Thursday, December 26, 2019

Renewable Power Generation Can Help Countries Meet Their...

INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION Renewable power generation can help countries meet their sustainable development goals through provision of access to clean, secure, reliable and affordable energy. Renewable energy has gone mainstream, accounting for the majority of capacity additions in power generation today. Tens of gigawatts of wind, hydropower and solar photovoltaic capacity are installed worldwide every year in a renewable energy market that is worth more than a hundred billion USD annually. Other renewable power technology markets are also emerging. Recent years have seen dramatic reductions in renewable energy technologies’ costs as a result of research and development (RD) and accelerated deployment. The development of wind†¦show more content†¦In 2015, Egypt added 200 MW of new wind power, bringing the country’s total wind capacity to 810 MW. Egypt’s wind farms are located in three regions along the Red Sea coast: the biggest one is the 545 megawatt Zafar Ana wind farm consisting of 700 turbines; the 200 MW Gabal El Zayet wind farm was inaugurated in November 2015, and consists of 134 turbines; and the 5 MW Hurghada wind farm. By the end of 2015 South Africa had over 500 wind turbines producing a total of 1GW (Fried, et al., 2015). By the end of 2015 the number of countries with more than 1,000 MW installed capacity was 26: including 17 in Europe; 4 in Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan Australia); 3 in North America (Canada, Mexico, US), 1 in Latin America (Brazil) and 1 in Africa (South Africa). By the end of the same year eight countries had more than 10,000 MW of installed capacity including China (145,362 MW), the US (74,471 MW), Germany (44,947 MW), India (25,088 MW), Spain (23,025 MW), UK (13,603 MW), Canada (11,205 MW), and France (10,358 MW) (Fried, et al., 2015). 1.2 BACKGROUND Zimbabwe has a low average annual wind speed of 3 m/s. Midlands has considerably higher wind speeds than the rest of the country, between 3m/s and 6m/s. This speed can be considered low for power generation (Hove, et al., 2014). The designs of industrial wind turbines on the market today work at wind speeds that are above the midlands average. Current turbine designs are not well suited for suchShow MoreRelatedA Critical Analysis Of Sustainable Development Strategies1634 Words   |  7 PagesA Critical Analysis of Sustainable Development Strategies in Morocco Introduction Morocco is a developing country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. The Moroccan economy is predominantly reliant in agriculture, however in recent times the country has been forced to expand and diversify this due to environmental pressures (African Development Bank 2012). These pressures have been caused by a variety of factors including increased population growth and a heavy reliance on fossil fuels forRead MoreSustainability and Walmart1602 Words   |  7 PagesFrancois, Chris Hiniker, George Lance FIN370 July 29, 2013 Laura Haase Walmart’s Strategic Initiative Strategic planning is a goal of most if not all companies that exist. Some may use this form of planning on a small scale and meet about things such as improving satisfaction ratings or improving the company’s website. Others meet about larger goals that can change and improve the image and branding of a company. That is the case with Walmart. According to Walmart (2013), the company has beenRead MorePolicy Brief On Sustainable Energy And Green Industry Puerto Rico1703 Words   |  7 PagesPolicy brief on sustainable energy/green industry Puerto Rico Purpose section According to United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) the term green industry is defined as an industry that ensures sustainable and viable future with no harm on our environment (UNIDO 2016). In Puerto Rico, manufacturing industry accounts for about 46.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This indicates that Puerto Rico is highly dependent on different manufacturing industries for its revenue. SimilarlyRead MoreCan Sustainable Energy and Fossil Fuel Co-Exist1389 Words   |  6 PagesCan Sustainable Energy and Fossil Fuel Co-Exist? In recent years, the question of America’s power source has been the topic on more than a few dinner and boardroom tables across the country. In fact, it is even talked about in the offices of governors and the POTUS. The reason why so many people are raising this question is the rise in petroleum prices and the depletion of natural resources. The rising prices of petroleum is not a new thing; It has happening for decades, but the American peopleRead MoreSustainable Opportunities For Reducing Carbon Emissions And Climate Change Essay1388 Words   |  6 PagesTruth). This popular awareness and urgency is spurring change in every corner of society as governments, organizations, and individuals reexamine their impacts on the environment and adopt sustainable or green measures to reduce those impacts. Every aspect of life must be reexamined to determine sustainable opportunities for reducing carbon emissions and climate change through conservation practices and alternative techn ologies, such as biofuels. Although the collective focus on sustainabilityRead MoreRole of Australias Government Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development2646 Words   |  11 Pages1 II- Rationale: Renewable energy and sustainable development 2 III- Why Australian Government should lead the initiative? 4 IV- Governmental initiatives 6 V- Supply side interventions: Rebates and feed-in tariffs 8 VI- Conclusion 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction Renewable energy is derived from sources that are naturally replenish-able and supply of energy from these sources is infinite. The main purposes served by using renewable energy are many such as generation of power, transport fuelRead MoreSustainability in Mauritius7180 Words   |  29 PagesSustainable Mauritius Brundtland report (1987) has defined the term sustainable development as the development that meets the needs for the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs Sustainable development and planning is structured essentially around 3 elements: economic growth, social development and environmental protection. While development is associated with social development, it is also associated with environmental disasters if the developmentRead MoreThe Importance Of Producing A Sustainable Work System867 Words   |  4 Pagesproducing a sustainable work system to every company in all countries. It is extremely important for companies to assimilate and balance out their social, environment, and economic factors. The expansion of the population and the financial industries has led to an increase of stress on our natural resources. This is creating a severe challenge for the decades ahead which is why it is imperative for companies to enforce a sustainable work system. The Brundtland Commission described it as â€Å"development thatRead MoreWhy Did Lans Join Aseann1465 Words   |  6 PagesIn 1990s, Laos agreed and joined AFTA in order to join ASEAN, but was given longer time frames in which to meet AFTAs tariff reduction obligations [7]. AFTA, with its main goal, to increase ASEANs competiti ve edge as a production base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers; and to attract more foreign direct investment to ASEAN, used the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme as the main mechanism, which comprises a schedule forRead MoreSustainability Position Paper : Natural Resources And Technology1652 Words   |  7 PagesWe live in a developed world where natural resources as being consumed very fast and this is something that needs to change. Sustainability is also about thinking what the long term effects of our actions will have in the coming future. The mains goals of sustainability are: to end poverty, improve healthcare, increase education and develop economic growth. This essay will discuss natural resources and overpopulation and how they will affect the coming future. Natural Resources and Sustainability

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Effects of Social Networking on Business Growth Development

CHAPTER ONE introduction The advent of the Atomic or Space Age has focused attention on the specific approach to business decision making. In no field of management has this been more pronounced than in the field of marketing. Following naturally from the more advanced technologically progress and higher standard of living in Canada, the United States and other developed economies, scientific marketing has made greater strides in North America than if has anywhere else in the world. The changes have been swift and far-reaching. The dynamic characteristics of the North American economy have been fully demonstrated in what has been aptly described as a â€Å"marketing revolution†, equaling in importance the industrial revolution of a†¦show more content†¦AN OVERVIEW OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Dr. Iheanyi C. Achuma: When we look into the market place, it is not always easy to tell what is happening, let alone why. It is easy for consumer to get lost among all the complex inter-relations of the market. As the leisure time becomes more important, the society getting more dynamic and unpredictable, attitude towards work, goods and services change, the word â€Å"consumption itself is being reinterpreted. It is enough to see chills running up and down the procedures of goods and services. The shock waves that originate with product failures or dissatisfied consumers is ill wind that does nobody any good. The effects of such shock waves are bound to radiate throughout the entire economy and society. The question then is can’t this situation be avoided or controlled? The answer is fairly simple but economically important. Consumption is a fundamental part of every economic and social system and changes in consumer behavior have varying implications for the whole society. Consumption patterns reflect the personality of the individual. Fundamental institutions are not left out because a great deal of consumption takes place through the family. Consumption and society are related in some other ways too. Consumption is in part culturally determined and thus can be held up as a mirror of society. The thingsShow MoreRelatedAs The World Is Growing, The Social Media Network Is Growing1721 Words   |  7 Pagesworld is growing, the social media network is growing vastly and rapidly as well. We have various social media sites present in the world among which some of the widely used are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Similarly, if we investigate, there would more other so cial media sites that the people have been using in their daily life. Social networking sites which are part of social media are playing a very vital role for the companies and their growth. Social networking sites are helping theRead MoreThe Growing Relevance And Role Of Web Based Technologies1547 Words   |  7 PagesSocial Media Today The growing relevance and role of web-based technologies in supporting â€Å"firm operations† is widely acknowledged both by practitioners and academics (Hanafizadeh, Hanafizadeh, Khodabakhshi, 2010). The explosion of social media across the globe has impacted personal and professional communications and has opened up a variety of opportunities for interaction with communities, regions and businesses across the world. Businesses now, and more importantly in the future, are nowRead MoreInternet Technology And Its Effects On The World945 Words   |  4 Pagestechnology is one of the booming industries in the world. These development increases transform of social and economic results or significance on various perspectives of our daily activities. It provides us with unlimited resource of everything in the world. Some of the main reasons that made internet indispensable in our daily activities are: - it is the main vehicle of social networking and entertainment, it creates a n easy environment for business activities and it’s a tremendous player in educationalRead MoreThe Sociological Push Factors That Influence Women Decision Of The Workforce And Work For Somebody Else s Companies1384 Words   |  6 Pageswithout taking into account their level of productivity for the company benefits. This social discrimination is called the glass ceiling effect. Studies have been conducted to find out what kind of women (educated versus non educated), or social status is most likely to experience the glass ceiling effect. In her recent findings, Weinberger (2011) suggested that only two subsets of women experience slower earnings growth: young mothers and women with exceptionally high earning levels. Although women inRead MoreSocial Media1460 Words   |  6 PagesThe Social Web: Voluntarily Tangled Mila Rokdack INF103: Computer Literacy Michael Chu June 24th, 2013 The social web is a set of social relations that link people through the World Wide Web. Websites have various functions and uses, but the most popular these days, are that of the social realm. Now days, people rarely pick up the phone and call each other. We no longer mail photographs to loved ones with letters attached. If we want to catch up with someone, we don’t write or call, weRead MoreExample Chapter1 of Research Paper1725 Words   |  7 Pagesand capable of connecting with anyone, anywhere at any given time. The development of different gadgets truly changed the lifestyle ok the people. According to an article by an unknown author, although the web or the internet was full of different and interesting information, there was little or no opportunity to participate or contribute to the growth of the media. However, upon the development of social networking sites, the web was opened to the world and was able to fulfill its purpose:Read MoreSocial Media and Networking1019 Words   |  5 PagesFind below an essay I whipped up this morning in class on social media and networking, their implications, advantages, limitations, and effects on society. I d appreciate any feedback and correction of factual errors. It was a lot of fun to write :) A social network is a structure of individuals and organizations that models their relations to one another. They are not unique to the Web, but their manifestation as data has lent itself to be analyzed. Special attention can be paid to the mathematicalRead MoreColl1273 Words   |  6 Pagesinformation,... Pro and con of the social web 1. What is Web 2.0? a) Where did it start from? b) Sharing information? c) Who can share this info? 2. What are the good things about social-web? a) Easier communication Advertising b) Great way to learn c) People connected together by common interests 3. What are the cons of using the social-web? a) No Privacy b) Cyber bulling c) Identity theft and fraud. d) Keeping kids safe 4. Ways we can make the social web safer and educational? Read MoreSocial Networking Sites1614 Words   |  7 PagesSocial networking sites Online social networking site is a very common tool for communicating and socializing with each other. Nowadays, most of the adolescent like to use Facebook. There is a rapid growth of the number of user of social networking sites. According the recent research, Kreutz (2009) stated that â€Å"starting from 1997 to 2010 there are some 1.5 billion users of social networking websites† (p.222). This shows that how popular the social networking site is. Although many parents thinkRead MoreBook Review: Economy and State: a Sociological Perspective Essay958 Words   |  4 Pagesneeded. Macro-economic stabilization state- this type is to help lessen the impact of the business cycle in periods of growth and downturn. The state gets involved to prevent economic crisis. Social rights state- the state focuses on the role of protection of its citizens and its social rights. Protectionist state- the state acts in a protective manner Socialist state- It is a mixed between a social rights and protectionist state. In this type of state it is a middle stage, where the government

