Thursday, October 31, 2019

Are corporations obliged to help combat social problems Is factory Annotated Bibliography

Are corporations obliged to help combat social problems Is factory farming morally justifiable When are wages fair - Annotated Bibliography Example Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 98: Issue 3: pp 513 – 530. Kaptein’s article offers a great and in-depth analysis of employees and organizations’ role in reporting wrongdoings. According to Kaptein, employees are crucial in detecting and reporting wrongdoing in the workplace. The article purports that organizations must also create conditions that encourage employees to ‘blow the whistle’ once a wrongdoing is spotted. The article includes a detailed literature review on the number of wrongdoings exposed by employees across the world. These statistics highlight the crucial role played by employees on ‘blowing the whistle’, enabling readers to understand the exact role the employee should play when they encounter fraud. Ahmad, S., Smith, G. M., & Ismail, Z., 2012. ‘Internal Whistle-Blowing Intentions: A Study of Demographic and Individual Factors’, Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, Vol. 8, Issue 11, pp1632-1645. This article analyzes the topic on whistle blowing in the context of an auditor. It is important to note that much of editors’ work involves scrutinizing records for accuracy and fraud. The article uses an empirical approach to analyze those factors that move or hinder employees to take action (or not to). For instance, does age or gender influence whistle blowing behaviour among employees? It also analyzes other factors such as employees’ ethical judgment, locus of control and commitment to the organization. Although the research is an empirical study on the topic, it was not sufficiently detailed to provide a true picture of the whole situation. Participants in the study were from the same institution which could result to a biased view. This article introduces a legal dimension into the whistle blowing dilemma. The article reveals that in some countries such as Australia, Ghana and Malaysia, a law guiding employees on whistle blowing is

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Design Procedure for Fire Suppression Systems Research Paper

The Design Procedure for Fire Suppression Systems - Research Paper Example The team must unearth whether the process is a chemical synthesis or merely a mixing process. The team must also ascertain the pressure and temperature conditions of the raw materials. Accordingly, the project management team must proactively assess and understand the duration of the process and the role of each operation staffs. The team must also consider such factors as the existence of purification or drying step. The mechanism of packaging and storage, as well as storage of finished products, call for attention. In addition, it is significant to gain an understanding of the unit operation and process within the facility. Such information results from the study of process and instrumentation diagrams and narrative process description. Finally, there must be a complete list of hazardous materials. The list must be accompanied by chemical names, container type and size, and solution concentrations. Various codes and criteria particularly on the industrial and chemical plants provides critically relevant and essential information on the fire suppression and detection designs. FPE identifies the applicable codes as well as standards for a given industrial process and assists particular facility operators to fathom their respective and appropriate to particular situations. The codes and standard are in line with the understanding of engineering benchmarks for manufacturing procedures and facility design. The design and industrial operation also rests on the underwriting requirements. The FM Global datasheets are critical in determining the requirements for a range of industrial facilities that shapes the fire suppression designs. Underwriting standards presents valuable data against the hazards further impacting the fire suppression designs. Finally, the design process for fire suppression richly rests on the technical information from FM Global Datasheets 7-44

