Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Scm of Kfc - 13161 Words

Supply Chain Management of KFC - December 29th, 2010 KFC Corporation (KFC), founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept[2] of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. KFC primarily sells chicken pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its primary focus is fried chicken, KFC also offers a line of grilled and roasted chicken products, side dishes and desserts. Outside North America, KFC offers beef based products such as hamburgers or kebabs, pork based products such as ribs and other regional fare.[citation needed]†¦show more content†¦By 1964, the colonel had tired of running the day to day operations of the business and was eager to concentrate on public relations issue. He sold the business to two Louisville business people Jack Massey and John Young Brown, Jr. for $2 million. During the next five years, Massey and Brown concentrated on growing KFC’s franchise system across the U.S. in 1966 they took KFC public, and the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. By late1960’s a strong foothold had been established in the United States, and Massey and Brown turned their attention to international markets. In 1969, a joint venture was signed with Initsubishi shoji kaisha, Ltd., in Japan, and the right to operate 14 existing KFC franchises in England were acquired. Subsidiaries were also established in Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. By 1971, KFC had 2,450 franchises and 600 company owned restaurants worldwide, and was operating in 48 countries. 2. Stability of Demand for Products Many KFC’s problems during the late 1980’s surrounded its limited menu and its inability to quickly bring new products to market. As KFC entered 1996, it grappled with a number of important issues. During the 1980’s, consumers began to demand healthier foods, and KFC was faced with a limited menu consisting mainly of fried foods. InShow MoreRelatedCase Study1771 Words   |  8 PagesPower Pricing’ 14. Kiosks at store entrances for customers in a hurry 15. Home Delivery – McDonald’s Delivery Service or McDelivery 16. Out-of-home Breakfast – International McDonald’s format with local taste 17. McDonald’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) 18. Unique cold chain 19. Cutting costs 20. Exhibit II: McDonald’s Suppliers in India 21. Exhibit III: The Menu at McDonald’s India 22. Exhibit IV: McDonald’s – Early History and Growth 23. Exhibit V: Principles to McDonald’s business success 24. QuestionsRead MoreCase Study1781 Words   |  8 PagesPower Pricing’ 14. Kiosks at store entrances for customers in a hurry 15. Home Delivery – McDonald’s Delivery Service or McDelivery 16. Out-of-home Breakfast – International McDonald’s format with local taste 17. McDonald’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) 18. Unique cold chain 19. Cutting costs 20. Exhibit II: McDonald’s Suppliers in India 21. Exhibit III: The Menu at McDonald’s India 22. Exhibit IV: McDonald’s – Early History and Growth 23. Exhibit V: Principles to McDonald’s business success Read MoreCompetitive Analysis Of Mcdonalds1620 Words   |  7 Pagescompetitors are Starbucks, Yum Brands, Inc. (including Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut), Chipotle, Subway, Panera, Wendy’s, and Burger King. The Key Competitors of Mcdonald’s Price (Fast Food Menu Prices, 2017). Brand Product Price Burger King Flame Grilled Chicken Burger $3.89 Subway Italian B. M. T. $4.25 Wendy’s Gouda Bacon Cheeseburger $4.99 Starbucks Sausage Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich $3.45 Taco Bell Burrito Supreme $3.19 KFC Doublicious Sandwich - Combo $5.99 Pizza Hut Pan Pizza $4.79 ChipotleRead MoreSupply Chaiin Management Practices at Kfc Pakistan5476 Words   |  22 PagesSystem 11 Material Requirement Planning System 11 Demand Forecasting and Order Management System 11 KFC an Overview 12 Cupola Group 13 Vision 13 Mission 13 Facts 14 Supply Chain Management at KFC 15 Planning 15 Planning Department 15 Functions 15 Planning Inputs 16 Initial Steps 16 Sourcing 17 Outsourcing 18 Why KFC Go For Outsourcing 18 Suppliers †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....18 Mobile Vans 20 WarehousingRead MoreSubway Restaurants And The Fast Food Restaurant Franchise Essay2529 Words   |  11 Pagesgreat-tasting food that is good for them and made the way they like it†. Market Positioning and Competiveness of Company: †¢ Pricing Strategy: According to the fast food industry metro market New Zealand has one of the cheaper price of your product compare to KFC, McDonald s, Pita Pit, Pizza Hut, Kebab, etc. Subway provide much at a cheap price, even they give a total different fresh salads, as comparison of price quality and quantity with other competitors. However, Subway low calorie sandwiches makes itRead MoreKfc Marketing Strategies20155 Words   |  81 PagesI become a KFC franchisee? Initial Franchise Fee =   Monthly Service Fee (Royalties) =   Advertising = $45,000 (if you open a KT multi-brand restaurant, the fees will be $75,000)   5 percent (5%) of Gross Sales 5 percent (5%) of Gross Sales (Includes national and local contributions) The above amounts do not include the initial investment required to construct the restaurant building, training expenses, grand opening expenses or opening inventory. Please refer to the KFC Franchise DisclosureRead MoreCase Study on Adidas Supply Chain7726 Words   |  31 PagesEngland Cricket Team. They are also the main sponsors of the Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and English cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. Adidas are the main sponsors of Australian Domestic Cricket Competitions - Pura Cup, KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, Ford Ranger One Day Cup. They are sponsors of the Indian Premier League teams Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians. Adidas also sponsors and produces apparel for the Gold Coast Titans rugby league clubs in the Australian National RugbyRead MorePizza Hut Marketing Brief5494 Words   |  22 PagesPepsi-Cola ® brand soft drinks and Frito-Lay ® brand snack foods. In October 1997, PepsiCo spun off the restaurant businesses (Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell), and Tricon was founded. May 16, 2002, Tricon officially became YUM! Brands with the addition of two new brands, Long John Silver s and AW. YUM! Brands is now the parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, AW and Long John Silver s and is the world s largest restaurant company with more than 34,000 restaurants in more than 100 countriesRead MoreProduct Distribution3331 Words   |  14 PagesSYSTEM is one in which all the organizations in the channel are owned by one firm. C. CONTRACTUAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM is one in which members are bound to cooperate through contractual agreements. 1. In FRANCHISING SYSTEMS (such as McDonald’s, KFC, Baskin-Robbins, and AAMCO), the franchisee agrees to all of the rules, regulations, and procedures established by the franchisor. 2. In WHOLESALER-SPONSORED CHAINS (Western Auto and IGA food stores), each store agrees to use the name, participateRead MoreGlobal Strategy for Lenovo4718 Words   |  19 PagesEurope, India, Mexico and other countries of the target market has sufficient patience to learn. At this stage of learning is the creation and nurturing of talents localization of management. If you have done research shows that the McDonald s and KFC Wal-Mart manager almost no Americans, the United States except shop. Wal-Mart in the five-year period not only learning to do business in China, to study the habits of the Chinese people and Chinese people to do things the way they want to also train

Monday, December 16, 2019

Summary of Jane Eyre - Chapters 1-4 - 1553 Words

Jane Eyre -Spark notes Chapter I Jane is an orphan. She was adopted by Mr. John Reed, yet he died when she was a year old. One of his last wishes was for his wife, Mrs. Reed, to look after Jane. This she does out of duty, but she treats Jane as less than a servant. She despises Jane for her quiet and creative character. Jane takes great pleasure from reading books, and is very smart for her age of ten; Mrs. Reed secretly feels intimidated by her. A child of a â€Å"more sociable and child-like disposition, a more attractive and slight manner – something lighter, franker and more natural† would have been preferred; Jane is quite the opposite. Mrs. Reed is completely in love with her children (Eliza, John and Georgiana), to the point of it†¦show more content†¦Jane is not physically sick (the next day), yet she has become quite depressed. She does not wish to eat or drink anything, and nothing that she used to enjoy, gives her pleasure. Bessie sings a song about an orphan child, which causes Jane to cry, much to Bessie’s bewilderment. Mr. Lloyd returns and concludes that Jane is not actually sick. She is asked why she is acting the way she is; she tells him about the red-room incident and he finds her childish. He asks whether she would prefer to stay with relations that treat her kindly yet are poor, and after a thought, she says she would not. She is still very naà ¯ve in the sense that she considers people of having little money to be dirty and to dress in rags – the idea of people who are poor yet still honorable does not cross her mind. Mr. Lloyd also asks whether she would like to go to school, and she decides that yes, she would. Mrs. Reed and her children return from an outing in the carriage, and Mr. Lloyd goes to speak to Mrs. Reed. Jane overhears Bessie and Miss Abbot talking while she is thought to be asleep. She learns that her father had been a poor clergyman and that her mother had married him against her friends’ wishes. Her father (Mr. Reed) had been so irritated with her disobedience that he had cut her off without any money. Jane’s father caught the typhus fever and her mother it from him; they both died within a month of the other. ChapterShow MoreRelatedLeadership Development42674 Words   |  171 Pagesprospects and the research need John Burgoyne, Wendy Hirsh and Sadie Williams The views expressed in this report are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education and Skills.  © Lancaster University 2004 ISBN 1 84478 286 7 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report has been written by John Burgoyne, Wendy Hirsh and Sadie Williams as members of the Management and Leadership Development Research Network. This group consists of researchers concerned with the topic of thisRead MoreStatement of Purpose23848 Words   |  96 Pages............................................ 1 I. Audience and Institutions ....................................................................................................... 1 II. Content ................................................................................................................................... 2 III. Organization and Development ........................................................................................... 4 IV. Language, Tone, and Voice ..............