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

International Archival Assurance Research -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The International Archival Assurance Research? Answer: Introduction According to the annual report of Woolworths Limited in 2017, it has been identified that effective corporate governance is critical to the approach of the operations in building long-term value of the shareholders. In order to ensure effective corporate governance, the organisation has formed a board that comprises of diverse range of skills, backgrounds and experience to improve the decision-making process of the organisation (Leung et al., 2014).Along with this, it has shown its commitments to targets for involvement with the communities, customers, supply chain and people to minimise the environmental impact of the business operations (Soh Martinov-Bennie, 2015). The corporate governance section of the annual report could be found in Page 26 of the annual report of the organisation. Woolworths has formed an effective audit committee, which could be found in page 12 of its annual report. The organisation has five members in its risk management and audit committee and one chairperson. The members used to attend all the meetings and they are all qualified and experienced due to its accurate composition. The focus of the audit committee is on integrity and derivative valuation models, key future assumptions like discount rate and future price and enforcement of contract terms. According to the annual report of Woolworths Limited, the audit committee joins internal management, shareholders and the external management. There are some responsibilities of this committee like the nomination of an effective external auditor expressing materiality and fairness of the audit report. Hence, the availability of audit committee is beneficial to the auditor, society and the overall organisation (Simnett, Carson Vanstraelen, 2016). References: Byrnes, P. E., Al-Awadhi, C. A., Gullvist, B., Brown-Liburd, H., Teeter, C. R., Warren Jr, J. D., Vasarhelyi, M. (2015). Evolution of auditing: From the traditional approach to the future audit.Audit Analytics,71. Farewell, S., Pinsker, R. (2015). Does Assurance on XBRLDerived Financial Statements Impact the Decisions of Nonprofessional Investors?.Management Accounting Quarterly,16(3). Knechel, W. R., Salterio, S. E. (2016).Auditing: Assurance and risk. Taylor Francis. Leung, P., Coram, P., Cooper, B. J., Richardson, P. (2014).Modern Auditing and Assurance Services 6e. Wiley. Simnett, R., Carson, E., Vanstraelen, A. (2016). International archival auditing and assurance research: Trends, methodological issues, and opportunities.Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory,35(3), 1-32. Soh, D. S., Martinov-Bennie, N. (2015). Internal auditors perceptions of their role in environmental, social and governance assurance and consulting.Managerial Auditing Journal,30(1), 80-111. William Jr, M., Glover, S., Prawitt, D. (2016).Auditing and assurance services: A systematic approach. McGraw-Hill Education. Woolworthsgroup.com.au. (2018). Retrieved 30 January 2018, from https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/188795_annual-report-2017.pdf

Monday, December 2, 2019

What General Managers Really Do Essay Example

What General Managers Really Do Essay Assessment 1:Essay by Louisa Cindy General managers are top of employee, who hold major problems and play a big role behind the organization or business. Being a manager takes a great deal of hard work, leadership, and dedication. They have responsibilities to take control, motivate, and monitoring each part of the organization. The pressure of being a manager is not as easy as what people think, they tend to be efficient and effective in the same time. In an article in the Harvard Business Review, â€Å"What effective general managers really do†, (Kotter, 2000) examined the reality of what many managers really do that seems inefficient and contrasting what Henry Mintzberg has pointed out. He found out that their activities are mostly unplanned, sometimes seems to be unimportant and they do lots of conversations that unconnected with work and they do a lot of joking. They also seldom to tell people what to do, they prefer asking or suggesting. This article also indicate that in the actual behavior manager â€Å"looks less systematic, more informal, less reflective, more reactive, less well organized, and more frivolous than a student of strategic planning systems, MIS, or organizational design would ever expect†, (Kotter, 20000, p. 156). In the key points of this article Kotter shows the reader what manager responsibilities and how they working out with uncertainty, great diversity, and also how to getting works done through a large and diverse set of people. We will write a custom essay sample on What General Managers Really Do specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What General Managers Really Do specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What General Managers Really Do specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In simple form, manager need to develop networking, it is one of the processes that will establish the mutually beneficial relationship with people or potential customers or employee. They also need to work based on agenda, agenda it self is what activities to accomplish the organizational goals. In this essay the writer think that the most essential tasks of a manager is to identify weakness, then set plans and try to achieve them in efficient and effective way while also being flexible with the changes happen in the society. When a manager can identify the organization weakness, manager nows the work field better so the manager can define the objective of the organizational goals and priorities. On the other hand, it is also help the manager to bring the company into the right direction. The writer also think that manager suppose to be a role model for the employee and they also need to comes with new ideas and concepts that will improve the quality of the organization or business. When a manager comes as an inspirational model, manager has power to affect the environment, it would help the manager easier to allocate the right resources and develop the employee’s work into optimum performance. There are four major functions in the management process, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. First of all, planning is the base function of management; all managers at all levels should take part in planning. From the experts planning is defined as â€Å"Choosing a goal and developing a method of strategy to achieve that goal† (Williams McWilliams, 2010, p. 85). Planning is important because managers plan future ways where the organization or business will go, and what needs to be accomplished from the members to achieve the organizational goals and priorities. Planning helps the manager to analyze the environment and understanding better. There are few activities that indicate planning, such as making schedule and priorities of the day, think about what should organization do in the short or long term as what Richardson did. These examples of activities do not just affect the organization but also have affect on the whole society and environment. Managers need to prepare agenda for their job, â€Å"During their six months to a year in a new job, GMs usually spend considerable time establishing their agendas† (Kotter,2000,p. 60). The agenda includes financing, product and market and also the organization completed with the goals priorities, strategies, and the development planning for the business in the future. Kotter (2000) explained agendas tend to be less detailed in financial objectives and more detailed in strategies and plans for the business or organization. â€Å"Formal plans usually focus entirely on the short or moderate run (3months-5years), while GM’s agendas tend to focus on a broader time frame which includes the immediate future (1 to 30 days) and the longer run 5 to 20 years)† (Kotter, 2000, p. 160-161). The next thing is agendas often contain lists of goals or plans that are not directly connected. However, being consistent with plan has disadvantages. First, the company might be in the wrong direction, so the company needs changes in planning. On the other hand, changes may happen unexpectedly and affect the environment; in this case plan should be flexible because the plan may not fit again with the changes happen. Organizing is one of the managerial functions in addition to planning. In the process of organizing manager needs to decide where decisions will be made, making sure the right resources, decide who will do the job and what tasks. Manager needs to make sure that plans are implemented precisely and try to accomplish it effectively and efficiently in the same time. It also involves the communication skill for facing the large number of people with diversity, inside or outside the organization that will help to accomplish the tasks. Network building is one of the most essential elements in organizing. It involves good communication skill and blend of knowledge. In network building, manager will face great diversity, very large number of people or different formal organization structure so it is essential for manager to be flexible and fair. With network building manager easier to allocate the right resources and coordinate the efforts into optimum performance. The next element is staffing, staffing is where manager decide who will do what job and what tasks. Manager needs to have smart vision where to put the employee’s skills and abilities into the right job. These elements will help the manager to develop the effectiveness and efficiency of the work. Leading in management has its function to inspiring and motivating people. Inspiring or motivating can be one of the key successes in the business today. Effective general manager can inspiring the employees simply by asking questions, suggesting, intimidate, or persuade instead of telling people what to do or give orders in a traditional sense. As Richardson did, he prefers asking question or suggesting rather than exactly telling what to do. Usually manager create meeting to influence the employees and makes them feel involve and clearly know the organizational goals. In reality there is not one day in business life without change, if the business doesn’t follow the trend or not take the step forward, the business may not successful. Creativity helps to increase productivity and attract the customer. Change it’s not what the company should afraid, because change leads to improvement. Company doesn’t deal with machine but people, people can get bored so they like changes. Controlling is one of the managerial functions besides planning, organizing, and leading. Controlling is where the manager monitoring the progress, measure the actual performance of the organization toward goal achievement. It is important because it helps manager to check errors and take corrective action. In short, effective general managers have many responsibilities in the organization and mostly involved in every action organization take. Managers handle their challenges by developing agendas and building network rather than using the formal systematic management system. On the other hand the four managerial functions, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling will also helpful for manager to work efficiently and effectively. The four essential managerial functions is like a chain, every process affect the next process, management involves planning, organizing involves setting direction, leading involves managing people in the right such as the manager need to know who will do the job and what tasks, then last but not least is controlling. The author determines the role of managers in organization and what factors to develop the organization. Kotter found effective general managers focus on agenda setting and network building. He also defined the challenges being a manager. First, â€Å"figuring out what to do to despite uncertainty, great diversity, and enormous amount of potentially relevant information† (Kotter, 2000,p. 160). And last but not least is to â€Å"getting things done through a large and diverse set of people despite while having little control over most of them† (Kotter, 2000, p. 160). In short, Kotter draws that managers use agenda setting and network building to accomplish the two challenges. Kotter also explained how manager use their network to implement their agendas. This article also shown the disconnect between the way that effective general managers actually spent their time and what experts recommend and many time management systems. In my opinion, there are no absolute measures of managerial effectiveness. Because every manager has it own way to do their job. â€Å"It is hard to fit the behavior into categories like â€Å"planning†, â€Å"organizing†, â€Å"directing†, â€Å"staffing†, (Kotter, 2000, p. 159). And managing effectiveness is not only comes from the manager but also the employees and people around them. Managers are limited by abilities and willingness of the employees so they need to have a blend of knowledge, skills, and good communication to inspiring people and coordinate their efforts to achieve optimum performance. In conclusion, after reading this article, the managerial theory shows as a guideline but doesn’t reflect the actual behavior of a manager â€Å"it seems rather hit or miss† (Kotter, 2000, p. 160). References. Kotter, J. P. (1982). What Effective General Managers Really Do. Harvard Business Review.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

