Sports Tourism and Thanatourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sports Tourism and Thanatourism - Essay Example Those go against the society norms are considered outcasts. The rules laid by the society are most often universally accepted and believed to be correct. People believe that sharing morals and beliefs contribute significantly in making their making the society more stable. The moral guidelines are normally set by the dominant group within the community. Industrialization and emergence of urban centers have posed a great threat in maintenance of the society beliefs and morals. This has been brought about by the emergence of capitalism. The minor groups felt short changed and became a little rebellious. This theory was developed by Karl Marx who stated that the emergence of social classes such the capitalist, the working class and the labourers changed the political and religious structure of the society. The capitalists formed a new form of political structure abandoning the older form lay out during the era communism. Different forms of governance emerged in the third world countries . These forms of governments have turned out be large sources of tourists’ attraction sites in the developing countries. People travel to view the existing evidence of these forms of governance. Some communities in the developing countries still maintain their traditional forms of governance which have attracted masses to these areas who seek to learn more about the people in the areas and their ways of life. People have visited these areas with different motives; some have to gone to do research work while others have gone just for the adventure. Swaziland in the continent of Africa is one such country which still maintains the traditional form government. This country is governed by a king who then appoints the officials of the government who assist with the duties. Swaziland has been a great source of tourist attractions for people from all corners of the world. The country also its culture where the king had the powers to marry he wanted from the community and could marry as many women as he wished. There are also countries from Europe which still retain their traditional systems of governance. This is visible in the cases of Britain and Spain which are still governed by the system of monarchy. This has attracted masses to these countries who seek learn more about these systems. Sport tourism is a form of tourism whereby people visit various parts of the world to study more about the various forms of traditional sports associated with different parts of the world. Every type of sport is generally believed to trace its roots from a particular region of the world. The coastal region of East African countries is known for the sport of donkey and camel riding. This sport was started by the Arabs who lived in those regions during the colonial times. This form of sport has been a great of tourist attraction for these areas especially from Western countries. The governments in these countries have puts in measures to ensure maintenance of these cultural pr actices as they have to be credible sources of revenue. The various parts of the world characterized by mountainous landscape are known for the sport of mountain climbing. The sport also attracts masses to these regions, some for fun other for academic purposes. The traditional Roman empires in Italy are well known for their traditional game of gladiator wars. This was great source of tourist attraction from ancient times. People travelled across the world to witness the fight of the gladiators who were believed to be the strongest men living.

Critical Discussion on Watson’s and Skinner’s Versions of Behaviourism Essay Example for Free

Critical Discussion on Watson’s and Skinner’s Versions of Behaviourism Essay Behaviourism concept emerged at a period when the societal disarticulation as a result of speedy industrialization of American society needed novel approaches of social organization. This was to act as a replacement to Victorian mores of minute-town rural lifestyle (Wightman Kloppenberg 1995, p. 68). At this time, positivists like Walter Lippmann invited psychologists to assist devise approaches, and the lately recognized science of psychology, enthusiastic to signify its position as an autonomous discipline, responded by assertively endorsing itself in terms of societal utility (Wightman Kloppenberg 1995, p. 68). That said, behaviourism premise emanated from the work of an American psychologist John B. Watson. He did assert that psychology as a discipline was never concerned with human mind or consciousness, but rather concerned with just behaviour. This way, Watson claimed that humans could be examined, studied or evaluated impartially just like apes and rats (Cohen 1987, p. 71). Behaviourism according to Watson’s version was a stab to shun the complexities of trying to study human consciousness by limiting scientific attention to evident, overt or blatant behaviour. This version was coupled with a pivotal ambition to put in place much more thorough ways or methods to experimental research as well as report writing. Thus, the key task of psychology was none other than recognition of laws governing the link between behavioural responses and environmental stimuli, and