying Course 14. I’m generally good at math, but I tend to think the humanities are more fun. I was always one of the best writers in my English classes and I’ve done professional graphic design work which I’m proud of. And I know it sounds annoying to say, but I do think that I’m smart. Sometimes I go into exams thinking about like.. feminism and disproving stereotypes. I know now that thats bad, but I’m 99% sure that other girls do it too because how can we not? especially in situations where we might feel like we’re representing all of womankind. I really can’t even begin to imagine what that pressure might feel like if I didn’t have white skin, although studies like Steele and Aronson’s give me a hint that it’s, uh, not great. There is something of a solution to all of this: one that’s a bit more complicated than to “stop being affected by stereotypes,” a bit less fun than “deporting all the meninists” and of course in addition to a long-term ideal of say “destroying the culturally-ingrained white supremacist patriarchy.” See, we know that highlighting identities associated with impaired performance will cause impaired performance, but as a counter to this, research also confirms that thinking about our complex, intelligent, talented, individual human selves before the given tests will partially or completely dissolve this impairment. So theoretically we can sort of “engineer” out any test impairments with a combination of these techniques and perform with a lot more cognitive clarity than an extra scrambled egg for breakfast could give us. (Though still not as effective as the destroying the hegemony thing. Which by the way, requires the participation of everyone, and not just those it i mpairs.) I am a multi-faceted person. I’m an MIT student and an East Campus resident. I’m terrible at basketball and I always win at Mario Party. I like to give encouraging life advice to my sisters. I am a girl, which I think is pretty cool. I get anxious sometimes but I know rationally that a lot of this is due to outside pressures working against me, and not a result of my true aptitude. I am a smart person. I am a capable person. I am a capable person. And yes, I should mention that in addition to changing the way we think of our exams and ourselves, simply learning about how stereotypes unfairly harm performance does ameliorate a portion of its effects. A group of researchers told female math test takers: Its important to keep in mind that if you are feeling anxious while taking this test, this anxiety could be the result of these negative stereotypes that are widely known in society and have nothing to do with your actual ability to do well on the test.” The girls scores significantly improved, an effect which I would assume holds for people of color and for anyone else whose brain is taught to expect less from itself by a culture that wants this to be so. I think its awful and unfortunate that we live in a society that can impair us based on the basic properties of our human existence; a world that tries to undermine excellence by spreading burdensome fears. Yet as diverse, talented, and intelligent individuals, Id hope we’r e smarter than to allow it.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Scarlet Ibis - 868 Words

Hailey M. Camper Mrs. Lauren Owen English 9 Honors 17 September 2013 The Scarlet Ibis: A Literary Analysis There are multiple literary elements that combine together to create the theme and mood of a story. In the short story, â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis,† the author, James Hurst, demonstrates the use of literary elements and the importance of vital life lessons. The mood in this short story is deeply nostalgic and melancholy. The narrator faces the difficult obstacle of his pride vs. Himself (which is also the critical theme of the story). In the story, Hurst uses the elements of setting, foreshadowing, and symbolism to create a bittersweet, nostalgic memory of the character of Doodle. Various examples of how the setting reveals the mood†¦show more content†¦At the first of the story, Doodle was believed not to even live a couple of days, but he pulled through and worked hard in learning how to walk, row, and do other basic activities. As he kept trying to do more and more work each day, it put more and more stress and pain on his body and his weak heart, he overworked himself, and therefore, his body gave up under all the pressure. When the narrator’s family found the Scarlet Ibis dead, it was noticeable that it had flown from somewhere extensively far away. The Scarlet Ibis and Doodle did the exact same thing – they tried to work themselves more to hopefully accomplish more in the long run, but ultimately ended up killing themselves because their bodies weren’t made strong and proficient, they were made fragile and delicate. In â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis,† the author, James Hurst, clearly defines the valuable message of not letting pride get the best of one. This use of life lessons and other literary elements helped to exemplify the themes demonstrated in the story – setting, foreshadowing, and symbolism. Hurst’s style of descriptive and creative writing genuinely told the reader the importance of a supportive family and community in this Southern shortShow MoreRelatedThe Scar let Ibis Quotes729 Words   |  3 Pagesother? Well, in the story â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†, the main character had the same dilemma. He went through phases of being cruel and kind to his brother, Doodle. Doodle was born a weak baby and was not thought to survive for very long. He did, but because of his disadvantages as a child, he was very offbeat from other kids. James Hurst uses Doodle’s brother to exhibit how he is both cruel and kind towards his younger brother, Doodle, in his short story, â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†. Doodle’s brother decided thatRead More The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Essay711 Words   |  3 PagesThe Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Foreshadowing, symbolism, and image are all elements which compose style.   All are very important; foreshadowing adds suspense, and symbolism contributes to interpretation.   Image contributes visual aids which, also, aid interpretation.   In this classic short story, The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, foreshadowing, symbolism, and image combine to create a true literary masterpiece. Foreshadowing is one of the elements of style which make The ScarletRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst967 Words   |  4 PagesThe story of a miracle unfolding and a brother motivating is one named,† The scarlet Ibis.† This story is written by James Hurst. In â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†, one will find, two brothers; one with the desire to run and play, named Doodle, and the other with the desire to have someone to run and play with, the narrator. Doodle had a desire to be a normal child but was born handicapped. He was a child who no one thought would live more than 2 days. However, he lived longer than that and it was soon discoveredRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis Analysis1001 Words   |  5 Pagesentitled â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†. â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† is a short story about two brothers; one brother is healthy, while the other is physically handicapped. The short story is centered on the idea that the older, healthier brother’s selfishness and pride ultimately led to the death of his younger brother, Doodle. Numerous quotes throughout the story demonstrate Hurst’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing to portray and predict Doodle’s untimely and heartbreaking death. The Scarlet Ibis bird symbolizesRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis By John Steinbeck Essay1848 Words   |  8 Pages â€Å"For a long, long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of the rain† (Hurst 354). In the final line of James Hurst’s short story, â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis,† the narrator sobs over the body of his dead seven year old brother. This brother, nicknamed Doodle, was born crippled, but taught to walk by his ashamed older sibling, the narrator. On the day before Doodle is to start school, there was a great and powerful storm in which â€Å"thunder roared outRead MoreThe Theme Of Love In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst1123 Words   |  5 Pagesindividual is given the ability to love, however not all have the strength and courage to embrace it. Love is the most important aspect of life, but not all can accept an individuals differences. James Hurst expresses this hardship in his story â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis†. Hurst displays the importance of acceptance between two brothers, Brother and Doodle. Doodle is born with a disability that sets him apart from other children his age. Brother cannot accept the fact that his little brother is different, causingRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Essay1691 Words   |  7 Pagesyourself. The same can happen with an older sibling! That is the case in The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. The narrator of this story has a younger brother called Doodle, who has some health issues. Big brother pushes little brother to be better than he is. In The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for the goals that his brother sets for him for many reasons, which reflects the conflict in the story. To begin, in The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle strives for these goals because he wants to make his brother proudRead MoreThe Dynamic Character in The Scarlet Ibis Essay580 Words   |  3 PagesWho is the dynamic character in â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis?† To answer this question, one must first know what a dynamic character is or means. A dynamic character is one who changes by the end of the story. In â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† the narrator is the one who is the dynamic character. How? First of all, the reason why the narrator is dynamic is he feels atrocious of how he has treated Doodle, his brother. The second reason is the narrator comprehends he should have appreciated his brother more. The last reasonRead MoreExpectations Of Characters In Shakespeares The Scarlet Ibis1166 Words   |  5 Pagesnot everybody had- a heart condition. It prevented him from doing most things an average boy could. Doodle and his brother would spend most of their time at Old Woman Swamp or outdoors. They are always together in some way. The author of â€Å"The Scarlet Ibis† uses foreshadowing, similes, and imagery to show that others expectations of one can impact themselves and take a toll on their life. The first main character in the story is Doodle, also known as William Armstrong. When he was born, no oneRead MoreThe Scarlet Ibis5205 Words   |  21 PagesIn The Scarlet Ibis, what evidence does the narrarator use to support his claim that Doodle was a burden in many ways? Doodle was a burden because he really couldnt do a whole lot for himself.   He was very weak and very dependent.   The narrator had to take him with him wherever he went and he had to be careful with him at all times.   He had a lot of restrictions when taking Doodle around with him.   To a young boy, lugging his brother around with him wherever he went would become a nuisance.Daddy