Sunday, December 8, 2019

It All Started with One Game free essay sample

When I was about 13 years old, I found myself on the living room floor of a family friend’s house enjoying a game of Chutes and Ladders with three delightful children. By the time we finished watching a movie while having a bowl of chocolate ice cream with rainbow sprinkles and reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I realized I wanted to spend my life working with children. Every day in first grade I would walk into the class and go to the blue carpet to find a different shape made out of blocks of every size and color. We would have to match this shape that my teacher created by using the blocks he had out for us before we could move on to the next activity. When students finished assignments early, we could have free time to play with any toy in the classroom. Every student also knew that discipline was key, and that if they acted up they would either get spoken to by the teacher or have to stand by the door for a â€Å"time-out†. We will write a custom essay sample on It All Started with One Game or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My teacher also made sure to make jokes. One class he pretended to yell at me and one of my friends and sent us to the door where we thought we were in trouble. He then picked my friend up and sat her on top of the clock that was on the wall. To this day, we still laugh about it. During my junior year, I reached out to my first-grade teacher. He was one of the best teachers I had, and I wanted to get a better understanding of his classroom. When my teacher and his 21 kindergarteners welcomed me with,â€Å"Good Afternoon,† I was certain the classroom was where I was supposed to be. Seeing the bulletin board covered with the calendar, students’ birthdays, basic math problems, and alphabet letters made me feel at home. During my high school career, I had the opportunity to run a preschool. There were nine preschoolers that would come in twice a week, and we would organize lessons, have snack time, have free play, and teach the children basics that they would need to go into kindergarten. I loved planning the lessons, teaching, and being with the children. I devised a lesson with a Thanksgiving theme. We had circle time where we read a story Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks and did circle time activities, such as pin the feather on the turkey. We then painted the children’s hands in whatever color they wanted, put their hand on a piece of paper to make a turkey card. The children decorated with feathers, googly eyes, and any other materials of their choice. Seeing all the children laughing when getting their hands painted because it tickled or laughing when they put glitter or the googly eyes all over the turkey, created a sense of accomplishment because the children enjoyed the activity. From all those opportunities and experiences I learned the principles of hard work and discipline. When children would cry because they wouldn’t want to leave their parents, I distract them with other activities. I have witnessed misbehaving children and have developed skills and knowledge on how to handle these situations in the future. I have gained skills on how to balance work and play by making activities educational but interesting. In my lesson for child development, we were able to teach the children how to write a letter, but incorporated an activity to express their creativity. From the moment I played school in my basement as a five-year-old, to playing Chutes and Ladders with the three young children I babysat, to shadowing and interacting with children, I knew the classroom was the setting I was meant to be in.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Polarization In The Political System Essays - Fanaticism

Polarization in the Political System On Tuesday, November 14, 1995, in what has been perceived as the years biggest non-event, the federal government shut down all "non-essential" services due to what was, for all intents and purposes, a game of national "chicken" between the House Speaker and the President. And, at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars a day, this dubious battle of dueling egos did not come cheap (Bradsher, 1995, p.16). Why do politicians find it almost congenitally impossible to cooperate? What is it about politics and power that seem to always put them at odds with good government? Indeed, is an effective, well run government even possible given the current adversarial relationship between our two main political parties? It would seem that the exercise of power for its own sake, and a competitive situation in which one side must always oppose the other on any issue, is incompatible with the cooperation and compromise necessary for the government to function. As the United States becomes more extreme in its beliefs in general, group polarization and competition, which requires a mutual exclusivity of goal attainment, will lead to more "showdown" situations in which the goal of good government gives way to political posturing and power-mongering. In this paper I will analyze recent political behavior in terms of two factors: Group behavior with an emphasis on polarization, and competition. However, one should keep in mind that these two factors are interrelated. Group polarization tends to exacerbate inter-group competition by driving any two groups who initially disagree farther apart in their respective views. In turn, a competitive situation in which one side must lose in order for the other to win (and political situations are nearly always competitive), will codify the differences between groups - leading to further extremism by those seeking power within the group - and thus, to further group polarization. In the above example, the two main combatants, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, were virtually forced to take uncompromising, disparate views because of the very nature of authority within their respective political groups. Group polarization refers to the tendency of groups to gravitate to the extreme of whatever opinion the group shares (Baron & Graziano, 1991, p.498-99). Therefore, if the extreme is seen as a desirable characteristic, individuals who exhibit extreme beliefs will gain authority through referent power. In other words, they will have characteristics that other group members admire and seek to emulate (p. 434). Unfortunately, this circle of polarization and authority can lead to a bizarre form of "one-upsmanship" in which each group member seeks to gain power and approval by being more extreme than the others. The end result is extremism in the pursuit of authority without any regard to the practicality or "reasonableness" of the beliefs in question. Since the direction of polarization is currently in opposite directions in our two party system, it is almost impossible to find a common ground between them. In addition, the competitive nature of the two party system many times eliminates even the possibility of compromise since failure usually leads to a devastating loss of power. If both victory and extremism are necessary to retain power within the group, and if, as Alfie Kohn (1986) stated in his book No Contest: The Case Against Competition, competition is "mutually exclusive goal attainment" (one side must lose in order for the other to win), then compromise and cooperation are impossible (p. 136). This is especially so if the opponents are dedicated to retaining power "at all costs." That power is an end in itself is made clear by the recent shutdown of the government. It served no logical purpose. Beyond costing a lot of money, it had no discernible effect except as a power struggle between two political heavyweights. According to David Kipnis (1976, cited in Baron & Graziano, 1991), one of the negative effects of power is, in fact, the tendency to regard it as its own end, and to ignore the possibility of disastrous results from the reckless use of power (p. 433). Therefore, it would seem that (at least in this case) government policy is created and implemented, not with regard to its effectiveness as government policy, but only with regard to its value as a tool for

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Chinese Empress Si Ling-Chi Discovered How to Make Silk

Chinese Empress Si Ling-Chi Discovered How to Make Silk About 2700-2640 B.C.E., the Chinese began making silk. According to Chinese tradition, the part-legendary emperor, Huang Di (alternately Wu-di or Huang Ti) invented the methods of raising silkworms and spinning silk thread. Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor, is also credited as the founder of the Chinese nation, creator of humanity, founder of religious Taoism, creator of writing, and inventor of the compass and the pottery wheel all foundations of culture in ancient China. The same tradition credits not Huang Di, but his wife Si Ling-Chi (also known as Xilingshi or Lei-tzu), with discovering silk-making itself, and also the weaving of silk thread into fabric. One legend claims that Xilingshi was in her garden when she picked some cocoons from a mulberry tree and accidentally dropped one into her hot tea. When she pulled it out, she found it unwound into one long filament. Then her husband built on this discovery, and developed methods for domesticating the silkworm and producing silk thread from the filaments processes that the Chinese were able to keep secret from the rest of the world for more than 2,000 years, creating a monopoly on silk fabric production. This monopoly led to a lucrative trade in silk fabric. The Silk Road is so named because it was the trading route from China to Rome, where silk cloth was one of the key trade items. Breaking the Silk Monopoly But another woman helped to break the silk monopoly. About 400 C.E., another Chinese princess, on her way to be married to a prince in India, is said to have smuggled some mulberry seeds and silkworm eggs in her headdress, allowing silk production in her new homeland. She wanted, the legend says, to have silk fabric easily available in her new land. It was then only a few more centuries until the secrets had been revealed to Byzantium, and in another century, silk production began in France, Spain, and Italy. In another legend, told by Procopius, monks smuggled Chinese silkworms to the Roman Empire. This broke the Chinese monopoly on silk production. Lady of the Silkworm For her discovery of the silk-making process, the earlier empress is known as  Xilingshi or  Si Ling-chi, or Lady of the Silkworm, and is often identified as a goddess of silk-making. The Facts The silkworm is a native to northern China.  It is the larva, or caterpillar, stage of a fuzzy moth (Bombyx). These caterpillars feed on mulberry leaves.  In spinning a cocoon to encase itself for its transformation, the silkworm exudes a thread from its mouth and winds this around its body.  Some of these cocoons are preserved by the silk growers to produce new eggs and new larva and thus more cocoons.  Most are boiled.  The process of boiling loosens the thread and kills the silkworm/moth.  The silk farmer unwinds the thread, often in a single very long piece of about 300 to about 800 meters or yards, and winds it onto a spool.  Then the silk thread is woven into a fabric, a warm and soft cloth.  The cloth takes dyes of many colors including bright hues.  The cloth is often woven with two or more threads twisted together for elasticity and strength. Archaeologists suggest that the Chinese were making silk cloth in the Longshan period, 3500 -  2000 BCE.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Conversion of Biblical Measurements