psychology was cast as an attachment to physiology (Richards 2009, p. 35). In this way, Watson believed that psychology would provide knowledge that could be utilized to the prediction as well as control of behaviour. Therefore, his version of classical behaviourism did possess several distinct characteristics, such as: †¢ It was tremendously environmentalist †¢ Its practical vocabulary was mainly limited to not many non-mentalistic terms †¢ Its explanations were exceedingly reductionist, and †¢ The version was majorly concerned with investigational methodology (Richards 2009, p. 35). In the early 1920s, Watson assimilated the concepts of Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist and included Pavlov’s ideas of reinforcement and conditioning as key theoretical notions to his classical behaviourism version. Pavlov had done a number of studies on the animal’s responses to environmental conditioning. In his best triumphant experiment, he did ring a bell as he took a number of meals to some dogs. In doing so, each and every time dogs did hear the bell ringing they knew pretty well that a meal was ready, and would start salivating (DeMar 1989, p. 1). On one instance, Pavlov did ring the bell devoid of taking food, but the dogs continued salivating since they had been habituated, conditioned or trained to salivate each time they hear a bell ringing. Watson asserted in his behaviourism version that humans responded to environmental stimuli just in the similar way (DeMar 1989, p. 1). However, Watson’s classical behaviourism was regarded too crude, he himself did refrain from academia after a divorce scandal. In his wake, several neo-behaviourists, including B. F. Skinner, Clark L. Hull and Ernest R. Hilgard took over the doctrine in an array of directions. On a different perspective, the well-known architect of a radical or less mechanistic behaviourism version was B. F. Skinner, whose premises of operant conditioning did attest potent enough to be utilized in a number of settings (Wightman Kloppenberg 1995, p. 68). At times grounded in stylish mathematical learning theories, but much more frequently established on instinctive rules of thumb, behavioural techniques were used in psychotherapy, medicine, education, advertising, business and management of mental hospitals and prisons. Given its predictable comparing of lower animals to humans, together with its firm permeation into such conventionally humanist territories as the curative education and art, it’s doubtless that Skinner’s version of radical behaviourism has long provoked controversy (Wightman Kloppenberg 1995, p. 68). What’s more, today’s behaviourism is associated with B. F. Skinner, who attained his reputation as a radical behaviourist by experimenting Watson’s assertions in the laboratory. His laboratory experiments coupled with a number of researches led him to snub Watson’s exclusive allegations on conditioning and reflexes. Skinner avowed that humans not only respond to their surroundings, but operate on their surroundings to give rise to explicit consequences (Skinner, Catania Harnad 1988, p. 3). Furthermore, Skinner came up with the ‘operant conditioning’ theory, the notion that human behave the way they do as this sort of behaviour has had explicit effects long-ago. For instance, if a boy kisses a girl when she gives him flowers, then the girl will be expected to come with flowers when she wants a kiss from him. Thus, the girl will be acting in anticipation of specific reward. Contrary to Watson, Skinner rejected the idea that feelings or the human mind play a part in determining behaviour. He instead insisted that an individual experience of reinforcements determines his or her behaviour (Skinner, Catania Harnad 1988, p. 10). Therefore, according to radical behaviourism version, one of Skinner’s objective was to shape humans’ behaviour in away to respond in a much more socially tolerable way. In his operant conditioning theory he was absolutely clear that his theory ought to be applied to guide human behaviour (Shaffer 2005, p. 45). Moreover, Skinner’s experimental analysis of human or general behaviour has resulted in an effectual, effective and efficient technology, pertinent to psychotherapy, education, as well as the design of cultural practices generally (Shaffer 2005, p. 46). In conclusion, the ethical effects of both Watson’s and Skinner’s versions of behaviourism are immense. An individual is stripped off his or her freedom, dignity, responsibility and reduced to a merely natal being, to be ‘shaped’ by behaviourists who encompass the ability to apply the tools of behaviourism efficiently. Bibliography Cohen, D. (1987). Behaviorism, Oxford Companion to Mind, Richard, L. , ed. NY; Oxford University Press. DeMar, G. (1989). Behaviorism. [Online] available http://www. forerunner. com/forerunner/X0497_DeMar_-_Behaviorism. html Richards, G. (2009). Psychology, key concepts. Milton Park; Routledge. Shaffer, D. (2005). Social personality development. Belmont; Walworth. Skinner, B. , Catania, C. , Harnad, S. (1988). Selection of behaviour, operant behaviourism of Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Melbourne; Cambridge Syndicate Press. Wightman, R. , Kloppenberg, J. (1995). A companion to American thought. Massachusetts; Blackwell.

