Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Hazing Research Paper Example

Hazing Research Paper Example Hazing Paper Hazing Paper The Right Form of Brotherhood? Brotherhood, according to Merriam Webster dictionary, Is the condition or quality of being brothers. It Is an association of men, a fraternity or union, united for common purposes. But this brotherhood has its conditions. Members have to go through hazing which serves as a ritual which involves humiliating, abusing, and harassing as a way of initiating a person into the group. If brotherhood is what these groups are for, then why do hazing exist? Last July 2014, Guilt Servants, an 18-year old Bindle sophomore died from hazing, ND hazing has once again showed its ugly side and will continue to ravage lives if this ritual wont stop. In year sass, there were more than 10 victims of hazing who died, and Its such a devastating occurrence, because a good futures waiting for these students, and until now, some of the other victims cases remain unsolved. They say that fraternity Is for brotherhood. They become a family and brothers. How does hazing contribute to brotherhood? By owing your life to It? Isnt the whole Idea of hazing stupid and messed up? Actually, brothers should care for each other. They would provide each others needs without expecting anything in return. If this is the case, then it is not brotherhood. This is what you call taking for granted. Leaders of these unions take weaknesses of initiated members for granted in order to Join the formation which is cruel and unjust. If your intention is pure and clean, hazing is obviously unnecessary. : The harm and danger of Joining fraternities/sororities Is very evident nowadays, and It Is very alarming that there are students who died from It. A quote says that None of you believes until what he wishes for his brother what he wishes for myself. If brotherhood Is what these unions promote, then these people are doing It wrong. They are just brothers and families, because they are a part of the same union but not because by heart. Whats the point of joining a brotherhood formation if it proves no real value? A brother wants himself to be a better man, and wishes the same for his brother. There is an Anti-Hazing Law but it seems that it is not properly implemented in all universities because of its continuous occurrence every year. Also, cases of these victims remain unsolved and they might end up not having the Justice hat they deserve. We should all refrain from these formations, because true brotherhood (and also sisterhood) comes from the heart and not because you are In the same Initiation. A lot of chances and a lot of opportunities are walling for us In the future, and we dont have to risk our lives and let those chances and opportunities be wasted for nothing. By these things happening and the unfair judgments given to the victims and help you find Jobs, lend you money, and introduce you to high-profiled people, but its not brotherhood. You dont have to do such a cruel thing Just because these people ill be getting benefits from you. Brothers are not brothers because they need something from each other. Brothers are brothers because they wanted the same thing for the both of them. And that is to be successful and be a good citizen of the country. Let us not promote the type of brotherhood they are trying to promote. Let us restore the humanity we once had. Let us save lives and promote the type of brotherhood that we all know is right. Lets not Join these formations as something good awaits ahead of us. Joining these formations would leave us nowhere. Let us respect the law. Let us appreciate our lives.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Free sample - Dreaming. translation missing

Dreaming. DreamingIn Kelly Bulkley’s mystical dreaming, analysis on the patterns in form, content and meaning has been carried out based on a non-experimental research study based on religion. Interviews were carried on 100 Americans whereby four major hypothesis were put forward on: mystical experiences are derived from abnormal and pathological brain functioning; they are characterized by the Jamesian marks ineffability, anoetic or knowledge-gaining, quality, transience, and passivity; mystical experiences are cultural constructions enhanced by an individual’s history, religion, language and the social environment one is exposed to; and leading towards consciousness or absolute unitary being. This presents a basis for contrasting on the appropriate level of analysis of mystism be it physical or phenomenological and whether mystical dreams are real or apparent presenting an argument on pluralism versus universalism. This, unlike previous studies, has been based on findings of dr eam research. Findings provide further support for these hypotheses and also show that mystical dreams are more prevalent in women in comparison to men.   The study was carried out through personal interviews on family life, political afflictions and religious convictions.   The variables investigated were the respondent’ details, settings, color and emotions experienced in the dream. 65 women and 35 men ranging from 19-86, with an average age of 46, were interviewed for one to five hours. There were however several limitations on scope, the age range, religious composition, breadth of an individual’s experience and occupational diversity. Findings tabulated showed that 94% of the participants were able to describe their most memorable dream. At least 89% experienced sexually arousing dreams which were positive and enjoyable with the number of women being slightly higher at 91% in comparison to 87% in men. Dreams on visitation were quite prevalent at 69% with women experiencing 50% in contrast to the men’s high of 79%. Dreams on self-awareness and lucidity were more prevalent in men.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dreams on evil presence were evenly common at 53%. However, mystical dreams were considerably more experienced by women rather than men who had the lowest frequency at 40% in comparison to any other type of dream experienced. Mystical dreams experienced involved unusual and non-human characters, friendly interactions, positive emotions, and good fortunes. This is in contrast to non-religious dreams which involve negative content and emotions coupled with aggressive social interactions and misfortunes. The individual’s interpretation and understanding as to the motif of the dream have been observed in the study of 42 core dreams which have been either on single or multiple occurrences. These motifs were death, Christianity, light, precognition, reassurance, nightmare, epistemological uncertainty, and impact–no memory. Psychologists view dreams to be filled with strange, bizarre and supernatural phenomena. However, they are neither disjointed, nor fragmented and vague but are coherent, vivid and consistent with real-life emotional, social and religious experiences. These further serves to illustrate that dreams are not random and irrelevant but are an expression of human experiences through imagination. The abnormal/pathological brain function theory was supported by three people who experienced their dreams when ill. However, most of the people sampled were perfectly healthy at the time the survey was conducted hence the dreams could not have been caused by brain defe cts. A Jamesian mark on ineffability is contravened by the fact that most people can precisely describe the details of their dreams. Most of the dreams were found to be coherent, memorable and enduring. However, the dreams were anoetic since the persons regularly described them as sources of true insight and knowledge. Therefore, James’ claim as a whole is contravened. The culturalist approach is widely supported by the study. Christian motifs serve a basis for religion whereby they represent a symbolic world. The dreams were strongly felt although they were spiritually mystical. It seems that most dreams are influenced by multiple factors of culture, religion, history, and language.   