Osmosis Essay Essays

Osmosis Essay Essays Osmosis Essay Paper Osmosis Essay Paper Osmosis is a form of passive transport, and a specialised form of diffusion. It is the movement of water from a dilute solution to a more concentrated one, through a semipermeable membrane. Hence it is where water moves from a high to a low concentration. I will design an experiment to test this process on a typical example of osmosis effect on plant cells, taking as the sample, potato. It is through osmosis and the fluctuating levels of water in the cell that the concentrations of minerals in the plant are regulated. Expt. 1 Last year, I conducted two experiments in which dialysis tubing was used to simulate the semipermeable membrane. In the first experiment a knot was tied in one end of a length of soaked dialysis tubing and a pipette was used to half fill it with a strong glucose solution. The air bubbles were expelled and a knot was tied in the other end. At this point the tubing was flaccid (limp). When it was then placed in a test-tube full of distilled water, it became turgid (firm). [See diag.1] Expt. 2 In the second experiment red-dyed sugar solution was placed in a bell-shaped piece of apparatus, with a capillary tube off it and a cellulose film over the bottom [See diag.2]. This was then placed in a beaker full of distilled water and left for half an hour, by which time the level of water in the beaker had gone down, and red dye had moved up the capillary tube. The water in the beaker had not turned red. The experiment was then repeated with a stronger solution. The volume of water in the beaker decreased further; the dye went further up the capillary tube. These two experiments clearly demonstrated that, while small water molecules pass through a semipermeable membrane, larger molecules (such as glucose) do not. This is why the water in the beaker did not turn red, while the red dye in the capillary tube did become paler. The second experiment also showed that the more concentrated the solution, the more water diffused in by osmosis. Expt. 3 More recently, I conducted an experiment investigating these processes in a real plant cell. An onion was cut up, and two small pieces of the epidermis (a single layer of cells) were peeled, cut and placed onto microscope slide. Onto one of them was pipetted a few drops of distilled water; onto the other was pipetted a few drops of 1 molar glucose solution. Cover slips were then placed onto the two pieces of onion epidermis. [see diag.3a]. These were then placed under the microscope, and their cells looked identical [see diag.3b]. Fifteen minutes later, however, a marked change had been observed. While the onion cells bathed in distilled water had become turgid [see diag.3c], those bathed in glucose had been plasmolysed [see diag.3d]. Plasmolysis occurs when water diffuses out of the cell vacuole, causing the cytoplasm to have a decreased volume, in turn causing the cell membrane to pull away from the cell wall. It only occurs when the cell is hypoosmotic relative to the bathing solution. That is to say that plasmolysis only occurs when the cells solute potential (?s) is lower and therefore water potential (?w) is higher than that of the bathing solution. The bathing solution is hypertonic: this means that there is a higher concentration of solute, and thus lower concentration of water, in the bathing solution than the cell. Totally dilute water has infinite water potential, and zero solute potential. In Expt.3, the water potential of the onion cells in the glucose solution was greater than that of the onion cells in the distilled water. So, because the onion cells in the glucose solution were hypoosmotic, they were plasmolysed. Whereas the onion cells in the distilled water were hyperosmotic (had higher solute, and therefore lower water, potential), so became turgid. In my investigation of osmosis in potato cells, I hope to be able to determine the water potential of the cells. I will do this by finding the isotonic (equal solute, and therefore water potential) bathing solution. Key Variables I will be testing a total of 5 bathing solutions (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 mol glucose solutions distilled water). I will require 10 potato pieces (two for each solution). As they will be cut from a slice of potato 1 cm tall, the height is already constant. I must also ensure that the breadth of each piece is constant: 1cm. It is vital that the breadth and height are constant so that it is possible to measure any change in length. Of course, in order to measure the change, it will be necessary to ensure that the initial lengths are constant, and to ensure that I measure the same sides at the beginning as the end. To do this, I will take a tiny segment out of one side (I will measure the other). The initial lengths will be 2.5 cm. Obviously, it is hoped that the potato will have an even