Sunday, October 27, 2019

E-commerce Amazon Innovation

E-commerce Amazon Innovation Does it pay to be the first mover in e-commerce? The case of Amazon.com This case study outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the early adoption of e-commerce using Amazon.com as an example. According to a study, being first in the market does not guarantee large market share. According to Shankar et al leaders in the market for personal computers, video games were covered by late entrants. Hence, order of entry does not necessarily make sure a leadership in the market or continuing rewards. According to the author, imitation over rides innovation in the e-commerce bazaar due to quick technological innovation, fast movement of information and weak patenting laws. Innovation is some times seen as a risk due to the high cost, less chances of survival and imitation. First movers may be able to switch costs as step towards gaining an edge in the e-commerce market. However, that is not long term. It is most advantageous for companies to prevent transfer of knowledge gained through experience since this will create obstruction to new entrants and there will be few competitors. But this is not practical. On the other hand this may create barrier to company as it may continue to invest in obsolete technology. There may be advantages of not being first mover in the e-commerce market. It is very risky for a firm to enter the market when there is uncertainty. Followers learn from mistakes that first movers make and attract customers to towards their product by projecting incumbents product as inferior. First movers may have failures because of the same routines or patterns of conducting business as was before moving to e-commerce. Companies may need to change depending on the type of business, geographical area and cost. Amazon was one of the first companies to have an online book store and is very popular in the US. They do not have a physical store (Just a website), which would take order from customers. Amazon was the only online store that provided after sales service to customers when it allowed customers to search for books that were hard to find. It also offered comparative shopping where the site would give suggestions where else the book could be found. They also introduced member programs where a customer could earn commission by introducing customers to them after every purchase they make. Amazon believes that customers online look for brand names. They also maintained records of customers buying habits and purchase history. They have invested 40% of the revenue in brand building and customer loyalty. Since Amazon is first mover in the market it has set standards so that other can follow the same pattern. The strategies used by Amazon are such that they have a lot of repeat customers and the shoppers become used to buying from them. Innovating and patenting are very important to companies development. Many customers tend to buy from websites that are tried and tested rather than new websites. Hence, it is very important for new companies to follow strict rules and guidelines in order to show that they offer something unique and different from what others do. Reference: Kamel Mellahi, Michael Johnson Does it pay to be a first mover in eCommerce? The case of Amazon.com Coventry Business School, Coventry University, Coventry UK Management Decision 38/7 (2000) 445-452 MCB University Press ISSN 0025-1747

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Blitz and St Pauls Cathedral Essay example -- England Religion Pa

The Blitz and St Paul's Cathedral When the Blitz began over Britain in the fall of 1940, Londoners were frightened and unsure of what the Nazis had in store for them. However, their uneasy emotions would later change into feelings of nationalistic pride and perseverance, as London became a city full of active resistors to the Nazi forces. This change would be prompted from a variety of sources, including Winston Churchill, the media, as well as the emergence of inspirational symbols. St. Paul's Cathedral is undoubtedly the most powerful of these symbols, becoming a timeless image associated with the Blitz, encapsulating sentiments of hope and courage. LONDON THROUGH THE BLITZ The Campaign The Blitz on London started on September 7, 1940 and continued until May 1941, lasting a total of eight months. The goals of the Blitz were to "pound Britain into submission by bombing economic and civilian targets," and primarily to soften up the morale of the British people (Ray 9). However, "unlike other campaigns this was a contest mainly between Luftwaffe aircrews and British civilians, the one group skilled and the other untrained in killing" (Ray 9). Although the first bombs fell in August, the first mass attack, concentrated on the docklands area, occurred on September 7. Throughout the afternoon, 300 bombers, escorted by 600 fighters, dropped 300 tons of bombs on the docks downstream from Tower Bridge. These bombs ravaged the East End, creating a two-mile high wall of smoke that would serve as a landmark for the night raid. When the sun set, another 330 tons of high explosives and 440 canisters of incendiary bombs were dropped. The bombing rapidly escalated and continued for the next 57 consecutive nights, increasing in str... ...monument that is St. Paul's, the testament to the courage and pride of London, 1939-1945. However, while the size of St. Paul's dwarfs the memorial to the victims, for the people whose attention is caught by the unimposing memorial, the memorial and its message stand as the remembrance of the Blitz. The message of St. Paul's being an unintended monument to the London spirit during the Blitz is no longer heard. Works Cited Fitzgibbon, Constantine. The Blitz. London: Allan Wingate, 1957. Matthews, W. R. and W. M. Atkins. A History of St. Paul's Cathedral. London: Phoenix House, 1957. Neville, John. The Blitz: London Then and Now. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1990. Ray, John. The Night Blitz 1940-1941. London: Arms and Armour Press, 1996. "The London Blitz, 1940," EyeWitness - history through the eyes of those who lived it, www.ibiscom.com (2001).