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Minimum Wage Should Be Legal - 1427 Words

There has been a growing desire for minimum wage to be set at $15 an hour. While many of our lowest pay employees will be getting paychecks, workers who have been at businesses longer feel like they’re being undermined. Employees say that it is not fair for a new worker to be earning as much as someone who has been apart of the company for three years. Also, raising minimum wage poses a financial and management challenge for employers. Numerous cities have passed wage increases in the past year, and New York and California recently approved the new wage of $15 an hour. â€Å"The Supreme Court’s decision not to take on a challenge to Seattle’s minimum wage rule removed one of the most significant legal testes of local wage laws.† Seattle has now†¦show more content†¦The Obama administration showed increasing worries in Washington over a rise in intellectual property theft from foreign competitors, such as China. The new rule threatens to shrink com pany-sponsored research, which has become widely popular for high-paying foreign students in recent years. Information regarding defense technology such as munitions, nuclear engineering and satellite technology would be affected by the rule, which is still in the proposal process.Some top U.S. schools do not grant research that restricts participation to foreign citizens because they feel it counters policies on academic freedom and non-discrimination. Universities claim that the rule would offset the balance between national security and academic freedom. In a FBI report they recorded just under a million foreign students at U.S. colleges in the 2014-2015 school year, 31 percent of whom were chinese. The FBI says China is the main culprit for attempted exporting of technology from the United States, including genetically modified corn seed and sensitive military information stored on Boeing computers. The Department of Justice said in a statement that â€Å"we know some foreign s pies and criminals target students and faculty alike to steal valuable technology and intellectual property.† The Department is working with universities and laboratories to

