Monday, December 23, 2019

Strategic Analysis Corporate Strategy - 1782 Words

Strategic Analysis Corporate Strategy Garmin follows a first mover, differentiation strategy. Through heavy investment in research and development they are able to develop new products that users perceive as more valuable and are willing to pay a premium for. The first mover aspect is most easily observed in their aviation division where they have received numerous awards as well as FAA certifications for being the first to market with new and innovative products (Feather, 2010). Garmin has been able to develop a high quality product while still striking a balance with costs, for their products priced only slightly higher than their competitors. They have been able to achieve this in two ways, heavy investment in RD and acquisitions that have vertically integrated value chain operations. This has allowed the firm to not only be the first to market with new products, but also be able to design manufacturing processes that allows the company to adapt and be dynamic. Garmin uses multi-disciplinary teams including industrial designers, various engineers as well as members from manufacturing operations to develop products allowing them to quickly move from concept to manufacturing. The company has also used a series of acquisitions to vertically integrate itself creating a supply chain that has given it a competitive advantage. Garmin believes manufacturing operation in Shijr, Jhongli and LinKou, Taiwan, Salem, Oregon and Olathe, Kansas is one of its core compete ncies. VerticalShow MoreRelatedStrategic Analysis and Strategic Management900 Words   |  4 Pages Explain why strategic analysis is necessary in the process of developing an appropriate strategy. Identify tools that are available to examine the external environment and discuss how and why they are used. Introduction Strategy is a high level plan in which to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. It is very important because resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy is often the difference between mediocrityRead MoreMng301 Strategic Management Possible Questions1462 Words   |  6 PagesUNISA Strategic Management Workshop Knowing the answers to all of these questions (seventy-six in total) will guarantee you outstanding marks in the final examination as they represent the Strategic Management course (up to chapter six) in its entirety. Therefore virtually every question that can be associated with the course material thus far has been covered. Please therefore answer all of them in your own time in order to prepare yourself for the pending examination. Once you have done soRead MoreDescribe The Strategic Management Process1200 Words   |  5 PagesDescribe the strategic management process. What does it mean to manage strategically? Answer: Strategic management method is that the full set of commitments, decisions, and actions that are needed by the organization that helps the organization to attain strategic fight and earn above-average returns. the primary step of the strategic management method is to analyse the external setting and internal organization to work out its resources, capabilities, and core competencies—the sources of its â€Å"strategicRead MoreBusiness Strategy-Kfc Company Overview 11080 Words   |  5 Pagesback to 1930. The company adopted the abbreviated form of its name in 1991.[3]  Starting in April 2007, the company began using its original name, Kentucky Fried Chicken, for its signage, packaging and advertisements in the U.S. as part of a new corporate re-branding program;[4][5]  newer and remodeled restaurants will have the new logo and name while older stores will continue to use the 1980s signage. Additionally, Yum! continues to use the abbreviated name freely in its advertising. 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Secondly, what types of strategic models are used for planning, and finally given that organisations are increasingly complex and market dynamics are constantly changing is there a need for strategic corporate planning in the 21st century. It is hard to get a properRead MoreMarketing Strategy : The View From A Different Looking Glass1450 Words   |  6 PagesMarketing s Contribution to Strategy: The View from a Different Looking Glass Submitted by - Shonit Mittal Introduction The case, â€Å"Marketing s Contribution to Strategy: The View from a Different Looking Glass†, by Dr. P Rajan Varadarajan, discusses the growing influence of marketing in the strategic decision making of the organization. The author cites numerous instances from the field of marketing where one can observe how the marketing is guiding the strategy of the companies like de-conglomerationRead MoreStrategic Marketing : Business World, Tourism And Hospitality Industry Essay1379 Words   |  6 Pagesconducted to deal with the present condition of Great Yarmouth as a tourist destination through the analysis with strategic marketing, planning process, environmental analysis and recommended some strategic options for Great Yarmouth for achieving a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Task 1: The key fundamentals of strategic marketing Strategic marketing: The ultimate goal of strategic marketing is achieving a distinctive position (i.e. above average performance) that can give it a sustainableRead MoreCsr And Its Two Streams818 Words   |  4 Pagesstructure. He then started the lecture which was on the strategic management. It was quite reflective lecture and had useful information as such, the strategy and it’s all concerns were discussed. That included definitions, different strategy models, the strategic positions, and levels of strategies, strategy lenses and the concerns of each level. The strategic business unit and strategic choices were also learned. Overall, it reflected that strategic management is concerned with scope direction and purpose

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Critical discussion of the Stanford prison experiment Free Essays