The â€Å"pure consciousness† view by which mystical experiences are regarded as varying approximations of a unitary mode of being have not been widely supported in the light motif.   (Bulkeley) In an experimental procedure provided by Brigitte Holzinger, Stephen Laberge and Lynne Levitan on the Psychophysiological Correlates of Lucid Dreaming, the study sought to electrophysiological differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams in REM sleep have been explored. This has been classified as an experimental study since the causal effect of REM periods has been investigated against theta power, alpha power, beta-1 power, beta-2 power, total power, heart rate, eye movements and muscular activity. Lucid dreaming was found to be vital in therapeutic settings such as solving recurrent nightmares. The hypothesis is that lucid dreams are associated with higher frequencies in the EEG spectrum. This study involved a sample of seven men and four women experienced lucid dreamer volunteers ranging from 21 to 37 years who underwent polysomnographic recordings for two consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. The subjects were full aware of the dream state, the possibility of making free decisions under clear consciousness, perception by all senses, full memory of waking life, full memory of all lucid dream experiences in the waking state and in the lucid dream state and awareness of the meaning of symbols. Eye movements, heart rate, blood pressure, and skin potential in lucid and non-lucid dreams were compared. There were a number of physiological variables such as lucid REM periods recorded through EEG data onto an Ampex analog tape recorder while others on polygraph paper.   Later, the EEG data were digitized, using a BECKMAN polygraph and a CODAS computer interface, with a sampling rate of either 100 or 125 points per second. A computer program read in the digitized EEG da ta as well as the averaged calibration, applying FFT. The program then summed the spectral analyses into the appropriate frequency bands such as DELTA, THETA, ALPHA, BETA-1 and BETA-2. In this study methodology, light stimuli were used for lucid dream induction whereby a sleep mask was equipped with two extra-bright red light-emitting diodes. The stimulus was triggered through pressing a button 7 minutes after each REM onset of eight flashes in 2 seconds (4 Hz) determined by polysomnography. Response was initiated through eye movements such as LR2 ( left-right left-right) in order to indicate lucidity and LR4 (left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right) to indicate a waking state. The subjects were all aware as to what constituted a lucid dream and its volitional control. This was further enhanced by eye signals initiated once a dream state was achieved.   If a response was not initiated, the light stimulus was then re-triggered after each REM onset. If there still was no response, the subjects were then awakened after 30 seconds and asked to record their experience and rate the dream either as lucid or non-lucid. Else, if a subject signaled, the light st imulus was not re-triggered. A false awakening was detected when an LR4 signal was made when the subject was still asleep.  Ã‚   Lucid dreams were hence identified by an LR2 signal visible in polysomnography and an actual account reported by the subject.   Differences between lucid and non-lucid epochs consisting of 7.5-second time units, a discriminant function analysis and MANOVA were carried out. The ANOVA approach was then used to contrast between the onset of lucidity and the non-lucid state.   Findings showed that lucid dreams occurred during periods of increased physiological activation. The essence of the experimental study was to find out on the existence of psychological differences between lucid and non-lucid REM epochs which consisted of various variables: theta power, alpha power, beta-1 power, beta-2 power, total power, heart rate, eye movements and muscular activity (EMG).A discriminant function analysis yielded six variables, splitting the data set with a Canonical Correlation of 0.494 and Chisquare of 10.419. Criteria of non-lucid epochs were the means of the eye movements, total power of the right parietal hemisphere and beta-1 of the right frontal lobe, whereas criteria of lucid epochs were beta-2 and beta-1 of the right parietal lobe and beta-1 of the left frontal lobe. Discriminant function analysis produced a predicted group membership of 69% for non-lucid epochs and 77.8% for lucid ones. (Levitan et al) References Levitan, B. H. Psychophysiological Correlates of Lucid Dreaming. Psychology of Dreams. (2009, October 4). Retrieved November 9, 2010, from Buzzle.com

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Passion of the Christ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Passion of the Christ - Essay Example His sufferings then start from henceforth with the soldier spitting on him and physically hitting him, his disciples abandoned him with Peter, who swore beforehand never to leave Jesus, denying him three times as Jesus has prophesied. In the chaos that was happening, Judas hung himself after attempting to return the thirty pieces of silver the Sanhedrin gave him in exchange to betraying his master, which was not accepted. When Jesus was brought to Pontius Pilate, the crowd cried for him to be crucified and Pilate was left to no choice but to wash his hands and give Jesus to the hands of his accusers. The drama of Jesus’ flogging, with all the sweat and blood mixing as he parades with his cross to the mountain of Golgotha along with the soldiers and other prisoners were witnessed not only by the common people but by his disciples as well and Jesus’ family particularly his mother, Mary. During his crucifixion, the soldiers witnessed the miracle that happened as the earth quaked and the release of both water and blood as one soldier struck Jesus’ side to make sure he was already dead. In the temple, the priests felt the quake as well and witnessed the destruction of the curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place. The story ends with the resurrection of Jesus, with the hole on his hand proving his identity. The movie pictures Jesus who is similar to any other man who was able to feel pain, vulnerable to the harsh realities of this world like betrayal, outrage and temptations. When he was praying in the garden, Satan was depicted as a man in a black hood with a pet snake who has been torturing Jesus by questioning his ability to save the world and like anyone else, Jesus had the tendency to yield to temptation as it was presented when he said, â€Å"If it is possible, let this Chalice pass from me.† This shows to the modern man that as Jesus was able to avoid sinning by giving in to temptation, the same is true with anyone . An individual may always choose to avoid sinning by being strong when being tempted or be weak enough and succumb to temptation. However, Jesus also with his words showed that man can avoid succumbing to temptation if he yields to the will of God as he said â€Å"Let you will be done.