density, but in case it does not, the individual masses will be measured beforehand as well as afterwards. Through the use of such a precise piece of apparatus, I hope to be more accurate in my final readings. Also, this way the comparison between increase/ decrease in the lengths of potato pieces may be reinforced by a comparison between the increase/ decrease in their masses. So the readings will not only be more accurate, but also more reliable. The initial volumes of the bathing solutions must be constant, in order to better compare any changes in volumes. The initial volumes will be 20ml. The amount of time during which the potato pieces are left in their bathing solutions must be constant. The time set will be 30 minutes. The only variable left is the strength of the bathing solution. These are: 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 mol glucose solutions distilled water. I am using these solutions because I want to show some potato cells become turgid and be plasmolysed: and I will need this sort of range to do so, because potato has a lower water potential than onion (and will therefore need a stronger solution than that used in Expt.3). Aim To discover the water potential of the average potato cell in terms of the relative isotonic bathing solution. Hypothesis As demonstrated in the three experiments in the Introduction, osmosis determines that water travels from high to low concentration over a selectively permeable membrane. In the planned experiment, when the bathing solution is hypertonic (lower water potential, higher solute potential) relative to the potato cell, water will flow out of the vacuole into the bathing solution (plasmolysis, Expt.3). This will cause the potato cells to become flaccid, shrinking and losing weight. The potato pieces that lose mass, and decrease in length will be the ones with high water potential, relative to the bathing solution. I think this will happen in the distilled water, because completely distilled water has infinite water potential. When the bathing solution is hypotonic (higher water potential, lower solute potential) relative to the potato cell, the cell will become turgid because water will flow from the bathing solution into the vacuole. The potato pieces that increase in length and gain mass will be the ones with low water potential, relative to the bathing solution. I predict this for the strong glucose solutions (0.4, 0.6, 0.8 mol), because I have seen from experiments 12 that strong glucose solutions have low water potential. When the bathing solution is isotonic (equal water potential, equal solute potential) relative to the potato cell, the cell will not change. The potato pieces that neither increase nor decrease in length and neither lose nor gain mass will be the ones with the same water potential, relative to the bathing solution. I believe this will occur in the weakest glucose solution (0.2mol) because, although a 0.1mol solution plasmolysed the onions in Expt.3, potatoes have a lower water content than onions (85% as opposed to 89%), meaning that they will also have a lower water potential. I am therefore predicting that the water potential of the average potato cell is equal to that of a low strength glucose solution. I say this because I know that, in distilled water, the cells become turgid; and in strong glucose solutions, the cells plasmolyse. Apparatus slab of potato 1cm thick, scalpel, white tile, solutions (0.3, 0.6, 0.9 mol glucose), distilled water, 5 boiling tubes, clock, ruler (mm), electric balance (to 0.01g), and a measuring cylinder, forceps, boiling tube rack, paper towels. Planned Method First I will cut out the 10 potato pieces (10x10x25mm) on the white tile with the scalpel, taking a chunk out of one side [see diag. 4a]. Then I will measure their masses on the electric balance. Then I will measure out the volumes of the bathing solutions (20ml each) in a measuring cylinder (the measuring cylinder will be dried after each measure) [see diag. 4b]. Then I will pour the bathing solutions into the 5 boiling tubes, which I will have labelled, and two potato pieces will be placed into each boiling tube and the timer started [see diag. 4c]. 30 minutes later, I will remove the 10 potato pieces, rinse (briefly) and dry them, and measure their lengths and masses. These will then be recorded. Then the volumes of the bathing solutions will be recorded (again, the measuring cylinder will be dried after each measure). Diagrams Safety Precautions As with all substances in a science laboratory, it is vital that I do not taste the potato, the solutions or the distilled water. I must not touch my face or licking my fingers before washing my hands, but I should attempt to avoid getting the liquids if possible, as it risks contaminating our results. Evidently, care must also be taken with the scalpel in the cutting of the potato, as it is a sharp instrument.

