Why You Should Go to #WCEU 2018 21 WordCamp-ers From Around the World Share Their Best #WCEU Experience

Have you ever wondered if its worth it to get out of your comfy home and head to WordCamp Europe? As regular attendees, weve been doing our best to spread the WordCamp Europe gospel with our recaps and interviews.But maybe our enthusiasm hasnt been enough to get you to buy your ticket. So we brought in backup! We asked 21 WordCamp Europe attendees for their best #WCEU experiences. Now, were going to share their responses with you.As youll see in a second, most of their experiences involve the awesome people they met and connections they made. After reading these stories, hopefully youll be one of those people in 2018. Bridget Willard: Attending WCEU last year in Paris was a huge step of courage for me personally and professionally. It was my first time leading a large-scale Contributor Day for the Marketing Team and my first international flight ever. And I went alone. As you know, with the WordPress Community, youre never quite alone. I was able to meet many folks who had been on the Marketing Team like Nagesh and Anil from India and I found a new best friend in Yvette Sonneveld, who is now a Marketing Team Rep.Not only that but I solidified relationships I had with my fellow Marketing Team Reps like Dwayne McDaniel and my best friend Jen Miller, both of whom spoke last year. I am looking forward to WCEU with great delight this year as Ive been learning Serbian and just booked my flight. Dovidjenja, WCEU.Alex Denning: The community! I love the extended opportunity to connect with the people I get to know remotely. Contributor days are the best manifestation of this: you get to work in the same place, on the same things, as some of the smartest and kindest people in the community 🙂Peter NemÄ ok: I think the best experience for me is meeting new people and getting to know them a little bit.Milana Cap: For me its very simple. Hugs! WordCamp Europe is large enough so that you can see all your WordPress friends from around the world people youve been online chatting and collaborating with for a whole year, people you still havent met, people you learn from.. And you get to hug em all. No matter how shy or introvert you are, youll take those hugs and return the following year for more. Hug you in Belgrade 😀Marius Vetrici: WordCamp Europe has always been the place for me to feel the community, to understand the power behind WordPress ecosystem and to reconnect to the latest trends and technology. Now, if I have to mention the number one experience, I would refer to the Community workshop at WordCamp Europe back in Sofia. That was the moment when I and a bunch of volunteers got the inspiration to start a local WordPress Meetup.Ever since, our Bucharest WordPress Meetup @wprobu has grown into a community with more than 1100 members and close to 40 monthly meetings at the time of writing. And thats very fulfilling, to know that you are paying it forward so that they could reap the benefits of WordPress as well, for their own good and for the good of the others.Caspar Hà ¼binger: My best experience at WCEU is always the same one: Its the one event throughout the year where I finally get to meet all the people Id love to meet at least once a month.Ivana Ćirković: The very best experience I take out of every WordCamp Europe is the people I meet and knowledge I gather throughout those 4-5 days. All that great energy that is around us, that positive vibe we share, as well as all the valuable information and connections with people. No matter if youre a volunteer, an attendee or a speaker each and every one gets to experience the openness of the event and WordPress community. It indeed is one of a kind event that welcomes everyone, which is why I warmly recommend to you to experience it, priceless!Marcel Bootsman: Since I was asked to join the organizing team for the first WordCamp Europe in Leiden, in 2013, I have met a lot of inspiring people, I have expanded my comfort zone and got to know more a bout the WordPress Community.The best experience I had was at WordCamp Europe 2013 in Leiden, where the team of remote organizers met, some for the first time, and it felt like we already knew each other for years. This has laid the base for me to do more community tasks, and I still enjoy that and I hope the community does too 🙂Nagesh Pai: The best experience I had at WordCamp Europe was being in the company of a community that has had such a positive impact on the world at large. It was good to meet them in person. The best feeling I remember is where I found myself as a global citizen among everyone, welcomed by all as though it was a large family without any boundaries of country, caste, religion or race. It was an awesome feeling indeed!Mathieu Sarrasin: From my experience so far, my take on how to have the greatest time at a WordCamp is to be a volunteer if not an organiser or speaker. This is how you get the closest to the heart of the event by being part of it and get to meet even more awesome people. The other volunteers, the organizers, the speakers, and even the attendees and sponsors become easier to approach when youre part of the team.WordCamp is not just about WordPress and talks, but it is first and foremost about the great people you meet and the awesome connections you make. I have an encouragement to everyone: Join the #WordPress community. Come for the software, stay for the people.Another quick tip is, if at all possible, arrange to arrive early (like a day or two prior to the actual event date) and leave late. Great times happen not only during the event, but also around it during informal gatherings and diners and at pubs and co-working spaces and of course you wouldnt want to miss the after party!Jenny Beaumont: Every year has had something new and wonderful to offer me since the very first event in Leiden back in 2013. The best experience has been becoming a part of it all, from attending, to speaking, to MCing and now to or ganizing for three years in a row.Taco Verdonschot: WordCamp Europe in Leiden in 2013 was my very first introduction to the WordPress community. In just three days, I met so many people, made friends for life and fell in love with the WP community. I had never before felt this welcome in any community. And to this day, my work as a community manager at Yoast is inspired by that experience.Sonja Leix: My favorite thing about organizing WordCamp Europe is, seeing our hard work pay off when it all comes together. You can feel the atmosphere and vibrancy of the community grow each year and were here to help provide the space for it.Michael Burridge: The first time that I experienced the energy, the vibrancy, and the buzz of WordCamp Europe was as an attendee at the 2016 event in Vienna. I immediately felt that I belonged and that these were my people. The wealth of knowledge and experience that was so readily and freely offered blew me away. This experience was reinforced the following year in Paris. Im delighted to be part of this amazing and friendly community and feel privileged that Im able to contribute a little to help organise the 2018 event in Belgrade.Lucijan Blagonic: The first WordCamp I visited was WordCamp Europe 2013 and it was a turning point for me. It helped me to better understand the core values of our open–source community and empowered me to start giving something back as well, by volunteering, speaking and even organizing these great events.Jen Miller: My best experience at WordCamp Europe revolves around the people. Last year I had the opportunity to speak at WCEU. It can be a bit intimidating to step on a large stage in front of a worldwide audience, however the organizing team and international community was extremely supportive and welcoming. I made quite a few friends and solidified business relationships from many countries through my attendance too. As founder of Women Who WP, I was amazed and inspired by the enthusiasm and cama raderie of the women I met and the community at large. Plus, sharing delicious meals and adventures with friends in the WordPress community is always a joy. Have you heard about their after party?I volunteer as a marketing rep on make.wordpress.org and look forward to attending Contributor Day at WCEU. Working together, across language and cultural barriers, in the common cause of WordPress at these events has enhanced my global perspective. I am grateful for every opportunity I have to work with this inclusive, supportive, international tech community. Attending WCEU furthered my ability to see the larger open source picture, which stretches beyond code and content, and taught me how I can better contribute, as well.Emanuel Blagonic: The best experience is the WordCamp Europe itself. WordCamp Europe sparked so many new communities all over Europe and this is simply amazing. And being part of the organizing team is just a bonus as you get to work with some of the most talented peopl e in the community – and this changes every year as new people come aboard. I can say that I learned so much being part of the team, not only professionally but personally too – as I found some very good (new) friends along the way.Letizia Barbi: I have attended the first WCEU in 2014, almost by chance. After that experience I immediately wanted to do my best to be part of the organising team, to make this event every year more special. Being part of WCEU is a great opportunity to learn, to grow (personally and professionally) and to be close to some amazing people!Luca Sartoni: I have been part of this project since the very beginning in Leiden in 2013. It helped me to become a better professional, a better member of the WordPress community, and overall, a better person. We have the chance to meet all the people our ecosystem impacts and we can help them to achieve their goals. Its a great experience for sure!Tess Coughlan-Allen: A particular experience that stood out to me was during a talk at WCEU 2017 in Paris when I realised just how much I was learning. The programme catered for everyone, it felt totally inclusive and I knew at that point I wanted to be a part of the organising team. It wasnt just during the talks when I learned from others, though. The people I met at WordCamp Europe were thoughtful, honest and open to sharing their experiences. Its a whirlpool of knowledge and its not one to miss.Alexandru PÄÆ'duraru: At first, I was a little bit reserved before participating, as our main products are not part of the WordPress space. So I told myself OK, lets go and see what people are doing there, maybe I can learn some new things and also can share my business knowledge.The overall experience turned out to be awesome. I thought most of the presentations would be 100% WordPress but it wasnt like that. Ive learned a lot of new things (from doing better customer support to optimising the working flows in a business), got some great books recommendations, and met a lot of interesting people. For someone who is outside of the WordPress world, this was a great experience and I will definitely participate again in the future. That sums up our #WCEU community roundup. After hearing these first-hand stories, we hope youre fired up to attend the next WordCamp in your area.And if youre already a regular attendee, wed love to hear about your own experience at WordCamp Europe throughout the years. Is there something memorable that youve been part of? If yes, please share it with us in the comments section below.You might also be interested in our post-event reports from the last two WordCamps: WCEU 2017 and WCEU 2016. If you want even more stories, here  is how the whole WCEU experience is seen through a volunteers eyes.See you in Belgrade!  Ã°Å¸ ¤â€œ Why you should go to #WCEU 2018. 21 attendees share their best #WordCamp Europe experiences...

