Generic vs. Name Brand

You Get What You Pay For When you shop for groceries where do you stand in choosing either a generic vs. brand name product? Do you reach for the brand name box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, or would you rather pick up a generic box of macaroni and cheese to save that extra 10 cents? Is your decision based off a difference in taste or is it simply a matter of paying for quality of the product? What does spending more money on a brand name food product have to say about who we are in our culture today?Today there is an idea that by buying a brand name product a person is buying something of more quality, which can strangely in turn determine our importance in society. My mother stood firm by the phrase â€Å"you get what you pay for†. Meaning name brand foods taste better and are higher quality, and that the no name â€Å"generic† brands are cheap and don’t taste as good. I even remember years ago on a routine trip to the grocery store, my mother asked me to get s paghetti sauce. When I returned my mother remarked, â€Å"Lauren you got the wrong sauce.Please run and get me the good sauce, the name brand spaghetti sauce, not this cheap gross sauce†. Afterwards she was even given a taste test between the two sauces, and struggled to make a choice and give me the right answer to support her belief. Considering most generic brand foods and the name brand foods taste almost identical to one another, wouldn’t one think that the less expensive, no name brand would be the obvious one to buy? Yet society still is drawn to choose the name brand items.Shoppers are quite leery of some categories. Although they’ll snap up store brand paper goods and plastics, consumers almost never buy store-brand wine, pet food, soda, or soup. That may be especially true when the category includes a name brand such as Coca-Cola or Campbell’s. Most grocery store shoppers know that buying generic store brand products instead of the brand name pr oducts can save a lot of money. In fact, by filling a shopping cart with generic brands could save an average of 30 percent on your purchase.If you spend $100 a week on groceries, those savings add up to more than $1,400 a year. Yet some shoppers are insistent to go for the name brands for the reason that they have a name to protect with their product. Meaning satisfaction of the product is guaranteed. However, if they taste the same why is there a price difference at all? Several reasons for the discounted price on the no name generic brands is that companies don’t spend a lot of time or money on product development or on advertising or promotion costs.You definitely pay a little bit more money for the label that is researched, designed and marketed to be more appealing to the targeted buyer. The generic brand companies keep cost low by taking the extra costs of research, marketing and graphic art frills away and presenting you with a less flashy, less quality version of pac kaging for a lower amount of money. People buy generic products to save money, however, it may also have an effect on the buyer’s own sense of self-worth. Buying generic products lower self-esteem. Indulging on top quality items makes us feel better about ourselves.For the most part, buying nice things makes us happy. Although, there are those who find joy in buying generic as well. Some may feel genuinely smart when using generics instead of brand names. This may be a result of the feeling that they received an equal product for less money. Yet that unconscious link between the products we buy and how they make us feel about ourselves suggest that if holding a box of generic corn flakes in the supermarket makes you feel like â€Å"a loser,† than you might want to put it down and reach for the Kellogg’s.To support that brand name foods are better it’s been argued that cost also has to do with the quality of products that are put into the item. You should compare the ingredients of the generic and the name brand before buying. Make sure that they have the same ingredients and that the generic does not have more unhealthy ingredients than the generic. Also, a brand name tends to have a little bit higher quality of products than the generic version. While the generic may list the exact same ingredients, it may not be as good of quality which â€Å"could† affect the taste.The individuals that usually buy brand name products have a tendency to believe they must buy them in order to get good quality. Meaning of course better quality is overall â€Å"better† in taste and health. Although, the qualities of ingredients between products are almost always identical to one another, making this argument nearly useless. The idea of better quality in name brand versus generic moves on still into a more psychological aspect rather than just economic.Society continues to buy into the belief that if it costs more it must be better. Why is that a fancy picture and a higher cost for a product give a person the impression that owning this item makes them feel better about themselves? Pride of ownership comes to play, and something about buying better quality makes a person feel better about a their own status in society. Perhaps a person may feel they work hard and deserve the best or that if they buy the name brand, they will experience better health, happiness, or appearance.This is supported with the fact that even though the spaghetti sauce taste test proved to my mother that there was little or no difference between sauces, she still buys and insists the name brand sauce is better. To this day you will rarely find a generic brand food box or label in my mother’s pantry. Do you really get what you pay for? Well, if you want to help pay the salaries of the advertising, development and research teams that go into the name brand products then you do! However, if you want to save money and still experience a q uality product with a comparable taste, generic no name brands would be the obvious answer.

The Fundamental of Fred

Title: The fundamental of FRED Abstract: In the teaching area of digital design for master degree, there is one brand-new assignment method has come which is FRED. FRED-Item inspires students to create their own thinking into their production. There are four parts in FRED-Item which are covered every factor that should appeared in one scholar assignment. FRED-Item contains many digital types beside common essay. Students will consider not only the topic for FRED, but also the best way that can achieve their ideas in their works. Beyond that, FRED-Item has added some features that are required in design works, such as copyright and references.Keywords: FRED, FRED-Item, Thinking, Learning, Digital Design, Student, Assignment, Reference, Keyword, Education, University Content: In modern society, computer technology is widely used by universities on the earth. With it will come many new programs and courses that student can choose, which includes the digital design. Digital design is a s unrise special field in 21st century. It is a first task that how to rightly directs students to understand and learn this special field (Keane. 2012). Based on these two backgrounds, FRED, a new educational and interactive evolution, is born. What is FRED-Item?This question may become the most asked question for everyone who was the first time to meet FRED-Items. To be specified, FRED means â€Å"Freely Relational Educational Design†(Keane, 2013, p. 1). It designed and developed within Griffith University’s master degree of digital design teaching area (Keane, 2012). Or to be more precise, FRED is made up with four parts: Part1 contains title, FRED-Ref, keywords and abstract the basic information. Part 2 is about content. Part 3 includes references, appendix, and future investigations. And Part 4 shows audiences investigation via Q&A and/or critical analysis.Superficially, FRED-Items looks like a kind of assignment. However, the information that FRED can be provided i s more than what the words show. FRED encourages students to create their own thinking and learning production. In the following content, it will make a more detailed analysis for FRED. PART 1 As what you see from the previous content, FRED’ s part 1 contains basic information. First one is the title. The quality of title decides whether it can express author’s opinion effectively or not. In FRED-Item, title should be clean and powerful as it can direct FRED’s theme immediately.The next one is keywords. Keywords identify a document’s index entry. In keyword selection, determine what your content offer is the most important thing to do, because it can help you to facilitate your keywords faster. For example, in digital design area, keywords can be 2D/3D animation, Flash website and so on. To highlight these keywords that makes readers find your items quickly and easily. Thirdly, abstract is considered a part and parcel of FRED. An abstract, viewed as the s ummary for article, is the first part that audiences will read before the body text.It can present a high-level overview within hundreds of words. Last one is FRED-Ref. As a special group of words, FRED-Ref requires student use some course discipline words in their assignments, which is FRED-Item. And the reason to do this is to access the FRED-Reference world (Keane, 2013). PART 2 There is no doubt that the content part is the major aspect of FRED-Item. With the development of science and technology, digital design has become more and more easily to catch up and remember (Batiha & Khaldoun, 2006), so the type of FRED content is varied as well.The first of all is the oldest and traditional academic essay, and then a wide variety of derivatives appeared, such as HTML, PDF and video. HTML is short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the main way that creating web pages. Many webpages we saw from Internet are makeup by HTML makeup language (Figure 1). PDF is anther method that displays i mages and texts in one file. PDF (Figure 2) means Portable Document Format (PDF Reference, 2006, p. 33). It contains many different elements, such as image, text and video. Not only that, students can choose any media formats to express their ideas and works.In other words, all digital files will be welcomed to create FRED-Items. Formats are not only the carrier that to show public the information, but also become an express vector that describe designers’ own worlds. Besides this, the content of FRED-Item should be related to the course with students’ critical thinking. It is hard to create a FRED-item that follows all requirements. Especially there are so many different media types that can be used. Student should consider every possible material that may contain in their FRED works, design the best object and hand up to lecturers.Of course, a good conclusion is necessary for every FRED-Item because it can display your outcomes in a logical method. Figure 1 Griffith University Webpage Figure 2 PDF example image PART 3 The third part focuses on the reference, appendix and investigation of Q&A. Student will use APA style of reference to list their bibliography. APA style, which is the abbreviation of â€Å"American Psychological Association† (APA Formatting and Style Guide, 2013, para. 1) was established in 1980s by several social scientists (About APA Style ®, 2013).In modern scholar life, many learners and writers have adapted APA style. Appendix is a list of books and other works that student used for their FRED-Items. Part 4 Furthermore, investigate via Q&A is another significant part for part 4. In this section, people will see the reflection that is according to FRED-Item. This step is crucial for the whole work of FRED as it can report students their conceptual thinking. There are lots of types that Q&A can be in, such as short answer and multiple choices. And all questions and answers demand full structures that explain the key t o the questions.Speaking for the numbers of questions, there is not an absolute request for this but all questions are needed to relate to the what kind of questions that student has set (Keane, 2013). Copyright There is still one thing that should be mentioned at here, which is copyright. When students use some works, which are belonged to other people, they should identify any valid notice or accredit in their FRED-Items. As a designer, the factors of original and creative are never be copied and encroached. Reference: Griffith University Webpage, n. d. [image] Retrieved from http://www. riffith. edu. au PDF example image, n. d. [image] Retrieved from http://blogs. adobe. com/pdfdevjunkie/defaultPortfolioCoverSheet. jpg Keane, D. (2012). Freely Relational Educational Design. Retrieved from http://fredcdn. com/2013s1/7047qca/week02/readings/fred-davidkeane_2ndinternationalsem_teaching_gradstudents_2012k. pdf Keane, D. (2013). 2013s1-FRED-format-v20130225a. Retrieved from http://fre dcdn. com/2013s1/2013s1-share/2013s1-fred-format/2013s1-fred-format-v20130225a. doc Adobe Systems Incorporated. (2006), PDF Reference, Sixth edition, version 1. 23, p. 33.Retrieved from http://www. adobe. com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/pdf_reference_1-7. pdf Batiha, K. & Khaldoun, A. (2006). Digital art and design. Leonardo Journal of Sciences, 5(9), 1-8. APA Formatting and Style Guide. (2013). Retrieved from http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/560/01/ About APA Style ®. (2013). Retrieved from http://www. apastyle. org/about-apa-style. aspx Investigate via Q&A: 1. How many formats that can be used in FRED-Items? There are so many methods that can be used in FRED-Items. Formats shall include but not be limited to: HTML PDF Video TutorialIn other words, all digital files will be welcomed to create FRED-Items. 2. Which kind of reference styles that FRED accepts? APA style, which is the abbreviation of â€Å"American Psychological Association† (APA Formatting and Style Guide , 2013, para. 1) 3. How many and what parts that made up with FRED-Items? FRED is made up with four parts: Part1 contains title, FRED-Ref, keywords and abstract the basic information. Part 2 is about content. Part 3 includes references, appendix, and future investigations. And Part 4 shows audiences investigation via Q&A and/or critical analysis.