The Stanford prison experiment (1971) continues to be relevant in psychology for various reasons. Zimbardo attempted to study the development of norms and effects of social roles and expectations on healthy average men by simulating a prison. It resulted in mental breakdowns, abusive and sadistic behaviour among prison guards and was terminated well ahead of schedule. We will write a custom essay sample on Critical discussion of the Stanford prison experiment or any similar topic only for you Order Now A study that was prior approved by ethical bodies, it has been criticised for unethical and unscientific methods – leading the way for significant changes in ethical standards of for psychological research. Further, results of the study have contributed to development of various theories and concepts in social psychology. Introduction The Stanford prison experiment is an important study in the history of social psychology for experts and laymen. Zimbardo (1971) designed the study to understand development of norms and effects of social roles and expectations on ‘normal’, healthy and otherwise average men by simulating a prison environment as accurately as possible. The study was conducted at Stanford and funded by a grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to study antisocial behaviour and conflict among prisoners and military guards. Details of the Study Advertisements for a study on the psychology of imprisonment, offering $15 per day, were used to recruit twenty-four male students with no prior criminal arrests, medical conditions or psychological disorders. They were randomly assigned prisoner or prison guard roles in a mock basement prison (Zimbardo, 1999). Prison guards were briefed regarding preservation of law and order, avoiding corporal violence and preventing prisoners from escaping etc. Prisoners were arrested in their home – handcuffed, searched and driven away by police – and charged with burglary or armed robbery (Leithead, 2011). They had to follow strict rules, such as silence during rest hours, eating at meal times, cleaning prison cells etc. The prisoners were allowed to quit and though some did, many seemed to forget that they could leave via straightforward procedures. Nearly 50% of prisoners were released ahead of schedule due to extreme emotional disturbance (Zimbardo, 1999). Interestingly, personality did not predict/distinguish between levels of abusiveness among guards, as did situational characteristics (Dean, 2007; Zimbardo, 2007). Participants became entirely involved in their ‘new life roles’ – suffering mental breakdowns and guards becoming so abusive and sadistic that the study was terminated within six days, rather than two weeks (Zimbardo et al., 1999). Relevance in the Present Day â€Å"†¦[A] classic demonstration of the power of situations and systems to overwhelm good intentions of participants and transform ordinary, normal young men into sadistic guards or for those playing prisoners to have emotional breakdowns.† – Prof Zimbardo (Leithead, 2011). This study highlights various issues that are still relevant to the present day. Results arguably demonstrated the obedience and malleability of people given legitimizing dogma and adequate institutional/collective support, cognitive dissonance theory and power of authority. Situational characteristics affected participants’ behaviour, rather than personal characteristics (Zimbardo et al., 1999; Zimbardo, 2007; Dean, 2007). Though all students signed a consent form prior to participation and the study was cleared by relevant committees at Stanford, Office of Naval Research and the American Psychological Association (Zimbardo et al., 1999), the study is criticised as being unethical and, subsequently, caused a widespread revision in ethical standards (Carnahan McFarland, 2007). For these reasons, the experiment is often compared to Milgram’s (1961) obedience experiment. Conclusion Unmistakeably, the study has paved the way for much understanding in the area of social psychology, especially with regard to power of authority, obedience and situational characteristics over personality. Further, the study’s effect on participants caused ethical standards for research to change significantly. Thus, this study remains highly relevant to the present day. References Carnahan, T., McFarland, S. (2007) â€Å"Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment: Could participant self-selection have led to the cruelty?† Personality social psychology bulletin, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 603-14. Dean, J. (2007) Our dark hearts: The Stanford prison experiment, [Online], Available: http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/our-dark-hearts-stanford-prison.php [29 May 2012]. Leithead, A. (2011) Stanford prison experiment continues to shock, [Online], Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14564182 [29 May 2012]. Zimbardo, P. G., Maslach, C. Haney, C. (1999) â€Å"Reflections on the Stanford prison experiment: Genesis, transformation, consequences, in Blass, T. (ed.), Obedience to authority: Current perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Zimbardo, P.G. (1999) The Stanford prison experiment, [Online], Available: http://www.prisonexp.org/faq.htm [29 May 2012]. Zimbardo, P.G. (2007) The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil, New York: Random House. Zimbardo, P.G. (n.d.) The psychology of power and evil: All power to the personTo the situationTo the system[Online], Available: http://www.prisonexp.org/pdf/powerevil.pdf [29 May 2012]. How to cite Critical discussion of the Stanford prison experiment, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Compensation Claim Made Available Employee -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Compensation Claim Made Available Employee? Answer: Introducation Once a new employee is engaged, payroll officer needs to set up the records for this employee. In essence, payroll officer needs to collect information such as history of employees jobs, compensation changes, loans, departments, as well as garnishments in setting up necessary payroll records. Withholding declaration should be completed by employee when s/he wants his payer to adjust amount withheld from his or her payments that was made to him or her. In addition, an employee should complete withholding declaration when s/he wants to advise his or her payer of an adjustment to information s/he previously gave in the tax file number declaration. The HELP stands for Higher Education Loans Programme which is a loan scheme for needy students that are enrolled in the Commonwealth supported areas in paying their student contribution payments. Given that an employee claim tax-free threshold, and has a HELP debt with gross weekly earnings or around $2,459, s/he should withhold a tax of around $2,459. In case an employee is under 18 years and works for 15 hour every week, s/he is not eligible for the Super Guarantee since for an individual employee who is under 18 years to be eligible for super fund, s/he has to work for around 30 hours every week and has to be pad around $450 before tax every month. Not all employees are usually eligible to select their choice of the super fund. This is based on the notion that only those employees employed under the federal award, or under the former state award or those employed under an industrial agreement or an award who do not need super contribution or those or those not employed under any industrial agreement or state award are eligible for super funds. Medicare levy is the amount of tax that assists in financing public health care system. In essence, it is a tax applied to the high income earners that do not have suitable level of the hospital cover. With these notions, employee can request for a variation in Medicare levy based on their level of income. To request for a variation, they need to complete a Medicare levy variation declaration form; that is, NAT 0929. This is usually the amount of tax which an employer pays or withholds on behalf of the employee. Basically, payroll tax is that tax imposed on an employee or employer and is computed as the percentage of salaries which employer pays to his or her staff. Payroll tax threshold in Northern Territory is $1.5 million annually and $125,000 monthly. In addition, the current tax rate in Northern Territory is around 5.5%. The ABN stands for Australian Business Number. This is a unique number representing a given business to tax office as well as other official bodies. If a business happens to purchase supplies from a business that does not quote the ABN on the invoice, they should withhold amount from payment from that business. To meet the PAYG withholding annual reporting obligations, all the payment summaries should be provided to all personnel not later than 14th July every year. To meet the PAYG withholding annual reporting obligations, all the payment summaries should be provided to ATO not later than 14th August every year. There are three types of the payment summaries; these include the individual no-business, superannuation lump sum as well as business and personal service income. Fringe benefit is usually a form of payment for performance of services. In other word, it is a form of compensation employers provide to their employees outside of the stated salary or wage. Examples of fringe benefits that employers might provide to their employees include retirement benefits, health insurance policies childcare assistance, physical fitness as well as education assistance which might help in recruitment of top quality and skilled employees. Some of the benefits that are exempted from the Fringe Benefits Tax for employers include insurance coverage, education assistance, retirement benefit plan, childcare assistance as well as physical fitness assistance. The current FBT rate is 47% which is relatively lower as compared to the previous year. If a business is not entitled to the GST credits, the GST is said to affect the FBT liability. This is based on the fact that where there is no entitlement to the GST credit, a lower gross-up rate in FBT liability is used. This is an arrangement where different employees agree to sacrifice part of their future wages or salary in return for their boss offering benefits of same value. With these considerations, salary sacrifice arrangement cannot be classified as the employer contributions since it is a salary packaging or the total remuneration packaging from employees. Some of the PAYG records that the ATO needed businesses to keep include governing document, financial reports, cash book records, records relating to the employees, records of payment withheld, grant documentation, contracts and agreements as well as bank records. Australian Bureau of Statistics Full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earings in Australia in November 2015 was 1,602.80. Privacy Act 1988 The four principles in the National Privacy Principle under Privacy Act 1988 in Schedule 3 include collection, openness, information quality as well as information security. These principles relate to establishing and maintaining a payroll system since for instance, the principle of openness provide some policy on how to manage personal information and how to make it readily available to other individuals who might ask for it which is crucial in establishment and maintenance of a better payroll system. Tax Practitioners Board The BAS is defined in TASA as advising and ascertaining about obligations, liabilities or entitlement of the customer under the BAS provisions or signifying customers in their function with commissioners of the Taxation with regard to the BAS provision. To register as a BAS agent, one must fulfill the following requirements; first, s/he should be around 18 years. Second, one should be fit and proper person. Third, one should satisfy experience and qualification requirements. Further, one should be able to maintain specialized indemnity insurance cover which meets all their requirements. Fifth, one should not have been condemned of any serious offense involving dishonesty or fraud during the last five years. Sixth, one should not be under any external administration. Finally, one should provide all the supporting documents. Qualifications Experience For one to be a BAS agent, one should have at least certificate IV for Financial services in accounting or bookkeeping. In essence, one should have tertiary qualification in accountancy and should have a membership of professional association. Obligations The principles are set out in five main categories; these are, independence, competence, honesty and integrity, confidentiality as well as other responsibilities. The principle of code relating to the confidentiality states that unless one have legal duties to do so, one should not disclose any relevant information relating to the customers affairs to the third party without their customers permission. Confidentiality and Security of records The most relevant measures that could be implemented to ensure confidentiality of the payroll data include ensuring that the information cannot be seen by unauthorized personnel and that it is stored securely at end of every day, logging off payroll system prior to leaving the computer, ensuring that data is utilized only for the main objective for which it is intended, not discussing personal details of personnel within hearing of the unauthorized persons, positioning computer screen such that unauthorized individuals cannot view the displays as well as ensuring that only the authorized individuals are given access to information regarding personnel pay records. Awards (Fair Work Commission) An award is usually something given to certain individuals or a company in recognition of their good work in specific field. In other word, it is a document that offers details of status of employees, as agreed in between the employers and Unions. Awards were modernized on 1st January 2010 corresponding with the starter of the new national workstation associations systems. The ten National Employment Standards entitlements include Maximum for flexible weekly hours, parental leave as well as related entitlements, request for a flexible working arrangement, personal and compassionate leave, annual leave, fair work information statement, public holidays, long service leave, community service leave, as well as notice redundancy and termination pay. This is the conditions and terms of employment in between employers and their key personnel. The three types of enterprise agreements include Greenfields agreement, single-enterprise agreements as well as multi-enterprise agreements. In approving enterprise agreement, Fair Work Commission should consider that pre-approval steps are undertaken properly. The commission should also ensure that the agreement has been clearly agreed to by all the relevant personnel. In addition, the commission should ensure that the agreement does not contain any term that exclude or that have impact of excluding NES. They should also ensure that the agreement have clear date as its expiry date and provide dispute settlement procedures. Annual Leave Every employee accumulates around four weeks of the paid annual leave every year. This entitlement accumulates constantly on the basis of number of ordinary hours these employees work. In case an employee takes an annual paid leave within a day that is public holiday, this employee should not be considered on paid leave. Personal/Carers leave The minimum entitlement to personal or career leave is around 10 days every year. This accrues progressively during the year according to number of the ordinary hours worked and they usually accumulate every year. Every employee is entitled to a minimum of two days as compassionate leave which is to be spent with the member of their families who has sustained injury or life-threatening illnesses. Casual employees are not paid for compassionate leave since they are eligible for unpaid compassionate leave. Long Service Leave Employees are usually entitled to a long service leave which is in line with his or her applicable pre-modernized award. The minimum long service leave entitlement for an employee in Northern Territory is when an individual complete 10 years in service with the employers. Here, on maturity, an employee is entitled 1.3 weeks for every completed year of the service with the employers. An employer is required to keep long service leave records or entitlements. These are records designed in ensuring that personnel or employees receive their correct entitlement and wages. The general employment records include employers name, employees name, basis of employees employment, employers Australian Business Number as well as employees commencement date. Additional information that should be kept for every employee include their name, rate of pay paid to each employee, net or gross amount paid to each employee as well as details of any bonus, penalty rate or monetary allowance paid to each employee. Pay slip should be issued to every employee in one day of the pay day even when s/he is on leave. This should be issued electronically or in hard copy. Some of the key information that needs to be included in the pay slip include employers name, pay period, employees name, net or gross amount of payment, employers ABN, date of payment, as well as any loading, bonuses, penalty rates, monetary allowances, incentive-based payments or other identifiable entitlements paid. An employer can make deductions from the employees payment if an employee has authorized deduction in writing or if the deductions are primarily for employees benefit or if these deductions are authorized by an employee in line with registered agreement or when it is authorized by award or when Fair Work Commission gives an order. Workers Compensation Occupational Health and Safety Employers obligations according to workers compensation insurance are to arrange workers compensations policy on time and ensure that every employee or work in covered for the workers compensation. Wages, salaries or remunerations constitute of salary, shift and other allowances, bonuses, payment for the annual and public holidays, over-award payments, overtimes, payment for the sick leave, market value of the lodging, and board provided by employers for workers, superannuation contributions payable to workers, total value of salary sacrificed amount as well as payment for the long service leave. The four main measures that could assist a given business keep its workplace safe include training and supervision, consultation, risk management as well as setting better reporting procedures. The employers obligation to an injured employee in regard to their compensation is t to make sure that compensation claim is made available to the employee, to forward employees claim form to insurer within three days as well as to follow up on their compensation payments. References Fair Work 2017, best practice guides; Viewed at 5th October 2017 from; help/templates-and-guides/fact-sheets/rights-and-obligations/record-keeping-pay-slips

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Stop the violence (SPAIN) Essay Example For Students

