Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) Essays

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) Essays Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) Paper Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) Paper Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ( abbreviated as ELISA ) , is a sort of immunochemical assay technique to observe the presence of a specific antibody or antigen in the trial samples. This method chiefly make usage of both immunological reaction ( the antibody-antigen reaction ) to observe the nowadays of specific antibody or antigen ) and biochemical reaction ( the enzyme substrate reaction ) to bring forth a seeable signal for both qualitative and quantitative measuring. The ELISA method used in this experiment is an illustration of indirect ELISA method. The ELISA home base Wellss are coated with optimized concentration of antigens before manus by agencies of charge interaction or with the aid of a spacer coating ( eg. L-lysine ) . Then the home base Wellss are washed with buffer solution, and a blocking measure is preformed by adding bovine serum albumen or casein, to barricade any uncoated infinite in the well before utilizing to observe antibodies in sample serum. Then the sample serum is added to observe the nowadays of specific antibody, the antibodies will adhere to the antigens in the well ( in this experiment is the anti-DNA antibody ) . Then a secondary antibody ( normally raised from a species against the antibody of the sample ) with enzyme-linked ( called conjugate ) was added to adhere. The enzyme used may be Alkaline phosphate or Horseradish peroxidase ( in this experiment is Alkaline phosphate ) ; this besides serve as signal elaboration measure as the enzymes conjugate chose used normally have more than one binding sites for the substrate added later. Then a substrate is added for the enzyme to bring forth a colour reaction ( in this experiment is the PNPP which produce a xanthous colour ) to bespeak the nowadays of the specific antibody in the sample. The higher the concentration of the antibody in the trial sample, the stronger the colour developed. We can utilize a spectrometer ( an ELISA reader in this experiment ) to mensurate the colour quantitatively alternatively of utilizing our oculus, which is more nonsubjective and accurate. Washing with buffer ( normally a mild detergent ) is applied between stairss to take unbind antibodies to avoid non-specific binding of antibodies. Normally positive and negative controls will be paralleled tally with the trial sample to formalize the consequence. The cut-off point between a positive or negative consequence is normally determined statistically with known criterions. In add-ons, with a consecutive dilution of a known criterion ( known concentration of the specific antibody want to observe in the trial ) , we can besides happen the sum of the specific antibody in the trial sample from the graph of optical density against concentration of the known criterion. Therefore, the ELISA method can bring forth both qualitative and quantitative consequence in observing the specific antibody in trial sample. ELISA is a comparatively high sensitive and specific trial for observing serum protein, the presence of specific antibody or antigen ; and besides considers as a high-throughput immunochemical assay. The usage of ELISA besides includes endocrines and infective antigens ( including virus and bacterium ) . The most common illustration is observing HIV in patient samples. In add-on, it has the advantage of utilizing non-radioactive substances, is safer than those radio-immunoassays. Other ELISA methods: Sandwich ELISA ( or direct ELISA ) is used to observe antigen in sample serum, is less-common. With known measure of gaining control antibodies coated to the well, the antigens in the sample will adhere to the antibodies to organize complex. Then enzyme-linked primary antibodies will be applied to observe the nowadays of the antigens. Competition ELISA is a different method from the indirect and sandwich ELISA, in which the kit contains enzyme-linked antigen instead than enzyme-linked antibody. The labelled antigen will vie with the antigen in the sample for the antibody adhering sites in the well. Therefore, more antigens in the sample will give weaker signal as less labelled antigen can adhere to the antibody adhering sites in the well. The advantage of this method is can be used to observe antigen in impure samples. Change by reversal ELISA is a new engineering utilizing immunosorbent polystyrene rod with stick outing nose cones. This ogives will dunk into the sample, therefore a higher sample volume can be used to better the sensitiveness. Furthermore, the nose cones can be sensitized with different reagent to observe different antibodies or antigens at the same time for multi-target checks.