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Gms Ch1 Free Essays

string(142) " of complexity or the number of different factors in the environment – an environment is either classified as relatively simple or complex\." CH 1 – Introducing management Talent Intellectual capital is the collective brainpower or shared knowledge of a workforce that can be used to create value. (Competency x Commitment) A knowledge worker is someone whose mind is a critical asset to employers. Diversity Workforce diversity describes the composition of a workforce in terms of differences among people according to gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and capabilities. We will write a custom essay sample on Gms Ch1 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Prejudice is the display of negative, irrational attitudes toward members of diverse populations. Discrimination actively denies minority members the full benefits of organizational membership (ex: glass ceiling effect). Globalization – the worldwide interdependence of resource flows, product markets, and business competition Technology- technology is an crucial part of everyday business and helped with globalization communication. It has also added flexibility to workplaces through things like, telecommuting. Ethics – set of moral standards of what is â€Å"good† and â€Å"right† in one’s behaviour. Careers – skills should be portable and always of value. Portfolio workers are people who always have the skills needed to readily shift jobs and even careers. Some critical skills include mastering, networking, entrepreneurship, tech-savvy, marketing and passion for renewal Organizations in the new workplace What is an organization? Organizations are collection of people working together to achieve a common purpose. All organizations share a purpose of providing goods or services of value to customers and clients. Organizations as systems: organizations are open systems (they transform resource inputs from the environment into product outputs) that interact with their environments in the continual process of obtaining resource inputs and then transforming them into outputs in the form of finished goods and services for their customers. Organizational performance: When operations add value to the original cost of resource inputs, then 1) a business organization can earn a profit or 2) a non-profit organization can add wealth to society. A way to tell is through productivity which measures the quantity and quality of outputs relative to the cost of inputs. Performance effectiveness is an output measure of task or goal accomplishment. Performance efficiency is an input measure of the resource costs associated with goal accomplishments. Productivity = effective and efficient performance. Changing nature of organizations: Organizational trends and transitions: Renewed belief in human capital: demands of the new economy place premiums on high-involvement and participatory work settings that rally the knowledge, experience, and commitment of all members. Demise of â€Å"command-and-control†: traditional hierarchical structures with â€Å"do as I say† bosses are proving too slow, and costly to do well in today’s competitive environment. Emphasis on teamwork: driven teamwork which pools talents for creative problem solving. Pre-eminence of technology: new opportunities appear with each development in computer and information technology; they continually change the way organizations operate and how people work. Embrace of networking: organizations are networked for intense, real-time communication and coordination, internally among parts and external with partners, contractors, suppliers and customers New workforce expectations: a new generation of workers brings to the workplace less tolerance for hierarchy, more informality, and more attention to performance merit than to status and seniority. Concern for work-life balance: As society increases in complexity, workers are forcing organizations to pay more attention to balance in the often-conflicting demands of work and personal affairs. Focus on speed: everything moves fast, so those who get products to market first have an advantage, work is now expected to be done both well and in a timely manner. Organizational Environment Dynamic forces and the general environment: General environment of organizations consists of all external conditions (economic, legal-political, technological, socio-cultural and natural environmental conditions) that set the context for managerial decision-making. Economic conditions: some of these influence customer spending, resource supplies and investment capital that is crucial for managers to recognize. Legal-Political conditions: monitor changes to understand the trends that can affect the regulation and oversight of businesses. Internet censorship is the deliberate blockage and denial of public access to information posted on the Internet. Technological conditions: technology is only evolving, so you must be up-date with it. Socio-cultural conditions: these conditions take meaning as norms, customers and social values on matters like ethics, human rights, gender roles and lifestyles. All such changes have consequences for how organizations are managed. Natural environment conditions: going â€Å"green† is one of the impacts/changes we have seen in the past few years. Public concern to such matters changes the way organizations will run. Sustainable business is when firms operate in ways that both meet the needs of customers and protect or advance the well-being of our natural environment. Sustainable innovation creates new products and production methods that have reduced environmental impact. Stakeholders and the specific environment: Specific environment (task environment) includes the people and groups with whom an organization interacts and conducts business with. Members of the specific environment are often described as stakeholders, who are the persons, groups and institutions directly affect by an organization. Value creation is the creation of value for and satisfying needs of stakeholders. Competitive Advantage: refers to something that an organization does extremely well, a core competency that clearly sets it apart from competitors and gives it an advantage over them in the marketplace. Competitive advantage is linked with strategic positioning which occurs when an organization does different things or the same things in different ways from its major competitors. Competitive advantage can be achieved in the follow ways: Achieved through costs- finding ways to operate with lower costs and earn profits Through quality- create products/services that are demonstrably and consistently higher quality for customers Through delivery- finding ways to outperform competitors by delivering products and services to customers factored and consistently on time, and to continue to develop timely new products Through flexibility – finding ways to adjust and tailor products and services to fit customer needs in ways that are difficult for one’s competitors to match Environmental Uncertainty: means that there is a lack of complete information regarding what exists and what developments may occur about the environment. There are two dimensions of environmental uncertainty: 1) Degree of complexity or the number of different factors in the environment – an environment is either classified as relatively simple or complex. You read "Gms Ch1" in category "Papers" 2) Rate of change in and among these factors – environment classified as stable or dynamic. High uncertainty environments require firms to have flexibility and adaptability. Organizational effectiveness: is sustainable high performance in using resources to accomplish a mission and objectives. Organizational effectiveness in different viewpoints: Systems resource approach: looks at the input side and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of success in acquiring needed resources from the organization’s environment Internal process approach: looks at the transformation process and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of how efficiently resources are utilized to product goods and services. Goal approach: looks at the output side and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of how to measure achievement of key operating objectives. Strategic constituencies approach: looks at the external environment and defines organizational effectiveness in terms of the organization’s impact on key stakeholders and their interests. Managers in the new workplace What is a manager? A manager is a person who supports, activates, and is responsible for the work of others. Levels of Managers: Top managers guide the performance of an organization as a whole or for one of its major parts (CEO, presidents, and vice presidents). They also create and communicate long-term vision, and ensure that strategies and objectives are consistent with the organization’s purpose and mission. Middle managers report to top managers and oversee the large departments or divisions. Team leaders report to middle managers and supervise non-managerial workers. Top managers guide the performance of an organization as a whole or for one of its major parts (CEO, presidents, and vice presidents). They also create and communicate long-term vision, and ensure that strategies and objectives are consistent with the organization’s purpose and mission. Middle managers report to top managers and oversee the large departments or divisions. Team leaders report to middle managers and supervise non-managerial workers. Type of Managers: Line managers are responsible for work that makes a direct contribution to the organization’s outputs ex: retail manager. Staff managers use special technical expertise to advise and support the efforts of line workers. Functional managers are responsible for one area such as finance, marketing, production, personnel, accounting, or sales. General Managers are responsible for complex, multifunctional units. Managers are sometimes called administrators in public or non-profit organizations. Managerial Performance: Accountability is the requirement to show performance results to a supervisor. Effective managers help others achieve high performance and satisfaction at work. Quality of work life is the overall quality of human experiences in the workplace. Changing nature of managerial work: Upside-down pyramid is a concept: operating workers are at the top, serving customers, while managers are at the bottom support them. Customers and Clients – ultimate beneficiaries of the organization’s efforts ^Serve^ Operating workers – Do work directly effecting customer/client satisfaction ^Support^ Team leaders and managers- Help operating workers do their jobs and solve problems ^Support^ Top managers – Keep organization’s mission and strategies clear The Management Process Functions of Management: management is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the use of resources to accomplish performance goals. These steps don’t have to be accomplished in a linear fashion. Planning: the process of setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them. Managers identify desired results and ways to achieve them. Organizing: the process of assigning tasks, allocating resources, and coordinating work activities. Managers can turn plans into actions by defining jobs, assigning personnel, and supporting them with technology and other resources. Leading: the process of arousing people’s enthusiasm and inspiring efforts to achieve goals (plans and objectives). Managers can build commitments to a common vision, encourage activities that support goals, and influence others to do their best work on the organization’s behalf. Controlling: the process of measuring work performance, comparing results with objectives, and taking action to ensure desired results and corrective action if it is needed. Managers can maintain active contact with people in the course of their work, gather and interpret reports on performance, and use this information to make constructive changes. Managerial Roles and Activities Managerial Roles: The roles fall into three categories: informational, interpersonal and decisional roles. Informational roles involve the giving, receiving, and analyzing of information. Fulfilling these roles involve monitoring, the scanning for information; disseminator: someone who shares the information, and a spokesperson- acting as official communicator. Interpersonal roles involve interactions with people inside and outside the work unit. A manager fulfilling these roles will be a figurehead- the odelling and setting forth key principles and policies; a leader- providing direction and instilling enthusiasm; and a link coordinating with others. Decisional roles involve using information to make decisions to solve problems or address opportunities. A manager fulfilling these roles will be a disturbance handler- dealing with problems and conflicts; a resource allocator- handling budgets and distributing resources; a negotiator- making deals and fo rging agreements; and an entrepreneur- developing new initiatives. Managerial Activities: they are always busy with many things like meetings, problem solving etc. They work long hours, intense work pace, work at fragmented and varied tasks, work with many communication media and accomplish their work largely through interpersonal relationships. Managerial Agendas and Networks: Agenda setting develops action priorities for accomplishing goals and plans. Networking is the process of creating positive relationships with people who can help advance agendas. Networking creates social capital which is a capacity to get things done with support and help of others. Essential Managerial Skills: Learning is a change in behaviour that results from experience. Learning in management is focussed on developing skills and competencies to deal with the complexities of human behaviour and problem solving in organizations. Lifelong learning is continuous learning from daily experiences. A skill is the ability to translate knowledge into action that results in desired performance. Categories of skills of managers: Technical skills: the ability to use a special skills or expertise to perform particular tasks. Human and Interpersonal skills: the ability to work well in cooperation with other people. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively. Conceptual and Analytical skills: the ability to think critically and analytically to diagnose and solve complex problems. Developing Managerial Competencies: High concept is the ability to see the big picture, identify patterns and combine ideas. High touch is the ability to understand and enjoy others in the pursuit of a purpose. Managerial competency is a skill-based capability for high performance in a management job. Here are some high-concept and high-touch competencies: Communication: ability to share ideas and findings clearly in written and oral expression—includes writing, oral presentation, giving/receiving feedback, technology utilization. Teamwork: ability to work effectively as a team member and team leader—includes team contribution, team leadership, conflict management, negotiation, consensus building. Self-management: ability to evaluate oneself, modify behaviour, and meet performance obligations—includes ethical reasoning and behaviour, personal flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, performance responsibility. Leadership: ability to influence and support others to perform complex and vague tasks—includes diversity awareness, global understanding, project management, strategic action. Critical thinking: ability to gather and analyze information for creative problem solving—includes problem solving, judgement and decision-making, information gathering and interpretation, creativity/innovation. Professionalism: ability to sustain a positive impression, instill confidence, and maintain career advancement—includes personal presence, personal initiative, and career management. How to cite Gms Ch1, Papers

