INTERPERSONAL AND ORGANIZATION COMMUNICATION Essay

INTERPERSONAL AND ORGANIZATION COMMUNICATION - Essay Example In this group summary, the most important concepts that were learned as part of the assigned topic and how these can be implemented in a real world situation have been outlined. With different contributions coming from group members, the three most important concepts that became recurring in the individual works of members were etiquette, Johari Window and interpersonal communication. As members of a typical organization interact with people, it is important that a very high sense of etiquette be showed so that there can be harmony in their existence as there was between David and Jonathan in the bible. Joharu window is also necessary for ensuring high level of trust and group learning through the use of effective feedback system (The Johari Window, 2015). Interpersonal communication has also been found to be an effective way of promoting group understanding and cohesion (Satterlee, 2013). Collectively, these three concepts can guarantee peaceful coexistence and mutual respect that is based on trust. There are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound) objectives that any organization can set for itself based on the three concepts which are etiquette, Johari Window and interpersonal communication. In terms of etiquettes, the organization can set an objective of recording less than three cases of customer dissatisfaction reports in a month. The use of Johari window could also come with them objective of recording higher customer rating based on a standardized measure of trust. Lastly, interpersonal communication could be used with the objective of maintaining high level of employer-employee, employee-employee, and employee-customer communication. Before the applications that have been discussed above can be realized, it is important that there are will be very specific strategies that an organization considered and implements. To sum the expected outcomes for all the three concepts, it would be said that using

The Fall of Jerusalem 70 A.D Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Fall of Jerusalem 70 A.D - Research Paper Example Not only did the event affect the then socio-economic context but also had a significant impact on the religious situation of the period. The catastrophe took place as a consequence of the First Jewish-Roman War under the leadership of Titus and his subordinate Tiberius Julius Alexander (North, â€Å"Did Jesus Return In 70 A. D.?†). The disaster resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem causing innumerous deaths and the demolition of its popular First as well as Second Temples. The demolitions of both these temples are still mourned by Jews every year on Tisha B’Av (Young, â€Å"Oh Jerusalem, Thou that Killeth the Prophets†). The study intends to discuss the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In connection to this, it will emphasize the reasons behind the destruction by examining the scenario of Jerusalem during the occurrence of the First Jewish-Roman War. ... In the 70 A.D., repeated conflicts were being witnessed within the Roman Empire based on ethnic rivalry or political power agreements. The fall can be further identified to be the aftermath of chronological occurrences of disagreements taking place between the Jewish people and the Romans that took place because of the reluctance of the former to follow the emperor’s rules, which later took the shape of religious disbelief and segregation amid the then biblical audiences. Charged by the continuous rebellion against the Roman rule, the Roman army was preparing for an attack on the Jewish city since 66 A.D. following the death of Herod Agrippa I. In due course, the 30,000 Roman troops were able to beat the city walls of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. under the leadership of Titus, which led to the death of numerous Jewish civilians, and thus the First Jewish-Roman war was instigated. This sudden attack resulted in massive destruction where the temples of the city were annihilated, fuellin g up the grievances of the Jewish people against the Romans (Bell, â€Å"The Destruction of Jerusalem: A Local Event or of Universal/Eternal Consequence?†). After 40 years, as predicted by Jesus Christ, the wonderful ‘Herod Temple’ was completely demolished by the Romans. Titus, the campaign leader, has also been accused in many religious writings of having collected the precious treasury of Jerusalem temple and taken it to Rome, where it is still believed to remain safe. When the temple was engulfed by fire, the Roman soldiers hammered its walls in search of treasure, which again disregarded the religious belief of the Jewish people, causing a spiritual crisis within the city. Different vessels as well as treasures were robbed and were taken to Rome.

Lush Company Structure

Lush Company Structure As an entrepreneurial venture, Lush company is acknowledged as the successful cosmetic retailer which is created by Mark and Mo Constantine in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom under the name of Cosmetic House Limited in 1994 (Wikipedia, 2012). It was in 1995 that they adopted Lush as companys name due to the competition ran in the fledgling companys first handmade newsletter and catalogue. Nowadays, Lush company has almost over 820 stores in 50 countries all over the world (Lush Website, 2012). Product and service Lush companys products are: bath products, shower products, hair products, face and beauty products, body lotions and other products, perfume. But the innovation and highlights of the products in Lush company are: differentiation, communication, fresh ingredients, environmentally-friendly packing. Producers use the fresh fruits or vegetables to make different shaped products with different color for looking artisanal, which create the differentiation on the market. Besides, each producers name will be located on the products label for connecting the customer on the personal level and promoting the brand. Lush company also encourages the ethical value such as packing with the recycled materials (Marketline, 2008). According to the different types of innovation by Schumpeter (See Appendix1), Lush company belongs to type1 the introduction of a new or improved good or service (Paul Burns,2011). Service: Lush company not only provides the considerate service in the store but also providing the remade order for customer through the website. Consumers can also communicate with Lush through the publication of Lush Times (Lush Website, 2012). Business Model Stewart and Zhao (2000) define the model as a statement of how a firm will make money and sustain its profit stream over time. Therefore, the business model represents how the firm will be running. As Gary Hamel (2001) believes that there are four components of a business model, namely, core strategy (competition strategy), strategic resources( how a firm acquires and uses its internal and external resources), partnership network( suppliers, partners, other relationships), customer interface(how to interact with customers). For Lush Company, I the form below can illustrate its business model. Core strategy Business mission -We Believe (See appendix 2) Product Scope personal care products Basis for differentiation Use fresh ingredients and products are handmade Strategic resources Core competenciesunique style of retail, retain its original focus, we believeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Strategic assets- corporation culture, brand reputation, ethical beliefs Partnership network A private owned company with subsidiaries in global Customer interface Target customer- young adult women ages12-30, diverse customer due to divers products Fulfillment and support-natural ingredients and anti-animal testing trade Pricing structure- lower than the luxury brand like The Body Shop, higher than the products in the supermarkets. Target market A firms target market is the small number of group of individuals or business that it pursues or tries to appeal to in a certain time (Bruce R. and R. Duane Ireland, 2012).The primary target market of Lush focuses on the young adult women who ages 18-45, the urban adult women in highly populated cite, and the diverse market due to the diverse products. The second target market is the acquaintances of the primary target market (Kwilkison, 2012). Pricing strategy Price is the only component in the marketing mix that generates revenue, all other elements stand for costs( Kotler and Armstrong,2001). The most used methods to set the price of products for the entrepreneur are cost-based pricing and value-based pricing(Bruce R. and R. Duane Ireland, 2012). As Lush company uses the natural ingredients for handmade products, therefore, they price their products based on the costs rather than on what the market thinks it should receive. Compared with the local competitors and supermarkets, Lush products price a litter higher but less than the famous cosmetic company like Body Shop(Lush marketing project, 2012). Lush offers customers good value, most of their products varies from designing style and weight, which is also the value of products, therefore, Lush prices different item based on the ingredients and weight with high quality. Brand Management Branding contributes to the development of a company, a strong brand could become the powerful assets of a firm. As Bruce R. and R. Duane Ireland (2012) pointed that One of the keys to effective branding is to create a strong personality for a firm, designed to appeal to the chosen target market. Lush standardize its brand and stick to its value when globalize its market. Partners must use brand name Lush rather than translated local language like Chinese in Twian, Japanese in Japan((Schmitt, Pan and Tavassoli 1994; Tavassoli1999; Zhang and Schmitt, 2001). Concentrating on promoting brand value and emphasizing the beliefs of Lush, against animal testing, using fresh ingredients, making handmade products, protecting the planet, supporting communities and promoting happy people making happy soap (Marketline, 2008). Localization of subsidiaries on website, all the subsidiaries of Lush should share the common value with Lush but they can promote products with different methods for adapting to the local market(Ping-Kuan Lin, 2012). Route to market insource vs outsource Insource The insource of Lush can be understood as the internal competencies, mainly, the differentiation of products, the unique retail style. As those competencies could solidify the firms role in the external source and it lies at the heart of the business model (Applegate, 2001; Viscio and Pasternack, 1996). Minimum packagingusing recyclable and reusable materials as packaging, naked packing campaign(See appendix 3). Customizationinteracting with the customers through the publication of Lush Times. Ethical campaign replaces the advertising In August 21, 2008,Lush and Sea Shepherd launched Partnership Campaign to Protect Sharks(Wendy Evans,2009). Advertising by the smell and experience in store. Outsource Lush company encourages partners to invest in its firm and gives them exclusive rights to develop their brand, besides, they also embarked on single store franchising in some countries like France, Italy, Spain(Lush Website, 2012). E-strategy E-strategy is mainly shown form the firms website, the business models on the web that Lush used is the manufacturing model which uses the web to reach buyers directly and compressing the distribution channel. There are mainly three key parts on their web, purchasing part, customer-focus part, company propaganda part. Buyers purchase products through the categories on the web(See appendix4) Customer can reserve the limited products through section of Retro and find news of Lush on Lush Times(See appendix 5) Company information presented on the web intends to attract partners and connect the subsidiaries(See appendix 6) Funding As the firm grows, it requires a large amount of money to operate as the basis of serving the customers. In the beginning, Lush is private owned by Mark and Mo Constantine but with a small number of shares, with the expanding of the firm, Lush gradually relied on the funds of partners in the team, Andrew Gerrie one of the Lush partners said that Lush is funded by a team who started the business together with funds from a wealthy investor (Startups, 2002). Innovation of Lush It is important for the entrepreneur to have a good venture idea for running a business. Therefore innovation penetrates the whole process in the venture. Trott (2008) believes that innovation= theoretical conception + technical (or process) invention + commercial exploitation. For lush company, their business idea comes from the interests of Mark Constantine and Elizabeth Wire in beauty therapy, then they developed many recipes and sold them to other companies until 1976, they contracted with The Body Shop as one of their suppliers (Wikipedia,2012). For an entrepreneur, the innovation is not always a continuous process which will be influenced by the dramatic changes in the market, social, technology as well as the regulatory environments (Paul Burns, 2011). In order to keep innovative, in 2003, Lush company launched a new beauty brand and retail concept, B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful, there are only four shops of this brand located in UK, (Journal of MarketWatch, 2003). By keepi ng the small numbers of stores with a unique location, Lush could increase the desirability of products to customers and encourage the existing-consumers loyalty (Marketline, 2008). It is believed that in the future, Lush would emerge much more creative brand to satisfy the customers. Stick to the original focus In the intensive competition of the market, entrepreneurial ventures would come across the risk of takeover by the leader of the industrial, some of the firms will agree on takeover in order to make profits, for instance, Bees by Clorox, and The Body Shop by LOreal (Marketline, 2008). But, Lush still insist its independence and avoids any demands for takeover. Whats surprised me is that, as the best suppliers for The Body Shop, Mark and Mo Constantine didnt give into the compromise of Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop. If you were going to sell the leading ethical company in the world, there couldnt be a much worse choice than LOreal, (Mark Constantine quoted in Financial Times,2007). This comments showed that in order to retain their original focus, they will never accept takeover, and only the independent operation can facilitate the advancement of their brand. Recognizing and coping with risks It is believed that entrepreneurs are more intended to make decisions through the different using of information or employing heuristics and rules, depending on their instincts and intuition (e.g., Schwenk, 1986; Cooper et al., 1995; Forlani and Mullins, 2000). Therefore, it is important to recognize the risks of starting up the business. For Lush company, the previous years, the manager in the store have to forecasts the products demands for deciding the amounts of products, the lack of accurate predicting generated the risks of lost sales and lower customer services(Prophix, 2012). However, they uses the retro part of website to make sure the producing quantities of products based on the customers reservation, which greatly save the costs of sales to a great extent. Furthermore, since The Body Shop has been taken over, Lush has to consider its risks of being taken over by leader of cosmetic industry, while Mark Constantine considered forming a staff ownership scheme for its company, which can prevent the business takeover Lush to some extent (Marketline, 2008). Although it is agreed to make the staff become the stakeholders in the company, Mark Constantine does not approve to turn Lush into a public company due to his untrusting of shareholders decision-making capability. If a business goes public it has to consider its shareholders above all else. I realize the people you can trust most are your own staff, (The Guardian, 2007). It is a controversial issue that the staff may lack the ability to make a good business decisions. Learn from Mark Constantine- the successful entrepreneur As an entrepreneur, the personality plays an important role in growing the business, the second resource indicates five personality factors of an entrepreneur, namely extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability (Barrick etal., 1991). Constantine shows those traits through his success of Lush. Hiring strategy employ those who are passionate, enthusiastic, ethical. Never being frightened Mark Constantine once stated that I went through a period when I was a bit frightened of the business. People who have very corporate businesses are rather frightened of them. If youre frightened youre constantly putting in layers and fiddling about because you dont know what youre doing, (Kate Walters, 2010). Creativity Lush holds 38 patents and Mark is proud of his focus, the continual supervising of products makes the company less vulnerable to innovative competitors (Kate Walters, 2010). Specific makes the entrepreneurial venture success Sheth et al (2000)state: The fundamental precepts of marketing remain unchanged, but more attention must be given to specific areas, such as customization and one-to-one approaches, which indicates the entrepreneur should follow the structure of the business and concentrate on the specific issues. Indeed, Lushs intense focus on customization, innovation of products and dynamic methods of promoting bring benefits of growing its business and facilitate the victory of the market.

