Protein Synthesis Essays - Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology

Protein Synthesis The process of Protein Synthesis involves many parts of the cell. Unlike other similar productions, this process is very complex and precise and therefore must be done in proper sequence to work effectively. The slightest error during this process could cause the action to experience difficulty or even fail. For example, in the production of starch, glucose molecules are combined to be stored and eventually utilized as usable chemical energy. The cell can break down the starch with little difficulty as if each molecule was identical, even though there is a wide variety of molecules. This is a different case in Protein Synthesis. In Protein Synthesis, there are twenty different amino acids and if one is out of place than is will effect the specificity of the protein. In a healthy person, the protein hemoglobin can be found in red blood cells, hemoglobin is helps with the transfer of respiratory gases from the blood to the tissues of the body. With an illness called sickle-cell anemia, the red blood cells are changed from a round, disk shape to a floppy looking sickle shape. These cells therefore cannot pass through small blood vessels due to their divergent shape. The actual cause of this mutation is a gene disorder, where the sixth codon of the protein glutamaric acid is changed with valine. This small change in the genetic code can cause severe defects in the effected such as blood clots, severe disorders and even death. All this can result from a misinterpretation in one codon in a chain of hundreds! Protein synthesis acts in this way, that is if there is only the most minuscule mistake it can have monstrous effects. THE BASICS OF DNA AND GENES Protein synthesis first begins in a gene. A gene is a section of chromosome compound of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. Each DNA strand is composed of phosphate, the five-carbon sugar deoxyribose and nitrogenous bases or nucleotides. There are four types of nitrogenous bases in DNA. They are (A)denine, (G)uanine, (T)hymine, (C)ytosine and they must be paired very specifically. Only Adenine with Thymine (A-T) and Guanine with Cytosine (G-C). To form a polynucleotide DNA, many nucleotides are linked together with 3`-5` phosphodiester linkages. In a complete molecule of DNA two of these polynucleotide strands are linked together by nitrogenous bases at 90 degrees to the sugar-phosphate "spine" (FIG. 1). The nitrogenous bases are held together with weak hydrogen bonds. One polynitrogenous chain runs in a 3'-5' direction, the 3' being the top hydroxyl and the 5' being the bottom phosphate attached to the carbon five of the sugar. The other string runs the opposite. The two strands of the structure cannot be identical but they are complimentary. There is no restrictions on the placement and sequence of the nucleotides, which becomes important in storage of information. TRANSCRIPTION: The Synthesis of RNA Genetic information would be rendered useless if the stored information did not have a way of reaching the desired focal area. Since protein synthesis occurs in the cytoplasm and the DNA must remain in the nucleus, a way of transporting the code is essential. This comes in the form of messenger ribonucleic acid or m-RNA. Since the information on the DNA must stay the same on the m-RNA, the two have to be very similar. There are three major differences between RNA and DNA. RNA is only a single strand. The five carbon sugar of RNA is ribose opposed to deoxyribose and in RNA the pyrimidine uracil (U) replaces DNA's pyrimidine thymine (T). Since RNA is produced from DNA, the nucleotides of RNA can hold the same information as the nucleotides of DNA because the code for amino acids is centered around the RNA structure. The process in which m-RNA is synthesized is called transcription. This process is similar to DNA replication in the way that for transcription to occur, the double helix DNA must be unwound as in DNA replication (FIG 2). The major difference between transcription and replication is that in transcription only one of the strands is used as a template and only one m-RNA strand is produced. Transcription can be broken up into three parts in order to be understood. These steps are: i)initiation, ii)elongation and iii)termination. Initiation of transcription is how the transcription begins. The enzyme responsible for m-RNA synthesis is called RNA polymerase 2. The RNA polymerase knows where to begin transcription because it is coded into the DNA. Elongation of transcription represents how the process happens. This occurs the same way as DNA replication, with the