† Jesus is also portrayed as a meek lamb brought to the slaughter as the Bible says, having no objections to the soldiers or high priest about what he is being accused of. Jesus could have had always been able to defend himself, with Pontius Pilate able to see and understand that his accusers brought Jesus to his presence because of jealousy, it would have been easy for Jesus to justify himself. Still, he did not fight back instead, he let the high priest succeed in his desire of getting Jesus hung on the cross, treated like an evil criminal, flogged and spat on yet without retaliation. The Jesus story portrayed in the film is a very moving story which is directed not only to those who believe in Jesus but also to those who do not believe because of ignorance. At some angle, the movie acts as an educational means to proclaim the reality behind the passion of Jesus, why he came to die and what sort of manner he died. This has been a great contribution to understanding and imagining the hardships Jesus had gone through only to save humanity from their sins. I believe seeing the movie which has courageously shown the brutality of the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Energy efficiency in Saudi Arabia Research Paper

Energy efficiency in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example The paper tells that Saudi Arabian government has become adequately aware about the need to depend more on renewable forms of energy instead of fossil fuel. Though the nation is abundant in oil that ensures cheap availability of energy; the economic, environmental, and social consequences of a total reliance on fossil fuel have become obvious through various studies. Also, the Saudi Arabian terrain proved itself rich in renewable sources like solar and wind energy. The harnessing of such alternative sources poses various challenges because of their higher cost of production and fluctuating nature. Because of their fluctuating nature, it has become necessary to store them for future use. Thus, the article by Rahman et al looks into the present day energy sector in Saudi Arabia and the geographical and environmental conditions of Saudi Arabia to introduce various storage systems that are currently available. Rahman et al write the article with a complete understanding of the energy sec tor of Saudi Arabia. The article acknowledges the shortcomings of the present day energy storage systems and the need to store renewable energy in Saudi Arabia. Though there are certain advancements in the storage of energy, the growth has not been sufficient to meet the demands. Quoting Lee and Gushee, the scholars point out that if renewable energy has to become an important part of base load dispatchable power; and, it should develop the capacity for massive electricity storage. In order to assess the usability and challenges of using various storage systems in Saudi Arabia, the first factor taken into consideration is the climatic condition. It is pointed out by the scholars that batteries are highly sensitive to weather conditions such as ‘temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure and wind speed’ (ibid). Saudi Arabia possesses a desert climate with extreme heat during the day and cold at night. Inconsistent rainfall and significant variation in temperatur e and humidity also makes the climate of the region unique. Thereafter, the scholars look into the energy supply and demand in Saudi Arabia. It is found that while Central Operating Area (COA) is considered, the maximum load during the day is 9725MW and the minimum load is 7290MW (Rahman, et al, 2012). Similarly, peak load occurs in the month of July and minimum load occurs in the month of January; and they are 9725MW and 2133MW respectively (ibid). Thus, Rahman, et al (2012) find that the average load remains below 8500MW for 16 hours in a day. So, the suggestion is that if EESS system can supply the load during peak hours, it can be charged during the off-peak hours. After acknowledging the fact that energy storage system in Saudi Arabia needs to meet all these requirements, the work looks into the major energy storage systems that seem useful in Saudi Arabia. The systems are divided into three categories based on their nature: mechanical systems, electrical systems, and chemical systems (Rahman, et al, 2012). The first mechanical system examined by the scholars is pumped hydroelectric energy storage. In this system water is pumped and stored at higher elevations. When required, this water is released onto a turbine to generate electricity. The second mechanical system is the flywheel that can generate uninterrupted DC power supply when coupled with innovative components. The third system is the compressed air energy system in which air is compressed and stored in a vessel during off-peak hours and then

Sunday, November 17, 2019

White-tailed deer Essay Example for Free

White-tailed deer Essay Hunting, one of the oldest activities known to man, is being debated by two extremely strong-willed sides. The subject of deer hunting is one topic on which many people have strong emotional opinions either for or against. Some redneck people feel that â€Å"my pa hunted and taught me that if I can kill it, I can eat it†. While the tree huggers feel that â€Å"it is awful because you’re killing Bambi†. Although both are entitled to their own opinion, neither of these reasons comes across as noteworthy enough for a solid case. Do not get me wrong, I am very passionate about the thrills of hunting and will get to that later, but the examples that are most significant to look over are the facts of deer hunting. These imperative facts include the basic ecological population biology and the economic revenues of deer hunting. With all emotional views aside for now, try to look at deer hunting for what it is. It is just a way of leveling out the deer population in place of natural predators. Wolves and mountain lions, the only two true natural predators of adult deer, were basically eradicated from the South-East United States as soon as man settled. This being the case, the only wild animals that pose any sort of threat to deer are coyotes and bobcats, and they are only threatening for a 3-4 month period in young fawns lives. That leaves it up to the humans to keep the populations in balance. If humans did not balance out the deer population, it would be absolutely devastating to the group as a whole. Each ecosystem has a limit to how many organisms of a specific species it can hold. This maximum amount is called the carrying capacity. If the carrying capacity of an ecosystem is surpassed, it is utterly detrimental to the population. This is called overpopulation. Usually, though, the prey species has a predator species to keep the amount in check. This means that the quantity of organisms increases very rapidly until reaching the carrying capacity, and then it levels out. On the other hand, if there are no predators for a species, there is nothing to stop exponential growth. It will soon skyrocket above the carrying capacity thus leading to an inevitable collapse. When a population goes over its carrying capacity, horrifying things happen to the population such as disease and starvation. I personally would rather not be walking in the woods and come across multiple, disease-stricken, hairless deer carcasses that had suffered for months before dying a slow and immensely excruciating death because of its lack of predators. The first time anyone