HND in Business Management

HND in Business Management HND in Business Management 1) MAIN PRINCIPLES THAT AFFECT THE LEGAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR CONSUMERS:- The primary way to meet consumers growing information is to build and achieve consumer confidence and responsibility. The public relations profession should consider the whole system of EC directives and regulations covering consumer relations. One of the main issue concerning is health and safety information and consumer representation. Right balanced should be built between the interest of the consumers and suppliers. For Consumer protection and information policy, five basic rights were established in 1975 by Council of Ministers. 1. The right to protection of health and safety, because goods and services must not present a risk under normal condition of use. 2. The right to protection of economic interest, because the purchaser must be protected against abusive practice of the seller such as misleading advertising, unfair contract clauses, etc. 3. The right to redress, because consumers should be advised and helped in the case of unsatisfactory products and services and swift redress for any damages suffered. 4. The right of information and education, because consumers should be in position to make a choice based on full information. 5. The right of representation, because consumer organizations should be consulted on all proposed legislation affecting consumer interest. Many community directive and regulations have adopted general measures and included into legislation such as: Foodstuff: Lists of items and clear fact have been drawn up for preservatives used in foodstuffs; manufacture and trade description of many food products are also considered. Presentation and labeling: Specify rules to be signify on the packaging, such as quality of ingredients, food relating to diet, showing the amount of calories it produce with other nutritional information labeled. Misleading advertising: If a consumer experience that he or she has been misled by an advertising claim or presentation, legal action against the manufacturer is possible. Product liability: Regulation also states that manufacturers are responsible for any damage their products may cause to the consumer. The burden of proof will lie with the producer. Medicinal products: standardized terms on testing, evaluation, authorization, labeling and patent rights have been determined. Door steps sales: purchasers have a week cooling off period in the case of contracts negotiated away from the salesmens business premises; the salesman is required to inform the consumer in writing of above right of cancellation. Information system: If authority is determine that a product has or could cause damage to health and is restricting its sale; all will be informed so appropriate action can be taken. Other regulation cover issues, such as; package tours, rights of air travelers, safety of toys, consumer credit. Therefore, a standardized level of protection of consumer rights has been established and at the same time many trade barrier have been abolished through standards and regulations. EXAMPLES:- In 1981 Council of Ministers implemented a consumer programme to cover the period until 1986. This pressurizes the importance of the price and quality ratio to consumers and tackled the problems of the services sector. Special meeting of Ministers was held, to discuss the consumer policy, in 1983. GENERAL PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT: 1. Consumer relations specialist must acknowledge the basic consumer rights to information, to audience, to freedom of choice and to safety. 2. Consumer relations specialist must show intellectual reliability, loyalty and honesty towards their company and consumers. The specialist must not use, which to their knowledge, is false or misleading. The specialist must avoid the use of unsuitable practices and methods with the intellectual reliability, loyalty and honesty. (Clause 3 CERP Code of Conduct). 3. Consumer relations programmes must be carried out openly: they must be readily identifiable, bear a clear indication of their origin and must not be handled to mislead third parties. (Clause 4 CERP Code of Conduct) 4. Consumer relations specialist must not reveal any confidential information received from their clients or employees and make no use of such information without authorization. (Clause 7 CERP Code of Conduct) 5. Considering that a consumer is an individual or a group offered or sold products or services for their own satisfaction, a consumer relations specialist must grant to the same individual or group all after sales services that they may require. 