Stop the violence (SPAIN) Essay Basta. Enough. This word exemplifies the growing attitude toward the violence in the Spanish nation caused by the cultural differences between its Spanish and Basque inhabitants. The 2.1 million people of Euskadi, the Basque area of Spain, speak a different language than typical Spaniards, have a separate culture and society from that of Spain; and have a history of their own. Throughout the decades, these major cultural differences contained within the borders of Spain have continued to cause conflict between the Spanish people and the people of the Basque area. Many within la comunidad autonoma del pais vasco, the autonomous community of the Basque country, have long been seeking to free it from the confines of Spanish borders and have proceeded to do so in a terrorist fashion, although recently there have been attempts by the Basques nationalists to work towards more peaceful relations with the Spanish government. ETA is a Basque separatist organization in Spain that has taken up many violent practices in its efforts to gain independence for the Basque state. Standing for Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna, meaning Basque Homeland and Liberty, this group grew out of the Partido Nacionalista Vasco, also known as the Basque Nationalist Party or PNV. Since the PNV was outlawed by dictator Francisco Franco, ETA retained its headquarters secretly in Paris during his reign. For the past 31 years, it has been the origin of numerous terrorist attacks, bombings, protests, and murders. It is the key player in the violence that has plagued Spain and its Basque area. The Basque region of Spain jumped back into the world arena most recently beginning in late 1997. By this time, the regional government there had gained partial autonomy from Madrid. It had been permitted home rule by the Spanish Constitution and elected its own Parliament with taxing power and a 6,000 member regional police force. The elected Assembly and administration there controlled education, cultural affairs, soc ial services, and created jobs for its people. It was in December of this year that the 23 leaders of Herri Batasuna (HB), the political voice of ETA, were arrested and sentenced to seven-year jail terms for making a video extolling the terrorist acts of the ETA. This decision by three Spanish judges marked the first time a direct link was recognized between the terrorists and their political allies. Unrest was an expected result of this, marked by the fact that approximately 180,000 Basques supported HB, a party whose abbreviation stands for popular unity in Basque. At the time, they had won 12%of the votes in the last general election, down from 14% from the election before. The violence of the ETA remained backstage for a few months until February, when it continued its violence in the shooting of Alberto Jimenez Bercerril, the deputy mayor of Seville, and his wife, Asuncion Garcia. This was significant because it was the first time the terrorists had targeted non-Basque official s and also because it suggested that all governing politicians might become targets of ETA attack. The shooting incited much protest in Seville, as Jimenez was the fourth official of his status to be murdered in less than a year. Global attention focused back on HB and the ETA the following month, only this time putting them as the victims of political treachery. CESID, the Spanish secret service that became the successor to Francos military intelligence service, were caught illegally bugging the offices of Basque separatists. This greatly damaged the governments anti-terrorist movement, and proved their promise to reform the secret service to be merely a joke. CESID had set up a listening post above HB offices, and fled when their wires were discovered by a telephone engineer. This discovery infuriated the regional government, run by the Basque Nationalist Party, which backed Spains minority conservative government. It responded by demanding that the government in Madrid pull secre t police and other spies out of the Basque country and to give their job to the regional police force, the erzaintza. The most significant effects of this incident were the new targets of CESID members by the terrorist ETA activists, and further reform by Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar concerning the work of the secret police. The renouncement of violence by the former terrorist groups of Irish republicans and Ulster loyalists in fall of 1998 set the stage for what changes were about to occur in Spanish-Basque relations. Since this action placed the ETA as the last terrorist group still active in Western Europe, their announcement of an indefinite cease-fire on September 18, before the October elections in the Basque country, was taken a little more seriously than usual. Skepticism still ran deep, as former supposed cease-fires had only resulted in more bloodshed; however, if proven to be effective, this cease-fire could contribute greatly to the drive for peace set forth by the no n-violent Basque Nationalist Party, which happened to be the largest political party in the Basque region. The announcement of the cease-fire caused the Basque Nationalist Party to urge Prime Minister Aznar to make gestures of good faith in order to better relations between all involved groups. They began to push for the movement of over 500 convicted ETA terrorists from prisons around Spain to those in the Basque region and for even still more autonomy for the Basques. Aznar was not quick to comply because of the three previous broken cease-fires and the elections within the territory in which support for non-nationalist parties was increasing. An issue of the Economist stated, Basque terrorism has become increasingly unpopular, even among Basques. However true, this did not mean that the nationalist movement was losing support; it just was moving toward a more mainstream approach. The cease-fire had followed seven months of honored contracts between non-violent Basque nationalist parties and Herri Batasuna. Together, they were hoping to gain more support for their nationalist cause and gain control of the assembly without having to form a coalition with non-nationalist parties. This support did not come. The October 25th elections results showed that the Basque Nationalist Party fell short of their desired majority, which made it likely that they would have to form a pact with a Madrid-based national party that would keep the Basque region within the borders of Spain. Euskal Heritarrok, the successor party to Herri Batasuna that changed its name in fear that the previous Decembers arrests of its leaders would lead to it being declared illegal, placed third. Socialist leader Rosa Diez was quoted as saying that these results show that the people of the Basque region dont want adventures but a stable framework. What effect would these results have on the cease-fire? An ETA spokesman said in a British Broadcasting Corporation television interview the day before the elections that that the cease-fire was firm and serious. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Aznar continued to refuse to negotiate with the ETA. He further denounced the party after the aforementioned spokesman said that it would not apologize for its violent guerilla attacks, stating that this was an insult to the memory of the victims of terrorism. Six weeks after the cease-fire, Prime Minister Aznar finally authorized his government to talk to ETA contacts. However, he still refused to make direct peace talks until ETA permanently renounces violence and laid down its arms. Such talks would mark the first time since 1989 that ETA would confer with the government, and the first time ever for such talks with a conservative government. Since this time, the Spanish government has claimed to have made significant contacts with ETA middlemen. By the middle of December, the government had agreed to transfer twenty-one Basque separatist inmates to prisons closer to the Basque region, feelin g that this would be a tremendous step towards peace between Spanish nationalists and Basque separatists. Contrary to this belief, two different Basque nationalist parties deemed this act to be lacking. On December 21, ETA confirmed once again its cease-fire and requested direct talks with Madrid. While waiting for these talks, several Basque separatists took refuge in France, where they had been regarded as freedom fighters. This refuge was shattered when on March 9th of this year the French police arrested Javier Arizcuren-Ruiz, known also as Kantauri, the leader of ETAs military wing while he was in Paris, along with five other known ETA members. Kantauri stood accused of at least 18 murders and ordering the 1995 attempt on the life of Spanish King Juan Carlos. Other than this occurrence, it appears that Spains Basque region is finally heading toward peace. ETA said shortly after this incident that it would request U.N. observers to oversee the peace effort, although the Spanish government did not see such supervision necessary. Terrorism has subsided, free elections have been peaceful, and the population of the Basque region has shown preference to peaceful negotiations over violence. What is the cause of this seemingly successful movement toward peace? Some suggest that the growing strength of the European Union has much to do with this. The original push of the separatists was to secede from Spain, a concept somewhat validated by the fascist regime of Francisco Franco. However, today it seems absurd to try to break away from a country which is joining the rest of Europe in blurring its borders and looking toward more political and monetary unity across the continent. To add to its appeal, the EU has contributed extensively to areas within its domain that face economic hardships. Spain is one of the recipients of these contributions, and the Basque area alone has received $1.4 billion in aid in the past two years. While European unity grows, the want for peace follows. Simply put, the people of the Basque region of Spain are sick of the violence, tired of the bloodshed, and less and less supportive of terrorist actions. They are beginning to look toward a more democratic system that brings with it more political tolerance and less unrest. New advantages within the economic arena in the Basque area are also contributing to the peace movement. The Basques had at one point played a major role in the steel and banking industries in Spain. However, with rising terrorism, industry shifted to Madrid and other more politically sound areas. Now, government subsidies and the prospect of peace have once again attracted investors to the Basque region, like foreign investors such as Arbed, a Luxembourg steel corporation. Unemployment may remain high for the time being, but the blossoming annual economic growth rate of 5.5% is incredible and actually exceeds that of the Spanish nation as a whole. I feel that this new push towards harmony between Spain and its Basque area will succeed. It is very similar to the situation in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, where the violence was stopped and peace has been maintained. The Basque people are tired of the unrest and are looking toward new ways to achieve their goals of autonomy. I think that they are beginning to see that concessions Prime Minister Aznar is willing to make to their demands (slowly, but surely!), along with less Spanish nationalism and a new look toward globalism and a united Europe, is what they have been seeking for so long. .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd , .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .postImageUrl , .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd , .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:hover , .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:visited , .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:active { border:0!important; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:active , .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uda5064ee2dda4828f7b102267dfc4ddd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Arrowsmith Essay We will write a custom essay on Stop the violence (SPAIN) specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The violent terrorist actions of ETA have taken the lives of nearly 800 people in guerilla attacks in the past three decades. Their actions and the reactions of the Spanish government to them have produced a course of events leading up to the current cease-fire that has proven only to be bloody and unsuccessful for both sides. The current peace movement has not only stopped the bloodshed, but has also helped the Basque area grow economically. All this adds up to a successful peace movement in the Basque region of Spain, stopping the violence of its past . R E F E R E N C E S :1.Basque bungle. The Economist. 25 April 1998, p. 55. 2.A breakthrough: Spain and the Basques. The Economist. 19 September 1998, p. 64. 3.ETA. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Internet. 8 April 1999. Available: http://search.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=33687sctn=1. 4.Goodman, Al. Spain: Basques seek U.N. observers. The New York Times. 19 March 1999, p. A6. 5.Goodman, Al. Spain: E.T.A. reaffirms cease-fire. The New York Times. 23 December 1998, p. A16. 6.Goodman, Al. Spain: an overture to Basque rebels. The New York Times. 19 December 1998, p. A6. 7.Goodman, Al. Spain Making Contact With Basque Rebels. The New York Times. 4 November 1998, p. A4. 8.Goodman, Al. Voting in Basque Region Helps Moderates, and Peace. The New York Times. 26 October 1998, p A11. 9.Now for votes: Spain and the Basques. The Economist. 26 September 1998, p. 53. 10.The Peace Dividend of a More United Europe. Business Week. 29 March 1999, p. 57. 11.SEVILLE. Time International. 9 February 1998, p. 10. 12.Spanish Basque Rebel Chief Seized in Paris With 5 Aides. The New York Times. 10 March 1999, p. A8. 13.Valls-Russell, Janice. Reigning in Spain: a tribute to diversity.The New Leader. 6 October 1997, p. 8-9. 14.Whats new? Spain and the Basques. The Economist. 6 December 1997, p. 57. STOPPING THE VIOLENCETHE MOVE TOWARD PEACE IN SPAINS BASQUE REGION