Conversion of Biblical Measurements One of comedian Bill Cosbys most hilarious routines features a conversation between God and Noah about building an ark. After getting detailed instructions, a puzzled Noah asks God: Whats a cubit? and God responds that He doesnt know either. Too bad they couldnt get help from archaeologists on how to count their cubits today. Learn the Modern Terms for Biblical Measurements Cubits, fingers, palms, spans, baths, homers, ephahs, and seahs are among ancient forms of biblical measurements. Thanks to decades of archaeological digs, scholars have been able to determine the approximate size of most of these measurements according to contemporary standards. Measure Noahs Ark in Cubits For example, in Genesis 6:14-15, God tells Noah to build the ark 300 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 50 cubits wide. By comparing various ancient artifacts, a cubit has been found to equal about 18 inches, according to National Geographics atlas, The Biblical World. So lets do the math: 300 X 18 5,400 inches, which amounts to 450 feet or a little more than 137 meters in length30 X 18 540 inches, or 37.5 feet or just under 11.5 meters in height50 X 18 900 inches, or 75 feet or slightly less than 23 meters So by converting biblical measurements, we end up with an ark thats 540 feet long, 37.5 feet high and 75 feet wide. Whether thats large enough to carry two of each species is a question for theologians, science fiction writers, or physicists who specialize in quantum state mechanics. Use Body Parts for Biblical Measurements As ancient civilizations progressed to the need for keeping account of things, people used parts of the body as the quickest and easiest way to measure something. After sizing up artifacts according to both ancient and contemporary measurements, theyve discovered that: A finger equals about three-quarters of an inch (roughly the width of an adult human finger)A palm equals about 3 inches or the size across a human handA span equals about 9 inches, or the width of an extended thumb and four fingers Calculate More Difficult, Biblical Measurements for Volume Length, width, and height have been calculated by scholars with some common agreement, but measures of the volume have eluded accuracy for some time. For example, in an essay titled Bible Weights, Measures, and Monetary Values, Tom Edwards writes about how many estimates exist for a dry measure known as a homer: For instance, a Homers liquid capacity (though normally seen as a dry measure) has been estimated at these various amounts: 120 gallons (calculated from footnote in New Jerusalem Bible); 90 gallons (Halley; I.S.B.E.); 84 gallons (Dummelow, One Volume Bible Commentary); 75 gallons (Unger, old edit.); 58.1 gallons (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible); and about 45 gallons (Harpers Bible Dictionary). And we need to also realize that weights, measurements, and monetary values often varied from one place to the next, and from one time period to another. Ezekiel 45:11 describes an ephah as being one-tenth of a homer. But is that one-tenth of 120 gallons, or 90 or 84 or 75 or ...? In some translations of Genesis 18: 1-11, when three angels come to visit, Abraham instructs Sarah to make bread using three seahs of flour, which Edwards describes as one-third of an ephah, or 6.66 dry quarts. How to Use Ancient Pottery to Measure Volume Ancient pottery offers the best clues for archaeologists to determine some of these biblical volume capacities, according to Edwards and other sources. Pottery labeled bath (that was dug up in Tell Beit Mirsim in Jordan) has been found to hold about 5 gallons, comparable to similar containers of the Greco-Roman era with capacities of 5.68 gallons. Since Ezekiel 45:11 equates the bath (liquid measure) with the ephah (dry measure), the best estimate for this volume would be about 5.8 gallons (22 liters). Ergo, a homer equals roughly 58 gallons. So according to these measures, if Sarah mixed up three seahs of flour, she used nearly 5 gallons of flour to make bread for Abrahams three angelic visitors. There must have been plenty of leftovers to feed their family unless angels have literally bottomless appetites. Sources on Biblical Measurements The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas (National Geographic 2007).Biblical Weights, Measures, and Monetary Values, by Tom Edwards, Spirit Restoration.com, spiritrestoration.org/Church/Research%20History%20and%20Great%20Links/Biblical%20Weights%20Measure%20and%20Monetary%20System.htm Bible Passages Genesis 6:14-15 Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Ezekiel 45:11 The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. Source The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version (Oxford University Press). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

CriticalThinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CriticalThinking - Essay Example This will probably be a rural setting and thus may feel inferior while speaking the formal language. On the other hand, the person who prefers the formal language may be from an urban setting and thus more exposed than the letter. The argument above clarifies to us how the language spoken may say almost everything concerning our values and affiliations (Fisher 43) . Consequently, it is indispensable for one to be vigilant on which language to use when he wants to portray a specific impression. It is also evident that anyone who ignores this is either a child who is naà ¯ve or a drunkard who is simply careless. On the other hand, considering the views of another philosopher, it is very necessary, if we consider objective analysis of views before accepting them as lies or truths. To begin with, we look at a situation were by an individual is giving a testimony in a court of law. In this case, the judge must be careful, analytical and sensitive in order to give a fair judgment. He must make good use of critical thinking, in order to achieve this. In this context, we must make use of certain critical thinking facts, such as having a good understanding of things that may influence our judgment. Some of these factors may include Perception, which is something that may come up in our mind in terms of an impression (Fisher 99). Depending on our upbringing, there are things that we grew to learn as either wrong or right. Dogmatism where an individual only wants to believe in only what he knows and does not want to know anything knew. An individual’s past experience will always influence his thoughts and decisions. For instance, a child who fell from a tree when he was young will always avoid climbing on trees, or if he does climb on one, he will be very careful. These factors will always influence once decisions, and as a result, one must consider them (Fisher 63). In this case, the judge must be able to observe and

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Final Assignment Questions Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final Questions - Assignment Example IP is quite an important asset to the people of America for it is of very high economic value as well as an important element of the health and safety of the general American public (NIPRCC, 2011). The counterfeit merchandise therefore does not only pose a threat to the safety and health of the American public but also largely pause a threat to the general economy of the American nation since such products deprive the nation of hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars in terms of lost profits, tax revenue losses, job loss as well as additional product enforcement costs in the different supply chains (NIPRCC, 2011). Counterfeit products such as the pharmaceuticals, automobile parts pauses a great threat to the health and safety of the entire American public. This is because the counterfeit products fail to match the desired quality standards. Increase in counterfeit products has resulted from increased theft of IP which has further threatened the general security of the American nation. Increased theft of the US trade secrets and more so regarding the US war fighter poses a huge threat to the American national security (NIPRCC, 2011). In the year 1999, the president of America William J. Clinton issued an executive order 13133 that was purposely meant to address the issue of unlawful conduct and especially through the use of the internet. The reasoning behind the issue of this order was that if the use of the internet can be properly controlled, crimes such as sale of illegal firearms and explosives via the internet, sale of drugs, child pornography as well as fraud could adequately be controlled by the American government. The unlawful conduct in the internet was to be addressed through a working group selected by the president to resolve the particular issue. As stipulated by the executive order 13133, the working group goals included analyzing the already existing federal laws and assessing the extent to which these laws

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Britian And France Over Educational Practices Essay Example for Free

Britian And France Over Educational Practices Essay The existence of mass education is a common feature of industrial societies. It is agreed by sociologists that the education system accepts some responsibility in preparing young people for the world of work. It is viewed as an institution where socialisation takes place, involving acquisition of knowledge and skills. It with or without intent also helps to shape beliefs and moral values. Education is an issue that plays an essential role in all aspects of society and sparks debates in issues of national economic competitiveness, national identity, and social justice. It is viewed as protecting the status quo and is a crucial element of personal growth and social transformation. The education system has existed since the early 19th century and appears o expand as society progresses. Education in general appears to be shaped by four educational traditions. The first view is known as Encyclopaedism, it is very strongly inherent with the ideas from the ËÅ"enlightenment period. It has been a very influential frame, especially for European countries such as France. This view promotes the idea that valid knowledge should be categorised, codified, and learnt. It promotes the concept that education provides the ability to think rationally, to reason, which leads to a better society with ËÅ"enlightened people who, from education have the ability to use knowledge and reasoning with situations they encounter throughout their lives. The second traditional view is based from a philosophical root known as humanism. It highlights the concept that education creates a ËÅ"virtuous individual who posses high qualities of moral values, and high levels of intelligence. The humanism belief is strongly developed from English public schools and universities. This approach strongly emphasises the role of the academic tutor who in some ways acts as a ËÅ"role model and though their guidance and example results in the pupil becoming a well rounded individual. The third view is Vocationalism, which is orientated around the national economy. Its objective is to meet the needs of the national economy for skilled labourers who possess the suitable attitude towards work. The fourth tradition is a recent philosophy in education known as Naturalism. This has developed from a combination of psychology, sociology, and philosophy. It highlights the significance of an individual child, its needs, ability knowledge, and its social world. It is based on the ideology of learning, influences, and interaction from the environment. It is a skill based approach, focusing on ËÅ"learning how to learn* and how the child interacts with its environment, education and other institutions, from which the child develops into a whole person. Although the education systems may have been adapted as time progresses and vary slightly from country to country, the root of education originates from these four views. Therefore similarities can be seen in the education system in Britian and France. (* Extracted from Spyby; line 10 pg 222) In both countries France and Britain, majority of children attend preschool. Their compulsory schooling begins around the age of 4/5.The pre-school stage is a period where children in Britain are encouraged to mostly play and develop rather than being taught any academic subjects, where as in France, children at pre school stage encounter formal teaching of subjects such as mathematics and reading and writing. In general there is a higher level of participation in preschool in France than Britain. It appears that the France system bases its pre school system on the Naturalism approach, where by the childs personality, creativity, intellect and socialisation is developed external to the family. From around the age of 5 children in both countries enter primary education. At this stage it is apparent that the naturalism ideology concludes and other traditional views become evident. In primary education there is similarity in the subjects studied throughout Europe, such as Maths, science, their language, P.E, arts. The History of the France and Britain were similar in the changes they experienced in the 19th century. The primary education in England and Wales was originally based on the humanist tradition in the early 19th century. From the late 18th century,  large amounts of children had access to free elementary education from which basic values were conveyed. The Hadow reports 1931 and 1933 changed the structure of schools to form primary and secondary sectors. Primary school was based around developmental psychology, which then advances the child onto highly differentiated secondary school. The Hadow report was also the basis of the education act in 1944. There had also been a change in the ideology of teachers after war where childcentered learning became an issue with primary school teachers in Britain. In the 70s education in Britain became strongly associated with economic issues thus having a large impact in aspects of education. In turn an Education reform act had been produces in 1988, which imposed the National Curriculum. The national curriculum was strongly based on an encyclopaedism view. It arose problems for teachers as it restricted teachers from having the capacity to apply their professional judgement, and resulted teachers as being messengers of the curriculum to submissive learners. The French system also went through changes around this time. Like Britain the education system primarily prepared labouring class children for the world of work. In the early 90s issues were highlighted where teachers were regarded more as ËÅ"cultural emitters rather than a ËÅ"teacher especially secondary school teahers . Primary school teachers focused on the development of children rather than academic development. The educateion system in both France and Britiain share a common factor of taking interst in the childs devlopment and both have a nationaal curriculum to follow. The French system however differs compared to Britian in their child centered approach.The French very strongly follow the tradtion of equality, where everyove achieves at the same rate and every individual is treated the same. Therefore a dtrucutres learning programme has been implemented where pupils learn at the same rate and achieve at the samt rate. Teachers on France play a crucial role in assisting every individual pupil to a similar stage as each other and unlike the British teachers do not view their professional role as involving curriculum development. There is generally a diffrenc ein the way children are taught in France and Britain. As evident from a study conducted by Sharpe (92) the French primary schools tend to adopt a less child centred approach compared to Britain, they have a formal setting with blackboards and chalk, with desks faced towards the black board where as in Brtian there is more diversity in the way the National curriculum is taught, through working in groups, existence of play corners and there is a much more bright colourful displays of childrens work. Another difference in the French and British system is the concept of equality which is promoted on scholls. In the British system there os a emphasis in schools to reseocet multicultural values and other tradtions and cultures each being unique and individual. Whereas in the French system the ideology of a single nation culture is strongly promoted. The next stage from primary school is secondary school (in france refered to as lycÃÆ' ¨es professionelles), which the typical age for in both countries is between 10-12. [more recently there has been debates amongst the british overment about the way children are taught in primary schools and the very ËÅ"child centered ËÅ" approach has been critised. There has been speculation that the educational practices in Britiain may somewhat resmble the France system in the instructive and the extensive use and structure of the whole class. However these practices can only be implemented in the eduacational system through doverment intervention as unlike Britain, such practices in France are more ËÅ"teachers professional culture (Mclean 199