Gun Show Laws by State and The Gun Show Loophole

Gun Show Laws by State and The Gun Show Loophole At gun shows, both official firearms retailers and private individuals sell and trade firearms to large numbers of potential buyers and traders. These gun transfers are not regulated by law in most states. This lack of regulation is called the gun show loophole. It is praised by gun rights advocates but denounced by gun control supporters, as the loophole allows persons who would not be able to pass a Brady Act gun buyer background check to illegally obtain firearms. Gun Show Background The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) has estimated that 5,000 gun shows are held annually in the U.S. These shows attract tens of thousands of attendees and result in the transfer of thousands of firearms. Between 1968 and 1986, gun dealers were prohibited from selling firearms at gun shows. The Gun Control Act of 1968 barred Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders from making gun show sales by ordering that all sales must take place at the dealer’s place of business. The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 reversed that portion of the Gun Control Act. The BATFE now estimates that as many as 75% of weapons sold at gun shows are sold by licensed dealers. The Gun Show Loophole Issue The â€Å"gun show loophole† refers to the fact that most states do not require background checks for firearms sold or traded at gun shows by private individuals. Federal law requires background checks on guns sold by federally licensed (FFL) dealers only. The federal Gun Control Act of 1968 defined â€Å"private sellers† as anyone who sold fewer than four firearms during any 12-month period. However, the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act deleted that restriction and loosely defined private sellers as individuals who do not rely on gun sales as the principal way of obtaining their livelihood. Proponents of unregulated gun show sales say that there is no gun show loophole - gun owners are simply selling or trading guns at the shows as they would at their residences. Federal legislation has attempted to put an end to the so-called loophole by requiring that all gun show transactions take place through FFL dealers. Most recently, a 2009 bill attracted several co-sponsors in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but Congress ultimately failed to take up consideration of the legislation. Gun Show Laws by State As of November 2016, 19 states and the District of Columbia have their own gun show background check requirements. Nine states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington) require background checks at the point of sale for all transfers, including purchases from unlicensed sellers. In Maryland and Pennsylvania, background checks are required for handguns only. Gun show gun buyers in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are required to obtain a state-issued permit. Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, and North Carolina require state-issued permits for handguns only. In 32 states, there are currently no laws - federal or state - regulating firearms sales between private individuals at gun shows. However, even in states where background checks of private sales are not required by law, organizations hosting the gun show may require them as a matter of policy. In addition, private sellers are free to have a third-party federally-licensed gun dealer run background checks even though they may not be required by law. Attempts to Close the Gun Show Loophole It is not like gun control advocates in Congress have not tried to close the gun show loophole. Federal Gun show loophole bills were introduced in seven consecutive Congresses from 2001 to 2013 - two in 2001, two in 2004, one in 2005, one in 2007, two in 2009, two in 2011, and one in 2013. None of them passed. In March 2017, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) introduced the Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2017 (H.R. 1612) requiring criminal background checks on all firearms transactions occurring at gun shows. As of June 26, 2017, the bill had been referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations. The Bloomberg Investigation In 2009, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group, stirred controversy and stimulated the gun show debate when NYC hired private investigators to target gun shows in the unregulated states of Ohio, Nevada, and Tennessee. According to a report released by Bloomberg’s office, 22 of 33 private sellers sold guns to undercover investigators who informed them that they probably could not pass a background check, while 16 of 17 licensed sellers allowed straw purchases by the undercover investigators. A straw purchase involves an individual who is prohibited from purchasing a firearm recruiting someone else to purchase a gun for him.

Monitoring U.S. citizens' phone conversations to detect potential Essay - 1

Monitoring U.S. citizens' phone conversations to detect potential terriorist threats - Essay Example The very spirit of American political life and popular expectations simply do not allow the state to extend its sway beyond a point where it not only interferes with the personal and professional lives of people and individuals, but rather tempers with the privacy of their private and professional phone conversations. National security is really very important. However, the concerns for national security cannot be allowed to irrationality expand to a level where they start hampering the normal activities of the citizens. The act of monitoring the phone conversations of citizens is also unconstitutional and violates the Fourth Amendment rights of the citizens, which constitute a part of the Bill of Rights (Dripps, 2007). Superficially speaking, the Fourth Amendment to the constitution of the United States of America intends to protect the citizens from illegal search and seizures. Surprisingly, the very purpose of this Amendment was to check the abuse of general search warrants in the American Revolution (Dripps, 2007). In the historical Katz v. United States judgment, the US Supreme Court declared any state intrusion into an area where a citizen has the reasonable expectation and right to seek privacy, to be an illegal search and a violation of the Fourth Amendment (Dripps, 2007). Thus, monitoring of the phone conversations of the US citizens is a legal and ethical violation of their privacy. This in no way means that the law enforcement agencies simply cannot have an access to the phone conversations of the people doubted of having terrorist links. They can do so as per the ways and procedures laid down by the US laws. As per the Fourth Amendment, the law enforcement personnel can resort to a legal search (here monitoring of phone conversations), provided such a procedure is pursuant to a valid court warrant sanctioned on the basis of the information provided by a law enforcement personnel to the court, under an oath