Monday, November 25, 2019

Prophetic Portrait Essay

Prophetic Portrait Essay Prophetic Portrait Essay Derrick Greenfield Professor Tyrus College Reading and Writing 18 October 2013 Prophetic Portrait I see an open field full of lost souls looking and searching for a safety zone, not knowing what the world has for them next. They are asking questions and looking for answers, yet no answers have come. They do not know who to look for when they are in a time of need. Who will save them and be their rescuer? God says in Matthew 28:19, â€Å"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.† God calls all of his children to do his work, but only calls a few to the missions field. With his calling comes a great responsibility. Missions is what my heart yearns and cares for deeply about. It is my mind set to follow the calling of God on my life to the missions field. In four to five years I see myself following my calling into the mission field and seeking the lost. Being in the mission’s field, I never really thought about the risks involved in doing God’s work. He neve r wants us to worry about the consequences, but to focus on giving everything we have to him while doing his work. God always guides and places me where he wants me to be. I have imagined God placing me in South America, reaching out in Peru or El Salvador. I will never know what he has planned for me there until I go, but I know that if it is his will then he will move through me to spread his word to as many people as possible. Those people, who are lost without knowing who God is, deserve to be told about his love and his greatness. God says in Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." God has given me the opportunity to tell the lost

Friday, November 22, 2019

Airasia Xs Business Environment Tourism Essay

Airasia Xs Business Environment Tourism Essay X targeted the less disposable income travelers who overlooked by traditional airlines even by some low cost carriers. The low price of ticket and abundant of destination network provided travelers more opportunities to fly. Moreover, X explored the new technology to reduce transaction cost for travelers – the cell phone sales of ticket. As Asia’s economic grew, people from Asia have higher spending power and they will select air transportation to travel more frequent than before. X should cater to a broader passengers segment across different needs categories. Back to a short time after the inception of X, the Malaysia Transport Ministry even refused to release the air route from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney for X in order to protect Malaysia Airlines which is the national airline. Afterward, X prepared for IPO but did not want to be list on the KLSE. Due to worry about the Malaysia government could slow down some of X’s expansion and continue to refuse some routes a pplication. X put off the IPO till the end of 2011 and early of 2012. AirAsia X’s industry environment Although the entry barrier of airline industry is high such as huge capital requirement and governmental legal barriers, low cost long haul carriers are suffering strong competition. On one hand, most of low cost long haul carriers are launched by their parent company. For example, X is a sister company of AirAsia, Scoot Airline is a subsidiary of Singapore Airline. They can enter the industry because of the background of their parent company. On the other hand, the cost of aircraft, fuel and airport is the majority expense in airline company, the high bargain power of suppliers gave much pressure to them. Train and ship are the substitutes of airline, but they are hardly to take place of low cost long haul airline. Even though the price is more expensive than bus and ship, low cost long haul carriers provide variable, efficient and convenient transport service. Sometimes, l ow threat of substitutes indicates high competition in the industry. In Southeast Asia market, Jetstar from Australia and Scoot from Singapore are the main competitors of X. Jetstar is the earliest company to operated low cost model of them, it has much experience about low cost control. It has huge fleet and good quality service. Its fatal weakness is the highest ticket price provided among the three companies. Scoot is a new low cost long haul carrier in 2012. It has narrow route network and higher price than X. However, it has absolute cost advantages in route from Singapore to Australia currently. Compared to them, X has the lowest average ticket price and the largest passenger load. AirAsia X’s Strategy X successfully integrated low cost model in every organizational activities. It sharply griped the true needs of lower disposable income customers to attract new customer segments and created value to customers around low cost. Primary activities Activities Description In bound logistics Although X formally separated from AirAsia, they still jointly purchase important resources such as aircraft and fuel. It will strengthen their bargaining power towards suppliers. X reduced costly investment in terminal or non-airplane related infrastructure help to decrease the cost of flight for passengers. Meanwhile, X pays much attention to flight safety. It has a high standard aircraft maintenance team.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Main Tenets of the Theory in Criminal Justice Essay

Main Tenets of the Theory in Criminal Justice - Essay Example Social learning theories explain that people learn new behavior through overt reinforcement, punishment or observation. People learn through others’ behavior.   If people observe positive, desired outcomes in the observed behavior, they are more likely to model, imitate, and adopt the behavior themselves.   It also suggests that the environment can have an effect on the way people behave.   This theory believes that criminality is a function of individual socialization, how an individual has been influenced by his experiences or relationships with his family, peer groups, teachers, church, authority figures, and others.   Various theorists have attempted to develop concepts on how an individual within the social order learns. This has been an important topic because of the manner in which different people function within society. For example, the habitual criminal may not always learn from a jail sentence because of behavioral patterns learned in childhood. Yet, if this is the case, criminal justice entities, as well as psychological therapists have a method of understanding the behavior and treating it.     Learning is defined as the habits and knowledge that develop as a result of experiences with the environment, as opposed to instincts, drives, reflexes, and genetic predispositions. Associationism is the oldest learning theory.  It is based on the idea that the mind organizes sensory experiences in some way, and is called cognitive psychology today.  Behaviorism is the second oldest learning theory.  It is based on the idea that the mind requires a physical response by the body in order to organize sensory associations.  There are two types of learning in behavioral psychology: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Most social behavior is of an operant nature.  

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Terrorism is a form of risk that is impossible to manage Essay

Terrorism is a form of risk that is impossible to manage - Essay Example Terrorism always stems up in the weakest of classes within a society. (THACKRAH, 2004) Its infancy is thus bred and nourished in the lowest of classes within the culture. This weak class in a third world nation is in reality the masses. What people think about the form of government is really given an air of indifferent experiences when terrorism starts to crop up all of a sudden. This creates a feeling of hatred for the governmental institutions as well as the people at the helm of affairs, i.e., the ones who are generating the policies and are running the government. (OOTS, 1986) Terrorism demands of people to change their way of looking and expecting something, if they do for that matter, from the government. It has been the case for many years that whenever government within a certain country is in a position of economic and defense power, terrorism creeps up out of the blue and mesmerizes its democratic institutions beyond repair and restoration. The need of the hour on these countries’ part is to fight against the terrorist activities with a stern hand but in a more disciplined and ethical fashion. If the same is not done, hatred is the most common of reactions that have been seen for time immemorial for these countries. Terrorism has changed the face of the world. The people of this world have started to feel unsafe whenever they are within a horde and thus different assumptions have started to come about as concerns to the basis of different congregations, events, concerts and so on and so forth. This has really presented a very grim picture of the peace aspect related with this world. It has to be changed and there needs to be thinking mindset shift within the global populace to start with. People need to understand their respective responsibilities and then echo the same in the light of the different policies and strategies

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Role of Warehousing in Logistics Essay Example for Free

Role of Warehousing in Logistics Essay Many organizations are using this different types of warehouses according to their requirement. For storing different types of goods and for transporting different goods, these warehouses are used rapidly. The main requirement of the logistics is the warehouse management functions. In logistics, the management of the goods is done. The management of the goods include controlling the flow of goods, and information about the goods. Different warehouse systems are used in logistics for making it effective. The different systems are warehouse management system and the warehouse control systems. For maximizing the efficiency, these systems are used a lot. These are the different operations which are done using the warehouses in logistics. They provide various services like labeling, ticketing, configuring and testing. They provide the services very rapidly. These warehouses act as the control centers for monitoring the goods. For customer satisfaction one has to use the warehouses. In any logistics system, transporting of the goods is done from one location to the other. For checking whether the goods are transported to the customers at the right time and date, for this warehousing is used. Before delivering the goods, the goods are replenished in the warehouse initially. Although the storage is done for a short period, they are widely used. The time which is needed for transporting goods will also become less as the warehouses are placed near the centers. So, the cost of the transportation gets reduced. So, for any business the main integral part is the warehouse. To be successful in real estate, the maxim is location, location, location. In a way, that is the rule for warehousing success. And warehouse success is very important to customer satisfaction.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Science Experiment to Measure the Dissolved Oxygen Levels Using the HACH Method and CHEMets Test Kit :: Science Scientific Environmental Resources Essays