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The History of Colonial Rule of Puerto Rico by United States :: Historical Colonization spanish Essays

The History of Colonial Rule of Puerto Rico by United States On July 25, 1898 the United States arrived in Puerto Rico. The U.S. defeated the Spanish and gained possession of the island. Despite the intimidation the Americans inflicted on the Puerto Ricans, the Puerto Ricans remained hopeful. The Americans were the representatives of the free world. They had written the Constitution and provided a Bill of Rights for their inhabitants. The Americans were the advocates of democracy, and the Puerto Ricans hoped the Americans would show the pathway to freedom. Unfortunately, the wishes of the Puerto Ricans were never fulfilled. The United States established a military government. The Americans arrived with racist, arrogant attitudes. They deemed the the Puerto Ricans ill equipped for self government, as as the descendants, or pupils of the inferior Spanish. The Americans believed only they could establish Puerto Rico as a respectable nation, because the United States possessed an arrogance rarely seen. As a result, they claimed Puerto Rico as their possession, to do with what they seemed appropriate. What resulted was an adverse effect on Puerto Rico brought upon by Americans, from an economical, political and social standpoint. The rule of the United States over Puerto Rico also further obscured the definition of Puerto Rican identity. The impact of early U.S. Colonial rule had an adverse economic effect on Puerto Rico. Before the arrival of the U.S. in 1898, coffee was the premier enterprise in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican coffee was highly regarded in Europe for the quality of its flavor and had a price in the markets of Cuba, France, Spain and Germany. After U.S. possession, Spain considered Puerto Rico a foreign country, and raised its import tax on Puerto Rican coffee, while Cuba quadrupled its tariff on the Puerto Rican product.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Denver International Airport Baggage Handling System Essay

1. Evaluate the implementation of Denver International Airport Baggage Handling System. What are the top 3 factors that lead to the projects failure? Who is most at fault? The DIA automated baggage-handling system had its uncertainties and risks like in any other project but the challenges faced were mainly due to the poor planning, 1st of its kind in terms of size of the project and underestimation of complexity of the whole project. There are many problems encountered by the project and the top 3 factors that lead to the project failure were: 1. Scope, time-schedule and budget commitments – Planning. The master plan for DIA was developed by the various experts in the respective fields but there was a fundamental strategic error as DIA had adopted the build-design project meaning building the airport while designing it. The airport’s Project Management team had assumed that individual airlines would make their own baggage handling arrangements. In 1991, the airport’s Project Management team changed their strategy and realized that if an integrated system was to be built, they needed to take responsibility back from the individual airlines and run the project themselves. This change in strategy came a little more than two years prior to the airport’s planned opening date and the timing of the decision was in large part the trigger behind the excessive schedule pressure the project was exposed to. BAE and the airport Project Management team made another major mistake during the negotiations. Although the airlines were the key stakeholders in the system they were excluded from the discussions during the project defining and planning stage. When the stakeholders are finally engaged, they demand for significant changes on the project that required modifications as the project went along. 2. Leadership The project was oversold by political leaders who used the airport initiative as a platform to revive their economy. Pena won the election and committed by the public promise. There was a transfer of authority to from Pena to Wellington Webb as the new mayor, who followed the predecessor administration’s emphasis and also didn’t ensure the commitment of the major carriers. The City of Denver and a consultant team shared the leadership of the DIA project. It quickly became clear that shared leadership was doing duplicate duties and not efficient. The project was financed by many sources where all wanted to have a say, making it increasingly more difficult to coordinate and accommodate different administrative, political and social interests. On top of that, the management had no experience of building automated baggage systems, but it assumed the responsibilities any way without making necessary changes in the management team. The respective teams were working of silos and the leader failed to enforce structure for collaboration and feasibility of the overall project monitoring. One month after BAE was awarded the contract, the head of DIA project resigned. 3. Communication difficulties. The channels to communicate among the city, the project management team, the consultant, DAE and airlines were never well defined. Everyone had their own tracking systems for the activities and there were several copies of everything. They tried to merge them into one central database and it took 3 years to get it to work. BAE felt being restricted to access anywhere they wanted which was granted in the initial negotiation and other construction works were hindering BAE progress, there were no clear communication channel to raise their predicament. The large number of airport entities involved increased the complexity in effective communication and everyone had its unique requirements and timeline to meet. 2. As Gene Di Fonso, what would you have done differently to avoid the problems faced at the end of the case? If I am Gene Di Fonso, I would use the project life cycle as the foundation for managing this project. I will make sure that all the stages of Defining, Planning, Executing and Closing are thought through and discussed with the experts thoroughly. Especially, when comes to dealing with the hyped up City of Denver project which has government, social, economic influences and timeline to meet for DBO repayments. The product life cycle would have enforced a structure to think critically before accepting or negotiating the contract. Both the defining and the planning stage would have provided a good assessment whether to pursue such a complex with limited timeline even though the revenue and BAE image of doing such big project is overwhelming. The downside of project failure and inability to complete the project on time would be a blow to BAE image in the public eye. Before entering into the executing stage, both the defining and planning stage would ensure the contract entails the terms and conditions and also include all the limitations, all the technical requirements in the building infrastructure stated with the realistic timeline and the deliverables stated upfront. All major stakeholders have to be involved in the project defining stage for actual feedback and requirements to be clearly stated that no changes allowed after signing of contract and should be enfored Minimally, all these stages have to be followed through as a project manager. The more complex the project, more time needed to tackle uncertainties to complete the project and it is also necessary to form a highly skilled project management team in order to complete the project successfully. I feel that Di Fonso knowing the tight timeline with lots of external influences such as the political, economical and social factors, it would be a best decision to stay focused as initially planned and commitment with United Airlines unless all the contractual terms determined after going through the detailed defining and planning can be accepted by all the stakeholders. 3. How should Di Fonso respond to Mayor Webb’s decision to impose a $12,000 per day penalty and the requirement that BAE assume the $50 million cost of building a conventional tug-and-cart baggage system? I feel that it is not entirely BAE fault for the failure of the automated baggage system project. There were other external factors involved that worked against the whole project. So, Di Fonso is not entirely at fault and should fall back on his contract with the City and negotiate the legal terms. There were provisions and requirements, especially permanent power requirement, were made explicit and in addition unrestricted access for BAE equipment and priority in any areas to install the system due to tight timeline were agreed and accepted by the Denver officials. Definitely, the contract was not adhered to and Di Fonso has high chance to sue the City for the breach of contract.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Man Utd – Swot and Pest