Joy Harjo - Feminist, Indigenous Poet and Activist

Joy Harjo - Feminist, Indigenous Poet and Activist Born: May 9, 1951, Tulsa, OklahomaOccupation: Poet, Musician, Performer, ActivistKnown for: Feminism and American Indian activism, particularly through artistic expression Joy Harjo has been a significant voice in the rejuvenation of indigenous culture. As a poet and musician, she was influenced by the activism of the American Indian Movement (AIM) during the 1970s. Joy Harjos poetry and music often speak of individual womens experiences while examining larger cultural concerns and Native American  traditions. Heritage Joy Harjo was born in Oklahoma in 1951 and is a member of the Mvskoke, or Creek, Nation. She is of part Creek and part Cherokee descent, and her ancestors include a long line of tribal leaders. She took the last name Harjo from her maternal grandmother. Artistic Beginnings Joy Harjo attended the Institute of American Indian Arts high school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She performed in an indigenous drama troupe and studied painting. Although one of her early band teachers did not allow her to play the saxophone because she was a girl, she picked it up later in life and now performs music solo and with a band. Joy Harjo had her first child at age 17 and worked odd jobs as a single mother to support her children. She then enrolled in the University of New Mexico and received her bachelors degree in 1976. She received her MFA from the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop. Joy Harjo began writing poetry in New Mexico, inspired by the American Indian activist movement. She is recognized for her poetic subject matter that includes feminism and Indian justice. Books of Poetry Joy Harjo has called poetry the most distilled language. Like many other feminist poets writing in the 1970s, she experimented with language, ​form and structure. She uses her poetry and voice as part of her responsibility to her tribe, to women, and to all people. Joy Harjos poetic works include: The Last Song (1975), her first chapbook, a small collection of poems in which she began questioning oppression, including the colonization of Native land. What Moon Drove Me To This? (1979), Joy Harjos first full-length collection of poetry. She Had Some Horses (1983), considered one of her classics it explores the oppression of women, but also their spiritual lives and triumphant awakenings. In Mad Love and War (1990), an examination of both personal relationships and societal struggles of Native Americans. The Woman Who Fell From the Sky(1994), which won the Oklahoma Book Award in Poetry. How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001, a collection that looks back over her three-decade career as a poet. The poetry of Joy Harjo is rich with ​imagery, symbols, and landscapes. What do the horses mean? is one of her readers most frequently asked questions. In reference to meaning, she writes, Like most poets I dont really know what my poems or the stuff of my poetry means exactly. Other Work Joy Harjo was an editor of the anthology Reinventing the Enemys Language: Contemporary Native American Womens Writings of North America. It contains poetry, memoir, and prayer by Native women from more than fifty nations. Joy Harjo is also a musician; she sings and plays the saxophone and other instruments, including flute, ukulele, and percussion. She has released music and spoken word CDs. She has performed as a solo artist and with bands such as Poetic Justice. Joy Harjo sees music and poetry as growing together, although she was a published poet before she publicly performed music. She has questioned why the academic community would want to confine poetry to the page when most poetry in the world is sung. Joy Harjo continues to write and perform in festivals and theaters. She has won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas and the William Carlos Williams award from the Poetry Society of America, among other prizes and fellowships. She has taught as a lecturer and professor at multiple universities throughout the Southwest United States.

Summary and opinion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Summary and opinion - Essay Example As soon as they finally overcame its effects, they could not help but realize that the numerous effects of globalization had all of a sudden taken place. Thirdly, the article talks about the invention of the broadband connections and email software such as search engines like Google that made the effects of globalization even more evident and made way for the world to become even flatter. Also, the email system and internet brought about a great change in the way people communicated and worked from then onwards. Moreover, ‘It’s a flat world after all’ talks about how the globalization system has allowed all the knowledge pools around the world to connect together over the years. These knowledge pools when combined will lead to brand new innovations and developments and these will emerge not from one specific area but will be a combination of the North, South, East, and the West. The article further states that there are various key factors that led to globalization or to the world becoming a flat one. The first factor of these took place on 9 November in 1989 when the Berlin wall came down. Then the second of these took place on September 08, 1995 when Netscape went public and the internet emerged and the dot com boom was triggered around that point. Furthermore, one observed a breakthrough in person-to-person and application-to-application connectivity that further produced six more world flatteners. One of them was ‘outsourcing’. With further passage of time came the concept of ‘off-shoring’, which referred to sending an entire factory from one country to another. This was followed by ‘open sourcing’ which was further followed by ‘in sourcing’ and then by ‘supply chaining’. After this, came the world flattener that was ‘informing’ which took place when Google and other such search engines came as inventions. The

The Concerns of Economics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Concerns of Economics - Assignment Example The household sector includes all the people who seek to satisfy their needs and wants. They are concerned with consumption and productive resources. The business sector comprises of institutions like corporations, proprietorships and partnerships. These institutions are concerned with combining resources to make goods and services. Their major role is production. The government sector has the ruling bodies of local, federal and state governments. The government plays a vital role in regulation through collection of taxes, passing of laws, and forcing other sectors to do their work. The government also buys domestic products as their purchases. Additionally the foreign sector is a combination of everything and everyone; governments, households and businesses beyond the domestic boundaries. Its function is to buy exports and produce imports which are calculated as net exports. A production possibility model is a curve used to analyze alternative combinations of goods that can be produced by an economy within a given time period and with existing technology and resources at that time (AmosWEB LLC, 2013). Production possibility models are an insight into the basics of economics. For the curve presented above the goods are storage shed and crab puffs. A production possibility analysis is undertaken because it answers the â€Å"what† question in resource allocation as scarcity commands that the community has to choose from various goods to produce. It introduces graphical analysis which is essential in interpreting terms like opportunity cost and unemployment. A possibility model illustrates basic concepts in economics. However, this model assumes that resources and technology are fixed. It does not provide information on desirability and satisfaction of the goods. This is not good for the economy as it might produce a good that is not wanted. The grea test level of consumer satisfaction can not be determined. Countries trade because they have different