Word Families to Support Decoding Skills in Children with Disabilities

Word Families to Support Decoding Skills in Children with Disabilities Spelling with word families and rhyming words helps young children connections in both reading and writing. Seeing the relationships between these words helps students with disabilities predict new words by using known word patterns.   It supports their future success in literacy. Word families help support word recognition and generalizing decoding skills.   The following word families include word cards that you can reproduce and use in:    Word Sorts Print the pdfs for a couple of the word families:   start with the same rather than different vowel sounds, so the children will recognize them.   You can either create a two column page with the family at the top and then have the children do the sort individually, or you can print them and have students sort them in small groups on a piece of chart paper.   Learning centers: Print the word family cards on card stock, and put them in resealable sandwich or quart bags with a sorting template.   Have students at the learning center sort them.    Additive activities:   Continue to add word families: Have students take turns pulling cards in the sort and placing them on the chart paper.   Or add magnetic strips on the back of the cards and have groups of students sort the words on to a magnetic white board. Sort Games:    Sort War:   Print two word families on card stock.   Assign each child a word family.   When they snap the cards the one who puts on on the top gets to keep the pair.    Sort hearts.   Run several word families and shuffle them together.   Deal the cards to groups of three or four, 5 or 6 to each.   Leave the remainder in a stack.   Students can create sets to lay down when they have three words in a word family.   Play till all the cards are laid down.   All word families. ack back, black, crack, pack, quack, rack, sack, snack, stack, tack, track, whack. ad ad, dad, fad, glad, grad, had, lad, mad, pad, rad, sad, tad. ail fail, hail, jail, mail, nail, pail, rail, sail, snail, tail. ain brain, chain, drain, gain, grain, main, pain, plain rain, stain, strain, train. ake bake, cake, flake, make, rake, take. ale bale, male, pale, scale, tale, whale. all ball, call, fall, hall, mall, small, tall, wall. am am, ham, jam, slam, spam, yam. ame blame, came, flame, frame, game, lame, name, same, tame. an an, ban, can, fan, man, pan, plan, ran, tan, van. ank bank, blank, crank, drank, plan, sank, spank, tank, thank, yank. ap cap, clap, flap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, sap, slap, scrap, tap. ar are, bar, char, car, far, jar, par, scar, cigar, guitar. ash ash, bash, cash, crash, dash, flash, gash, hash, mash, rash, sash, slash, smash, splash, trash. at at, bat, brat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, spat, tat, that, vat. aw claw, draw, flaw, jaw, law, paw, straw, thaw. ay away, bay, clay, day, gay, gray, hay, lay, may, okay, pay, play, way, spray, stay, tray, way. o generalize decoding skills.