really experimented with deer populations without predators was when Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve on the Kaibab Plateau. Here, he ordered all predators of deer to be killed and then banned hunting in the area. He had 4,000 deer placed here and then permitted them to live without restraint while some scientists supervised this process. The total population sprung up to 100,000 and from then on, almost all of them deceased from overpopulation. This is where scientists first began to comprehend the dangers of a lack of predators. One of the main scientists in charge of these observations said, â€Å"The removal of the deers natural predators, which had been done in the interest of preserving the deer population, had allowed the deer to over reproduce, and quickly overwhelm the plateaus resources. †(Kaibab). After learning this, I believe the question that the people who are mad about â€Å"killing Bambi† need to pose to themselves is, â€Å"Would I rather have a small amount of deer killed by people and still get to appreciate the deer that I do see, or would I rather have all the deer killed by disease and there be no more deer around for my children or grandchildren to see? †. As well as hunting being a biological necessity for the deer, it is also a tremendously hefty source for economic revenue. In 2006, the state of Georgia said that it made 1. 8 billion dollars from deer hunting while supplying people with around 15,000 jobs. A typical hunting rifle is around $500. 00 with the scope being an extra $200. 00. That doesn’t even include the ammo people will have to purchase in order to shoot. Deer lockers are also a huge profit in Georgia, as are the appropriate hunting clothes. Also, an average deer processer probably processes around 10,000 deer at $65 per deer. One of the two main profits from hunting, though, is the mandatory hunting licenses. Although they are only $9. 00 for a Georgia in-state resident, they are $135. 00 for out of state people. With the number of travelers who come to Georgia every year for hunting season, these numbers truly add up fast. Because there is so much money made from hunting, it is able to finance a lot of other programs of the Department of Wildlife Resources. A good comparison would be how college football makes so much economic revenue that it pays for most of the other college sports. The other massive economic stimulation as a result of deer hunting are land leases. When farmers are incapable of growing crops anymore for any reason, like old age or droughts, many farmers end up making deals with hunters so they can hunt on the farmer’s unusable soil. This way, the farmers, who would otherwise have land just sitting there with no source of income, would make a much needed profit. If not, the kind, old farmer that always dreamt of letting his kids inherit the plot of land that he spent his whole life on, instead would be forced to sell this stunning terrain to a greedy cooperation and watch them erect a brand new Wal-Mart or Kroger on the land he spent countless hours tending. I’m not sure about you, but I think that I would rather want to allow people to pay the needy farmer to hunt on the land, rather than to watch him reluctantly sell it. Although facts for deer hunting are inevitable, some people still have doubts that deer hunting is good. Some say that it is a very hazardous activity. If that was true, why do you need to pass a rigorous hunting safety course to even obtain your hunting licenses? This was one of many things designed so people could hunt safely, not to even mention the laws they have passed for hunting safety. Some of these laws require you to wear a vibrant orange vest at all times and also deem it highly illegal to have any alcohol in your body while operating weaponry. Also, others may brainlessly argue that people might kill too many deer if hunting is allowed, even though the hunting season is only roughly 80 days out of 365. That’s around twenty-two percent of the days of the whole year. During those eighty days, people are only legally allowed to kill twelve deer total. To the opposing side, this may seem like a colossal amount. In reality though, it is not much at all when you contrast this total to the million-plus deer in this state alone. Also, people might assume that if people don’t hunt them, deer will have happy, fruitful lives in the wild. Unfortunately, if they have no natural predators, it will end badly for them. If people do not hunt deer, they will overpopulate and die. It is just the way biology works. Besides, there is nothing more tranquil then to just take the weight off your feet in the deer stand and to be absorbed by the gripping splendor of nature, all in the flawlessly cool breeze of the early morning. Then when you see the deer approach, you pull the trigger, sending earsplitting sound waves of satisfaction into the silence of the woods, and then beam with the knowledge that, by terminating this one deer, you helped all the other deer in the area live a longer and healthier life. You also know that by killing this animal, you not only saved others from gruesome deaths, but also know that by bringing it home for eating purposes, you are continuing one of the world’s longest lasting human activities.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Organic Anion Transporters Essay -- Biology

The main location of the protein organic anion transporter 3 is in the kidney and the function of the kidney is to get toxins, usually in the form of organic anions, or even medications out of the body. In order to separate and transport these toxins through the blood to the kidney, specific proteins called organic anion transporters (OAT) exist. The sole function of these proteins is to bind to these molecules and take them to the kidney where they can be separated from the blood and excreted. The way these proteins work is that they have a highly specific active site (or binding site) which has unique properties that make it prone to attaching to various organic anions. To better understand the role of OAT 3, a specific OAT protein which is present in the choroid plexus (spinal fluid) and the kidney, an experiment was conducted in which this protein was removed from rats by replacing the DNA code for OAT 3 with a similar, but not functional code. These OAT 3 knockout rats showed an inability to transport certain organic anions including toxins, hormones, and drugs. Methods Procedures: 1. Isolation of the OAT3 Gene 2. Analysis of changes in tissues of the wild type and OAT3 type 3. Northern Analysis 4. RT-PCR 5. Methods of Measuring Transport 6. Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy 1. Isolation of OAT3 gene: The strategy used here was a deletion of exon 3. An exon is a portion of a DNA molecule that codes for part of a polypeptide, which gets expressed. So the deletion of this particular exon caused a frame-shift mutation and a premature stop codon to be brought in. This just means that the messenger RNA (mRNA) that is transcribed from the gene gets translated normally until the ribosome co... ...family will allow humans to further expand the effectiveness of drug treatment. First, if the organic anion transport system could be blocked, certain medicines then would stay in the system longer that would otherwise have been excreted. This would allow for more effective and shorter treatment. Second, not everyone has the same amount of organic anion transporters in their system, thus by genotyping a patient and discovering the amount of the transporters present in the individual, a personalized drug regiment could be devised , making it more effective for the individual. Third, by identifying the anion transported by each OAT (OAT 1-4), certain toxins could be transported out of the system much faster and prevent less damage of certain toxins to the system. By altering the amounts of the OAT family present doctors could speed up the recovery process.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Collaboration and Innovation at Procter & Gamble Case Study