Science Experiment to Measure the Dissolved Oxygen Levels Using the HACH Method and CHEMets Test Kit Purpose The purpose of my project is to determine if there is any significant difference in dissolved oxygen (DO) levels as measured by the traditional HACH ® method or the newly developed CHEMets ® test kit under typical field conditions. Hypothesis My hypothesis is that there is no significant difference in dissolved oxygen (DO) levels as measured by the traditional HACH ® method or the newly developed CHEMets ® test kit under typical field conditions. Review of Literature "Ours is a watery world, and we, its dominant species, are walking sacks of sea water. The presence of large amounts of liquid water on Earth make our planet unique in the solar system." (Hill, 1992 p. 477) People have recently become more concerned with preserving our earth for future generations. Even the government pitches in to help save our earth by enacting laws to help preserve our natural resources. There is local evidence that improved sewage treatment means improvement in water quality. Monitoring on a national level showed that large investments in point-source pollution control have yielded no statistically significant pattern of improvement in dissolved oxygen levels in water in the last 15 years. It may be that we are only keeping up with the amount of pollution we are producing. (Knopman, 1993) The early biosphere was not pleasant for life because the atmosphere had low levels of oxygen. Photosynthetic bacteria consumed carbon dioxide and produced simple sugars and oxygen which created the oxygen abundant atmosphere in which more advanced life forms could develop. (Brown, 1994) The mystery of how Earth's oxygen levels rose is very complex. Scientists don't agree when or how the oxygen on earth got here, but we know we could not live without it. (Pendick, 1993) Oxygen is crucial for humans to survive. Dissolved oxygen is also crucial for most fish and aquatic organisms to survive. Dissolved oxygen is for them what atmospheric oxygen is for humans. If humans have no oxygen to breathe, they die. The same goes for fish. However, fish get their oxygen from the water, and humans get theirs from the atmosphere. (Mitchell and Stapp, 1992) Different aquatic organisms need different levels of dissolved oxygen to thrive. For example, pike and trout need medium to high levels of dissolved oxygen. Carp and catfish are the exact opposite, needing only low levels of dissolved oxygen.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Organization Knowledge Essay

Managing information in today’s growing world is a tedious task. With excessive amount of data coming into systems daily, it has become imperative for knowledge organizers to follow certain guidelines if they are to ensure quick and easy retrievals later on. The purpose of this paper is to explore the different techniques using which knowledge in a public library can be organized. For this purpose, I m assuming that I have been employed by a public library and have been designated the task of organizing their knowledge. Organization of knowledge in a public library is a more delicate task than organization of knowledge at any other school or college library. Fact is that there are a greater number of users in a public library with all sorts of personalities. (ALA/PLA) Students, teachers, retirees, civilians, knowledge-seekers, tourists, etc are some of the different categories of users of a public library. Since all of these categories hold different perceptions as to the organization of knowledge and would expect a different kind of classification, it is important to use standardized organization techniques to address a maximum number of users in an appealing way. Classification of knowledge is a very ambiguous job. There are no pre-defined rules or any set criteria that govern the classification of knowledge. It is to the discretion of the librarian or the manager operating in the situation to decide by them the way of organizing their knowledge. Given the task of organizing knowledge at the public library I would begin by classifying and sorting out the different books according to the subject material they deal with. For example, books on art, literature, politics, religion, music and science can all be identified into separate groups and thus can easily be sorted. This would be the preliminary and perhaps one of the most critical steps in the entire process. Having effectively carried out a thorough classification during the first process would mean simplification and reduced errors in the oncoming steps. Organization of Knowledge) The next step is to assign labels or bar tags to these bags in an intelligent manner. Books in a library need a unique identification number that comes in hand at the time of borrowing and return. These identification numbers would be distributed on the basis of their category with no discretion within each category. Since new books would be coming into the library every now and then, the identification numbers cannot follow a rule. This is because every time new book comes in, it would require other books’ labels to be re-assigned. This would not only be an impossible task, it would also negate the integrity of the data contained in the library. Therefore, it is far more important to ensure that these books are given intelligent tags identifying their category and a corresponding number so that the identification number is a composite field made up of characters and numbers. After successful grouping or rather preliminary classification of the books in the library, I would no focus on ordering the books within each subset using the alphabetical order. Alphabetical order is a very tricky pattern to follow. There is no way a strict alphabetical order can be followed. Instead the name of the book and the author’s name are both used for alphabetical ordering. For example, a book written by P. Gerrard titled â€Å"On the Economics of War† can be classified under the â€Å"P† category or the â€Å"O† category. However, it depends on the librarian as to what is considered more important for him. I, being employed in a public library, would list this book under the â€Å"P† section due to the fact that the title of the book starts with an insignificant word, in terms of a title. The word â€Å"on† has no significant literary value when expressing a book title. Thus, listing this book under the â€Å"P† category would make life easier when it comes for searching. Similarly, placing the book titled â€Å"In the Eye of the Mist† by Pete K. Moss under the â€Å"I† category would have no intelligence associated with it. Intelligent categorization calls upon this book to be placed under the â€Å"P† category owing to the first name of the author starting with this alphabet making it easier to trace this book around the library. The discretion with which similar groupings will be done depends to a great extent upon the title of the book. Unless the title of the book opens with a relatively rare word or with a noun, the categorization will be done using the name of the author. Although, this may look to b a relatively easy task to perform, it should be noted that often there are several authors of a book or either their name does not start with a single initial. Such cases are often perplexing and it creates the problem of a uniformed strategy to follow. Ensuring uniformity in the organization of knowledge means that there would be fewer chances of not finding a book in the place it was thought to be in. (Organization of Knowledge)It also makes life easy for regular users of a library. Since public libraries serve the general public, there re several reads bound to be using the library on a routine basis. Such users get accustomed to the organization technique used within a library and after a considerable amount of time spent using the library, they themselves become equipped with the knowledge of finding a book easily. Often it has been seen that such people are there helping other naive users around the library when the librarian is not around or perhaps busy with another user. Moving on, since all of the books would by now be organized in their respective categories, it would be no longer confusing as to where a particular book should be placed. (What is Knowledge Organization? ) The next step would be to ensure that these books are all fed into a centralized system along with their shelf numbers. Inputting the identification numbers would be a time-consuming task. Normally libraries have added information about books contained in a database. Inputting such information along with the identification number would mean several days’ hard work. Thus, the general recommendation is to scan the identification numbers on the book along with their location tag. The location tag is like the identification number. It informs the reader as to which shelf this book will probably be placed on. Logically numbering the shelves and then placing the correct shelf tag on the book according to its position would eliminate a great deal of manual input. Scanned data will contain the label of the book and the location. Librarians in their free time can then update their database with additional information about these books. Thus, the final step would be to correctly place these books in the shelves that have been labeled onto them. Incorrect placement of these books will result in wasted activity during the organization of knowledge steps. Thus, it is imperative to ensure that these books are placed back in their respective shelves even after they are returned by an issuer. In conclusion, I would like to assert the fact that knowledge organization is a hefty, yet significant task when it comes to using a library. The books in a library are pretty much arranged in a very logical and orderly manner. It is this fact which makes a library usable and books accessible. Online entries of the locations of books into computers also assist librarians only because they know that the proper place of that book is the one pointed out by the computer. Librarians face a tough task ahead of them when they join public libraries and attempt to organize the knowledge there.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

International markets small business in USA Essay

International markets& small business in USA Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Venture capitalists invest massive of money to companies that want to expand but have no enough access to public funds. They are willing to invest in such companies because they earn massive benefit when the company succeeds. Consequently, venture capitalists look for firms with strong management staff, large markets and unique goods with high competitive advantage (Gladstone & Gladstone 2004). They are driven by the desire to own a large portion of the company so that they can influence its direction.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   International markets are complex due to their vast geographical coverage in the worlds rapidly changing and growing nations. The basics for international markers ranging from diverse culture and languages, handling issues related to business ethics, selection of distribution and global marketing channels and international communication. They are the key issues that guide the operationality of worldwide markets (Omar, Abduh, & Sukmana, 2013)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This situation represent personal and professional dilemma where by the personal and professional interests that are simultaneously conflicting. I will use the principles of ethical decision making process seek supervision self mirror image and illumination of the process will also consider legal obligation that supersedes my professional and personal ethics (Wueste,1994). I will talk both the boss and supervisor to examine their feeling about my situation as that pertain my professional ethics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The small businesses are important in US economy in many aspects. They employ many people, actually about the half of the total workforce in there a key in driving the economy as opposed to giant multi-billion dollar companies (White House Committee on Small Business, 1962).They are instrumental in stabilizing forces in the economy .the owners are backbone for creativity innovation production and value creation in United States. The small business is actually what stimulates the economy. References Gladstone, D., & Gladstone, L. (2004). Venture capital investing: The complete handbook for investing in private businesses for outstanding profits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Financial Times Omar, A., Abduh, M., & Sukmana, R. (2013). Fundamentals of Islamic money and capital markets. Singapore: John Wiley White House Committee on Small Business (U.S.). (1962). Small business in the American economy: Its contributions and its problems [and] the role of the Federal Government. Washington. Wueste, D. E. (1994). Professional ethics and social responsibility. Lanham, Md: Rowman and Littlefield. Source document