Breaker morant :: essays research papers

English Breaker Morant Essay topic: Statement of Intention: The most primary reason why I decided to express my views creatively upon this issue, of the film Breaker Morant by Bruce Beresford, is that the order made clear by the British High Command sent out to the Bushveldt Carbineers was bitter and simple. To fight the Boer on its terms, and to take no prisoners. Such an order could prove fatal, especially to Lieutenant Harry Breaker Morant, who was dishonorably used as a scapegoat for the British Empire to appease political conflict between Germany at the time. Throughout this writing piece, I hope to give insight to the audience in what thoughts feelings would have gone through the Australians minds, especially Lieutenant Harry Breaker Morant. „h I lieutenant Harry Breaker Morant, state to you all today, as god as my witness, in the fight for justice, that my actions and behavior did not at any time breach those of orders given to me by the British High Command during periods of combat. However it was ironically clear that the corrupt jury did not listen, appreciate, or respect Handcock, Whitten or myself in the one eyed courtroom. It was as if we Australians where playing a tails, on a double headed penny, there was no possibility of victory. „h My survival, honour and safe return home was all but a fading light at the end of the tunnel. It was clear that they wanted me to fight the Boer, but also to be used as a bloody scapegoat for the bloody empire, I lieutenant Morant, leader of the special group, the Bushveldt Carbineers. I guess that us Australians fighting for the Empire was not a privilege, but a bloody scam, a set up, we were fooled. „h There they where watching us fighting such inhumanly, to take out as many of the enemy as possible, and to return none, that was the order and we did nothing but follow it. Something the British where to afraid to do, and we Australians where demanded to endeavor. „h Well they tricked us all right, they tricked us good, of course this would never be the case if our superior Captain hunt was alive for t he court trail. He was given the order directly from the mouth of the bloody English. Without our skipper, we have no evidence to prove our innocence, they all been sent to bloody India.