About the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914

About the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, was enacted on October 15, 1914, with a goal of strengthening provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Enacted in 1890, the Sherman Act had been the first federal law intended to protect consumers by outlawing monopolies, cartels, and trusts. The Clayton Act sought to enhance and address weaknesses in the Sherman Act by preventing such unfair or anti-competitive business practices in their infancy. Specifically, the Clayton Act expanded the list of prohibited practices, provided a three-level enforcement process, and specified exemptions and remedial or corrective methods. Background If trust is a good thing, why does the United States have so many â€Å"antitrust† laws, like the Clayton Antitrust Act? Today, a â€Å"trust† is simply a legal arrangement in which one person, called the â€Å"trustee,† holds and manages a property for the benefit of another person or group of people. But in the late 19th century, the term â€Å"trust† was typically used to describe a combination of separate companies. The 1880s and 1890s saw a rapid increase in the number of such large manufacturing trusts, or â€Å"conglomerates,† many of which were viewed by the public as having too much power. Smaller companies argued that the large trusts or â€Å"monopolies† had an unfair competitive advantage over them. Congress soon began to hear the call for antitrust legislation. Then, as now, fair competition among businesses resulted in lower prices for consumers, better products and services, greater choice of products, and increased innovation. Brief History of Antitrust Laws Advocates of antitrust laws argued that the success of the American economy depended on the ability of small, independently owned business to compete fairly with each other. As  Senator John Sherman  of Ohio stated in 1890, â€Å"If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life.†   Ã‚   In 1890, Congress passed the  Sherman Antitrust Act  by nearly unanimous votes in both the  House  and  Senate. The Act prohibits companies from conspiring to restrain free trade or otherwise monopolize an industry. For example, the Act bans groups of companies from participating in â€Å"price fixing,† or mutually agreeing to unfairly control prices of similar products or services. Congress designated the  U.S. Department of Justice  to enforce the Sherman Act.   In 1914, Congress enacted the  Federal Trade Commission Act  prohibiting all companies from using unfair competition methods and acts or practices designed to deceive consumers. Today the Federal Trade Commission Act is aggressively enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent agency of the executive branch of government. Clayton Antitrust Act Bolsters the Sherman Act Recognizing the need to clarify and strengthen the fair business safeguards provided by the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, Congress in 1914 passed an amendment to the Sherman Act called the  Clayton Antitrust Act. President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill into law on October 15, 1914. The Clayton Act addressed the growing trend during the early 1900s for large corporations to strategically dominate entire sectors of business by employing unfair practices like predatory price fixing, secret deals, and mergers intended only to eliminate competing companies. Specifics of the Clayton Act The Clayton Act addresses unfair practices not clearly prohibited by the Sherman Act, such as predatory mergers and â€Å"interlocking directorates,† arrangements in which the same person makes business decisions for several competing companies. For example, Section 7 of the Clayton Act bans companies from merging with or acquiring other companies when the effect â€Å"may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.† In 1936, the  Robinson-Patman Act  amended the Clayton Act to prohibit anticompetitive price discrimination and allowances in dealings between merchants. Robinson-Patman was designed to protect small retail shops against unfair competition from large chain and â€Å"discount† stores by establishing minimum prices for certain retail products. The Clayton Act was again amended in 1976 by the  Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires companies planning major mergers and acquisitions to notify both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice of their plans well in advance of the action. In addition, the Clayton Act allows private parties, including consumers, to sue companies for triple damages when they have been harmed by an action of a company that violates either the Sherman or Clayton Act and to obtain a court order prohibiting the anticompetitive practice in the future. For example, the Federal Trade Commission often secures court orders banning companies from continuing false or deceptive advertising campaigns or sales promotions. The Clayton Act and Labor Unions Emphatically stating that â€Å"the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce,† the Clayton Act forbids corporations from preventing the organization of labor unions. The Act also prevents union actions such as strikes and compensation disputes from being in antitrust lawsuits filed against a corporation. As a result, labor unions are free to organize and negotiate wages and benefits for their members without being accused of illegal price fixing. Penalties for Violating the Antitrust Laws The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice share the authority to enforce the antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission can file antitrust lawsuits in either the federal courts  or in hearings held before  administrative law  judges. However, only the Department of Justice can bring charges for violations of the Sherman Act. In addition, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act gives the state attorneys general authority to file antitrust lawsuits in either state or federal courts. Penalties for violations of the Sherman Act or the Clayton Act as amended can be severe and can include criminal and civil penalties: Violations of the Sherman Act:  Companies violating the Sherman Act can be fined up to $100 million. Individuals – typically executives of the violating corporations- can be fined up to $1 million and sent to prison for up to 10 years. Under federal law, the maximum fine may be increased to twice the amount the conspirators gained from the illegal acts or twice the money lost by the victims of the crime  if either of those amounts is over $100 million.Violations of the Clayton Act:  Corporations and individuals violating the Clayton Act can be sued by the people they harmed for three times the actual amount of the damages they suffered. For example, a consumer who spent $5,000 on a falsely advertised product or service can sue the offending businesses for up to $15,000. The same â€Å"treble damages† provision can also be applied in â€Å"class-action† lawsuits filed on the behalf of multiple victims. Damages also include attorneys fees and other court cost s. The Basic Objective of Antitrust Laws Since the enactment of the Sherman Act in 1890, the objective of the U.S. antitrust laws has remained unchanged: to ensure fair business competition in order to benefit consumers by providing incentives for businesses to operate efficiently thus allowing them to keep quality up and prices down. Antitrust Laws in Action Breakup of Standard Oil While charges of violations of the antitrust laws are file and prosecuted every day, a few examples stand out due to their scope and the legal precedents they set. One of the earliest and most famous examples is the court-ordered 1911 breakup of the giant Standard Oil Trust monopoly. By 1890, the Standard Oil Trust of Ohio controlled 88% of all oil refined and sold in the United States. Owned at the time by John D. Rockefeller, Standard Oil had achieved its oil industry domination by slashing its prices while buying up many of its competitors. Doing so allowed Standard Oil to lower its production costs while increasing its profits.In 1899 the Standard Oil Trust was reorganized as the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey. At the time, the â€Å"new† company owned stock in 41 other oil companies, which controlled other companies, which in turn controlled yet other companies. The conglomerate was viewed by the public – and the Department of Justice as an all-controlling monopoly, controlled by a small, elite group of directors who acted without accountability to the industry or the public.In 1909, the Department of Justice sued Standard Oil under the Sherman Act for creating and maintaining a monopoly and restricting interstate commerce. On May 15, 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision declaring the Standard Oil group to be an unreasonable monopoly. The Court ordered Standard Oil broken up into 90 smaller, independent companies with different directors.