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Letters Of War

Letters of War â€Å"Spartan mothers of old, who, when their sons went forth to battle for freedom and their native land, said to their sons: ‘Either come home proudly bearing your shield before you, or upon it’†(Edwards 139). This statement is a quote from Adrain Edwards to His Mother. This statement symbolizes the true meaning of the word patriotism. Patriotism is the action, practice or process of loving, supporting and defending one’s country. As I have stated in the previous paragraph, that statement was written by Adrian Edwards to his mother. It is the essence to what his beliefs are. He volunteered to join the American men to fight in World War I(Carroll 138). Yes, that is correct, he volunteered. He was not drafted, nor forced to join his fellow man to fight in the war, it was his choice. This shows his belief that everything that life holds is worth dying for, which includes the country he loves. This idea of patriotism, of love for ones country, is evident in Letters of a Nation. The letter, George Saito to His Father, had a dramatic impact on me as soon as I finished reading it. A soldier is writing to his father to let him know about his other son, who died in battle. He wanted to let him know exactly how it happened, and the impact his son had on his company. His actions saved many lives, even though his own was taken. He lets his father know that even though he has lost a son already, that the volunteering that they had done was not foolish, and that he is proud to fight for his country (Saito 153). Again, this man volunteered to join in the fight to preserve his home land, to fight for what he believed in, and to in the event it might happen, die for it. He is willing to sacrifice his own life for ideals greater than life itself. The reason why this letter had such an impact on me, was because that he knew his brother was killed in the line of duty. Yet, it seems as though he ren... Free Essays on Letters Of War Free Essays on Letters Of War Letters of War â€Å"Spartan mothers of old, who, when their sons went forth to battle for freedom and their native land, said to their sons: ‘Either come home proudly bearing your shield before you, or upon it’†(Edwards 139). This statement is a quote from Adrain Edwards to His Mother. This statement symbolizes the true meaning of the word patriotism. Patriotism is the action, practice or process of loving, supporting and defending one’s country. As I have stated in the previous paragraph, that statement was written by Adrian Edwards to his mother. It is the essence to what his beliefs are. He volunteered to join the American men to fight in World War I(Carroll 138). Yes, that is correct, he volunteered. He was not drafted, nor forced to join his fellow man to fight in the war, it was his choice. This shows his belief that everything that life holds is worth dying for, which includes the country he loves. This idea of patriotism, of love for ones country, is evident in Letters of a Nation. The letter, George Saito to His Father, had a dramatic impact on me as soon as I finished reading it. A soldier is writing to his father to let him know about his other son, who died in battle. He wanted to let him know exactly how it happened, and the impact his son had on his company. His actions saved many lives, even though his own was taken. He lets his father know that even though he has lost a son already, that the volunteering that they had done was not foolish, and that he is proud to fight for his country (Saito 153). Again, this man volunteered to join in the fight to preserve his home land, to fight for what he believed in, and to in the event it might happen, die for it. He is willing to sacrifice his own life for ideals greater than life itself. The reason why this letter had such an impact on me, was because that he knew his brother was killed in the line of duty. Yet, it seems as though he ren...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Human resources management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human resources management - Essay Example In order for effective strategic planning to take place, both risk and uncertainty must be categorized and classified. Merely because it is not known what might come of a certain situation, decision, or action, this does not provide the leader, or leadership team with an effective excuse for not at least considering some of the likely externalities that might come out of a given situation (Kim 65). For instance, if a particular individual within leadership, or 18 of individuals within leadership, are distinctly aware of a potential risk that they face, they would be patently foolish to ignore the risk and not focus upon the means by which they can prepare for the eventuality that all of the possible outcomes may portend. Some of these might be negative, some of these might be positive; however, regardless of whether they are positive or negative, it is necessary for the individuals within leadership to at least planned for them so that when they occur the maximum amount of utility ca n be gained from whatever eventuality presents itself. The decision-making process cannot and should not be understood as something that is undifferentiated from the individual to the group. What is meant by this is that an individual making a decision necessarily engages in the process in a far different way than does the group seeking to make a decision. All too often, leaders within a particular management team are of the opinion that an individual decision must be made in far too many circumstances (Klinke & Ortwin 275). However, the fact of the matter is that employees/stakeholders, are not only their two perform useful work; they are also there to leverage upon their own decision-making and encourage their participation within the decision-making process. As such, the individual decision-maker would rely upon the accident information and personal experience that he or she might have with regards to solving a particular situation. Leadership is not something that can be effecti vely performed utilizing either a firm understanding of one or the other aspect of risk or uncertainty. Rather, it is necessary for a true leader to be well rounded in the strategic planning for both of these factors. By allowing for a well balanced approach that considers the means through which both risk and uncertainty plays into the expectations for success and threats of failure that integrate with the future of the firm. Whereas it is tempting for an individual to rely upon a given focus to a greater or lesser degree, the more appropriate response is to allow for strategic planning to take place in a well nuanced manner; fully mindful and cognizant of the degrees to which strategy and planning are part and parcel of the role that any leader and/or effective manager must engage. By comparison, a leader within a group would have the possibility and likelihood of drawing upon the inputs of the stakeholders as a means of making a well-informed and dynamic decision. Neither approac h is correct or effective in each and every situation; however, from an analysis of the existing documentation and a integration with the information that is thus far been presented course, it is the understanding of this particular student that the group

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Strategic Marketing Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Strategic Marketing Plan - Term Paper Example Budget is tight for the first year and as such, management shall be more than careful in its decision making for the business. Employees shall carefully be chosen and the owner shall make sure that each personnel are oriented towards achieving its corporate goal which is to start gaining profit by the end of the first year. Competition would be very stiff with the presence of various coffee shops that have already established their presence in various parts of Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates. Aviano Coffee is also confident in being able to make gains through its Internet channel. Its Marketing efforts shall be intensified to ensure that the corporate message is brought across the target market. To cap this off, Aviano Coffee Shop wants to achieve two things with the business: to share excellent coffee experience through its quality products and to gain profits to ensure presence in the market for a long period of time. II. BACKGROUND Coffee remains to be one of the mo st preferred beverages anywhere in the world. In the US, it is estimated that 50% of the total population or approximately 150 Million Americans drink coffee in any form, be it espresso, cappuccino, latte or cold coffee. Moreover, among these coffee aficionados, the average consumption is 3.1 cups per day (Coffee Business Statistics Report 2010). As such, it is expected that more and more Coffee shops open and thrive serving the tastes of these coffee lovers. Despite the presence of numerous Coffee shops in the country, there is yet room for more entrepreneurs who want to serve the needs of the Coffee lovers. While some may opt to go traditional, others diversify to create concept shops that do not only serve ordinary coffee, but also the fast growing industry of specialty coffee. It is with these premises that the author proposes to bring into local franchise the Colorado based brand Aviano Coffee. Aviano Coffee is popularly known in Colorado, with its market reach extending to oth er cities in Denver. Its product line highlights Latte Art, where baristas manually extract espresso. The key to competition is the manner by which specialty coffee drink is done, focusing on aesthetics of the coffee products and the ambience within the coffee shop, which focuses on the 18th and 19th century. Management wants to bring its clients into the specialty coffee experience capturing olden moments through appropriate interior design and shop structure. The thrust is to bring into the shop people who intend to have a good coffee experience (Aviano Coffee 2011). Bringing the concept store in Dubai will prove to be a challenging but exciting experience for the owners. Promoting the business within a unique culture, there will be little tweaks into the concept to ensure that the target market will feel most welcome when entering the concept store. This business plan discusses the strategies by which the concept is introduced to the target market in Dubai, and hopefully to other cities in the United Arab Emirates. III. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS The United Arab Emirates is considered to be one of the most liberal Middle East Countries in the world, according to the State of World Liberty Index It is also considered to be the 5th highest in the whole world basing on GDP per capita, and is the fastest growing economy globally (Top 5 Most Liberal Muslim Countries 2011). The presence of bars, clubs, movie theatres and commercial

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Foreign direct investment in the mining industry in burkina faso Essay

Foreign direct investment in the mining industry in burkina faso - Essay Example Later in 2013 the country was ranked 153 out of 185 in according to the ‘Doing Business 2013’ report (US Department of State, â€Å"2011 Investment Climate Statement - Burkina Faso†; Ficci, â€Å"Burkina Faso†; US Department of State, â€Å"2013 Investment Climate Statement - Burkina Faso†). The government of Burkina Faso revised its investment code in the year 2010 that demonstrates the government’s interest in attracting Foreign Direct Investment in order to be able to develop industries producing goods that can be exported. In addition to that such industries would also provide adequate training and jobs for the domestic workforce. The code also provides standardized guarantees to all the firms which are legally established, whether domestic or foreign, that are operating in Burkina Faso. The code constitutes of four different investment and operations preference scheme which are evenly valid to all mergers and acquisitions as well as Greenfield investments. Exhibiting its new status as a significantly large mining industry, the Government of Burkina Faso is revising the mining code stipulated in 2003 in order to better capitalize in the mineral resources generated from the industry as well as to create a suitable climate for the mining industry. The announcements for privatization bids made by the country’s government are extensively distributed targeting both domestic and foreign investors. The bids announcements are published in the regional and local newspapers, international magazines, e-mailed to interested investors based in foreign countries, mailed to diplomatic missions and are also hosted over the internet (US Department of State, â€Å"2012 Investment Climate Statement - Burkina Faso†). The strategies implemented by the government of Burkina Faso have proven to be highly successful in grabbing the attention of foreign investors. The investment code was revised in