Manchester united Manchester United (ManU) is one of the leading football clubs in the world. ManU has won many titles in the football competition making the club to be the most successful football club in the world. The success of this club is contributed by the good management of Sir Alex Ferguson who has been the manager since 1986 when Ron Atkinson left (Official website, ManU). Introduction The football industry in UK has become popular because of the first successes in the industry, an attribute that made it a viable business. The main aim of this report is to analyze the SWOT and PEST analysis of Manchester United.From this analysis, it will be possible to identify both the internal and external strengths of the company. SWOT analysis SWOT analysis can be used to know the success factors of ManU as well as to identify the strategies to be overcome the club's weaknesses. Moreover, SWOT analyses will enable the company to identify the opportunities to improve performance. SWOT a nalysis of Manchester United is presented below: Strengths The key strength of Manchester United is its well recognized brand all over the world. ManU has achieved such good brand name by heavy advertisement through the internet, TV and magazines (Andrews, 2004).This massive advertisement has made the club to get various sponsors. This means that whenever the company raises any merchandise in the market, indicating their name and symbol, it will be identified by its funs all over the world. Strength of the club is the presence of a big fan base which has improved the financial stability of the club. This big fan base has made a very high purchase figure whenever the tickets are being sold. Furthermore, Manchester United has various distribution channels which enable it to deliver new products introduced into the market.Furthermore, these channels can be used by the Manchester United to obtained feedback from the market concerning their products and performances. Weaknesses From the website of the company, it shows that the major weakness is the products and product variety. It is evident that the company has been introducing many diverse products at different occasions. All these diverse products have been introduced from the jersey to credit cards indicating that the company has exploited the available sources of income within the company.This action needs to be researched as soon as possible so as to help the company to situate and analyze it products, adopt the use of effective instruments such as the Boston Matrix which will help the company to identify that the products are doing well in the market. Lastly, the club has been so affluent, and it is still operating on such a high level, there is a worrying within the management of the company that it will loose its origin, which has a diverse concentration of the club from football to the proceeds.Such moves might have a great effect to its fans because the fans come from all over the world. Opportunities P enetration of the Manchester United to the American market has been one of the major opportunities to the company. The company will in future structure its club by entering into coalition with the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees is one of the well-off teams in the world. This will assist the company by ensuring that exclusive distribution channels are established in the United States of America. Through this the company will be in a position to enter and present their products in a new market.Furthermore, the Manchester United will be in a position to lead all the football clubs in the America, though there will be superior height of risks concerned. The managers believe that by entering a coalition with the Yankees, this threat will be reduced (CNN, 2010). Threats Manchester United operates under a great threat in this field because other big teams like Manchester City and Arsenal which are currently improving in their performances. These and other teams have become very big competitors to the club. Furthermore, the Manchester United FC has been facing internal threats to the team.There is a frequent change of leadership in the company making the club to be disunited. Nonetheless, this will affect the sale of merchandise. Lastly, the club is lacking enough finances for financing academies and junior football, so that they can train the best footballers to ensure smooth succession in the future. PEST Analysis of the Manchester United The club's decision has been affected by macro-environmental factors such as the changes in taxes, new laws, demographic changes and the changes in government policy. The managers of Manchester United can classify these as the political, economical, social and technological factors.Political factors This comprises of the laws which govern the issues affecting the activities of the club. Currently the team is undergoing a problem of paying out its debts which amount to $1. 5 billion, a figure which was misappropriated by the greedy owners. The fans of Manchester United from England are preparing to join their efforts to force legislators to consider pro-football legislation in parliament which will aim at fighting the total arrears which has not being paid because of corrupt owners who misuse the funds of the club. Such an action has exploited the loyalties of fans of Manchester United.Economical factors The club has boosted the economy through employment opportunities which have been created to the players and the officials. The positive effect of Manchester United FC is felt globally because they employ the best players globally. Secondly, this soccer club has been a catalyst in the regional development because of the positive financial flows which are generated by the supporters of the team across the world. Lastly, the club has a positive influence on the economy because its officials are thrown from all over the world.These officials spend an average of 15 ? on basic needs such as food, drinks etc . in a single match. If the supporters are from foreign countries they bring in foreign currencies which will eventually boosts the Balance of Payments in the country Technology Technology has contributed positively to the foot ball games since the players are capable of playing at night due to the availability of electricity. Furthermore, technology has facilitated various people from different parts of the world to watch football irregardless of there locations.Technology has facilitated fans of the club to obtain information from the internet concerning the performances of the company. This has benefited those Manchester United fans to get updates incase they had missed to watch the game. Social Manchester United just like any other football team has united many people especially the funs of football. People have interacted all over the world because of football. People from different age groups normally watch football because it is either their favorite game or because they want to watch just for leisure.Football has become part of the society in the current world, everybody in the world talks of football, either English Premier League or the world cup championships. This is very important since it has affected the society in a positive way i. e. it can create employment in the region. For example, the world cup will be in South Africa this year. The South African government will collect a lot of revue in terms of taxation, sales of tickets and any other taxable stuff. This will have close relationship with the social cultural factors though indirectly (Masterman, 2009).Manchester United has contributed a lot in the context of the social cultural factors as it employs players from different parts of the world. They normal select stars from different leagues and employ them. From a research done by Masterman, Manchester is the leading club in the payment package they offer to its employees. Business strategy The team has carried research concerning their pr oduct development in the market. This is very important as it will help the team to improve their performance in their product in the present market before strategizing on how to enter the new market.Conclusion Manchester United is the leading team in the football industry and to maintain this position, they have to focus on the market and the needs of its clients and followers. The company has further improved on their product through carrying research; these improvements have brought success in the club and improve the support of the team. The board of directors has also done their best by employing the best players to represent the club. This will make the team to perform well in the field whenever they have a game. Furthermore, these directors ensure that the discipline is well maintained n the company because the fans and its competitors are closely watching what is going on in the company. Bibliography ? Andrews, D. L. (2004) Manchester United: a thematic study. Routledge: UK. Barthold, D. 2009. The Business of European Football. GRIN Verlag, (3). Pp 36-38 Masterman, G. 2009. Strategic Sports Event Management: Olympic Edition Hospitality, Leisureand Tourism Series. Butterworth-Heinemann, (2). Pp 65-67 Manchester United. 2008. The Official Manchester United Annual 2009 Official Manchester Read more: http://www. ukessays. com/essays/business/manchester-united. php#ixzz2O7qrNL7L

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Environmental Law Midterm Exam 2 Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

Environmental Law Midterm Exam 2 Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers Environmental Law Midterm Exam 2 PLST 35001 Amanda Webb March 28, 2017 Sovereignty in general means authority or supreme power. Sovereignty exists in environmental law within the powers that control and regulate environmental law. State and National governments' hold authority over environmental law with the Supreme Court being the ultimate arbiter of the inter-sovereign relations. One way that sovereignty exists within environmental law is through the state police power. The state police power is the traditional body that regulates health, safety, and welfare, which includes environmental matters. The state police hold their power in environmental law by regulating the resources themselves and regulating the harms caused by pollution and environmental externalities. Generally, the states' environmental quality was the main province of the states through their police power, but has switched between the federal and state government. Before the states the full purpose sovereigns in the United States are displayed through preemption. A state law that affects intersta te commerce must be tested under the Pike test. First the state law is evaluated to determine if the statute holds a legitimate local public interest. If a legitimate local purpose is found, then n ext the burden on interstate commerce must be weighed against local benefits. This is a complex calculus that seeks to account for the importance of the local benefits and the extent of the bur den on the interstate commerce and whether this could be promoted as well with a lesser impact on interstate activities. An example of this test being applied is shown in Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Co. , 449 U.S. 456 (1981). Minnesota created a statute that restricted plastic milk containers that arguably favored pulpwood manufacturers (a Minnesota industry) and disfavored plastic manufacturers (a non-Minnesota industry). The Court found that the statute was not discriminatory and proceeded to measure the burdens on inter state commerce. The Court concluded that even if the out of state plastics industry was burdened, the burden is not clearly excessive considering the substantial state interest in promoting conservation of energy and other natural resources and easing solid waste and disposal problems. Although the Snail Darter case is not widely known it is widely recognized as classically illuminating. This case was the Supreme Court's first encounter with ESA 7. This case has held a highly significant impact on the country's interpretation on laws regarding endangered species. ESA 7 became a significant regulatory program in the years immediately following the snail darter decision resulting in substantial increases in its annual budget allocations and a new degree of respect for its regulatory potency from agency bureaucrats and industrial lobbyists. Scientific surveys for endangered species impacts became an accepted part of agency project planning and permit application processes. Since this case the courts have been more attentive to the Act's requirements. The courts have strictly interpreted this act without reference to the significance of the species concerned. The Clean Air Act's standards for regulating hazardous air pollutants first step involved the EPA identifying the air pollutant levels consistent with the goal of the air throughout the country being safe to breathe. Next the states would choose the means of achieving the goal of clean air. Mobile sources would be regulated primarily by the federal government and the stationary sources would be regulated primarily through the states. The harm-based approach dealing with hazardous air pollutants was substituted by a technology based approach that called for the employment of MACT. The legislation called for 180 substances to be regulated by that method. Technology based standards can be costly for the industry to comply with and adopt. One inadequacy of the harm based standards was the EPA was required to compile a list of HAPs and promulgate emission standards directly applicable to sources that emitted the hazardous pollutants in question. The harm based approach was not easily applicable to the problems of HAPs. The agency was limited by the availability of adequate scientific studies on which to propose standards and dogged by judicial challenges to those standards that they did propose.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Types of Surveys for Sociology Research