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Malware Detection Of Cloud Computing In Business Field - Samples

Question: Discuss about the Malware Detection Of Cloud Computing In Business Field. Answer: Introduction Identifying malicious software is a complicated issue. There is an ever increasing ecosystem of malicious software along with tools that represents daunting challenge for the network operators and information technology administrator. It is important to develop proper technique for malware detection in a business organization dealing with cloud computing. In this perspective, antivirus software is considered as used tools in order to detect and stop malicious and unwanted software (Klein 2017). The study deals with problem domain and research questions arise in the business. In order to solve the issue, impact of malware detection is analyzed in the present paper. In addition, project requirements analysis as well as specification is discussed in the study. Problem domain and research questions Even though cloud computing provides several advantages in a business organization, there are several issues involved with cloud computing (Dinh et al. 2013). As most of the organizations like to move to adopt cloud computing, it has been the first choice for attacker on internet. There are several types of attacks such as denial of service attacks, side channel attacks, cloud malware injection attack occurred at present day. The malware attack needs adversary creating own malicious service deployment module or virtual machine instance (Yan et al. 2016). It results attacker controlling the cloud system of the business and exploits its privileged accessing the capabilities to the instances of service for attacking instance security domains of the service. Thus, it is important to identify the type of attack and develop appropriate measures that could be helpful to minimize the issues caused for malware in cloud computing (Hatem and El-Khouly 2014). The research questions can be described as followed. What are the processes of attacking in cloud computing by malware in cloud computing of the business organization? How malware detection methods help to minimize the security threats in cloud computing? What are the challenges might be faced for malware detection method implication in the business organization? How the challenges can be overcome? Background and project objective Ferrara, Pistoia and Tripp (2015) stated that it is important to have appropriate malware detection method in order to identify the malware attack and protect cloud computing of the business organization. Malware detection methods are different types. As a network service of malware detection, the capabilities are provided by host-based anti-virus software that can efficiently and effectively provide as in-cloud network service. On the other hand, multi-detection technique has an important role for malicious as well as unwanted software that need to determine (Ko Choo, 2015). Hence, it becomes crucial to identify the appropriate malware detection method that can be helpful for the business organization. Project Requirements Analysis and Specification The project aims to identify the malware detection method suitable and appropriate for the business in order to secure cloud computing (Mollah et al. 2017). Along with this, the project objectives can be listed as followed. To find out the procedures of attacking in cloud computing by malware in cloud computing To identify the malware detection minimizing security threats in cloud computing To analyze the challenges might be faced while implementing malware detection methods in the business organization To recommend solutions for overcoming the issues For the detection of malware in a system there is no requirement of hardware specification. Any system can be used to run the anti-malware softwares. The top five anti-malware softwares in the market has been reviewed below: Bitfender Norton Kaspersky Lab Avira Avast Best Feature Secure Delete 100% Guarantee Safe Banking Gaming Mode DNS Redirecting Loss in Computer Resource 97% 97% 93% 100% 88% False Positives 96% 95% 99% 99% 96% Compatibility Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Mac Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Mac Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Mac Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Windows 10 Windows 8 Windows 7 Mac Vulnerable Software Detection Yes Yes NA Yes Yes Minimum Number of Licenses 1 1 3 1 1 These are generally known as antivirus softwares. These softwares are able to monitor a computer system for 24x7. They will do periodic scanning of malicious elements in the system and remove them permanently from the system. Choosing of an antivirus is up to the decision of oneself. It is the duty of the owner of the system owner to install a good anti-malware software to safeguard them from harm. These softwares would work similarly on a cloud system. They differ in versions and their capacity to stop the malware from harming the system (Hussein et al. 2017). Conclusion From the discussion, it concludes that it is important for a business organization keeping the business safe and secured. In order to achieve this, business needs to identify appropriate detection technique. Signature based malware detection; Heuristic based malware detection and Specification based detection is the major types of prevention technique through which the business organization can develop malware prevention method. However, several challenges might be faced while implication that requires to eradicate by the professionals of the business organization. References Dinh, H. T., Lee, C., Niyato, D., Wang, P. (2013). A survey of mobile cloud computing: architecture, applications, and approaches.Wireless communications and mobile computing,13(18), 1587-1611. Ferrara, P., Pistoia, M., Tripp, O. (2015).U.S. Patent Application No. 14/954,338. Hatem, S. S., El-Khouly, M. M. (2014). Malware detection in Cloud computing.International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (IJACSA),5. Hussein, R. K., Alenezi, A., Atlam, H. F., Mohammed, M. Q., Walters, R. J., Wills, G. B. (2017). Toward confirming a framework for securing the virtual machine image in cloud computing.Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal,2(4), 44-50. Klein, A. (2017).U.S. Patent No. 9,723,014. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Ko, R., Choo, R. (2015).The Cloud Security Ecosystem: Technical, Legal, Business and Management Issues. Syngress. Mollah, M. B., Azad, M. A. K., Vasilakos, A. (2017). Security and privacy challenges in mobile cloud computing: Survey and way ahead.Journal of Network and Computer Applications. Yan, Q., Yu, F. R., Gong, Q., Li, J. (2016). Software-defined networking (SDN) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in cloud computing environments: A survey, some research issues, and challenges.IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials,18(1), 602-622.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Awakening By Kate Chopin Story Essays - The Awakening, Edna, Reisz