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Religious Cult Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Religious Cult - Case Study Example In order to better identify Heaven's Gate with the new religious movement, essentially a cult, in general terms as well as the unexpected consequences of its termination in specific, a sociological analysis is essential. This paper aims at illustrating the history of Heaven's Gate movement along with their belief system in particular in reference with the methods of organization by applying theories and models of new religious movements and a detailed analysis of the impact on wider society and culture as a whole. During 1972, the onset of the Heaven's Gate movement began when Marshall Herff Applewhite congregated with Bonnie Lu Trousdale Nettles, a nurse working in the hospital and an active member of . The belief system had been structured by these two individuals consisting of several unusual elements such as alien, new age movements, higher plane of consciousness, Christianity, theosophy as well as popular cultural myths and legends. Heaven's Gate also referred to as Human Individual Metamorphosis (HIM), was actually a millenarian movement, integrating the ideologies behind the traditional biblical analogy in association with the conception of space travel and reality from additional dimension whatsoever. The cult group's belief system essentially transformed through several manifestations during two decades of their subsistence. As the time passed by, the group's belief system had been matured with the belief that the leaders Applewhite and Nettles, later also known as Bo and Peep or Do and Ti, had been sent into "The Human Level" from "The Next Level" in order to organize and direct fellow individuals in their journey for being united with higher evolutionary existence. The leaders believed in the metaphorical ideas taken from metaphysics and UFO subcultures that the extraterrestrials provided the human beings another chance to move forward to the plane of higher consciousness - the ideology in essence was amalgamated the Christian significance of sin and liberation in combination with the components taken from Eastern religious philosophy primarily focusing on the termination of the cycle of death and reincarnation. However, the heavenly monarchy that Applewhite and Nettle used to describe was not only spiritual but it had literal base as well. They used to preach that the journey towards higher plane would be conducted by using a spacecraft. The term Human Individual Metamorphosis (HIM) was coined to make individuals or essentially followers to understand about the bodily metamorphosis, a literal transformation of a being's physiological existence, resembling to the life-cycle of a caterpillar to butterfly through the method of self-discipline. To identify their gradual process of revelation to higher dimension, various folk wisdoms depending on the regular and usual physiological changes had been employed in order to build the confidence in between. Examples may include the explanation of 'headaches' as the proof for "explosion of consciousness" or menstrual cycle as the active working of androgyny. Moreover, the ideology of the group asserted that all human beings possess the ability to trans cend to the higher state of consciousness in order to become graduated to the 'Next Level' which was

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Nanoparticles Obtained by Using Different Gelation Solution