Civil Rights Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Civil Rights Act - Research Paper Example Even in the process of passing the Act many opposed it, but at the end of the day, it succeeded and brought with it a new perspective to Americans. It played a vital role in the aspect of racial, gender and religious discrimination in the different sectors. It is essential to look back on how the policy was established in order to assess the usefulness and the importance of the policy today. Background of the Issue During the early years in the 1960s, there was evidently unequal treatment of and opportunities for Blacks and Whites who resided in America. There was an invisible line that prevented the Blacks from securing any governmental position. They have even experienced discrimination within public and private establishments. In relation to this, during the 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama was considered as the most racist place in the U.S. Many of the discriminatory acts against African Americans were done within the limits of the state. In May 2, 1963, a march against the racist stat e was held by more than a thousand of African-American children. The protest was aired over national television and Kennedy, along with the world, witnessed how the protest was stopped by the police. The police used dogs against the children as they knocked the children out with sprays (Vox). It became a window for Kennedy to understand how racism and discrimination could lead people to hurt and even try to kill children. With this on hand, on June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced on national television that he was urging people to take part in the equal treatment of every individual of different races. After his plea, Kennedy suggested that the Congress should implement a law that would cater to every individual. The law suggested was to address racial discrimination, the voting rights, the right to education and the right of every individual for federal assistance. However, Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 which could have caused a delay in the passing of the Act. Nonetheless, the assassination of Kennedy did not deter the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the vice president, Lyndon Johnson became the president. He signed it into law on the same day it was approved by the House. It took only a few months prior to the signing of the act into a law in July of 1964 (â€Å"Civil Rights Act†). The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not immediately end discrimination and inequality among the other races who resided in America. However, there were profound changes that led to the enhancement of the rights of Asians, Blacks, Latinos and women. Prior to the passing of the Act, there was a local and state law on color segregation, which allowed business owners and local government agencies not accommodate Asians, Blacks, Latinos and other races. However, the Act’s greatest achievement was the ending of this segregation and in return, allowed other races to sue public and private establishments that discr iminated or violated their rights. Furthermore, equal employment was also established, which did not allow discrimination in race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the workplace, during the hiring process, promotion and dismissal of employees. During this time, employment and incomes of Asians, Blacks, Latinos and women rose along with the median income of the families (Hartford; â€Å"

Communication and patient safety( Literature Review) Research Paper

Communication and patient safety( Literature Review) - Research Paper Example It has also been found that there is a decrease in the number of medical errors made concerning patients. Furthermore, adequate communication also has an impact on nurses because they become more motivated in their work, which increases their efficiency. This efficiency helps the patient as it improves the care that they are given, and this leads to the patient’s swift recovery. In addition, various factors influence communication between nurses and patients, one of the factors is the complexity of the hospital and nursing systems; thus, the larger and more complex they are, the higher the risk that the potential for patient errors will be increased. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that adequate communication between the various hospital systems is instituted so that the number of such errors can be reduced or done away with. Moreover, the value of care depends completely on the accuracy and completeness of information being available to the nurses who care for the patien ts. While this is important, it should be noted that the accuracy of the information becomes outdated over time and this is the reason why more, up to date information has to be collected to ensure that the caregivers provide the best service possible to the patient (Manojlovich, Antonakos and Ronis, 2009). On the other hand, Turkoski (2009) states that errors tend to occur when during the communication of a patient’s medication. This usually happens when there is a misinterpretation of the various abbreviations or acronyms to the drugs, which have been prescribed to the patient. This creates a situation where there is the potential of a patient taking the wrong drugs, taking the drugs at the wrong time of the day, or even worse, taking an overdose of the prescribed drugs. It is therefore necessary to ensure that errors in the writing down of instructions for the patient or caregiver are avoided and that the person writing the said instructions is alert at all times to the po tential of making mistakes. Among the recommendations made in Turkoski’s article is that there must be a standardization of all the abbreviations and acronyms for the drugs used in the medical field so that there can be no confusion over the type of drugs that have been prescribed. It has been found that many drugs have similar names that may lead to the nurse giving the patient the wrong medicine. To prevent such incidences, it has been recommended that capital and small letters be used to differentiate the drugs with similar names to avoid confusion. This will work to ensure that there is uniformity in the communication of medication and this will ultimately promote the safety of the patients to whom the medication is prescribed. With uniformity in communication, the work of the nurses will become less cumbersome because they will be able to be accurate in their administration of medication. Frankel (2008) states that in many hospital systems, there is always a breakdown in communication, this isbecause the nursing staff is usually afraid to report errors because of the potential of being punished. This fear has made it difficult for errors to be corrected and has ensured that the outcome for patients is greatly diminished. The lack of adequate communication has created a scenario where nurses are not able to conduct their activities efficiently and this has come to have a devastating impact on the safety of the