Awakening By Kate Chopin Story Throughout Kate Chopin's, The Awakening, numerous scenes of birth and renewal are depicted. Various symbols placed throughout the book show Edna Pontellier's awakenings. For instance, many references are made to oceans and water. It is in the water that Edna has her first rebirth, but it is also the place where she chooses to die. Water symbolizes life, which is the reason that Edna's renewal takes place there, but it also symbolizes darkness and death. Birds, which are featured frequently in the story, symbolize Edna, and in many cases they foreshadow what's to become of her, or they show her renewal of life. The imagery of birds throughout the book is used to symbolize freedom, which is exactly what Edna was trying to achieve from her husband, children, and all the other people that antagonized her. Edna has struggled all summer to learn to swim. She has been coached by the men, women, and children on Grand Isle. Swimming provides Edna with strength and joy, and yet makes her feel just like a child. "But that night she was like the little tottering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the first time alone, boldly and with overconfidence. She could have shouted for joy. She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping stroke or two she lifted her body to the surface of the water" (47). This passage marks Edna's rebirth, or renewal. Here she is described just like a child learning to walk, as she swims for her first time alone. This scene also foreshadows the ending, for here, in the ocean, is where Edna's first rebirth occurs, and in this same place she will take her life. Birds are also major symbolic images in the story. Flight, which is associated with birds, acts as a stand-in for awakening. The ability to spread your wings and fly is a symbolic theme that occurs often in the novel. Mademoiselle Reisz tells Edna "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings" (138). She uses birds to forecast Edna's future and evaluate Edna's strength. In order to soar like a bird, Edna must be strong, but Mademoiselle Reisz realizes that Edna is weak. Reisz says, "it is a sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth" (138). Mademoiselle Reisz understands that Edna is not like herself and cannot fight society. Later, when Edna realizes the hopelessness of her situation, birds, once again, symbolically foreshadow her fate. Upon reaching the beach on her final walk, Edna looks around and sees: "A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water" (189). This bird is the final omen that reflects Mademoiselle Reisz's words: "it is sad to see the weaklings bruised, exhausted, fluttering back to earth" (138). The bird, disabled and weakened because of its broken wing, falls back to earth and suffers defeat. Edna soon does the same when she kills herself because she does not have "the courageous soul that dares and defies" (106). This bird also symbolizes Edna's final failure. It is a "weakling" according to Mademoiselle Reisz because it lacks strong wings that a bird must have in order to "soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice" (138). In the same way, Edna lacks the strength to overcome tradition. Therefore, she, too, is a "weakling" and a failure. Edna is awakened in this death scene because she finally realizes that she can't overcome society's expectations of her. Thus, Edna felt, killing herself was the only way to escape what was demanded of her. Throughout the book, Edna is merely expected to run the house, care for the children and do her best to please her husband, Leonce Pontellier, not unlike a bird in a cage. Nevertheless, she finds the role unbearable. She cannot give her life, her identity, to others. Edna is willing to live her life for herself and only herself. By committing suicide, Edna escapes from the clutches of her husband and children. Therefore, Edna's death is considered a spiritual defeat. She realized she could not last in a world where she had to live up to society's expectations of simply being a responsible mother and wife. Just as the injured bird fell to the ground, Edna fell because she lacked the strength to overcome all the obstacles in her way.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

The Chemistry Behind Sparkler Fireworks

The Chemistry Behind Sparkler Fireworks All fireworks are not created equal! For example, there is a difference between a firecracker and a sparkler. The goal of a firecracker is to create a controlled explosion. A sparkler, on the other hand, burns over a long period of time (up to a minute) and produces a brilliant shower of sparks. Sometimes sparklers are called snowballs in reference to the ball of sparks that surrounds the burning part of the sparkler. Sparkler Chemistry A sparkler consists of several substances: An oxidizerA fuelIron, steel, aluminum, or other metal powderA combustible binder In addition to these components, colorants, and compounds to moderate the chemical reaction also may be added. Often, firework fuel is charcoal and sulfur. Sparklers simply may use the binder as the fuel. The binder is usually sugar, starch, or shellac. Potassium nitrate or potassium chlorate may be used as oxidizers. Metals are used to create the sparks. Sparkler formulae may be quite simple. For example, a sparkler may consist only of potassium perchlorate, titanium or aluminum, and dextrin. Now that youve seen the composition of a sparkler, lets consider how these chemicals react with each other: Oxidizers Oxidizers produce oxygen to burn the mixture. Oxidizers are usually nitrates, chlorates, or perchlorates. Nitrates are made up of a metal ion and a nitrate ion. Nitrates give up 1/3 of their oxygen to yield nitrites and oxygen. The resulting equation for potassium nitrate looks like this: 2 KNO3(solid) → 2 KNO2(solid) O2(gas) Chlorates are made up of a metal ion and the chlorate ion. Chlorates give up all of their oxygen, causing a more spectacular reaction. However, this also means they are explosive. An example of potassium chlorate yielding its oxygen would look like this: 2 KClO3(solid) → 2 KCl(solid) 3 O2(gas) Perchlorates have more oxygen in them but are less likely to explode as a result of an impact than are chlorates. Potassium perchlorate yields its oxygen in this reaction: KClO4(solid) → KCl(solid) 2 O2(gas) Reducing Agents The reducing agents are the fuel used to burn the oxygen produced by the oxidizers. This combustion produces hot gas. Examples of reducing agents are sulfur and charcoal, which react with the oxygen to form sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), respectively. Regulators Two reducing agents may be combined to accelerate or slow the reaction. Also, metals affect the speed of the reaction. Finer metal powders react more quickly than coarse powders or flakes. Other substances, such as cornmeal, also may be added to regulate the reaction. Binders Binders hold the mixture together. For a sparkler, common binders are dextrin (a sugar) dampened by water or a shellac compound dampened by alcohol. The binder can serve as a reducing agent and as a reaction moderator. How Does a Sparkler Work? Lets put it all together: A sparkler consists of a chemical mixture that is molded onto a rigid stick or wire. These chemicals often are mixed with water to form a slurry that can be coated on a wire (by dipping) or poured into a tube. Once the mixture dries, you have a sparkler. Aluminum, iron, steel, zinc or magnesium dust or flakes may be used to create the bright, shimmering sparks. The metal flakes heat up until they are incandescent and shine brightly or, at a high enough temperature, actually burn. A variety of chemicals can be added to create colors. The fuel and oxidizer are proportioned, along with the other chemicals, so that the sparkler burns slowly rather than exploding like a firecracker. Once one end of the sparkler is ignited, it burns progressively to the other end. In theory, the end of the stick or wire is suitable to support it while burning. Important Sparkler Reminders Obviously, sparks cascading off of a burning stick present a fire and burn hazard. Less obviously, sparklers contain one or more metals to create the sparks and any colors, so they can present a health hazard. For example, they should not be burned on cakes as candles or otherwise used in a manner which could lead to consumption of the ash. So use sparklers safely and have fun!