History and Laws of Salmon Management in the Pacific Northwest Essay

1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Understanding the regulatory framework for managing salmon Five major environmental or regulatory laws that impact salmon Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. According to Conservation Library, (2010) it empowers regional fishery management councils to prepare plans for the conservation and management of each federally managed fisheries in the exclusive economic zone and thus establish standard habitat conservation measures aimed at conservation anadromous fish such as salmon. It seeks to identify these habitats and delineate them so to protect habitats for all anadromous fish. The act requires that before the federal agencies that involve in any activities that might have adverse impacts on the habitats for anadromous fish, they have to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service in order to carry out environmental impact assessment of the project so that the NMFS gives its recommendations. Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1974 requires that the federal regulatory and construction agencies should undertake environmental impact assessment on fish and wildlife resources before project planning is done on any water related activities or before making applications for federal permits and licenses thus they must consult with state and federal fish and wildlife agencies before doing this (Conservation Library, 2010). This act ensures that environmental impact assessment is done whenever any project in water or that would affect life in water so that appropriate mitigation measures are put in place or the project cancelled. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 requires that any industry discharging its wastes into water has to acquire permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. Thus the agency must check the measures put in place by the industry to treat its effluents before issuing any permit (Conservation Library, 2010). This act ensures that fish or any other living organism in water is not affected by the pollutants from industries. Anadromous and Great Lakes Fisheries Conservation Act of 1965 gives the secretaries of the Interior and Commerce authority to establish terms and conditions that ensure permanent protection of estuarine areas (Conservation, 2004). According to (Resource Laws, 2010) it also gives him or her authority to enter into cost sharing agreements with the states and other non-federal interests in conservation, development and enhancement of the nation’s anadromous fish. This act protects and conserve estuaries where most fish bread or grow and develop since most salmon fish tend to live at estuaries in the oceans and any interference with such features might greatly affect the production fish since it would interfere with the fish habitat. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. According to Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (2010) this law requires that federal agencies environmental impact assessment on activities that affect the quality of human environment in order to analyze the short term gains of the activity would have on the long term productivity of the environment. In doing this they have to apply an interdisciplinary approach in decision making on matters affecting the environment. Considerations on both the technical and economic impacts are also done. Since the human environment includes all the living things around him, this act protects the anadromous fish like the salmon fish. Any activity that has an adverse effect on water has to be analyzed in its totality and appropriate action taken before being carried out.  Agencies and organizations involved in managing and restoring our salmon The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as a state agency aims at improving the protection of the endangered salmon fish by identifying wild roaming salmon fish and returning them back to water. It involves communities its programs and seeks to identify fish habitat and to construct fish hatcheries. It is also involved in removing barriers to fish migration by removing invasive plants along rivers, wetlands and estuaries; restoring wetlands and estuaries; and restoring and protecting fish habitat including stream habitat which is very important to salmon fish. This agency therefore plays a major role in salmon migration, spawning and incubation of its eggs. (Resource Laws, 2010). Yuba River Fish Passage Feasibility, according to Edmondson, (2008), is an organization which was established with an aim protecting and conserving the anadromous fish in Yuba River under the Fishery Conservation and Management Act. It is contracted to conserve and manage the essential fish habitats in the Yuba River above Englebright Dam, Central Valley spring-run Chinook and California Central Valley steelhead. It carries out studies and does analyses and evaluation on options for restoring access to spawning and rearing; and sustainable habitat for the anadromous fish. This would include identifying potential suitable habitats and routes for fish passage and mechanisms to support movements of fish upstream and downstream during their migration. This organization there focuses on how best to enable migration of the anadromous fish such salmon from the ocean to stream and from the sea to ocean. 2010 10 â€Å"Waters to Watch, according to Resource Laws, (2010), is an organization which seeks to conserve aquatic life through partnerships. It includes projects in; Bobs Creek, Pennsylvania; Diamond Lake, Iowa; Fairbanks and Soda Springs, Nevada; Georgetown Creek, Idaho; Green River Basin, Colorado, Utah; Wyoming Koktuli River, Alaska; Lake Vermilion, Minnesota; Mackeys Creek, Mississippi; Wasilla Creek,   Alaska; West Branch; and Machias River, Maine. The project seeks to improve the current conditions rivers, streams, lakes and watersheds by co-ordinating the conservation efforts in these various regions. This organization aims at improving the habit for fish including the anadromous fish which is ever migrating in various maters. The Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC), according to Harding, (2008) is an organization that was established in 1992 to protect and conserve Salmon River watershed in California by conserving its ecosystem particularly the anadromous fish such as the salmon fish. It involves the local community in its programs aimed at conservation of the ecosystem so as to achieve a sustainable economy. National Marine Fisheries Service which is a state agency was established to conserve and manage living marine resources in USA. According to Conservation Library, (2010), its function is to oversee and undertake conservation of marine ecosystem thus promoting healthy marine ecosystem within the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone which extends to about three hundred and seventy kilometers from the coastline. The agency is mandated to endangered marine species like wild salmon, whales and sea turtles. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a state organization mandated to protect valuable fish and wildlife resources along the Gulf coast. It monitors activities that may have negative impacts on marine ecosystem and involves geological survey it involves deep water manning to determine impacts of certain occurrences as well as mitigating the impacts of such hazards on marine life. It does impact assessment and give recommendations on the anticipated occurrence. (US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010) The Environmental Protection Agency which established the Federal Clean Water Act aims at controlling water pollution setting standards to be met by industries and other organizations discharging effluents into water resources. It therefore protects wetlands and aquatic habitat in general throughout the USA and its waters. These provisions put by this agency aims at restoring development of fish by improving the habitat for fish by fully implementing the Federal Clean Water Act. (Whatcom Salmon Recovery, 2003). Washington Department of Ecology in Washington aims at protecting and preserving Washington’s environment. This agency plays a role in the health of salmon fish by involving in planning watershed utilization, allocation of water rights and conserving the quality of water within Washington. (Department of Ecology state of Washington, n. date).  The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, according to Whatcom Salmon Recovery, (2003) is an organization which seeks to return naturally spawning salmon to streams in Whatcom County through restoration and monitoring. They also engage in salmon production by placing woody debris habitat structures in streams. The organization strives to achieve all these through community education.   The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission is the only agency that given the authority and responsibility to manage the Atlantic salmon fishery in USA (Conservation Library, 2010). It has the responsibility of protecting, conserving and restoring salmon h abitat in inland waters and ocean waters. Summary Salmon management and conservation is not only a concern to the government but a concern to individuals, communities, corporates and non-governmental organizations. Conservation related activities such as providing financial donations to agencies committed to conservations the salmon fish; conducting research activities on salmon’s habitat; providing education to communities living around the water resources and the general public by writing articles and books on salmon fish; and conservation, protection, restoration and management activities towards the salmon fish. 2. History and economics of salmon In 1770s and below America was mainly populated by the Indians and they depended on salmon fish, mainly for food. Euro-Americans began coming to the Pacific Northwest in 1770s. In 1880s, Lewis recognized the salmon fish and wrote descriptive detail about it long before it was given a taxonomic name. The migration of the Euro-Americans into the Pacific Northwest greatly influenced the native’s culture and perception towards the exploitation of natural resources, salmon fish included. Most of these immigrants became farmers. According to National Academies of Sciences (1996), conflicts arose between American Indian ways and non Indian ways and therefore to resolve this, treaties were signed beginning 1854 between the Euro-Americans and the Indian tribes recognizing their land ownership, sovereignty and rules for fishing and hunting. These treaties marked the beginning of radical changes in salmon’s history. There was a transition from ownership salmon landscapes ownership to a more communal ownership which was the beginning modern ways of harvesting, marketing, engineering and conservation. Intervention and mitigation measures were now put in place for sustainable development.  These treaties have been included in the US Supreme Court and have created a solution to contemporary fishing by the Indian tribes. The Bellion decision of 1969 and Boldt Decision of 1974 enabled the signatory tribes a right to access the salmon fish (National Academies of Sciences , 1996). Continued exploitation of natural resources by Euro-Americans led to the decline of the beaver which was very important for the coastal streams as well as the arid regions more importantly provided a rearing habitat for salmon fish (National Academies of Sciences, 1996).  The first salmon cannery was established in 1864 along the Sacramento River in Northern California along the west coast. The cannery was shut down in 1886 and transferred along Colombia River due to sediments which were caused hydraulic mining. From then, many canneries were established and the canneries grew to forty by early1990s. Most of these salmon fish which were harvested to be taken to the canneries were Chinook salmon. However, by 1870s, Chinook salmon catch form the rivers began to steadily decline and so they had to harvest other species of salmon fish which included, Coho, Sockeye and Steelhead salmon (National Academies of Sciences, 1996).  Due continued decline in the fish population, these canneries had to close down and the last to close down along River Colombia was in 1975. The fish catch had significantly dropped form forty three million in 1880s to about two and a half million in 1990s. This was majorly attributed by high inland and ocean fishing, dam constructions along the rivers and modification fresh water streams such as irrigation projects which greatly affected spawning and rearing habitats for the salmon fish (National Academies of Sciences, 1996). These concerns about over fishing and salmon depletion led to the construction of salmon breeding station along Clackamas River in 1877 by the Oregon and Washington Fish Propagation Company. It was later shut down in 1888 because it could not be sustained. This led to construction of hatcheries in 1890s and has greatly increased in numbers to date. It was noted that salmon population did not have any significant increase whenever fish were released from the hatcheries. Thus, between 1930s and 1950s many hatcheries were closed down due to their low returns and problems of diseases and instead this period witnessed an increase in the construction of dams until 1970s. The negative impacts of the dams on the upstream of rivers made most of the salmon fish to migrate to the lower streams of the river (National Academies of Sciences, 1996). In 1960s pasteurized and formulated feeds were invented and this became a solution to diseases caused by artificial propagation thus more hatcheries we re built. Today hatchery facilities are widely distributed throughout the Pacific Northwest (National Academies of Sciences, 1996). The effects of livestock grazing in the rangelands have also had a massive impact on the production of salmon fish. Most of plants that are important for maintaining the wetlands have been seriously reduced and besides, many tanks and dams are constructed along the fresh water streams to provide drinking water for livestock. Overexploitation of trees by humans through lumbering has also contributed to this. The first sawmill to be constructed was in 1827 in Vancouver, Washington. This has destroyed the water catchment areas for most streams. Decline in salmon population is linked to among many factors, global climatic change and other human activities. According to Stanford University (2003, September 23), there has been a decline in salmon fish catch of about 80% between 1970 and 2000. This has mainly been attributed by the global climatic change. It states that salmon fish farm production has greatly improved since the 1980s and has a high market share world wide while the market share for wild-caught salmon from Alaska, British Columbia and Washington has been declining.

Ethics of War based on religion Essay

If you ask anyone, they will give you their opinion, their view on war. Whether they believe its right, its wrong, or if they think it is all based on the situation at hand. Wars have been going on since the beginning and they are still going on today, but are they being fought for a purpose? Are they being fought due to a situation that has arisen? This essay will discuss two ethical frameworks and how they apply to the same issue. The ethical issue that will be discussed throughout this essay is that of ‘War’, and the frameworks that surround it are Situation Ethics and the Duty-Based Ethics. Situation ethics is when a choice is made based on the circumstances at hand. In situation ethics there is no right or wrong answer as each circumstance has different outcomes. â€Å"Situation ethics rejects prefabricated decisions and prescriptive rules’. It teaches that ethical decisions should follow flexible guidelines rather than absolute rules, and be taken on a case by case basis.†   This ethical framework provides so much discussion as each situation that evolves will have a reaction, and the challenge is to choose the least harmful or problematic option; it all depends on the situation. The situation ethics surrounding war is if it’s right to fight against a country. There was recently a situation whether or not it was right for the USA to invade Syria for using chemical weapons. The outcome was that the USA did not end up going to war, as it would cause more damage then what has already happened. Although  Barack Obama, the president of the USA, did apprehend the chemical weapons so cases like this did not happen again. Duty-based ethics is when someone does the right thing even though it may cause more harm then good. There are people out there who criticize men and women from the defence forces for being ‘killers’, but this is not the case, these men and women put their lives on the line so they can fight for freedom, for those who can’t. Duty-based ethics teaches that some acts are right or wrong because of the sorts of things they are, and people have a duty to act accordingly, regardless of the good or bad consequences that may be produced. â€Å"Some kinds of action are wrong or right in themselves, regardless of the consequences.†. A soldier would have to face duty-based ethics on a regular bases throughout a war, as it is their job to fight and protect people against harm. Ben Roberts-Smith is a prime example, as he put himself on the line by drawing away the enemy, just so the rest of his unit would survive. That is just one example of many different types of duty -based ethics that would be faced throughout a war. Although situation ethics and duty-based ethics are quite different they both apply to the ethical issue of war. Each framework discussed in the essay applies to war, but situation ethics seems to be the weaker of the two as it is based on what the person thinks the best outcome will be in that situation rather then, duty-based ethics which is what the right thing is to do at that moment in time. Duty-based ethics is definitely the one that relates best to the issue of war, as it is a soldier’s job to do what is right, at the moment the issue arises. Throughout this essay the ethical issue of war was discussed based on the ethical frameworks that surround it, which are situation ethics and duty-based ethics. The framework that proves to be the more applicable comparison to the issue of war is duty-based ethics, because they are decisions made based on the right thing to do. Bibliography BBC. â€Å"Duty-Based Ethics.† BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. . BBC. â€Å"Situation Ethics.† BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. . Whittaker, Matt. Soldier in Afghanistan. 2011. Afghanistan. Http://static.guim.co.uk/. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. .