Recommendation letter from a Dentist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recommendation letter from a Dentist - Essay Example At Smile Dental Mr. Golamari has carried out a number of particular duties and even shown some initiative where the situation has demanded it. When he first joined, Mr. Golamari spent much of his time observing and taking down notes from what he witnessed. This struck me because most young dental assistants dive straight in without looking first to witness first-hand the tasks that fall under the responsibility of a dental assistant. As an observer, much of Mr. Golamari’s time was concerned with examining patients’ teeth, updating patients’ medical records, and clearly explaining dental procedures to unsure and anxious patients. Throughout all of this, it became clear to me that Mr. Golamari has a real concern for the welfare of his patients and does his utmost to put their minds at ease. Sitting in the chair and waiting for a procedure can be one of the most daunting experiences for a patient, so it has been reassuring to me that Mr. Golamari has eased the tensi on for my patients on numerous occasions and helped to make my job immeasurably more straightforward. Not long after Mr. Golamari began his work as my observer, it became evident to me that he could handle more complex tasks. I did not want to overburden him at first, so I gradually increased the level of responsibility for Mr. Golamari. I knew that Mr. Golamari had worked previously as a dental assistant back in India, but the procedures here are a little different and so he needed some time to get uptospeed. After I felt that he was ready, I made Mr. Golamari my dental assistant, and he has performed such duties as chair side assisting taking full mouth x-rays, coronal polishing, placing temporary fillings, fabricating and fixing temporary crowns, and overall patient education. Over the time Mr. Golamari has spent as my dental assistant he has never once complained