Russians As the Others in 1920s and Early 1930s Hollywood Essay

Russians As the Others in 1920s and Early 1930s Hollywood - Essay Example The movie can be used as a symbol of the fate of Russians in Hollywood. It must first be understood that Russians had very limited success in Hollywood with the possible exception of Kirk Douglas whose parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. But this was because Douglas had no accent issues as he was trained at American Academy. However the rest of the actors of Russian descent had marginalized success in Hollywood as their accent forever sealed their fate and they were limited to either smaller side roles or at best character actors. They couldn't make it to the mainstream roles. Freaks (1932) is a sign of that fate. The movie is symbolic of what happened to those Russians who tried to enter the Hollywood. In this movie, the only Russian born actress, is the leading female character of Cleopatra played by immensely beautiful Olga Baclanova. Baclanova had arrived in USA with Moscow Theatre group. Her first love was stage and that is what she was doing when a role in Freaks was offered.

The IVF technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The IVF technology - Essay Example The company’s objective is as transparent as possible to the public since they depend on the community an enormous extent. The unique product of the IVF industry is coupled, at least in Australia, with a unique sense of entitlement. Consequently, Australia is the only country in the world providing unrestricted public funding for IVF through its national health scheme. There is no limit to the number of cycles that women can have and no legal age limit. (Sweden and Britain provide three on the national health and they have to be before age 39. In New Zealand women get two free cycles in a lifetime and in Canada until recently you didn't get any on the national health)The Australian (2012). According to Human Embryo Research Panel, much of the IVF research has been directed by clinicians who lack experience in basic research and development biology. In addition, the commercialization of reproductive technologies has resulted in the establishment of profitable enterprises, including sperm banks, IVF centers, and fertility clinics. The issues pertaining to embryo manipulation involve social values and moral judgements, but as the business interests of IVF are to ensure that viable eggs can be effectively implanted into a woman’s uterus at acceptable cost, commercialization of embryos increases the prospect that there will be no uniformity in the way ethical values and judgements will be interpreted and implemented Krimsky and Hubbard (1995). Professor Paul Komesaroff, director of the Monash Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society, says the issue of embryo donation is a vexed one. "There are different opinions about when the embryo acquires special religious, spiritual or ethical significance," he says. "Some people say its at the moment of fertilization, others say its at the moment of conception, others say at the 16-cell stage, some say its much later."(Labi, 2012). In the case of Sydney IVF â€Å"The membership of the ethics committee signiï ¬ cantly exceeds the constitutional requirements set by the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in its National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans† Sydney IVF Stem Cells (2011).

Discussion part Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Discussion part - Lab Report Example Upon administration of satraplatin, a number of metabolites (JM118, JM383, JM518, JM559 and JM149) are formed (Raynaud et al. 1996). Platinum complexes can kill tumour cells owing to their ability to form various covalent adducts on DNA (Brabec, 2002). DNA conformation is affected by the formation of adducts which also impacts some of the other intracellular processes including DNA damage recognition by specific proteins, DNA polymerisation and repair, all of which contribute to the antitumour activity of the platinum-based compounds e.g., cisplatin (Johnson et al., 1989). Most of the chemotherapeutic drugs that have been found to be clinically valuable act by damaging DNA in proliferating cells. Thus, DNA damage is pivotal to the origin, progression and treatment of cancer. Also, higher the cytotoxicity of the compound, better the efficacy. In the present study, both the Comet assay and the MN technique were employed to assess the genotoxic effects of satraplatin and vinflunine. The comet assay essentially evaluates primary DNA damage, which is reparable, by measuring single- and/or double-strand breaks in individual cells (Collins et al., 1997). Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an oxidising agent that is produced intracellularly during normal metabolism or when exposed to external agents such as solar UV radiation. H2O2 can cause DNA damage through sugar and base modifications (Dizdaroglu, 1992). In this study, human lymphocytes incubated for 30 min with 50ÃŽ ¼M H2O2 showed substantial DNA damage, seen as a 7-fold increase in the mean Olive Tail Moment (OTM) values compared to the control sample (Fig. 1). In those cells that were subjected to a one-hour pre-incubation with satraplatin (0.02ÃŽ ¼M - 200ÃŽ ¼M) a significant reduction in OTM values was obtained. The observed decrease in OTM, ranging from 30% - 75%, was directl y proportional to the concentration of satraplatin used. The mode of action of many

A Human Disorder, Involving Dysregulation of Epigenetic Mechanisms Essay

A Human Disorder, Involving Dysregulation of Epigenetic Mechanisms - Essay Example A lot of people having this condition are born with an aperture in the abdomen wall that facilitates the protrusion of the abdominal organs through the navel. Many infants with BWS have tongues that are abnormally long (macroglossia) which can interfere with swallowing, breathing, and speaking. BWS’s other features include abdominal organs that are abnormally large (viscreromegaly), pits or creases in the skin near the ears, kidney abnormalities, and low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in infant (Baum, et al, 2007 pg 78). The genetic causes of BWS are complex. It results from regulation of genes that is abnormal in a given region of chromosome 11. People usually inherit a single copy of this chromosome from each parent. In many genes of chromosome 11, each of the two copies of the genes is expressed (turned on) in the cells. However, for some genes, only the gene inherited from the father (paternal copy) is expressed while for some, the copy inherited from the mother (maternal copy) is the only one expressed. These parent specific differences in the expression of the gene are caused by genomic imprinting phenomenon. Abnormalities which involve genes on chromosome 11 that experience genomic imprinting are the cause of many cases of BWS. Typically, half of the cases are at least caused by changes in the methylation process. In genes that experience genomic imprinting, methylation is among the ways that parents of the gene of the origin are marked at the time of the creation of the egg and sperm cells.

Research paper on target population-18 yr. olds aging out of Foster Essay

Research paper on target population-18 yr. olds aging out of Foster Care System - Essay Example f individuals risk factors The factors that account for the varied outcomes of aged out individuals are influenced by quality care of foster care facility. Aged out individuals of foster care systems might become innocent victims of physical and emotional changes. Inadequate foster care ends up being more expensive to society because it generates incapable, inefficient suppressed future youth. Application of proactive measures and preventive tools should be taken by the organisations to control their exit out of foster care system. Positive events and quality care experienced by individuals in youth would definitely help them to achieve much more in their life. The strategies should be aimed to improve behavioral outcomes, enhance life satisfaction, and greater level of competence in activities of daily living. Foster care givers are committed to helping the children and young people who are physically, mentally, and/or socially abandoned. Government is responsible to take care of these youths. Local, state and Federal funding operates foster care services (Winder, 2007). When the individual turn 18 years, he/she is out of dependent foster care living system and has to start independent living. Moving into adulthood is important transformation in the span of human life. The individuals at this stage might not be physically and intellectually mature to take right decisions required to drive their future in a proper direction. Aged out individuals of foster care systems might become innocent victims of physical and emotional changes. Many times unfairly treated youth in foster care are saddened and get deeply hurt by surrounding forces. Plight of former foster care young people is of great concern. They might not be that strong to be own their own and stop relying on charity or handouts, whe n they are no longer part of foster care. The factors that account for the varied outcomes of aged out individuals are influenced by quality care of foster care facility.

Should democracies be forbidden to possess chemical weapons Essay

Should democracies be forbidden to possess chemical weapons - Essay Example This paper tends to assert that democracies should be forbidden to possess chemical weapons. Possessing chemical weapons threatens the integrity of a country. Let’s take the example of Iran to figure out how much tension possessing chemical weapons can create for the country itself and for the rest of the world. Iran has already been seeing tense relationship with U.S. and its allies, since the Iranian Revolution that came about in the late 1970s. The threat to Iran’s solidarity increased when President Bush declared it as part of â€Å"Axis of Evil† (WBGH educational foundation 2013, par.2). This threat did not decrease with the election bringing Barrack Obama in presidency. The notion that has further triggered the decision of U.S. war with Iran is Iran’s quest in nuclear technology. Iran’s acquiring chemical weapons, according to U.S., will be a threat to world’s peace. Even the allies of U.S. - England, Germany, and France- are worried ab out this nuclear state of Iran. ... Iran is not becoming a nuclear power (Henderson 2013); and therefore, it will not bear any threats from the external world, still threats prevail because Iran has been making military purchases from Washington and Gulf Arab, and has been making military maneuvers. This shows how being involved in and possessing chemical weapons threatens the stability and integrity of a country. Moreover, possessing chemical weapons creates a sense of hostility among countries of the world. USA has already entered into wars with a number of countries due to this reason, and this has destabilized those countries and has also put damaging effects upon the American economy. Entering into conflict disrupts the peace, not only of Iran but also of U.S., who has already lost the lives of many of its soldiers in military actions against Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans will never tolerate if the correct number of casualties of American soldiers in the war on terror is revealed to them (Nouraee 2010). The envi ronment of hostility brought about by chemical weapons only increases hatred, and encourages the residents of the attacked country to develop rebellious feelings. This does not help decrease terrorism, but increases violence and radical hostility. It only turns into a global hate combat. Also, U.S. has already been suffering from financial burden because of heavy budgets being assigned to war on terror. The sense of confrontation has been prevailing throughout the world because of the possession of chemical weapons by some countries, and this unhealthy environment poses risk to economies and social statuses of countries. Possession of chemical weapons should also be forbidden because it increases the chances of warfare. Let’s understand what the ultimate objective behind the possession of