90 Idioms About Tools

90 Idioms About Tools 90 Idioms About Tools 90 Idioms About Tools By Mark Nichol Hand tools have inspired a tool box full of metaphorical words and expressions. Here’s a list of many of those handy idioms. 1–5. angry/mad enough to chew nails/spit nails or ready to eat nails: enraged 6–7. another/final nail in the coffin: one of/the last of multiple factors that contribute to a failure 8–9. ax: a guitar or other instrument a musician might play while making a chopping motion (noun), or fire, reduce, remove, or terminate (verb) 10. ax to grind: grudge or motive 11. bed of nails: difficult or unpleasant situation 12. between the hammer and the anvil: facing a dilemma 13. bury the hatchet: end a dispute or feud 14. chisel (someone) out of: cheat to get something away from someone 15: chisel in: deceive or manipulate to get a share of something 16: chiseled: toned or well defined (as in facial features or body) 17. clamp down: impose controls or restrictions 18–19. coffin nail/coffin tack: a cigarette (or, rarely, a drink of liquor) 20. crowbar: insert or remove with force 21. drill: hit or propel with force 22. drill down: investigate or get to the root of 23. for want of a nail: abbreviation of a proverb illustrating that the lack of an insignificant part can have significant consequences for the whole 24–25. hammer (something) out: argue or negotiate toward an agreement, or play a piano loudly 26. hammer and tongs: with great determination and energy (as in â€Å"going at it hammer and tongs†) 27. hammer away: discuss something excessively or tediously 28. hammer home: press a point 29–30. hammer: a vehicle’s accelerator (noun), or do something with great force or persistence (verb, as in â€Å"I tried to hammer it into his thick skull†) 31. hard as nails: unfeeling or unsympathetic 32–33. has a screw loose/with a loose screw: is eccentric, mentally unbalanced, or strange/has eccentricities or is mentally unbalanced or strange 34. has one’s head screwed on right: is capable or sensible 35. hit the nail on the head: be accurate or right, or explain perceptively 36–37. nail: arrest or identify (or have sex with, but this sense is vulgar) 38. nail (one’s) colors to the mast: express opinion publicly (from the idea of attaching a flag to a ship’s mast to identify one’s national origin) 39. nail (something) down: agree on or accomplish something 40. nail (someone’s) ears back: severely scold someone 41–43. nail (someone)/nail (someone’s) hide to the wall, or nail (someone) to a cross: see â€Å"nail (someone’s) ears back† 44–45. nail (something) down: discover, or make certain or final or win decisively 46–49. nail Jell-O/jelly to a tree/the wall: try something futile (akin to â€Å"herd cats†) 50–51. on the nail: in full (as in â€Å"pay on the nail†), or under discussion (both British English) 52–53. put a wrench/monkey wrench into: disrupt or sabotage (the British English term is spanner) 54. put a nail in the coffin of (something): cause something to end or stop 55. put the hammer down: accelerate a vehicle 56–57. put/tighten the screws on (someone): pressure or threaten someone, or make something more difficult for someone 58. saw away at: move one’s arms as if in a sawing motion 59. saw wood: snore loudly 60. sawed off: short (said of a diminutive person or a shotgun with part of the barrel removed) 61–64. screw: cheat or deceive, or a jailer (also, copulate, or someone to copulate with, but these senses are vulgar) 65–66. screw around/off: waste time or act aimlessly 67–70. screw (someone) around/screw around with (someone): bother or harass (â€Å"screw around with (someone)† also means â€Å"copulate with† or â€Å"be promiscuous,† but these senses are vulgar) 71. screw around with (something): fiddle or play with 72. screw (one’s) courage to the sticking place: have courage or resolution 73. screw (someone) out of: cheat or deceive to deprive someone of something 74–75. screw (one) over: betray, or see â€Å"nail (one’s) ears back† 76. screw the pooch: make a significant mistake (vulgar) 77. screw up: make a mistake 78. screw up (one’s) courage: force (oneself) to be brave 79. screw up (one’s) face: make an unpleasant expression 80. screwed: in trouble 81–82. screwed up: made a mistake (verb phrase), or flawed or ruined (adjective) 83. take a hammering: suffer a severe attack or loss 84. tool: an unlikeable or easily deceived person 85. tool around: drive quickly but aimlessly 86. tools of the trade: whatever is associated with, or required to do, a job 87. tough as nails: determined 88. turn of the screw: an action that worsens a bad situation 89. under the hammer: for sale (alluding to an auctioneer’s hammer) 90. wrench: mechanic Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely?34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better WriterHow to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children... and Your CEO

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Fiji Water Essays

Fiji Water Essays Fiji Water Essay Fiji Water Essay FIJI Water has late been accused of greenwashing. Greenwashing is a term that is used to depict companies that mislead their consumers into believing that they are an environmentally safe company. With the menace of planetary warming due to greenhouse gases. many people have become highly sensitive to companies that aren’t making their portion to maintain the universe a great topographic point to populate for 1000s of old ages to come. This has caused jobs for FIJI Water because their concern is successful merely if they are able to acquire consumers to purchase their H2O even though they aren’t an environmentally friendly company. Fiji. an island located in the center of the Pacific Ocean. has to transport bottled H2O 5. 500 stat mis to the United States. which produces 216. 000. 000 lbs of nursery gases per trip. This has a immense impact on the environment and therefore has led to many environmentalists onslaughts due to FIJI Water’s claim to travel C negative. FIJI Water promised to cut down their packaging by 20 per centum per twelvemonth. supply at least 50 per centum of the energy used at its workss with renewable energy. optimized logistics and utilize more carbon-efficient transits manners. restore degraded grasslands in Fiji. and back up recycling plans for fictile bottles. They claimed that this would hold a net decrease of C in the ambiance. and used the slogan every bead is green to typify that their company wasn’t making any injury to the environment. : While they promised this and created a web site to demo that they were traveling C negative. there were no Numberss to turn out that they really accomplished what they intended to make. I wholly agree with the environmentalists that they are greenwashing because it’s difficult to believe that a company exporting 90 per centum of their merchandises to topographic points that are 1000s of stat mis off and breathe a ton of nursery gases would be able to be carbon negative. Some companies don’t acquire caught for their greenwashing. but when it’s wholly obvious it’s difficult to gull clients. particularly environmentalists.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Robot Lab Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Robot Lab Report - Essay Example To define more precisely, Robot is â€Å"a device that automatically performs complicated often repetitive tasks† (merriam-webster). The task is instructed to the robot in the form of programs using any programming language. Robot can either be guided using a remote control or can be made completely automatic by pre-defining the directions in the program thereby replacing the complete human interventions. One such application of automated robots would be in industries where these robots handle tasks like cutting, welding, packing and moving to the correct destinations and so on, thereby increasing productivity, safety and profitability. Though the initial cost of purchasing a robot is comparatively higher, the advantages they offer simply overwhelms them. As a part of our Robot study course, we have designed and programmed one such automated robot using Lego NXT, a programmable robotics kit from Lego. Lego NXT comes with a brick shaped device called NXT Intelligent Brick which forms the brain of the robot. This device can be thought of an intelligent micro computer that can be programmable with many compatible programming languages. It can operate with up to four sensors and up to three motors. It also comes with an in-built LCD display and necessary buttons to navigate the user interfaces using hierarchical menus and a speaker to play sound files. Simple programs can be developed using this menus and more complicated programs can be downloaded through USB or Bluetooth. Though it can be programmed with many compatible languages, we have chosen Lejos, a high level open source language based on Java, for programming the device. A step by step procedure on how we have developed the robot is summarized below: Sensor Calibration: â€Å"A sensor (also called detector) is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument† (Wikipedia). Sensor is like an eye for the Robot, without which they are actually blind. A robot uses sensors for detecting what is happening around them so that they can respond or react to varying circumstances. In our design, we have used a simple ultrasonic sensor. This ultrasonic sensor is attached to the Lego NXT brick and series of measurement were taken in order to calibrate the sensor. The various factors involved in sensor calibration include sensitivity- the smallest change in input that will be detectable in the output, range- the minimum and maximum distances it a can measure, precision- the degree of reproducibility of a measurement i.e if the same value were measured a multiple of times, and good sensor would output exactly the same value every time, resolution- the smallest detectable incremental change of input parameter that can be measured in the output signal, accuracy- the maximum difference between the actual value (which can be measured by a ruler) and the indicated value at the output of the sensor, linearity- an ex pression of the extent to which the actual measured curve of a sensor departs from the ideal straight line and Hysteresis- the measure of capability of the sensor to follow the changes of the input parameter regardless of which direction the change is made. The measurement for each factor is recorded and the device is calibrated. Odometry and Dead Reckoning: Now that we have calibrated the sensor for the robot to recognize when to respond, the next step is to help the robot know