Threats to the Tropical Rainforest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Threats to the Tropical Rainforest - Essay Example The potential impact of these threats on biodiversity of tropical forest is difficult to assess, due to the fact that the threats could be interlinked and each precipitates either direct or indirect effects. Regardless of the uncertainties associated with threat evaluation and impact assessment, the fact that these forests are subject to radical ecological changes, hence degradation is indubitable. For these reasons, it is imperative for conservationists and the global populations, to monitor, comprehend, and prevent the negative impact of these threats at all costs. Background Information Most studies in Earth systems reveal the fact that Tropical rainforests represent one of the World’s oldest and uninterrupted ecosystems. For instance, fossil records indicate that South-east Asia’s humid forests have been in existence for between 70 and 100 million years, without much alteration to their original form. Tropical rainforests make up some of the world’s haven for species, since they could have more than 1000 different species within an area of one square kilometer (km2). This is a very large proportion of both floral and faunal species, in comparison to that found in temperate forests, which harbor a meager 100 species within a similar spatial area. Tropical rainforests cover an estimated 2% area of Earth’s surface, which amounts to approximately 2000 million hectares (Ha). These forests get their name â€Å"Tropical† from their location within the tropics, that is, the Tropic of Capricorn about 23 degrees south and the Tropic of Cancer about 23 degrees north of the Equator (Primack and Corlett 15). Given the strategic location of Tropical rainforests within the tropics, they span across most of the world’s continents, including Africa, Asia, Northern Australia, and South America. These forests are also found in many of the tropical islands within these areas (Wright 554-555). The Amazon Rainforest is the largest of the Tropical rainforests in the world. Found in South America, the Amazon forest covers eight nations including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela, Suriname and Ecuador. This huge forest covers a 2 million square miles area. Studies have shown that Tropical rainforests play a significant role in regulating local, as well as, global climatic conditions, in addition to regulating the crucial carbon cycle. The forests regulate the carbon cycle by absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon, while releasing much needed oxygen to the environment. This happens when the vast number of plants takes up carbon during photosynthesis, thus incorporating it into stored biomass. Even though there is no agreement as to whether preserved rainforests constitute the principal sink or source of carbon, negative influences of excessive deforestation are clearly known. Additionally, the role of deforestation in negating the carbon cycle is indubitable (Fearnside 681). Over the last severa l years, discussions regarding the links between forests’