Types of Surveys for Sociology Research Surveys are valuable research tools within sociology and are commonly used by social scientists for a wide variety of research projects. They are especially useful because they enable researchers to collect data on a mass scale, and to use that data to conduct statistical analyses that reveal conclusive results about how the variety of variables measured interact. The three most common forms of survey research are the questionnaire, interview, and telephone poll   Questionnaires Questionnaires, or printed or digital surveys, are useful because they can be distributed to many people, which means they allow for a large and randomized sample - the hallmark of valid and trustworthy empirical research. Prior to the twenty-first century, it was common for questionnaires to be distributed through the mail. While some organizations and researchers still do this, today, most opt for digital web-based questionnaires. Doing so requires fewer resources and time, and streamlines the data collection and analysis processes. However they are conducted, a commonality among questionnaires is that they feature a set list of questions for participants to respond to by selecting from a set of provided answers. These are closed-ended questions paired with fixed categories of response. While such questionnaires are useful because they allow for a large sample of participants to be reached at low cost and with minimal effort, and they yield clean data ready for analysis, there are also drawbacks to this survey method. In some cases, a respondent may not believe that any of the offered responses accurately represents their views or experiences, which may lead them to not answer or to select an answer that is inaccurate. Also, questionnaires can typically only be used with people who have a registered mailing address, or an email account and access to the internet, so this means that segments of the population without these cannot be studied with this method. Interviews While interviews and questionnaires share the same approach by asking respondents a set of structured questions, they differ in that interviews allow researchers to ask open-ended questions that create more in-depth and nuanced data sets than those afforded by questionnaires. Another key difference between the two is that interviews involve social interaction between the researcher and the participants because they are either conducted in person or over the phone. Sometimes, researchers combine questionnaires and interviews in the same research project by following up some questionnaire responses with more in-depth interview questions. While interviews offer these advantages, they too can have their drawbacks. Because they are based on social interaction between researcher and participant, interviews require a fair degree of trust, especially regarding sensitive subjects, and sometimes this can be difficult to achieve. Further, differences of race, class, gender, sexuality, and culture between researcher and participant can complicate the research collection process. However, social scientists are trained to anticipate these kinds of problems and to deal with them when they arise, so interviews are a common and successful survey research method. Telephone Polls A telephone poll is a questionnaire that is done over the telephone. The response categories are typically pre-defined (closed-ended) with little opportunity for respondents to elaborate their responses. Telephone polls can be very costly and time-consuming, and since the introduction of the Do Not Call Registry, telephone polls have become harder to conduct. Many times respondents are not open to taking these phone calls and hang up before responding to any questions. Telephone polls are used often during political campaigns or to get consumer opinions about a product or service. Updated  by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Organizational Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizational Communication - Essay Example Collaboratively, the political aspect contribute as to whether social safety and stability will be maintained. In the scenario political discussions between two region create sparks of arguments that provoke social threats like war and verbal clash. In the end, economic status run as how politics affects the society or the socio-political factor. The economy follows the ups and down of the current socio-political order, and once social security is at risk, in the same manner that economic stability is in danger because they are relative. It is evident that many big corporations are established in that particular region. The mere realization that they would loose investors may alarm their position or stand. Professor Rao feeling is because he realizes how corporations greatly influences the decisions of the government. It signifies the loose of government morale since they are looking forward to corporations’ withdrawal of investments and not mainly of a rational socio-political decision. Rao might be thinking that it is better that the dispute has been solve by political agreement or reconciliation which is reasonable for the sake of the state, instead of being motivated because of global trade with the Americans. Since it is evident that government favors the American investors, it will be just a snap to make it appear that the government gave-up their position for the sake of the investors. It gives credibility to what an American journalist said that â€Å"The cease-fire is brought to you be GE and all it s friends here in Bangalore† (Friedman, 2002, p. 8A). Globalization is a broad term that encompass economic aspect intertwined with socio-political aspects. Both aspects can be found in this particular scenario. Globalization establishes interdependence between trade through trade and political agreement. What happened here is that political agreement has been established (resulting to cease-fire) which is socially and economically beneficial. In

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Term Paper

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Term Paper Example Finally, the essay will look into the application and implantation of reforms to a healthcare institution. There are eight major elements of the Act as outlined by The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010). The first has to do with expanding access to health insurance coverage to most citizens. This is supported by the second element, which entails the provision of financial help to low-income individuals and families. With the second element, there is an automatic expansion of health insurance coverage to citizens. The third element provides for new competitive marketplaces for entities to acquire health insurance, while at the same time ensuring consumer protection in private health insurance. The fifth element looks into closing gaps in the Medicare program that have been costly. The sixth element allows for provision of preventative care, devoid of co-pays or deductibles. This is supported by the seventh element, which promotes movement towards payment systems that reward excellent care for the patient, coupled with positive outcomes, as opposed to rewarding the volume of care. Elements six and seven promote intensive care for the patient, over extensive care. Preventative care is a large component of quality care; it takes up minimal resources in comparison to care aimed at curing the ailment. The last element promotes more transparency and reporting among healthcare practitioners. This element encompasses all the rest because for the PPACA to take full effect there is need to ensure that all practitioners are playing their role towards ensuring such effectiveness. One of the key changes to operations in the hospital is the evolution of healthcare delivery systems from a mid-level care kind of delivery model to a more virtual care kind (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, 2014). This is

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Essentials Mangement (report) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Essentials Mangement (report) - Essay Example Early on, the proposition seems to be true as it is appealing but research and retrospection conducted for the study would indicate that the claim is actually oversimplified. The arguments that will prove this point are presented and detailed in the ensuing discussion. Team building is essentially defined as a continuous, multifaceted process where the members learn to work together for a common goal. It can pertain to any assembly of individuals in different areas of concern such as in sport and in business. The core principles that operate in building any successful team include making the members appreciate and develop a shared vision and unity of purpose, gradually forming a collaborative and synergistic teamwork and establishing an open and honest communication process. However, an effective team does not only cooperate for this can be forced or coerced. An effective team is essentially where people forms relationships that surpasses work. It also involves peer and social support and a build-up of trust that combines to create a positive team culture and a cohesive group atmosphere. This process only comes only after several stages of team building. Thus, the process of making people work together as a team involves an understanding of complex social and psychological processes which is further explored in the ensuing discussion. Human Psychology would tell us that every individual is unique in his own ways. Group and team development strategies try to make team members to appreciate common goals. A manager tries to develop in his group a need to achieve the organization’s objectives. He tries to motivate the members to work together as a team. However, the knowledge that all individuals are unique informs us that the development of synergistic relationships is easier said than done. Philosophical undertakings followed by scientific research would tell

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The Steps Involved In Wastewater Treatment Environmental Sciences Essay