Plastics in Childrens Toys

Plastics in Children's Toys Neither you nor your child can escape the touch of plastics, and for the most part, you dont need to worry about it. Most plastics are perfectly safe for even very small children. Plastics in their pure form typically have low solubility in water and have a low level of toxicity. However, some plastics found in toys contain a variety of additives that have been found to be toxic. Although the relative risk of injury from plastic-based toxins is low, its prudent to select your childs toys carefully. Bisphenol-A Bisphenol-A usually called BPA was long used in toys, baby bottles, dental sealants, and even thermal receipt tape. More than 100 studies have linked BPA to problems including obesity, depression and breast cancer.   PVC Avoid plastics that are marked with a 3 or PVC because polyvinyl chloride plastics often contain additives that can make plastics more harmful than they need to be for children. The volume and type of those additives will vary by the object and may differ significantly from toy to toy. The manufacture of PVC creates dioxin, a serious carcinogen. Although the dioxin shouldnt be in the plastic, its a byproduct of the manufacturing process, so buying less PVC may be an environmentally smart decision. Polystyrene Polystyrene is a rigid, brittle, inexpensive plastic commonly used to make plastic model kits and other toys. The material is also a base of  EPS foam. In the late 1950s, high-impact polystyrene was introduced, which was not brittle; it is commonly used today to make toy figurines and similar novelties. Plasticizers Plasticizers such as adipates and phthalates had long been added to brittle plastics such as polyvinyl chloride to make them pliable enough for toys. Traces of these compounds can possibly leak out of the product. The European Union placed a permanent ban on the use of phthalates in toys. Furthermore, in 2009 the United States banned certain types of phthalates commonly used in plastics. Lead According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, plastic toys may contain lead, which is added to the plastic to soften it. If the toy is exposed to high heat, the lead may leach out in the form of dust, which may then be inhaled or ingested by a child or pet. A Little Bit of Vigilance Almost all plastic childrens toys are safe. A vast majority of toys are now made with polybutylene terephthalate plastic: You can tell these toys apart by sight, as they are the brightly colored,  shiny, very impact-resistant objects littering toy boxes across the country. Regardless of the type of plastic you encounter, its always wise to discard or recycle any plastic object that shows obvious signs of wear or degradation.   So although theres no need to panic about toxic toys, a little bit of vigilance especially with antique toys, or very inexpensive mass-produced toys may protect your children from unnecessary exposure.

Asia is Orientalized essays

Asia is Orientalized essays Images of different kinds of Asian Culture are all around us in the United States. They can be found in restaurants, in newspapers, in magazines, on the internet, and on television. All of these images reflect a typical Americans view of all people that live in Asia. The most common images that we see in the media are not an accurate reflection of what modern-day Asia really is. Many of the images make us perceive Asia as backward, traditional, and inferior to us. This is how Asia is orietalized. These images circulated by Americans serve the purpose of making us feel that we are superior to Asian culture and lifestyle. The first example of orientalism that I found is a picture of a small, male child. He is dressed in a long gown that is decorated in a traditional Chinese design and wearing a hat. Refer to Appendix A. I found this picture on the internet on a web page designed for children to inform them of the Chinese New Year. This picture gives the perception that all Children in China dress this way. The boy in this picture looks very simple and plain. In no way does this icon make China look like a very industrialized and technologically advanced country. In this example an American selected this image to portray Asia as an uncivilized nation that is not as advanced as America is. This image is very misleading. Since this web site is a child based web site, this is a prime example of how orientalism is started early in our country. Little children in America see these images and assume this is how people in China dress on a daily basis. They see these images and that imply that Asia is not a country as good as ours or that it is some exotic place, and they believe it. The second illustration that I came across is a photograph taken of two young female girls. They are Japanese. Both are dressed in very traditional Japanese clothing (robes, sandals, head pieces). They have their hair done up o...

Avogadros Law Definition in Chemistry Terms

Avogadros Law Definition in Chemistry Terms Avogadros Law is the relation which states that at the same temperature and pressure, equal volumes of all gases contain the same number of molecules. The law was described by Italian chemist and physicist Amedeo Avogadro in 1811. Avogadros Law Equation There are a few ways to write this gas law, which is a mathematical relation. It may be stated: k V/n where k is a proportionality constant V is the volume of a gas, and n is the number of moles of a gas Avogadros law also means the ideal gas constant is the same value for all gases, so: constant p1V1/T1n1 P2V2/T2n2 V1/n1 V2/n2V1n2 V2n1 where p is pressure of a gas, V is volume, T is temperature, and n is number of moles Implications of Avogadros Law There are a few important consequences of the law being true. The molar volume of all ideal gases at 0 °C and 1 atm pressure is 22.4 liters.  If pressure and temperature of a gas are constant, when the amount of gas increases, the volume increases.If pressure and temperature of a gas are constant, when the amount of gas decreases, the volume decreases.You prove Avogadros Law every time you blow up a balloon. Avogadros Law Example Say you have 5.00 L of a gas which contains 0.965 mol of molecules. What will be the new volume of the gas if the quantity is increased to 1.80 mol, assuming pressure and temperature are held constant? Select the appropriate form of the law for the calculation. In this case, a good choice is: V1n2   V2n1 (5.00 L)(1.80 mol) (x)(0.965 mol) Rewriting to solve for x give you: x (5.00 L)(1.80 mol) / (0.965 mol) x 9.33 L

Environmental Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Environmental Economics - Essay Example It is the study of environmental policies and to see how well the businesses abide by these when striving for profits. The major and common costs that these companies levy are air pollution, noise pollution, toxic and solid waste in water harming the water quality and global warming. Since about a decade, these environmental hazards have kept increasing extremely rapidly and rampantly. Thus, there is a now a sense of urgency to get rid of these problems completely. However, this has become very difficult; millions of policies have been formulated by the government and various organizations, but is they still do not produce the desirable results. One another major issue that has been faced since many years is the 'carbon emission'. Coal is one of the biggest energy resource currently used; it accounts for 50% of the electricity produced in the United States. Today, fossil fuels are a source of 80% of the world's energy needs; coal accounts for 25%, natural gas 21%, petroleum oil 34%, nuclear 6.5%, hydro power 2.2%, and biomass and waste 11%. The resources that are environmental friendly such as geothermal, solar and wind are responsible for only a measly 0.4% of the overall demand in the world. The US alone produces 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants. Also, it produces great amounts of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, mercury emissions and other combustible gases when coal is burned. This makes it very clear how harmful the usage of coal is for our environment. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study and made a report called 'The Future Coal' in which they examined all developing countries that try to alleviate global warming and their usage of coal. This report discusses the hazards of global warming and how countries should restrict the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It also focuses on how coal remains and important and indispensable part of every country's production, how there is a need to control the carbon emissions and then how these countries need to take care of emissions yet make use of coal to meet urgent and large energy needs. However, at the same time, this reports deals with future technologies that can be used in place of coal to meet the goal of reduced coal emissions. The main reason why businesses and producers go for coal is that it is inexpensive and abundant. Coal can be used at only a cheap cost of $1 - $2 for each MMBtu compared to $6- $12 for gas and oil (The Future Coal, 2007). Also, coal mines are evenly distributed and spread and can be found everywhere, for example United States, China, India etc; except for only a few regions such as Persian Gulf, where instead are huge oil and gas reserves. The non-carbon emitting resources, mainly nuclear and renewable, are not available everywhere; thus, these areas still rely on coal despite all the policies and awareness of carbon hazards. The positive point of following this report is that it does not advocate certain policies that improve the environment; it diverts all its findings towards the technologies that can be used if these policies are actually followed by people. It is only natural to ask for an alternative if a certain act is prohibited; and that is exactly what The Future Coal is focusing on. This study focuses on technologies that

Will the Internet Kill Television Research Paper

Will the Internet Kill Television - Research Paper Example Since the internet began to get a foothold among the younger members of our society, television watching has slowly seen a decline in its demographic. With teenagers opting to spend more of them viewing time online due to the vast variety of available viewing material and the ease with which they can access the same. The constantly evolving faces of the computer has allowed teenagers and people in general, to bring their entertainment with them on the road, never missing an episode of their favorite program or the premier of a much awaited and talked about show. The internet has in effect, changed the television landscape as we know it. This paper will use the most up to date information culled from scholarly sources that will help me to shed light of the question â€Å"Will the internet Kill Television?† Using a variety of factual data, I will attempt to bring discussion closer to those involved for a better understanding of the topic. In conclusion, I will make a prediction about how I see the viewing habits of people 10 years from now and if it will still involve television viewing, or a dominance of internet viewing instead. 1. What does scholarly research have to say about teenagers and the amount of television they watch? Will these trends broaden to include other demographic groups? Experts have said that up until 2008, teenagers have spent an unhealthy amount of time in front of the television. During this period of time, teenagers were observed to have been spending more than 30 hours of their time daily watching the boob tube. Longer exposure time to television screens were also seen to have spiked during the high school years of these individuals. Tracie A. Barnett, PhD., who led the observational study in 2008 explains that: â€Å"Boys and those whose parents had lower educational attainment were much more likely to be in the 'high-screen time' group. Teens with high levels of screen time may be at increased risk of obesityâ€Å" (American Heart Association n. pag.). This was the analysis that her team concluded after observing 1,293 students in Montreal high schools. The study was conducted using a combination of surveys and questionnaires four times a year covering a span of 5 years. These figures have changed over the past 4 years though. By the time 2012 rolled around, the European Travel Commission TrendWatch indicated that there was a significant shift in the television viewing habits of teens. They were now more preoccupied with watching internet based content than television streamed content. This is attributed to the increasing shortening attention span of most teenagers today. Their data indicates that these teens are connected 24/7 and being constantly online has changed the way that they use their television screen time (â€Å"Demographics† n. pag.): 23% of all teens (aged 13 to 17) own a tablet, 27% when it comes to girl - 80% own a computer - 78% own a cellphone and 37% a smartphone. It was noted in the study however, that the â€Å"hyperconnected generation† as their generation has become known, gains a positive influence from being more connected to their computer screens than their television screens. Although concerns about becoming gadget independent, shallow consumers of information, and instant gratification, which were also concerns raised by experts when television was first beginning to gain a foothold in our society, still exists and does not show