To examine a sector in the service industry and analyse the service Assignment

To examine a sector in the service industry and analyse the service marketing issues affecting one of the organisations in that sector - Assignment Example Over the last one year the industry has been the hot topic of discussion due to the recent global financial turmoil which has shaken the banking industry in most of the developed countries in the world. UK is one of the largest economies in the world. As a result its banking industry greatly influences not its own economy but also the global economy. UK banking industry is the third largest banking sector in the world. It is one of the most efficient and dynamic industry in the entire Europe. It serves almost 95% of UK’s total population. Almost 3.5% of total workforce in UK is employed in UK banking industry. It has been found that productivity of UK financial sector is growing at a rate which three times higher than the pace of the UK economy. The sector is heavily influencing the GDP of the country. In 2007 financial sector and banks contributed approximately 70 billion euro to the national output of the country and this amount is almost 7% of UK’s GDP. Most importan tly this amount has witnessed an increase by 100% from the year 2003. UK banking sector is considered as the world leading center for private banking, investment and cross border banking. It is holding the fifth position in terms of global international lending. It has been observed that almost one third of global foreign exchange business involve banks in London only. As of December 2008 there are 381 credit institutions in UK. Moreover there are total 163 foreign credit institutions. Furthermore there are 2,241 investment firms in UK (Financial Service Authority, n.d.). The banking industry has gone through a radical transformation because of market liberalization. Significant deregulations and competition that was created out of that were the two main reasons behind this. In UK banking industry deregulation started when Competition and Credit Control in 1971 (CCC) was introduced in 1971. The competitiveness of UK banking

Consideration when building market-competitve compensation system Essay Example for Free

Consideration when building market-competitve compensation system Essay Discuss and explain the considerations when building market-competitive compensation systems. A company that strives to be competitive in whatever market they belong to will always look for strategic and competitive advantages. Building a market-competitive compensation system is the first step needed to attract, retain, and promote high performing individuals who will help a company reach and maintain that edge over competitors, so it is imperative to get it right the first time: offer compensation that is far above the median wage and the company must lower its bottom line, leaving it less money to reinvest, pay stockholders, etc. Offer too low a compensation package and the company will not be able to attract the high performers it is looking for to drive the competitive advantages further. To build a market-competitive pay system a company must: Conduct Strategic Analyses When a company conducts a strategic analysis of both the external market (industry profile, competitor information, long-term growth prospects) and internal factors (functional capabilities, financial situation) it is looking for the parameters or the limits that it can perform and grow with (Martocchio 146) . Assess competitor’s pay practices with compensation surveys The textbook goes into depth the factors surrounding compensation surveys, much of which are better explained in a statistics class. It is understandably difficult for a company to develop an internal custom compensation survey, as training personnel who have never done this is difficult, not the mention a company’s competition is understandably resistant to releasing pay numbers to rivals! Published surveys do exist, however, and consulting firms are there, depending on the industry. The most important strategic considerations to develop in a survey are determining the releva nt job market and choosing benchmark jobs within that market (150). Integrate internal job structure with external market pay rates – Using regression analysis, which â€Å"describes the linear relationship between two variables (i.e. simple regression) or between the linear composite of multiple variables and one other variable (i.e. multiple regression)† (380). In simpler terms, it is finding the sweet spot for the company pay based on external markets and what they pay and factors internal  to the company (relevant work experience, job value, etc). Determine compensation policies – A Company has three pay level policies to choose from: market lead, market lag, or market match. A market lead policy â€Å"leads† the way, establishing a pay which is higher than market trends but may result in reduced profits. This is, however, what a company may want to do to differentiate itself from the competition. Market lag policy has a company compensating employees less than the average. This is best suited to a lowest-cost strate gy and the claim can be made that those low costs are passed to the clients or consumers. Market match policy ensures the company is compensating its personnel the same as current market trends. It is a safe way to go but does little to help a company distinguish itself from competitors, but if it fits within the strategic goals of a company it is the way to go. Works Cited Martocchio, Joseph J. Strategic Compensation: A Human Resource Management Approach 7th Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2013.

Natural And Man Made Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay

Natural And Man Made Pollution Environmental Sciences Essay Pollutions are two types. The natural and Man Made. The natural pollution is caused and produced naturally and will not affect our environment because of its regeneration ability. The Man made pollution is being made by humans and have huge affect on our environment and definitely ourselves. The reason of increasing the pollution daily is because of raising of population of the world since it is getting bigger there is need to contact to the environment to provide the necessaries of humans. By developing the new technologies and using them to reach and discover new resources people have had a harmful affect on the planet. It is clear that the small population with new technologies will not affect the environment or if it is affecting it is not that much an can be controlled while huge population by using the technologies will clearly have bad results for the planet. Pollution is one of the major issue and concern. It has not been happened recently or accidently. It is human`s mistake since long years back and has been beside us since many years ago . We must be clever try hard to save our energies and resources and we have to have a good management and programs to protect the resources that we are using nowadays which we might not have them in coming years. We should use them usefully and try to prevent any type of pollution to our Environment and save the earth and resources for our future and provide a better living place. In General There are 6 ( Six ) types of pollution . Which we are going to discuss about four of them that it is believed to be the major ones. Air Pollution Water Pollution Radioactive Pollution RADIATION POLLUTION Radiation is any kind of ionizing and nonionizing radiation that is caused by human activity. Nuclear power generating plants are the well known source of generating radiation; however there is other ways in which radiation is also emitted like: any nuclear devices, medical X rays microwaves and experimental research laboratories. However the amount of radiation that are emitted is considerably less than the nuclear power generator plants but is nuclear plants the amount of radiation al always under the check by the workers and specialists. In case that the radiation level is increasing in nuclear reactors; the specialists will shut down the reactor or decrease the nuclear chain reaction. (Radiation, library.Thinkquest, 2011) Radiation has bad effects on both land and human health. The land that is exposed to radiation will not be unfertile and if something grows on the land will have considerably high amount of radiation in the fruits and vegetables which is really bad for human health to consume. Radiation takes hundreds of years to vanish. If a person is exposed to radiation it is very dangerous and can lead to cancer, anemia, burns and vomiting. In some cases the genetic disorders are caused by radiation such as: mutation over long period of time mostly in off springs. The effect of radiation to human health depends on the amount of radiation that the person is exposed to and there is also many more such as: the length of exposure, kind of radiation, age, and the individuals health and also exposed body parts. Nowadays exposure to radiation is minimal because of technological advancement. However it can come from damaged nuclear plants, accidents from transporting of nuclear fuel and wastes. (The effe cts of radiation, biology-online, 2011) Nuclear wastes must be stored in heavily shielded sealed containers and be stored in areas away from biological habitats the safest storage sites are in deep caves or abandoned salt mines. To avoid radiation prevent over exposure to x-rays and CT scans, avoid living near nuclear plants or stay there for too long and stay clear of radioactive materials and elements. Radiation exposure is a real danger. As Japan is battling its worst nuclear crisis. Radiation leakages threaten the health of the entire humanity. In Time Magazine, Prof. John K.C. Leung gives advice on radiation exposure how to avoid radiation exposure. Remember nuclear radiation exposure can travel through clouds. It doesnt really matter where you are. If the radioactive atomic materials can travel through air, then it can go anywhere.(According to newsbalita, 2011). John K.C. Leung explains that the general protocol for those who find themselves in danger of exposure to nuclear material should; stay indoors the walls will provide some measure of protection from the radiation, close the windows and doors plus turn off the ventilation system. Various people support nuclear experimentation and suggest that by the help of technological advancements and the above safety precautions, radiation pollution/exposure can be controlled and avoided for example according to (biology-online, 2011)Today, high level exposure is very rare due to the advancement of technology. It could come from defective or badly damage nuclear plants, ammunitions of factories, and nuclear war. However radiation moves everywhere and its hard to contain for example experts say radiation can travel through clouds. It doesnt really matter where you are. If the radioactive atomic materials can travel through air, then it can go anywhere (newsbalita, 2011) Water pollution Water pollution is an undesirable change in the state of water, which contains harmful substances. It is an important environmental issue like Air pollution .Water pollution is the physical, chemical and biological properties of water which contains harms other living organisms. Polluted water is unfit for drinking and for other consumption purposes. Since its polluted, it harms human beings and other living organism which use water as it contains viruses, bacteria, intestinal parasites and other harmful microorganisms. It also causes diesis such as diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid. Due to pollutants entire ecosystem gets disturbed infected. The causes of pollution are disease-causing agents. These are bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasitic worms that enter sewage systems and untreated waste, oxygen-demanding wastes which can be decomposed by oxygen-requiring bacteria. Oxygen levels in the water depletes when large amount of decomposing bacteria converts, which becomes the causes of death of other organisms in the water, such as fish. Another pollutant of water is water-soluble inorganic pollutants, such as acids, salts and toxic metals. Large quantities of these compounds make the water unfit for drink and cause death of aquatic life. Nutrients are also water pollutants, they are water-soluble nitrates and phosphates that cause excessive growth of algae and other water plants, which deplete the waters oxygen supply. Its dangerous as, it kills fish and might kill child if found in drink water. Water Pollution Causes Although certain natural processes may cause some of the water pollution, however, the largest cause of our seas, rivers and lakes getting polluted is the human activity. We use water every day both in our industries and at homes. We get this water from groundwater sources, rivers, and lakes, and after using it, and often contaminating it, most of this water gets back into the rivers, lakes, and oceans. (Water treatment purification, 2009) A major problem in developing countries is the disposal of sewage, as there is no adequate sanitation in large areas, thus carrying disease causing bacteria and viruses into sources of water. In countries that are developed, people often flush pharmaceutical and chemical products into their toilet. (Water treatment purification, 2009) Air pollution Substance in the air that cause harm to humans and the environment are known as air pollutants. Pollutants can be in form of solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases. In addition, they may be natural or man-made. Pollutants can be classified as primary or secondary. Usually, primary pollutants are directly emitted from a process, such as ash from a volcanic eruption, the carbon monoxide gas from a motor vehicle exhaust or sulfur dioxide released from factories. Secondary pollutants are not emitted directly. They form in the air when primary pollutants react or interact. Example of a secondary pollutant is ground level ozone, one of the many secondary pollutants that make up photochemical smog. Some pollutants may be both primary and secondary that is, they are both emitted directly and formed from other primary pollutants. (Pollution Greenhouse gas) Air