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Football Hooliganism. Causes of Football Hooliganism Essay

Football Hooliganism. Causes of Football Hooliganism - Essay Example Britain is one of the most popular places of football activity and this is well represented through the ever increasing fan following of the charismatic English premier league. Historical evidence shows that football attendance had dropped down significantly after the Second World War. This decline thereafter was compensated by the increased presence of spectators in knockout tournament and European Club competitions. In last thirty years and to be precise since the depressing 1985-86 season that immediately succeeded the ‘Heysel’ tragedy, number of spectators of English football increased every year. The statistics available supports the aforesaid fact. In a span of 10 years (1985-86 to 1995-96) football spectators of English football increased from 16.5 million to 21.8 million. It has also been estimated that each year around 4 to 5 million people gather to attend the football match between England and Wales. Though these figures are subject to significant doubt, yet t hey truly represent the general picture. Football hooliganism has been around for as long as there has been football itself, and it is present in every country. Typically this menace is more evident in those countries where the sport is played seriously and there is an organized league in place. It is one of the most discussed problems in modern sport and has been the subject of many debates among FIFA and UEFA member states (Football and Football Hooliganism, 2001, p.1). â€Å"Hooliganism† In Football There is no specific definition for hooliganism in football. The term hooliganism in football was coined by the media and much credit goes to the tabloid press that during 1960 was the foremost proponent of the mentioned term. Since then, the term ‘hooligan’ has been flexibly used in different incidents that occur in football matches around the world. According to most of the experts, hooliganism in football matches implies to different incidents of violence and di sorders that occur during the matches. The incidents taking place might occur amongst the fans or amongst the players involved in the game. There are two types of disarrays that have been termed as ‘hooliganism’. Firstly, impulsive and typically low level disorder that is provoked by fans at or around football matches. For example, this type of disorder is common in away matches for England. Second type of disorder is purposeful and planned violence that occurs due to substantial involvement of gangs, who belongs to specific football clubs. These gangs tend to get into a fight with rival fans who are dedicated to other clubs (Pearson, 2007). Frenzied fans use violence as resource to create and recreate their ‘hooligan gangs’. (King, 2001, p.568) In away matches the fans of visiting teams often get into fights with fans of the home teams more because they can avoid getting arrested because of presence of large crowds. (Levinson, 2002, p.1555) Football hoolig anism became recognized by the government and media as a stern problem during the year 1960. The hooligan behaviour in football has a long history. Reportedly, the ‘roughs’ were regularly the main cause of hooligan behaviour in the football matches during the end of the nineteenth century. Some clubs were located in mainly tough regions that have long records of hooliganism from the crowds. In the early era of football games, the local ‘derby’ matches provoked the worst problems. The visiting team faced the maximum problem, as the hostile crowds of the home team harassed the referee and the visiting team; the harassment sometimes led to physical torture also. This primarily occurred due to the domination of the home fans, as they

Sunday, November 17, 2019

What Type of Parent I Will Be Essay Example for Free

What Type of Parent I Will Be Essay To be able to decide what type of parent I will be and discuss my issues I feel I may come across when the time comes; I first need to decide what style of parent I feel I will have. In order to do this I have researched Dr. Diane Baumrind’s three styles of parenting; permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian. (Baumrind, 1967). All three of these styles vary dramatically but the one I feel I would fit into the most would be the authoritative style of parenting. By Dr. Baumrind’s definition that is: a parent that attempts to direct the child’s activities but in a rational, issue-oriented manner. The parent encourages verbal give and take, shares with the child the reasoning behind her policy, and solicits his objections when he refuses to conform. Both autonomous self-will and disciplined conformity are valued. Therefore the parents exert firm control at points of parent-child divergence, but does not hem the child in with restrictions. The parents enforces their own perspective as adults, but recognizes the childs individual interests and special ways. The authoritative parent affirms the childs present qualities, but also sets standards for future conduct. They use reason, power, and shaping by regime and reinforcement to achieve their objectives, and does not base their decisions on group consensus or the individual childs desires. (Baumrind, 1967). When a person becomes a parent they will truly discover what style of parenting they will have. However, until that day comes, I chose the style of authoritative parenting based on how my parents were and how they raised me to be. I feel both of my parents fit into this category, therefore I have a strong background with this style. While I have been exposed to all three styles of parenting from watching my friend’s parents, my own brother as a parent and now my step mom as a parent, I feel the authoritative style is the one that fits my values, beliefs and issue concerns the best. For example, my step mom, who I feel has a very permissive style of parenting, doesn’t have much â€Å"control† over my step brother. There is one movie in particular that I feel displays the permissive style of parenting very well. Problem child 1 and 2. The child is adopted so the father wants the child to be as happy as possible and in turn the parent gets walked all over. My step brother is a 12 year old boy, who is a good child who listens for the most part has a terrible diet. This is because my step mom wanted to be his friend first and a parent second. She does not like conflict so she allows him to each the sugary starchy foods instead of enforcing healthy choices. On top of that his idea of exercise is playing video games. This may not present health issue at this very time, however, my concerns arise when he is older. What type of choices will he make diet wise, exercising and over all what type of lifestyle will he have? My mom on the other hand, fully enforced eating fruits and veggies at a young age and always made sure my two brothers and I played outside and did extra-curricular activities to get healthy amounts of exercise. Today at 25 years old, I can probably count on one hand the number of foods I don’t like. I also thorough enjoy exercising. A healthy diet and exercise are extremely important for the growth and development of any child. This brings me to one of my issues I am concerned with when I become a parent. Will my child enjoy and eat the healthy choices I make for them. I feel this all begins with infants. After reading a couple journal articles from an online nursing search engine breast feeding is where it all begins. I find it interesting that some mothers would choose not to breast feed. Breast feeding provides multiple benefits for both the mother and the child. The breast feeding processes represents an intricate bonding between the mother and child that is far greater than just nutrition. It creates an immune system, aids in building brain function, developing socialization and establishing long term health. (Godfrey. J Lawrence, R. 010) I feel this relates to one of my issues with being a parent because nutrition of my child is my most important concern. According to our textbook, nutrition is especially crucial in the first two years for brain and body development because they grow so rapidly. An infant’s energy needs are twice that of an adult. Breast feeding provides the correct balance of fat and protein, helps ensure healthy physical growth and protects against disease. (Berk, 2010). According to Piaget, infants think with their eyes, hands and ears. Therefore, I would want my child to be developed to the max potential and not held back for nutritional reason. Erickson’s theory of basic trust vs. mistrust in the first year affect the way a child socializes later in life also related to will the child be into physical activities. The trusting infant expects the world to be good and gratifying, (Berk, 2010) so the child feels confident about exploring and venturing into new things. I feel this related to children wanting to be involved in different activities with other children. The mistrusting baby cannot count on the kindness and compassion of others and therefore withdrawals themselves and protects themselves from other people and activities with other children (Berk, 2010). I feel perhaps this may relate to my step brother and why he plays video games all the time and is glued to the television, instead of playing outside trying to make new friends. As the child begins to grow and develop into the next phase of early childhood I will be faced with new concerns but still centered on nutrition. In this stage the body growth begins to slow down but the brain development from ages two to six increase by about seventy percent of its adult weight to nighty percent. In early childhood the skeletal part of the body also begins to change. Between the ages of two and six years old there is approximately forty five percent new growth centers, in which cartilage becomes bone. (Berk, 2010). According to an article posted in a sports medicine journal, the relation to calcium and bone development during this time is crucial. There is a correlation between calcium intake, physical activity and bone development at this stage. Although there are varying factors such as genetics, age and body type there is still a positive influence. This article discusses the importance of children in the early childhood to adolescent stage to have a calcium intake of 1000mg/day or more of calcium to help build stronger bones and increase the development of the femoral head. There are many different sources of calcium such as dairy products; most cereals have some amount of calcium as well. I feel that it’s important to give children in this stage a multivitamin as well to ensure the child is getting enough calcium. At this stage many children become picky eaters and are very unpredictable. They can like a food one day and the next say they hate it. This is another reason why I feel it’s important to give children in this stage a multivitamin. I also feel that introducing a wide variety of different food to children at this time helps. Being an authoritative style of parenting I would have my child try everything at least once, encouraging these new foods and if they didn’t like it tell them they can always spit it out. This is a major developmental stage that I feel sets the tone if your child will be or become obese. This is an increasing issue with children today. Moms are becoming more busy with work and aren’t stay at home moms anymore. It’s quicker and easier to just stop at McDonalds and get your child a happy meal than it is to come home and cook a healthy meal. I do feel fast food restaurants are trying to incorporate healthy choices with children’s meals but in my opinion fried chicken nuggets are still fried chicken nuggets even if they come with apples. The apples are a healthy choice however those come with sugary caramel sauce to dip them in. There are many consequence of obsess children. Diabetes in children is one of the most common major issues. Diabetes type two is the type of diabetes that was once an adult disease has increasing become more common in younger children. Many of the signs and symptoms are asymptomatic I feel many parents over-see what is really going on. There are many risk factors for early onset associated with type two diabetes which includes: overweight and obesity, especially in the abdomen area, high or low birth weight and rapid increase of weight in early childhood, physical in activity or sedentary lifestyle (playing video games all the time) as well as consuming foods that are low in fiber and high in fats and sugars. (Schub. T Caple, C. , 2011) The sad part is many of this risk factors are modifiable but too many parents reward with sugary fatty treats. Unless the parent is health conscious it is very difficult to change these issues. The other problem that arises with this is many times parents see their child as being perfect and over-see what is really going on. In this stage of development according to Piaget the child has moved from the sensorimotor to the preoperational stage. This spans the years from two until approximately seven years old. The major difference in this stage is symbolic or representational activity. A major example of this change is make-believe play. Piaget believed that through this type of play children are practicing and strengthening newly acquired representational schemes. (Berk, 2010) I agree with Piaget’s views. I feel it’s important for children to have make-believe play but only to a certain extent. As a parent I want my child to be more interested in playing with other children in more real activities opposed to always want to play make-believe by themselves. An example I feel is acceptable is when girls want to play house together with dolls or babies. I feel I control this situation as a parent by encouraging interactive play with other children with play dates. Exercise in this stage is also very important. Involving your child in activities outside of school helps the child develop social skills by having to interact with new children in different situations. As long as this is followed by positive reinforcement by the parent I also feel this helps build confidence in the child. Vygotsky’s theory of sociocultural is another major factor in this developmental stage. Language at this stage is the important factor in Vygotsky’s theory. Children begin to talk to themselves much in the same way they do with fellow students. This increases their ability to think and their ability to control their own behavior. (Berk, 2010). According to a study published in a developmental psychology journal there is little correlation between private speech and problem solving process. Approximately half the subjects had private speech and those who did, did not utter very much. The article also discussed within a Vygotskian framework, private speech will tend to co-occur with failure in cognitive tasks because both private speech and the likelihood of failure increase with task difficulty. We also learned that in this stage children begin to remember. It’s not that they are just now building a memory; they now have the language skills to describe their memories. We had a discussion board regarding our earliest autobiographically memory and as the textbook stated, no one could really come up with a memory early than three years old. This is explained because we didn’t have an understanding of language to describe what we were experiencing. The third developmental stage that I feel I will have the most parenting issues or concerns is now the adolescent stage. I can only hope that by this point in time I have taught my child to make good nutritional choices and I have engaged them in other activities so they are confident in socializing and want to have active lifestyles opposed to sedentary. I feel this is going to be the most difficult stay to deal with. Now I am dealing with hormonal changes which create physical and mental changes but now I will also have to deal with social changes and sexual activity. During the adolescence stage children go through puberty. This can cause many different physical changes. I hope that I can teach my child to always have a positive body image of them. I feel by keeping them active will help with this issue. If I have a girl I am going to have to be concerned with eating disorders and the possibility of becoming pregnant. I feel the only way to have control over these issues is just being open with my child or children and make them feel comfortable talking to myself or husband (hopefully present) about anything as well as taking responsibility in my own hands to make sure my children are properly educated about things like safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases. I don’t want to be a naive parent and think â€Å"oh my child would never do that! † I know I was there age at one point and they are going to do whatever they want to do. I will also teach my children about peer pressure to help prevent them from making mistakes because of it. Through this entire paper I feel I have learned that parenting is no easy task. A lot of things are learned by trial and error. Also, just because these are my views I hope that I have a husband who shares the same parenting style otherwise we ourselves will be in a pickle. I don’t want my household to have one good parent and one bad parent I want us to be equal and on the same playing field. I want my husband and I to work as one, which comes down to communication. I also feel my parents raised me with many skills I with use while parenting. All I can do is try my hardest to teach my children the same ways and hope they are responsive to me and respectful and understand one day they will be responsible for the same thing.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Technology in the Classroom Essay -- Technology Technological Essays