The Role And Importance Of The Sun Philosophy Essay

The Role And Importance Of The Sun Philosophy Essay We know that the sun is very important to us but the main question is why. We all understand that the sun supplies Earth with never ending energy that we use in multiple ways. The energy comes in as heat and light and we transform the energy in different ways to create electricity. But how is the energy created and how it gets to Earth? The formation of suns energy lies within its core and radiates outward and travels out to Earth and the rest of the solar system. Our sun is the central part of our solar system; if the sun didnt exist several things wouldnt occur: the process of photosynthesis would not take place, oxygen cannot be created, therefore, life cannot be present. The sun and its sunlight give us access to many resources. Sunlight helps the plants produce oxygen and overtime create fossil fuels. The importance of the sun is both positive and negative, the more we study and understand the sun we learn to advance our society. The suns positive effects help us find and progre ss ways to gain renewable resources, such as creating wind power, dams and solar energy. The negative effects of the sun include climate changes and damaging of the ozone, and harmful effects on humans that result in sunburn, eye damage, and damaging of the skin: skin cancer and premature aging. The sun produces two different Ultraviolet Radiations (UV rays), UVA and UVB. The sun effects earth in many ways to carry on life and thats why it is very important. It gives us the privilege to energy: heat and light, oxygen, water, electricity, and many more. Its truly amazing how this star of gas can create many things to save our lifes and it is important that we understand the reasons why, and not always take it for granted. Who knows scientist say that after another 5 billion years there may not be a sun anymore. The sun plays the most essential role for all living species on Earth, without the sun there would be no existence of life on Earth. Without the sun what would happen to Earth? What will happen to the rest of the Solar System? The questions are important to know and answer. The sun is important in many ways, not only does the sun provides Earth with heat and light, it gives us various things that allow us to live. The understanding of how the sun works, and provides Earth with so many different resources that is significant in our everyday lives. The sun supplies energy through heat and gives Earth light, it is the number one reason we are alive because it helps create oxygen, in which we breathe in order to live. The importance of the all the things the sun offers Earth are positive and negative. Almost all of the energy used on the Earth comes originally from the sun. Astronomers studied the sun in several ways, understanding its functions and applying it to our world today. The st udy of the sun has led us to many understandings in science and advanced us in technology development. The more we understand the sun the more appreciative we become. It is believed that the sun is 5 billion years old star; it formed when gravity drew together an enormous cloud of gas and dust. This gravitational pull released energy and heated the Sun. The sun is huge and has a continuous release of energy; Earth only receives a small portion of that energy. The suns energy is produced by hydrogen fusion which is the sequence of thermonuclear reactions in which four hydrogen nuclei combine to produce a single helium nucleus. This fusion process in the sun is known as the proton-proton chain. (Cooke, 1985) Today, the sun still consists of mostly hydrogen. This means that the fuel supply which has burned through the first 5 billion years should be good enough for another 5 billion for the future. Fusion is the energy source that can only provide this energy rate for more than 5 billion years. Fusion requires high temperatures and high pressure to begin and carry out the process. Energy is transferred in the sun, through gamma rays photons that are produced by fusion in the core. Then energy is carried away from the suns core by radiative diffusion and convection. Radiative diffusion is the energy that is transported by photons flowing from hot, bright regions to cold, dark regions. Convection zone is farther away from the core of the sun. The Convection zone carries energy up to the surface. It allows hot fluids rise and the cold fluids to sink, overturning and bubbling like a boiling pot of water. The photosphere is heated and light is released from the sun; it takes about 1 million years for the light to be released and 8 minutes for that light to reach Earth. Earth receives Light and heat created by the sun. Starting from outside of earth and in our solar system, the sun already begins to have a very important position. Everything in our solar system orbits the sun. If that sun were not to exist, all the planets would have nothing to orbit around. But if there was no sun, nothing would keep all the planets in orbit. It is the gravity of the sun allows pulls all the planets in its orbit. The same as the moon orbiting the Earth, the moon is pulled in Earths orbit. Earth travels in an elliptical orbit around the sun because the velocity of Earth moves in a perpendicular path due to the force of the suns pull. If the sun wasnt present, Earth would travel in a straight line. (Jordan, 2003) Due to the presents sun and its gravity, it causes Earth to travel around the sun, in almost a circle. Without the sun the Earth will be dark, and cold. We wouldnt be able to even survive in extremely freezing weather and permanent darkness. As we know the sun produces light and heat, these two products are very essential to Earth in several ways. The sun helps produce a significant product for all life to occur, oxygen. Without sunlight green plants cannot exist because the process of photosynthesis cannot occur. Photosynthesis is a chemical process which water and carbon dioxide combine together (only in the presence of both sunlight and chlorophyll the chemical that makes the leaves in plants green) to produce glucose and oxygen. (Perles, 2011) Plants take in sunlight, convert it to food to live on, and grow. During the process that plants convert the sunlight to food, plants release oxygen, in which we breathe. If there were to be no existence of sunlight, then the process of photosynthesis cannot take place. Plants could not produce energy for them to survive, which means they c annot produce oxygen and they would disappear. Not only would plants disappear but people and animals would also vanish, because they depend on green plants for food and oxygen to breathe. A simple way to put it is, the food chain begins with plants to animals to humans and without the process of photosynthesis there could be no life on Earth. The sunlight did more than just allow plants to drive out the process of photosynthesis. But after the plants decay and millions and millions of years pass, buried under the ground is their decomposed organic materials: coal, petroleum, and natural gas. (Perles, 2011) Sunlight is a major factor for fossil fuels. The sunlight allowed us to have access to fossil fuels that are very important in our everyday life; we use fossil fuels as one of our energy sources. As we discovered the importance of the sun to the Earth, yet the effects that the sun creates on Earth are both positive and negative. Some positive features of the sun are mainly from its release of energy. The sun is the starting point of the water cycle. The sun heats Earths water bodies (oceans, seas, lakes, rivers) and that causes the water to evaporate. The water vapor transforms into clouds (condensation), and then the water descend from the clouds as precipitation and back into the bodies of water or on land and the cycle starts over again. Another positive result we gain from the sun is wind; wind is created through the method when sunlight heats the bodies of water and land. Earths atmosphere also heats, the warm air rises and the cool air moves to replace the rising warm air. During this transition of warm and cool are is what makes the wind blow. (Stern, 2004) Understanding and studying the sun in its production of wind and water helped us advance in new technology. Through studies of the wind and how it is created by the sun, studies lead us to use the wind to generate electricity to use. Wind is classified as a solar energy and is a renewable resource, because it is ever ending. Wind power or wind energy is the conversion of wind into mechanical or electrical power. Wind turbines is the system that runs the technology, giant windmill devices that are placed in windy locations called wind farms. (EPA, 2010) The turbines twirl and as the wind blows and creates electricity that power generators and produces electrical power. Two other forms of technology that creates electrical power are dams and solar cells. Dams or hydropower is another renewable energy source. Hydropower is the renewable energy source that produces the most electricity in the United States.(EPA, 2010) Hydropower depends on the water cycle that the sun carries through. Th e energy is carried in the flow of water in the river. Water is carried through pipes (penstocks) and then pushed up against a blade of a turbine that turns and spins a generator to produce electricity. The sunlight can be transformed to electricity directly by using photovoltaic cells (solar cells). Photovoltaic cells are electrical devices that convert energy in the sunlight directly into electricity at the atomic level. (Stern, 2004) This is a newer form technology that is advancing our lives today. Photovoltaic cells are used for solar heating on houses. They are placed on the roof of the home to heat the home and water. More recent technology that is becoming very popular is electric cars. Photovoltaic cells are advancing our world because it helps reduce the use of our non-renewable resources. Aside from all the positive results of the sun, the sun has many negative results on Earth. Studies show that the sun is the cause of climate change and some damage of the ozone. Both activities of humans that take place on Earth and the solar output from the sun are found to cause climate change. (Danny, 2008) The sun is massive and powerful, both the pollution and gasses released from the people and the power of the sun created a large hole in the ozone layer. In the past half century climate temperatures have gone up in result of this. Climate will change due to the damage the sun is causing to the ozone, the temperatures on Earth will continue to rise and natural disasters will become stronger. The sun negatively on the humans too, giving them sunburns, eye damage, and damaging the skin leading to skin cancer and premature aging. Ultraviolet Radiation (UV rays) is the light that is projected by the sun; the UV rays are what is responsible for the sunburns, skin cancer and eye damage. The atmosphere is responsible for determining the amount of UV light that is received. There are two types of UV rays that are projected by the sun. UVA rays are less harmful rays but they are not absorbed by the ozone layer. These rays are long wavelengths that cause skin tan, and age prematurely. They are dangerous because they penetrate deep into the skin. UVB rays are more severe than UVA rays, even though these rays are partly absorbed by the ozone layer. They cause sunburn. Overtime the more exposure to these rays cause skin cancer. The light from the rays damages the DNA of the skin cells, which disables the cells from making proteins. (Mazzucco, 2006) Ultimately the DNA transforms compl etely, the new DNA is duplicated and causes cancer. UVB rays also help your body create vitamin D, which is important because it helps keep bones from becoming fragile. Even though vitamin D is in some foods, vitamin D from the sun is quicker and efficient for the body. Moreover the fact that vitamin D is produced by the sun and our bodies need it, the risks that lie in the rays of the sun are hazardous. Our exposure to the sun needs to be monitored to save our health. The sun is a powerful and prominent star in our solar system. The sun does so much for Earth; life cannot carry on without it. The sun provides us with so much and the more we understand the sun the more we are able to advance from our findings. We are able progress in our society and live better lives as we know where to use our resources. As time proceeds, we may find findings to overcome the negative effects of the sun. The more we learn about our brilliant sun we also learn to be grateful for it more and not to always take it for granted, because in about 5 billion years it is presumed that the sun will die and Earth will no longer live.