Future of the U.S. Essay example -- Essays Papers

Future of the U.S. America has always been viewed as the richest and freest nation in the world. America has grown from thirteen self-governed states, to a nation with a strong central government of power and wealth. The change in society has allowed the U.S. to grow into what it is today. Without the change in views and the responsibility of the citizens the economy would have never grown to be strong and wealth. The nation is effected by many different variables. One variable effects the other. The nation was started and has progressed to where it is today, but with rises and downfalls in all areas of life from education and small families to economics and large businesses. America’s economy is the most successful economy the world has ever known. "So strong was the U.S. economy in the post-war period that we were able to muster our resources to embark upon the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and also to design a peacetime economy in Japan"(1). By the end of the nineteenth century the US had passed all other countries in both agriculture and industrial output (history channel). America today is one of the leading markets for the entire world in agriculture and industry. America is mainly a free enterprise, therefore citizens are able to start their own businesses and have more job freedom than anywhere else in the world. It is for this one main reason that the economy has done so well in the US. For the Nation, employment in all industries is projected to increase by 27.2 million jobs, or 1.5 percent at an annual rate, in 1993-2005; it had increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in 1983-93(2). With a free enterprise private owners establish mo re wealth, sending the money back into the economy by spending money. Every c... ...ruary 1999, 3. Works Cited - Brown, Sherrrod. "America and the global economy: International trade and investment." Vital Speeches of the Day, 1 March 1998, 293-96. - Hill, Patrice. "Good times could roll to a halt in ’99." Insight on the News, 1 February 1999, 39. - "More homeless, more hungry," America, 30 January-6 February 1999, 3. - NCES, "NCES Fast Facts," National Center for Education Statistics NCES Fast Fact, 25 February 1999, http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/478.asp?type=4 (10 March 1999). - REIS, "Regional and State Projection of Economic Activity and Population to the year 2005," REIS Regional and State Projections of Economic Activity and Population to the year 2005, Originally published in the July, 1995 Survey of Current Business, http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/document/reis/stssurvy.html (10 March 1999).

Type Talk Essay example -- essays research papers

Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Love, and Work by Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen Dell Publishing, October, 1989 Type Talk is a primer on personality preference typing centered on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (â€Å"MBTI†). The MBTI is a widely-used â€Å"test† that helps a person begin to understand why people perceive situations differently, communicate different from others, and opt for different activities. The book’s authors, Otto Kroeger and Janet Thuesen, husband and wife, have long been in the forefront of adapting the MBTI for use in everyday life and coined the phrase â€Å"Typewatching† as a descriptor for their work. Kroeger and Thuesen open the book with a chapter on â€Å"name-calling†. They use this phrase, not in the derogatory sense as is often the case, but to show that name-calling is used by everyone as a means of â€Å"cataloging people† based on their unique, identifying characteristics. If we’re to do this inevitable â€Å"name-calling† the authors believe it should be done in an objective and constructive manner and when elevated to this higher level it becomes â€Å"Typewatching† In the early 1920’s the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung developed a theory of personality types where he said behavioral differences were â€Å"a result of preferences related to the basic functions our personalities perform throughout life† (p. 8). Jung’s theory was published in his book titled Personality Types in 1923. Meanwhile, earlier in the century, Katherine Briggs was researching human behavior and through her observations had developed a way to describe it – that due to different life styles, people approach life differently. When Briggs read Jung’s work she found it to be very similar to her own work and set hers aside to focus on Jung’s. Shortly thereafter, Briggs’ daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers became involved and the mother-daughter team sought to assimilate their work with that of Jung. In the 1940’s Myers created an inventory based on her mother’s observations and Jung’s theory. The two women theorized that, with the offensive of the Second World War so near, if people were more aware of their psychological type they could be assigned to wartime roles that best fit their preferences. The MBTI was slow to gain acceptance by the psychological community. Few psychologists signed on to Jung’s obscure theories and even Jung himself felt his theor... ...Another benefit from the style of this book is that it prompts us to laugh at ourselves as I did when I read the traits of a (P)erceiver who is â€Å"easily distracted and can get ‘lost’ between the front door and the car† (p. 21). The foreword to the book comes from Dr. Charles Seashore, a faculty member at Santa Barbara’s Fielding Institute. In his foreword he presents what I feel is a major premise of this book where he says â€Å"impossible conflicts, unreconcilable differences, and personality conflicts are amenable to new types of solutions when seen through the lens of Typewatching. Our hopeless dilemmas are turned to the light in such a way that vivid colors soon replace dull and draining grays. The differences that block us can be translated into differences that empower us.† I find the views expressed in Type Talk offer a perfect complement to the humanistic perspective on personality where the humanists emphasize free will and the innate goodness of humankind. Typewatching seeks to move us beyond the simplistic good/bad, right/wrong approach to behavior by leading us toward an appreciation of the gifts and strengths of ourselves and others and a celebration of our differences.

The Importance of Interpersonal Communications in a Friendship Essay

I don’t know where I would be without my best friend. The person who keeps me sane when my family is driving me crazy, or the person who will stay up with me all night to support me when I have a last minute paper due in a class; I don’t know where I would be without that support. I found this support in my best friend, my sister from another father, Regina. Regina is an eccentric, overbearing, lover of all things natural type of girl. She lives life to the fullest and never backs down from a challenge. She is funny, full of whit and sharper than a tack fresh out of the box. Although it hasn’t always been a smooth road for us we still remain friends to this day. Regina and I were neighbors for several years and in that time our friendship strengthened and didn’t seem like anything could break it. It was in our getting older and need for exploration that slowly initiated the fissure in our friendship. We began not seeing eye-to-eye on subjects that we used to agree on when we first met. I would find myself looking for companionship in other friends instead of relying on her for support; and that was wearing thin. It was in our return home that we really started to waiver and greatly changed our relationship to something that I could not recognize. When I began to comprehend the faults within our relationship, I knew it was time to act. Focusing on the Struggle Spectrum by the National Communication Association, I noticed that we were repeatedly climbing the struggle ladder and falling off the edge only to repeat it again. My younger, less educated version of myself would never have seen the problems but now, after years of college and my Interpersonal Communications class, I could see what needed to be done. I b... ...has changed me for the better and I now know that Regina is ready to complete this journey with me. â€Å"The friends that listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius† (Karl Meninger). I am greatly pleased with the outcome of this challenge and look forward to what comes next. The profound meaning of my friendship with Regina and what we’ve been through over the past 11 years constantly reminds me that of all the moments we’ve shared, arguments we’ve had, and time spent apart. I appreciate that nothing—absolutely nothing is more uplifting and inspiring than enduring the challenges of life with someone who knows you like the back of your hand. â€Å"It is by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends, Henri Nouwen. Works Cited Beebe S., Beebe S., Redmond M. (2011, 2008, 2005) Allyn & Bacon by Pearson Education, Inc.