Structural Equation Modeling

Structural Equation Modeling Structural equation modeling is an advanced statistical technique that has many layers and many complex concepts. Researchers who use structural equation modeling have a good understanding of basic statistics, regression analyses, and factor analyses. Building a structural equation model requires rigorous logic as well as a deep knowledge of the field’s theory and prior empirical evidence. This article provides a very general overview of structural equation modeling without digging into the intricacies involved. Structural equation modeling is a collection of statistical techniques that allow a set of relationships between one or more independent variables and one or more dependent variables to be examined. Both independent and dependent variables can be either continuous or discrete and can be either factors or measured variables. Structural equation modeling also goes by several other names: causal modeling, causal analysis, simultaneous equation modeling, analysis of covariance structures, path analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. When exploratory factor analysis is combined with multiple regression analyses, the result is structural equation modeling (SEM). SEM allows questions to be answered that involve multiple regression analyses of factors. At the simplest level, the researcher posits a relationship between a single measured variable and other measured variables. The purpose of SEM is to attempt to explain â€Å"raw† correlations among directly observed variables. Path Diagrams Path diagrams are fundamental to SEM because they allow the researcher to diagram the hypothesized model, or set of relationships. These diagrams are helpful in clarifying the researcher’s ideas about the relationships among variables and can be directly translated into the equations needed for analysis. Path diagrams are made up of several principles: Measured variables are represented by squares or rectangles. Factors, which are made up of two or more indicators, are represented by circles or ovals. Relationships between variables are indicated by lines; lack of a line connecting the variables implies that no direct relationship is hypothesized. All lines have either one or two arrows. A line with one arrow represents a hypothesized direct relationship between two variables, and the variable with the arrow pointing toward it is the dependent variable. A line with an arrow at both ends indicates an unanalyzed relationship with no implied direction of effect. Research Questions Addressed by Structural Equation Modeling The main question asked by structural equation modeling is, â€Å"Does the model produce an estimated population covariance matrix that is consistent with the sample (observed) covariance matrix?† After this, there are several other questions that SEM can address. Adequacy of the model: Parameters are estimated to create an estimated population covariance matrix. If the model is good, the parameter estimates will produce an estimated matrix that is close to the sample covariance matrix. This is evaluated primarily with the chi-square test statistic and fit indices. Testing theory: Each theory, or model, generates its own covariance matrix. So which theory is best? Models representing competing theories in a specific research area are estimated, pitted against each other, and evaluated.Amount of variance in the variables accounted for by the factors: How much of the variance in the dependent variables is accounted for by the independent variables? This is answered through R-squared-type statistics. Reliability of the indicators: How reliable are each of the measured variables? SEM derives reliability of measured variables and internal consistency measures of reliability.Parameter estimates: SEM generates parameter estimates, or coefficients, f or each path in the model, which can be used to distinguish if one path is more or less important than other paths in predicting the outcome measure. Mediation: Does an independent variable affect a specific dependent variable or does the independent variable affect the dependent variable though a mediating variable? This is called a test of indirect effects. Group differences: Do two or more groups differ in their covariance matrices, regression coefficients, or means? Multiple group modeling can be done in SEM to test this. Longitudinal differences: Differences within and across people across time can also be examined. This time interval can be years, days, or even microseconds.Multilevel modeling: Here, independent variables are collected at different nested levels of measurement (for example, students nested within classrooms nested within schools) are used to predict dependent variables at the same or other levels of measurement. Weaknesses of Structural Equation Modeling Relative to alternative statistical procedures, structural equation modeling has several weaknesses: It requires a relatively large sample size (N of 150 or greater).It requires much more formal training in statistics to be able to effectively use SEM software programs.It requires well-specified measurement and conceptual model. SEM is theory driven, so one must have well-developed a priori models. References Tabachnick, B. G. and Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using Multivariate Statistics, Fourth Edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Kercher, K. (Accessed November 2011). Introduction to SEM (Structural Equation Modeling). chrp.org/pdf/HSR061705.pdf

Discuss four reasons for the increase in International Joint Venture Essay

Discuss four reasons for the increase in International Joint Venture arrangements and support your analysis with specific examples from any business sector - Essay Example ventures are often formed between two entities to achieve certain economic objective and after achievement of such objectives they are often liquidated. Joint ventures are common in different industries and are formed for different purposes as all the parties to the Joint venture contribute one way or another for the purpose of achieving the objective. Joint ventures are therefore important in the sense that their formation allows companies to utilize each other’s strengths in achieving the desired strategic objectives. There are various benefits that organizations can derive from join ventures including sharing of technology and R&D facilities, developing new markets and sharing of risks spread over different markets as well as the expansion into new markets. However, despite the fact that international joint ventures offer such benefits but their failure ratio is significantly larger because most major international joint ventures failed to perform. This paper will discuss different reasons as to why international joint ventures are formed and potential benefits they provide to respective organizations by citing example from different business sectors where International joint ventures have actually been formed. â€Å"In general, a joint venture (â€Å"JV†) is an association of two or more entities (whether corporate, government, individual or otherwise) combining property and expertise to carry out a single business enterprise and having a joint proprietary interest, a joint right to control and a sharing of profits and losses.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"(Vaughan, 2009). The above definition indicates that a joint venture can be formed between different entities regardless of their legal status by taking benefit from each other’s expertise and property to perform a single business objective. However, all the entities in the joint venture also settle for gaining joint right to control the venture as well as share profits and losses arising out of taking that business activity. It