Interactive video behavioral intervention Essay Example for Free

Interactive video behavioral intervention Essay Risk behaviors on youth are issues that the sociologists and psychologists regard as big deals. The youth comprises the major work force of the future yet the trends and the activities they do sometimes put them to the verge of having complications and diseases that are transmitted through having sexual intercourses. Their every day activities may lead them to something that can really matter especially with their health and their spirituality. Modernism and liberalism are issues that are usually faced by the youth today by which values that are regarded to be sacred before are now called passe and often treated as something for the centuries, not for the modern age. One of the issues mentioned are women engaging to pre-marital sex at a young age, and worse cases to multiple partners. Downs, Murray, et. al (2004) formulated a study that dealt with the behavior of females who are likely to commit to sexual activities involving oral and anal sex, together with the sexual intercourse itself. Their study aimed to determine some controlling factors with the behavior of women regarding sex. It provided different ways of informing the women of the possible consequences of having sexual intercourse with the opposite sex. Having a number of reviews of articles, they gathered 300 sexually active females (6 months before the study started) from different places in Pittsburgh are that are still subdivided from hospitals, clinics and a teaching hospital. The authors of the study first surveyed for the participants who are willing to be tested and undergo the study. Parents were also asked if they are willing to let their daughters below 18 years become the participants of the study. According from the article, parents were more than willing to let their daughters be part of the team or the respondents. Questions that asked the motives of having sex were asked during the interview. It will help the evaluators to assess the usual situations before the actual intercourse happens. The study also has its way of letting the participants choose a way that they will be best informed. In this way, they will have an idea of how they are going to control their sexual drives. The modes of the study are: interactive video clip, a book that offers the same content as the video and brochures that offer the same topic. One video clip from www. WhatCouldYouDo. org was shown to them that portrayed a girl and a boy that depended on the concept of â€Å"condom† love that is often pictured as something satisfying other than the act of abstinence. Their knowledge about STD was also measured trough the 40 questions posted in the study, and they have a percentage of 65. 5% correct concepts about the matter. On the other hand, 67. 7% of them has the right knowledge about specific STD issues. Controls without the interventions were more likely to still engage in the activity while those who have had the chance to be included in the team with video intervention through randomization were reported to have self control over the next few months. However, the study showed that knowledge of the participant regarding sexual and STD issues did not increased. It was stated in the reports that it could have been better if the control for the study did not receive any intervention to clearly see the effect of the programs in controlling the risk behavior of youth, specifically with the females. The study may be leading to situations by which female will not be choosing the option to have sex with their partners to express their feelings. Moreover, the intention of preventing STD in youth through some information integrated seminars and trainings are good ways in drawing down the lines in the limitations of the actions of the females, and the youth. Reference Julie S. Downs, Pamela J. Murray, Wandi Bruine de Bruin, Joyce Penrose, Claire Palmgren and Baruch Fischhoff. Interactive video behavioral intervention to reduce adolescent females’ STD risk: a randomized controlled trial Social Science Medicine, Volume 59, Issue 8, October 2004, Pages 1561-1572

The US Border Patrol :: Immigrants Immigration

The US Border Patrol The U.S. Border Patrol is the organization that polices the entry of illegal immigrants into our country. The official mission of the United States Border patrol is to protect the boundaries of the United States by preventing illegal entry, and by detecting, interdicting, and apprehending illegal aliens, smugglers, and contraband. Today, the United States Border Patrol consists of 21 sectors. Each sector is headed by a chief patrol agent. There are 145 stations located throughout the continental United States, and in Puerto Rico. The Border Patrol controls the border by land, sea, and air. The Border Patrol has jurisdiction across all United States borders and at least 25 miles off the border. The Border Patrol agents are responsible to check factories for illegal workers. As of September of 1995, the Border Patrol had 530 agents. The Border Patrol's efforts may be sufficient but many people believe that there are many problems in the methods of the Border Patrol. First, many people think that all of the equipment is costing the taxpayers too much. An estimation by TIME magazine states that in California alone, $400 million is spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants. CNN says that the care of illegal immigrants in one hospital in Jacksonville, Florida costs taxpayers $44.5 million. A Federal Government estimate says that $1.6 billion dollars is spent on the education of illegal immigrants each year in California alone. Just think of how much money is spent on illegal immigrants across the country. Now this is just the cost of the immigrants that get through the border patrol. These costs could be greatly lowered if the Border Patrol would do its job. Let alone the cost of the illegal immigrants that manage to get through the Border Patrol, the Border Patrol alone is costing plenty. In an overview, some people believe that we are spending too much money on the border patrol, considering that they simply are not doing their job. We are giving them so much money to get the latest equipment, but still people are getting through. The people in favor of the Border patrol have the basic idea that, yes, the Border Patrol used to be ineffective, but now due to many improvements in federal money, manpower, and technology the Border Patrol is very effective. They say that the reason for all the illegal immigrants in the U.S. is due to when the Border Patrol was not as effective as it could or should be. The US Border Patrol :: Immigrants Immigration The US Border Patrol The U.S. Border Patrol is the organization that polices the entry of illegal immigrants into our country. The official mission of the United States Border patrol is to protect the boundaries of the United States by preventing illegal entry, and by detecting, interdicting, and apprehending illegal aliens, smugglers, and contraband. Today, the United States Border Patrol consists of 21 sectors. Each sector is headed by a chief patrol agent. There are 145 stations located throughout the continental United States, and in Puerto Rico. The Border Patrol controls the border by land, sea, and air. The Border Patrol has jurisdiction across all United States borders and at least 25 miles off the border. The Border Patrol agents are responsible to check factories for illegal workers. As of September of 1995, the Border Patrol had 530 agents. The Border Patrol's efforts may be sufficient but many people believe that there are many problems in the methods of the Border Patrol. First, many people think that all of the equipment is costing the taxpayers too much. An estimation by TIME magazine states that in California alone, $400 million is spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants. CNN says that the care of illegal immigrants in one hospital in Jacksonville, Florida costs taxpayers $44.5 million. A Federal Government estimate says that $1.6 billion dollars is spent on the education of illegal immigrants each year in California alone. Just think of how much money is spent on illegal immigrants across the country. Now this is just the cost of the immigrants that get through the border patrol. These costs could be greatly lowered if the Border Patrol would do its job. Let alone the cost of the illegal immigrants that manage to get through the Border Patrol, the Border Patrol alone is costing plenty. In an overview, some people believe that we are spending too much money on the border patrol, considering that they simply are not doing their job. We are giving them so much money to get the latest equipment, but still people are getting through. The people in favor of the Border patrol have the basic idea that, yes, the Border Patrol used to be ineffective, but now due to many improvements in federal money, manpower, and technology the Border Patrol is very effective. They say that the reason for all the illegal immigrants in the U.S. is due to when the Border Patrol was not as effective as it could or should be.

