Is There a Constitutional Right to Possess a Firearm for Private Use Research Paper

Is There a Constitutional Right to Possess a Firearm for Private Use - Research Paper Example Body The Second Amendment provides a general rule for the right to bear arms, and under such provision, the right to possess firearms for private use seems to be clear-cut and undeniable. The Supreme Court has provided various rulings for the application of this right. In the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, the SC held that the Second Amendment indeed protects the right of the people as private citizens to bear arms. This ruling basically declared that individuals were legally protected in their right to keep a loaded gun in their home for their self-defense (Vicini, 2008). This ruling however did not settle any misgivings on the part of individuals who did not favor the legalization, as well as the widespread use and bearing of arms. To this date therefore, this ruling is still controversial; and for various individuals with legal considerations on the case they would not likely hesitate in seeking other interpretations of this right by the courts. The right to bear arms h as long since been considered a universal right, especially during the earliest years of the world’s history when wars were rampant and disputes were often settled through violent skirmishes (Hollister, 1962). The precursors of guns included bows and arrows, spears, and other harmful and deadly weapons, like swords and daggers. The right to possess and bear arms was firmly supported, retained, and expanded. All serfs, tenants, and subjects of the state and of the crown were required to bear arms in order to protect the state (Lyon, 1980). Various evolutions of armaments and weapons were seen throughout the years, and the people were also required to bear arms when they would travel, attend fairs, or when they would go to markets (Lyon, 1980). The people were even asked to train in the use of long-bows and other arms in order to ensure their protection. In the 1500s in England, the crown decided to ban firearms (meaning, bows and arrows); instead a militia was to be trained in the use of these arms (Bagley and Rowley, 1965). This militia would be considered the armed citizenry of the English political system. This move however backfired when the militia turned on the crown and gained temporary control of the government (Bagley and Rowley, 1965). This prompted the Parliament to order the search and destruction of all arms from all opponents of the crown. As the crown was later restored, the military government’s reign ended. In general, all arms by the militia were banned and confiscated (Malcolm, 1980). This control of the militia was carried over to the control of Britain over its American colonies. After persistent moves by the British government to control its American colonials, including their rights to bear arms, the need to protect the right to bear arms became an even bigger necessity (Patterson, 1973).

Animal Rights (Just say NO) Essay Example for Free

Animal Rights (Just say NO) Essay Soon children wont be able to own a pet; their kitty or puppy will be taken away. Animal rights are becoming a big issue in society. There are people who are dense enough to think that animals need rights to be protected. Animal Rights are an idealistic scheme that animals have rights similar, or the same as humans. True animal rights activists believe that humans do not have the right to use animals at all. Animal rights activists wish to ban all use of animals by humans. People need animals to live. We use them for every aspect of life. Think of anything in life and animals have helped to make it possible. Nothing that we have was made without the help of animals. The idea that humans should give animals rights and declare them free is ludicrous. How can anyone be brainless enough to think of that? I can understand that people beat animals and torture them; that is wrong.. That is not the case in every aspect of the animal kingdom. Those people should be punished and face the consequence, but animals are the things that make the world-go-round. Animal rights activists support laws and regulations that would prohibit rodeos, horse racing, circuses, hunting, life-saving medical research using animals, raising of livestock for food, petting zoos, marine parks, breeding of purebred pets and any use of animals for industry, entertainment, sport or recreation. Animal rights activists believe that violence, misinformation and publicity stunts are valid uses of funding donated to their tax-exempt organizations for the purpose of helping animals. Arson, vandalism and assault are common tactics used by underground animal rights groups to further the animal rights cause. Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, which have been classified as terrorist by the FBI, routinely use criminal activities to further their cause. These people are taking their fanatical ideas to the extreme. Some have said things like, babies that are born mentally retarded and old senile people should be put to sleep because they are not needed and only requi re time and money. I believe people that think those kinds of things should be put to sleep. Another event that has taken place to give animals more rights and hopelessly protect them is the spotted owl situation in the northwestern states. Research is beginning to suggest that the spotted owl exists in numbers far greater than was assumed when the extinction alarm sounded. A recent study by the Audubon Society established that roughly 10,000 owls were living in the forests of the northwestern states. In order for the birds to be classified as endangered they need as little as 1,500 left in the United States. With all the commotion over these owls thousands of people are losing their jobs. Animals dont need rights and they dont need people saving them in hopeless situations. How about instead of trying to save and protect all of these animals, why not spend the money and time trying to help out the human race, this would be much wiser and perhaps too smart of an idea for the ignorant environmentalists.