Ashura practices (religious practice) Research Paper

Ashura practices (religious practice) - Research Paper Example gious practice may depend on the commitment that a follower ascribes to the act as well as the pledge to keep practicing that act even among future generations. Usually, meaning increases when members of the faith agree the symbolic value of the happening on, and if it is associated with the historical roots of the religious group. Typical examples of religious practices include baptism, where members are immersed in water and transformed into new spiritual beings; this mostly happens in Christian groups. Fasting is also common among a series of faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Christianity; it involves abstinence from food for a certain period in order to focus and strengthen one’s religious conviction. Even a simple act like attendance of a religious ceremony in a Jewish temple, mosque or church may also be regarded as a religious practice. Islam, just like other religions, has a series of practices; some may differ depending on one’s sect or religious conviction but others are common to all. The five pillars of Islam are religious practices that all believers in the faith agree on, and they include shahada, salat, zakat, sawm and hajj (Chibli 34). The first one refers to acknowledgement of the supremacy of the God Allah and his prophet Muhammad while the second one focuses on five obligatory prayers. Giving the poor alms, fasting in the holy month of Ramadan and visiting Mecca at least once are the other shared religious practices respectively (Wheeler 59). Ashura is a religious practice that is also common to all Muslims, but the meaning of the day and its manifestation are significantly different between the two predominant religious groups. Sunni Muslims largely centre on the Prophet’s interpretation of the day; it commemorates the day that Noah‘s ark was rescued as well as the day when God gave Moses the ten commandments (Wilfrid and Nourallah 141). It is also historically significant because it is believed that this was the day when several