6. A constant concern on the part of the consumer relations specialist with consumer rights to information and moreover the duty to provide information within the limits of professional confidence must be considered as a basic responsibility. (Clause 14 CERP Code of Conduct) 7. Information must be given clearly making sure of the consumers education and cultural background and their knowledge on products and service and so forth. 8. Consumers pay no cost for the implementation of consumer relations programme. 9. Consumers information cannot be used for any market research, promotion or direct marketing without the authority of the consumer. 10. If the use of a product or a service requires proper warnings, it is the duty of consumer relations specialist to disclose it openly. 11. Any attempt to deceive consumer opinion or its representatives is forbidden. (Clause 15 CERP Code of Conduct) 12. No payment or gift shall be offered or given to any person having an interest in a Consumer group or Association for the purpose of influencing any act or decision of such group or association. 1 2 15 2)LEGAL RULES APPLICABLE TO CONSUMER CREDIT AGREEMENTS AND AGENCY: Credit Bureaus are private enterprises or are operated on a cooperative basis by the merchants. Users of the service pay a fee and receive information from different sources a.) If a credit agreement is signed and consumer wants to cancel it. It can only be done if the consumer signed the agreement in his own home. If the agreement was dealt over the phone or at the sellers shop or office, the consumer will not be able to cancel the agreement b.) Seller will have to send a written notice telling consumer on how to cancel the agreement. Consumer then must send a notice to the address given on the notice. Consumer will be entitled to the return of any deposit paid or goods traded in part exchange if you cancel the agreement in time. c.) A creditor, cannot demand early payment, try to get the goods back or end the agreement without first serving a written notice on you giving you 7 days notice of their intention to take such action. d.) If the consumer have paid a third of the total price of the goods under HP agreement then the creditor cannot take the goods back without a court order. Consumer can ask the court to suspend the Return Order and accept your offer to pay the rest of amount by installments. e.) If creditor takes back the goods without the court order, consumer can sue the creditor and claim back all the money they paid under the agreement. The creditor cannot enter your premises to retrieve the goods without your permission. f.) If consumer finds an agreement unfair then the consumer can appeal to the court and ask them to amend the agreement or place a new one. The court will only do this if the agreement is unreasonable or corrupt. g.) A seller can be the person who grants consumer credit or they may arrange for consumer to get credit from a 3rd party or that 3rd party may arrange to supply the goods to consumer. Consumer protection is that consumer can choose who to sue. h.) Consumer can either sue the seller or the provider of the credit or both. This helps consumer because if the seller goes bust consumer can try and get their money from the credit provider instead i.) Consumer must be given certain written information about the credit agreement which must include; †¢ The total charge for credit. †¢ The Annual Percentage Rate (APR). †¢ The cash price for the goods. EXAMPLE:- A Nigerian letter fraud, in which a letter is mailed form Nigeria, offers the recipient the opportunity to share in a percentage of millions of dollars that the author, a self-proclaimed government official, is trying to transfer illegally out of Nigeria. The recipient is encouraged to send information to the author, such as bank name and account numbers and other information. Some of the letters has been received via E-mail through the Internet. The scheme relies on convincing a willing victim to send money to the author of the letter in Nigeria in several installments. Some Tips to Avoid Nigerian Letter or 419 Fraud: Þ If you receive a letter from Nigeria asking you to send personal or banking information, do not reply in any manner. Send the letter to the U.S. Secret Service, your local FBI office, or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Þ If you know someone who is corresponding in one of these schemes, encourage that person to contact the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service as soon as possible. Þ Be careful of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. Þ Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation. Þ Guard your account information carefully. 