Same Sex Marriage Essay

Same Sex Marriage Essay Throughout American history, social rights have changed drastically. During its birth, the United States accepted slavery to be just and reasonable. As the nation grew, some people’s philosophy changed, and thus the Civil War began. The country was deeply divided, but regardless, the North and South stood up and fought for what they believed in. After much struggle, slaves were allowed freedom and eventually given the same rights as other Americans. In the 1920’s, women suffrage grew as a social movement. Women who were protesting for their rights were beaten, arrested, and kept in prison for wanting to vote and have the same opportunity as men. They were extremely passionate, however, to be given the same rights. We now face another social right movement. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, stated, â€Å"Throughout our history, each and every generation has expanded upon the freedoms won by their parents and grandparents. Each and every generation has removed so me of the barriers to full participation in the American dream. And the next great barrier standing before our generation is the prohibition on marriage for same-sex couples (Huffpost).† The gay community relentlessly and courageously fight for equal rights. Gay couples don’t have the same opportunities of getting married or even being recognized by the state in a civil union. The United States has always prided itself on its freedom from prejudice and inequality, and same sex couples have suffered from injustice too long, and their right to marry must be recognized. Gay marriage rights has undergone a long, struggling history. In the United States during the 1970’s, Jack Baker and James McConnell applied for a marriage license in the state of Minnesota. The state didn’t allow them to continue with the marriage, though. In response, Baker and McConnell filed a suit for state court, which ended up being pushed up to the Supreme Court. Baker and McConnell won their case, and they were allowed to marry each other. A few decades later, however, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This gave other states the choice to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages. On December 3, 1996, Baehr v. Miike was the first trial to challenge the freedom of marriage for same-sex couples since DOMA. The trial was ruled unconstitutional, and the state had no legitimate reason for depriving the right to marriage for homosexuals (History of Marriage). The set-backs kept coming. In the early 2000’s, Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Michigan, Montana, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma voted to prohibit same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships. In 2004, President George W. Bush stated that he supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. This year, 2014, the judges in Texas and Ohio have ordered their state to reconsider each states ban on same sex marriage because the ruling has no reason why they should not be able to marry. While there has been struggles, other states moved towards recognizing gay marriage. Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut recognized civil unions and domestic partnerships during the early 2000’s. The same year that Bush stated his opinions, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in the United States. Today, approximately seventeen states and twenty-one countries and providences throughout the world have either legalized same -sex marriage or recognized it (BostonGlobe). Those who support gay marriage argue that gay couples should be able to get married and celebrate their love like every other traditional couple does. They state that same sex marriage does not weaken the meaning of marriage like others believe. Love is love. Anyone, regardless of who they love, should be able to not only celebrate their love, but also live a life the way traditional couples do with all the benefits. These benefits include tax reductions on estates, adoption, employee, social security, and survivor benefits (Gay Marriage). Gay couples cannot reproduce offspring, so they typically turn to adoption when they want a family. This could take care of the several children in the foster care system and give needy children a warm and loving home. Not only would legalizing gay marriage benefit the couple, but also the state in which the couple lives. The increased revenue that comes in from marriage licenses and higher income taxes would be a big financial gain for states. Estimations found that New York City would bring in $142 million to the economy of New York City through the legal and financial recognition of gay marriage (Love Counts, Thompson). The lack of financial recognition of gay marriage is causing complications for these individuals. While some people may think of Social Security as just a retirement program, but it can make a huge difference in other ways. One of the struggles that gay and lesbian couples are facing is receiving benefits after their significant other has died. Social Security doesn’t give benefits or money to the survivor of a gay or lesbian couple because most states don’t recognize them as being married. Or even worse, if a gay or lesbian couple adopts a child and they both pass away, the child usually does not get any help from Social Security because his or her parent’s marriage was not recognized by the state or the federal government (Survivor Benefits). Being denied financial help right after a significant other has passed must be extremely difficult for anyone. The side supporting same-sex marriage concludes that legalizing gay marriage will not damage marriage and life for the worst, but for the better. According to the opposing side, marriage should reside between a man and a woman. Anything else weakens the meaning of marriage. They argue that by legalizing gay marriage, it will pave the way for legalizing polygamy, incest, bestiality, and lead to a weaker marriage and a weaker family. Marriage is already threatened with high divorce rates, and allowing gay marriage would give some people the ability to have bestiality come into play and marry other objects. This was seen in Sweden in 1987. Sweden began offering gay couples the same benefits as heterosexual couples, and it weakened the meaning of marriage as both divorce rates and marriage rates increased. Studies in Sweden, Denmark and Norway showed that each countries birth rates increased by five percent, and the number of single parents rose twenty-five percent when gay marriage was legalized (Trandafir 317-340). The opposing side also argues with Bible verses such as Leviticus that says, â€Å"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own hands (New International Version, Leviticus 20:13).† The opposition also makes the argument that it is not right that they have to pay taxes for something that goes against their beliefs. In 2009, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the cost would be if government expanded the marriage definition to include homosexual couples in the Constitution. The total cost would be about 300 million more dollars between 2010 and 2019 (Gay Marriage). Another argument is the children that gay couples raise will not be raised in an optimum environment due to the lack of nurture the other gender spouse brings to their child’s life (Gay Marriage). However, Charlotte Patterson and Jennifer Wainright completed a scholarly study about the effects on children who have homosexual parents during 2007. The study found that the children of gay couples do just as well in school and in other activities as children with heterosexual parents (Adolescence). Most children that are raised with homosexual parents are mentally, physical and emotionally stable (American Psychological Association). In its final argument, the opposition says that marriage is a privilege, not a right. People declare that marriage was created to allow society to support traditional couples in reproduction. Meaning, if we allow gay couples to get married, they cannot have children, so they would not be able to populate (Gay Marriage). Generally speaking, there have been several U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with same sex marriage. The most recent case was United States v. Windsor. Edith Windsor brought evidence to fight for the right to benefits for same sex couples across the nation. In 2007, Windsor and her spouse, who lived in New York, fled to Canada in order to get married. In 2009, her spouse Thea Spyer passed away leaving everything she owned to Windsor. Under the law in the United States, widows do not have to pay tax on anything given or inherited from their dead spouse. When Windsor tried to exempt herself from paying taxes, they would not allow it because she was not married to a man. The Section 3 of DOMA specifically stated that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) denied her claim. They then expected her to pay a gigantic amount of money in inheritance taxes. In the Supreme Court, the justices ruled in a 5-4 vote in Windsor’s favor. According to the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, DOMA Section 3’s definition of marriage between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. This case practically re-arranged the meaning of marriage within the DOMA act. With Windsor winning her case, this changed the meaning of marriage in DOMA forever (Wikipedia, United States v. Windsor). There are several smaller cases of their own kind happening as well. In Ohio during 2013, Judge Timothy Black revoked part of the state’s recognition of same sex marriage in other states. He commented, â€Å"Once you get married lawfully in one state, another state cannot summarily take your marriage away, because the right to remain married is properly recognized as a fundamental liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause [of the Constitution].† In Michigan, District Judge Bernard Friedman will hear arguments in a lesbian couples challenge to the state’s ban on adoption by gay couples. Their lawsuit also protests the state’s ban on same sex marriage. Hopefully, theses recent and smaller cases do not need to go up into the higher courts, and each case can get accomplished within their own state. It’s quicker and easier for everyone (The Week, 4 Pivotal). For anyone who is going through a frustrating time such as defending their marriage or love, they need a support group or community that they can always rely on. This is where the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community comes into the scene. The LGBT community is comprised of people who are either gay, bi-sexual, transgender, questioning, or supporters who want to see marriage equality in the near future. The LGBT community also claims to have another meaning to their name, â€Å"Love, Grace, Beauty, and Truth.† The idea is that everyone can fit in a certain box or category titled love, grace, beauty or truth, but most gays tend to not pertain to a certain â€Å"box† because they are different from the average straight person (Mott). Love stands for lesbian and it is an emotion that fills the human heart with joy and lust for something or someone. It is not just pertained towards a man and a woman; love can happen between two women. Grace uses the analo gy, â€Å"you starve while I feast and please be controlled, polite and pleasant about it (Mott).† Gay people are asked to demonstrate controlled behavior in public while others can feast in each other’s love. Beauty stands for bisexuality. Being bi-sexual means that you are attracted to both males and females. Being bi-sexual is beautiful because they do not care what the gender is, they fall in love with the person regardless of their gender. Last but not least, truth stands for transgender. Transgender people stop pretending what gender society wants them to be. They become whatever gender they want to be. Most people like to think of this as a sex change, but many people in the transgender community say, â€Å"I did not transition. I transitioned the way I present myself to you, and I transitioned your understanding of who I am, but I am the same woman I have always been. What I did, was begin telling you the truth about me. And in the process, I bloomed like a fl ower finally allowed to live in the light (Mott).† LGBT members do not just deal with matters of sexual orientation, they also help with suicide hot lines and prevention websites for such trauma. The LGBT community petitions by either creating or signing an actual petition, writing to their state representative, boycotting certain establishments, or picketing out front of the desired establishment or court case (LGBT, Wikipedia). To continue this boycotting and standing up for what they believe in, I believe that a single organization or a community shouldn’t be funded by an outside source. If a person or organization truly believes in what they are fighting for, they will either spend the money from their own pockets or get a group of people together in order to fundraise the costs needed. In the light of this topic’s controversy, it is easy to see that it is complicated due to biblical, logical, and emotional morale. It is also easy to get lost within one’s own argument without realizing it. Throughout writing this paper, I have grown to understand and respect the opposing side’s choices better, while expanding my knowledge on this topic I truly care about. If we as a nation could join together and legalize same sex marriage for equality, it would settle one of the many controversial issues of our time. We could then move forward and focus on something else that is even more controversial like fixing our primary and secondary education system. In fact, recent polls state that about 70 percent of voters under the age of 30 support the legalization of same-sex marriage. It is only a matter of time until everyone will be able to get married. Imagine if everyone just switched. Meaning that if straight people turned gay and gay people turned straight. The newly gay people would feel the struggle and resistance of not being able to marry or get benefits, while the newly straight people would understand first-hand what the newly gay people are going through and help fight for them. This division that same-sex marriage is creating between states clouds the fundamental issue we face taking away natural-born rights that each American deserves. Works Cited An Overview of Federal Rights and Protections Granted to Married Couples. Human Rights Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. Answers to Your Questions About Same-Sex Marriage. Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. History and Timeline of the Freedom to Marry in the United States. Freedom to Marry. N.p., 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. LGBT. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. . Livingston, Gretchen. Chart of the Week: Big Drop in Birth Rate May Be Leveling off. Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. Mott, Stephanie`. LGBT: What Does It Really Mean? HuffPost. N.p., 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. . NYC.gov. NYC.gov. N.p., 16 June 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Patterson, Charolette, and Jennifer Wainright. Adolescents with Same-Sex Parents: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. American Psychological Association. N.p., 7 Nov. 2007. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. Gay Marriage ProCon.org. ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Rayfield, Jillian. 4 Pivotal Gay Rights Court Cases You Should Know about. The Week. N.p., 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Social Security. Survivor Benefits. N.p., July 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. Thompson, William C., Jr. Love Counts: The Economic Benefits of Marriage Equality for New York. Publication. New York: n.p., 2007. Print. Trandafir, Mircea. The Effect Of Same-Sex Marriage Laws On Different-Sex Marriage: Evidence From The Netherlands. Demography 51.1 (2014): 317-340. Business Source Complete. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. United States v. Windsor. Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. 11 Facts About Gay Marriage. Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Magnetic Anisotropy Of Fine Particles :: essays research papers

"Magnetic Anisotropy Of Fine Particles" In nature, single domain particles are magnetized to saturation, where the magnetization has an easy axis, or several easy axes, along which it prefers to lie. In this case the total internal energy is minimum. Rotation of the magnetization vector away from the easy axis is possible only by applying an external magnetic field. This phenomenon is called magnetic anisotropy. Thus, the term magnetic anisotropy describe the dependence of the internal energy on the direction of magnetization of the particle. The energy term of this kind is called a magnetic anisotropy energy. Generally it has the same symmetry as the crystal structure of the particle material, and we call it a magnetocrystalline anisotropy or crystal anisotropy . This kind of anisotropy is due mainly to spin-orbit coupling . For instance, we consider an anisotropy that is uniaxial in symmetry. In this case, one of the simplest expressions of the magnetic anisotropy energy is Ea=KaVsin2 , where is the angle between the magnetization vector and the symmetry axis of the particle, V is the volume of the particle, and Ka is the anisotropy energy per unit volume or the anisotropy constant. The srength of the anisotropy in any particular crystal is measured by the magnitude of the anisotropy constants. Consider a specimen of fine particles having no preferred orientation of its particles. If we have spherical particles, there will be no shape anisotropy, and the same applied field will magnetize it to the same extent in any direction. But if it is a nonspherical particles, the magnetization vector will not necessarily lie along an easy crystallographic axis, but rather along an axis whose demagnetizating field is a minimum. This is called shape anisotropy and was proposed by (1947). In real systems, there is always a particle size and shape distributions as well as a distribution of particle enviroments, depending on the topology of the system (e.