Laws and Regulations Essay Example for Free

Laws and Regulations Essay Introduction British Petroleum is the US’s largest corporation. One of the largest oil producers, BP services globally for billions of dollars each year. BP distributes oil and natural gas all over the world. British Petroleum has run into several problems with federal regulations over many years. Because of safety issues against the communities OSHA had to investigate many times for oil spills and natural gas leaks. Coca Cola is also one of the largest company beverage companies on the world. Coca Cola was used at first to cure addicts but the n it was revamped and used for making drinks for everyone. Like BP, Coca Cola had its issues with the law as well. They have been accused of violating human rights, pesticides in the groundwater, and finding cancer causing chemicals in the soft drinks. In 2008 it was concluded that Coca Cola was in direct violation FDA for health risk. We will compare and contrast the risks of safety regulations, OSHA violation, product safety and liability, workers compensation, and workplace data security and property protection from Coca Cola and British Petroleum. OSHA The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970 is a federal regulation that establishes and enforces health and safety policy in the workplace (Goetsch, 2008). It covers private sector employers and employees and encourages states to participate in health and safety programs. States that participate receive half of its funding from the federal government (OSHA.gov, 2011). In the advent of increasing awareness and training of health and safety, company safety representatives must be up-to-date on laws, regulations and liability. The OSH Act requires employers to maintain statistical health and safety records and to report occupational illnesses and injuries under certain conditions at each company location. The reporting conditions are the following: â€Å"Death of one or more workers, one or more days away from work, restricted motion or restrictions to the work that an employee can do, loss of consciousness of one or more workers, transfer of an employee to another job, medical treatment beyond in-house first aid (if it is not on the first-aid list, it is considered medical treatment), and any other condition listed in Appendix B of the rule† (Goetsch, 2008, p. 121). Employers are responsible for informing employees about health and safety practices, laws, and regulations. OSHA regulations apply to BP and Coca-Cola with some deviation because of the nature of the business. OSHA regulations include general industry standards and it provides health and safety training programs for employees and employers. In the last few years, BP has been under much scrutiny. OSHA fined BP $87.4m for safety violations that led up to the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion (Walter, 2009). In 2010, BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill is still under investigation by the government. Insiders blame the spill on BP’s decision to shortcut procedures and skip a quality test (Casselman Gold, 2010). Unlike BP, Coca-Cola received OSHA recognition in 2009 for having the highest employee safety and health standards at its Milesburg, PA site (OSHA.gov, 2009). Worker’s Compensation According to Goetsch (2008) â€Å" the concept of worker’s compensation developed as a way to allow injured employees to be compensated appropriately without having to take their employer to court† (Overview of Worker’s Compensation, p. 174). British Petroleum (BP) and Coca-Cola are large organization with locations around the world. Both organization have over 90,000 workers worldwide and have worker compensation plans to make sure injured employees are cared for. According to Ramos Law (2011), â€Å"workers at Coke suffer injuries similar to that of other factory employees. These workers suffer shoulder injuries from repetitive jobs such as mixing formula; knew injuries from loading product; or back pain from general warehouse jobs† (Hurt While Working at Coca-Cola or in the Beverage Industry?, para. 1). Coke needs to do a risk analysis and provide training to reduce the amount of workers’ compensation claims. British Petroleum (BP) had a massive oil spill in April of 2010 off the Gulf of Mexico in which BP hired over 20,000 people to help clean up the disaster. The care, training and protective gear for the cleanup crews was below safety standards. Training and protective gear could be the cause of the worker’s compensation claims that BP has will continue to receive. According to Johnston Moore Thompson Attorneys at Law (2011), â€Å"seven oil spill workers were hospitalized on May 26 after experiencing nausea, dizziness and headaches. Four more were hospitalized on May 28, two of whom were admitted for chest pains† (First Workers Compensation Cases Building for Oil Spill Cleanup, para. 4). The fumes from the oil and the touching of the hazardous material to try and reduce the damage caused many to become sick. The safety standards of BP are being questioned for both the workers and the surrounding areas that were hit by this devastating oil spill. Product Safety and Liability Product safety and liability is a law that was created to hold distributors, retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers responsible for injuries caused from the product (Goetsch, 2008). This law was designed so that in the event injury occurs the consumer is protected. There are a number of different concepts that have laid the groundwork for the product liability law. The four major reasons that the laws were created were from, negligent manufacture, breach of warranty, strict liability in tort, and negligent design (Goetsch, 2008). Companies must take the time to ensure that the products that have been designed meet the safety standards to prevent potential instances from occurring. Coca Cola ensures that the product safety and liability is met by measuring the product and package requirements against the company standards. The company uses â€Å"The Coca-Cola Management Systems† which is a quality management system that maintains the company’s operations worldwide, maintain the Coca-Cola standards (thecoca-colacompany.com, 2011). BP has been under the analysis for quite some time since the oil spill occurred that caused millions of dollars in damage to the Gulf of Mexico. Since that time BP has created new ideas to monitor the waters that hold different oil rigs, these have been created to ensure quality monitoring. BP has created an observation program that will support constant monitoring. (BP.com, 2011) This will allow for the creation of quality monitoring preventing additional instances of the oil spill occurring in the future. This is important part of the product liability and safety program to ensure that the company follows the guidelines required to prevent future liability’s from occurring. This new quality monitoring will be able to â€Å"detect changes within the water quality, marine mammal vocalizations and weather and water temperature† (BP.com, 2011). Workplace Data and Property Protection In the workplace the most important option to the company is security and protection. Companies spend millions of dollars creating systems to protect all the assets and data that passed through a system. At BP, system security over their data tying global partnerships each refinery is a goal amongst the company. British Petroleum train each employee to keep information confidential and away from media if there is a minor incident. The risk of an employee breaking that code of silence about vital information is likely to happen. They have contracts to state employees cannot talk to media or there will be consequences that could ultimately lead to termination. Environmental Protection Agency protects the property and materials produced by BP. EPA keeps the regulation on what products are safe for BP to use to drill oil. Coke Cola has similar issues of security, but they are interested in keeping new products under the table so they can have the advantage over their competition once they launch a product. Their data protection requires a secure system as well. Both IT departments make sure systems do not get hacked by putting up server walls on the system. The security side of the results of companywide is an enterprise-level record of reference that becomes the official record for a given employee, customer, supplier, facility or other entity. Records of reference are the gold standard against which all other records in the system must be validated. These bind together the mass of company data and are at the core of the master data management approach to enterprise-wide integration (Goetsch, 2008). Although other large corporations are developing their own information frameworks, BP’s design is unique in that it specifically complements BP’s decentralized business structure. Casselman and Gold (2010) describes a situation in which a BP employee might have multiple records in one or more human resource databases, making it time-consuming to weed out the duplicate data. Conclusion There are many risks and contrasting information between the Coca Cola and British Petroleum. Both must follow rules and regulations of OSHA and federal laws in order to stay in business. Both companies had their share of setbacks when it came to employees and safety issues that made the public eye. Both companies continue to make billions of dollars and each year as the rules change they are learning to change with it. References BP.com. (2011) BP Deploying Advance Unmanned Water Quality Monitoring Vehicles in Gulf of Mexico. Retrieved from http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968contentId=7064711 Casselman, B. and Gold, R. (2010). BP decisions set stage for disaster. Current, 524,14-16. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. Goetsch, L. (2008). Occupational safety and health for technologists, engineers, and managers (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Johnston Moore Thompson Attorneys at Law. (2011). Hunysvills Pearsonal Injusry Law. Retrieved from http://www.huntsvillepersonalinjurylaw.com. OSHA.gov. (2009). U.S. Department of Labors OSHA recognizes Coca-Cola Danone Waters LLC for workplace safety and health success. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/ pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASESp_id=18137. OSHA.gov. (2011). United States Department of Labor. Occupational Safety Health Administration. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/OSHA_FAQs.html. Ramos Law. (2011). Ramos Law Firm Workers Comp Blog. Retrieved from http://www.ramoslawblog.com. Thecoca-colacompany.com. (2011) Product Quality: Coca-Cola Quality. Retrieved from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/quality.html Walter, P. (2009). BP handed 87.4m fines. Chemistry Industry, 22, 7. Retrieved from Business Source Complete.