Military Courtesy and Respect Essay

Good citizenship A good citizen needs to imbibe many qualities. That he has some duties and responsibilities to bear is true, but at same time, he enjoys some rights and privileges as a citizen of a free state. While he has every right to participate in the judicial, legal politics, religious and social affairs of the nation, he has also some responsibilities i.e. not to injure the sentiments of others and to protect the weak against the strong. To stand by the state, under all conditions, is his first and foremost duty. A good citizen must be ready to sacrifice his everything for the sake of his motherland. He is also required to be a patriot and nationalist. He should have firm and deep faith in the welfare of his motherland. He has to obey law and order. But he has also to keep in his heart the betterment of the country, the good of society and the interest of the nation. A good citizen must respect the cultural heritage of his country, i.e. he will have to respect the heroes, ‘the prophet, the sages and saints of his country. He must respect the race which has given birth to him. He must always keep in mind the future of his country. He must attempt to raise the standard of living of his country by working honestly. At an event of aggression or foreign attack, he must be ready to shed his blood for the sake of his motherland. Thus, defense of the country is the supreme duty of a good citizen. Unity of the nations should be his topmost priority. He should work for the unity of the country. A goodwill for other races, protection to the weak, help to the victims, sympathetic and kind consideration to his fellow citizens are things that are needed in good citizen. A good citizen should have a spirit of cooperation, friendliness, humanity, dedication, devotion for his fellow citizens. He must respect other faiths. He must not do anything which brings disgrace to his society or to his country. Greatest good of greatest number should be his principle. All these good and great qualities, if possessed, make one a good citizen Military leadership Within the U.S. military, leadership is generally considered something of a given. It is a fundamental ingredient of warfare, without which the outcome of a combat operation cannot be assured. The leader is the brain, the motive power of command, upon whom subordinates rely for guidance and wisdom, and  depend upon for good judgment. The leader must be determined, unflappable and charismatic; confident in delegation of authority; able to combine the various strands of command into a common thread; seasoned, intelligent, and thoughtful. When judging the qualities of leadership, there is a tendency to think of the gifted, or natural leader, involving some expectation that leadership is an inherent personality quality that some have, and others have not. Military history is full of â€Å"born leaders,† suggesting that â€Å"inspired leadership† is the only true measure of the trait. For a very long time the American people relied on the emergence of just such an individual when necessity demanded it, and fortunately the country has been well†served in this respect. Much of this has been due to American military egalitarianism, which presumed that any individual, regardless of background, could lead a body of troops in combat as long as the leader had the requisite ability. An obvious case in point is the Civil War, which gave rise to a number of gifted commanders—Joshua Chamberlain, Nathan Bedford Forrest, John Logan, and Nelson A. Miles, to name but a few—who yet had little, if any, military training. So great was the renown of such natural leaders that a veritable school of military command grew up around them, declaring that genius alone was the true sign of leadership, and that leaders were born, not made. As the army matured and professionalized after the Civil War, these sorts of arguments met the resistance of educational reformers who argued that certain principles of leadership could be taught, given the proper lessons from military history. Military courtesy and desipline Military courtesy is basically no different from courtesy in civilian life, just good manner and politeness in dealing with other people. The experience of life has proven that courteous behavior is essential in human relations. The distinction between civilian courtesy and military courtesy is that, military courtesies were developed in a military atmosphere and have become customs and traditions of the service. Most forms of military courtesy have some counterpart in civilian life. For example, you are required to say  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Sir† or â€Å"Ma’am† when you talk to an officer. Throughout our history, young men and women were taught to say â€Å"Sir† to their fathers and other male elders. and â€Å"Ma’am† to their mothers, unknown women and female elders. This tradition is still carried on and it is considered good manners for a younger man to say â€Å"Sir† when speaking to an older man. The use of the word â€Å"Sir† or â€Å"Ma’am† is also common in the business world, in the address of letters, and in any well-ordered institution. Military courtesy is not a one-way street. Enlisted personnel must be courteous to officers, and officers are expected to return the courtesy. Officers respect soldiers as individuals, just as you respect officers as individuals. Without this basis of mutual respect, there can be no military courtesy, and discord will result. One of the most important of military courtesies is the salute. It is a respectful greeting, a sign of recognition between military persons. It is that, and no more. Salutes are given and returned. They are a privilege of the military alone. Every officer salutes every other officer, just as every enlisted man salutes every officer. The highest-ranking general in the Army is required to return the salute of the newest private. The fact that the subordinate salutes first is simply common-sense courtesy applied to a military expression; it is for the same reason that gentlemen step aside for ladies in doorways and younger people are†¦