Shewin Case

PA402: Employment Law Unit 3: The Employment Relationship – Shewin Memorandum Your Course Project: Read About the Shewin Memorandum Throughout the course, you will work on the Shewin Memorandum. Your first step is to become acquainted with Ms. Shewin and the fact pattern. Ima Shewin is a 45-year-old African-American woman with advanced degrees in English and journalism from the University of Chicago. She has been employed by The Blabber, a newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, for 10 years.She started as an entrylevel researcher. Two years later, she was promoted to a junior-level reporter position, and two years after that, to a senior-level reporter position. She has now been a senior-level reporter for the last six years. During the first eight years of her employment, Shewin reported to George Doright. Two years ago, The Blabber reorganized, and Doright was moved to another division in the company. Since then, Shewin has reported to Arthur King, The Blabber's senior editor.Follow ing the reorganization, two editors have retired. Although Shewin applied for these positions, they were not offered to her. In fact, she was only invited to interview for one of the positions, although she believes she met the qualifications for both. Last month, she applied for a junior-editor position she has been after for several years now. Based upon the qualifications that were identified in the job's classified ad, she felt she was a shoo-in. She applied and was interviewed. The interview with Mr.King did not go as well as she had hoped. The interview took place over lunch in a restaurant. King started out the conversation by engaging in seemingly harmless social banter, but Shewin was uncomfortable with his personal questions about her relationship with her boyfriend. A few weeks after the interview, the company announced that it was hiring Gene Whiz, someone from outside the company. Whiz is 26 years old and recently earned a master's degree in journalism from the Universi ty of Chicago.He has worked as a reporter for a small local newspaper. Shewin believes a number of factors may have been held against her. For example, only three women are in the upper levels of management, and all were promoted prior to the reorganization. King was not involved in the promotion decisions for any of the three women. King has a reputation for making sexist comments, which several women in the company find offensive, as do a number of men. For example, he described one pregnant reporter as barefoot and pregnant. † He has also asked Shewin out to â€Å"discuss business,† invitations that she has declined. She feels that rejecting him may have something to do with her not getting the job. Another possible factor is that there are only five African-American senior managers in the company. Shewin has heard through the rumor mill that Whiz is part AfricanAmerican. Also, prior to Mr. Doright's transfer, Shewin filed a complaint against some of her male colleag ues.Apparently the men whose cubicles were surrounding Shewin's area had a habit of discussing their weekend dates in graphic detail on Monday mornings. Although they did not make these comments directly to Shewin, the conversations PA402: Employment Law Unit 3: The Employment Relationship – Shewin Memorandum were quite loud and she overheard them regularly. After several months of hoping they would stop, Shewin brought this matter to Mr. Doright, who sternly told the employees to stop such behavior.However, since Arthur King became the senior manager, her coworkers have reverted to their old behavior, and King has taken no action against them, despite Shewin's repeated complaints to him. In fact, Shewin has observed King laughing at the conversations as he walked by. He did not, however, participate in the conversations. Finally, Shewin is more than 40 years old and has concerns that she may be getting passed over because of her age. A friend of hers overheard King talking t o another senior manager, speculating as to when Shewin would finally retire.

Google Company Essay

Thesis Statement: It is true that google company is the greatest place to work. What the company proud ,therefore, is that the great contributions Googlers make to the communities in which they live and work. Topic Sentence: Google Company provides its employees all kinds of perks to make them more productive and cooperative.   Supporting Details(1): There are lots of benefits for employees in google company. Question Details How is employees’ life in the Google company? Workplace at Google has a labyrinth of play areas; cafes, coffee bars and open kitchens; sunny outdoor terraces with chaises; gourmet cafeterias that serve free breakfast, lunch and dinner; Broadway-theme conference rooms with velvet drapes; and conversation areas designed to look like vintage subway cars. (2013) Google offers child care service in its Mountain View campus and also back-up child care to help California parents when their regularly scheduled child care falls through (About.com 2009). Google provides 100% health care coverage for its employees and their family. In addition onsite physicians and dentists are available at Mountain View and Seattle campuses (Google.com 2009). Google is very unique in its policy that allows employees to bring their pets to work on condition that pets are reasonably well behaved and house trained. However, the pet will have to be taken home upon the first complaint (Cosser 2008). Summary At google,there is not only cafeterias providing free three meals but cafes,coffee bars and open kitchens.What unique feature is google’s conference rooms and conversation areas which are with the subject of Broadway and are shaped as vintage of car(2013).To ensure employees and their family’s health,google has complete medical insurance.Besides,physicians and dentists work at Mountain View and Seattle campuses just in case of the people’ needs(Google.com 2009). Also,company offers service of children care and buck-up child care to help parents while they are working(Google.com 2009). Furthermore,google allows its employees to bring pets to workplace(Cosser 2008). Source(1): Website Author:James B. Stewart Publisher:James B. Stewart Reference:Stewart,JB 2013, ‘A Place to Play for Google Staff’,The New York Edition,p.B1,viewed 5 June 2014, retrieved from NYTimes Online,. Source(2):Online Author:Laura Schneider Reference:Schneider,L 2009, ‘Company Culture and History’,viewed 9 June 2014, retrieved from About.com: Tech careers,. ! Source(3):Online Author:Cosser,S Reference:Cosser,S 2008, ‘Google Sets the Standard for a Happy Work Environment’,viewed 10 June 2014,retrieved from Ezine Articles,. Supporting details(2):It is interesting that the Googlers do not working traditionally. Question Details How do the employees work in their office? Google lets many of its hundreds of software engineers, the core of its intellectual capital, design their own desks or work stations out of what resemble oversize Tinker Toys. Some have standing desks, a few even have attached treadmills so they can walk while working. Employees express themselves by scribbling on walls. The result looks a little chaotic, like some kind of high-tech refugee camp, but Google says that’s how the engineers like it(2013). In Googelplex People’s workspaces are full of individuality, and the atmosphere is relaxed. There is neither dress code nor formal daily meetings. Googlers can play beach volleyball, foosball, videogames, pool tables, table tennis, or even roller hockey on the campus, which makes this young population feel like they are still at a college campus rather than being in an office( Lashinsky, 2007a ). Summary Many software engineers who are core of intellectual capital are allowed to design their desk and even can have treadmills. Employees are able to scribbling on the walls to express themselves(2013). What is more, people in Googelplex do not have the need for dress code and daily meeting. Googlers have a lot of entertainment ways such as playing ball games, videogames, pool tables, table tennis, or even roller hockey on the campus(Lashinsky, 2007a ). Source(1):Online Author:James B. Stewart Publisher:James B. Stewart Reference:Stewart,JB 2013, ‘A Place to Play for Google Staff’ , The New York Edition,p.B1,viewed 5 June 2014, retrieved from NYTimes Online,.Source(2):Online Author:Adam Lashinsky Reference:Lashinsky,A 2009, ‘The perks of being a Googler’,viewed 8 June 2014,retrieved from Fortune,. Supporting Details(3):Google company provides its employees development opportunity and comfortable living place. Question What does google company offer for its employees? Details Allison Mooney, 32, joined Google two years ago from the advertising giant Omnicom Group, and the difference is â€Å"night and day,† she said. â€Å"I came here from the New York agency model, where you work constantly, 24/7. You answer every e-mail, nights and weekends. Here, you don’t have to show you’re working, or act like you’re working. The culture here is to shut down on weekends. People have a life.†she mentioned subsidized massages (with massage rooms on nearly every floor); free once-a-week eyebrow shaping; free yoga and Pilates classes; a course she took called â€Å"Unwind: the art and science of stress management†; a course in advanced negotiation taught by a Wharton professor; a health consultation and follow-up with a personal health counselor; an a uthor series and an appearance by the novelist Toni Morrison; and a live interview of Justin Bieber by Jimmy Fallon in the Google office(2013). Google Mountain View campus also includes services such as hair dressing,car wash, and oil change. The company also offers its employees personal development opportunities like foreign language classes (Google.com 2009). Summary Google’s employees have flexible working hours.There is no need to show they are working or pretend like they are working .At weekends,the culture in google is to shut down.Of course, google give its employees proper subsidy includes body cares and skill courses(2013).In addition google has a series of services,consisting of hair dressing,car wash,oil change. Employees can participate in foreign language courses to purchase development opportunities(Google.com 2009). Source(1):Online Author:James B. Stewart Publisher:James B. Stewart Reference:Stewart,JB 2013, ‘A Place to Play for Google Staff’ ,The New York Edition,p.B1,viewed 5 June 2014, retrieved from NYTimes Online,. ! Source(2):Online Reference:Google(2009), ‘The Best Place to Work. Retrieved 2009’,viewed 8 June 2014, retrieved from Google Diversity and Inclusion,. Thesis Statement: It is true that google company is the greatest place to work. What the company proud ,therefore, is that the great contributions Googlers make to the communities in which they live and work. Topic Sentence: Google Company provides its employees all kinds of perks to make them more productive and cooperative. At google,what unique feature is google’s conference rooms and conversation areas which are with the subject of Broadway and are shaped as vintage of car(2013).To ensure employees and their family’s health,google has complete medical insurance.Besides,physicians and dentists work at Mountain View and Seattle campuses just in case of the people’ needs(Google.com 2009). Also,company ! 7 offers service of children care and buck-up child care to help parents while they are working(Google.com 2009). Furthermore,google allows its employees to bring pets to workplace(Cosser 2008).Many software engineers who are core of intellectual capital are allowed to design their desk and even can have treadmills. Employees are able to scribbling on the walls to express themselves(2013). What is more, people in Googelplex do not have the need for dress code and daily meeting. Googlers have a lot of entertainment ways such as playing ball games, videogames,or even roller hockey on the campus(Lashinsky, 2007a ).Google’s employees have flexible working hours.There is no need to show they are working or pretend like they are working .At weekends,the culture in google is to shut down.Of course, google give its employees proper subsidy includes body cares and skill courses(2013).In addition google has a series of services,consisting of hair dressing,car wash,oil change. Employees can participate in foreign language courses to purchase development opportunities(Google.com 2009).

Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essays

Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essays Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essay Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essay Bp’s BRAND IMAGE More packaging than substance ? Introduction: Corporate image symbolises the values an organisation stands for. Organizations can create it to define themselves or get branded due to their actions. Therefore, its more important to have a the right image that reflect an organization’s commitment to quality, excellence and its constructive role in the society. British Petroleum (BP) is a major enterprise to redefine its core values in the light of its ethical considerations. It is an example of antagonism between its core business and it’s core values. Since years it has been subject of criticism more than any other oil producer for failing to deliver on its commitments of environmental protection, ethical business model and health / safety procedures. A series of accidents have also undermined BP’s credibility of going green and the range of disparity between its business values and business practices is anyones guess. In order to assess the extent to which BP has been successful, we will equate its position with respect to the extrinsic factors like industry macro-drivers, strategy implementation, crisis management and intrinsic factors such as size, capital, costs, technology and location. It is the change of dynamics between these extrinsic and intrinsic factors that decides the amount of resources that can be allocated to bring about any change. We will also aim to explore how BP is affected by dynamics of a business sector on which its customers are rather dependent and shareholders who are looking for the return on their investment. The kind of leverage BP has to sideline its ethical commitments and favor profit generation. There are unexploited oil reserves in this highly profitable industry and switching to alternative energy solutions cannot viably offset current technologies brought about by years of research and billiols in investment. How does BP plan to manage this change across the company and time of implementation is debatable. â€Å"Bp’s internal culture is characterized by intense pressure to keep the costs down and budgeting always took precedence over routine maintenance and occasionally over safety. † Forbes The business ethics that are followed in this sector are questionable and BP is no exception. Seemingly the company has protocols setup for operation but due to the rapid expansion of the oil industry, these have to be adapted to the local conditions that leads to complacency and rearrangement of ethical priorities. This results in a business mechanism where the core values does not filter down to the grass root level. The ethics of any organization is comprised of the individuals representing it. Customizing ethics with respect to the operating environment increases heterogeneity in values which is not permissible. the values are real, but they haven’t been aligned with our business practice in the field a scream at our level is, if anything, a whisper at their level. † anonymous BP executive quoted by Fortune magazine There are challenges faced by BP as well to bring about changes. Change in technology is relatively easier than to bring change in attitude. Being conti nuously under the scrutiny of environmental agencies like green peace and WWF it is hard for the company to invest into alternative energy considering the profit it is making from the existing operations. Moreover, it is understandable that BP is a business concern that generates profit and not a charity, therefore it would be unfair to ask it for a paradigm shift in its policies and operations. It has made mistakes and hopefully learnt from it, there is actually no intention of reinventing the wheel. Therefore, the aim of this article is analyse the success BP has had since it was rebranded and whether its actions are in line with its green strategy or result of a covert master plan. Overview of the study: In this study we aim justify if BP is taking concrete steps to go green. We will cite examples and then examine how they translate in the light of stakeholder management, business ethics and crisis management and their political, economic, social, technologcal, environmental and legal effects (PESTEL). These management, ethics and PESTEL phenomenon occour differently in different strata of any organisation, their understanding is even more important as these individual processess lead to a cascade of events that define the actions of an organisation. Therefore, in most of the cases BP’s green credentials have to be judged as consequences rather than results of these processes. Stakeholder Management: A key issue in stakeholder management is the identification of ‘key’ stake holders which in turn helps an organization to filter out its ‘strategic’ stakeholders. â€Å"A stakeholder in an organization ( by definition) any group or individual which can affect or is affected by the achievements of the organizations objectives. † (Freeman 1984, Pg 46). Therefore, in order to maximize profits, stakeholders have to be prioritized on the basis of their affect or the organization. Stakeholders that can affect the management of the organization need to be handled instrumentally but if the firms decisions affect the well being of the stakeholders, then it is just a case of moral obligation (Berman et al. , 1999). They can also be categorized no the basis of their interest, claim or ownership in the organization and its activity (Clarkson 1995), where as equal merit should also be given to any consideration that a stakeholder might have (Donaldson Preston 1995). In the case of BP, we can clearly see that there is a genuine attempt to give equal merit to all its stakeholders. Even more so as its new branding scheme credits the environment as its stakeholder to which it ideally only has a moral obligation. Environmental organization maintains that BP is still ‘toying’ with the idea or going green (Barley, 2009) and on the company website the green trademark has been replaced with the commitment to be ‘Responsible’. (Barley 2009) One can only imagine the internal and external forces that come into play while corporate decisions are made. Primary stakeholder have an upper hand in influencing corporate decisions and an organization survival may depend on their continuous participation. Shareholders and investors, employees, suppliers are considered to be the primary stakeholders in an organization while secondary stakeholders constitute groups that are not essential for the direct functioning of an organization but are influenced or affected by it (Clarkson, 1995). Secondary stakeholders have a unique participation that they can mould people perception and have a major impact by striking interaction between stakeholders. Imperical studies have demonstrated that firms with different levels of commitment to environmental issues vary in managers perceptions of which groups of stakeholders is important (Buysse and Verbeke, 2003; Harvey and Schemer, 2001; Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999; Hoffman, 1996). BP being a profitable organization gives justice to this model. An insight into the this area leads to the fact that it has given good return on investment for its investors and ranks good on employee satisfaction surveys (BP Annual Review 2008). It is well known that the supply chain has always been happy in this generally profitable business sector. Considering customer satisfaction, the subject becomes debatable as their primary focus is on the fuel in their vehicles rather than its producer or its methods of production. Agle (1999, Pg 508) advocates that the importance of stake holders on attributes such as ligitimacy, power, urgency. Organization however big or small have limited resources where these attributes provide additional criteria for identifying and prioritizing stakeholders. Legitimacy refers to a legal or contractual obligation and categorizes shareholders and investors having interest in the harms and benefits generated by a company’s actions. Power is the ability to influence a firm’s behavior. Again it can be deduced that power comes to legimate stakeholders. Urgency is a dynamic component for a stakeholder to grab attention of managers. BP seems to adhere very strongly to above theory as we can see that the secondary stakeholders like environmental and health safety concerns do not feature high in its priority list. BP codes demands requiring immediate attention or change implementation as one and for future attention as zero. In year 2000 four environmental NGO’s lead the boycott of British Petroleum requesting it to pledge to avoid drilling operations in Alaska. This request was coded as zero (LexisNexis Academic, 2003). Bp’s Alaskan Northstar operation began production in the same year. It is also noteworthy that bp has done very well as an organization by contradicting a Harvard study that concludes that the companies that prioritize shareholders did less well for their stakeholders as compared to companies that put equal weightage on both (Caulkin and Black, 1994; Kotter and Heskett, 1992). Along with profit generation and market penetration, it has also expanded its product portfolio to alternative energy like solar energy, wind farms etc. ( However, it has not provided any explanation as to why it regards natural gas as alternative energy). As stakeholders, environmental agencies like greenpeace are its biggest critiques but other than that it ranks high on corporate social responsibilities initiatives like social innovation, energy efficiency, operating efficiency, product emission and research on renewable sources of energy (BP 2004). Its alternative energy division has been downsized to department as they have reported losses of $900 million in Q1 2009 due to sales slump and $193 million in Q108 (Yarrow, J. , 2009). Understandably, this decision should have been taken due to economic feasibility since BP as a business seeks profitability rather than investing funds in loss making operations. Therefore, viewing BP’s stakeholder management in the light of strategy implementation, we can see that fundamental changes in its business processes actually comprise its very long term strategy. It might be due to the fact that its secondary shareholders are miniscule considering its financial and political might within an industry that operates in an essential commodity business sector where it is hard, if not impossible, to persuade its customers to abstain using its products. It gives fair credit to political and economic aspects of PESTEL. Primary stakeholders have been prioritised and secondary stakeholders like society and environment have been sidelined. It is difficult to be profit oriented and environmentally comitted in this industry sector. The closest it has gone for being green on enviromental sustainability is cleaner energy that primarily focuses on process efficiency and carbon offset farms. In the current scenario it looks like BP’s strategy is to align stakeholders with its own business policies rather than implementing changes that reflect stakeholders’ concerns. Business Ethics: It is defined as the study of business situations, activities and decisions where the issues of right and wrongs are concerned (Crane and Matten, 2007). The fundamentals of business ethics have been deduced from applied ethics. By taking business environment into account, it addresses decision making when moral or ethical problems arise. Being a normative discipline, it provides a framework of values by averaging or bordering. It means that a decision being ethical or unethical actually depends on the situation and the environment where it may or may not be morally and socially acceptable. BP has had major criticism for unethical practices due to its collaboration with apartheid governments, exploration in protected areas, use of force in West Papua, Columbia, Azerbaijan, inadequate adherence to safety and most notably failing to deliver on its green initiatives. Bp’s trade agreements with the Souch African government under apartheid is a classis case where BP even denied to report its involvement ( Tutu, D. , et. Al, 2002). BP along with other major oil companies paid levy to South African government’s Strategic Oil Fund which financed SASOL to produce fuel for domestic transport (Burton, B. , 1998), which seriously undermined the effect of sanctions. However, it explained that embargoed oil was exported twice but that was an error. Like all other oil companies operating there, it said that it was compelled to purchase oil through the State Fuel Fund. Burton, B. , 1999) Bp’s publicly support to the Bush government to open oil drilling in Arctic National Wildife Refuge in Alaska and continues to explore in environmentally sensitive areas like the Atlantic