2 3 4 5 15 3) LEGAL RULES RELATING TO MONOPOLIES, MERGERS AND ANTICOMPETETIVE PRACTICES USING ‘MICROSOFTS BIG PATENT VERDICT OVERTURNED CASE IN 2009:  § 2 is not violated only by having a monopoly.  § 2 is violated by a firm only when it acquires or maintains, or attempt to do so by engaging in â€Å"exclusionary conduct† which is different from growth or development as a result of engaging in a superior product, business expertise, or other historical event. After conceding that Microsoft had monopoly powers, the District court came to the conclusion that Microsoft had violated  § 2 by engaging in a number of â€Å"exclusionary acts†, with a view to preventing the distribution and use of similar products which might threaten their own monopoly. The District Court held Microsoft liable for: (1) The way in which it integrated IE into Windows. (2) Its various dealings with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Internet Access Providers (IAPs), Internet Content Providers (ICPs), Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and Apple Computer. (3) Its efforts to contain and to subvert Java technologies; and (4) Its course of conduct as a whole. Upon appeal, Microsoft argues that it did not engage in any exclusionary conduct. It is not easy to make out whether an act is â€Å"exclusionary† or a result of vigorous competition because there are many numbers of reasons for illegal exclusion. An antitrust court is faced with the challenge to lay down principles to distinguish â€Å"exclusionary acts† which may have the effect of reducing social welfare, and competitive acts, which may increase it. From a century of case law on monopolization under  § 2, however, several principles do emerge. First, to be condemned as exclusionary, a monopolists act must have an anticompetitive effect. That is, it must harm the competitive process and thereby harm consumers. In contrast, harm to one or more competitors will not suffice. Second, the plaintiff, on whom the burden of proof of course rests. Third, if a plaintiff successfully establishes a prima facie case under  § 2 by demonstrating anticompetitive effect, then the monopolist may proffer a precompetitive justification for its conduct. Fourth, if the monopolists precompetitive justification stands unrequited, then the plaintiff must demonstrate that the anticompetitive harm of the conduct outweighs the pro- competitive benefit. As the Fifth Circuit more recently explained, [i]t is clear that the analysis under section 2 is similar to that under section 1 regardless whether the rule of reason label is applied. Finally, in conclusion, while trying to determine whether the monopolists has harmed competition and has therefore committed an act of â€Å"exclusionary† purpose of  § 2, our focus should be on the effect of that conduct and not on the motive behind it. Evidence of the monopolists motive is relevant to understand the likely effect of the monopolists conduct. 6 7 8 9 10 4) KEY PROVISIONS RELATING TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES ON THE WORLDWIDE WEB: Intellectual Property is defined as legal rights that result form intellectual activity. Intellectual activity may include any action from industrial, scientific, literary and artistic field. India Intellectual properties comes into 4 major buckets; Copy Right, Patent, Trademark and Design Protection. (IPR) Intellectual Property Rights of computer software is covered under the Copyright Law, which is protected under the provision of Indian Copyright Act 1957. Major changes came into effect from 10 May 1995 to Indian Copyright Law, which made the Indian Copyright Law the toughest in the world. This was the first time; the Copyright Law was clearly explained in India: The rights of a copyright holder Position on rentals of software the rights of the user to make backup copies. Most of the software is easy to copy, so the Copyright Act was needed. According to section 14 of the Act, it is illegal to make and distribute copies of copyrighted software without the proper permission of the authority. A Criminal and Civil action can be organized for restriction, actual damage or legal damages per breach. Heavy punishment and fines can also be applied for violation of software copyright. Section 63 B orders a minimum jail term of 7 days, which can be extended up to 3 years. SUMMARY OF INDIAN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO PROTECT IPR: Indian government began to take different steps towards Intellectual Properties Rights Protection. The Government has taken number of measures and strengthened the enforcement of Copyright Law. A summary of these measures is given below: 1. A Handbook of Copyright Law has brought out by the Government to create awareness of copyright laws amongst professionals, members of the public etc. Handbooks are free of cost and have been distributed to the stat and central government officials. 