External analysis soffee culture Essay

1.0 Introduction: – For an organization to survive and grow, they must have strong build strategy. Strategy is defined as a tool to assist organizations to achieve its long-term goals Hubbard, Rice & Beamish (2010). These goals are the prime reason for an organization to exist and strategies are developed to achieve these goals. Fig. 1.1- ESC model for strategy development Hubbard, Pocknee and Taylor’s (1996), explains the strategy making process via ESC model. Fig 1.1 shows the ESC (Environment, Strategy & Capabilities) model to describe the strategy making process for an organization. Strategies are made keeping a number of factors in consideration. Environment stands for Macro and industry based environment and factors that effect the operation of an organization. Environment is discussed more in detail in later part of this report. Business strategies are made considering the interest of stakeholders, company’s mission and value statement and values of the organizations. Capabilities for an organization are their resources, staff, economy of working and systems available for an organization to work in. This section is also discussed in details in this report. Also, to make effective strategies companies need to generate and gather information, analyze that information, process and implement those chosen strategies. Hubbard, Rice & Beamish (2010) explains that final part of strategy implementation is to review and monitor the strategies to find the gaps in results and fill those gaps accordingly to improve company performance. 2.0. Macro Environment Analysis Hubbard, Rice, Beamish (2010), explains that all the factors outside the organization that effect the business are studied under external environment analysis. These factors effect the strategy formulations, vision and mission planning and future organizational business. Environment analysis comprises of two major elements i.e. Macro environment analysis and Industry environment. Macro environment includes all the broad forces that surround and effect the organization and are as follows:- 2.1 Economic Dimension:- Economic dimension of an organization is the overall financial condition of the economy where organization is operating. Most important economic factors for an organization is GDP, inflation rates, exchange rates, taxation rates and wages rates. These factors define the economic dimension of an organization. Example: – Starbucks business in US during Global Financial Crisis During GFC, Starbucks was forced to pay more for its resources and to cover these additional expenses; company was forced to increase its product prices. But with the rise in interest rates and less borrowing/spending power of customers in the market, Starbucks had no option other than bearing the costs itself without increasing the prices. This additional burden forced Starbucks to close 600 stores in July 2008 (page 151, Howard Schultz, 2011). This example clearly explains the effect of Economic conditions on an organization when low purchasing power of customers lead to less demand and its effect on an organization. 2.2 Political/Legal Dimension: – This refers to the government regulations of business and its general effect, relationship with it. Its important for an organization as it defines what the organization can do and what they cannot. Customs, policies, regulations of a particular country affects the business of a international organization. 2.3 Technological Dimension: – This factor defines the resources available to operate its business in a country. It defined how an organization can convert its resources into products and services. Technology is applied with the discretion of the organization but its availability and form depends on the general environment. 2.4 Socio cultural: – Socio cultural dimensions include the culture, social effect and trends, customs, values and demographic patterns and trends in a particular demographic area. This includes the patterns people are used to and defined the future for the company with respect to its products. Example: – Starbucks in planning to expand its business in Asian countries and is planning to change 5000 year old tea-drinking culture into coffee culture (Ed Liston, 2011). Asian countries have a strong culture of consuming tea and have significant medicinal beliefs as well. Starbucks is planning to expand its business in these countries directly challenging the socio cultural dimension (page 296-305, Howard Schultz, 2011). This strategy can have mixed effects on the business. It’s a direct competition between old traditional beliefs and habits v/s young coffee drinking generation. There are no significant results available on the topic, but will be an interesting topic to work. This strategy can affect Starbucks business dramatically. 2.5 Sustainability: – It’s a new trend mostly visible in developed countries to develop sustainable business practices to address environmental issues. Companies are expected to follow guidelines, to develop their sustainable image. This includes fair work practices, focus towards general environmental damages, deforestation, ecological concerns etc. Example: – Starbucks fostering Sustainability Starbucks tag their stores as green and try to design the stores with recyclable products, reused cabinets, natural colors, and efficient lights. Company’s agricultural methods are organic, using no petrochemical based fertilizers and insecticides, and they are beneficial to the environment and water (page 317-321, Howard Schultz, 2011). Starbucks also offers 10% discount if customers bring their own coffee mugs (page 161-165, Howard Schultz, 2011). Starbucks has been busy promoting their environment involvement by developing new environmental strategies and by minimizing their carbon footprint (Starbucks Website). 3.0 Industry Analysis/ Porter’s five forces Analysis: – Fig. 1.3 – Porter’s Five Forces Model Industry analysis is used to determine the factors that influence the profitability of an organization. As shown in fig 1.3, industry analysis consists of five main forces. Porter (2008) describes these forces as the main drivers of profitability for an organization Fig 1.3. 3.1 Competitors/ Threat of new entrants: – For an organization, competitors are those individuals or groups that can reduce the revenue or can share the revenue. New or existing organizations that compete for their business, survival and growth are termed as competitors. It can be from existing market players or new entrants to the market. Mostly organizations compete for customers, revenue but competition can also be for the resources as labor/staff, new technology or patents to ensure future revenue growth. 