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Engineering the Impossible

Cities Inside a City Engineering the Impossible focused on three incredible, yet physically possible, engineering projects: the 170-story Millennium Tower, the nine mile (14 km)-long Gibraltar Bridge, and the 4000+-foot-long Freedom Ship. Millenium Tower Imagine a skyscraper almost twice the size of the Empire State Building. This colossus would be a city within a city, hosting its own hospitals, schools, and a range of entertainment and retail options large enough to attract and keep the traffic necessary for the financial success of such an endeavor. Stats:Height: 2,755 feet, 170 stories Resident Population: 52,000 Elevator Traffic: 100,000 people per day Location: Hong Kong Harbor Closest Living Relative: Petronas Towers, Kuala Lampur (1,483 feet, 88 stories) Construction Duration: Approximately 10 years Cost: $10 billion Beyond the physical challenges of building the tallest skyscraper in the world, it will only be successful if it attracts residents, tourists and offices. The Mi llennium Tower needs to offer many choices to make it a destination of choice. Residents can go to not just one grocery store, but many.Office workers can browse a few clothing stores on their level or the same amount 30 floors up. Tourists can find the movie they want in at least one of the many theaters available. Designers say Millennium Tower will house as many options as you'd find in several city blocks. Construction of the Millennium Tower will include traditional building techniques, that, in this case, will put ironworkers thousands of feet in the air to place 5-ton girders with a minimum of safety gear. But engineers are planning to also use a new technology — building by computer.The Self-Rising Factory is a set of computerized cranes and lifts surrounded by a weatherproof enclosure. According to a precise schedule, the steel beams are essentially handed to the machinery which then places them for workers to bolt together. Once the beams and concrete panels for eac h floor are complete, the machinery hoists the entire structure and the process starts over. Gibraltar Bridge A bridge spanning 9 miles over the Straits of Gibraltar at the entryway to the Mediterranean would be the longest and tallest ever built.It would connect cultures of Christianity and Islam and potentially increase ties between the economies of Europe and Africa. Stats: Location: Strait of Gibraltar. Links Spain and Morocco. Length: 9 miles, Two spans of 4 1/2 miles each Height: Each tower is 3,000 feet tall (twice as high as the world's tallest skyscraper) Width: 5 traffic lanes, 2 breakdown lanes in each direction Road Deck Material: Fiberglass Length of Wire Cables: 1,000,000 miles (Enough to circle the Earth almost 30 times) Closest living relative: Akashi bridge in Japan, world's longest suspension bridge at 12,828 feet.Cost: $15 billion Dangers: Wind speeds of 80 mph at tops of towers, ship collision, ocean currents, traffic, Sahara Desert dust storms Building a bridge the size and configuration of Gibraltar Bridge is usually protected by artificial islands so that ships run aground before they can do any damage to the structure. But building an artificial island in the ocean isn't an option. Instead designers envision a ring of underwater bumpers to withstand ship collisions. This could be impossible to span a 9-mile bridge but actually, they can.When determining the exact size of the bridge, designers had to choose between a shallow area that spanned 20 miles, which would have meant many piers in a busy shipping zone, and a narrow portion that's 2,700 feet deep. But designers lucked out. After closer inspection of the narrow portion revealed an underwater â€Å"mountain† in the center that could hold the center piers, dividing the bridge into to spans of 4 1/2 miles each. 5 lanes of traffic in either direction will flow over a roadbed made of spun glass.Fiberglass materials of this sort are rated 5 times stronger than concrete, and any cr acks or other damage could be isolated due to its web-like internal structure. Engineers say fiberglass bridge materials can last up to 100 years. They're also easier to install. A concrete roadway on the Gibraltar Bridge would take 3 months to pour as opposed to a few days or weeks with fiberglass. Freedom Ship Freedom Ship's designers originally planned to create an island community to provide Hong Kong-based businesses a place to relocate if the handover of that city to China were to make life difficult for them.When they applied the same model to a moving sea platform, they ended up with what would be the largest ocean-going vessel ever constructed — the minimum requirement for a city at sea. Stats: Length: Approximately 1 mile Width: 3 city blocks (4,320 feet) Height: 25 stories Weight: 3 million tons Volume: Titanic, Queen Mary, USS Nimitz and super-tanker Jahre Viking would all fit comfortably inside. Population: 50,000 residents, 15,000 workers, 20,000 visitors/day Co nstruction: Hull composed of 600 120'x100†² steel cells bolted together.Location: Circles globe every two years Closest Living Relative: Japan's Megafloat Airport, Tokyo Bay (1km long, 70 meters wide, 20 meters depth) (Series of interlocking pressurized steel boxes) Power: 100 electric podded propulsers at 3500 horsepower each. Cost: $9 billion Freedom Ship's designers say it will be able to handle tidal waves and large-scale hurricanes by steering out of their way to avoid them altogether. If a confrontation is unavoidable, they'll turn all of the ship's 100 propellers, pointing towards the center of the ship for stability.The ship's hull is composed of 600 huge air-tight steel boxes. A significant number of these would have to be punctured before residents noticed anything amiss. Freedom Ship's designers call it a floating sea platform. In simliar design, Japan's MegaFloat airport id built out of steel boxes bolted together to form a surface on the water. Whereas the airport is moored to keep it from drifting, Freedom Ship would be mobile. A structure this size couldn't be built in a traditional manner at a shipbuilding facility and subsequently be lauched into the sea.The construction on this project would instead take place in the water, with large pieces floated out to be attached on the site. Freedom Ship's designers aim to create a new lifestyle. Residents will have a homelife while constantly traveling. The ship would be like a â€Å"Disneyland† offshore, entertaining tourists with the amenities of a resort while residents enjoy daytrips in each port. If successfully built The Freedom Ship will be the largest ocean going vessel in history, it will become a luxury city afloat travelling the world.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Satisfactory Academic Appeal Form