Fender’s Supply Chain Management Essay

The world’s manufacturing leader–Fender Guitar Company which was established in 1946, the full name of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In the past 60 years, Fender has become one of the hallmarks of the United States. The contribution of Fender sound’s modern music development has already been spread in global and still continuing. Through the first to introduce the commercialization solid electric guitar, produced the first electric bass and numerous classic speaker. The style of Fender musical instruments includes jazz, pop, rock, country music and so on. Everyone from beginners to enthusiasts and even the world-renowned performers all can find the suitable musical instruments for them. Fender intends to position itself in the company not only a revered music industry name, but also a cultural icon (HREF 1). Fender Squier series of guitar, bass, speakers and other products combined with its full line of Fender acoustic guitar considering the price for f ocusing on musicians endurance offers a wide range of options. Long-term development by the inspired, Fender created a complete product line of professional-grade guitar and bass speakers. Fender has a series of pro audio, including complete portable sound systems, professional-grade audio equipment. Fender also provides a wealth of accessories, including strings, standard replacement parts, Fender logo strap, as well as casual wear. Fender set the assembly plant in Arizona Scottsdale; California Cornona; Tennessee, Nashville; Mexico Ensenada; London; Germany Dusseldorf; Paris, France and Gothenburg, Sweden. In North America distribution centre, Fender is the only distributor of electric instruments in the United States and Canada. They provided music equipment products from the main series to accessories. Fender’s warehouse directly ships to more than 1500 musical instrument dealers who located in the United States and Canada. 2Fender’s supply chain managementFrom 1946 till now, 60 years experience in business management, fender has a very sophisticated supply chain management in its product parts procurement and sales activities. Although the structure of their supply chains gradually updated and changed by the age development. However, from the international status of today of Fender in the guitar industry around of the world, which has already proven the success of supply chain management in Fender and also clearly discover that the importance of doing supply chain management in their business  activities. I plan to analyze the typical aspects case by case of Fender in their supply chain management. It includes the international market supply chain strategy, supplier selection, customer strategies, raw material supply chain management, supply chain partners. 2.1 Fender’s global supply chainFender positioned their products for the highest quality, high-quality, medium quality. The highest quality products manufacturing at corona factory in California. Ensenada factory in Baja California, Mexico is responsible for the production of medium to high-end guitar. Fender also developed their market to Asia. They contracted with the Asian guitar manufacturers to manufacture fender guitar. And also produce the cheap Squier guitar to meet the needs of different consumers. Fender Guitar previously only popular in the United States, but since 1990, Fender guitar expanded the market into Japan and has achieved outstanding results. Fender was in its Ensenada, Mexico plant started to produce the guitar for the Japanese market, although only a small number of production, but is a signal to enter the international market. Squier brand by Fender is a marketing tool to win the business. It also made the introduction of the foundation for Sratocasterr series in international market. Gradually, Stratocaster have become increasing popular in Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia. Fender’s supply chain management made successful in Asian. 2.2 Fender’s typical suppliersIn recent years, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation purchased a number of instrument from his supplier, these suppliers including the Guild Guitar Company, the Sunn Amplifier Company, and other brands such as SWR Sound Corporation (HREF 1). 2003 early, Fender made some adjustment for its family of products Gretsch and started the production and distribution of new Gretsch guitars. 2.3 Fender’s new supply chain strategyFender plans to promote their products can be more clearly conveyed. They announced in Feb. 2007 will be to produce a product guide with illustrations of replace the traditional front-line journal of the year. This change in order to give publicity by its supply chain cost considerations, The traditional cost of printing, as well as the most trend copyright convenient substitute for internet magazine, which can  solve the printing, distribution, copyright issue of cost and time. The guide contains a set of new Fender product introduction and picture. The new Fender Frontline In-Home will be conveyed to customers the latest products of Fender, and the provision of mail to customers if they need and have registered in the Fender website. This shows that the Fender was constantly improving its customer service systems to optimize their supply chain management. 2.4 Fender’s Australia supply chainFender in Australia has a complete supply chain system, but it still has a few aspects need to improve. Fender established more than 92 local authorized dealers in the Australia, 26 in NSW (HREF 2). Fender distributes Recommended Retail Price (RRP) information to all of its authorized Fender Dealers in Australia, but the retailers is no obligation to follow recommended price, so retailers can manage the price flexibility in different regions. Fender in Australia also provides the service of identification of guitars of customer own. Through the phone and internet application, customer can bring their guitar to retailer shop. In the sell model, Fender Australia does not sell directly to consumers. Customers need to find an authorized Fender Dealer to buy the product. It required Fender need to establish more enough dealers to satisfy the customers from different regions. I must give up some potential customer in small regions when Fender want to cut cost for retail establish. In addition, Fender provides the service to customer to help them value their advantages of guitar choice. They are dealing with an established local business and provides warranty for local customer, and also customer can receive excellent advice from a professional from Fender. 2.6 Fender’s American supply chainFender’s commitment to achieve customer satisfaction, all the production lines in the United States must first be assigned to the Fender’s California warehouse. Products must pass stringent inspection and quality control process to allow the shipment. Fender staff inspect all equipment to ensure that the voices of debugging, interoperability, as well as the unloading of containers from retailers. Fender use Barcode system to inventory all products. â€Å"The savings from bar code system will be in the form of the elimination of running the same orders twice due to error† (Joansson, 2008). Barcode system can efficiently locate and retrieve any given product in seconds by computer operating. Bar code also provides an important follow-up of the electronics and data, including price information, model and serial number, transportation and receiving dates. It helpful convinced service to dealers. Before shipment, the products need to be inspected stringently again. Fender distribution center provide their dealers a variety of shipping way. The high quality ship and quickly delivery time by only 3-4 working days from warehouse to United States and Canadian dealers. For Fender’s supply chain management, the quality of product would be put in the heading mission. Fender insists that they can provide the high quality and also valued their network of customers and dealers in order to efficiency distribution systems in the musical instrument industry (HREF 1)3. The value-add from Fender’s supply chain partners3.1 Outsouring and supply chain integrationThird-party logistics is no stranger to Europe, as a business outsourcing industry has been in Europe several hundred years of history. Many well-known companies such as Schenker. They began to use such as the provision of transport, warehousing and other services. However, due to specialization aware of the importance of paying attention to outsourcing and as the rise of an industry was beginning from 80s, 90s during the 20th century in United States (Weng, 2006). According to statistics, in 1992 the United States third-party logistics market turnover of 35 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for the logistics market, the total turnover of 2% -3% in 1996 has reached 50 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of the total logistics market to 5% — 6%, and third-party logistics in the United States in 1997 and 1998, the business growth of 40% and 15% respectively. Third-party logistics began to extend to all parts of the world from the United States, today’s third-party logistics business world as a whole accounted for about one-third and also a 15% annual growth rate.(Li, Yu & Xu, 2006). Third-party logistics companies in the supply chain is a link, it will throughout the supply chain of other companies as its clients and customers. While in reality the demand for customer-oriented environment is bound to drive with the strengthen communication between the logistics enterprise and the each member of the supply chain in order to know each other more than before(Li, Yu & Xu, 2006). To become effective organizers and managers of the supply chain, we must first understand the specific circumstances of the members, along with third-party logistics own familiarity with the logistics are far higher than that of other members, so third-party logistics enterprise supply chain integration is of course an expert. It is for this reason that more enterprises are now seeking cooperation with third-party logistics companies to supply chain integration. For example, Fender collaborated with Global logistics company-UPS to integrate their supply chain and improve the performance. UPS distribution center in United Kingdom helps Fender to complete its process of flow lines and centralized so that the Fender Company in recent years to achieve sales in Europe doubled in the Scheme. UPS management from factories from all over the world on sea and land purchase by a third party logistics companies to manage their inventory EDCs. EDCs inspection by the quality of the employees to view the inventory, distribution and retailers to meet orders, manage the delivery of multi-carrier. Fender can shorten the delivery time and better monitoring of the quality and delivery of orders. More importantly, before UPS ship the guitar to the retails. They will complete each of the guitar tuning to ensure that you can play guitar when retailers remove products from t he box. 3.2Fender also value their partnerFender and BestBuy established a collaboration relationship in 2008. in July 28,2008, BestBuy announced they will open up 2500 square feet of â€Å"Music centers† in its 85 stores for sale include Fender, Gibso and other well-know brands, including more than 1000 kinds of ordinary accessories, music high guitar, bass, DJ equipment, musical instruments of professional products and provide enthusiasts gathering irrigation discs, musical training services(Rudnick,2008). Faces  to about 80 billion a year U.S. musical instrument market, as was the same as BestBuy Mobile implementation, BestBuy and Wal-Mart can share the music game market from now on. However, it has a highly requirement for supply chain management of suppliers. Accordingly, Fender reduced the delivery time for 1 week through outsourcing logistics management company’s entire system of UPS, and also decreased by almost 10% of distribution costs (HREF 3). It not only meets the fast delivery request from BestBuy, but also reduces the total cost ownership of Fender. 4. Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) model in Fender The basic elements of the SCOR model are:4.1 Planning in Fender Supply ChainIn the planning phase, fender first plan resources. They are planning the parts of guitar, the definition of the demand for production and purchase. For special materials, such as the type of wood to a strict screening, different corresponding and various types of woods are produced for different types of guitar series, even take up some wood seasoned for several years, this is a long-term resource planning process. Secondly, Fender’s production team is not only has the professional production skills, but also the production of each staff is professional guitar enthusiasts. In this making planning stage. The need for a clear definition of the design and need to be aware of the guitar development at this stage and clear understand the needs of the consumer. People always say that guitar is a culture, for the designers, the experience of this culture for the guitar production is very important. Thirdly, delivery work in the sales process is particularly important. Fortunately, Fender made strategy with 3PLs which brought a large advantage in the issue of product shipments for them. Faster, reduce costs and ensure security is the best result in the SCOR model implement in Fender. Finally, in the return planning, it can be defined as the return of commodity and return of profit. Fender has developed its product returning of after-sales service system, including maintenance, replacement and the responsibility for risk protection. Fender makes the return of profit have  more capital to develop new sales markets, the design of new products and increase the welfare of employees. Source from Lee Styger, 20094.2 Make to stock & Make to orderWhatever in selling online or retail sales, Fender is trying to maintain adequate stock to meet the needs of customer. Absolutely, in the framework of a reasonable forecast, Push (make to stock) model can help Fender improve sales performance, as well as Fender can rapid response capability. However, over storage, high inventory level will lead to cost increased. In addition, many customer want to buy a special appearance and type guitar from Fender. Therefore, Fender’s Custom Shop was established to meet those needs. They use Pull (make to order) model when customer release the order to them. Design and produce the specifically product to customer. However, it is also has some limited by Pull model, timeless will be a biggest challenge for Fender production line. Thus, keep the necessary raw material by Push model is necessary. This kind of Hybird model still suit for most manufactory companies, such as McDonald’s and vehicle industry. ConclusionsSupply chain is critical for Fender Guitar Company. The manufacturing sector has heavily depends to supply chain management, whatever in its purchase of raw materials, plant location, production planning, warehouse management, transportation, sale of products and customer service. All of these cannot be separated from supply chain management. Obviously, Fender made a good job in its supply chain management. Although there are a few problems still need to optimize by Fender via supply chain development. The recommendation can be included that make risk and cost analysis when Fender want to expand their sale network, because too much retail outlets establishment lead to cost increased. In addition, the accession to join the online shopping business, allowing online orders, online payment, order tracking, such as a series of e-supply chain strategy, so that the fender can be a richer sales model, reduce the cost and time instead of text paper working process, and it also cater the tastes of young people. Absolutely, the new electronic supply chain strategy can also be outsourced to  third-party logistics companies. References Joansson,J2008,http://bsminfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=625&Itemid=147, accessed 15/05/2009Li, Y, Yu, J & Xu, L 2006, 3PLs in supply chain management, http://www.globrand.com/2006/18441.shtml, accessed 12/05/2009Rudnick, M 2008, Best Buy, Super-Regional See Major Gains in White Good, http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/sales-selling-sales/9341175-1.html, accessed 14/05/2009Weng, D 2006, 3PLs-The Breakthrough of Supply Chain Innovation, http://www.globrand.com/2006/40390.shtml, accessed 12/05/2009HREF 1: ww.fender.com, accessed 13/05/2009HREF 2: http://www.fender.com.au/prices.php, accessed 13/05/2009HREF 3: http://www.globrand.com/2009/226020.shtml