The Effects of Migration on the Labor Market in Bucharest Research Paper

The Effects of Migration on the Labor Market in Bucharest - Research Paper Example This research will also be descriptive and explanatory because descriptive data will be collected from the internet, businesses, individuals and journals on the subject area. The effects of migration on the labour market in Romania are an interesting topic for discussion, given the country's recent accession into the European Union (EU) in 2007 (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006). For instance, Romania is considered to have a high percentage of low-cost labour, which would affect other EU members' labour markets (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006), however, the greater issue is that of the highly skilled market. It's accession into the EU also meant that the labour market in Romania had to become flexible in order to meet market demands and development (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006), but this was a task on its own given the low cost base. Between the years 2000 and 2004, Romania experienced an increase in unemployment of 5% which was attributed to its policies of limiting real wage adjustment at a time of employment decline (Kotzeva and Pauna 2006). ... This increase in unemployment could be attributed to the non-employment of various groups within the community, such as women and those in their old age. For instance, in the UK and other countries it is widely accepted that women make up the bulk of the part time working industry. However, the World Bank (2004) reports that the participation of women in the labour market, has declined due to feeling discouraged with the lack of employment opportunities. This demonstrates that the labour market in Romania, is probably one which caters for a select few. In addition to this, the labour market is threatened with decline as Romania is experiencing a negative population trend (World Bank 2004) which further depletes the labour pool. This brief background to Romania's labour market is particularly important for studies into the hotel and hospitality industry which are labour intensive industries. The hotel industry will depend largely on the tourist potential of Romania, which it already has, in the form of protected national parks, the Black Sea coast and other eco-heritage sites. However, the flow of tourists to the country is low (Pop et al 2007) which means that the hotel industry is not operating at its peak capacity. The implications this has for labour is that, more employees are made redundant, as well as job positions due to a long-term decline in business. The other implication is that, the hotel industry ceases to become a desirable employment destination. It can be argued that other countries have periods of low activity and low hotel occupancy, however, the hotel industry thrives in other countries because of the level of

Is the Fiscal policy of India Sustainable Dissertation

Is the Fiscal policy of India Sustainable - Dissertation Example The staggered recovery in the economy has apparently terminated the growth dynamics of major industrialized economies and the developed nations. The declining growth rates of the household and the shyness of the business market has been adversely affecting the world trade and the employment scenario simultaneously. The huge funding requirements of the banks and the sovereigns can be also regarded as one of the major problems of these nations. On the other hand the emerging and the developing markets in the global platform at the same time are growing at an accelerated rate2. Similarly one of the world’s developing nations i.e., Indian economy has grown rapidly since the beginning of the 1990s despite a large and growing fiscal deficit and rising public levels relative to output. Despite the economic upheaval in the time span of 2007-09 and the downsizing of the global events particularly the random fluctuations in the movement of the prices of the crude oil, the economy of Ind ia has faced remarkable growth and has worked on the further growth and development in their economic conditions with consolidated enhancement in the key macroeconomic indicators3. The Indian economy with a strong economic base and resilience, encountered a solid growth rate of around 8.4 percentages during the phase of 2010-2011 with the emergence of one of the fastest developing countries. The agriculture sector has followed strong performance inculcated with strong pace of growth in the industrial and services sector. The Growth rate in Gross Domestic Product around a percentage of 8.4 can be highly attributed to the magnificent growth rate in major sectors like growth in transport, storage and communication (14.7%), financing, insurance, real estate & business services (10.4%), trade, hotels & restaurants (9.0%), and construction (8.0%).The growth rate of the primary sector i.e. agriculture, forestry & fishing has shown a high growth of 7.0 per cent during 2010-11 in comparison to around 1.0 per cent during the year 2009-10. The growth of the secondary sector is 7.2 per cent and that of service sector is 9.3 per cent during 2010-11. In this case the fiscal policies adapted and implemented by the government is stupendously crucial as it is one of the most significant parameter in the determination of growth rates and development4. Thus the basics of the fiscal policy and its relevance with respect to the Indian economy will be explained in the subsequent section. The crux of the fiscal policies generally refers to the combination of several practices of the government with respect to revenues, expenditures, and debt management. The fiscal planning mechanism is generally done within the context of Public Services Program (PSP), Operating Budget and the Capital Improvements Program (CIP)/Capital Budget reflects and helps shape fiscal policy. The process of budget not only reflects the fiscal policies currently in action but it is itself a major propelling veh icle for the determination and the implementation of such policies. The fiscal policies are not general sets of rules or norms which are taken as yardstick of measurement but they are basically variable sets of rules which changes with the change in the economic environment of an economy5. The implications of the fiscal policies are immense as because the continuous fiscal imbalances and the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Barro Colorado, Republic of Essay

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Barro Colorado, Republic of Panama - Essay Example The goals, achievements and some of the exotic flora and fauna of the institute have also been described. History and Current Status of STRI, Barro Colorado The history of STRI begins with the construction of the Panama Canal during which the Barro Colorado Island was formed (National Research Council). The damming of the Chagres River for the construction of the Panama Canal led to a rise in its water levels, causing the formation of the Gantun Lake. Following this, a small mountain about 476 feet high was isolated from the mainland, thus forming an island that was named the Barro Colorado Island (The Smithsonian Institution). James Zetek is one among the many scientists who foresaw the importance of setting this island aside for scientific research. In 1923, the Governor of Canal Zone designated the island as a biological reserve, and a research laboratory was set up collectively by the Smithsonian Institution, universities and private organizations for the purpose of investigating tropical flora and fauna (The Smithsonian Institution). Smithsonian’s fourth Secretary, Charles Doolittle Walcott, initiated a massive survey of the Panama Canal Zone (National Research Council). By 1946, the Barro Colorado Island became an integral part of the Smithsonian Institution. ... In 1966, its name was changed to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Its scope was expanded to other parts of the tropics and marine science centers were also established on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the Panama (The Smithsonian Institution). Barro Colorado, in 1979, was declared a Nature Monument in compliance with the terms of the Convention for Nature Protection in the Western Hemisphere, 1940, and under the Torrijos-Carter Treaty (The Smithsonian Institution). Panama took STRI’s facilities under its custodianship and granted it the status of an International Mission. The Panama Canal Treaties were signed between Panama and STRI’s host nation. STRI signed an agreement with the Interoceanic Region Authority (ARI), formalizing its custodianship of the Barro Colorado Natural Monument before the expiration of the Panama Canal Treaties. In 1997, the institute came into an agreement with the Government of the Republic of Panama for continuing its research activities. Up to the present day, STRI has been host to scientists from all over the world. Barro Colorado is now one of the most studied tropical areas and boasts of about 102 mammal species, 381 bird species, and 1,316 plant species ranging over an area of 1,500 hectares and containing a vast network of trails (The Smithsonian Institution). Long-term studies on biology and natural history are being conducted on both terrestrial and marine field stations that are equipped with high-end laboratories along with dormitories. STRI has expanded its scope to other tropical areas and research is now conducted throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. Every year, about 250 to 300 scientists visit STRI at Barro Colorado from all over the world (The Smithsonian Institution). Goals and Achievements of the

International strategic management ( answer the 2 exam questions) Essay

International strategic management ( answer the 2 exam questions) - Essay Example da Motor Company, it seems that the company had been following a â€Å"glocalisation† strategy since mid 1980s in order to internationalise its business segments giving more focus on local markets. However, the company has recently brought a strategic change in its global market operations, according to which the Honda sets up its own wholly owned subsidiaries across the globe. To illustrate, referring to Aylward (2003), Honda established its wholly owned subsidiary in India in 1999 under the name Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and announced plans on cancelling the joint venture with its Indian partner Hero. This strategic change is supported by the performance comparison framework, which tells that stockholders expect more revenues as time goes by (Lecture note). In addition, the company has abandoned its traditional manufacturing policies, and adapted to a new manufacturing policy called ‘Lean manufacturing system’ by the end of the 20th century. The lean manu facturing strategy would produce maximum level of output with minimum level of inventory. Also, this strategy would avoid production waste. Strategic change approaches illustrate that a change process involves three phases including strategic planning, project management, and operationalistion. Today, governments worldwide encourage foreign direct investments as it is one of the best measures to promote economic growth. This trend is particularly seen in emerging economies like India and China. Since Honda is a globally recognised company and a potential employment provider, governments tend to welcome the organisation on the belief that Honda can add value to the nation’s industrial and economic status. In addition, since globalisation has eliminated cross border trade barriers, organisations enjoy easy access to foreign markets. At this juncture, the Honda management thinks that the strategic change would provide them with more operating freedom and innovation capabilities. While analysing the

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Barro Colorado, Republic of Essay

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Barro Colorado, Republic of Panama - Essay Example The goals, achievements and some of the exotic flora and fauna of the institute have also been described. History and Current Status of STRI, Barro Colorado The history of STRI begins with the construction of the Panama Canal during which the Barro Colorado Island was formed (National Research Council). The damming of the Chagres River for the construction of the Panama Canal led to a rise in its water levels, causing the formation of the Gantun Lake. Following this, a small mountain about 476 feet high was isolated from the mainland, thus forming an island that was named the Barro Colorado Island (The Smithsonian Institution). James Zetek is one among the many scientists who foresaw the importance of setting this island aside for scientific research. In 1923, the Governor of Canal Zone designated the island as a biological reserve, and a research laboratory was set up collectively by the Smithsonian Institution, universities and private organizations for the purpose of investigating tropical flora and fauna (The Smithsonian Institution). Smithsonian’s fourth Secretary, Charles Doolittle Walcott, initiated a massive survey of the Panama Canal Zone (National Research Council). By 1946, the Barro Colorado Island became an integral part of the Smithsonian Institution. ... In 1966, its name was changed to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Its scope was expanded to other parts of the tropics and marine science centers were also established on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the Panama (The Smithsonian Institution). Barro Colorado, in 1979, was declared a Nature Monument in compliance with the terms of the Convention for Nature Protection in the Western Hemisphere, 1940, and under the Torrijos-Carter Treaty (The Smithsonian Institution). Panama took STRI’s facilities under its custodianship and granted it the status of an International Mission. The Panama Canal Treaties were signed between Panama and STRI’s host nation. STRI signed an agreement with the Interoceanic Region Authority (ARI), formalizing its custodianship of the Barro Colorado Natural Monument before the expiration of the Panama Canal Treaties. In 1997, the institute came into an agreement with the Government of the Republic of Panama for continuing its research activities. Up to the present day, STRI has been host to scientists from all over the world. Barro Colorado is now one of the most studied tropical areas and boasts of about 102 mammal species, 381 bird species, and 1,316 plant species ranging over an area of 1,500 hectares and containing a vast network of trails (The Smithsonian Institution). Long-term studies on biology and natural history are being conducted on both terrestrial and marine field stations that are equipped with high-end laboratories along with dormitories. STRI has expanded its scope to other tropical areas and research is now conducted throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. Every year, about 250 to 300 scientists visit STRI at Barro Colorado from all over the world (The Smithsonian Institution). Goals and Achievements of the