Points of Machiavelli in “The Prince”

Part 15 of Machiavelli's The Prince, entitled Of the Things for WhichMen, and Especially Princes, Are Praised or Blamed, states that, in order for aman to maintain control of a government and better that territory, he mustengage in certain actions that may be deemed immoral by the public he serves. Machiavelli argues a valid point, that the nature of man is twofold,encompassing good and evil, right and wrong. The effectiveness of his argument,however, relies on the fact that the person reading his essay is an objectiveobserver of human nature. Not leaving this to chance, Machiavelli plays apsychological game with the reader in order to convince them of his argument. Machiavelli prefaces his thesis with commentary that attempts to placethe reader in a subordinate state-of-mind. He confesses to the reader that hefears sounding presumptuous for writing about a subject covered many timesbefore by others and differing from their opinion in the matter. This statementplaces the author at the mercy of the reader and prepares them to hear an ideathat may not be popular. Having been asked forgiveness for the pride of theauthor, the reader drops barriers that he may have against arguments driven byego and opens his mind to Machiavelli on a personal, sincere level. By placinghimself at the feet of the reader, Machiavelli puts himself and his argument ina position of power. He wastes no time in using this power to gain more controlover the reader. In the next sentence he states that his intention is to createan outline for behavior in public office † of use to those who understand†. Thisstatement compels the reader to agree with the points that the trustworthy,forthright Machiavelli argues, or be relegated the ranks of those ignorantdullards that do not understand. Machiavelli then presents his thesis, that aruler must use both good and evil in order to maintain his power over the state. The reader has almost no choice but to accept this idea before any proof hasbeen given. With the reader in the palm of his hand, Machiavelli needs only tomake a very general argument of his point to convince the reader of its validity. The author states that there are actions for which a prince is eitherpraised or blamed. He lists many examples of good qualities and their opposingattitudes. Instead of labeling them good and evil, however, Machiavelli titlesthem imaginary and real. By calling the good traits and the leader who possessesthem imaginary, he removes the bite that the mention of evil doing may have onthe reader. Removing this emotional punch makes his thesis, that evil behavioris necessary to properly rule, obvious. Machiavelli applies the rules he sets out for successful management of anation to his own writing. He is cautious not to offend the reader with a statement that is too specific. He manipulates the mind of the reader in orderto quell his emotions and make him more accepting of his opinion. He seems weakwhen he is most powerful and seems powerful when he has no legs to stand on. Heis cautious and polite when his foe's defenses are up and attacks with all ofhis resources at his foe's weaknesses. Machiavelli writes a strongly convincing essay. The proof for his opinion lies not only in the words he speaks but in the flow and believability of the work itself through the utilization of the very techniques he exhorts.

Global Corporate Citizenship Essay

1. Do you think that apple has demonstrated global corporate citizenship, as defined in this chapter ? Why or Why not ? Global corporate citizenship means that companies must not only be engaged with stakeholders but stakeholders themselves alongside government and civil society. Since companies depend on global development, which in turn relies on stability and increased prosperity, it is in their direct interest to help improve the state of the world. When Apple investigated and found some violations of its supplier code of conduct, which it had introduced in 2005. The following year, the company published its first annual supplier responsibility progress report, I think Apple demonstrated global corporate citizenship. Apple admitted its violations and did everything in its power to correct them. By 2011, Apple had inspected nearly 400 suppliers and had terminated 11 for serious violations. 2. In its response to problems in its contract factories, do you think Apple moved through the stages of corporate citizenship presented in this chapter ? Why or Why not ? _ Corporate citizenship is a term used to describe a company’s role in, or responsibilities towards society. So in Apple’s situation, it has moved through the elementary stage because at first it seemed they were not concerned the citizenship. During peak production periods, all three factories had exceeded the mandated limit of 60 hours of work per day, and many employees had been required to work more than 7 days in a row not receiving fair pay for overtime, unsafe conditions. Then Apple went through engaged stage, it turned to Social Accountability International and announced it had joined the Fair Labor Association. This is because Apple became aware that they needed to change public expectations. To make sure all contractors abiding the code; at Apple’s request and with the company’ s financial support, the FLA immediately undertook the most extensive audit ever conducted of conditions in China’s electronics supply chain. 35,000 workers filled out anonymous questionnaires about their experiences. This process means that Apple is in the innovative stage and they continue in the process of auditing and tracking improvements. 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages to Apple of using its own company-specific supplier code of conduct, rather than a global code, such  as those discussed in this chapter? Apple’s Supplier Code of conduct was already one of the toughest in the electronic industry, but it have made it even stronger. And its ensure compliance by conducting hundreds of audits per year worldwide. Its efforts span the entire range of its supply chain – from the manufacturers of tiny components to the facilities that assemble its final products. 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages to Apple of using and independent third-party auditor, rather than rely on its own internal audits? The advantages of bringing in a third-party firm are numerous. Investigative auditing firms employ accountants who do this work on a regular basis. As such, they know what to look for. Another advantage is impartiality. An outside investigative auditor – who has no personal or professional relationship with your employees – is likely to conduct the audit in an impartial manner. This is important, as these investigations can lead to criminal prosecution. Thus, relying on an internal accountant to find fraud or theft might place him in an uncomfortable situation, which can affect morale. The FLA can certainly claim to be more independent. It conducts its own audits and requires members to disclose the results. And it also has a third-party auditor re-audit some of its own inspections to make sure progress is being made on fixing violations. If indeed you have an accountant trained in investigative auditing on staff, it makes sense to use your own forensic accountant in the investigative auditing process. The positive side of this is that it gives you more control over the dissemination of information. It is typically harder to control dissemination of information when an outside firm is involved. Another disadvantage is cost-related. Hiring an investigative auditing firm is typically far more expensive than using your own investigative accountant.