Technology in the Classroom Classrooms of the future will be different than they are today; as they will include more and newer forms of technology. These technological advances will be readily available for use by both students and teachers. I see my classroom making use of the many forms of technology that are available, including: PowerPoint presentations, electron microscopes, video conferencing, web-sites, and smart boards. These many forms of technology available will serve both educational and informational purposes. As technology changes so too must classrooms. This is why I see my classroom being different than those of today, the ones we are used to. I see my students making more use of PowerPoint for their presentations. This will be in place of posters and will help get students ready, early on, for more technology that can be a little challenging. PowerPoint could also help more with the creative process and be used for small (2 or 3 students) group work. Working on these presentations would be very beneficial for cooperation skills as well as make use of communication. Students would also take more ownership of their presentation when they invest more time with it, a great advantage of PowerPoint. Although PowerPoint is already widely available for upper lever classrooms, middle school and beyond, I can foresee them used in elementary school as well, third grade and beyond. Electron microscopes will also be used in my classroom to help with insects on insects or other small animals. These will most likely be used in a science environment and would aid in better understanding of anatomies. For example, a classroom from the Clear View Charter School used these ... ...s and becomes more advanced, readily available for use, so too will my classroom. I will adapt teaching and learning approaches, for students, with use of new and innovative technologies. Students will make use of technology and become more involved with the lesson being taught. As a result, learning would happen with more ease and less confusion. Works Cited Orrep, Becky. (2005). Smart Boards. Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Retrieved April 19, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://web.gvtechnologies.com/products/smart-boards.htm GLEF Staff. (2000). The Project’s Culmination. Edutopia. Retrieved April 19, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_638 GLEF Staff. (2000). Student Researchers. Edutopia. Retrieved April 19, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_632

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Macie Marr Mrs. Curran English 4/5 1/12/13 The Bhopal gas tragedy The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial disasters. It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way in and around the shantytowns located near the plant.Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Others estimate 8,000 died within two weeks and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. November 1984, most of the safety systems were not functioning and many valves and lines were in poor condition.In addition to this, several vent gas scrubbers had been out of service as well as the steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes was nonoperational. Other issue was that, Tank 610 contained 42 tons of MIC which was much more than what safety rules allowed. During the night of 2–3 December 1984, water entered Tank E610 containing 42 tons of MIC. A runaway reaction started, which was accelerated by contaminants, high temperatures and other factors. The reaction was sped up by the presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200  °C (392  °F) and raised the pressure. This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases. About 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) escaped from the tank into the atmospher e in 45 to 60 minutes. The gases were blown in southeastern direction over Bhopal. The initial effects of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. People awakened by these symptoms fled away from the plant.Those who ran inhaled more than those who had a vehicle to ride. Owing to their height, children and other people of shorter stature inhaled higher concentrations. Many people were trampled trying to escape. Thousands of people had succumbed by the morning hours. There were mass funerals and mass cremations. Bodies were dumped into the Narmada River, less than 100 km from Bhopal. 170,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary dispensaries. 2,000 buffalo, goats, and other animals were collected and buried. Within a few days, leaves on trees yellowed and fell off.Supplies, including food, became scarce owing to suppliers' safety fears. Fishing was prohibited causing further supply shortages. Within a few days, trees in the vicinit y became barren, and 2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed of. On 16 December, tanks 611 and 619 were emptied of the remaining MIC. This led to a second mass evacuation from Bhopal. The Government of India passed the â€Å"Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act† that gave the government rights to represent all victims, whether or not in India. The acute symptoms were burning in the respiratory tract and eyes, blepharospasm, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting.The causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and pulmonary oedema. Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis. Immediate relieves were decided two days after the tragedy. Relief measures commenced in 1985 when food was distributed for a short period along with ration cards. Madhya Pradesh government's finance department allocated 874 million (US$15. 91 million) for victim relief in July 1985. Widow pension of 00 (US$3. 64)/per month (later 750 (US$13. 65)) were provided. They government also decided to pay 1,500 (US$27. 3) to families with monthly income 500 (US$9. 1) or less. As a result of the interim relief, more children were able to attend school, more money was spent on treatment and food, and housing also eventually improved. From 1990 interim relief of 200 (US$3. 64) was paid to everyone in the family who was born before the disaster. In 2007, 1,029,517 cases were registered and decided. Numbers of awarded cases were 574,304 and number of rejected cases 455,213.When the factory was closed in 1986, pipes, drums and tanks were sold. The MIC and the Sevin plants are still there, as are storages of different residues. Isolation material is falling down and spreading. The area around the plant was used as a dumping area for hazardous chemicals. In 1982 tube wells in the vicinity of the UCIL factory had to be abandoned and test s in 1989 performed by UCC's laboratory revealed that soil and water samples collected from near the factory and inside the plant were toxic to fish. Several other studies had also shown polluted soil and groundwater in the area.Till this day chemicals abandoned at the plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater. Whether the chemicals pose a health hazard is disputed. Contamination at the site and surrounding area was not caused by the gas leakage. The area around the plant was used as a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals and by 1982 water wells in the vicinity of the UCIL factory had to be abandoned. UCC states that â€Å"after the incident, UCIL began clean-up work at the site under the direction of Indian central and state government authorities.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