Starting middle school essay Essay Example for Free

Starting middle school essay Essay The night before middle school, I had mixed feelings. I was kind of nervous but excited at the same time about starting middle school. I had spent the day with my best friend, Mindy, swimming in her backyard. Afterwards, I came home and packed my school supplies in my backpack and ate dinner. I had a hard time sleeping that night because so many things were racing through my head. I worried if I would have any classes with my friends and if I would have nice teachers. I woke up early the next morning and I was still feeling a little nervous but also really excited! When I got to school, I met up with all my friends and compared our schedules. My classes were math, P. E. , reading, core, rotation/ communications, and science. My favorite teachers were Mrs. Latz, Ms. McHale, and Mr. Yu because they were really nice and they made their classes interesting and fun! My favorite classes were the ones taught by my favorite teachers. I found my classes just fine but I was always rushed to get to class on time. It was especially hard when I had to go from one end of campus to the other. Also, at brunch, I only had ten minutes and the bathroom lines were so long, that I didn’t get to eat my snack. At lunch, I only had thirty minutes to eat and I hardly had enough time to go to the bathroom because the lines were still long! I’m sure it will get easier after a couple of days. I had hoped that I would have some classes with my best friends. I also expected to see some kind of bullying on the first day. I definitely thought I would have some mean teachers. However, none of my best friends were in any of my classes. I never saw any bullying all day. I was relieved when I had no mean teachers. Middle school is completely different from elementary, but I think like it. Unlike elementary, middle school has seven different classes and teachers. There is a pool, a gymnasium, and there are definitely more kids. Thankfully, my first day of middle school went pretty well. I think it is going to be a great year! By: Rachel Gieseke PM Core, 9/2/11.

Briefly Describe The Term Operation Management Information Technology Essay

Briefly Describe The Term Operation Management Information Technology Essay Chapter 1: 1. Briefly describe the term operation management. The observation operations management relates to the management of methods or processes that produce goods or provide services. These procedures require planning, coordination, and execution of all actions that produce goods and services. It is also been described as the maintenance, control, and improvement of organizational activities that are required to produce goods or services for consumers. For the most part, Operation management has traditionally been associated with manufacturing activities; however, it can also be applied to the service sector. The measurement and evaluation of operations are usually undertaken through a process of business appraisal. Efficiency and effectiveness may be monitored by the application of ISO 9001 quality systems, or total quality management techniques (William, 2009, p. 4). 2. Identify the three major functional areas of business organizations and briefly describe how they interrelate. The three primary functions are operations, finance, and marketing. Operations are concerned with the creation of goods and services. This is done by making best use of the businesss staff, machinery, building and raw materials. Marketing is concerned with promoting and/or selling goods or services. They do this by maximize the level of sales by carrying out market research and promoting the goods or service through a motivated sales team. Finance is concerned with the provision of funds necessary for operation, have the task of producing the goods or service in the most efficient way. They do this by keeping a record of all money coming in and going out of the business. Last, they have responsibility for securing finances for future expansion and paying staff and suppliers (William, 2009, p. 4). 11. Why might some workers prefer not to work in a lean production environment? For the most part, workers do not like to work in a lean production environment because there are fewer opportunities for an employee to advancement within the company. Pursuant to a leaner production line, more workers become stress due to higher levels of responsibility. This is a result of fewer managers. Moreover, Workers also experiences larger variability and expansion of job requirements. This is where a worker is required to do more with less. Such cases of companies within the American auto industry have become lean to reduce cost and waste. Last, such cuts backs have allow the U.S. auto industry a second chance to be more competitive with other companies (William, 2009, p. 29). Chapter 2 6. Contrast the terms strategies and tactics. Strategy is the fundamental approach used by a company to attain its goal where tactics are the actions taken to accomplish strategies to carry out operations. The importance of strategies cannot be overemphasized an organizations strategies have a great impact on what the organization does to achieve its organizational goals. Strategies can be long-term, intermediate, or short term. In order to be effective, strategies ought to be designed to support the organizations mission and its goals. In contrast, tactics are the methods and actions used to accomplish strategies. They are more specific than strategies, and they provide guidance and direction for carrying out operations, high need detailed plans and decision making in an organization. Last, most consider tactics as the how to part of the process and operations as the execution part of the process (William, 2009, p. 43). 8. Explain the term time based strategies and give three examples. Time-based strategies are approaches that focus on lowering the time required to conduct the different activities in a procedure. The logic is that by curtailing the time, costs are generally smaller, productivity is larger, quality is improved, new products appear on the marketplace much earlier, and customer service is enhanced. Last, organizations have achieved time reduction in some of the following: Planning time: The time needed to react to a competitive threat, to develop strategies and select tactics, to approve proposed changes to facilities, to adopt new technologies, and so on. Product/service design time: The time needed to develop and market new or redesigned products or services. Processing time: The time needed to produce goods or provide services. This can involve scheduling, repairing equipment, methods used, inventories, quality, training, and the like. Changeover time: The time needed to change from producing one type of product or service to another. This may involve new equipment settings and attachments, different methods, equipment, schedules, or materials. Delivery time: The time needed to fill orders. Response time for complaints: These might be customer complaints about the quality, timing of deliveries, and incorrect shipments. These might also be complaints from employees about working conditions (e.g., safety, lighting, heat or cold), equipment problems, or quality problems (William, 2009, p. 51). 10. List some factors that can affect productivity and some ways that productivity can be improved. The factors that can affect productivity are methods, capital, quality, technology, and management. The various ways productivity can be improved. For instance, since, productivity measures all operations it helps to eliminate bottlenecks. Another improvement would be to solicit new ideas from workers that reduce unnecessary waste. Sometimes the formation of work teams helps a firm to be organized with their activities. A further improvement is the study other firms. From this, a firm can reexamine its work methods where it cans reestablishment new goals for improvement. Other features also include support from management, rewards, and publicize improvements, and lastly, it is significant not to confuse productivity with efficiency because productivity to an organization as a theory is concededly broader than efficiency (William, 2009, p. 59). William, S. J. (2009). Operations Management. New York: McGraw-Hill. page 35-36. Chapter 2: 6, 8,and 10,   page 61. These are due by Monday in the Discussion Board. Please have your responses to the questions submitted to the Discussion Board by DAY 5 Monday. This will give everyone the opportunity to discuss them before the end of Seminar 1. 2. Chapter 2 Case Study Paper Read the Case Study Home Style Cookies, found in Chapter 2, page 64-65. 2. What are two ways that the company has increased productive qty? Why did increasing the length of the ovens result in a faster output rate? The use of automation in the mixing process resulted in a reduction in waste; cookies are cut on a diagonal; and the company recently increased the length of its ovens (i.e., more cookies can be baked at the same time). 3. Do you think that the company is making the right decision by not automating the packing of cookies? Explain your reasoning. What obligation does a company have to its employees in a situation such as this? What obligation does it have to the community? Is the size of the town a factor? Would it make a difference if the company was located in a large city? Is the size of the company a factor? What if it was a much larger company? All companies have a moral obligation to their employees. Small companies with local owners, particularly in a small community, are more likely to be influenced by such considerations than large companies, in large communities, even with local owners, and even less likely to be influenced if owners are distant, or uninvolved in operations. The issue is a difficult one, often without easy solutions. Cost and efficiency may favor layoffs, but ill will and the effects on morale of employees that remain are important considerations. 6. What advantages and what limitations stem from the companys not using preservatives in cookies? By not using preservatives, the product probably appeals to health-conscious buyers, and there are fewer ingredients to purchase, store, and mix, but without preservatives, the shelf life is limited. 7. Briefly describe the companys strategy. The companys strategy is to provide a high quality (good food) cookie that appeal to a particular market niche. Then, respond to questions 2, 3, 6, and 7. Be sure to answer each of the questions posed (even if there are questions within questions).   Please send this  case study  via  the Assignments Link.   This assignment is due on Day 6 Tuesday. 3. Weekly Summary Please submit your Weekly Lessons Learned via the Assignments Link. Due no sooner than Tuesday and no later than Wednesday. NOTE:  ALL Weekly Lessons Learned (Weekly Summary) for Weeks 1 -6 must adhere to the following: Summarize what you have learned from the text reading, class discussions, assignments, etc.  You can even include (in addition to the aforementioned) how what you have learned each week has or can help you professionally.  Therefore, it should not be merely a listing of topics covered each week in your textbook.  Also, this assignment should be a minimum of 200 words. PARTICIPATION: Please submit at least 2 meaningful comments per day to the discussion board (for at least 5 of the 7 days of the week) to receive full participation points. ItemWeek 1 Discussion Questions Discussion Questions: Please respond to the Discussion Questions: Chapter 1: 1, 2, and 11, page 35-36. Chapter 2: 6, 8,and 10,   page 61. These are due by Monday in the Discussion Board. Please have your responses to the questions submitted to the Discussion Board by DAY 5 Monday. This will give everyone the opportunity to discuss them before the end of Seminar 1. >> View/Complete Assignment: Week 1 Discussion Questions ItemWeek 1 Case Study Paper Chapter 2 Case Study Read the Case Study Home Style Cookies, found in Chapter 2, page 64-65. Then, respond to questions 2, 3, 6, and 7. Be sure to answer each of the questions posed (even if there are questions within questions).   Please send this  case study  via  the Assignments Link.   This assignment is due on Day 6 Tuesday. >> View/Complete Assignment: Week 1 Case Study Paper ItemWeek 1 Lessons Learned Weekly Summary Please submit your Weekly Lessons Learned via the Assignments Link. Due no sooner than Tuesday and no later than Wednesday. >> View/Complete Assignment: Week 1 Lessons Learned ItemWeek 1 Particiption Please do not post anything here.   I will post your points earned for participation this week.   Please refer to the course Syllabus for information on how participation points are earned.