Toyota individual essay Essays

Toyota individual essay Essays Toyota individual essay Essay Toyota individual essay Essay If you sign the declaration below and it is found that the work submitted is not your own work, the University may impose penalties. Declaration: I declare that this assignment is my individual work, have not copied from any other students work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text, nor has any part been written for me by another person. If this assignment is submitted after the due date, I understand that it will incur a penalty for lateness unless I have previously had an extension of time proved and have attached the written confirmation of this extension. Signature of Student GHz,Wang Date 201 3/119 DUE DATE RECEIVED DATE Individual essay Introduction: The global automobile industry had reached 1,640 billion dollars in 201 0, and the market value is forecasted to increase 49. 3% since 2010 to 2,449. 2 billion dollars in 201 5 (Marketing, 2011 Toyota, which takes up 6. 8% of global industry value, has just experienced its recall crisis from September 29th 2009 to January 27th 2010. More than 9 million cars and trucks around the world in the whole world were recalled by Toyota (Chris, P. Roger, W. , G. , 2010). Toyota was immersed in trough because of these faults and bad luck, and the public image is also seriously damaged. At present, Toyota is been returning on track gradually, and according to the report from Toyota Motor Sales, SACS, Inc. , its sales increased 17. 2% to 161 ,695 units in November 2012 because Toyota only sold 137,960 units in November of 2011 (Marketing 2012). These bad luck and breakdowns are very serious to any company which would encounter, so Toyota expressed its professional skills and abilities to handle these crises which are advanced in the automobile industry. New CEO of Toyota, Kaki Toyota, brought some improvements to companys operations and supply chain strategy. This critique will focus on three aspects of these changes, namely quality management, new product development and cost reduction, respectively, and in addition, some academic theories will be applied to explain these strategies Discussion: Quality management: The core competitive advantage of Toyota in the past was the high quality, and the main cause of the recall crisis was also quality problem. Nearly all firms pay much effort to quality improvement to achieve goals like cost deduction, higher customer satisfaction, more loyalty from customer, and better performance from financial and market aspects (Versa, R, Borer, K. K. , 2010). In general, costs of company are from internal failure costs, external failure costs, assurance costs and prevention costs. Quality control system reduces some costs such as internal costs but the accompanying results are higher assurance costs and prevention costs. In the wrong cost reduction program taken by Toyota, the less spend in assurance costs and prevention cost made Toyota move quality from the first principle replaced by outputs, aid by Kaki Toyota. Total quality management (TTS), six sigma and many other quality improvement approaches are depended on customer feedback (Paned, p. S. , Caving, R. R. , Neumann, R. P. , 2000), and the system taken by Toyota which called Toyota production system has the same characteristic. Another approach for quality improvement comes from employee feedback, In Toyota, quality circle (ICQ) and the concept of Kamikaze are required (Deeming,W. , 1970), and however, these essential operation elements have risk of gradually missing in the rapid expansion. In order to save the deteriorating profits brought by trade conflicts and the revaluation of yen, Toyota increased its overseas productions steadily. In the period between 2000 and 2009, overseas production of Toyota increased by more than 10 percent annually, higher than the increase of Honda and Ionians (Gang, 2010). As a result, it is difficult to implement tacit knowledge in abroad production bases to ensure quality control and efficiency in manufacturing. According to annual report in 201 0, CEO of Toyota, Kaki Toyota put forward some improvements in operation and supply chain strategy to improve laity management.. 1. Toyota establishes new quality assurance system in order to ensure security and safety based on the perspectives of customers. 2. Set up a Special Committee General Overview of Quality Issues for global quality (Figure 1 3. Some specific measures to improve quality and safety, which include three aspects: A) Strengthen the monitoring functions including better information gathering function, more technical offices, assisting root cause analysis by using Remote Communications Functions (RCA) and onboard event data recorders (DARED), better information analysis ND better safety decision-making process. B) Enhancing information disclosure to regain trust from customers C) Establishing five Customer First Training Center to develop Toasts human resource and maintain quality. New product development: New product development is also the soul of Toasts value network so Kaki Toyota enhanced and improved this process. New products may fail in the fierce competition, and this has been proved in many industries. However, the mass benefits brought by new products can always push enterprises to take this process, either the Toyota. Firstly, these new products are always the resources of competitive advantage, and if enterprises take the leading role in the emerging product categories the effects will be more obvious. In the automobile industry, new energy cars are the new development direction, and according to the report from Lei and Line (2011), Toyota will develop 10 kinds of cars in this field. Secondly, firms which develop new products will enhance their corporate image and Brand name. Further, Toyota wants to satisfy the needs from customers worldwide when provide clean and safe products, so Toyota put tremendous efforts to RD activities which are regarded to improve the quality of people (Toyota, 2012). With the help from outsides experts, Toyota regularly reviewed research issues like energy, information technology, materials to achieve the goal of efficient cost control (Toyota, 2010). Cost Reduction: The third aspect is the cost reduction which needs enterprises implement changes on both operation and logistic structure. Since the revaluation of the yen, adding the price rise of raw materials and human resource in Japan especially after the big earthquake in 2011. The cost of production in Japan as jumped dramatically, so Toyota pays more efforts to localization production to implement cost reduction (including maintain RD process quality with less expense) which can be analyzed from the annual reports from 2009 to 2012 (Figure 2). Conclusion: In Summary, by applying some strong improvements in quality management, Toyota recovers its quality crisis quickly and restores confidence from customer about automobile quality which was the core competitive advantage of Toyota. New products development helps Toyota improve its competitive ability and enhance its corporate image and brand name.