A Miracle from God :: Religion Jesus Christianity

A Miracle from God A complete wreck, I called out to God to let my mother live. I didn’t know what else I could do. I actually tried to bargain with God, that I would devote my life to Him, if only He would save her life. Understand that my dad was a complete atheist his whole life, until about a month before her problems began. He met a Christian at work who wasn’t your basic â€Å"ill-informed Christian,† that he usually ran across his whole life. My dad started reading The Bible all the time lately and his friend and my dad, one night said a prayer of healing over my mother. The next morning she woke up and she felt no pain, no skipping, no nausea, she felt great! Just to add a little note, she still hasn’t had a problem to this day. I knew it was a miracle from God; there is absolutely no other explanation! I always â€Å"believed† there was a god for as long as I can remember. I was a â€Å"Christian,† who believed in God, then went out and lived my life the opposite of a godly way. I needed a new direction and to change my life. I will never be the same person I once was. Life, in general, is so much more meaning to me now. No one can be perfect, but through Jesus he can shape us to be more like himself. God’s will is at work in my life and I thank God so much for all the joy he has given me. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for Jesus. I would still have many more problems that I would have to face everyday. Not only my problems, but just the sole fact of feeling like there is something missing. We where created in God’s image, and while even â€Å"the best among us,† still sins, we know that we can call upon The Lord to be forgiven.

Ljb Company Essay

Introduction LJB Company has asked the accounting firm to evaluate their system of internal controls because of the plan to go public in the near future. The president wants to be aware of any new regulations required of his company if they go public. The current system of internal controls was explained to the accounting firm. Under SOX Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, all public traded U.S. corporations are required to maintain a sufficient system of internal controls. In order for this to be implemented all Corporate Executives and board of directors have to ensure that the controls are reliable and effective. With LJB Company incorporating the information from SOX act this will allow them reduce corporate fraud by making sure that all of the procedures for financial reporting is following in accordance to all guidelines. Internal Control Requirements In order for LJB Company to become a public trade, under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires a registered U.S. publicly traded company to have an independent audit committee as a part of its Board of Directors. My accounting firm recommends that since LJB is a small sized company in terms of its employees should reevaluate their costs versus the benefits of being a public traded company. If LJB decides to go public in the near future there will be some new internal control requirements. One of the factors of the internal control system is to ensure that the management is in control of its environment. Top management needs to make it clear and concise on what can and won’t be tolerated especially when it comes to the organizations values, mission statement and unethical behavior. The second factor of the internal control system is the company leading its control activities. The control activities are considered as the post that holds the company’s effort to address all risks that they may possibly face going public. One thing that the company may face is fraud and in order to reduce fraud, management has to create and build policies to address those specific risks. Strengths and Recommendations Since LJB Company is relatively small, they have an advantage over their competitors who are large companies. Being a small company due to its size of employees, one of the things they are doing right is being able to set expectations and implement those within the organization. As a smaller company, the accountant’s decision to switch to pre-numbered invoices and the purchase of an indelible ink machine was a good idea and investment. The pre-numbered invoices will prevent transactions from being recorded multiple times. With the internal control system this will require that the employees forward their source documents for the accounting entries. The indelible ink machine will help organize all of the accounting duties. We recommended that LJB Company purchase an indelible ink machine to print all employees and cut checks. With the indelible ink machine this will make it difficult for unauthorized users to endorse checks and be approved. This will cut down on fraud and theft within the company. Violations LJB Company is very susceptible to fraud due the weaknesses and threats presented in the day to day operations. The type of threats include: no human resource control, lack of cash control, and no duties defined for each individual. LJB Company is lacking in the separation of duties because the Treasurer and Controller functions is being done by the same person. Although these two duties are being performed by one person and stream lining the process this causes LJB to be susceptible to fraud and out of compliance with the SOX act requirements. Each of these duties should be performed two different individuals. LJB Company has lack of cash controls. The lack of cash control has to be watched because within LJB each employee has access to petty cash and that shouldn’t be the case. Access to petty cash should be restricted to authorized personnel only. Any time there is a disbursement from the petty cash there should be an original receipt and signature that received the reimbursement. LJB Company human resource controls are very limited. Within this company both the Accountant and President have to review and approve all of the new hires which is the process. If LJB had a proper human resource control there would be a function set in place for new hires by hiring someone with HR experience that has risk training. Having a more defined HR control resource this would allow the company to clearly define the different roles and responsibilities for each employee. Also with the HR resource all employees would go through background check, each employee be given their own username and password and be tracked with the activity report. Conclusion We believe that this assessment of the current controls of LJB Company and the recommendations provided will meet your expectations and allow your company to be a fully traded public company. To reinstate this problem; in order for LJB Company to become a public trade, under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires a registered U.S. publicly traded company to have an independent audit committee as a part of its Board of Directors. My accounting firm recommends that since LJB is a small sized company in terms of its employees should reevaluate their costs versus the benefits of being a public traded company. Works Cited Kimmel, Paul D.. Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making, 7th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 02/2013. .