Nuclear Weapons are a Threat To World Peace :: Atomic Bombs

It is a well-known fact that the dropping of the two atomic bombs near the end of World War II in 1945 ushered in the dawn of the Atomic Age. For the first time in human history, the world was introduced to the awesome power of nuclear weapons. Since that time, there have been several different nuclear threats to the world, and one of those threats can be found along the Pacific Rim, in the country of North Korea. Like the dropping of the atomic bombs, it is also known that the North Korean government has admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, and in doing so, it stands as a silent, potential nuclear danger to the rest of the world. To understand this situation more fully, one must be given some background, starting in the early 1950s. Due to the harsh differences between the peoples of Korea, and especially due to the onset of Communism, the Korean War erupted and the nation split in half, with the Communist-supported Democratic People’s Republic in the north and those who favored democracy in the Korean Republic of the south (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000). The two separate countries of North Korea and South Korea went their opposite ways, and each has experienced different fortunes in the past half-century. The South Koreans managed to recover from the turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s to become an economic power and a democracy supporter. On the other hand, North Korea can be viewed as a retro country, based first on a Communist ideology, laid down by leader Kim Il Sung and inherited by his son, the current dictator Kim Jong Il, then evolving into a totalitarian state (Pacific Rim: East Asia at the Dawn of a New Century). Today North Korea holds the distinction of being one of the very few remaining countries to be truly cut off from the rest of the world. Author Helie Lee describes this in her novel In the Absence of Sun: â€Å"An eerie fear crawled through my flesh as I stood on the Chinese side of the Yalu River, gazing across the murky water into one of the most closed-off and isolated countries in the world.† (1)

Lincoln - Douglas Debate :: essays research papers

Affirmative Case Introduction- "We must use every tool of diplomacy and law we have available, while maintaining both the capacity and the resolve to defend freedom. We must have the vision to explore new avenues when familiar ones seem closed. And we must go forward with a will as great as our goal – to build a practical peace that will endure through the remaining years of this century and far into the next.† Because I believe so strongly in the words of U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, when she spoke at the Stimson Center Event, June 10, 1998, that I ask you to affirm today’s resolution, â€Å"Resolved: The use of economic sanctions to achieve U.S. Foreign Policy goals is moral.† Before I go on, I feel it necessary to define some key phrases in this resolution: ? Economic sanctions- the deliberate, government inspired withdrawal, or threat of withdrawal, of customary trade or financial relations. "Customary" does not mean "contractual"; it simply means levels of trade and financial activity that would probably have occurred in the absence of sanctions. ? To achieve- to fulfill ? U.S. Foreign Policy goals- to encompass changes expressly sought by the sender state in the political behavior of the target state. ? Moral- capable of right and wrong action or of being governed by a sense of right; subject to the law of duty. I ask you to affirm this resolution in order to achieve my all-important value premise of societal welfare. To make my position clear, I will define societal welfare as the United States government’s duty to act in the nation’s best interest. This also refers to what the majority of the citizens want. To achieve societal welfare, I shall utilize the criterion of national security. I will define national security as the government’s obligation to protect its citizens. It is in this way that the United States government must proceed to achieve its greatest goal of societal welfare by exercising the security of our nation. Now on to the core of the affirmative case: My first contention in this debate is that sanctions aim to modify behavior, not punish. Sanctions do not exist to ostracize or punish, but rather they encourage a change of policy that leads to compliance with standards of international law. One of our goals is to change or destabilize the target’s government, which means to change its policies that involve human rights, terrorism, and nuclear nonproliferation. Others are to disrupt a relatively minor military adventure and to change the policies of the target in a major way, such as, to surrender a territory. Our goals are NOT to go