Critical Reflection Essay Essay

Upon reflective exploration of my 16 week journey regarding the overall critical reflection of Nursing 5403 also referred to as Organizational Theory or Administration I, I find that I have a more sound and in depth theoretical understanding of key leadership and nursing administrative concepts and processes. This course has increased my knowledge base in regards to organizational design, augmented my awareness of healthcare administrative concepts, and strengthened my understanding of management concepts and processes. This educational experience has revealed imperative and insightful examples and practices used to become a more efficient, effective and formative leader. I have increased my usage of many of these concepts to improve my leadership skills and practice, to â€Å"walk the walk†, in my daily work /life regimen. I will examine, evaluate, and reflect on the core information covered in this course by dividing the methods of delivery into three main presentation categ ories: written, oral, and online. The written presentation format was used to deliver the five discussion board questions and leadership instrument paper results. The discussion board allowed the opportunity to explore management concepts and practices from various perspectives. The leadership instrument paper allowed in depth exploration of variety of traits, theories, and practices important to leaders. I found both of these learning experiences very enlightening and beneficial to my overall managerial acumen. Northhouse (2013), explained on the sixteen types and styles of leadership, which had a major impact on my overall viewpoints regarding humans and management in our administrative worlds today. I was able to identify and relate the diverse leadership styles and types in a positive way and glean insightful understanding of different people and their leadership potential. The discussion board gave me free range to strengthen my self-expressive abilities and interact with my peers. The leadership instrument pape r allowed for self-analysis with specific references to key leadership ideals and concepts. I feel both assignments gave me insight into my leadership strengths, weaknesses, foci, and desires which will in turn assist me in  becoming a successful consistent leader. Oral presentations were used by both the students and the professor to teach assigned lessons. The dyad presentations were completed within the professor assigned groups. The organizational culture assignment was individually completed by each student. Dr. Junious, our professor, presented multiple management and leadership topics during the 16-week timeframe of our course work. The dyad group assignments allowed the students to work as a team, increase/ improve communication skills, and strengthen public speaking skills. The organizational culture assignment enriched my understanding of my department’s culture and fostered a new understanding and more tolerable acceptance of the different personalities which shapes my department and company. The professor guided topics allowed me to glean current knowledge on trends in nursing leadership and introduced new variables regarding emotional intelligence. One of the crucial components from our main source, Roussell (2013) which I have used on a consistent basis are the power listing tools known as, â€Å"AMPP†, which stands for: ask, mirror, paraphrase, and prime. Consistent usage of these tools has empowered my ability to extract important information in a judicious manner, which has resulted in workflow improvement and increased productivity in my current position. The online method was used to complete our online certificate training for the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) leadership and quality courses. Both of these certificate online courses were very informative and educational. I gained excellent training from these online courses. The information presented in this online self-study gave illuminating examples, and reinforced positive and evidence based methods of leadership and analytical procedures. My goal is to complete at least eight of the other courses listed on this website to strengthen my inner self to produce stronger leadership abilities and increase process awareness. Overall, the knowledge, skills, and experience gleaned from my enrollment and participation in this class has enhanced my understanding of organizational processes and essential, effective leadership traits. I truly enjoyed my time in this course, it was interesting and informative.  The educational experience has stimulated and supported both professional and personal growth in my life. The traits and theoretical evidence based practices illustrated within our resources reinforced my thoughts that great leaders are formed and not born. References Northhouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Roussel, L. (2013). Management and Leadership for Nurse Administrators. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Best Buy Case Analysis