Health care economics history Essay

Before 1900, there really wasn’t what you could call major health care in this country. The American Medical Association (AMA) was just getting off the ground, hospitals were just getting established, doctors still made house calls and traded their services for goods, and people still used a lot of home remedies to treat their ailments. Health insurance was unheard of! Between the years 1750 and 2000, healthcare in the United States evolved from a simple System of home remedies and itinerant doctors with little training to a complex, scientific, Technological, and bureaucratic system often called the â€Å"medical industrial complex The history and evolution of health care economics involve economist analyzing the health care system. Over the past 60 years health care scientific advancement and economic growth have persisted. Modern advances in health care are driven by market prices. Economists must follow the flow of money to understand health care decisions. Healthcare funding is very complex and assist individuals in ensuring quality service is provided. Thus economist’s decision-making affects the health care system and advancements made. Economists think of strategic solutions to improve the way health care operates. Economists make decisions that affect individuals’ lives. According to wikipedia (2010) the history of economic thought deals with different thinkers and theories in the subject that became political economy and economics from the ancient world to the present day. Economics is the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The moral obligation of businesses is to sell goods at a just price for individuals to consume. In the 1900s individuals paid out of their own pocket for health insurance. No one needed health insurance because it did not cost much. The healthcare system started around the 1920s where the employers paid for individual’s health insura nce. Healthcare began to grow with much more effective treatments and for much more money. Medicines became effective,  research increased, and medical schools expanded to teach physicians proper treatment methods. When people became ill they were willing to pay for their care. The health insurance system began According to Blumberg and Davidson (2009) Thomasson says that if the Great Depression inadvertently Health care economics have drastically altered over the course of annals in the United States. While some can assist these alterations due to the evolutionary alterations the US has undergone since her inception, the foremost assisting components that leverage the alterations in wellbeing care economics are improvement in expertise and health care. By comprehending the annals of wellbeing care economics, and recognize the flow of capital scheme, economic managers are adept to be more amply arranged for the future. It is crucial to recall that the propelling force behind wellbeing care economics is cash, and it performances an integral part to the achievement of the wellbeing care industry. Who buys for what has altered spectacularly in the past 60 years. Whereas in the past, the most of persons paid their health accounts with personal capital, today protection companies are responsible for the cost. Discussed will be the history, evolution of health care economics, the timeline of funding, and its terms. However, individuals give only a little part of the total flow of capital with personal money. The flow of capital is a scheme in which economic managers are adept to â€Å"follow† the cash through the wellbeing care scheme, and as asserted overhead the primary flow of capital have drastically altered from past years. History displays that numerous physicians would trade services for non-money pieces (such as kernel, cotton fabric, livestock, etc.) as types of fee if the one-by-one was incapable to use money. Essentially, these physicians were tradesmen, with the persevering giving one century per hundred of the cost for health services rendered. As the US started to advancement, with improvement in expertise and other chronicled components, a new scheme had to be put into location to help the American community in buying health services. Every year, the United States allots a restricted allowance of cash that may be expended on wellbeing care. The United States health care system is currently getting ready to evolve tremendously through the organization, management structure, and payment structures. The economic component in health care is very important to understand in order to structure it successfully. This papers discusses the evolution of economics in the health  care system and the structure of health care funding timeline. History and Evolution Health care economics presents an information framework were efficiency and equity goals are pursued. Furthermore, economics establishes a framework by maximizing benefits using resources at hand. Kenneth Arrow, the person responsible for mentioning the idea of health economics as a discipline, wrote an article titled â€Å"Uncertainty and the Welfare Economies of Medical Care† in 1963. The article discusses how the medical care industry benefits society compared to the â€Å"norm†. Furthermore, Mr. Arrow wrote about the significance of supply and demand. Arrow discussed that the average person has the characteristic of only seeking medical care when they are suffering from a critical injury or illness. It’s not common for the average person to receive routine medical services on a regular basis. As Mr. Arrows discussed supply condition, he quoted â€Å"Entry to the health care profession is controlled by licensing. Licensing manages the supply which consequentl y increases the cost of medical care. Davis, H. (2003). National center of biotechnology. Retrieved from http://WW.NCBI.NLM.GOV

CMMI in Small Organizations essays

CMMI in Small Organizations essays The CMM implementation in small organization has been defined in a very practical way in this paper, presented by Dr. Richard Bechtold, President of Abridge Technology. This paper describes the process with which a typical small organization works and handles projects. Dr. Richard Bechtold defines small organization with different views from (i.e.) 25 or fewer employees, rapid changing projects with more than 200 employees, and organizations with very short term projects or several teams with fewer members. He describes how to minimize excessive effort to achieve level 2 standards by splitting them into easy to understand bullets and a few of them are Infrastructure, Project Scope, Defined Processes, Umbrella Project, Risk Management, Training, etc. These points are explained in detailed during the discussion of this paper. The synopsis of this paper is to guide a small organization to better understand and manage the projects they get into. This paper describes all the points an organization should follow to produce a quality product and keep their standard of development at the peak. As a new organization which does not implement the CMM levels, this paper describes in the very beginning how inefficient they can be. This inefficiency level speaks about how people are hired to do the work in an organization and why they are moved into different sectors of the organization. The paper also describes all the wrong implementation procedures which are followed by in-experienced small organizations. I very respectfully disagree with the point Dr. Richard Bechtold makes on the Infrastructure. He speaks about the Executive management agreeing to monitor direct or supervise the project due to lack of infrastructure (meaning people or human resources). The aim of a small organization is to be more profitable and go from the small business classification to big or large business classification. The fe ...