Collaboration and Innovation at Procter & Gamble CASE STUDY 1. What is Procter & Gamble’s business strategy? What is the relationship of collaboration and innovation to that business strategy? i. Proctor and Gamble’s business strategy focuses on three main areas. This is to maintain the popular the popularity of its existing brands through advertising and marketing; the extension of its brand to related products by developing new products and the creation of new brands from scratch.To achieve these, the company aims to facilitate collaboration between researchers, marketers and managers. ii. By fostering interaction among employees P&G fosters informed decision making and the sharing of ideas and information which ultimately leads the company to produce quality products. 2. How is P&G using collaboration systems to execute its business model and business strategy? List and describe the collaboration systems and technologies it is using and the benefits of each i.P&G res earchers use collaborative tools to share data on various brands they have collected which allows marketers to access this data to create better targeted ad campaigns and likewise managers access data shared t be able to make informed decisions. ii. – P&G use a suite of Microsoft products such as MS Outlook, MS SharePoint and others that have unified communication and integrate services through voice and data transmissions and allow for instant messaging, email and electronic conferences, web conferencing with live meeting, and content management. P&G use social networking innovations -P&G uses blogs instead of emails that are open to anyone interested in their content and attract comments from others. – The company uses Connect beam which is a search tool that allows employees to share bookmarks and tag content with descriptive words that appear in future searches, and facilitates social networks of coworkers to help them find and share information more effectively â €“ It also uses InnovationNet which contains over 5 million research-related documents in digital format accessible through a browser-based portal. P&G have also adopted Cisco Telepresence conference rooms across the globe that allows researchers to communicate and share data. Some benefits of the Cisco Telepresence include the reduction of travel cost, efficient flow of ideas and quick decision making. 3. Why were some collaborative technologies slow to catch on at P&G? Some collaborative tools were slow for P&G because employees resisted to the collaborative tool because in their opinion that would create more work and delays.Employees were more accustomed to emails 4. Compare P&G’s old and new processes for writing up and distributing the results of a research experiment. Researchers under the old process wrote up their experiments using MS Office tools then print them out and glue the papers page by page into notebooks or they would simply paste results of experiments into word documents and pass them out. Also data and speech recordings are entered into MS PowerPoint and emailed to employees.In the new method however, employees use a collaborative tool such as InnovationNet which contains over 5 million research- related documents in digital format accessible to employees via a browser-based portal. Also P&G uses a Microsoft SharePoint page where all presentations are posted. These presentations are stored in a single location and accessible to employees and colleagues in other parts of the company. 5. Why is telepresence such a useful collaborative tool for a company like P&G?Telepresence is a useful collaborative tool for P&G because it helps to foster collaboration between employees across continents and leads to reduction in travel cost, efficient flow of ideas and quick decision making. 6. Can you think of other ways P&G could use collaboration to foster innovation? Proctor and Gamble could use virtual world technology which creates online 3-D environments populated by employees who have in-built graphical representations of themselves known as avatars.P&G can use this virtual world to house online meetings, training sessions, and â€Å"lounges. † Real-world people represented by avatars meet, interact, and exchange ideas at these virtual locations. Communication takes place in the form of text messages similar to instant messages. P&G could also use Google Apps or Google Sites which is a collaborative that allows users to quickly create online, group-editable web sites in minutes and post a variety of files including calendars, text, spreadsheets, and videos for private, group, or public viewing and editing.Also Google a software such as called Google Wave which is part conversation and part document can be used as a collaborative tool. Researchers or any participant of a wave can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content, and add or remove participants at any point in the process. Users are able to see responses from other participants on their â€Å"wave† while typing occur, accelerating the pace of discussion.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Providing Courses Fit for the New Professions amidst the Recession

Colleges and other educational institutions assume a very vital role in the modeling and homing of future professionals. They affect not only the decisions of its students in terms of the students’ profession preference; they also affect the future job options of the students. ABC Institution as one of the education pillars of this country in the aspect of being a leading career college conducts activities and launches curriculum fully guided by the mission that the institution set out to achieve in its years of existence.The mission being â€Å"ABC institution welcomes students of diverse interests, cultures, and abilities and prepares them for careers in thriving fields that are in demand. The core values include providing high quality curriculum, caring and supportive environment, and mentoring students to succeed†.This mission as of the presentation of this paper is now geared towards the creation of a new curriculum under the ABC Institution’s College of Man agement and Administration that will equip its students with up to date education that will give them an edge in landing professions that proved to be in-demand amidst the economic and financial trials of this period marked by the recent global recession. To better understand the technicalities intrinsic to the formulation of a curriculum, defining the common keywords in the issue at hand proves to be vital.In this proposal the word curriculum is defined as the collection of programs of study or major courses to be offered by ABC Institution (The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary), 2009, p. n. pag. ). Program study or major in this proposal is defined as the set of classes or subjects needed to be taken by the students included in the new curriculum of ABC Institution (The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary), 2009, p. n. pag. ).Lastly, classes or courses are the