2. National Police Academy and National Academy of Customs and Narcotics developed several training programs on copyright laws for the police and custom officers. 3. The Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has begun taking several measures for strengthening the enforcement of copyrights that include Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council (CEAC). Separate cells have been created at Police Headquarters, organizations of seminar and workshops are to cerate greater awareness of copyright laws among the enforcement personnel and the general public. 4. Special cells have been set up in 23 states and union Territories for copyright enforcement. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Andaman Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman Diu, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal. 5. The Government began to develop seminars/ workshops on copyright issues. These seminars include enforcement personnel and representatives of industry organizations. Government started to take number of measures and therefore more activity has been found in the enforcement of copyright laws in the country. BEST PRACTICES TO MINIMIZE THE RISK OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LOSS: The following Best Practices will help minimize the risk of losing Intellectual Property in conducting business offshore: 1. Understand the Intellectual Property rights: To protect the Intellectual Property the first and foremost step is to get a general idea of different plan and laws by the offshore country. 2. Set up an Internal Intellectual Property protection team: An Internal intellectual team should be organized, whose responsibility is to protect ongoing business and to monitor the Intellectual properties, violations etc. 3. Examine the work entity that can be copyrighted/ patented: Examine the work individually that can be copyrighted/ patented, and it is important to make sure that such protection will be valid in the country of offshore activity/ development. 4. Offshore vendor history: Extreme caution must be taken when company is entering into a vender relationship with an offshore entity. Company must understand the vendors history with respect to any Intellectual property violations. 5. Define IP violation clause: Define a separate Intellectual Property Violation clause and the consequences of Intellectual property violation, when signing a deal with the offshore vendor. Some companies sign the deal with the onsite entity of the offshore vendor, thin gives them more advantage to take any legal actions. 6. Seek a reference check for all the team members: It is important to check the offshore team and to seek the appropriate reference to make sure there is no IP violation case history behind the individual. 7. Pay Attention to use of unauthorized software/third party products: Be careful of using unauthorized software or third party products. Unlicensed software or products shouldnt be used by both onsite and the offshore team. 8. Enforce Central Repository: Enforce a central storage area for all the code and documents can not only improve the overall efficiency, and will also avoid numerous placeholders for critical documents and code. 9. Perform Periodic IP Audit: An audit should examine any new work that can be copyrighted and remove all unauthorized software/ product and allot suitable rights to the documents and update any changes to ownership to patents. 10. Enforce the use of References: Make sure to give appropriate references and credits to the owner of the work, this will raise the standards of the employees to acknowledge and respect and protect other peoples work. 11. Develop Awareness: Protecting the Intellectual property can be greatly enhanced if all the employees of the company and the offshore team are on the same page as to how much attention the company pays to protect Intellectual Properties. Case Studies Related to Indian IPR Protection In Bangalore police arrested three software engineers for copying software from a company they were working for. The accused engineers had started a new company called Ample Wave Communication Network. They had illegally copied the code of the companys