A Political Economic Social Technology Analysis Of Malaysia Tourism Essay

A Political Economic Social Technology Analysis Of Malaysia Tourism Essay 0.0 Introduction Nowadays international business is a vital aim for every firm despite small firm or large firm and they are moving toward to international business for the sake of foreseeable future of their business. Besides, international business is known to be business dealings crossing national borders at any stage of the transaction which included trading such as import and export activities that carry out by the small and large firm from domestic to international market across the world (King, 2008; Aneff, 2010). Moreover, at present, international business can be acknowledged as global business whereby the firms have to adapt their businesses to the outside world in different markets that the firms seek and approach to and deal with many different cultures that concern in every country (Nakate, 2010; King, 2008). With the changing liberalization strategy in the whole world, a lot of firms are gaining benefits from international trade and investments. On top of that, an agre ement of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) was introduced to get control over the rate charges of the tariff and trade barriers (Geneva, 1986). In contrast, after the formation of GATT, in year 1995 followed by the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Besides, there are 2 important forces that drive a business to international business which are the technological development and the disappearance of a substantial part of the communist world (Lausanne, n.d.). Shangri-la Asia Limited is a company with the principle activity of investment holding which focusing on the business and operation of hotels as one with associated real estate properties with providing hotel management or related services (Bloomberg, 2009; Shangri-La Asia Limited, 2009). The company mainly focuses in operating hotels and leasing spaces for commercial and residential. Shangri-la was incorporated in Bermuda and its main headquarters is located in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. Furthermore, Shangri -la Asia Limited was founded in year 1971 and until now, Shangri-la has been in operating in the industry for 39 years and operates its hotels in the company of Shangri-La, Rasa, Trader, Summer Palace, and Shang Palace. Moreover, the group managed 65 hotels at the end of 2009 with 47 hotels invested as the equity which managed by its subsidiaries. Besides, as of year 2009, Shangri-La hotel employs approximately 260,000 employees in the Asia countries (Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, 2010). 1.0 Macro Environment 1.1 Political Environment In China, the government attaches great importance to the tertiary industry in their country and there was positive government policies advance tourism in order to build tertiary industry to be one of their pillar industries (Lew, Yu, Ap, Zhang, 2003). Besides, the hotel and tourism industry in China had rapidity raise after the entry of World Trade Organization (WTO) to the domestic market in China. As according to the announcement from China Nationa l Tourism Administration (CNTA), with the entry of WTO in China, it brings the foreign international hotel industry to invest and set up hotel in China and the government of China approved the application of setting up wholly foreign-owned travel agencies in China thus, demand for hotel industry boosted up (Xinhua, 2004). Moreover, base on the Chinese government’s policy of long term goal, the inbound tourist arrivals to China will achieve 210 million by the year of 2020 in which this would benefit the hotel and tourism industry in China to gain more profit on the tourist visit. For instance, base on the information published by the Shanghai Tourism Commission (STC) in China, the entry of foreign travel companies would help to stimulate and rise of the business of the local tourism industry in the case of SARS that happened seriously in China in 2003 (China Daily, 2004). On the other hand, the political issue would be on political tension between Taiwan and Mainland China and these threats would be considered as the unforeseen event that the hotel developer and investor will take into account (Guo, et.al., 2004).

Supply chain manage Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Supply chain manage - Case Study Example All the parties will be happy and co-exist and eventually the supplier can even be the sole supplier. Bose uses the purchased items to make finished products of audio premium speakers for different companies which deal with automobiles, high fidelity systems and both consumer and commercial broadcasting systems. These final products are not for local use only but are supplied to other foreign nations as well. Since they are also not the only ones in the market making these products, they need to ensure that their final products meet the highest quality standards in order to not only beat the competitors but retain their customers as well. This therefore means that the products they purchase must be of the highest quality possible if they are to achieve the above mentioned goals. Quality raw materials always leads to quality finished products and this is the logic that Bose as a company employs when purchasing quality goods. Certification means that the supplier company is well qualified to handle the supplies according to the instructions of the customers. Bose Company is very specific and very demanding of its suppliers even to the extent of having them fill inventories and have a performance system which is used to evaluate them. If this same strict company on performance of the supplier is the one handling the certification, it means that the suppliers are really qualified in proving their supply work. Bose wants to ensure that suppliers are really taking their performance systems seriously which in turn mean that company is taking care of delivering on time and make improvements when their customers demand some areas to be improved. Handing certification is also a sign of appreciation on the part of Bose Company as the supplier company that is certified has gone an extra mile of improving all their services in case of complains or abides fully to the suggestions provided by