educational groupings of students that would tackle a focal subject related to the new curriculum intro duced by ABC Institution (The Free Dictionary(American Heritage Dictionary), 2009, p. n. pag. ). These definitions will be used throughout this proposal. This proposal is written to distinctively inculcate the values intrinsic to the mission of ABC institution and to the new needs that it will set to fulfill in the next years of its existence.This proposal would compromise between the tenets of ABC Institution’s mission and the specifications of the new programs of study under the new curriculum of management and administration. Compromising between these two factors present in ABC Institution is a must simply because the curriculum should always coincide with the mission of the institution that offers it. Taking ABC Institution for example, the curriculum of management and administration will be designed base on the mission of ABC Institution. This new curriculum will equally welcome students of welcomes students of diverse interests, cultures, and abilities.This new curricu lum will prepare them for careers in thriving fields that are in demand. The core values of ABC Institution which include high quality curriculum, caring and supportive environment, and mentoring students to succeed will be used in full swing upon the launch of its new curriculum on management and administration. Approving the launch of these new course offerings of ABC Institution will not only improve the reputation of the institution as a career college; it will also reshape the modes by which this institution provides quality education to its students (Wijesinghe, 2000, p.1). The creation of new curriculum is one of the most recognized benchmarks of the effectiveness of any institution in terms of being dynamic set in the background that the real world apart from the institution is also very dynamic. Unfortunately, the creation of a new curriculum is not solely dependent on the needs that the curriculum is set to satisfy, resources and other forms of support should be all equall y addressed before introducing a new curriculum (Wijesinghe, 2000, pp. 2-3).As said earlier, this proposal pushes forth the offering of the curriculum focused on management and administration in ABC Institution. The reason behind the vigor put on in this paper to prove that doing so is a must only lies on two basic concepts- students will gain an education edge applicable in many fields and professions related to this course are now demanded worldwide. The theoretical and practical education that students will receive from the different programs of study included in this new curriculum will make them a highly viable labor resource in the near future.The units to be included in this program study may differ from the unit requirements of the other programs of study to be included in the new curriculum. Amidst the allowance provided that may cause differences among programs of study, core subjects should be universal in the whole curriculum to insure that the curriculum has a sense of wholeness. Programs of study to be included in the curriculum are still open to changes; however in this paper core programs are encouraged to be introduced alongside with the launch of the new curriculum.Core programs such as Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Management and Bachelor of Arts in Financial Management and Administration are pushed forth by this paper with the same weight that it proposes the introduction of the new curriculum. These core programs are deemed to be the programs that will provide the competency needed by the future professionals or students as they take on a very new profession landscape upon their graduation.This proposal is not written on mere impulsive instincts and far flung idealism; this proposal is written through the guidance provided by the mission of ABC Institution. This proposal even in its early stages of formulation considers head on the factors that may affect the introduction of its proposed curriculu m. Given the ample time of research that was given to formulate the proposal, there are three main factors identified to be internal to ABC Institution- integrity, resource preparedness and foundational education.ABC Institution is laden with the burden that it needs to establish its integrity among its students, targeted hiring field and even among its stakeholders (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ). These different groups should be satisfied with the overall manner by which ABC Institution provides the programs of study under its newly introduced curriculum. Resource preparedness is also vital to the success of the introduction of the new curriculum because the preparations put on by ABC Institution will insure that the curriculum will not be down played in terms of its manpower and educating credibility (Gardiner, 2010, p.n. pag. ). Faculty members and other staffs of ABC should be prepared in all aspects, particularly in terms of being knowledgeable of the programs to be included in the curriculum, furthermore to the curriculum itself. Departmental turf should also be taken into consideration since the curriculum of management and administration is multidisciplinary in nature (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ). Faculty members should also be allowed to freely express their insights and criticisms on the newly introduced curriculum.The faculty members are those who would have firsthand interaction with the curriculum and its students; this made them credible sources of new ways of further improving the curriculum upon its introduction. Ultimately, the faculty members should be constantly reminded to handle the programs of study included in the curriculum with the consciousness that the lessons and activities should coincide with the mission of ABC Institution and with the goals of introducing the curriculum (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ).Finally, the foundations of educating its students under the new curriculum should be constantly assessed and evaluated to insure th at educational drifts are being avoided by providing constantly improving modes of education. The foundations that the curriculum will be able to establish in its early years will determine its future as a part of ABC Institution and establishing a good one should be prioritized (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ). In this proposal there is only one discerned external factor- the in demand labor market.No matter how fluent this proposal maybe in justifying that the establishment of a new curriculum on management and administration is viable will be put to trash unless it will have an established target in the labor demand market. As a hint in the earlier parts, the new curriculum on management and administration is proposed to be introduced to educate and train students to be professionals viable to fill one of the most in demand professions- government managers (Kadlec, 2009, p. 11). This is a labor market that is deemed to be in constant hiring for the next three decades.This demand is neither artificial nor temporary; it is a demand made by one of the most financially influencing event of all times- the global recession. The global recession has increased the demand for government managers because it forced many companies to sought help and assistance from the governments all around the world (Kadlec, 2009, p. n. pag. ). New professions are being created everyday just to manage corporate bail outs and turnovers facilitated by governments; in this aspect alone thousands of available jobs are being created.Aside from this aspect of the global recession; professions on human resources and public affairs are almost equally opening up due to the sudden involvement of many governments with the corporate affairs. This is the major labor market that the curriculum if management and administration seeks to fill in by creating the fittest professionals for the job through the programs of study that ABC Institution offers. The high demand to fill in the slots of government managers is only one of the target industries of this new curriculum.The ongoing demand for financial analysts and market experts are also some of the in demand jobs that this curriculum seeks to fill in (Kadlec, 2009, p. n. pag. ). After presenting every detail of this proposal for the ABC Institution, the one that proposed it realized one thing; there is a huge and almost untapped market of labor demands that ABC Institution can pioneer on†¦so why hesitate? Bibliography Gaff, J. G. , & Ratcliff, J. L. (1997). Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum: a comprehensive guide to purposes, structures, practices and change.Jossey Bass. Gardiner, L. F. (2010). Designing a College Curriculum. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. thenationalacademy. org: http://www. thenationalacademy. org/readings/designing. html Kadlec, D. (2009, June 2). Government Manager: Top Ten Jobs for the Recession. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. times. com: http://205. 188. 238. 109/time/specials/packages/ar ticle/0,28804,1901876_1901874_1901854,00. html The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary). (2009). Curriculum. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. freedictionary.com: http://www. thefreedictionary. com/curriculum The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary). (2009). Program of Study. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from www. freedictionary. com: http://www. thefreedictionary. com/programme+of+study The Free Dictionary(American Heritage Dictionary). (2009). Class. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. freedictionary. com: http://www. thefreedictionary. com/classs Wijesinghe, G. (2000). New Offerings for a New Era: Evaluating the Viability of New Degree Programs . Florida: State University System of Florida.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Alligator Facts (A. mississippiensis and A. sinensis)

Alligator Facts (A. mississippiensis and A. sinensis) The alligator is a freshwater crocodilian belonging to the genus Alligator. It is a large reptile with a fearsome set of teeth. In fact, the teeth are one way to tell an alligator from a crocodile. An alligators teeth are hidden when its mouth is closed, while a crocodile still has a toothy grin. The name alligator comes from the Spanish el lagarto, which means the lizard. Alligators are sometimes called living fossils because they have been around about 37 million years, first appearing in the fossil record in the Oligocene epoch. Fast Facts: Alligator Scientific Name: Alligator mississippiensis (American alligator); Alligator sinensis (Chinese alligator)Common Name: Alligator, gatorBasic Animal Group: ReptileSize: 13 feet (American); 7 feet (Chinese)Weight: 790 pounds (American); 100 pounds (Chinese)Lifespan: 35 to 50 yearsDiet: CarnivoreHabitat: Freshwater marshes and grasslandsPopulation: 5 million (American); 68 to 86 (Chinese)Conservation Status: Least Concern (American); Critically Endangered (Chinese) Species There are two alligator species. The American alligator is Alligator mississippiensis, while the Chinese alligator is Alligator sinensis. Several extinct species are found in the fossil record. The Chinese alligator is critically endangered in the wild. reptiles4all, Getty Images Description Alligators range in color from brown to olive green to black with white bellies. Juvenile alligators have orange, yellow, or white marks that fade as they reach maturity. American alligators are much larger than Chinese alligators. The average American alligator is 13 feet long and weighs 790 pounds, but large specimens over 14 feet long and 990 pounds occur. Chinese alligators average 7 feet long and 100 pounds. In both species, males tend to be larger than females. An alligators strong tail makes up over half its length. Habitat and Distribution The American alligator lives in the southeastern United States. It occurs in freshwater and brackish wetlands in Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, East Texas, and southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Chinese alligator is found in a short section of the Yangtze River valley. Diet Alligators are carnivores, although they sometimes supplement their diet with fruit. The type of prey depends on the size of the alligator. They are ambush predators that prefer to eat prey that may be consumed in one bite, such as fish, turtles, mollusks, small mammals, and other reptiles (including smaller alligators). However, they can take much larger prey. Larger prey are grabbed and spun around in the water in what is called a death roll. During a death roll, the gator bites off chunks until the target is subdued. Alligators may store prey under the water until it decomposes enough to be eaten. Like other cold-blooded animals, alligators cannot digest prey when temperatures drop too low. Behavior Alligators are excellent swimmers, plus they use three modes of locomotion on land. The sprawl is a walk using four legs with the belly touching the ground. The high walk is on four limbs with the belly above the ground. Alligators can walk on their two legs, but only for short distances. While large males and females tend to be solitary within a territory, smaller alligators form highly social groups. Alligators readily tolerate other individuals of comparable size. Gators are extremely intelligent. They have been known to use tools and find their way home from a distance of 30 miles. Reproduction and Offspring Alligators mature when they reach a length of around 6 feet. In the spring, male alligators bellow, emit blasts of infrasound, and head-slap water to attract mates. Both sexes gather in groups for courtship in what is called an alligator dance. Males mate multiple females, but a female has one mate per season. In the summer, a female builds a nest of vegetation and lays between 10 and 15 hard-shelled eggs. Decomposition supplies the heat needed to incubate the eggs. The temperature of the nest determines offspring sex. Temperature of 86  Ã‚ °F or lower produce females, while temperature above 93  Ã‚ °F produce males. Between 86  Ã‚ °F and 93  Ã‚ °F, a clutch contains both males and females. The young hatch in September using an egg tooth and assistance from their mother. Female hatchlings weigh more than male hatchlings. The female defends the nest and helps the hatchlings reach water. She continues to guard her offspring for a year or two, but will mate each year once she reaches maturity. It is unknown exactly how long alligators live in the wild. Estimates place average lifespan between 35 and 50 years. Alligators in captivity can live long lives. One captive specimen is at least 80 years old. Alligator hatchlings have white or yellow marks. DeSid, Getty Images Conservation Status The IUCN classifies the conservation status of the American alligator as least concern. Approximately 5 million American alligators live in the wild. On the other hand, the status of the Chinese