Thursday, February 20, 2020

How math is used in firefighting Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How math is used in firefighting - Research Paper Example According to the website XP Math, there are at least 20 Math topics that fire fighters need to know. Some of these fall under the realms of Basic Math/Algebra, First Year Algebra (which includes the use of formula), Geometry and Computer (T.L. Hui). Algebra is used in fire fighting hydraulics specifically in calculating the flow rates and capacities (WikiAnswers.com). There are fire fighting terms such as total engine pressure and nozzle pressure. â€Å"Total Engine Pressure is the amount of pressure (psi) that the fire pump (on the truck) is sending through the hose line. The engineer calculates the total engine pressure to adjust for changes in elevation pressure so that the nozzle can receive the correct amount of water pressure (in psi)† (San Bernardino Professional Fire Fighters). There is also the concept of nozzle pressure. It stands for â€Å"the amount of pressure that the nozzle requires to deliver the proper amount of water to the fire† (San Bernardino Professional Fire Fighters). To calculate the accuracy of this, mathematicians have created the nozzle pressure formula, given as: Where n – nozzle pressure in psi, t – total engine pressure and h – change in elevation. This formula â€Å"can be used to find out what the nozzle pressure is for a given height with a specific total engine pressure† (San Bernardino Professional Fire Fighters). There are other applications of math in fire fighting. Math is being used in perimeter, fractions, ratios, percentage and area of burns. The perimeter of burn is â€Å"the distance around the fire or along the hand line† and it is â€Å"determined by adding the lengths of the various lines that enclose the black area of a fire† (SEM and Missoula Fire Science Lab). There are also hydraulic concepts regarding the use of water in wildland firefighting. â€Å"These include determining

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

How useful are invertebrate infection models for studying bacterial Assignment

How useful are invertebrate infection models for studying bacterial pathogenisis and therapy - Assignment Example The infection cycle involves the disease causing agent managing entry into the host either through adhesion or penetration, assimilation of nutrients to generate more copies of itself and subvert the defence systems of the host and eventually exit from the host to start another cycle in a different target. Numerous in vitro and in vivo infection models have been developed over the years to identify virulence factors and understand its regulation. The fact that some of the host-pathogen interactions have been evolutionarily conserved has led to the establishment of model systems to understand pathogenesis from both the hosts’ and pathogens’ side. Much remains to be understood about the host-pathogen interaction at the molecular level and model systems that are most informative of this could be systems in which the pathogen and host are both amenable to genetic analysis (Pradel and Ewbank, 2004). A number of non-vertebrate model organisms have been developed in order to study host-pathogen interactions which facilitates not only a better understanding of virulence mechanisms but also permit direct genetic techniques to study host defences while reducing cost and ethical constraints associated with mammalian model systems. Non-vertebrate models have also been more popular in bacterial pathogenesis studies because of the following factors: To understand the complexity of virulence-defence interactions a number of pathogen-host systems are required. Simple easy to handle organism such as D. discoideum, C. elegans, D. melanogaster and G. mellonella helps in identifying virulence factors and understanding their functions. Comparative studies in host models also contribute to the identification of novel elements involved in host susceptibility and resistance. Some of these elements conserved over species may also contribute to our understanding of pathogenesis in vertebrates. The genetic tractability of the simple host models will also make possible refined