May I respectfully ask for your patience and understanding as I explain my justifications for appealing to you. In essence, I will be discussing one major issue that influenced my two subjects. I pray that this will greatly shed light and not give a lopsided or biased point-of-view of my present predicament. As the facts evidently point out, I have had extreme difficulty in both, my History and Psychology classes. In this regard, I have spent much time contemplating on the parameters that insinuate the validity or invalidity of my claims with reference to the situations and reasons stated in the Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Form. As such, I deeply and strongly believe that my basis for appealing is legitimate and warrants your kind consideration. Allow me to first state that English is not my first language. Therefore, I have great difficulty to both effectively communicate and to be communicated upon. With this reality, I honestly admit that it has taken me a vast amount of time and effort just to construct this appeal. This is thus the primary reason for my shortcomings in my academics. I have relentlessly tried to understand and speak with my professors to help me because of this reason. This is the case in my History class, where I find it hard to understand my professor with all the facts and events I as a student have to comprehend in the subject. The same case somehow reflects my problem in my Psychology class, as when my professor will recommend that I read the book every time I ask for his help. I feel that as much as my professors want to accommodate me, this communication barrier tends to be an overwhelming obstacle at times. This does not even account for the fact that I am not the only student they have. Let it be known that I have no intention of directing my inadequacy on my professors. This is not an interpersonal problem with them. I have no queries on whether or not my professors’ styles of teaching are hard or not. My only concern is centered upon my own faults that have become detrimental to my performance and growth not just as a student, but as a person as well. Therefore, I appeal to your compassionate and understanding heart for the consideration of my case. I only hope that you grant me this new opportunity to be a good student and a better person. I place my future in your hands. Thank you very much for then attention you have generously granted to me.