software and were using at their company. Police seized four computers, one server and one laptop from accused. (source: DH News Service, Bangalore) Intellectual Property Protection in India Shekhar Verma a former Employee of Mumbai-based Geometric Software Solutions Company was accused of stealing $60 million worth of source code of a software product of Geometric Softwares US-based client, Solid Works and trying to sell them to other companies for a fortune. The American firm has the exclusive rights over the software. (Source Rediff.com) Conclusion Loss of intellectual property can cause companies to lose their position in the market. Understanding the countrys IP rights and following the best practices can reduce the risk of loosing the companys Intellectual property. Commitment to protect the Intellectual property should be developed and look after in all organizations of a company. 11 12 13 Refernces: 1. http://www.cerp.org/Default.asp 2. Geraint Howells and Steve Weatherwill, Consumer Protection Law (Markets and the law), 2nd edition 2005, ISBN: 978-0754623380 3. Teri B. Clark, The Complete Personal Finance Handbook; ISBN 13: 978-1601380470, published by Atlantic Publishing company 4. David Kelly, Business Law, 5th Edition, 2005, Cavendish Publishing, ISBN 13: 978-1859419625, 5. http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCESitemId=1073792330 6. Denis Keenan, Smith Keenans Advanced Business Law. 11th Edition, 2000. ISBN 0 273 64601 X. 7. Geoffrey Morse, Charlesworth Morse Company Law, 16th Edition, 1999/ 8. Dave Needham, Business for Higher Awards, 1995. ISBN 0 435 285343 9. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchivesid=ajwsdZdSECBw 10. http://www.newsrx.com 11. DH News Service, Bangalore 12. http://www.rediff.com/money/2002/aug/28cbi.htm 13. Birgitte Anderson, Intellectual Property Rights: Innovation, Governance, And the Institutional Environment. ISBN: 978 1845422691 14. M. Pugatch and Meir Perez, The International Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights, 2004, Edward Elgar Publishing, ISBN: 978-1843767640 15. G.F. Woodroffe, Consumer Law Practice, 2007, ISBN: 978-0421959507

Americans and Agriculture :: Agricultural Education Farming Essays Papers

Americans and Agriculture Works Cited Missing Agriculture is not all work and no play. Many advances can be made in the understanding of agriculture by making available a variety of methods to provide children with a hands-on experience and also educating all individuals about the importance of the practice. The ignorance of urban communities can be overcome with the help of organizations and people within the community. School visits, hands-on experiences, volunteers and organizations are just a few examples of the steps that can be taken to educate Americans about agriculture and close the gap between rural and urban populations. Agriculture is the science and practice of producing crops and livestock. The primary aim of agriculture is to use the land to produce more abundantly to feed and clothe the world at the same time protecting it from deterioration or misuse. Humans had to improve agriculture as they became more dependent on food, creating a solitary evolutionary connection between plants and animals (Campbell and Reece, 2001). In this day and age, so many people have forgotten the authentic premises of survival. It is easy for some to believe that the grocery stores produce food and clothing is produced by shopping centers. These inaccurate presumptions are being made due to the lack of knowledge of how agriculture truly works. There are also significant differences in the levels of understanding between rural and urban communities. As doubts of economic possibilities of farming and ranching continue to decline, the true farmer still respects their land and practices. The general stereotype of farmers and ranchers is poor stewardship. Historically, hunters and farmers were more interested environmentalists than compared with the liberal, urban vegetarians of today. However both share the same conditions for living and breathing. This creates confusion between needing and wanting within a typical household (Kingsolver, 2003). An easy answer to the problem is to provide proper education. Educating the young is the best way to get a point across and ensure that the America of tomorrow is less ignorant than the America of today. Children are eager to learn new things and are the best tool to promote agriculture (Robinson, 2005). There are many methods that can be made available to people of all ages, especially children, to increase their knowledge about agriculture.