Monday, January 27, 2020

Leadership and Change Management in the Merger of Hewlett-Packard

Leadership and Change Management in the Merger of Hewlett-Packard William Hewlett and David Packard the two Stanford graduates started there business in garage at alto. After a year they did partnership called Hewlett-Packard by 1947 HP came into existence as worlds second largest computer supplier with net revenue of $42 billion. HP originally dealed with auio oscillators and then gradually entered personal computers field in 1980. Recent the company launched laserjet printer which is a greatest hit for the company. Compaq computer corporation formed by two senior managers at Texas entered personal computer field in 1982. Due to excellent quality service it was considered globally as worlds largest manufacturers of personal computers.the name of company itself is derived from Compatiblity and quality. The initial computers launched by Compaq were not handy there appearance was like a suitcase still a net revenue of 111 million dollars was generated. VALUES: THE HP WAY Bill Hewlett and dave Packard created a set of values to guide the company and change the company . these values became famous as the HP way which are as follows: the strength of corporate society is profit so identify profit in order to contribute to the society. There should be continous improvement in product and services of the company. Always look for new opportunities but stay focused on area where company is benefitted. Increase companys success by providing employment opportunities. Always give a work environment to encourage motivation and innovation Be a good citizen and be social Focus on basic exponential growth Leadership at HP Carleton S. (Carly) Fiorina Carly Fiorina was highly qualified peson who before coming to HP had 20 years experirnce of working at AT T as a senior leader. she became CEO of HP in1999 and was the first woman to be the leader so such a huge company and nations prominent female executive. She was very extravagant in managing work. She had strong capability to understand what should be done to achieve the set goals. She had a clear insight of the challenges that the company were facing. She was a powerful Charismatic leader who was able to do the cultural change change in the company with her assertive nature and honesty. She possessed transformational leadership quality that helped to make HP an effective leader in the competitive market. HP was now more flexible, innovative and possessed a effective internal environment whose primary focus was customer satisfaction. The most important reason for success of Fiorinas was the perfect balance between leadership qualities and management of the company resources with genuine concern for the employees and let them make feel as part and parcel of the company. As a good leader Fiorina started a stock option program for employees which created a enthusiastic work environment for the employees. Under this program employee will be profited if the company earns profit. Fiorina knows how to rise a company in the changing environment. Several steps were taken to reinvigorate HP they were as follows: Innovation was focused more. Structure was changed now front office and back office concept came into existence. R D department was re engineered. Clear mission and values of the company Reasons for the Merger HP was progressing at a great pace. The basic aim of fiorina was to modernize the culture of HP and to focus on profitable areas of business and HPs profit share increased from 54.43 to 74.48 dollars but still the company was not efficient as it could not met the set targets and due to this failure HP was supposed to cut down the jobs. Even fiorina had threat of losing her job. This was the indication that changing only internal strategies was not worth for the success of the company so a new plan came into existence which was to acquire Compaq worth of 25 billion dollars. Both companies believed that in order to do good in the recent competitive market and gain profit better way was to have a merger but the stakeholders considered it as differently according to them company wont be loyal to Compaq customers and the biggest problem was synchronization of members in the organization. As during merger the culture of organization will also change. Above all fiorina only considered the r emoval of one competitor in the PC market. According to her the market share will increase after merger and working unit will also increased. (Hoopes, 2001) HP experienced revenue growth but share prices constantly declined. Hp was badly affected by recession in 2001. Pay were cutted down and laid off. Jobs were cutted down. Stock price continued to decline at a great speed. Outsourcing was not proper. To improve economics and innovation. Strengthed business provides critical mass in key growth market. CHANGE MANAGEMENT Culture can be defined as the personality of a company. It encompasses the beliefs, values, leadership practices, governance structure, decision-making processes, and norms of a business. One of the primary reasons that culture is so important is because employee loyalty affects customer loyalty, thus directly affecting both the profitability of a company as well as stakeholder value.11 As John Kotter and James Heskett of Harvard explain in their book Corporate Culture and Performance, corporate culture is an important competitive asset. Kotter and Heskett believe that cultural strength among the employees of a company relates to performance in three key ways: first, it leads to goal alignment; second, it creates high levels of motivation; and third, it provides structure and controls without having to rely on formal bureaucracy, which often inhibits innovation and motivation.12 At HP, where culture (i.e., the HP Way) has always had a powerful influence on how the company functions, undertaking cultural integration poses an especially daunting task. At the same time that integration planners must adapt HPs existing culture to unify the two companies, planners must also ensure that HPs culture remains focused around the key elements of the HP Way: trust, respect, achievement, integrity, teamwork, innovation, and an interactive work environment. Among the first-and arguably one of the most important-steps in integrating cultures is to determine what constitutes a good culture and then to base changes on those elements. According to HPs integration planning team, a good culture must: be clearly defined and broadly understood; reflect the business strategy and brand; support best-in-class performance with customers, partners, stockholders, and employees; produce alignment, commitment and excitement; establish a competitive advantage; and be reflected in the communications and actions of core leaders. Change models 1.Unfreeze, Change, Freeze Kurt Lewin proposed a three stage theory of change commonly referred to as Unfreeze, Change, Freeze (or Refreeze). It is possible to take these stages to quite complicated levels. It is extremely relevant Stage 1: Unfreezing The Unfreezing stage is probably one of the more important stages to understand in the world of change we live in today. This stage is about getting ready to change. It involves getting to a point of understanding that change is necessary, and getting ready to move away from our current comfort zone. HP was in need to understand and prepare the company for the change as completion was relevantly increasing.fiorina was been motivated for change by lot of different characters and the chariasmatic leadership qualities that she possessed. Stage 2: Change or Transition Kurt Lewin was aware that change is not an event, but rather a process. He called that process a transition. Transition is the inner movement or journey we make in reaction to a change. This second stage occurs as we make the changes that are needed. HP used role models and allowed employees to develop new solutions and Fiorina also gave a clear picture of desired change and gave benefits to the employees. Stage 3: Freezing (or Refreezing) Kurt Lewin refers to this stage as freezing although a lot of people refer to it as refreezing. As the name suggests this stage is about establishing stability once the changes have been made. The changes are accepted and become the new norm. People form new relationships and become comfortable with their routines.Its often at this point that people laugh and tell me that practically there is never time for this freezing stage. And its just this thats drawn criticism to the Kurt Lewin model. 7S model 7S-McKinsey-model.jpg 7S model was created by McKinsey and company in 1980. Seven factors are included in this model. The 7S framework was dividing in thinking about organizational efficiency. In previous the manager focus was on organization because organization grew in size and complicated questions were also arised. Explanation of each element: Strategy: HP created a Strategy to maintain and make competitive benefit over the competition. Structure: Structure is the way the organization is constructed and who reports to whom. Systems: In systems the daily activities and events that staff members join in to get the job done. Shared values: Shared values are also called à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"super ordinate goalsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ . These values are the center values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work. Style: you have to adopt the style of leadership. Staff: In staff employees and their general capabilities are included. Skills: Skills are the actual skills of the employees who are working for the company. Post merger The proposed merger consolidated HP Compaqs product into four groups customer services, imaging and printing, access devices, and information technology infrastructure. Although the new company was very competitive in respective segments but the merger made the company more powerful and fully integrated providing full services integrating both hardware and software solutions. the merged company had 145,000 employees.the new company strategy was to look for acquisition in consulting in order to expand market growth. The new HP also had the same commitment of customer priority,best engineering design toease all problems, and acceptance to open system to able to face the sudden market shift. Copmaq will give great support in giving many solutions in: IT Infrastructure Compaq and HP combined the server , storage and software capabilities all the solutions were more compelling and fault tolerated. A new management software was introduced that was of great help to monitor,mange and optimize the whole network. New storage solutions that were more efficient than payroll and was able to store data 10 times more efficiently.the other former change was in service and support expertise that was helpful in building and designing new innovative solutions. Services New HP had now vast range of outsourcing, consulting and support that helps in formulating strategies and managing the infrastructure. It started to become partner for architecting various enterprises. Now because of combined forces of both the company new HP was aiming to be top-tier service provider that provided choices for implementation and making strategy for various IT projects. New HP had great value for partnership so to gain benefit of products PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, and KPMG company did partnership with them Access Devices As both the companies were strong in the market they offer a wide range of PCs, and many internet enabled devices. The new products simply work better and together. New devices were innovative and highly excellent technology. They work the way they want to work according to the office environment. After merger most of Compaq products were re branded with the HP nameplate Compaq brands were consumer oriented products. All Compaq computers were now shifted to HP . Compaq iPAQ were renamed to HP iPAQ. In 2007 HP released a new logo for their Compaq Division and in the next year all business line notebooks were renamed as HP Compaq series that was used for all HPs notebooks. The top business earning model was Hp Elite Book that was named as HP Compaq B series RESISTANCE TO CHANGE Resistance to change is one of the basic reasons for the failure of change process and its implementation. Resistance to change in general is ubiquitous by nature. It is defined as a natural response to any reaction or threat of change (Block, 1989). In HP resistance was visble among employees and shareholders. Resistance by employees there was Tension among the HP earlier before when the company decided to lay off thousands of employees because of the economic downturn. Before the cuts were made, however, employees were asked to assist in a cost-cutting campaign either take mandatory vacation or accept a pay cut, among other choices. True to the HP Way, yet surprising to many on Wall Street, many employees offered to have their salary cut. When the company later proceeded with layoffs, many felt betrayed. And thousands of more cuts are possible if the merger is approved. People fight against change because they:fear to lose something they value, ordont understand the change and its implications, or dont think that the change makes sense, or find it difficult to cope with either the level or pace of the change. Resistance by stock holder Walter Hewlett as a stock holder along with his sisters William and Flora Hewlett opposed the deal as stockholder rejection was one of the ways to terminate the deal.According to Walter Hewlett, Carly Fiorina had exaggerated the importance of scale in the computer business. Hewlett believed that rather than make the company more competitive, the merger would expose HP to the brutal, low-profit PC business. Finally Hewlett concluded that the merger would significantly dilute the value of the companys business. David Packard issued a statement siding with Hewlett in opposition to the deal. In his statement, Packard, chairman of the Packard Humanities Institute.Packard, the oldest son of the other late co-founder, claimed that Fiorinas highhanded management and efforts to reinvent the company ran counter to the core HP values established by the founders. Citing massive layoffs as an example of this departure from HPs core values.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