3.2 Suppliers: – In a producing industry, suppliers play an important role by providing resources to an industry to offer services/products to the customers. This depends on the industry-supplier relationship. If suppliers are strong, they can offer resources at a higher price to get the profit share in the organization and vice versa. Thus, in a industry its very important to have consistent and reliable suppliers. Example: – Starbucks coffee bean suppliers Starbuck buys its coffee from East Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Starbucks has its approved suppliers list and to be part of that list, suppliers have to undergo a series of tests and pass some checklists. Once Starbucks approves their supplier, the company helps the suppliers to grow coffee sustainably (page 317-318, Howard Schultz, 2011). Starbucks helps their suppliers by providing knowledge, help, funds and trainings. This helps to develop the strong relationship with the suppliers and also ensures the quality of the harvest. Thus in this case both suppliers and the industry are in win-win situation. 3.3 Bargaining power of buyers: – Porter (2008) explains that if the buying power of buyer is strong, that implies that the buyer has more options to choose from and the industry has more competition. 3.4 Substitutes: – Porter (2008) explains that if the products/services of different business or company can satisfy the needs of the customers, depicts that there is a substitute available to the customers. It leads to the competition in terms of price, quality and added values to the products. 3.5 Industry Rivalry: – In a traditional economic model, if there is rivalry among the organizations in the industry, then it drives profits to zero. But there is not perfect competition and in this case companies thrive to take competitive edge over other companies. A firm can switch costs, reduce product cost, increase add on values, offer better customers service to gain the competitive edge. Example: – Starbucks competitive edge Starbucks markets their sustainable and green approach towards environment (page 147-148 & 317-318, Howard Schultz, 2011). In this modern era, with more educated groups emerging, Starbucks is attracting more educated customers. With its initiative towards green earth and working for environmental issues, customers are supporting the brand and thus Starbucks is earning reputation and revenues. The above-mentioned example is in relation with Philip Kotler’s (2001), strategy of Marketing and is proving worth full for Starbucks. 4.0 Resources, Capabilities and Creation Of Values Fig. 1.4- Resource, Capabilities and Creation of Value According to resource-based view to develop the competitive advantage over other companies, organization must have resources and capabilities that are the best in the market. In fig. 1.4, Hubbard, Rice & Beamish (2010), explains that for an organizations there are four necessary conditions to pioneer the market. These conditions are outlined as below: – 4.1 Resources: – Resources are the main factor that decides the organization’s future. Hubbard, Rice & Beamish (2010), have used VRIO/VRINE model to describe these resources better and resources must be: – Valuable: – Organization should monitor the market and its customers carefully and must have the resources to deliver the value to the customer. Customer needs are volatile in nature and keep changing, thus organizations must enhance and upgrade their resources according to the demand. Rare: – Resources of an organization should be rare and hard to imitate by the competitors. These rare resources provide a competitive edge to the organization and must be scarce to some degree of demand in the market. Inimitable: – Resources should not be easily inimitable, and should be sophisticated to imitate. It’s hard to keep inimitable resources in technological sector as long as the technology is a patent. Non-Substitutable: – Resources should be non substitutable, i.e. there cannot be any substitute to the particular resource. Organized: – Resources of an organization should be arranged and organized according to their requirement. They should be readily available when and where required and should be properly deployed as per requirement to deliver the best quality to the customers. Exploitable: – Resources should be readily accessible and available to different sectors across the organization to transform them to add value to the customers. Capabilities: – Capabilities stand for the organization’s ability to convert the available resources to customer value. It’s the ability of an organization to utilize its resources in an efficient manner. Organizations should have dynamic capabilities so that they can manage their knowledge, learn from them and also brings out new innovations as per requirement. Example: – Starbucks Logistics Chain: – As mentioned above Starbucks gets its coffee beans from East Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Different regions specialize in different blend of coffee. A perfect coffee is not just a single origin, but is a mix of different beans. Starbucks has the capability to gather beans from different regions and make a perfect blend to deliver across all its stores worldwide. Its not easy to document this capability and thus not easily imitable. This is a competitive edge that Starbuck has over its competitors to pick, mix and deliver the beans faster than any other competitor in the market. Organizations should monitor and review their operations to check the purpose of the operation. Capabilities should be valuable to the customers, they should be rare, and difficult to imitate by competitors, specific to the organization and should be better than the competitors in the market. In order to manage the capabilities organizations should exercise their capabilities across their business. These above discussed conditions should work in closely coordinated manner to develop a competitive edge over its customers and should bring better value for the customers. For example Starbucks have strong inbound logistics that in relation to Porter’s value creating activity is a competitive edge to create customer value. 5.0 Bibliography: – Hubbard, Pocknee and Taylor’s (1996), â€Å"Practical Australian Strategy†, Ch. 5, Prentice Hall Australia, Sydney. Hubbard, G. & Beamish, P. (2011). â€Å"Strategic management: Thinking, analysis and action†, 4th ed., Pearson Education: Australia. Hubbard, Rice, & Beamish, (2011), â€Å" Strategic Management: Thinking, Analysis and Action†, 4th ed., Pearson Education, Australia. Michael E. Porter (2008), â€Å"The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy†, Harvard Business Review, p.86-104, Harvard Business Publication, Boston, USA. Ed Liston (2011), â€Å" What is more popular: Coffee or Tea†, Blog on www. Stockriters. Com, Viewed on 05th Jan’12. Kotler Philip (2001),† A Framework for Marketing Management†, Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1997, Pearson Education Company, New Jersey, USA. Starbucks website viewed on 4th Jan’12, http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/business/news-starbucks-contribution-sustainability. Howard Schultz & Joanne Gordon (2011), â€Å"Onwards: How Starbucks Fought for its life without losing its soul†, John Willey & Sons, United Kingdom.