My Experience with Mother Hens and Their Families Essay Example for Free

My Experience with Mother Hens and Their Families Essay The purpose of our sanctuary on the Virginia Eastern Shore is to provide a home for chickens who already exist, rather than adding to the population and thus diminishing our capacity to adopt more birds. For this reason we do not allow our hens to hatch their eggs in the spring and early summer as they would otherwise do, given their association with the roosters in our yard. All of our birds have been adopted from situations of abandonment or abuse, or else they were no longer wanted or able to be cared for by their previous owners. Our two-acre sanctuary is a fenced open yard that shades into tangled wooded areas filled with trees, bushes, vines, undergrowth and the soil chickens love to scratch in all year round. It also includes several smaller fenced enclosures with chicken-wire roofs, each with its own predator-proof house, for chickens who are inclined to fly over fences during chick-hatching season, and thus be vulnerable to the raccoons, foxes, owls, possums and other predators inhabiting the woods and fields around us. I learned the hard way about the vulnerability of chickens to predators. Once, a hen named Eva, who had jumped the fence and been missing for several weeks, reappeared in early June with a brood of eight fluffy chicks. This gave me a chance to observe directly some of the maternal behavior I had read so much about. We had adopted Eva into our sanctuary along with several other hens and a rooster confiscated during a cockfighting raid in Alabama. Watching Eva travel around the yard, outside the sanctuary fence with her tiny brood close behind her, was like watching a family of wild birds whose dark and golden feathers blended perfectly with the woods and foliage they melted in and out of during the day. Periodically, at the edge of the woods, Eva would squat down with her feathers puffed out, and her peeping chicks would all run under her wings for comfort and warmth. A few minutes later, the family was on the move again. Throughout history, hens have been praised for their ability to defend their young from an attacker. I watched Eva do exactly this one day when a large dog wandered in front of the magnolia tree where she and her chicks were foraging. With her wings outspread and curved menacingly toward the dog, she rushed at him over and over, cackling loudly, all the while continuing to push her chicks behind herself with her wings. The dog stood stock still  before the excited mother hen, and soon ambled away, but Eva maintained her aggressive posture of self-defense, her sharp, repetitive cackle and attentive lookout for several minutes after he was gone. Eva’s behavior toward the dog differed radically from her behavior toward me, demonstrating her ability to distinguish between a likely predator and someone she perceived as presenting no dire threat to her and her chicks. She already knew me from the sanctuary yard, and though I had never handled her apart from lifting her out of the crate she’d arrived in from Alabama several months earlier, when I started discreetly stalking her and her family, to get the closest possible view of them, the most she did when she saw me coming was dissolve with her brood into the woods or disappear under the magnolia tree. While she didn’t see me as particularly dangerous, she nevertheless maintained a wary distance that, over time, diminished to where she increasingly brought her brood right up to the sanctuary fence, approaching the front steps of our house, and ever closer to me but not too close just yet. When she and her chicks were out and about, and I called to her, â₠¬Å"Hey, Eva,† she’d quickly look up at me, poised and alert for several seconds, before resuming her occupation. One morning, I looked outside expecting to see the little group in the dewy grass, but they were not there. Knowing that mother raccoons prowled nightly looking for food for their own youngsters in the summer, I sadly surmised they were the likely reason that I never saw my dear Eva and her chicks again. Inside the sanctuary, I broke the no chick-hatching rule just once. Upon returning from a trip of several days, I discovered that Daffodil, a soft white hen with a sweet face and quiet manner, was nestled deep in the corner of her house in a nest she’d pulled together from the straw bedding on the dirt floor. Seeing there were only two eggs under her, and fearing they might contain embryos mature enough to have well-developed nervous systems by then, I left her alone. A few weeks later on a warm day in June, I was scattering fresh straw in the house next to hers, when all of a sudden I heard the tiniest peeps. Thinking a sparrow was caught inside, I ran to  guide the bird out. But those peeps were not from a sparrow; they arose from Daffodil’s corner. Adjusting my eyes, I peered down into the dark place where Daffodil was, and there I beheld the source of the tiny voice a little yellow face with dark bright eyes was peeking out of her feathers. I kneeled down and stared into the face of the chick who looked intently back at me, before it hid itself, then peeked out again. I looked closely into Daffodil’s face as well, knowing from experience that making direct eye contact with chickens is crucial to forming a trusting, friendly relationship with them. If chickens see people only from the standpoint of boots and shoes, and people don’t look them in the eye and talk to them, no bond of friendship will be formed between human and bird. I’ve seen this difference expressed between hens we’ve adopted into our sanctuary from an egg production facility, for example, and chickens brought to us as young birds or as someone’s former pet. Former egg-industry hens tend to look back at me, not with that sharp, bright, direct focus of a fully confident chicken, but with a watchful opacity that no doubt in part reflects their having spent their entire previous lives in cages or on crowded floors in dark, polluted buildings that permanently affected their eyes before coming to our sanctuary. Psychologically, it’s as if they’ve pulled down a little curtain between themselves and human beings that does not prevent friendship but infuses their recovery with a settled strain of fear. I’ll say more about these hens presently. From the very first, a large red rooster named Francis regularly visited Daffodil and her chick in their nesting place, and Daffodil acted happy and content to have him there. Frequently, I found him quietly sitting with her and the little chick, who scrambled around both of them, in and out of their feathers. Though roosters will mate with more than one hen in the flock, a rooster and a hen will also form bonds so strong that they will refuse to mate with anyone else. Could it be that Francis was the father of this chick and that he and Daffodil knew it? He certainly was uniquely and intimately involved with the pair, and it wasn’t as though he was the head of the  flock, the one who oversaw all of the hens and the other roosters and was thus fulfilling his duty in that role. Rather, Francis seemed simply to be a member of this particular family. For the rest of the summer, Daffodil and her chick formed a kind of enchanted circle with an inviolable space all around themselves, as they roamed together in the yard, undisturbed by the other chickens. Not once did I see Francis or any of the other roosters try to mate with Daffodil during the time she was raising her frisky chick the little one I named Daisy who grew up to be Sir Daisy, a large, handsome rooster with white and golden-brown feathers.