The Steps Involved In Wastewater Treatment Environmental Sciences Essay The aim of this report is to explain clearly in detail the steps involved in wastewater treatment including the disadvantages and suggested improvements to the process. This report will take on an engineering analysis of the many complex processes and the steps involved in processing wastewater into clean water safe to be discharged into the environment. Also included in this report is an overall process diagram of the wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the limitations and key advantages of this treatment are outlined and the appropriate and suitable improvements that can be made to overcome them are explored. Introduction Water, one of the worlds most important but unfortunately finite source, which is being endlessly used and reused. Wastewater treatment is the process in which wastewater as well as the sewage, is filled with bacteria, chemicals and other contaminants is cleaned so that it can be recycled back safe for use. Once the treatment is complete, all forms of solids called sludge, regardless of the shape and size that was present in the wastewater will be removed. Besides that, oxygen gets restored into the water, which then eventually ends up in the lakes and rivers which require oxygen rich water to support the lifestyle of the aquatic organisms. Wastewater includes a combination of domestic sewage (toilets, kitchen, and laundry) on a smaller scale and on a larger scale this consists of industrial effluent, schools as well as businesses (chemical and wastes, hospitals, shopping centres). Wastewater is also obtained from storm water infiltration and ground water which enters the sewer through the cracks present. Generally the waste can be broken down naturally with bacteria and other biological organisms especially when it is just household or business waste. However, wastes obtained from industries are generally toxic and require a physical/chemical treatment plant, which uses both chemical reactions and physical processes to process the wastewater. Overview of the treatment: As an overview, the wastewater treatment occurs in three stages which will be discussed thoroughly. It begins with the preliminary and primary treatment where 40-60 % of the solids are removed (City of Columbia). Followed by the secondary treatment where 90% of the pollutants are removed, hence completing the liquid portion process (City of Columbia). The next step would be the treatment and removal of the sludge (bio-solids). The number of stages of the treatment varies but generally go up to four depending on the quality of water being treated. Below is a picture of an aerial view of a general wastewater treatment plant. Source: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Tw-Z/Wastewater-Treatment-and-Management.html , 2010 Below, is the overall process diagram of the wastewater treatment. (Source: Wastewater treatment and principals and regulations brochure) Preliminary Treatment The preliminary treatment is the first stage in wastewater treatment with its main purpose removing coarse solids and large materials found in raw water to make the water suitable for the main treatment process. It also ensures that the pumping equipment does not get damaged. This initial stage involves various different processes which include screening, grit removal and odour control. Initially, the sewage is screened to remove large objects which include plastics and paper. This step is crucial to make sure that there is no blockage in the pipe system as well as no damages to the equipment. This is done generally by passing the sewage through mechanically raked bar screens (consisting of vertical bars spaced close together) which are used to capture the large objects and remove them from the wastewater stream. The screenings (material which have been cleared in this step) is disposed safely at a landfill site. Below is an example of a raked screen bar image used in industries. (Source : Huber Technology, 2009) The next step is the grit removal which includes grit, stones and dirt. However, before the sewage enters the grit tanks, Ferrous Chloride (FeCl2) and lime are added to improve the subsequent chemical treatment. Ferrous Chloride precipitates phosphorus thus reducing the growth of toxic algae in the water. Lime on the other hand is added to increase the pH level which aids the Ferrous Chloride in removing phosphorus and other material from the sewage. Various different types of detritus tanks, grinders and cyclonic inertial separation are used including a comminutor and grit chamber to remove the coarse solids. A comminutor is actually a grinding pump which houses a rotating cutting screen that makes shreds large organic matter, therefore making it easier for microorganisms to decompose the organic matter. This step also further prevents any damage to the machines and pumps in the process. The effectiveness of the chemicals added prior in the grit chamber is improved by adding and mixing compressed air into the wastewater. In order to allow the heavier inorganic materials settle out of the waste stream, the velocity of the incoming sewage is controlled. The air flow is also adjusted to create velocity near the bottom part of the chamber to catch the grit in a current hence, allowing it to settle. Chlorination is another step that could be used in the preliminary treatment. However, as chlorination can be used for all the different stages in the treatment, the equipment has to be design specially and carefully for the same operations. All the disposals collected from the preliminary stages are disposed of safely in a landfill. Primary Treatment The next step, following the preliminary treatment is the primary treatment. The purpose of this step is to remove the particles which are able to settle by sedimentation which includes organic nitrogen, organic phosphorous and heavy metals (New York Water operations 2007). This is done by passing the wastewater through the primary sedimentation tanks or primary clarifiers where solid particles are removed by physical settling due to its density, buoyancy and the force of gravity. Coagulants and flocculants such as solid and liquid Aluminium Sulphate and Aluminium Hydroxide Chloride (Accepta Water Treatment, 2010) are often added to expedite this process by encouraging the aggregation of particles. However, the pH level has to be constantly adjusted as they tend to reduce the pH levels of the wastewater. (Source : City of Camarillo, 2010) Above is an image of a sedimentation tank. They are designed to hold wastewater for numerous hours by then which most of the heavy solids would settle at the bottom of the tank. They would then form thick slurry known as sludge and also floating material such as fats, oil and grease to rise to the surface which would then be skimmed off. There are mechanical scrapers that have been designed for the tanks with the purpose of collecting the sludge at the bottom and the scum floating on the top. Both the sludge and skimmed material are generally pumped to a solid treatment process. The sedimentation process is basically mainly to produce a liquid which is able to be treated biologically by reducing the biological oxygen demand, also known as BOD of water. BOD is the quantity of oxygen that is needed by aerobic microorganisms to decompose organic matter in a sample of water. The degree of water pollution can also be measured by the BOD. (The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language) When the solids are removed at these early stages, BOD can be reduced by 30-40 percent hence, increasing the efficiency of microbial digestion at a later stage. (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, 2010) Secondary Treatment The next stage, called the secondary treatment focuses on removing the remaining suspended and dissolved organic matter in the sewage. It is also known as the biological stage as the biodegradable organic contaminants that are dissolved would be broken down by microorganisms cultivated and added to the wastewater such as bacteria and protozoa. These microorganisms feed on the suspended and dissolved organic matter that remained from the primary clarifier. These bacteria can be categorised into aerobic or anaerobic bacteria, which is actually their need to oxygen. Generally, aerobes can degrade pollutants at a higher rate as opposed to anaerobes. (Waste Management, 2004) Numerically, the anaerobic treatment produces 0.1-0.2 kg biomass or sludge per kg BOD as opposed to the aerobic treatment which produces 0.5-1.5 kg biomass or sludge per kg BOD. (V. Jegatheesan, C. Visvanathan and R. Ben Aim, 2008) Also, some factors that increases their rate of degradation is the quantity of their food source and the temperature of the sewer. This secondary treatment can actually be carried out in numerous different methods. Anaerobic Treatment Anaerobic is defined as does not require oxygen. (MedicineNet.com) Firstly, the sewage is flown into anaerobic large tanks or ponds, therefore allowing anaerobic digestion to take place. Anaerobic digestion is when biodegradable material is broken down by the organisms without the presence of oxygen. The product of this digestion includes methane, carbon dioxide and sludge where to our advantage; methane can be used as an energy source categorising the anaerobic digestion as a renewable energy source. There is a membrane cover at the surface of the tanks/ponds which captures the methane and it is then used to generate electricity by combustion in a gas engine as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and odour. Besides that, mixing in the anaerobic process requires less energy compared to the aeration step carried out in the aerobic process. The emission of landfill gases into the atmosphere is also reduced with this anaerobic digestion. However, larger treatment plants are needed f or the anaerobic process as they have slower reaction rates. (Guerrero F. Omil, R. Mà ©ndez and J. M. Lema , 1998) The three main steps of this process are: 1. Hydrolysis and Acidogenesis C6H12O6 Æ’Â   2C2H5OH + 2CO2 (Organic compound) (Ethanol) (Carbon Dioxide) Hydrolysis is a process where the covalent bonds are broken with the use of water. Therefore the complex organic compounds are broken down into their constituent part by enzymes. Subsequently, acidogenesis is where acidogenic bacteria produces short-chain product by converting the hydrolysis products through fermentation and other metabolic processes. 2. Acetogenesis 2C2H5OH + CO2 Æ’Â   CH4 + 2CH3COOH (Ethanol) (Carbon Dioxide) (Methane) (Acetic Acid) 2CO2 + 4H2 Æ’Â   CH3COOH + 2H2O (Carbon Dioxide) (Hydrogen) (Acetic Acid) (Water) Acetogenesis is the process where acid and alcohol are converted into acetate, hydrogen and carbonic gas by acetogens categorised into homoacetogens, syntrophes and suphoreductors. The acetic acid production process may be carried out by Clostridium acetium, Actobacter woodii and Clostridium termoautotrophicum. The products of this process vary with the type of bacteria, temperature and pH levels. 3. Methanogenesis CO2 + 4H2 Æ’Â   CH4 + 2H2O (Carbon Dioxide) (Hydrogen) (Methane) (Water) CH3COOH Æ’Â   CH4 + CO2 (Acetic Acid) (Methane) (Carbon Dioxide) The third step of this process is methanogenesis, a form of anaerobic respiration in which methanogens (microbes) that exist in deep sediments convert soluble matter into methane. The majority of the methane production is from the conversion of acetic acid and the rest comes from the reduction of Carbon Dioxide by hydrogen. In addition to above, Sulphur, sulphite and nitrate under anaerobic conditions are reduced. To produce sulphides by sulphur reduction, Sulphur Reducing Bacteria (SRB) use sulphate or sulphite as electron acceptors and organic compounds such as acetate as electron donors. This is the main reason behind the rotten egg smell that exists from wastewater as they are kept for long periods of time under these anaerobic conditions. As for Denitrification however, nitrogen gas is produced by the reduction of nitrates using the organic compounds in the wastewater by denitrifying bacteria (DB). The bacteria generally require a carbon food source as energy for the conversion of nitrogen. 6NO3- + 5CH3OH Æ’Â   3N2 + 5CO2 + 7H20 + 6OH- (Nitrate) (Methanol) (Nitrogen Gas) (Carbon Dioxide) (Water) (Hydroxide) Aerobic Treatment The next step in this secondary treatment of wastewater is the activated sludge process where atmospheric air or pure oxygen is bubbled through the sewage, combined with microorganisms to create biological flocculants which reduces the organic content of the wastewater quite significantly. This occurs because of the bacteria and protozoa feed on the remaining organic materials in the wastewater. (Guerrero F. Omil, R. Mà ©ndez and J. M. Lema , 1998) Generally, the sewage is transferred into large ponds or tanks which are called surface-aerated basins that have floating surface aerators to promote the biological oxidation of wastewaters. These floating aerators create an oxygen rich aerobic environment in the sewage by removing most of the BOD therefore encouraging the growth of the aerobic microorganisms. Furthermore, the aerators provide mixing required for dispersing the air as well as contacting the reactants namely oxygen, microbes and wastewater. In the final clarifiers, the mixing process improves the settling of the biological solids. As the biological oxidation processes are highly dependent on the temperature changes, increasing the temperature to a certain threshold increases the rate of microbial decomposition. Surface aerated vessels mainly operate at temperatures ranging from 4  °C to 32  °C. (Beychok, M.R 1971) Nitrification is a process where the dissolved ammonia is removed by oxidizing it to nitrate which occurs during the activated sludge process. As a high concentration of ammonia is toxic to marine life, they have to be removed from the wastewater via the nitrification process. Nitrification can be divided into two steps, the oxidation of ammonia into nitrate by Nitrosomomonas and the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate by Nitrobacter. As the nitrifying organisms are chemoautotrophs, they use carbon dioxide as their source of growth and for cell maintenance. 