High school Essay

Tamil Nadu is regarded to be one of India’s star performers in the sector of elementary education. The results of the 2001 Census show that Tamil Nadu has attained third position behind Kerala and Maharashtra both in terms of overall and female literacy. It recorded close to 100 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) at primary and upper primary levels based on 2007 estimates. A major legislative effort for the universalisation of education in line with the constitutional mandate has been the introduction of the Tamil Nadu Compulsory Education Act, 1994. Under this Act it is the duty of the government to provide the necessary infrastructure (schools and teachers) for ensuring universalisation of elementary education. Parents are also liable to be fined if they do not send their wards to school, though this rule is not very strictly enforced as most of the children not going to school come from poor backgrounds. Tamil Nadu’s high enrolment statistics are also the result of the number of welfare schemes that the State government has introduced in the elementary education sector. The large number of missionary and private schools are also playing a role in the spread of education. The government provides textbooks, uniforms and noon meals to the pupils making it a State where the per child spending is much higher than in educationally backward States such as Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and others and is higher than the all-India average. The State is making an endeavor to provide primary schools within a one km radius of human habitations with a population of 300 and above to increase their accessibility. It is also a State that has actually spent most of the funds allocated to it by the Centre under the SSA scheme, in contrast to States like UP, Bihar and Assam that have huge unspent amounts. Tamil Nadu students stood first in the country in mathematics, language and reading comprehension skills according to the national mid-term achievement survey of Class III children commissioned by the NCERT in collaboration with the MHRD and the SCERT and SSA wings of the States recently. But it has come to light that local bodies like corporations and municipalities are not fully utilizing money collected as education tax as a percentage of property tax under the Tamil Nadu Elementary Education Act and this is affecting the quality and quantity of formal education provision at the grassroots level. While the general literacy rate in Tamil Nadu as per 2001 data is 73. 5%, wide disparities exist across districts, gender, and area of residence as well as social grouping. The literacy rate of the SC and ST populations are consistently lower in all the districts. The retention rate within and after the primary school level is also not very impressive and there is a high percentage of repeaters. This is particularly so in the case of the STs and SCs. It is to overcome this discrepancy between education offered in different kinds of schools, between rural and urban schools and to overcome other numerous ills that have crept into the education system—such as arbitrary collection of fees, induction of daily waged, inadequately qualified para teachers, rote learning, examination stress, problems related to the medium of instruction and so on—that the State government constituted the Muthukumaran Committee, which submitted its report in 2007. This committee had the mandate to work out a framework of a uniform pattern of education in Tamil Nadu and to make recommendations for improving its quality. The report of the Committee recommends only one autonomous board, The Tamil Nadu State Secondary School Education Board, instead of the existing four State level boards—Matriculation, Anglo-Indian, Oriental and State Board. Schools coming under this integrated Board would follow a common syllabus ensuring an equitable school education in the State not conferring any undue advantages with regard to admission into higher educational institutions for students completing their school education from one particular Board. Equitable standard education is to be provided by a Common School or Neighbourhood School system, which with uniform syllabi would help to ‘decommercialise’ educational institutions and put an end to many a private management that does not feel sufficiently accountable to society in this crucial sector. The spiraling cost of education starting at the nursery level is cementing caste-class and rural-urban divisions. A common school system using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction would make equal education accessible to all without discrimination. A common school system also means a common examination pattern. The report of the Committee advocates a reasonable teacher-student ratio of not more than 1:30 and doing away with faulty textbooks and a system of rote learning. It emphasizes the promotion of analytical and rational skills that would equip the students to learn by themselves; a testing and evaluation pattern that involves the application of concepts learnt rather than mere reproduction of facts. The school syllabus should not overload students with information but instead kindle their interest in the subject and teach them how to search for more information and conceptualize it. Traditional knowledge should be incorporated and made part of school education. Evaluation should be comprehensive and not just of academic achievements, and that too only marks based. Evaluation should include an assessment of student abilities and performance in academics, the arts, sports and games, values, reading habits, character, conduct and other extra-curricular activities. Schools should not only lay emphasis on academic subjects but also on moral education. Here the Committee suggests that it may be better to have a progress book with entries made from time to time and also periodically sent to the parents so that they may be made aware of their child’s progress. Regular consultation with parents about their wards’ progress and achievements and educational goals is a must. A sheet of paper containing marks obtained in public exams is not enough to understand a student’s development and potential. If the marks obtained in only one exam are going to decide the person’s admission into an institute of higher learning then all stress is on preparing for this exam neglecting other exams and activities. The chance or temptation to indulge in malpractices is also high. Marks obtained in a one-time exam also are no accurate reflection of the student’s actual knowledge and achievement level and potential. Treating exams and marks as more important than life itself has meant the death of many a student. Finally, children belonging to linguistic minorities should be allowed to gain instruction in their respective mother tongue, while all students in standards 5 or 8 ought to have a specific level of knowledge in Tamil and English so that these languages can be used for communication. No student should be dropped and he/she should be allowed to grow in the chosen field of interest and in accordance with their individual capability. A simple pass or fail should certainly not be a deciding factor in a person’s life. While the government has accepted the notion of one board for school education other major recommendations of the Muthukumaran Committee on education reforms are being sidelined by the State government. In fact, some government run schools are changing the medium of instruction to English and not all schools teach Tamil, though this is compulsory as per current State education law. Moreover, schools with an eye on the results in board exams and aiming at future lucrative career possibilities for their students are introducing modern European languages like French (German is waiting to be introduced on a larger scale on the school level) that are supposedly high scoring subjects in comparison to Tamil, which is seen to be difficult even by those whose mother tongue it is. There is almost everywhere an exodus from government run schools to aided or private schools because of the perceived better quality and the lure of an English medium education, which is regarded by parents to be necessary in today’s world. It is to remain viable and not lose out in this competition for students that government run schools are increasingly offering English medium instruction also, although the English medium sections are permitted only on a self-financing basis. The non-acceptance of important recommendations by the Muthukumaran committee is thus in line with the general pro-globalisation trend in the Tamil Nadu economy as a whole. Current education system Why is India still a developing country and what is stopping it from being a developed country? India’s education system as a stumbling block towards its objectives of achieving inclusive growth. India is going to experience a paradox of nearly 90 million people joining the workforce but most of them will lack requiste skills and the mindset for productiveemployment according to a report in DNA. India has about 550 million people under the age of 25 years out of which only 11% are enrolled in tertiary institutions compared to the world average of 23%. . I will be focussing on how the education system’s failure is leading to another social issue of income inequality and hence, suggest certain policies to improve India’s education system and reduce inequality. Problems and drawbacks The really critical aspect of Indian public education system is its low quality. The actual quantity of schooling that children experience and the quality of teaching they receive are extremely insufficient ingovernment schools. A common feature in all government schools is the poor quality of education, with weak infrastructure and inadequate pedagogic attention. What the government is not realising right now is that education which is a source of human capital can create wide income inequalities. It will be surprising to see how income inequalities are created within the same group of educated peopleSo if the government does not improve education system particularly in rural areas the rich will become richer and the poor will get poorer. Hence, it is imperative for the government to correct the blemishes in India’s education system which will also be a step towards reducing income inequality. Another reason for poor quality of education is the poor quality of teachers in government schools . Government schools are unable to attract good quality teachers due to inadequate teaching facilities and low salaries. The government currently spends only 3% of its GDP on education which is inadequate and insufficient. To improve the quality of education , the government needs to spend more money from its coffers on education. Most economists feel that the only panacea to the ills of the public schooling system is the voucher scheme. Under the voucher system, parents are allowed to choose a school for their children and they get full or partial reimbursement for the expenses from the government. But however, the voucher system will further aggravate the problem of poor quality of education in government schools. Such a system will shift resources from government schools to private schools. This will worsen the situation of government schools which are already under-funded. Moreover, if the same amount given as vouchers can be used to build infrastructure in schools then the government can realize economies of scale. For example- The centre for civil society is providing vouchers worth Rs 4000 per annum to 308 girls. This means that the total amount of money given as vouchers is Rs 1232000. If the same amount can be used to construct a school and employ high quality teachers who are paid well then a larger section of the society will enjoy the benefit of education. A school can definitely accommodate a minimum of 1000 students. I hope government takes certain appropriate policy measures to improve the education system otherwise inequalities are going to be widespread and India’s basic capabilities will remain stunted. Let us strengthen the case for a stronger education system. Conclusion Certain policy measures need to be taken by the government. The basic thrust of government education spending today must surely be to ensure that all children have access to government schools and to raise the quality of education in those schools. One of the ways in which the problem of poor quality of education can be tackled is through common schooling. This essentially means sharing of resources between private and public schools. Shift system is one of the ways through which common schooling can be achieved. The private school can use the resources during the first half of the day and the government school can use it during the second half. It is important to remember that the quality of education is directly linked to the resources available and it is important for the government to improve resource allocation to bring about qualitative changes in the field of education. Common schooling is one of the ways in which government can use limited resources in an efficient way and thus improve resource allocation.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Overview of Watersheds and Watershed Management

Overview of Watersheds and Watershed Management A watershed, also called a drainage basin in North America, is an area in which all water flowing into it goes to a common outlet or body of water, such as the same estuary or reservoir. Watersheds themselves consist of all surface water and include lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands, as well as all groundwater and aquifers. The water in a watershed originates via precipitation that is collected on the surface and groundwater. However, it is important to note that not all precipitation falling in an area exits the watershed. Some of it is lost through evaporation and transpiration and some is used by people and some soaks into the soil and groundwater. At the boundaries of watersheds, there are drainage divides usually in the form of ridges or hills. Here the water flows into two separate watersheds and does not always end up in a common outlet. In the United States, for example, there are many different watersheds, but the largest is the Mississippi River basin which drains water from the Midwest into the Gulf of Mexico. This water does not enter the Pacific Ocean because the Rocky Mountains act as the drainage divide. The Mississippi River basin is an example of an extremely large watershed, but watersheds vary in size. Some of the worlds largest ones contain smaller watersheds within them depending on where the final water outlet is. Types of Watersheds The second is called a major drainage divide. In this situation, waters on each side of the boundaries do not meet via the same river or stream, but they do reach the same ocean. For example, there is a drainage divide between the Yellow River (Huang He) basin and the Yangtze River in China but both have the same outlet. The final type of drainage divide is called a minor drainage divide. In these, waters separate at the divide but later rejoin. An example of this situation is shown with the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Key Features of a Watershed The second feature is the drainage divide or watershed boundary, such as a mountain range. This plays a role because it helps in determining whether the water in the watershed is flowing toward or away from an area. The next feature is the topography or terrain of the watersheds land. If the area is steep, the water there is likely to flow quickly and cause flooding and erosion, whereas flat watersheds have often had slower flowing rivers. The final feature of a watersheds physical landscape is its soil type. Sandy soils, for example, absorb water quickly, while hard, clay soils are less permeable. Both of these have implications for runoff, erosion, and groundwater. Significance of Watersheds By studying the key watershed features in addition to activities along waterways scientists, other researchers and city governments can work to keep them healthy because a small change in one portion of a watershed can drastically affect other parts. Human Impacts on Watersheds Watershed pollution occurs in two ways: point source and nonpoint source. Point source pollution is pollution that can be traced to a specific point such as a disposal site or leaking pipe. Recently, laws and technological advances have made it possible to detect point source pollution and its problems are being reduced. Nonpoint source pollution occurs when pollutants are found in water running off of crops, parking lots and other lands. In addition, it can also be caused when particulates in the atmosphere fall onto the land with precipitation. Humans have also impacted watersheds by reducing the amount of water flowing within them. As people take water out of a river for irrigation and other city-wide uses, the rivers flow decreases and with this decreased flow, natural river cycles such as flooding, may not occur. This could, in turn, hurt ecosystems depending on the rivers natural cycles. Watershed Management and Restoration Watershed restoration, on the other hand, is aimed at restoring already impacted watersheds to their natural state through the monitoring of pollution and regulations to reduce further pollution. Watershed restoration programs also work often to repopulate the watershed with its native plant and animal species. To learn more about watersheds in the United States, visit the Environmental Protection Agencys Surf Your Watershed website.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