Frontier, foothills of Andes and Alaska (Beder, S. , 2002). In 2001 PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) reseased the survey results of ADEC employee s that suggested that there is a widespread perception of regulatory favoritism towards the petroleum industry, political arm-twisting of pollution enforcement and waek agency leadership (Ruch, J. 2002). Bp’s move to extract oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada is another example where BP is involved in extraction involving process which is five time more energy intensive and equally polluting. BP does state its advantages of such a dirty extraction process but there are few takers. ( bp. com, 2007) It has been widely reported that BP uses force and in some cases collaborates with defence agencies to start or continue its production abroad and sometimes prosecute opposing fractions. In West Papua, BP has been developing athe massive Tangguh gas project at Benton Bay, where it has tried hard to gain community support by proclaiming its intention to avoid the disasters occurred while other companies were operating there. Rather than gaining community approval it has tied up with the Indonesian military. In March 2003, Bp was warned by US senator George Mitchell that it could trigger human rights abuses based on the fact that indonesian military would be deployed to guard its Tangguh LNG facilities (Macalister, T. , 2003). In Columbia, BP has been accused of making deals with local security forces and introduced voluntary principles while contracting private security providers and trying to ensure their implementation later (Warner, M. , 2002). BP was yet again in human rights vioation during the execution of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project connecting operations in the caspian sea to the medeterranean sea. It was accused osf sidelining the rights of Turkish villagers and environmental authorities as it struck a deal which exempted it from its environmental, social and human rights laws. Moreover, this deal included the fact that the pipeline would remain outside Ankara’s jurisdiction for its lifetime (Brown, P. , 2002). In March 2006, a sever corrosion was detected in the Purdhoe Bay oil transit line resulting in an oil spill. In June 2006 BP’s North America division was charged for illegal profit of $20 million by manipulating propane prices. In September 2006, 1000 barrels of oil was spilled at BP’s port of Long Beach, California due to rupture in its underground pipeline. In 2005 there was an explosion in its Texas refinery that killed 15 and injured more than 170. A government enquiry was carried out issuing fines and recommendations. Payment of fines was hardly a dent in its balance sheet but new health and safety management systems were incorporated such as OMS (Organisational Management System) and ERNP (Environmental Requrements for New Projects). Since 2007 there has been no reports on any accidents or mishaps so far. After the pipeline and Texas refinery disasters it went for damage control with a series of public relation campaigns, mainly in North America. There were adverts in newspapers, parties, barbrques, celebrity receptions, road shows, footrace etc. In 2007 it went for a US wide campaign called ‘Helios Power’ through newspapers, radio and television. One might wonder why such initiatives were not taken in other parts of the world, where it primarily settled lawsuits with monotory compensation, notably in the case of Columbiam farmers (Verkaik, R. , 2006). There can be no doubt that human rights abuse in Turkey could go unnoticed as BP had already made legal arrangements to circumvent it. It really is a blemish that would take long to wash off. Human rights grops have questioned BP’s business ethics and corporate culture it operates within. If a corporation can go against governments would it head to its citizens’ concerns; doubtful. Print and visual media is also to be credited as they break these news all over the world so that the people become more concious about the blood-fuel that is being delivered to them. Keeping strategy implementation in focus, it seems like its current strategy is to gamble and take chances. Its financial and political might does give it leverage to do so which could also be the root of this problem. Interestingly, BP in 2002 has also stated that it woll no longer offer donations to political parties as they have no democratic legitimacy anywhere in the world (Cowell, A,. 2002). It indicates that there were donations made that might have lead to malpracitces. With this many number of environmental blunders under its belt, its environmental credentials have hit rockbottom. In terms of basic ethical standards such as honesty, trustworthiness and co-operation (Collins 1994; Watson 1994), BP has set wrong examples that might, in future, undermine the commitment it enjoys from its investors and shareholders. CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Crisis management is a process that enables an organisation to manoevour under unpredictable situations which may threaten to harm the organisation, its stakeh olders or general public. Common challenges faced in a crisis situation is that of threat to the organisation, element of surprise and short decision time (Seeger et. l. 1998). Due to the large ambit of a crisis situation and organisation wide reach of the process a hybrid term has been coined called business crisis and continuity management (BCCM) (Shaw, G. , 2005). It has also been defined as the farmework that integrates strategic business protection, response recovery and business continuity (Mitroff and Pauchant 1992, Mitroff 2001) (Fink 1986). Bp’s crisis managem ent strategy suggests that it is accomodating rather than proactive. There have been instances like the Alaskan and Longbeach oil spill, Texas refinery disaster. Something common in all these situation is that fact that BP executives were swift enough to apologise and stop production but fact of the matter is that the fines and compensation it paid out hardly made a dent in its balance sheet. It has coerced stakeholders, made illegal government deals in Turkey, abused human rights in Azerbaijan, exploited environmentally sensitive areas and even denied involvement in worngdoings in South Africa shows the deapth of its crisis management. After the Texas refinery inqust, health and safety protocols like OMS and ERNP were introduced and will be tested over time. If the abovementioned situations are not regarded as crisis than what is? If these crises are catagoried ( Coombs 1999; Lerbinger 1997), BP has faced nearly all of them like technological, confrontational, malevolence, deception, organisational misdeeds and management misconduct. Falling back on the MItroff, Pauchant and Fink definition, BP does prform well in terms of business protection and business continuity but has failed to provide industry leading examples of response and recovery in any crisis situation. These crices situation have brought massive negative public relation to BP. Even more so the heavyhanded approach towards their resolution and recovery further exposed the rift there exists between BP policies and actions. Its blatent disregard for the very objectives it stands for proves that afterall it is an oil company and will remain one until these resources are exhausted and alternative energy becomes equally profitable. The need for rebranding and what BP got out of it: â€Å"Its not a matter of competition. Its a matter of different character. † -BP exchief executive John Browne Bp’s rebranding campaign is still considered a success story. With the acquisition of US based Amoco and ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Corp), access to the north american market, Amoco and ARCO brand ceased to exist and being catapulted in the big league was an ideal situation for rebranding the organization as a whole. This exercise in year 2000 brought two kinds of changes. Visibly, the old shield logo metamorphosed into a Helios sunburst with white yellow and green colours thereby defining the company as innovative, progressive, environmentally responsible and performance driven (Mufson, S. and Eilperin, J. (2006), and declared BP to stand for ‘Beyond Petroleum’. Psychologically it initiated a change in attitude and future orientation of the business as an energy company. This led to a series of organizational and leadership changes. This change in logo is seen with sarcasm these day as year 2000 and onwards BP has been associated with accidents, oil spills, government enquiries, protests, global warming etc. The effectiveness of BP’s new brand and the public relations can be judged on defintion given by Grunig and Hunt (1984) which stated that a non-product advertisement as being concept, general promotion, goodwill, image, issue, personality and responsibility. With the juxtaposition of being green to being responsible, BP has practically achieved these with its new brand but their realisation seem farfetched. CONCLUSION: Being green or not, it is important to consider that it is the people who make our society, inhabit the planet and will be most affected by issues like pollution and global warming. The managers in BP breathe the same air and hopefully do understand their moral responsibilities. Is it a race between oil majors to make maximum profits because one day or another final damage will be done? Green colour is not all about environment but it also signifies life. Being green is about respecting life. Its is hard to consider an oil giant to be environmentally sensitive if it earns $25 billion a year and pland to invest $8 billion over a period of ten years on alternative energy sources. BP has strady increased its profits year on year and the above figures correspond to year 2005. Since then its alternative energy subsidiary has been downsized to a department, getting even lesser funding. Other than environment, it has topographically and geologically disturbed the ecosystem, thereby causing irrepairable damage. In addition to bringing harm to the environment it has also taken resort to political lobbying, human rights abuse is South America and collaborated with apartheid government of South Africa. Going to these extremes clearly shows that it is a concious attemp on BP’s side to move away from its environmental claims. Moreover, the people that have been subjected to its abuses feel compromised as the benefits of their resources is being concenrated elsewhere. Bp’s Bold move to explore oil in environmentally sensitive areas have drawn a lot of flak from agencies such as Greenpeace, Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (PRIG) and Amnesty International. BP contends that it should be allowed to drill in sensitive areas because it has the ability to operate in a manner that will not harm these unique places, We disagree with that argument. The best way to preserve biodiversity and important protected areas is not by making a best practices gamble but to not operate there at all. Justin Tatham, PRIG representative There is no match to the long term damage caused by oil companies in general, but they are not to blamed alone. It is the world’s insatiable thirst for oil from which these companies derive motivation to move forward with the plan. It is also a plausable excuse that if BP doesn’t enter a market other oil majors will, but its still worth a try on moral grounds. In order to extract oil cheaply political and military collaborations forged and put common public on the receieving end. The importance of controlling production assets has gained impetus recently as countries like Russia and Venezuela are using their oil exports as political tools and there might be a day when BP’s political lobbyists may ask for its favour. Therefore, considering its working practices, orgsnisation culture, business ethics, shifting priorities and ambiguous future strategies, it can be clearly seen that BP has not lived up to the expectations. Its going to be a decade since BP rebranded itself, this journey of transformation has been marred by accidents, employee unrests, management shuffling and awards for being the worst performing company by Greenpeace. In 2008, BP was awarded ‘Emerald Paintbrush’ award for the worrst green-wash of the year, which speaks reams about what BP has achieved with its green commitment (Jossc 2008). It can only be hoped that BP has learned from its mistakes and responsibility has also been added to its commitments, it translates these commitments into business practices to ‘think out of the barrel’ and assimilate the green vision it stands for. REFERENCES: Agle, B. R. , Mitchell, R. K. , and Sonnenfeld, J. A. 1999. â€Å"Who matters to CEOs? An investigation of stakeholder attributes and salience, corporate performance, and CEO values. † Academy of Management Journal 42:507–25. 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7 Tips to Making the Most of Your 30sÂÂ