Case Analysis Current Situation â€Å"Our formula is simple: we’re a growth company focused on better solving the unmet needs of our customers—and we rely on our employees to solve those puzzles. Thanks for stopping. † Richard Schulze started Best Buy and grew it to a million dollar company within four years. The future CEO of Best Buy learned that diversification in the stores’ offerings and serving various target segments led to increased market share.After going public in 1985, Best Buy changed from commissioned and specialized customer assistants to a non-exempt, hourly paid sale associates to ensure that customers’ needs are the employees’ top priority. In 1999, Best Buy successfully launched its online store. Through acquisitions of Napster, electronic sellers, and home appliances suppliers, Best Buy was able to grow and gain the resources necessary for its international expansion. By using backwards vertical integration, Best Buy was a ble to broaden their scope and have bigger economies of scale, achieving savings that were passed along to our customers.Related diversification has also allowed Best Buy to maintain revenues, even through the recent economic recession. Best Buy’s primary industries are Radio, Television, and Other Electronics Stores (NAICS 443112), Electrical and Electronic Appliance, Television, and Radio Set Merchant Wholesalers (NAICS 423620), Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers (NAICS 423430) and Household Appliance Stores (NAICS 443111). Price per share as of February 19, 2013 is $17. 33.In September 2011, Best Buy was named to the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability index for corporate citizenship and philanthropy, social reporting, stakeholder engagement and operational eco-efficiency. Currently, Best Buy’s greatest struggle is facing new industry competitors. The company is losing market share to online retailers, such as Amazon, and to its p rimary suppliers, including Apple, HP, and Dell. Best Buy’s suppliers have taken an approach to reduce the intermediaries between company and its customers, strategies that have left Best Buy out of the loop.In order to stay ahead of competitors (in terms of market share and sales) Best Buy has implemented a permanent price matching policy that was launched during the 2012 holiday season. This tactical move will help Best Buy retain its existing market share, but maintaining costs low enough to support this pricing strategy might be difficult for the showroom giant. In regards to diversification, Best Buy has enlarged its scope from home and car stereos, to nearly all electronic appliances and to multimedia offerings such as DVD’s, CD’s, videogames, etc.Best Buy has also continued customer relationship managements by implementing after-purchase support and diversifying its offerings by acquiring Geek Squad, Best Buy’s task force that provides technical su pport and installation of various software programs for recently purchased electronics. General Environmental Analysis The general environmental analysis emphasizes the trends that occur in the technology, demographics, economics, political/legal, sociocultural, physical and global segments of the environment.The goal of this analysis is to help find which of these segments will have the most impact on Best Buy over the next few years. Based on research and data we believe the segments that will be the most relevant to Best Buy are the demographic, technology, sociocultural, and global segments. Demographically, the United States population is getting larger, older, and more ethnically diverse. There are approximately 315,398,676 people in the United States, making it the third largest country in the world. The United States has grown by 103% since 1950 and is estimated to have a population around 440 million by 2050.An influencing factor in the population increase is that Americans are living longer. Due to advances in healthcare, people are living and contributing to society longer. Baby boomers, the biggest segment the U. S. population, are now becoming senior citizens and have caused the 65+ population age to shift from 8. 1% in the 1950 to over 12. 4% today. The United States continues to move up the list as one of the most racially and ethnically diverse countries in the world. The prevailing trend is the significant increase in the Hispanic population, stronger in the next few years.This growth is caused by immigration; more Hispanics are coming to the United States seeking refuge, jobs, or a better life for their family. As the population continues to change, Best Buy must find ways to cater to all generations, and avoid dependency on demographics and traditional marketing. They must target specific market segments and foresee the needs and wants of different generations through relevant and integrated marketing promotions. Specific targeting of custom ers will help Best Buy retain customers and create company loyalty. Technology is another segment that will have a major impact on Best Buy in the near future.Predictive analysis, social media, and multichannel retailing are trends that are most important in Best Buy’s general environment. Knowing your customers is a critical part to any industry, and predictive analysis is becoming one of the best ways to accomplish that objective. By correctly using technology to control the high volume and availability of data, companies can understand customers’ wants. A core competency of both Amazon and Netflix predictive analysis; based on previous purchases or views Amazon and Netflix can recommend items that the customers may be interested in, and the customer can give feedback about those recommendations.Predictive analysis is becoming more prevalent online, and to stay competitive, pure brick-and-mortar companies must follow suit. Best Buy uses predictive analysis through re ward programs and by analyzing consumer purchases. The company then sends coupons or information about promotions that may meet a customer’s profile. A simple example could be a person buys a DVD player and predictive analysis could be used to send that customer offer or promotions on DVD’s. Social media continues to be a growing trend in today’s business. Customers are now turning to social media to get information about companies and their products.According to research 70% of consumer use social media to hear about other consumers experiences, 65% use it to find information on brands, products, and services, 50% share concerns, 53% compliment brands, and 47% share money incentives. A person’s influence in social media circles can determine the extent of the benefit or harm to a company’s reputation; this is especially true with celebrities and athletes with millions of followers. Best Buy can take advantage of these statistics to improve their s trategic competitiveness by targeting champions to test new products and promotions and diffuse the findings through social media.The company can also use social media to show customers that they voicing their concerns matters, and solving customers’ problems, which would lead to an increase in customer retention and brand loyalty. Multichannel retailing is also becoming one the more relevant trends in the general environment. Consumers today have more options of purchasing points than ever before. With the latest technology, consumers can order a shirt using their cell phone, computer, tablet, or the retail store. This trend mixes with sociocultural trends and offers consumers convenience and a better shopping experience.This is relevant to Best Buy because it allows more ways to reach customers. Best Buy can send information to customers’ mobile devices and take advantage of impulse buyers by offering a venue for them to buy directly, without having to go to store. O verall, Best buy has made efforts to improve a customer’s experience through a variety of tactical decisions. Trends in the sociocultural segment are another area that will have an impact on Best Buy through its general environment. One of the biggest trends in this segment is convenience.Location/ access, variety/availability, speed of service, price, and environment are all big factors when it comes to convenience and play a big part in consumer beliefs about the benefits of shopping at a specific store. Best Buy does its best to make stores convenient with a variety of displays, Geek Squad on hand, and a friendly environment. Best Buy has increased convenience by offering products online for customers who prefer to stay out of the brick-and-mortar store. Best Buy focuses on these efforts by offering free shipping and by developing the Best Buy Marketplace, which will increase the variety and brands accessible to consumers.Another change in the attitude of consumers is the trend of aspirationalism. People today have a heightened sense of aspiration and have many goals they hope to accomplish. As a result consumers expect companies to meet all of their expectations as fast as possible. This need is fulfilled by speedy service and Best Buy’s in-store Geek Squad is capable of meeting goals quickly and efficiently. To keep up with expectations and competition, Best Buy must provide the latest technology and equipment to customer whenever they need it.Global trends that are sweeping the market are expansion into international areas and environmentally friendly (or â€Å"green†) initiatives. Many companies are looking to expand to overseas markets due to the potential growth in markets such as China, and India. In fact, according to Forbes. com, China is forecasted to have 10 to 16% share of world GDP growth from 2007 to 2014. Best Buy has made a strategic decision to invest in China with their growth initiative, where they hope to open approx imately 50 stores and implement Best Buy Mobile store-within-a-store concept in 2013.Environmentally friendly or â€Å"green† initiatives are an important trend to consumers and companies. Consumers are now more aware of their carbon footprints and against companies who fail to be eco-friendly. One thing that retailers like Best Buy are doing to be eco-friendly is reducing the size of packaging. Recyclable paper is now one of the main packaging ingredients for retailers like Best Buy. This is important because it will improve the company’s reputation and keep them in a positive light with consumers. Industry AnalysisBest Buy is in the retailing Radio, Television, Consumer Electronics, and Music Stores industry (443112), which sell household appliances, home entertainment devices and electronic products. In this industry, these retailers typically sell new products from manufacturers and wholesalers and often offer repair services for their products. Best Buy their serv ices are their Geek Squad division. Over the last five years, the industry revenue has dropped an average rate of 5. 0% annually ending in 2012 at $72. 2b. This decrease is also expected to continue to decline another 2. 8% (this year? ).But in the years leading up to 2017 the forecasts state that with the continuingly recovering economy revenue for this industry will also slowly crawl up at an average of 1. 3% each year. In the Radio, Television, Consumer Electronics, and Music Stores industry, the threat of new entrants is low due to the fact that there are many barriers to entry. The biggest barrier is the large amount of competitors in this industry and similar industries. The leading competitors are online retailers like Amazon, discount stores like Wal-Mart, appliance retailers like Lowes. With Best Buy holding 49. % of the market share and RadioShack holding 4. 8% it’s hard for new entrants to play with organizations that have established brand recognition and the vari ety of products that these retailers have. Another barrier to entry is that it requires a lot of startup capital to purchase all of the merchandise that is needed to compete with Best Buy. The threat of substitute products is low because Best Buy has close relationships with manufacturers and wholesalers of many prominent brands that will usually keep Best Buy ahead of the game by receiving the newest products from the hottest brands.There is also not many substitute products that are available that the consumer would be interested in purchasing. The ability the consumer has to go anywhere from online, to discount stores, to other electronic retailers makes the bargaining power of the buyer to be extremely high. Customers are now able to find the best products at the best prices online or are able to do price matching Bargaining power of suppliers is extremely high because Best Buy buys most of its merchandise from Sony, Samsung and LG, etc. This gives these organizations the upper hand and the ability to determine the price at which to sell its products to Best Buy.Best Buy essentially is forced to pay any amount that these large organizations think is appropriate based on the demand of the products at any given time. The competition among retailers in the consumer electronic industry is high with Wal-Mart being the frontrunner in the competition. Wal-Mart’s price matching strategy has led consumers to purchase electronics at Wal-Mart for lower prices. The mere size of stores like Wal-Mart and Costco has made competition fierce for Best Buy because it is nearly impossible for them to keep up the quantity of goods that are available at the super size discount stores.Amazon is another extraordinary threat to Best Buy, as well as to the industry as a whole, because Amazon enables the consumer to view a larger range of products online at time that is convenient for them. Home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot have also drawn many customers to th em with their elite selection of household appliances like dishwashers, stoves, and refrigerators. Internal analysis Best Buy’s internal environment has certain qualities that have affected its primary goal of making a profit.Best Buy’s top management recently changed after its CEO Brian Dunn resigned in April 2012 after it was revealed that he had had an inappropriate relationship with a female employee. This was only a little over three short years after he came to the position in June 2009. Hubert Joly, a French businessman, took over the position of CEO on August 17, 2012. Richard Schulze, who created Best Buy and sat as chairman of the board of directors, also resigned in June 2012, and Hatim A. Tyabji was his replacement. Hubert Joly, as the new CEO, had many problems to solve when he came to the position.The stock prices were down 50% at the time. Best Buy’s financial struggles are reflected in the income statement from the 3rd quarter of 2012, which is t he most recent financial information available. In this quarter, Best Buy had a net loss of $13 million, showing a significant decrease from the 3rd quarter of 2011, in which there was a $173 million net income. Top management attributes this sharp decline in income to a lower gross profit rate, higher sales, general, and administrative expenses, and lower revenues. The 3rd quarter of 2012 showed revenues in the United States of $7. million, down 4. 7% from the prior year period. Best Buy’s fixed expenses are significantly higher than its competitors because of the costs of maintaining large superstores. These brick and mortar locations are one of Best Buy’s most expensive resources, and the costs associated with them have become one of Best Buy’s greatest weaknesses. With high costs, Best Buy has struggled to compete with its competitors’ prices, causing a decrease in revenue as well. Best Buy announced in 2012 that it planned to close 50 superstores and lay off hundreds of employees.Best Buy’s products include gadgets, movies, music, computers, mobile phones, and appliances. In order to create value that its competitors cannot easily provide, Best Buy also offers services that include installation, maintenance, technical support, and subscriptions for mobile phone and internet services. In 2002, Best Buy acquired Geek Squad, a well-known computer repair service. Now, when customers buy a computer from Best Buy, they have the option to also purchase coverage from Geek Squad at a relatively low price. Best Buy’s customer service is continually improving as it is investing more in employee training and compensation.The sales associates ask customers a series of questions to get to know their unique needs and are therefore able to find the product that best suits them. This superior customer service and technical support is a core competency of Best Buy because it provides extra value for the customer, it is rare that a company can provide the variety of products Best Buy offers as well as expertise to handle issues with all of them, it is very difficult to imitate because of the high costs associated with training and compensation, and the experience of providing customer service face to face is not easily substituted.Many people expected Best Buy to see the same fate as its previous competitor, Circuit City, who had closed all of its stores in January 2009 after declaring bankruptcy. Joly, however, has made efforts to turn around the strategy of Best Buy by lowering costs, improving customer service, and decreasing store sizes in order to help Best Buy remain competitive in its industry. Identification of external opportunities and threats Best Buy has many opportunities that must be recognized before their window of opportunity expires. Proper external analyses are essential in running, and maintaining a sustainable business.There are four key components to external analyses. These include scann ing, monitoring, forecasting, and assessing. When a company like Best Buy participates in scanning they are attempting to anticipate changes in the general environment and recognize changes that are already occurring. They then monitor those changes to see if relevant trends can be identified. Forecasting will be a challenge to Best Buy because of rapid changes in technology. It is nearly impossible to predict what will happen in the future because Best Buy is unaware of the type of resources they will have at their disposal.Once Best Buy has taken the first three steps it is important that they assess the information, so that they can interpret the data and use it in a competitive manner. After Best Buy does an in depth external analyses they will realize their opportunities include growing the services offered to customers, expanding its mobile services, and growing internationally. If Best Buy grows its services offered to customers it could potentially create value through incre asing in store traffic and online purchasing. Expanding mobile services is a highly attractive opportunity for Best Buy.Although Best Buy has seen a decrease in sales in many of its stores, Best Buy Mobile has proven to be quite successful in the current market. Best Buy has seen a 5% loss in comparable stores, which would have been a 15% loss if the sales of Best Buy Mobile did not make up the damage. Acknowledging Best Buy as a global brand could have a significant impact, and presents an intriguing opportunity to Best Buy. Global innovation, consumer electronics, and the use of technology have never been more important in an international market than they are today.Best Buy has experienced success and failure in the international market. They have had success in Canada and Mexico, and have been unsuccessful in Europe and China. Best Buy needs to figure out how to adapt to foreign markets where they have been unsuccessful. If Best Buy can adapt to foreign markets more effectively than competitors it could create a competitive advantage. The way to successfully analyze an industry like the one Best Buy is in is through the Porter’s Five Forces Model. This will indicate whether or not the opportunities the industry presents are attractive enough to outweigh the threats.The first aspect of Porter’s Five Forces is the threat of new entrants. In an industry like Best Buy’s the threat of new entrants is not very high. Best Buy has already driven multiple competitors out of business. There are high barriers to entry, and Best Buy would not hesitate to retaliate if any new entrances transpired. The second aspect of the Porter’s Five Forces Model is the threat of substitute products. This is a concern for Best Buy because many of its competitors are selling similar products online.The products they sell are not highly differentiated amongst competitors, and many consumers feel their competitors provide a more convenient option. Best Buy th en must analyze the bargaining power of both suppliers and buyers in the industry. Best Buy serves as a middle man, so they do not have much power. This means that the bargaining power of suppliers is high. There are 20 suppliers that Best Buy uses for 65 percent of their products. Five of those 20 suppliers can account for 40 percent of their products.The bargaining power of the buyer is incredibly high in this industry because consumers have several different options, and different ways to purchase the products they want. Consumers can even browse products at a local Best Buy location, search for it online to see if their competitors offer a similar product at a lower price, and purchase the product somewhere else while they are in the store. The final aspect of the Porter’s Five Forces Model is to analyze the rivalry among competing firms. Best Buy’s industry provides a vast amount of rivalry among existing competitors.Purchasing consumer electronics online has beco me a common trend amongst consumers in recent years. Online retailers can maintain low costs because they don’t have the costs associated with brick and mortar locations. This allows companies like Amazon. com to steal market share from Best Buy. Other successful companies that are competitive in the industry are Wal-Mart, Costco, and Radio Shack. Based on the Porter’s Five Forces Model our analysis of the industry that Best Buy is in does not look too attractive. We would conclude that we should avoid this industry, and pursue a different direction.Strategy Development Best Buy’s big box retail stores currently follow a focused cost leadership strategy. Best Buy is best known for its big-box retail stores that offer a narrow scope of products that mainly consists of electronics. Best Buy generally advertises low prices, low price guarantees, and they offer price matching at many locations. Best Buy wants their consumers to perceive them as low cost so it can be inferred that they follow a cost leadership strategy, and since they only operate within the electronics market then that makes it a focused cost leadership strategy.The Best Buy Corporation follows a related diversification strategy. Other than the large retail locations, Best Buy currently owns Geek Squad, Best Buy Mobile, The Carphone Warehouse, and Five Stare Appliances. All of these stores have related resources, products and services. The Best Corporation tends to stick with electronics retail stores and related services. For example, Best Buy stores sell computers while Geek Squad repairs and services computers. One business serves and supports the other.Best Buy has a good corporate strategy where they only buy and operate business that sell consumer electronics or support/service consumer electronics, but best must address issues with their business level strategies. The bulk of Best Buy and its other companies business is electronics retail from brick and mortar locations where Best Buy acts as a middle man between electronics consumers and electronics manufactures, but because of internet retailers there is increasingly little need for brick and mortar retailers like Best Buy.Current trends show that more and more people are buying online because it is generally cheaper since people can buy direct from manufactures. If this trend continues, Best Buy’s big box retail stores will become obsolete and start to lose money. Best Buy has an online retail service but the brick and mortar locations still make up the majority of Best Buy’s sales. The first recommendation is that Best Buy should shift the retail part of their businesses to being more online, while keeping the non-retail services like Geek Squad.The next recommendation is that Best Buy should grow more internationally, specifically Europe. Best Buy has a strong presence in North America, but has a lot of room to grow in Europe. In Europe Best Buy mostly exists as The Carphone War ehouse, which is similar to the American Best Buy stores but the majority of The Carphone Warehouse revenue comes from selling electronics insurance and electronics repair. Best Buys could expand more into the European electronics retail market both in-store and online.Strategy Selection We believe that the better of the two strategies is to move the retail parts of Best Buy’s business to being more online. They shouldn’t move it completely online, but Best Buy should try and sell more online to try and compete with the online retailers. Best Buy has had problems with people coming into stores, looking for items, and then going home and buying them online from places like Amazon. If the customers are buying online then Best Buy should be more competitive online.The brick and mortar stores could be more like show rooms that advertise products for the online store. If Best Buy takes this route, they should then make their online prices more competitive and be sure to adv ertise those lower online prices in the stores. Implementation In the next 3 to 6 months, Best Buy can implement its strategy of increasing profit by cutting low performing stores, increasing advertising, and increasing employee training. On the tactical level, Best Buy should cut the stores performing in the bottom 2%, which would be about 28 stores.This will lower the high fixed costs associated with maintaining large brick and mortar locations. Best Buy should then move the inventory from these locations to warehouses used for online purchases and buy more warehouses if necessary. Best Buy should also increase advertising for its new price matching policy in order to gain back some of the market it lost to competitors like Amazon. On the operational level, Best Buy should increase its training to employees so that sales associates gain valuable customer relationship management skills that provide value to customers.These tactical and operational moves will cause challenges that B est Buy must address. First, a large number of layoffs can reflect badly on Best Buy, possibly causing its stock prices to be lower. Best Buy could combat this by launching a â€Å"goodwill campaign,† expressing the savings that will be passed on to its customers. Secondly, increasing warehouse capacity could lead to high costs for Best Buy. The company should combat this by controlling its inventory holding costs and ensuring that online sales match its inventory.Finally, the cost of training employees will be a challenge to meet. Best Buy must make this training worth the expense by ensuring that the quality of customer service will result in revenues high enough to cover the costs. Customer surveys would be a good quality control for the sales staff. Customers should be given the option to answer questions about their Best Buy experience via text messages, calls, or email, and sales associates should be given rewards points for good reviews.