3 Methods Used to Steal Trees

3 Methods Used to Steal Trees Tom Kazee is s woodland security expert based in Orange Park, Florida. Tom has decades of experience in the woodland security business and contributes regularly to Tree Farmer Magazine. He has written a great piece on timber theft with tips on how to prevent this kind of theft. Mr. Kazee suggests there are basically three ways timber is stolen. As a timber owner or forest manager, you would be wise to study these methods of theft and take preventative actions to avoid a rip-off. The purpose of this report is only to make you wise to the ways of a timber thief. Although the vast majority of people who buy and harvest trees are honest there are people who will cheat and try to deceive timber owners and sellers for financial gain. Harvesting Directly on Your Property Thieves will set up a harvest directly on your property or will move over on you from adjacent ownership. They have observed that the propertys management and know that timber theft is an acceptable risk. Although mistakes can happen to honest loggers, I am talking here about timber being taken with evil intent. Ways to Prevent the Theft: Inspect your property regularly. Your own neglect can encourage thieves. Inspections will also catch insect and disease problems early and head off line encroachment.Maintain and refresh proper boundary markings. It is much easier to do this when property lines are still visible. Always freshen up your lines when harvesting is occurring on adjacent property.Cultivate good neighbors and encourage good lease-holders to keep an eye open. Pretend to Be a Buyer Thieves dressed as buyers will offer absurdly low prices for timber knowing that the landowner has no idea of the value. Although it is not a crime to give away your trees, it is a crime to misrepresent their value Ways to Prevent the Theft: Timber market values and tree volumes can be hard to determine without a professional. Always get a second opinion of values and volumes, especially where large acreage is involved. You might want to hire a forestry consultant or buy a timber inventory from a third party.Check out all timber buyers by asking for referrals and by inquiring about the buyer at your local or state foresters office.Avoid the temptation to make a quick sell to a friendly buyer. Take a deep breath and ask the buyer for some time for you to think about what you are going to do. You should not feel pressured by the buyer. Making a Lump Sum Sale Thieves can actually steal trees after you have approved and allowed the harvest. Poor accounting in both lump sum sales and unit sales can tempt a logger or a trucker to misreport trees cut and/or volumes represented. Ways to Prevent the Theft: No timber should leave the loading site on pay-as-cut sales unless the load has been recorded by date, species, time and destination. Reputable loggers have these records.All records must be available for inspection and collected at the end of each week. These records should then be compared to scale tickets for reconciliation.You or your agent need to be on-site and visible at random times during the week.