How to Write a Great TOEFL or TOEIC Essay

How to Write a Great TOEFL or TOEIC Essay Writing an essay can be a difficult enough task as it is; writing it a language that is your first language is even harder. If youre taking the TOEFL or the TOEIC and have to complete a writing assessment, then read these instructions for organizing a great five-paragraph essay in English. Paragraph One: The Introduction This first paragraph, made up of 3-5 sentences, has two purposes: grabbing the readers attention, and providing the main point (thesis) of the whole essay. To get the readers attention, your first few sentences are key. Use descriptive words, an anecdote, a striking question or an interesting fact related to your topic to draw the reader in. To state your main point, your last sentence in the first paragraph is key. Your first few sentences of the introduction basically introduce the topic and grab the readers attention. The last sentence of the introduction tells the reader what you think about the assigned topic and lists the points that youre going to write about in the essay.Heres an example of a good introductory paragraph given the topic, Do you think teenagers should have jobs while they are still students?: Ive worked ever since I was twelve. As a teenager, I cleaned houses for my family members, made banana splits at an ice cream parlor, and waited tables at various restaurants. I did it all while carrying a pretty good grade point average in school, too! I definitely believe that teenagers should have jobs while they are still students because a job teaches discipline, earns them cash for school, and keeps them out of trouble. Paragraphs Two - Four: Explaining Your Points Once youve stated your thesis, you have to explain yourself! The thesis in the example introduction was I definitely believe that teenagers should have jobs while they are still students because a job teaches discipline, earns them cash for school, and keeps them out of trouble. The job of the next three paragraphs is to explain the points of your thesis using statistics, examples from your life, literature, the news or other places, facts, examples, and anecdotes. Paragraph Two: Explains the first point from your thesis: Teenagers should have jobs while they are still students because a job teaches discipline. Paragraph Three: Explains the second point from your thesis: Teenagers should have jobs while they are still students because a job earns them cash for school. Paragraph Four: Explains the third point from your thesis: Teenagers should have jobs while they are still students because a job keeps them out of trouble. In each of the three paragraphs, your first sentence, called the topic sentence, will be the point youre explaining from your thesis. After the topic sentence, youll write 3-4 more sentences explaining why this fact is true. The last sentence should transition you to the next topic. Heres an example of what paragraph two would look like: First, teenagers should have jobs while they are still students because a job teaches discipline. When I was working at the ice cream store, I had to show up every day on time or I would have gotten fired. That taught me how to keep a schedule, which is a big part of learning discipline. As I cleaned the floors and washed the windows of my family members homes, I knew they would be checking up on me, so I worked hard to do my best, which taught me an important facet of discipline, which is thoroughness. But being disciplined isnt the only reason its a good idea for teenagers to work during school; it can also bring in the money! Paragraph Five: Concluding the Essay Once youve written the introduction, explained your main points in the body of the essay, transitioning nicely between them all, your final step is to conclude the essay. The conclusion, made up of 3-5 sentences, has two purposes: to recap what youve stated in the essay, and leave a lasting impression on the reader. To recap, your first few sentences are key. Restate the three major points of your essay in different words, so you know the reader has understood where you stand. To leave a lasting impression, your last sentences are key. Leave the reader with something to think about before ending the paragraph. You could try a quote, a question, an anecdote, or simply a descriptive sentence. Heres an example of a conclusion: I cant speak for anyone else, but my experience has taught me that having a job while being a student is a very good idea. Not only does it teach people to have character in their lives, it can give them the tools they need to succeed like money for college tuition or a good reputation. Sure, its hard to be a teenager without the added pressure of a job, but with all the benefits of having one, its too important not to make the sacrifice. Like Mike would say, Just do it.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Great American Books (Walt Whitman) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Great American Books (Walt Whitman) - Essay Example The poem serves a critical aspect of American society while dealing with the symbolic paradigm and aspect of the theme of restlessness and love of America for freedom and open spaces. The major intricacy with this particular poem by Whitman is essentially concerned with the multi-layered symbolism operating within the text and its allegorical implication which is found hard to establish the co-relation with the central idea of the poem. This makes the poem presented in double and oscillating theme often hard for the comprehension of the average readers thereby deviating from the original view point of the poem. The beautiful poem consists of 224 lines which were divided into two neat divisions. The first eight section of the poem speaks about the enthusiastic and exuberant depiction of the lessons concerned with the healthful benefits of the open air. The second section is a description of the persona’s invitation guided by his passionate urge to his companion to join the journey with the open air. The critical problem or the main thesis query concerned in the poem revolves round the second section of the poem which speaks about the joining of the community or trajectory with the open road or space. The ambiguity is starker here and the apparent description of the impassioned invitation of the persona hints more towards the celebration of individual exuberance and spirit than the national mobility, flexibility and spirit of democracy. The co-relation and systematic interpretation of the individual and nation and establishment of the Meta thesis pertaining to individual is nation and vice versa, falls quite weak here in terms of practical operation. The query that might occur in the mind of Whitman’s readers will be essentially cantering round the play of allegory and explicitness in his poetry. The problem of criticism is wide but the thesis statement concerning the essay and one

Friday, November 1, 2019

Business Strategy - case study of Apple Inc, and Dell Computers

Business Strategy - of Apple Inc, and Dell Computers - Case Study Example Dell Computers and Apple Inc. are two major ICT companies in the world. Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers started his business in 1984 by actually peddling his custom built PCs to users who are looking for bottom price PCs. Dell Company, named after the founder, rose to its heights in growth of sales and since then, from 2001 to 2006 led the PC market, getting a 19% share of the worldwide PC market, topping its from closest rival of Hewlett-Packard. (Enclyclopedia of eCommerce.) In late 2006s, Dell lost its lead to HP as sales began to decline and market share became 13.95 as against HPs 17.496 Apple Computer, was formed in 1976, but its name was later changed to Apple Inc. in January 2007. With continued strong sales of the Apple II, and the introduction of the Macintosh, Apple's sales reached new highs and the company had its initial public offering on September 7, 1984. (Associated Content. 2007) The PC industry is very competitive, and some of its closest rivals are Microsoft Corp, Dell Computers and Palm Inc. (Shlinds 2007) During its inception, demand for its products has been stagnant, and this led to the remarks of Dell CEO to say: "That if he ran Apple, he would shut it down and give the money back to its shareholders". [wikipedia] Because of innovations and new products the company introduced to the market, Apple's success has become tremendous. From 2003 to 2006 its stock price had increased to more than tenfold, from the initial offering of $6 to $80, with market capitalization going over Dell Computer. [wikipedia] Strategies utilized Dell Computers. Strategies of the company centered on three golden rules: disdain inventory, always listen to the costumer and never sell indirect (Kotelnikov. Vadim.) * Indirect selling practices thru mail order services limits its inventory, cuttingdown on handling costs. * Retail outlets were discontinued to cut on discount price practices of stores. * Delivering the best possible customer experience. Listening to customers, byintensifying their customer services approaches, putting service sites andmanufacturing plants in strategic places. Trained employees to satisfycustomers demands. Apple strategies. Apple Inc. was always one step ahead of its competitors as the company continued to think of innovative ways, new products and designs for their consumers. Shown below are strategies taken by the company in line with their innovations. 1. After the fall of sales in 1989, apple reinvented its products in 1991 and introduced laptops and PowerBooks models which helped the company regained its market. However, other lines developed were a flop and did not help the company in sales. 2. Allied with other companies to come up with new

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

How the Hubbell telescope is an innovation in science Essay

How the Hubbell telescope is an innovation in science - Essay Example The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is 43.5 feet (13m) long and weighs a massive twenty-four thousand five hundred pounds (11,110 kilograms). The (HST) is quite complex as even the main reflective mirror on the inside is seven feet ten inches (2.5m). It still today holds the title of the most impressive telescope ever built. During its cycle of rotation, this 2.2 billion dollar unit can orbit planet Earth more than fifteen times the hours in one twenty-four hour day. It is capable of transmitting heavy amounts of information data equivalent to filling ten thousand floppy disks completely full. On April twenty-fifth nineteen ninety, a theoretical astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer’s research proposals of a working space telescope became a reality as the space shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble Telescope into space. Being named after the great Edwin Hubble himself, it began on its course of data collecting that would forever change the way that the scientific community analyzed astron omic data and measurements. Capturing some of the most incredible photos, the Hubble has made many successful discoveries including helping scientist to determine the age of the universe. Thus far the massive Hubble Telescope has accomplished many feats. From the discovery of black holes to the probing of several different galaxy centers, the (HST) continues to prove to be an innovation to science providing answers to profound and complex astronomic equations. A major difference that distinctly separates the Hubble Telescope to be in a league of its own is the fact that when using earth bound telescopes, scientist could not clearly see the objects that were deep in space because light from the atmosphere causes fuzzy images and distorts the light waves within the visible spectrum of the telescopes view. The Hubble however, was created with the power to