Michigan Coal-Powered Plants

1769, or the start of the Industrial revolution was when James Watt patented his steam engine.   All the steam-powered machines like the steamboat, steamship, and steam locomotives, were all powered by coal.   Coal is a solid fossil fuel that when mined, can be used for energy.   Today, more then 90% of coal is used for electricity and that which isn’t used for that is used as an industrial power source.   Coal fired railroads stopped in the 1950’s and industrial use has declined, but electric utilities have increased their use of coal tenfold in the past 50 years.   By the early 20th century, radiator heat was powered by coal and older homes still have their coal chutes.Wyoming, Colorado and West Virginia are some of our main coal producers and our supply far exceeds that of oil and natural gas.   Today, 52% of electricity generated in the United States is coal powered compared to only 14.8% for nuclear power.   In 2004, 1.16 billion tons of coal was burn ed, most for electricity.   At the current usage rate of coal, the world has 1500 years left to use this resource.There are actually many cons of using coal even though Americans are more leery of nuclear power.   It was found that people who live near coal-fired plants are exposed to higher radiation then people living by the nuclear plants.   (McBride, J.P.)   Because of people’s fears about nuclear energy, most plants will be replaced with coal-fired plants unless solar energy is harnessed in a better way.   First and foremost, coal produces carbon dioxide, which is suspected to cause global warming.   Human health is susceptible because coal is a source of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, two sources that may cause acid rain.   Coal also contains uranium and thorium, two radioactive materials.   In 1982, each U.S. plant released 5.2 tons of uranium and 12.8 tons of thorium.Total  was 801 tons of uranium and 1971 tons of thorium.   It is predicted in the year 2040, that 145,230 tons of uranium and 357,491 tons of thorium will be released in the U.S. alone.   These large quantities of these two materials are not being treated as radioactive waste.   Coal-powered plants aren’t regulated and are basically permitted to emit low-levels of radiation.   Long-term accumulation of these radioactive materials could pose serious health hazards†¦ already the effects are being seen, showing up as more asthma in children.   Michigan has the highest prevalence of asthma in children.Exposure within 30 miles of a coal-powered plant showed 1,929,662 children with 18% of them having asthma.   Large amounts of pollution that coal-fired plants built before 1977 are exempt from the Clean Air Act.   Illinois alone has 22 plants that are exempt and in 1997 these plants emitted 240,000 tons of Nitrogen Oxide, or as much as the annual pollution from 12 million cars!Also in 1997, Illinois plants emitted 722,000 tons of Sulfur Dioxi de which fine particulate pollution of this has been attributed to 5,570 premature deaths a year in Illinois and 3,767 in the city of Chicago alone, according to a 1996 study by the Environmental Working Group.   (http://www.consciouschoice.com/1995-98/cc115/note115.html.)With so many health problems, potential and active, why are coal plants still being proposed?  Ã‚   The Great Lakes basin is home to more than thirty million people.   The Great Lakes are the largest system of surface freshwater on the Earth, spanning about 800 miles and containing about 20% of the world's surface freshwater resource. The water in the Great Lakes accounts for more than 90% of the surface freshwater in the U.SBut this beautiful land also has the special focus of our government and that is they want the  Great Lakes region to be the future sites of many more coal-powered plants.   As many as 94 plants are already in various stages of planning.   Ten plants in Illinois, five in Wisconsin, and already Northern Lights Coal Plant in Michigan is causing quite a stir.   At first this plant was given a hesitant welcome since it was claiming to be the cleanest coal-powered plant in the U.S. and would create jobs, but looking deeper into it, it was discovered that there were political and environmental regulatory trends and that the Bush administration wanted a nationwide surge in proposals for new coal-fired power stations, with a special focus on the Great Lakes region.President Bush wants to dismantle federal environmental safeguards and encourage burning more fossil fuels.   He has agreed that older coal fired plants in Michigan and other states need to modernize their plants, but will still avoid improving air pollution controls.With all this, there are some good things about burning coal.   Natural gas, which is much more cleaner then coal, has gone up in price.   The price has doubled since 1990 and costs four times more to generate then coal so burning coal i s more economically feasible for the country.  Ã‚   Also, since 1960, particulate precipitators have been used by U.S. coal-fired plants, which reduce 99.5% of the fly ash.   Utilities can also collect ash, cinders, and slag and deposit them on coal-plant sites.   Coal ash is rich in minerals including large quantities of aluminum and iron, which haven’t been fully looked into.   If the government could really regulate coal-fired plants, these would be great advantages of having them.In conclusion, coal-fired plants are hazardous to human health, animals, and nature especially for those of us living in the Great Lakes region.   Instead of the  government looking at just the economic advantages of coal, they should also be focusing on what the implications are of producing almost 100 plants in a few states.   Canada has already charged that 50% of the pollutants that cause ozone come from the Midwest states so one can only imagine if you actually live in one of t hese states, what people must be breathing in.   The Bush Administration needs to clarify and fix the Clean-Air Act so that not only do older plants need to modernize, but also they need to be regulated.   The Great Lakes are a beautiful region to live and vacation and need to be protected against the air toxins that will be released if all these coal-fired plants are built and un-monitored.Bibliography  McBride, J.P., R.E. Moore, J.P. Witherspoon, R.E. Blanco.   â€Å"Radiological Impact ofAirborne Effluents of Coal and Nuclear Plants.†Ã‚   Science Magazine.   Dec 8, 1978.Schneider, Keith.   â€Å"The Bush Administration Pushes Dirty Coal Plants.†Ã‚   E / TheEnvironmental Magazine.   August 20, 2004.http://www.climateark.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=34416.Gabbard, Alex.   â€Å"Coal Combustion:   Nuclear Resource or Danger.†Ã‚   NoDate.   http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html.No Author.   â€Å"History of Energy .†Ã‚   DKospedia, The Free Political Encyclopedia.December 21, 2004.No Author.   â€Å"Self-Reported Asthma Prevalence and Control Among Adults — UnitedStates, 2001.†Ã‚   MMWR Weekly.   V.52 May 2, 2003 pg. 381-384.http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5217a2.htm.Lilliston, Ben.   â€Å"Poison Power.†Ã‚   Conscious Choice.   September 1998.http://www.consciouschoice.com/1995-98/cc115/note115.html.