alligator is critically endangered. As of 2018, between 68 and 86 mature individuals lived in the wild, with a stable population trend. At present, more Chinese alligators live in zoos than in the wild. Chinese alligators are protected, plus captive individuals may be successfully reintroduced into the wild. Alligators and Humans Alligators typically do not perceive humans as prey. While attacks sometimes occur, they tend to be provoked when a person encroaches on an alligators territory, in self-defense, or where humans feed alligators and the reptiles have lost their natural shyness. Alligators are hunted and raised commercially for skin and meat. Wild alligators are a popular sight for ecotourists. Alligators offer an economic benefit to humans by controlling muskrat, copypu (nutria), and other pest animal populations. Alligators can be trained, but they do not make good pets because they grow very quickly, escape enclosures, and can be unpredictably aggressive. Fun fact: While an alligator closes its mouth with force, its jaws are too weak to open when the mouth is held closed. Zen Rial, Getty Images Sources Brochu, C.A. (1999). Phylogenetics, taxonomy, and historical biogeography of Alligatoroidea. Memoir (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology). 6: 9–100. doi:10.2307/3889340Craighead, F. C., Sr. (1968). The role of the alligator in shaping plant communities and maintaining wildlife in the southern Everglades. The Florida Naturalist, 41, 2–7, 69–74.Crocodile Specialist Group (1996). Alligator mississippiensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996: e.T46583A11061981. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T46583A11061981.enFish, Frank E.; Bostic, Sandra A.; Nicastro, Anthony J.; Beneski, John T. (2007). Death roll of the alligator: mechanics of twist feeding in water. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 210 (16): 2811–2818. doi:10.1242/jeb.004267Jiang, H. Wu, X. (2018). Alligator sinensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T867A3146005. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T867A3146005.en

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Deinotherium - Facts and Figures

Deinotherium - Facts and Figures Name: Deinotherium (Greek for terrible mammal); pronounced DIE-no-THEE-ree-um Habitat: Woodlands of Africa and Eurasia Historical Epoch: Middle Miocene-Modern (10 million to 10,000 years ago) Size and Weight: About 16 feet long and 4-5 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; downward-curving tusks on lower jaw    About Deinotherium The deino in Deinotherium derives from the same Greek root as the dino in dinosaurthis terrible mammal (actually a genus of prehistoric elephant) was one of the largest non-dinosaur animals ever to roam the earth, rivaled only by contemporary thunder beasts like Brontotherium and Chalicotherium. Apart from its sizable (four to five ton) weight, the most notable feature of Deinotherium was its short, downward-curving tusks, so different from the usual elephant appendages that puzzled 19th-century paleontologists managed to reassemble them upside down.   Deinotherium wasnt directly ancestral to modern-day elephants, instead inhabiting an evolutionary side branch along with close relatives like Amebeledon and Anancus. The type species of this megafauna mammal, D. giganteum, was discovered in Europe in the early 19th century, but subsequent excavations show the course of its peregrinations over the next few million years: from its home base in Europe, Deinotherium radiated eastward, into Asia, but by the start of the Pleistocene epoch it was restricted to Africa. (The other two generally accepted species of Deinotherium are D. indicum, named in 1845, and D. bozasi, named in 1934.) Amazingly, isolated populations of Deinotherium persisted into historical times, until they either succumbed to changing climatic conditions (shortly after the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago) or were hunted to extinction by early Homo sapiens. Some scholars speculate that these giant beasts inspired ancient tales of, well, giants, which would make Deinotherium yet another plus-sized megafauna mammal to have fired the imaginations of our distant ancestors (for example, the single-horned Elasmotherium may well have inspired the legend of the unicorn).

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Al Ain Distribution Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Al Ain Distribution Company - Essay Example This is under the Law 2 of 1998 on 1 January 1999 with its Head Office at Al Ain. This company is a completely owned subordinate of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority with a fully paid investment of AED Billion 1,530,000,000 (Al-Ain Distribution Company, 2012). It is the sole distributor of Water and electricity in the Eastern Area of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (Al Ain City and adjacent countryside areas). This includes the ownership, maintenance, and operation of the electricity and water  distribution, network properties, meter reading, and facilities for the supply of water and electricity. The number AADC employees at the end of 2008 financial year were around more than 1900. The Company provides services the population in the East Region of Abu Dhabi (Al Ain Region), which is currently approaching half a million people. The company has established a documented Integrated Management System, which includes an IMS Policy statement, IMS procedures, IMS Management Manual, IMS Objectives, Operating Procedures, Flow Charts, Process Maps, and IMS Records. ADDC operates in the Eastern Region only, whereas Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC) provide water and power distribution services in Abu Dhabi and its suburbs to approximately 216,000 customers (Abu Dhabi Water and Distribution Company, 2012). ... The company’s responsibility is to consistent, steady, and safely distribute water, electricity from Transco’s termination points to residential, commercial, agricultural, and government consumers in the Al Ain Region. The company executes the following to meet their responsibilities: Maintenance and distribution of the network of distribution assets. Secondly, the company carries out testing of water quality through its laboratory services. Lastly, the customer interfaces including billing, call center operation and revenue collection. The company uses a low cost strategy. The reason being it provides social very important social needs and, therefore all people in the region should be able to access their services. The evidence of their low cost strategy is through the low cost payments that the inhabitants make of only AED 50 (Dirham) for meter checkup fees (Abu Dhabi Water and Distribution Company, 2012). There are no addition fees the required to be paid. There are no clear employee productivity and measurement mechanisms in this company apart from the career development program. This program is offered to fresh graduates for training so that they can work in that company. Employee productivity is a very crucial aspect in terms of the achievement of company goals and objectives. One of the ways of employee productivity measurement is through the establishment of a baseline. A baseline is a standard used for measuring performance of an entity according to set goals and objectives (PM Hut, 2008). 3. FORECASTING According to the Al Ain Distribution Company, the procedures are outlined as follows. The Users connected to the Water Distribution System