Aggregates and Social Aggregates in Sociology

Aggregates and Social Aggregates in Sociology Within sociology, there are two kinds of aggregates that are commonly used: the social aggregate and aggregate data. The first is simply a collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, and the second refers to when we use summary statistics like averages to show something about a population or a social trend. The Social Aggregate A social aggregate is a collection of people who are in the same place at the same time, but who otherwise do not necessarily have anything in common, and who may not interact with each other. A social aggregate is different from a social group, which refers to two or more people who interact regularly and who have things in common, like a romantic couple, a family, friends, classmates, or coworkers, among others. A social aggregate is also different from a social category, which refers to a group of people defined by a shared social characteristic, like gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, class, etc. Every day we become part of social aggregates, like when we walk down a crowded sidewalk, eat in a restaurant, ride public transit with other passengers, and shop in stores. The only thing that binds them together is physical proximity. Social aggregates sometimes figure into sociology when researchers use a convenience sample to carry out a research project. They are also present in the work of sociologists who conduct participant observation or ethnographic research. For example, a researcher studying what happens in a particular retail setting might take note of the customers present, and document their demographic makeup by age, race, class, gender, etc., in order to provide a description of the social aggregate that shops at that store. Using Aggregate Data The more common form of an aggregate in sociology is aggregate data. This refers to when social scientists use summary statistics to describe a group or a social trend. The most common type of aggregate data is an average (mean, median, and mode), which allows us to understand something about a group, rather than considering data that represents specific individuals. Median household income is among the most commonly used forms of aggregate data within the social sciences. This figure represents the household income that sits exactly in the middle of the household income spectrum. Social scientists often look at changes in median household income over time in order to see long-term economic trends at the household level. We also use aggregate data to examine differences among groups, like the change over time in median household income, depending on ones  level of education. Looking at an aggregate data trend like this, we see that the economic value of a college degree relative to a high school degree is much greater today than it was in the 1960s. Another common use of aggregate data in social sciences is tracking income by gender and race. Most readers are probably familiar with the concept of the wage gap, which refers to the historical fact that women on average earn less than men and that people of color in the U.S. earn less than white people. This type of research is produced using aggregate data that shows averages of hourly, weekly, and annual earnings by race and gender, and it proves that despite legalized equality, interpersonal discrimination on the basis of gender and race still works to create an unequal society. Updated  by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

The Origins of Sufi Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Origins of Sufi Islam - Essay Example Asceticism and Remembrance to Allah "Dhikr" used to be the specific affection for Sufis in the initial phase of Sufism, and this was the initiation of innovated performs to support the spiritual exercises. However, during the primary stage earlier to the association with innovated customs and controlled commands, intellectuals alarmed general public about the intense nature of Sufism. 2This innovated development originated from Iraq (Basra) and the great religious scholars like Imam Malik, Imam Shafi and Ahmed bin Hanbal didn't gave positive remarks for it. They were of the opinion that such extreme rituals are impracticable. This was a beginning in the direction of extreme prayers, which may destined towards distortion, as it was not established on a valid set of guidelines provided by religion. Instead it was based on embellished sensation of human beings. This movement was actually a reaction of sanctimonious and practical Muslims in opposition to the worldly behavior of Muslims d uring 661-50 AD, the era of Ummayyads.3 It was during 5th and 6th century AH when this frenzied situation was subjugated by the Sufis and attracted people to proceed along their practices, claiming the control of "Walis" and "Sheikhs" and their doctrines as a resolve to that disorder. During the ruling period of Khalifa Mamoon an institution by the name of "Dar-ul-Hikma" was set up to provoke Greek, Roman and Muslim scholars to come together and share their point of views. This provision was an absolute focus in terms of combination linking mysticism of Islam with pagans for creating the type of Sufism presented by Ibn-e-Arabi.4 The Integration and Distortion When the attendants and descendants of them passed away, the field of Sufism left unattended and went against the doctrines of Islam. Opponents of Islam had gone entrenched into Muslim community and were already creating "Fitnahs" by means of multiplying fictitious Ahadith and other commands which afterward resulted into the creation of factions like "Mutazilah", and "Khawaarij". This was the period when Sufism flourished and acquired sustains from sovereigns of empires. These rulers actually diverged of Islamic teachings to such a degree that they started magical tricks as amusement in their courts, albeit those magical tricks are not allowed in Islam.5The essence of Shiites began to include in Sufism during this era, though modern Sufism traces its extraction back to Shiites genesis. It was era of Imam Ghazali, Jalal uddin Rumi and Mohiuddin Ibn-e-Arabi when philosophy and beliefs of Sufism prospered. During 3rd century they converted works of Greek thinking into Arabic which later proved to be ineradicable for Sufism, ensuing in Greek pantheism turn out to be a fundamental element of Sufism. During this period the orthodox practices of Oslam were almost overlooked and Sufism began to follow pagan activities like worship of the Saints, grasping venerance for the Walis and utilizing magical tricks. They forgot teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad(PBUH).If we deeply study the spiritual principles of different religions like Hinduism, Taoism and Christianity we can clearly observe