7 Tips to Making the Most of Your 30s   Your 20s were about playing hard- finding yourself and taking risks and discovering your path. Your 30s are about hard work and laying down foundations. But it’s easy to get swept up with work, relationships, and family life and forget the most important things. Here are a few tips to help you fend off a case of the regrets.1. Stay on MessageSuccess isn’t just measured in money and accumulated stuff. And choosing a career that seems safe and lucrative now can lead to feelings of meaninglessness later. You’ve spent your 20s figuring out who you are. Now spend your 30s developing your purpose, and make following that purpose your number one obsession. It will get you out of the rat race and onto your own course, with your own personal finish line to sprint towards.2. Set Yourself UpBig spender? The bad habits you picked up in your 20s are carrying over- maybe even getting worse now that you’re making a bit more money. Rather than spending all of your surplus income on luxuries and treats, remember that every dollar you save now can grow and actually earn you more security later on.3. Make MemoriesJust because these are your primo working years doesn’t mean you should be working all the time. Make sure you carve out space in your schedule for maintaining important relationships with your family and friends. Keeping loved ones close can be very fulfilling and can even make you more productive.4. Pay Back Your ParentsDon’t take your biggest fans for granted. In building a life for yourself, it’s easy to lose track of time. Don’t forget, however, that your parents aren’t getting any younger, and they won’t be around forever. Make sure you carve out a bit of time to spend with them.5. Stay HealthyYou can’t get away with the bad habits or the junk food of your 20s anymore. Exercise, eat right, limit stress, and keep control of your vices. Set yourself up for success- and have the energy to enj oy it!6. Don’t Wait Until You’re ReadyThere’s never a perfect time to start a family, and no one is ever totally prepared. Don’t wait until you feel perfectly ready to have a child, or you’ll be waiting forever and one day it will be too late.7. Have FunDon’t spend the early part of your adulthood working too much and chasing money. Life is meant to be shared and enjoyed. Go on dates with your partner, start a family, go on trips, spend time with your friends. You might have all the money in the world, but it won’t be worth a thing if you are too miserable to enjoy it.The 7 Biggest Career and Life Mistakes You Can Make in Your 30s

What Does it Take to Get Into North Carolina State Universityâ€Raleigh?

North Carolina State University’s acceptance rate is 46%. What does it take to get in? North Carolina State University, located in Raleigh, is a large public research university known for its value and programs dedicated to the state’s key industries, such as natural resources and textiles. With an enrollment of 35,000 students, NC State is one of the largest schools in the country. It is home to 12 colleges offering programs across all disciplines, with more than 100 undergraduate majors. It also offers more than 100 master’s degrees and over 60 doctoral degrees. NC State is respected for the value of its education; it currently holds a top 10 ranking from U.S. News and World Report for Best Value Among U.S. Public Universities. In-state students currently pay just over $9,000 for tuition and fees. It is ranked 32nd for Top Public Schools and lands in the top 15 for its programs in both industry and agriculture. To learn more about how your high schooler can earn acceptance to NC State, don’t miss this post. NC State accepts the Common Application or the Coalition Application . Your student only need to fill out one of the two. If they’re applying to other schools on one of the platforms, it’s usually easiest to continue using that one. There are several different application deadlines that potential applicants should be aware of. Early Action applications are due October 15. In addition, some majors and scholarships have application deadlines of October 15. Most notably, this includes all studio majors. Regular Decision applications are due January 15. For a complete overview, see the NC State Dates and Deadlines page . For a complete application, your high schooler also must submit: Teacher recommendations are neither required or recommended for admissions to NC State. Alternatively, students may choose to submit one counselor recommendation, which will be reviewed as supplemental material by the admissions committee. NC State is considered a moderately selective college. In 2018, NC State received over 29,000 applications for 4,500 seats. However, because only a fraction of accepted students ultimately enroll, far more students are offered a placed in the incoming class.   In 2018, the acceptance rate at NC State was 46%. The students accepted to NC State represent a diverse body hailing from all across the country. In 2018, accepted students came from all 100 of North Carolina’s counties, all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. First of all, to even be considered for admission to NC State, students must fulfill some basic requirements in high school. All applicants must complete at least 15 credit units. These must include four units of English and math, three units of science (at least one of which must be a lab class), two units of a foreign language, and one unit each of social studies and history. Beyond the basic requirements, applicants to NC State must present a strong academic record and solid standardized test scores. In fact, the factors considered most important by the admissions committee are the rigor of your secondary school classes, your class rank, your GPA, and your test scores. Many other factors are also considered, including essays, recommendation, extracurriculars, and personal characteristics. While these factors are weighed in the big picture, they aren’t nearly as important as your child’s academic record and test scores.   Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school. Score a 1390 or higher on your SAT, or a 31 or higher on your ACT. Test scores are very important to the admissions committee at NC State. By hitting these out of the park, your student will really shine. In 2018, the average SAT score of accepted students was 1344 and the average ACT score was 29. Average won’t be enough, however, if your high schooler wants to rise above the crowd. To do that, they should aim to achieve a score in the top 25%. For the SAT, the magic number is 1390, and for the ACT, it’s 31. For help preparing for your SAT, consider the benefits of ’s customized SAT Tutoring Program , where the brightest tutors in the industry guide students to an average score increase of 250 points. Maintain a strong GPA. Again, we can’t stress enough how important academics are to your teen’s chances. 59% of students admitted to NC State in 2018 achieved an unweighted GPA of 3.75 or above. Weighted GPAs were well over 4.0, as NC State applicants usually take a heavy course load. Of students admitted in 2018, nearly a third took dual enrollment classes and 70% took AP classes. Your student should keep their grades up and take challenging classes if they want a shot at NC State. Apply Early Action. NC State is one of the schools that does admit students at a slightly higher rate when they apply through the early action program. If your student wants to maximize their chances in every way possible, have them apply through early action. The acceptance rate last year through early action was 50%, compared to the overall acceptance rate of 46%.    On the one hand, NC State accepts nearly half of all applicants. On the other hand, slightly more than half of all applicants are ultimately rejected. If your high schooler gets rejected, they’re actually among the majority. The bad news is that NC State doesn’t really use its waitlist very actively. In 2018, over 4000 students accepted spots on the waitlist, but only 20 were ultimately accepted. That means less than 1% of students on the waitlist were ultimately accepted. NC State does accept transfer applicants, but the standards for admissions are similar to the standards for first-year students. This means that if a student is rejected during first-year admissions, they’ll need to up their game to be accepted as a transfer. If they can achieve great grades and prove their academic abilities at another college, they might just have a shot at transferring later. That being said, a student’s first priority should be finding another great school to attend where they’re just as likely to thrive. With thousands of options, there is a good fit out there for everyone. For help adjusting to a different school, they can read our post, Envisioning a New Future: Preparing for Life at Your Second-Choice (or Third, or Fourth) School . For more assistance on your teen’s college application to North Carolina State University at Raleigh or anywhere else, consider enlisting the help of ’s Applications Guidance service. Here, your high schooler will be paired with a personal admissions specialist from a top college who can provide step-by-step guidance through the entire application process.  