Political Economy in the Asia Pacific

The political economy of countries can be considered interdependent, as they influence each other and experience change simultaneously. This interdependency affects the level of economic wellbeing of countries, including the economic conditions and stability of a country. The political economy of a country encompasses the political, legal and economic systems influencing the country’s economy. Jevons (1880) described political economy as the wealth of a country and the reasons contributing to differences in wealth between countries (p. 7).The political system of a country heavily influences the way in which a country operates, and often affects other countries that it actively deals with. Differing legal systems, laws and regulations of countries can also impact other countries. Similarly, the economic systems and changes in a country’s economic position can impact other countries, and at times, their economic wellbeing. Whilst the political, legal and economic systems of some countries are interdependent, disruptions to interdependency must also be considered when assessing those countries’ reliance on each other.Several factors can hinder their interdependency, including comparative advantage not being followed, a strong focus on regionalism and inefficient free trade agreements. Political decisions imposed by Governments can affect the political economy and often the wellbeing of countries. Government decisions, including laws and policies, affect society as a whole (Hill, Cronk, & Wickramasekera, 2011, p. 236). There are two main forms of political systems: democracy and totalitarianism.Democracy is a system where the citizens govern the country through their elected representatives (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 245). Examples of democratic countries in the Asia Pacific business region include Australia and Thailand (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2008) (U. S Department of State, n. d. ). Totalitarianism refers to a system where one person or political party has control over all citizens, restricting political freedom (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 245). Totalitarianism is seen in China and North Korea (Jianming, 2010, p. 2) (Lim, 2009, p. 10-114). These differing political systems can affect economic relations between countries. An example of this is the view that democratic countries are more willing to trade and participate in international business with other democracies, than with totalitarianism countries. Democracies share similar values and laws on intellectual property rights. It is also believed that peace is more prevalent in democracies, enabling a higher ease of trade (Rosendorff, P. 2000). We see this in Australia’s preference for trade with the US rather than with China.In September 2010, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reported that Australia had an ‘economic relationship’ (measured on trade in commodities, services and two-way investment) with the US worth over AUD$860 billion, compared to less than AUD$100 billion with China. The strength of the economic relationship between Australia and the US is believed to relate to each countries’ strong democratic values and from the US and Australia being strong allies, due to similar political practices (Sheridan, 2011). The varying political decisions and policies made by Governments can also impact other countries.With globalisation being so prominent today, the interdependency of a country’s political decisions is apparent. Globalisation dramatically increased after World War II, with many of the worlds’ major trading countries lowering trade barriers, including tariffs and quotas, after years of favoring local industries (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 38). According to Friedman (2000) globalisation is defined as ‘the inexorable integration of markets, nation-states, and technologies†¦in a way that enables individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the wor ld farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before’ (p. ). This integration of economies suggests that Government decisions affect the economic wellbeing of other countries. An example of this is the recent temporary ban of live cattle exports by the Gillard Government in Australia, in response to perceived animal cruelty towards Australian cattle in Indonesian abattoirs. David Farley, CEO of the Australian Agricultural Company, Australia’s largest beef company, reported that the ban cost the company up to AUD$8 million. He also stated that Australia’s reputation in the international trading market was damaged by the temporary ban (O’Brien, 2012).The political decision to temporarily ban live exports to Indonesia caused financial loss for the Australian cattle industry and affected Australia’s political relations with Indonesia, with the Indonesian Government stopping imports of live cattle from Australia in December. Bayu Krisnamurthi, the D eputy Agriculture Minister of Indonesia, commented that Australia had discriminated against Indonesia by imposing new standards of animal welfare, as the same standards were not imposed on other countries importing live cattle.He threatened to file a claim with the World Trade Organization if discrimination occurred (Vasek & AAP, 2011). Whilst live exports to Indonesia has resumed, their imports are down by 50 percent and relations between Australia and Indonesia are affected. The incident damaged Australia’s economy and forced beef prices to rise in Indonesian markets (Nirmala, 2012). This illustrates the interdependency of Australia and Indonesia, with disruptions to trade affecting the political economy of both countries.It is evident that the political risk of Australia and Indonesia has increased. Political risk is the likelihood of political groups (Government and non-government groups) causing changes in a country’s ability to successfully participate in busines s activities, which may affect profits and goals of local and international businesses (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 266). Animals Australia and the Gillard Government both contributed to the live cattle export ban (Animals Australia, 2011), which in turn affected the profits of Australian beef companies.Businesses in the beef industry (or similar) may re-consider business dealings with Australian beef companies as they re-assess the political risk of trading with Australia. This may also result in Australia seeking markets elsewhere to sustain a profitable beef industry. As Governments implement differing political systems and decisions, other countries are affected, often in an unfavorable way. The differing legal systems between countries can impact dealings between countries and international businesses.The legal system of a country reflects the rules and laws imposed to manage society and behavior (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 253). A firm conducting business in a foreign country must ensu re the laws of the host country are followed, as well as continuing to meet the legal requirements of the home country (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 78). Four main legal systems are prominent today: common law, civil law, religious law and bureaucratic law (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 79). Common law is present in many countries is the Asia Pacific business region, including Australia, India, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Malaysia.Common law is based on judges’ decisions, creating legal precedents which assist in creating new laws and making future judgments (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 79). Civil law is a legal system based on laws that have been set in a code system. It is different to common law, as judges do not have flexibility to interpret the law as the laws are already prescribed in the code system. Civil law is currently present is Japan (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 254). Religious law, or theocratic law, is a legal system that is based on the rules of a particular religion.Reli gious law is not common in the Asia Pacific region (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 79). Bureaucratic law is a legal system where decisions are made by the country’s bureaucrats, often without taking the laws of the country into consideration. Communism and other forms of dictatorships are regularly compared to bureaucratic law. China is an example of a country where bureaucratic law is imposed (Griffin & Pustay, 2010, p. 81). It is apparent there are strong differences between the legal systems of countries in the Asia Pacific, which can affect businesses operating internationally.For example, in a recently merged Australian and Chinese company, King & Wood Mallesons, Stuart Fuller, the company’s chief executive, stated that China’s Ministry of Justice requirement for all lawyers to pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party will not affect the company’s business dealings or clients (Sainsbury, 2012). However, this could affect lawyers who have not prev iously worked under the Chinese Communist Party, as they are pledging to uphold communist laws, which differ from Australian laws and values.This could also affect the perception of the company by international clients, whose values may differ from that of the Chinese Communist Party. Hence, it is evident that differing legal systems potentially influence operations between international businesses. New laws can also influence business dealings between countries. Indian companies have expressed concerns over the Australian carbon and mining taxes that are set to be implemented in 2012. Naveen Jindal, Indian parliamentarian and head of Jindal Steel and Power, believes the taxes will deter Indian companies from investing in Australian mining (and similar) companies.He stated, â€Å"The carbon tax is as much of a concern to Indian companies as it is to Australian companies† (Doherty & Ker, 2012). Thus tax laws in one country can also affect another country’s economy, with a potential loss of investment opportunities and profits for both parties. It can also be seen that while a law designed for one purpose (in this case, the taxes are to help stop climate change) (Clean Energy Future, 2012) it can ultimately affect another area of a country’s economy – in this case, foreign investment.There have been circumstances where legal requirements imposed for one purpose have actually been seen as an ‘excuse’ for deterring trade or investment. In 2009, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, on behalf of the biggest palm oil producers in the world — Malaysia and Indonesia – filed a case against the European Union (EU) for introducing sustainability criteria for palm oil imports. The Council believed that the criteria was actually a barrier to the trade of biofuel, based on the EU wanting to continue support for home-grown rapeseed oil, currently subsidised by the EU (Junginger, Dam, Zarrilli, Mohamed, Marchal & Faaij, 2011, p . 028-2042). It can be recognised that the EU may have been wishing to protect the home industry and jobs, which generally results in increased costs for consumers (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 109). In disguising the true intentions of laws, a country’s trading relationships can be affected. Thus differing legal systems, laws and requirements can affect, and often hinder the progress, of international business dealings. The economic position of one country can impact other countries and international businesses.Economic systems can be described as the system by which a country organises how and what should be produced, whom to produce for and how funds should be distributed (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 203). There are three main economic systems: market economies, command economies and mixed economies. A market economy is when production activities are privately owned, and the quantity to be produced is based on supply and demand and is determined by an individual or business for profi t making purposes (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 304).In a command economy, the Government determines what goods and services are sold, the prices that items are sold for and the quantities to be produced (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 304). A mixed economy is a combination of both market and command economies, with both private and state ownership controlling the production of goods and services (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 305). It is believed that a country’s economic system directly relates to its’ economic development and wellbeing and some argue that market economies provide greater opportunities for economic development and growth, hence creating a stronger economy (Hill et al. 2011, p. 306-307). This can be seen when comparing Malaysia and Singapore as the country’s systems greatly differ. When the ASEAN and China agreement was put into effect in January 2010, the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) called for a limit of 10 percent in annual growth of the amount of imports from China. This was due to protection of Malay’s as manufacturers found it difficult to compete against cheap Chinese products (Ng, F. , 2010).This shows Malaysia’s economic system reflects command economy characteristics, as there is control over what is imported, which in turn could limit profits due to restrictions. Singapore is evidently more of a market economy. Singapore is considered a very ‘open’ country in relation to trade, therefore depending on international trade (Global Trade, 2012). The World Bank has stated that Singapore is the easiest country to conduct business with, with the openness of trade and aim to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) being contributing factors (The World Bank, 2009).Since signing a free trade agreement with the US, Singapore has imposed competition laws that restrict anti-competitive regulations. The Ministry of Trade and Industry in Singapore stated that by encouraging c ompetition, they would be able to encourage the ‘efficient functioning of the markets’. This move resulted in foreign lawyers and barristers to pursue work opportunities in Singapore (Sawyer, D. , 2006). By comparing Singapore and Malaysia, it can be viewed that market economies (such as Singapore) have greater potential for economic growth.Currency fluctuations can affect countries with interdependent economies when a change in the value of one currency affects other currencies. Indonesia’s economy was considered to be competitively growing from 1966 – 2007, based on the country’s commitment to lowering poverty through rural development and increased production in the rice industry. However, the Asian Financial Crisis from 1997-2000 caused poverty in Indonesia to rise, while GDP drastically decreased (Fatah, Othman & Abdullah, 2012, p. 291-299).The high economic growth of Asian countries directly contributed to the crisis, mainly through an increas e in investment, excess capacity, high levels of debt and increased imports. As borrowing and investments grew, companies were unable to service their debts (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 176). When the Thai Baht fell by 55 percent in 1998, other Asian currencies were deeply affected, including the Indonesian rupiah, which decreased 76 percent in 6 months. The decline of the Indonesian economy forced the Government to accept a loan of US$37 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Hill et al. , 2011, p. 177). The consequences of rapidly expanding Asian economies and the impact of decreasing currencies on each country was evident during the Asian Financial Crisis. The economic interdependency between countries had a negative impact on other economies, affecting their economic wellbeing as their economic position declined. Although the political economy of countries is generally interdependent, there are factors that deter interdependency from completely occurring. For interdepende ncy to function best, comparative advantage should be allowed to operate.David Ricardo developed the theory of comparative advantage in the 19th century and suggested that a country should produce and export goods and services that it is relatively more productive at producing than other countries, and import goods and services that are more productively made by other countries (Ricardo, 1817). Through their comparative advantage, countries benefit economically from participating in trade. This also suggests that free and open trade between countries is positive for economic progression (Hill et al. , 2011, p. 65).However, this theory is not always practised since Government political decisions can prevent its effectiveness. On 22 March, 2012 automaker Holden received a AUD$275 million government subsidy to continue to operate its Australian factories, in order to maintain jobs (Straits Times, 2012). According to Chris Berg, â€Å"Less than half of one per cent of the labour force works for the car industry and car manufacturers are not particularly central to the economic structure, cars are not†¦hard to buy from overseas and their manufacturing is not particularly high-tech† (Berg, 2012).Thus Australia is not following comparative advantage in the car manufacturing industry, with the reliance of Government subsidies helping to continue production and maintain jobs. This can be compared to Thailand, with car manufacturing production hugely increasing due to low labour costs (Bangkok Post, 2011). As export demand has increased, production has increased, with an 11 percent rise in the last year (Bangkok Post, 2012). Surapong Paisittanapong, spokesperson of the Automotive Industry Club under the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), commented, â€Å"We're confident that total auto production this year will reach 2. million units† (Viboonchart, 2012). Perhaps Australia ought to increase its imports from Thai car manufacturers rather than providi ng subsidies to Australian companies, assuming Thai cars are cheaper than the overall cost of producing an Australian car. Although countries can be seen as interdependent, barriers are often imposed to protect local industries and jobs, discouraging the comparative advantage theory and potentially affecting economic progression and wellbeing. Another factor that contributes to countries not reaching full interdependency is the focus on regionalism.Regionalism is a method of opening trade amongst neighboring countries and is viewed positively as not only extending markets to neighboring countries, but as strengthening regional security and delaying globalisation. By forming close regional communities, countries can form trade agreements and other mechanisms that protect the region from the threats of globalisation, and still prosper economically through increased local business between countries in the region (Moshirian, 2009, p. 2-8).However, this push for regionalism may be obscur ing some Asian countries’ economy’s ability to achieve higher profits, as the countries are still heavily reliant on other countries in different regions. We see this in the ASEAN official data release 2010, which shows that Singapore still exports 27. 97 percent of its’ total exports to countries in the EU (ASEAN Community in Figures (ACIF), 2010). This reliance demonstrates that partner countries are often unable to consume each other’s goods and therefore must export goods to other markets, outside of their own region.Whilst regionalism is still a form of interdependency between countries, the focus is on increasing business between neighbouring countries rather than all countries. Another exception to the interdependency of countries is when free trade agreements (FTA) are not efficient. The increase in free trade agreements since the end of the cold war across the world, predominantly in the Asia-Pacific, suggests countries depend on each otherâ€⠄¢s business for economic growth (Suominen, 2009). The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) began as a forum in 1989, before becoming a regional trade agreement (RTA) in 1993.APEC’s main goal is to establish free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific (APEC, 2012). However, trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region have favored the manufacturing sector, with low tariffs and more freedom to trade, as compared to the agriculture sector, which has seen a high degree of protectionism from Governments in order to protect industry and jobs. This suggests that APEC’s goal is not entirely being reached (Suominen, 2009). Whilst FTA’s are effective in theory, Government intervention suggests that complete free trade is not apparent, thus obstructing the interdependency of countries to a certain extent.It is evident the interdependency of countries can be attributed to the political economy, that is, the political, legal and economic systems and position, of a country. Decisions made by Governments often affect other countries, and at times have adverse implications. A country’s legal system can both restrict and open up opportunities for other countries. Growing regionalism in areas such as Asia means there are closer economic ties between countries in the immediate region. The fluctuating strength of one economy can affect its regional partners, particularly in relation to currencies and interest rates.Whilst there are clearly benefits to be gained from a strong interdependency and reliance on other countries, there are also factors that hinder complete interdependency. When countries do not follow comparative advantage, or engage in inefficient free trade agreements, some of the potential benefits of interdependency can be lost. Often governments interfere in markets for their own political, legal and economic reasons, and the perceived opportunities that should flow from regionalism and other frameworks such as FTA’ s are not realised.