The Importance of the Ancient Era of Political Philosophy

The Importance of the Ancient Era of Political Philosophy The Ancient EraThe Ancient Era of Political Philosophy is arguably the most important of the various eras associated with political philosophy. From this era emerged such great minds as Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These men not only questioned authority and challenged the masses to exercise their minds, they also laid the foundation for the concepts of political philosophy, which subsequently has helped shape societies and their governments for more than two thousand years.The first contributors to the legacy of the Ancient Era were the Presocratics who emerged in the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. The Presocratic thinkers occupied themselves primarily with explaining the origin and regularities of the physical world and the place of the human soul within it. Many of the Presocratics are also labeled Sophists. Sophists taught useful subjects, concentrating heavily on the art of public speaking, in order to prepare young men for the cultivated, competitive, and democra tic Greek society.English: The School of Athens (detail). Fresco, St...Their philosophies reflected numerous political ideals, including relativism, skepticism, and realism. Protagoras, a highly recognized Sophist and relativist, subscribed to the notion that man's concern for transcendent reality is subordinate to his concern for life in the present world. Protagoras also taught that it is possible to argue for or against any proposition equally well. This is a defining principle in modern-American politics; as America has sustained a largely two-party system for the better part of a century, many propositions are often presented in opposing Democratic vs. Republican viewpoints with both sides supporting their opinions equally well. Through their powerful force of reason and argumentation, the Sophist perspective became very popular and useful in the course of Athenian democracy. Eventually, these arguments and persuasive philosophers would prove to be a political catalyst in the l ife of a young Athenian named Plato.In 469 B.C.,

The Division of Healthy Start Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Division of Healthy Start - Essay Example lthy Start is a UK-wide government public health scheme that provides services such as nutritional safety for new mums, pregnant women and young children of low-income families. At the most important times in their lives, it helps them to eat healthily and also supports them to develop good habit for the future. It also provides tax credits to the low income families. Families with children under four years of age and women who are at least ten weeks pregnant qualify for healthy start, if the family is getting income-based jobseeker allowance, income support, income-related employment and support allowance and child tax credit having an annual income of 16,190 pound or less than that. It reduces infant mortality, increase the number of immunizes children, helps to prevent disease and improve handicapping condition among children. It provides diagnosis and treatment services to the low income group children and also provides access to the women health by giving prenatal, delivery and postpartum care, and to the children health by providing preventive care services (Cruz, 2012, pp.3-4). 2) Divisions of Healthy Start Healthy Start has four autonomous divisions and these are as follows: 2.a) Health System Division Health system division takes care of the health of women and children. It is like a medical home for the health of women that offers quality prenatal and intrapartum care, interconception care, cost-control platform, and integration and system navigation. 2.b) Educational System Division It is a way to success that starts early with baby college, then valued childhood education, followed by promise academy and youth development programs. 2.c) Economic System Division It is an opportunity incubator which combines the macroeconomic policies such as enterprise zones or empowerment with capital development such as microfinance, job training and business incubation, asset development for families and financial literacy, and net programs of high safety. 2.d) Co mmunity System Division It provides healthy community that promotes healthy food and physical activities, environmental justice, strong families and national equity (Cruz, 2012, pp.3-4). 3) Products and Services of Healthy Start The products of Healthy Start include milk, fruits and vegetable, vitamins, and medicines and drugs. The service which it offers includes cash management, outreach, screening for depression, health education and continuity of care. Apart from this certain health tips is also provided by them which includes healthy eating in pregnancy, safe bottle feeding, how and when to give solid foods to children, and how to manage the weight and stay active. 4) Critical Analysis 4.a) Setting the Strategy As mentioned, the product is in the mature stage which means that the product is a standard product but the growth scenario is low. The company is having strong buyer and high entry barrier because of the cost and value benefit provided by it and also because of the cust omer loyalty. It is the reason that they are expected to generate good cash flows for the next few years. In order to use these net cash flows to stimulate new products and to move into new markets, the managers have to follow the diversification strategy. So, the senior managers have to set the strategies in such a way that they could generate maximum ROI in order to get good

Kerry James Marshall - Better Homes Better Gardens Essay

Kerry James Marshall - Better Homes Better Gardens - Essay Example The essay "Kerry James Marshall - Better Homes Better Gardens" explores the Better Homes Better Gardens by Kerry James Marshall. The African-American artist Kerry James Marshall has worked to include his own experience and background into his paintings in such a way that they work to provide a meaningful background to his subjects, adding subtleties of meaning to the overall work that helps to portray his idea of what the painting is attempting to say. Unlike Dali, however, the background meanings of many of Marshall’s paintings are easier to decipher, perhaps because they are drawn from such a broadly experienced background as the civil rights movements of the 1950s and the Watts riots and other cultural issues that hit the streets of Los Angeles in the 1960s. By understanding the social, cultural and political background from which Marshall is pulling as well as the way in which he combines a variety of mediums and inspirations to present a finished project that speaks volum es about its subject in every inch of his canvas, it is possible to analyze a painting such as â€Å"Better Homes, Better Gardens† in such a way as to approximate what Marshall himself was trying to express in his selections of color, form, subject and imagery. Kerry James Marshall was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. This was the year of the bus boycott in Alabama, that launched Martin Luther King as a significant leader of the civil rights movement and that saw a great deal of violence in the city streetsÃ'Ž