The Second World War (WWII) - Causes And Effects Essay -- World War 2

World War II: Causes, and Affects In the history of the world there are many occurrences that have changed life and the world, as we know it. The history of conflicts in the world is just as long as the histories of man have bee recorded. From the beginning the human species survived off of conflict (between various predators and the environment) and has been nourished by the fruits of war since before the rise of the Roman Empire. World conquest has been the goal of many great generals and a great many Kings. Through the years there were many conflicts that were thought to be the worst that ever was and the worst that would ever be (World War I in particular). World war two is said to be the war to end all wars, because of the leaders, the technology, and the effects the war had on the world. World War II began in 1939. The devastation and destruction caused in this conflict will have a total global effect. The war itself will require many countries to commit all of their military and financial assets in the production of war equipment and in fighting. This was the first war that had civilian death rates that exceeded all previously set records, and from any war since. The battlefield in world war two included all of the territory in the country. The days of strictly trench and open field battles were a thing of the past. The location of battles and bombings included strictly military sites and also various other locations that were essential to the life and economy of the country involved. The reason this war was different from al of the other wars of the past was that the weaponry has changed from the conventional to the extraordinary. The causes of World War II are linked closely to the end of World War I. The trouble began when the Treaty of Versailles was written. The Treaty of Versailles was written by the powers that won World War I (Britain, France, and US). They divided Europe up as they saw fit and reduced the territory held by Germany to less than before its series of conquests. The Germans lost all of their colonies and one eighth of its land in Europe (Encarta 98). Italy profited from the war, Italy gained land and power (but still wanted more). The French wanted to make Germany pay the maximum penalty for its four-year occupation of France that began in 1914(Strauss 14). The German Government was given orders to pay restitution to the countr... ...tomic weapon is detonated in a city.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  World war two is said to be the war to end all wars, because of the leaders, the technology, and the effects the war had on the world. World War II cost the world more lives, and property than any other war before. It was the testing ground for weapons of such horrible destructive power that if they were ever to be used again it would probably be the end of the world. The war involved sixty-one countries, 1.7 billion people, 110 million military personnel, left over 60 million dead, 35 million of the dead were civilian casualties, and the war cost over 1 trillion dollars. If a war ever occurs that could possible top all of those statistics and numbers it would most likely be the end of civilization, as we know it and of life on this earth as we know it. Works Cited Grolier’s Electronic Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. New York: 1994 Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. New York: Microsoft,1998  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"World War II†. World Book Encyclopedia. 1996 ed. Strauss, Martin L. Gestapo:Stories of Terror. New York: Free, 1992. Johnson, Michelle F. The Cost of Liberty. Philadelphia: Associated Press, 1935.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Importance for Wildlife Conservation Essay

* Maintains ecological balance & the organisms have their unique positions in food chains, food webs which keep ecological balance. * Wild life contributes to the maintenance of material cycles such as carbon and nitrogen cycles. * For improvement and progress in agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries the genes from wild life preserved as gene bank are utilised in breeding programmes. * Wild life provides a number of useful products like food, medicine, honey, lac, wax, resin, etc. * Colourful birds, insects, beautiful flowers, trees make environment beautiful. Nature†¦ (Indescribable) Food, pets, traditional medicines Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age peoples and hunter-gatherers relied on wildlife, both plant and animal, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, or gathering wildlife is still a significant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and non-commercial fishing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, Many Amazon species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, etc. are sold primarily as food. Others in these informal markets, such as monkeys and parrots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled into the United States. Still†¦ [continues] So why is wildlife conservation so important? Why should we care? Aside from the emotional reasons and the fact that we are losing the beauty of our planet and destroying our fellow creatures, it is important in order to preserve biodiversity, the diversity of biological life upon our planet. The earth is a living ecosystem, a fragile system of interdependence and balance. Our own survival as a species is dependent upon the preservation of biodiversity and is tied to the survival and vitality of every living thing on this planet. For instance, honeybees and other insects are vital in the pollination of fruit and vegetable crops which humans use for food. Over one billion people globally depend on fish and seafood for their primary source of protein. Meat consumption from a number of wild species is critical in many impoverished countries that depend upon these animals for their food nd livelihoods. In addition, microscopic organisms are also tied to the process of crop growing, as well as photosynthesis and oxygen production. Wildlife conservation is also important because humans have a vested socioeconomic interest in the continued sustainability and biodiversity of the earth’s ecosystems. The economic impact alone in the form of goods and services that are dependent upon healthy ecosystems is staggering – $33 trillion dollars per year. The biggest threat to the earth’s flora and fauna is habitat destruction and degradation, followed by overexploitation of species through hunting, fishing, harvesting, and economic trade. These are areas that can be controlled and managed with better practices. Other reasons for the endangerment of wildlife include pollution, disease, and alien species invasions. Global warming and climate change are also contributing factors. As ecosystems change due to increases in planetary temperatures, this results in the disappearance of the natural habitats where animals, birds, and other wild creatures live and threatens their survival. Wildlife conservation efforts are aimed in several main areas. These include the creation of nature sanctuaries where wildlife can live protected and free from harm, and where scientific studies can be conducted to better understand the threats to various species and what solutions are needed to ensure their survival. Captive breeding and subsequent reintroduction into the wild is often necessary for species that are severely threatened. In addition, restrictions on the use of pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic chemicals, as well as governmental policies and legislation supportive of conservation efforts are also extremely important. For example, theEndangered Species Act of 1973 is a law which places endangered species under federal protection, and has helped to save the most threatened animals, birds, and other wild creatures from the brink of extinction. Governmental policies and legislation such as this are crucial for the long term preservation and protection of wildlife.