Nanoparticles Obtained by Using Different Gelation Solution 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Size of nanoparticles obtained by using different gelation solution 3.1.1 Size of different alginate-based nanoparticles at fixed enzyme and Polyoxyethylene sorbitan mono-oleate (surfactant) concentration Various alginate based nanoparticles were prepared by using different gelling solutions as given in method . The size of nanoparticles determined by DLS is given in table-1. Table-1: Showing size and intensity of nanoparticles at single concentration of surfactant used and enzyme immobilized S. No. Surfactant Conc. (mM) Enzyme Conc. (mg/mL) Cross-linking agent Peak size, diameter (nm) [Day 0] Intensity (%) Peak size, diameter (nm) [Day 3] Intensity (%) 1. 8.203 2.5 BaCl2 89.437 90.6 97.83 74.4 2. CaCl2 87.883 94.3 161.6 54 3. SrCl2 69.193 75.2 91.38 62 4. NiCl2 421.833 100 537.6 75.5 Size was measured on the same day as the preparation of alginate based nanoparticles and there was uniformity in size distribution of the peak diameter which is shown in figures-1, 2, 3 and 4. Figure 1: Size distribution of Ba-alginate nanoparticles: A) on same day and B) after three days. Figure 2: Size distribution of Ca-alginate nanoparticles: A) on same day and B) after three days. Figure 3: Size distribution of Sr-alginate nanoparticles: A) on same day and B) after three days. Figure 4: Size distribution of Ni-alginate nanoparticles: A) on same day and B) after three days. It could be seen that when size was determined on the same day (Day 0), uniformity was observed in the peak diameter. However, when size was determined after 3 days from the development of nanoparticles, the size was found to increase and the distribution was random. This happens due to Oswald ripening. 3.1.2 Size of different alginate based nanoparticles at varying surfactant concentration Different alginate based nanoparticles were developed without enzyme immobilization at different concentrations of surfactant ranging from below critical micelle concentration value to its double as given in Method . The size of nanoparticles is depicted in table-2. Table-2: Showing size and intensity of nanoparticles at different concentrations of surfactant used (no enzyme immobilized) S. No. Surfactant Concentration (mM) Cross-linking agent Peak size, diameter (nm) [Day 0] Intensity (%) 1. 0.006 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 104.5 70.01 165.9 135 53.7 57.9 61 79.5 2. 0.012 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 384.5 150 463.7 193.5 94.3 100 100 100 3. 0.024 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 339.2 71.03 49.65 127.5 52.8 50.9 69.3 62.8 It has been observed from the table that as the concentration of surfactant increases, the size and shape become more regular. Below the critical micelle concentration of the surfactant, uneven and irregular shaped particles were formed. This observation is validated by the size determination of the nanoparticles using dynamic light scattering at different concentrations of the surfactant as shown in figures 5, 6, 7 and 8. Figure 5: Size distribution of Ba-alginate nanoparticles: A) at below CMC (0.006mM) B) at CMC (0.012mM) and C) above CMC (0.024mM) of the surfactant. D) Plot of the peaks of alginate nanoparticles obtained against three different concentrations of surfactant used. Figure 6: Size distribution of Ca-alginate nanoparticles: A) at below CMC (0.006mM) B) at CMC (0.012mM) and C) above CMC (0.024mM) of the surfactant. D) Plot of the peaks of alginate nanoparticles obtained against three different concentrations of surfactant used. Figure 7: Size distribution of Sr-alginate nanoparticles: A) at below CMC (0.006mM) B) at CMC (0.012mM) and C) above CMC (0.024mM) of the surfactant. D) Plot of the peaks of alginate nanoparticles obtained against three different concentrations of surfactant used. Figure 8: Size distribution of Ni-alginate nanoparticles: A) at below CMC (0.006mM) B) at CMC (0.012mM) and C) above CMC (0.024mM) of the surfactant. D) Plot of the peaks of alginate nanoparticles obtained against three different concentrations of surfactant used. 3.1.3 Size of different alginate-based nanoparticles at varying enzyme concentrations but fixed surfactant concentration Nanoparticles of various sizes and shapes were made by varying the concentrations of enzyme which was immobilized in the alginate matrix as described in Method. The different sizes obtained against differently immobilized enzyme concentrations are shown in table-3. Table-3: Showing size and intensity of nanoparticles at different concentrations of enzyme immobilized against a constant surfactant concentration S. No. Surfactant Conc. (mM) Enzyme Conc. (mg/mL) Cross-linking agent Peak size, diameter (nm) [Day 0] Intensity (%) 1. 8.203 1 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 79.11 110.7 66.48 61.79 53.3 77.2 51 58.4 2. 2.5 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 89.437 87.883 69.193 421.833 90.6 94.3 75.2 100 3. 5 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 65.78 146.5 70.09 138.2 51.1 83.3 43.5 58.2 4. 7.5 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 81.18 218.8 83.91 65.84 54.6 91.4 63.2 80.6 Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 show the changing size of the nanoparticles with change in the concentration of enzyme immobilized in alginate matrix. A comparative graphical plot has also been incorporated to display the change in size against varying enzyme concentration for each of the cross-linking agents. Figure 9: Size distribution of Ba-alginate nanoparticles: A) at 1mg/mL B) at 2.5mg/mL C) at 5mg/mL and D) at 7.5mg/mL of enzyme concentration encapsulated in alginate nano-beads. E) Plot for the variation of peak size against changing enzyme concentration. Figure 10: Size distribution of Ca-alginate nanoparticles: A) at 1mg/mL B) at 2.5mg/mL C) at 5mg/mL and D) at 7.5mg/mL of enzyme concentration encapsulated in alginate nano-beads. E) Plot for the variation of peak size against changing enzyme concentration. Figure 11: Size distribution of Sr-alginate nanoparticles: A) at 1mg/mL B) at 2.5mg/mL C) at 5mg/mL and D) at 7.5mg/mL of enzyme concentration encapsulated in alginate nano-beads. E) Plot for the variation of peak size against changing enzyme concentration. Figure 12: Size distribution of Ni-alginate nanoparticles: A) at 1mg/mL B) at 2.5mg/mL C) at 5mg/mL and D) at 7.5mg/mL of enzyme concentration encapsulated in alginate nano-beads. E) Plot for the variation of peak size against changing enzyme concentration. From the various figures of nanoparticles, it could be seen that the average peak size of nanoparticles increase with increasing concentration of enzyme for Barium, Calcium and Strontium. However, in case of Nickel, the size is maximum at 2.5mg/mL concentration of enzyme and it decreases for higher concentrations of enzyme. 3.1.4 Size of different alginate-based nanoparticles at different pH for fixed enzyme and surfactant concentrations Nanoparticles of different sizes and forms were prepared by varying the pH of the buffer solution as described in Method. The peak size diameter of the nanoparticles synthesized is given in table-4. Table-4: Showing size and intensity of nanoparticles at different pH of buffer for enzyme immobilized in alginate matrix against a constant surfactant concentration S. No. Surfactant Conc. (mM) Enzyme Conc. (mg/mL) pH of Buffer Cross-linking agent Peak size, diameter (nm) [Day 0] Intensity (%) 1. 8.203 2.5 5.36 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 178.9 256.1 292 349.1 84.6 88.9 71.9 100 2. 7.04 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 89.437 87.883 69.193 421.833 90.6 94.3 75.2 100 3. 10 BaCl2 CaCl2 SrCl2 NiCl2 254.9 608.2 205.1 496 84.8 57.6 78.7 100 Figure 13: Size distribution of Ba-alginate nanoparticles: A) at pH 5.36 B) at pH 7.04 and C) at pH 10 of the buffer of alginate matrix. D) Plot shows the variation of peak size against changing pH. Figure 14: Size distribution of Ca-alginate nanoparticles: A) at pH 5.36 B) at pH 7.04 and C) at pH 10 of the buffer of alginate matrix. D) Plot shows the variation of peak size against changing pH. Figure 15: Size distribution of Sr-alginate nanoparticles: A) at pH 5.36 B) at pH 7.04 and C) at pH 10 of the buffer of alginate matrix. D) Plot shows the variation of peak size against changing pH. Figure 16: Size distribution of Ni-alginate nanoparticles: A) at pH 5.36 B) at pH 7.04 and C) at pH 10 of the buffer of alginate matrix. D) Plot shows the variation of peak size against changing pH. From figures 13 and 14, it can be clearly seen that size of the nanoparticles is the smallest at pH 7 and largest at pH 10 for BaCl2 and CaCl2. In case of figure 15, size is smallest at pH 7 but largest at pH 5.36 for SrCl2. However, in case of figure 16, size increases in ascending order from pH 5.36 to pH 10 for NiCl2. 3.2 Determination of membrane structure of the nanoparticles using infrared spectroscopy The characteristic bands for different regions of sodium alginate and its overlay with the nanoparticles developed through Method using BaCl2, CaCl2, NiCl2 and SrCl2 solutions as cross-linking agents are shown in figure 17. Figure 17: FT-IR results of alginate nanoparticles showing intensity bands From figure 17, it is clear that all peaks have shifted downfield. This results in stretching of the bonds between various functional groups and so bond length of increases. Spectroscopic analyses of the alginate-based nanoparticles were based on three distinctive regions of intensity and frequency. The spectroscopic peaks obtained from the graph and their relative assignment to various regions or vibrations or stretching are given in table-5. Table-5: FT-IR Transmittance bands (cm-1) of alginate-based nanoparticles Barium Nanoparticle Calcium Nanoparticle Strontium Nanoparticle Nickel Nanoparticle Assignment 720 886 908 1024 1038 1072 1118 1154 1286 1378 1464 1610 1626 1734 2346 2852 2922 2956 3436 3448 720 886 908 964 994 1024 1072 1118 1152 1284 1378 1408 1452 1464 1600 1608 1690 1728 2346 2852 2922 2956 3434 3450 670 718 832 886 892 906 952 1094 1250 1294 1350 1378 1450 1460 1638 1724 2344 2362 2852 2922 2954 3442 3676 3690 3770 3806 3822 3906 676 710 902 952 1018 1154 1298 1318 1350 1406 1438 1460 1482 1548 1642 1962 2346 2852 2920 2960 3010 3430 3806 3904 ÃŽ ½ (CO), ÃŽ ½ (CC), ÃŽ ´(COH) ÃŽ ½ (CO), ÃŽ ´ (CCO), ÃŽ ´ (CC) ÃŽ ½ (CO), ÃŽ ½s (CC) ÃŽ ½ (COC), ÃŽ ½ (OH) ÃŽ ´ (OH), ÃŽ ´ (CH), Ï„ (CH), ω (CH). ÃŽ ½s (COO) Amide II Amide I ÃŽ ½s (CH2) ÃŽ ½a (CH2) ÃŽ ½: stretching; ÃŽ ´: bending; Ï„: twisting; ω: wagging; s: symmetric; a: asymmetric The carbohydrate region is present between frequencies 1200-800 cm-1 as is shown in figure 19. Coupling of ÃŽ ½ (C – O) + ÃŽ ½ (C – C) + ÃŽ ´ (C – O – H) vibrations give the carbohydrate region. The mean peak for Barium and Calcium was observed at 1072 cm-1 while for strontium it was observed at 1094cm-1. The overall FT-IR spectra of the different alginate-based nanoparticles are shown in figure 18.The protein region is present between 1700-1480 with bands centered near 1640 cm-1. Asymmetric stretching bands of carboxylate group (ÃŽ ½a COO) were observed near 1600 cm-1 for the various nanoparticles and symmetric stretching band of carboxylate group were centered near 1462 cm-1. In infrared spectra the methylene groups show asymmetric stretching (ÃŽ ½a CH2) near 2922 cm-1 and symmetric stretching (ÃŽ ½sCH2) near 2852 cm-1. OH and NH stretching (3000-3600 cm-1) with peaks at 3436 cm-1 (for Ba), 3434 cm-1 (for Ca), 3442 cm-1 (for Sr) and 3430 cm-1 (for Ni). N.B. Results of FT-IR spectra of D-series nanoparticles are awaited. Figure 18: FT-IR spectra of A) Ca-alginate nanoparticles B) Ba-alginate nanoparticles C) Sr-alginate nanoparticles and D) Ni-alginate nanoparticles Figure 19: FT-IR spectra for carbohydrate region (1200-800cm-1) of A) Ca-alginate nanoparticles B) Ba-alginate nanoparticles C) Sr-alginate nanoparticles and D) Ni-alginate nanoparticles Figure 20: FT-IR spectra for protein region (1700-1480cm-1); asymmetric and symmetric COO stretching of A) Ca-alginate nanoparticles B) Ba-alginate nanoparticles C) Sr-alginate nanoparticles and D) Ni-alginate nanoparticles 3.3 Determination of shape and size of alginate-nanoparticles using SEM DLS method is not a perfect technique for the determination of size of nanoparticles. So SEM studies are undertaken to have accuracy in size measurement. Figure 21: SEM picture of A) Ba-alginate nanoparticles B) Ca-alginate nanoparticles C) Sr-alginate nanoparticles and D) Ni-alginate nanoparticles (same scale for all images). For SEM-imaging of alginate based nanoparticles prepared using various geling conditions, the samples were gold coated as described in Method. Average size of barium-alginate nanoparticles was 86.8 nm (diameter) and the shape of the beads formed after enzyme encapsulation were spherical. Spherical shaped beads were also formed in case of calcium-alginate nanoparticles with average size of 51.4 nm (diameter). Strontium-alginate nanoparticles also had spherical shaped bead formation with average diameter of 45.3 nm. In case of nickel-alginate nanoparticles, the majority of the particles were rod-shaped with average height of the rods being 310.8 nm. Also, some minor beads were formed having spherical shape and average diameter of 102.3 nm. 3.4 Measurement of UV-visible spectra The UV-visible spectral determination of absorbance of the alginate based nanoparticles was determined within 200-400nm baseline range. Figure 22: UV-visible spectra of Ba-alginate nanoparticles A) At CMC (w/o enzyme) B) At double CMC (w/o enzyme) C) At 1mg/mL enzyme concentration D) At 2.5mg/mL enzyme concentration E) At 5mg/mL enzyme concentration and F) At 7.5mg/mL enzyme concentration. Figure 22: UV-visible spectra of Ca-alginate nanoparticles A) At CMC (w/o enzyme) B) At double CMC (w/o enzyme) C) At 1mg/mL enzyme concentration D) At 2.5mg/mL enzyme concentration E) At 5mg/mL enzyme concentration and F) At 7.5mg/mL enzyme concentration. Figure 23: UV-visible spectra of Sr-alginate nanoparticles A) At CMC (w/o enzyme) B) At double CMC (w/o enzyme) C) At 1mg/mL enzyme concentration D) At 2.5mg/mL enzyme concentration E) At 5mg/mL enzyme concentration and F) At 7.5mg/mL enzyme concentration. Figure 24: UV-visible spectra of Ni-alginate nanoparticles A) At CMC (w/o enzyme) B) At double CMC (w/o enzyme) C) At 1mg/mL enzyme concentration D) At 2.5mg/mL enzyme concentration E) At 5mg/mL enzyme concentration and F) At 7.5mg/mL enzyme concentration. From the spectral figures 21, 22, 23 and 24 it can be clearly seen that the ÃŽ »MAX for the different alginate-nanoparticles is around 235nm. It can also be clearly seen that the protein content at 280nm increases with increase in the concentration of enzyme immobilized in the alginate matrix. The spectra of the alginate nanoparticles show peaks and stretching only within the UV range of 200-330 nm of the spectra and then the absorbance becomes constant. The nanoparticles which were made without the immobilization of enzyme at CMC and double CMC of Polyoxyethylene sorbitan mono-oleate had the least absorbance at 280 nm in all the different types of nanoparticles depicting the fact that no enzyme was encapsulated within them. 3.4.1 Variation of O.D. with protein content Figure 25: O.D. variation plot against varying protein content at 280nm for A) Ba-alginate nanoparticles B) Ca-alginate nanoparticles C) Sr-alginate nanoparticles and D) Ni-alginate nanoparticles. From figure 24, it can be seen that Nickel-alginate nanoparticles have the highest amount of protein immobilized within the matrix. While, the protein immobilized in Barium, Calcium and Strontium alginate nanoparticles are observed to have the similar amounts of protein immobilized in them. 3.4.2 UV-visible spectra for d-block element-based alginate nanoparticles The overlay of alginate nanoparticles developed from d-block elements is shown in figure 26. Figure 26: UV-visible spectra overlay for A) Na-alginate B) Co-based alginate nanoparticles C) Cu-based alginate nanoparticles D) Fe (II)-based alginate nanoparticles E) Fe (III)-based alginate nanoparticles F) Mn-based alginate nanoparticles G) Ni-based alginate nanoparticles and H) Zn-based alginate nanoparticles with no enzyme encapsulation. Figure 27 (a): UV-visible spectra for A) Na-alginate B) Co-based alginate nanoparticles C) Cu-based alginate nanoparticles D) Fe (II)-based alginate nanoparticles Figure 27 (b): UV-visible spectra for E) Fe (III)-based alginate nanoparticles F) Mn-based alginate nanoparticles G) Ni-based alginate nanoparticles and H) Zn-based alginate nanoparticles with no enzyme encapsulation.