Monday, October 28, 2019

Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Social Networking Essay Social networking sites such as Friendster, Linkedin, Spoke, Face book, MySpace and Twitter all vary slightly, yet the one main feature they have is that they enable users to create a profile within the website to represent themselves and allows uses to interact through email, instant messaging and other integrated communication channels within the site (Papacharissi, 2009). The popularity and growth of social networking sites over the past five years has been colossal, as many people from all over the world join up to this social phenomenon for varied reasons. Today, there are more than 500 million active users on face book and users spend over 700 billion minutes per month on this social networking site (Facebook, 2011). As the technology of Web 2. 0 improves and advances, social networking sites have an even bigger impact on society and human relationships, both positive and negative. This paper argues that social networking sites have a negative influence on children, teenagers and adults, increase the ease and prominence of cyber bullying, increase personal insecurities and feed addictions and weaken strong personal ties. This paper also argues that social networks create distraction and decrease productivity and profits within the workplace and can also can jeopardise a company’s reputation. Social networks also increase the ease of identity theft and bring to light other privacy issues as well as lead to an overall decrease in our face to face social skills and confidence. This paper will demonstrate that social networking sites do cause more harm than good. Identity Theft Identity theft is a huge problem in today’s society and has come about as a result of the rapid expansion and availability of internet technology and the increase in personal data found on social networking sites. In fact â€Å"A total of 806,000 Australians aged 15 years and over were victims of at least one incident of personal fraud in or identity theft in 2008† (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter facilate identity theft in two mains ways. The first being is that sites encourage you to ‘edit your profile’ this includes adding your interests, full name, where you live, who your top friends are, your email address and even personal details like your phone number an relationship status. â€Å"Users share a variety of information about themselves on their Facebook profiles, including photos, contact information, and tastes in movies and books. †(Jones amp; Soltren, 2005). This information disclosure causes a huge problem as the more information you have on your profile the easier it is for identity thieves to verify themselves as being you. The second main issue is the privacy settings on these social networking sites also help faccilate personal fraud. Whilst there are built in features that allow users to change their privacy settings and not allow other users to view such personal details, these settings are never default, so that users are usually unaware how much information they are sharing not only with their friends, but with the rest of the world â€Å"By default, profiles on Friendster and Tribe. net are crawled by search engines, making them visible to anyone, regardless of whether or not the viewer has an account† (Boyd amp; Ellison, 2007). A general lack of awareness amongst users and the fact that digital identity can be easily hacked makes social networking sites a hub for identity theft which results in unwanted legal hassles, loss of money and years of trying to re-establish a victim’s credit and good name (Acquisti amp; Gross, 2006). This is why it is important for â€Å"users of social network systems to be aware of the value of the data they are making available online and of the ways that is can pote3nitally be used† (Donath amp; Boyd 2004). Furthermore another privacy issue that social networking sites face is that they encourage users to overshare very private information that can easily be used against them. For example the location based social networking site Foursquare encourages users to ‘check in’ at various locations to win points and earn badges and discounts. However these ‘check ins’ are in real time and essentially users notify others where they are, but more importantly when they aren’t home. For strangers and thieves this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of such knowledge and rob someone’s house while they are out. A web site called â€Å"Please rob me† has been set up to raise awareness about over-sharing and highlights these kinds of privacy issues that social networks create â€Å"Location based services also raise myriads of privacy issues due to the ability to collect, store, use and disclose the locations of users. † (Anuar amp; Gretzel, 2010). In this respect social networks like these pose serious privacy concerns. Cyber bullying Cyber bullying refers to â€Å"bullying through information and communication technologies† (Webster, n. ), mediums such as, emails, mobile phone text messages, phone calls, internet chat rooms, instant messaging and most importantly and recently, social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo (Webster, n. d). Whilst cyber bullying is not physical it’s emotional and psychological effects are devastating for the victim and can often lead to suicide and depression (Hinduja amp; Patchin, 2010). Cyber bulling in terms of s ocial networks is a huge issue as more than 50% of American teenagers aged from 12 to 17 use social networking sites (Hall, 2010). Online bullying is often seen as the easy way out. Social Networking sites act as a platform where bullies can say things they might not usually say to someone in person, anonymity and less physical proximity act as a wall between the bully and the victim, none the less, the words or rumours that are shared are still just as hurtful. Bullies often feel more confident online and they can contact their victims any time, anywhere, day or night, not just in the school yard (Smith et al. , 2008). For example in 2009 a 14 year old girl committed suicide as a direct result of cyber bulling. The daughter’s mother spoke out in an ABC news report and explained that â€Å"Friday night she was on the internet and told me about some message that had come through, and she wanted to die because of the message. I laid in bed with her and we discussed it for about an hour and she left me fairly happy. I can guarantee you if she didn’t go on the internet Friday night she’d be alive today. † (Dikeos, 2009). Additionally another well know case of cyber bulling that resulted in suicide was the case of Megan Meier who was constantly teased tormented and riven to her death from intense cyber bulling. â€Å"13 year old Megan began receiving nasty messages from a boy after a few weeks of an online flirtation with him, via her MySpace account, ending with one that suggested ‘the world would be a better place’ without her. Megan, believing she had been rejected by â€Å"Josh,† committed suicide in her home. † Times Topics, Megan Meier. (2011). The sad part was that Josh was ust a fictional character, created by a mother of one of Megan’s former friends. These two case studies bring to light the fact that cyber bulling is a massive problem that is not only exists all over the world, but is only made possible by the use of social networking sites. Without such platforms for bullies to target their victims the rate of teen suicide and depression would most likely drop. Groups on facebook can be created to make fun of or abuse particular people or ideas. On facebook I found groups titled â€Å"I hate Kevin Rudd† and on their wall things like â€Å" F**k you Kevin! and â€Å"I can’t believe they let this di***ead become foreign minister†. Also a recent incident that was covered on the news showed the negative comments towards babies and their parents over facebook surrounding the ‘Bonds Baby Search’. Some comments under a photos said â€Å"A child only a mother could love† and another baby was called an â€Å"ugly duckling† (Cute baby competition turns ugly, 2011). Comments like these are spiteful not only to the babies, but for their parents as well. This in itself is another form of cyber bullying that has been made possible via the increased use of social networking sites. It is clear that social networking sites aid in the prominence of cyber bulling which is just one of the negative impacts that social working sites has on society today. The weakening of strong ties amp; isolation The way we communicate with our peers and with strangers over the internet is changing. Another negative impact that social networks have on our relationships is the fact that whilst they might strengthen our weak ties we have with acquaintances and people we don’t see often, they are in fact weakening our strong ties and also bring about physical social isolation. The term ‘social networking’ misleads people into believing they are being social, â€Å"Facebook isn’t considered a social network but more a public phone book or search engine. Contact is minimal and impersonal (Carr, 2010). The news feed feature on facebook and twitter keeps us in the loop with everything that our close friends and family are doing. Why would one call their friend to ask them what they got up to on the weekend, when clearly all they have to do is look at their news feed and find all the details along with pictures entailing their lives. Traditionally we would regularly call each other, or go out of the way to catch up. Nowadays the urge to contact each other over the phone or even face to face isn’t as important because we feel like we are still connected via social networks ( Thomas, 2007). This idea of constantly being connected is awful in the way that personal interactions between friends are more superficial than they were before Facebook and other social networking sites. Users are also more likely to let more time pass between face to face encounters because they still feel like they are in contact as they constantly have tabs on all of their friends. A case study that was done in America revealed that â€Å" twenty-five percent of the respondents in the 2004 survey appear to have no close ties, up from ten percent in 1984. Additionally a similar study amongst college student found that â€Å"1 in 7 say that social networking sites increase feelings of isolation† (Katonda News Network, 2010) As well as â€Å"Nearly 70% report reading posts from someone close to them that seemed like a cry for emotional help, and while most students would offer support in some way, fewer than half would make a personal visit† (Katonda News Network , 2010). It is clear that the rise of social networks has increased social and emotional isolation and diluted the strength our human relationships. Workplace interference Social networking sites can have a negative impact in the workplace, for both employers for employees and future employees. They create distraction, decrease productivity, cost companies money, can jeopardise a company’s reputation and legal liability and for those users who don’t have their profiles set to private can often result in unemployment. If every employee in a 50-strong workforce spent 30 minutes on a social networking site every day, that would work out to a loss of 6,500 hours of productivity in one year! † (Kelleher, 2009). Social networking sites can also be damaging for prospective employees looking for work ,as facebook and MySpace are fantastic resources for companies as they offer revealing information about a candidate’s true colours. Several profiles often contain awkward and embarrassing information that job seekers would not want their future managers to know about themselves. According to a new study conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder. com, 45 percent of employers questioned are using social networks to screen job candidates† (Wortham, 2009).. Moreover, there have been many instances where personal status updates or blog posts have hurt or damaged a companies reputation, thus seeing many employees loose their jobs over mindless updates that they didn’t think twice about. For example in 2010, Jaguar ambassador and swimmer Stephanie Rice tweeted â€Å"Suck on that f**gots,† (Robertson, 2010) after a rugby game the Wallabies had won. Many twitter users and public figures referred to it as a gay slur and even after a public apology, Jaguar Australia general manager Kevin Goult announced that â€Å"Jaguar Australia today terminated its relationship with Stephanie Rice, who has been an ambassador for the Jaguar brand in Australia since the start of 2010. †(Robertson, 2010). Another fine example of one employee who damaged his reputation before he even stared at his new job was a Cisco employee who tweeted â€Å"Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty pay check against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work† It wasn’t long before Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco Alert, shared this open response, â€Å"Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web. †( Popkin, 2009)It is clear that social networking sites can have a damaging effect on not only employees but the companies themselves. Users are unfortunately unaware that everything they post on their profile is public information and even if your profile is set to private your boss or work colleagues may still be fronted with this information at some stage in the future. As social networking sites become more popular by the day, the rise of negative social effects within our society also greaten. We have and will see further instances of cyber bullying; more cases of identity theft and additional privacy breaches. We will also see our strong relationships diluted to a more superficial and ‘convenient’ type of relationship. We will continue to see a further decrease in productivity within workplace and also more instances of company’s reputations and names being brought into disrepute. Social networking sites have had a huge negative impact on our mental and social health and will continue to do so into the future. It is also now evident that social networking sites facilitate all these problems, and without them they would cease to exist. Therefore it is undeniably true that Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and the like do in fact cause more harm than good. References: Acquisti, A amp; R, Gross. (2006).