2NH3 + 2CO2 + 3 O2 + Nitrosomonas → 2NO2- + 2H2O + 2H+ (ammonia) (nitrite ion) 2NO2- + 2CO2 + O2 + Nitrobacter → 2 NO3- (nitrite ion) (nitrate) The remaining solid particles flocculate to form larger and heavier particles that settle down more easily based on the biological reaction. Then, this mixture of wastewater and solid particles are pumped into a second clarifier or sedimentation tank where the solid particles are separated from the wastewater similar to the process in the primary sedimentation tank, where the resulting sludge is referred to as the activated sludge. Activated sludge is a biological material, brown in colour consisting of mainly saprotrophic bacteria that is produced by the activated sludge process which affects the purification process. In poorly managed activated sludge, a range of mucilaginous filamentous bacteria including Sphaetotilus natans can develop. These bacteria produce sludge that does not settle easily and therefore a possibility that a sludge blanket decanting over the weirs in the sedimentation tank that will severely contaminate the final effluent quality will form. A portion of the solid is recycled back into the surface aerated basins to be re-used in the nitrification process as the microorganisms in the sludge are still active. Excess sludge which eventually accumulates beyond what is recycled is called Waste Activated Sludge and then removed from the treatment process to maintain the ratio of the biomass to food supply in the balance (F/L balance). As a whole, the aerobic process is preferred as it is more stable, reliable and a clearer process understanding. Tertiary Treatment The final stage of the wastewater treatment is the tertiary treatment. This tertiary treatment is considered the advanced treatment stage of wastewater treatment. The purpose of this stage is to raise the quality of effluent before it is discharged into the receiving environment including the ocean, rivers or lakes. Various different methods can be used to undergo this tertiary treatment, however it is been found that the most cost-effective and environmental friendly method is lagooning followed by the Ultra-Violet disinfection. The wastewater may also be treated by chlorine but high chlorine content will harm the aquatic life that receives the water. A chlorine-neutralising chemical is often added before the stream is discharged in situations where required. However, if very high quality effluent is needed, an additional step, namely the polishing process that use sand or gravel filters and wetlands is carried out as the water from the treatment process are not safe enough to be co nsumed as there is still bacteria present. Below is a picture of a UV channel used in wastewater tertiary treatment. Source : City of Idaho, 2007 The sewage is then flowed into a series of large man made lagoons which are highly aerobic following the secondary treatment. Colonisation by algae and zooplankton is often encouraged due to their aerobic nature. The algae that grow in the lagoons captures trace amounts of organic nutrients and compounds in the wastewater which are then grazed by the zooplankton. The remaining algae and plankton settle to the bottom hence binding the nutrients in the sediment. Other microorganisms which are present in the sewage assist in reducing if not removing the harmful pathogens in water. Furthermore, the sewage left in these lagoons are exposed to the ultra violet radiation from the sun coupled with the grazing zooplankton, which creates a far from ideal environment for the bacteria which results in a great reduction their quantity. Where greater intensity of UV radiation or where there is insufficient, the sewage may be transferred into ponds that generate the UV radiation with ultra violet light bulbs for further disinfection. This disinfection eliminates pathogens and cist and is very use friendly as well as operates at a low cost. How it works is that the UV radiation actually damages the genetic structure of the bacteria, viruses and other pathogens hence inhibiting them to reproduce. A key advantage is that no chemicals are added to the sewage when the UV light method is used, hence no adverse effect on organisms that later consume the water. (http://wastewater-treatment.org) Generally lagoons need large spaces to operate however they do not need as much money and time as the traditional tertiary treatment wastewater procedures. The lagoons have also been found to be an important habitat for the birds. After the lagooning process, the treated effluent is ready to be released back into the environment and regarded as safe. Below are pictures of lagoons, the first one being an aerial view and the second one a close up. Source : City of Idaho, 2007 Source : City of Idaho, 2007 Disadvantages of the process First and foremost, to operate a wastewater treatment plant, a significantly large amount of energy is needed. In most communities, they are often regarded as the largest energy consumer. As previously mentioned, energy is generated by the biogas produced onsite, however in most situations, this only accounts for approximately half the plants energy requirements. This is due to the fact that the wastewater treatment plants are consistently operating to keep up with the ever increasing inflow of sewage. This consumption of external energy, other than the one being produced in the plant leads to high operational costs and also, more importantly affects the environment if the energy is sourced from fossil fuel. As the primary focus of the wastewater treatment is to remove contaminants from water, and eventually recycled into drinking water, recent studies show that the presence of certain contaminants including hormones and synthetic material can have an adverse impact even at minimal levels on the natural biota and for some cases, humans. For even processes that remove 99% of microorganisms, the final effluent declared as safe to drink may contain about 50 000 microorganisms. (Environmental Protection Agency United States, 2002) This is a threat when the receiving water is used for activities such as swimming or shellfish harvesting which need to be carried out in an environment with as little microorganisms as possible. BOD levels also affect the environment as although they are greatly reduced throughout the whole process the levels leaving the plant in most cases are high enough to damage the quality of the receiving environment. In the preliminary treatment, the main disadvantage highlighted is the high cost of the screening due to high labour and maintenance costs, as well as high maintenance cost of the machinery. In the primary treatment, the accumulation of sludge that is disposed off onto landfills that will eventually get full and hence taking up a larger area. In the secondary treatment however, there are quite a few limitations. Firstly, in the anaerobic digestion process, the bi-product requires substantial wet biomass handling and disposal. If this waste was to be disposed of in a landfill, often they would break down anaerobically, releasing methane into the atmosphere where methane is about twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, hence significant adverse effects on the environment. (ABC News, 2008) For the aerobic digestion however, the operating costs are marginally greater due to the additional costs needed to add oxygen. Skilled manpower is also needed for the operat ion and maintenance of this process. Finally, in the tertiary treatment, the major limitation is the lagooning process which depends highly on the climate condition that affects the toxicity of municipal wastewater and effects in the receiving environment which includes dissolved oxygen content in sewage, temperature of wastewater as well as efficiency of microbial processes. Hence, the effluent produced is of different qualities. For the UV disinfection, frequent maintenance and replacements incur additional costs. Besides that, not all organisms are actually affected by the UV radiation. (http://wastewater-treatment.org) The wastewater treatment process manages to remove almost all of the organic chemicals and metals present in the wastewater, however due to environmental degradation, the contaminants should not be discharged in large quantities as the contaminants may be toxic and stay in the environment for long durations. The contaminants will accumulate in the living tissue and be passed up along the food chain. Suggested Improvements to the Process General Improvements to the Process Overall Alternative sources of energy, especially renewable energy should be explored as wastewater treatment plants generally consume large amounts of energy. The generation of energy from the produced biogas during the process is insufficient to run the plant thought it helps reduce the environment consequences and overall operational costs. A named alternative to be considered is the use of hydroelectric power. The flow of water before the final effluent is released into the receiving environment could be used to generate electricity by the use of turbines. However, the capital and maintenance costs of the plant would increase. The volume of wastewater entering the treatment plant can be reduced by reducing the pipes diameter or by a inserting a valve is important as this smaller flow of influent leads to improved treatment, longer system life and a lower chance of overflowing. Overall, the quality of effluent will be increased with the reduction of influent flow as the waste will remain in the system longer; therefore more time is provided for settling, decomposition and aeration. Unfortunately, the volume of wastewater is largely dependent on the amount of water used in the community. Therefore campaigns and awareness should be carried out to help reduce the inflow of sewage by conserving the use of water. Odour Control By their nature, processes involved in the wastewater treatment, primarily from the anaerobic digestion process generate odour. Odour is actually one of the biggest concerns of the operators of the wastewater treatment as well as the general public. One way to overcome the release of odour into the surroundings is to capture the gas resulting from the anaerobic process and treat the trapped gasses. Examples of some treatment systems include activated charcoal bed systems, chemical scrubbers (often using hypochlorite solution), a compost pile type bio-filter and UV radiation treatment. The captured air may also be treated by pumping it through soil where the odorous compounds are absorbed into the soil particles and destroyed by naturally-occurring soil bacteria. (Wastewater treatment technologies) Other methods may include the addition of ferrous chloride to the wastewater collection system to reduce the release of hydrogen sulphide gas. Ion generators may also be installed onsite to help reduce the odours. Reaction Rates Anaerobic and specific aerobic microbial processes are temperature sensitive, and generally if the temperature is reduced the rate of reactions also decreases. Therefore, the climate conditions affect the quality of the final effluent through the lagooning process and open air ponds. As the biogas produced is used to generate power usually by combustion, the heat generated from this can be used to regulate the temperature in the lagoons. This is a cost-efficient way to curb climate conditions with minimal environment impacts. When the rate of the Nitrification process increases with the use of the ringlace fixed film system, the rate of reaction also increases. Ringlace is material developed in the 1980s by the Japanese and consists of a rope like material of high surface area and chemical composition conductive to bacterial attachment and growth. This system has been proven to increase the nitrification rates by 25% when the operation temperature is less than 1 °C. Apart from being cost effective due to its minimal installation and maintenance costs, the ringlace system also positively affects the BOD reduction and hinders algae growth. (Richard, M) Activated Sludge Process For the effective removal of organic matter, the activated sludge process requires sufficient oxygen supply and thorough mixing. The rate of which the microorganisms decompose can be increased tremendously if the aeration systems in the sludge tanks design be improvised as to provide a higher input of oxygen into the sewage. A key advantage to this design improvement would be the decreased amount of ammonia discharged into the environment as final effluent. Bio-solid Processing and Disposal The sludge that accumulates from the wastewater treatment processes has to be dealt with and can be done in a number of ways. As these bio-solids are highly toxic, they require intensive treatment before it is ready for disposal. For now, the conventional means of bio-solid treatment is sufficient as in to be disposed off in landfills. However, in time to come, the space requirements to accommodate these solids are not practical. Worthless sludge can be converted into marketable bio-solids through a process called Thermal Drying. The volume and mass of the solids are greatly reduced by evaporating the majority of their water content by the thermal dryers. To assist in forming larger aggregates of solids and releasing of water, chemical coagulants are usually used. Higher temperatures produce higher quality of bio-solids that can be sold as fertilizer. The product is easily handled, stored and transported. The main advantage of this process is that it can provide extra revenue to the plant. To the environment, it reduces odours resulting from the decomposition of the sludge. (Viessman, W Jr, 2010) A picture of the final product of the thermal drying is as below: (Source : Stibbe Management, 2006) On the other hand, thermal oxidation is an efficient process that converts bio-solids into an energy source, producing carbon dioxide, water and ash. The process occurs in a fluidized bed reactor that is highly energy efficient as it can be self-sustaining without auxiliary fuel when the combustion air is preheated to high temperatures. Heated air, gas, steam, water or oil which can be converted into electricity is recovered from these reactors. The advantages of this process include its low life-cycle cost, its ability to destroy all volatile solids and pathogens, minimising odour and offsets the energy consumption of the plant. Another approach involves treatment with lime (calcium oxide), which kills pathogens due to its high alkaline content. The heat generated from this reaction also helps in producing a drier final product. The waste sludge may also be treated by a means of anaerobic digestion which is similar to the anaerobic digestion which occurs in the water treatment process. In the anaerobic digestion of bio-solids, the waste activated sludge and primary sludge are mixed together without the presence of air. The digestion takes place in two steps and involves two distinct groups of bacteria. In the first step, acid-forming bacteria convert complex organic wastes (proteins, carbohydrates, lipids) into organic fatty acids. The second step is where bacteria convert these organic acids into methane, carbon dioxide and other trace gasses. As before, the methane produced may be used to generate energy by a means of combustion. This process stabilises a majority of the organic waste in the sludge thus allowing the bio-solids to be utilised as a soil conditioner. The stabilised bio-solids contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which are beneficial to plant growth. Application of these bio-solids in ag riculture has lead to increased crop production. (Bio-energy from wastewater treatment) Conclusion The bioprocess involved in the steps of the wastewater treatment process namely the preliminary treatment which includes screening, grit removal the primary treatment which involves the primary sedimentation process, the secondary treatment which consists of the anaerobic and aerobic digestion and the secondary sedimentation and finally the tertiary treatment which is made up of the lagooning and the ultraviolet disinfection has been outlined in this report. The improvements as well as the key advantages were also discussed in the report. Improvements to the processes that would increase the quality of water discharged into the environment as well as the revenue of the wastewater company were focused on. Wastewater treatment is essential to ensure the preservation of our water and marine life and to the environment as a whole.