Ernest Rutherford Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ernest Rutherford - Assignment Example Eventually, he came up with the term half-life as the time it takes for the radioactive materials to disintegrate. Earnest‘s contribution in nuclear physics has contributed to a great deal in the area of modern physics and chemistry (Weisstein 1). The concept of radioactivity, especially the alpha, beta, and gamma rays is the basis of understanding how solar radiation reaches the earth and the overall effect on atmospheric temperature. Earnest found that gamma rays were of high frequencies and if they reached the earths surface, the temperatures could be high and unbearable for the inhabitants. On the other hand, the discovery of the nucleus of individual elements is the basis for the modern nuclear energy (Mahanti 1). The concept is useful in providing alternatively cleaner sources of energy. According to CENTER FOR HISTORY OF PHYSICS AT AIP, Ernests experiments have a significant effect on my understanding of how X-rays work. X-rays, as one of the elements of the electromagnetic spectrum, is useful for me to an individual for diagnosis of bone fractures and checking on my internal organs. On the other hand, sun’s irradiation on the earth is an issue affecting every person. The intensity of global warming and climate change requires good knowledge of how the sun irradiates the earths surface. Discovery of nuclear physics is also the basis of modern energy thus useful in my understanding of providing alternatives to non-renewable sources of energy (Henley, Ernest, and Stephen 23). CENTER FOR HISTORY OF PHYSICS AT AIP. Alpha Particles and the Atom Rutherford at Manchester, 1907–1919. 2015. Web. Accessed from

Foreign Market Entry and Diversification Research Paper

Foreign Market Entry and Diversification - Research Paper Example Argument for diversification of your business Diversification is a much hyped topic and forms a part of strategic decisions and firm’s needs to decide whether they should diversify or not to diversify. It has been the most debated topic by business and it has been said that firms which has the resources and capability to diversify should g for diversification as most of the businesses planning to go for diversification often fails. Diversification involves the highest level of risk but still firm opt for diversification strategy solely for one reason is to create synergy. The publishing company may diversify for better opportunities, to leverage the competencies as well as capabilities by way of expanding into business where the firm’s resources can be used as competitive assets. Also to some extend diversifying will help the company to minimize the risk but as pointed earlier the risk involved is high. There is no guarantee that the business will succeed (Rao, et al, 2 009, 228). Strategy for diversification indicating the products and industries for the diversification and how synergies may be gained from the diversified activity The publishing company which deals with books and other publishing items should continue with its business and go for related diversification. ... Thus the publishing firm may search for new business whose product, market, distribution is similar to that of its own and where acquisition would result in â€Å"synergy.† Thus the company in order to create synergy should enter into related diversification and share resources and capabilities with its existing business unit. Identification and discussion on the foreign market that the company should enter and the strategy it should use to enter the market With the growth of online and digital media, the publishing business has been undergoing significant changes. Thus considering the current situation the publishing business should diversify its business into emerging and developing countries and at the same time follows the emerging trends in the publishing industry which are like eBooks, blogs, mobile publishing along with self publishing (ICMR, 2007). While diversifying the business the publishing company can opt for strategic alliance. Strategic alliances are formed thro ugh partnership between the firms and combining the resources, capabilities and core competencies and pursue a mutual interest to develop, manufacture and also manufacture goods (KAZMI, 2008. 187). The alliance is a collaboration which aims for synergy where both the partners hopes to benefit from the other alliance and will be greater as compared to individual efforts. Other benefits which the publishing company will receive by adopting the strategic alliances is gain capabilities, much easier way to access the target market, share the financial risk and most importantly achieve synergy and competitive advantage which are the important elements that lead a business to success. Challenges that company may face in the foreign market, and how it might respond

CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES - Essay Example Three existing models are used to connect these communities of networked information; hybrid, co-op and federation. Federation combines enterprises that are self-sufficient and maintain an agreement to share and network and allow access to information via a peer to peer system. Co-op combines enterprises that are comprised of smaller enterprises using a combined data repository that share their technology and expenses. Hybrid is obviously a combination of the two which is more beneficial in larger areas where information is shared across geographical areas. Many are formed originally as non-profit and once established change to a profit status. Creating a health information network that is national should be centralized, available on the internet, be governed by both public and private organization and be patient centered, complying with all health information security protocols and standards. Cooperation between government and the public sector is essential and regional level networks need to include harmonization (Conn). Uses of health information can include quality assurance, clinical pathways, protocol development, outcome measurements, health plan performance and underwriting among many other attributes. A health information system can be used by patients, providers, case managers, drug manufacturers, insurance companies, and other payers. Despite technology advances healthcare electronic solutions continue to lag behind other areas in information technology. Electronic personal health care records allow patients to store, view, capture and share information about their health care needs. They are a combination of data, knowledge, and software tools which allow consumers to become more active in their case management. A 2009 survey indicated that 8 of 10 Americans are concerned about their health care data being used inappropriately (McGee). Medical costs are increasing patient exposure and

Dixons Retail Group e-commerce Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Dixons Retail Group e-commerce - Assignment Example III. Market Profitability This is largely determined by the five forces identified by Porter (2008) as: power of buyers, power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes and competitor rivalry. These are looked at in detail in the micro-environment section below. However, market profitability is low here because of intense competitor rivalry, strong buyers, high threat of substitutes and moderate threat of entry. IV. Industry Cost Structure According to Goldmanis et al. (2009) the introduction of e-commerce into an industry results in the shrinking and sometimes exit of high-cost firms and a shift in market share to low-cost firms, and with some additional assumptions about the firm type and consumer search cost distributions, a drop in the number of producers as well. Of the ten cost drivers related to value chain activities identified by (Porter, 1998) Primark derives its cost advantage largely from four: its vertical integration, economies of scale from the Gr oup, capacity utilisation and learning. V. Distribution Channel Dixons.co.uk leverages the centralised supply chain and distribution network of the Group’s physical stores. At Newark the company operates one of Europe’s largest distribution centres. Another Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) is located at Bristol to supply goods to all South/South west UK branches of Dixons Retail Group (Dixons Retail, 2011). Using the Group’s warehouse makes dixons.co.uk cost to serve relatively low (Chiles & Dau, 2005). VI. Market Trends Online retail industry is still largely in a state of flux due a range of factors. Firstly, the technology platform on which online retailing is based is still undergoing rapid change such as 3D virtual... According to the research findings as an e-commerce website, dixons.co.uk inherently faces three types of risks: security of customer data, consistency in order-fulfilment and accuracy in inventory management. Security risk arises because the company will have to store various forms of customer data such as contacts, purchasing habits and credit card records. The company will therefore have to invest in staff security awareness training and security technologies. With regards to order fulfilment, dixons.co.uk must ensure that it has the right processes in place that guarantees the customer receives what she ordered for in the right state, at the right location and at the right time. An effective and efficient order fulfilment process will save the company time and resources spent in handling returns and complaints. Finally, inventory management is important because it supports distribution and order fulfilment. However, the risk to be highlighted here is the synchronisation between t he items advertised on the website and the actual items available in the company’s warehouses. Consumer confidence can easily be lost in instances where customers order for a product that is no longer available at the company’s warehouse yet it is displayed on the website.A critical look at the above risks informs us that security of customer data, consistency in order-fulfilment and accuracy in inventory management are market qualifying factors in e-commerce. Hill’s methodology on marketing strategy define qualifying factors as those factors that a business must fulfil in order to be considered for business by customers.