Quality Control Department Essay

In an attempt to cut costs in the Quality Control Department of XYZ Deli, it is important to first identify the costs to determine which aspects of the company’s quality control process can be eliminated, if any at all. Quality control costs can be divided into three different classifications. These classifications are prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs (Stevenson, 2008). Prevention costs are costs generated in the process of impeding product mistakes or flaws in order to supply customers with XYZ Deli brand quality products or to improve current products. Prevention costs are the most indispensable of the quality control costs. It is less expensive and much less difficult to repair a flaw or defect before the product reaches the customer. Prevention costs include not only planning and administrative procedure costs, but also education/training and increased equipment maintenance costs. It is important that all employees are trained accurately throughout the quality control process in order to produce XYZ Deli quality products and to ensure a decline in the possibility of erroneous design and productivity (Stevenson, 2008). Possible tradeoffs for this cost would be if employees are not trained properly, ensuring the job is being done correctly; may result in the production of unsatisfactory product. This could potentially create loss of sales or opportunity costs because the products are being poorly produced. However, increasing the time spent training employees could delay the production process. This would also create opportunity costs because the product would take longer to get  to the customer. While prevention costs are most vital, appraisal costs are necessary to ensure customers are being provided with the high quality products expected from the XYZ Deli brand. This would include costs of inspection of products to determine if product standards and parameters are being met, as well as to detect any product flaws. An example of appraisal costs is inspection costs. Inspection costs are incurred during the quality testing process. This includes the cost of the inspection facility and inspector auditor salaries, as well as any materials, appliances or tools used to test XYZ Deli brand products (Stevenson, 2008). A potential tradeoff to not inspecting product could also allow defective product to reach the customer, creating opportunity costs. Poorly produced products will not be well received. At any rate, the tradeoff for properly inspecting all the product being produced could set back the time it takes for the product to reach the market; also creating opportunity costs. Finally, failure costs are generated when components of the product or the product itself is faulty. Failure costs can be either internal or external. Internal failures are those detected in one of the production phases; before the product reaches the customer. There are numerous issues that contribute to an internal failure; such issues include: faulty materials received, improper handling of material, defective equipment, and improper use of equipment. Examples of internal failure costs are loss of production time, worthless material and the cost of regenerating previous work and/or the rebuilding of the product, as well as the cost of inspecting the reworked product. Other examples of internal failures include possible damage to equipment; possible safety issues causing employee injuries. External failures are failures that are identified after the customer has received the product. Such issues are not discovered during production or inspection process. These costs are much more expensive and much more difficult to correct because the product has already reached the consumer. Examples of a failure costs include managing customer complaints, accountability and possible litigation. Overseeing warranty issues, providing replacements and payments are also examples of failure costs. An  important failure costs to avoid is the loss of customer loyalty (Stevenson, 2008). Not only does XYZ Deli want to recruit new customers, it is important to retain current valued customers. Not finding a way to take care of the consumer may give the company a poor reputation, creating more opportunity costs. While each of these costs is expensive, they are necessary in maintaining the reputation of a growing company, such as XYZ Deli. Prevention appraisal costs are the preferable way to disperse funds because they prevent failure costs. Failure costs are much more expensive for the company, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the company’s reputation, good will and the ability to retain current valued customers. If XYZ Deli spends the time and money on the appropriate such as ensuring proper training in production and inspection, the company will save money in the future. References Stevenson, W. (2008). Operations management (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill ISBN-13: 978-0-07-337784-1.

Physiology – Rabbit Ileum

The isolated intestinal smooth muscle preparation is one of the classical preparations in physiology and pharmacology for bioassays, or the study of drug action and autonomic control of motility. This preparation is included in many â€Å"in-house† laboratory manuals of various colleges and universities around North America, and in some commercially prepared manuals deal ing with physiology and pharmacology (e. g. Nicpon-Marieb, 1981).Basically, the method presented in this report is a modification of the original Finkleman preparation (Finkleman, 1930) for the study of the autonomic control of intestinal motility. What is different about our approach is the method of mounting the preparation and the method of stimulation of the sympathetic nerve. The classic way of mounting the piece of intestine is to suspend it vertically in a muscle bath between an aeration tube and a recording lever.The problems with this technique are (1) stress placed on the intestine when the chamber i s emptied during the process of changing solutions, and (2) difficulty in stimulating the sympathetic nerve due to the fact that the preparation is totally submerged in a physiological saline solution. We have overcome these problems by mounting the segments of gut horizontally in a shallow muscle bath. As a result, less stress is placed on the intestine during changeover of solutions, and it is easier to manipulate and to stimulate the sympathetic nerve contained within the mesentery.Also students find i t much easier to mount the preparation in the horizontal bath and are less likely to stretch the muscle preparation in the process. With these modifications we have improved the student success rate from 50-60% to 90-100%. Large recordings of the muscle contraction, such as those shown in Appendix A, are easily obtainable using a kymograph and simple lever system. In fact, another advantage of this exercise is that it does not require expensive recording equipment.