Film Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Reflection - Essay Example It tries to explore the complex character of indigenous relationships, cultures and modern realities specifically the relationship between the fathers and sons in Native America. It is the story of one young Native man called Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) who stays with his mother Arlene (Tantoo Cardinal) in Idaho on the Coer d’Alene Indian Reservation and he has always abhorred his father and is trying to forgive him. After Victor finds out in the beginning of the film that Arnold his father is dead, he and Thomas his childhood friend set on a journey to pick his father’s ashes. During their journey, the two friends struggle with the constraints of forgiveness even as Victor begins to heal. It starts in the reservation in 1998 and there is a flashback to the 4th of July 1976 when there was a celebration of the â€Å"white man’s Independence Day†. It included holding the largest house party. As Thomas narrates over the image of a burning house. Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) accidentally sets fire to his neighbor’s house. The fire was uncontrollable and it ended up killing the couple who lived there but their baby was rescued by Joseph from the inferno after Thomas the baby was thrown out of the second story window from the burning house. The lucky rescued baby; Thomas (Evan Adams) is raised together with Victor who are almost of the same age by his grandmother. The grandmother offered her appreciation to Victor for saving Thomas and she told him he had done a good thing, but Arnold replied amidst tears that he did not mean to save Thomas. This tension which is the result of Arnold’s admission that he never intended to do good sets the tone for the entire film. Joseph shaves his hair in mourning but keeps drinking in desperation due to the inferno and its results. When Victor at 12 years old sees how his parents drunk, he got

CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CURRENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES - Essay Example Three existing models are used to connect these communities of networked information; hybrid, co-op and federation. Federation combines enterprises that are self-sufficient and maintain an agreement to share and network and allow access to information via a peer to peer system. Co-op combines enterprises that are comprised of smaller enterprises using a combined data repository that share their technology and expenses. Hybrid is obviously a combination of the two which is more beneficial in larger areas where information is shared across geographical areas. Many are formed originally as non-profit and once established change to a profit status. Creating a health information network that is national should be centralized, available on the internet, be governed by both public and private organization and be patient centered, complying with all health information security protocols and standards. Cooperation between government and the public sector is essential and regional level networks need to include harmonization (Conn). Uses of health information can include quality assurance, clinical pathways, protocol development, outcome measurements, health plan performance and underwriting among many other attributes. A health information system can be used by patients, providers, case managers, drug manufacturers, insurance companies, and other payers. Despite technology advances healthcare electronic solutions continue to lag behind other areas in information technology. Electronic personal health care records allow patients to store, view, capture and share information about their health care needs. They are a combination of data, knowledge, and software tools which allow consumers to become more active in their case management. A 2009 survey indicated that 8 of 10 Americans are concerned about their health care data being used inappropriately (McGee). Medical costs are increasing patient exposure and

Film Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Film Reflection - Essay Example It tries to explore the complex character of indigenous relationships, cultures and modern realities specifically the relationship between the fathers and sons in Native America. It is the story of one young Native man called Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) who stays with his mother Arlene (Tantoo Cardinal) in Idaho on the Coer d’Alene Indian Reservation and he has always abhorred his father and is trying to forgive him. After Victor finds out in the beginning of the film that Arnold his father is dead, he and Thomas his childhood friend set on a journey to pick his father’s ashes. During their journey, the two friends struggle with the constraints of forgiveness even as Victor begins to heal. It starts in the reservation in 1998 and there is a flashback to the 4th of July 1976 when there was a celebration of the â€Å"white man’s Independence Day†. It included holding the largest house party. As Thomas narrates over the image of a burning house. Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer) accidentally sets fire to his neighbor’s house. The fire was uncontrollable and it ended up killing the couple who lived there but their baby was rescued by Joseph from the inferno after Thomas the baby was thrown out of the second story window from the burning house. The lucky rescued baby; Thomas (Evan Adams) is raised together with Victor who are almost of the same age by his grandmother. The grandmother offered her appreciation to Victor for saving Thomas and she told him he had done a good thing, but Arnold replied amidst tears that he did not mean to save Thomas. This tension which is the result of Arnold’s admission that he never intended to do good sets the tone for the entire film. Joseph shaves his hair in mourning but keeps drinking in desperation due to the inferno and its results. When Victor at 12 years old sees how his parents drunk, he got

Smart Grid Essay Example for Free

Smart Grid Essay The current electricity infrastructure in the Unites States consists of one way â€Å"communication† between the electric company and the homes receiving the electricity with the communication coming from the electric company to the homes. The current electricity infrastructure in the United States is more than 100 years old and because of this fact, it is outdated resulting in a great lack of efficiency. There is no way for the electricity company to obtain information from the individual homes pertaining to actual usage. Smart grids allows for two way communications between the electricity company and the homes allowing both electric companies and homes to operate more efficiently. This two way communication will allow home users to cut costs by efficiently utilizing energy. Smart grids will also allow the electricity companies to raise prices when the demand is high and lower prices when the demand is low. Mirroring the price advantage, smart grids will allow the user to dictate the usage of appliances that may have a significant impact on their utility bills. Knowledge of the user’s consumption will also help in making decisions that the electricity company can use to be more efficient. Smart grid technology is the evolution of the current electricity infrastructure that will continue to evolve if accepted. Development of smart grids will need management inputs especially when deciding the benefits, or lack thereof. The financial issues that are already on the table and future issues will determine whether or not smart grids will ultimately become a detriment or a true asset. Management will also have to make decisions in the design or redesign process so that the final product is as efficient as possible. Organizations could be affected depending on the opinion of the end user. If the end user, for whatever reason, decides that smart grids are not beneficial enough and refuse to buy into the system, the organizations will feel the negative impact throughout due to this lack of participation. If people decide to simply stop using appliances or turn down temperatures instead, the organizations will lose money. Issues with technology will essentially be based on the fact that the entire system will need to be redesigned and implemented. There will be great costs involved in all of the aspects needed for smart grids. Between the networks needed for two ways communication, monitoring devices at the electricity company as well as the dashboard needed at each home will result in a very high operating and implementation cost. There are various situations that would hamper the development of smart grids. I feel the main hindrance would be the attempt to get end users comfortable with the user interface. Although people are more tech savvy today, a poorly designed and difficult to use user interface will frustrate people to the point that they would no longer buy into the concept. On that same note, some people will question whether letting the electricity company control their devices is in their best interest. They will understandably question the integrity of electricity companies and wonder if they are actually and honestly trying to save them as much money as possible of just enough money to seem efficient. The ultimate cost of developing smart grids and the means of financing it is also a point that could hamper the development. Although assistance will be gained from the government, the remaining costs have to either be funded privately or by the end user. The transition itself could also hamper development. The simple concept of switching from the current infrastructure to smart grids will not be an easy task especially if there is some backlash from the consumer. Another area of our infrastructure that could use smart technology is water. Just like smart grids, some type of smart technology for water could curtail the over usage of water that is prevalent today. The over usage of sprinklers, showers, tubs, pools could be exposed if they were monitored. Most people do not and will not realize this over usage until it is shown to them. Smart water technology can show the consumer the adequate levels for pools or the tub, the adequate time needed to water a lawn or take a shower. There are always signs about being wasteful with water, â€Å"dry days† to conserve water, and â€Å"watering times† that people can use their watering devices. With smart water technology, these things can be done electronically and could alleviate the issues of having those people who do not care about water conservation ignoring the need. Water conservation is just as important as energy conservation and I feel that people would be more trustful and willing to let a company control this aspect of their everyday lives without feeling like profits are the forefront of the actions. I’m not for or against my home or community being a part of a smart grid but if I HAD to make a decision I would so no. I think that there is enough education out here to realize the need to conserve energy and the tools needed to do it. Mainly the simple fact of turning down or off appliances when it is not needed will suffice. A product such as the NEST thermometer does the same thing as a smart grid would without the intrusion of the electricity company. The cost of a NEST thermometer would be a great deal less than having to invest in the installation of a dashboard for the home. Also, would everyone be forced to buy into smart grids or would those on smart grids have a separate electricity company to deal with. And if so, what is the end result of having to separate the two in the same neighborhood, on the same street. Would they still pay the same rates or will those who decide not to switch end up paying more, or vice versa. I simply feel that there would be more issues to deal with if the switch was made instead of just educating people on how to personally conserve energy like we currently do.