Beowulf :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

In the poem Beowulf, there are many monsters that are slayed by the hero. Like in the poem, many monsters exist in our world today. One of the monsters that attack people is a negative attitude. This monster attacks numerous people everyday, limiting their potential to succeed. However, there is a hero who battles this monster everyday. This hero is my swim coach, Jim Keogh. Coach Keogh fights off the negative attitude that attacks his swimmers in every practice. With Keogh’s help, his swimmers can accomplish their goals by fighting off the negative attitude.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A negative attitude is a monster that attacks many people in my life. People who live with a negative attitude are always depressed and worried about what they face everyday. I see this feeling in many of my fellow swimmers, as well as myself. The monster attacks us when we are most vulnerable, working hard at practice. The monster jumps into our brains and begins to make us to see ourselves failing. When we begin to worry about failing, we leave no time for ourselves to think about how to succeed in finishing the workout. This horrid beast lowers our self-confidence and limits our chances to put forth a full effort. The beast will engage in people if they are down on themselves about not achieving the standards they had set forth. When a swimmer swims a race and adds a couple of seconds to his best time, he will get upset. That is the moment when the monster attacks. The negative-attitude monster will make this person believe that he could never go any faster and that he had wasted all of his practice time. Along with attacking one of us at practice, the monster attacks others through a skillfully thought out plan. The way the plan works is that the monster makes one person believe they cannot make it through the workout. This person then begins to talk negatively about the set being too hard or too long. The other swimmers who have not been attacked listen to the infected one. They subsequently begin to doubt themselves. Then, in a matter of minutes, the monster has successfully conquered a whole group of swimmers and makes them believe that they cannot succeed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Our hero who fights the negative attitude everyday is Coach Jim Keogh. Everyday at swim practice Keogh’s swimmers encounter many tiring moments when they are vulnerable for attack by the monster.

Collaboration Assessment Guide

Collaboration Assessment Guide Please complete this four part guide and submit for the Collaboration Lesson. Part One: Collaboration lesson/task description Describe the lesson or task you completed collaboratively in a paragraph consisting of five or more sentences. Part Two: Peer and Self Evaluation Rate each member of the team, including yourself, according to each of the performance criteria below.  ·3 = above average 2 = average 1 = below averageStudent Names|CooperationListened to and respected others and their opinions|ContributionContributed their fair share to the completion of the task or project; fulfilling their assigned duties|ParticipationConsistently spoke up, attended all meetings, fully participated, stayed on task, and offered relevant information|ResponsibilityCompleted all necessary work adequately and on time without needing reminders|FeedbackOffered appropriate and adequate feedback when necessary| |||||| ||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| Part Three: Self-Refl ection Respond to the following in two to three sentences each. What did you enjoy most about working with others on this lesson/task? Explain. How did your team deal with conflict? Explain. Do you feel others were happy with your participation in the lesson/task? Explain. What will you do differently, if anything, in your next online collaboration opportunity? Explain. Additional comments: Part Four: EvidenceProvide evidence of collaboration in the space below or in a separate document. Examples of evidence include, but are not limited to, the following:  ·Link to the team wiki, blog, Voicethread, or other web 2. 0 tool  ·Copy and paste below, attach, or provide a screen shot of the discussion thread from the blog, wiki, discussion area, instant message, email, etc.  ·Copy and paste or attach team project plan and final project  ·Any other specific evidence as listed with the collaboration lesson or task you completed

Kona coffee Essay

Kona coffee company is one of the largest coffee manufacturers in the state of Hawaii. Their products are made in Hawaii and they have over forty different flavors. Because the coffee beans are grown in Hawaii this is the only place it can be found. High-quality as well as luxurious products. Strong Point †¢Corporate culture †¢Products †¢Political and Legal Environment – Great assessment in communicating the need to be aware of not only American export laws, but Japanese import laws as well. †¢Coffee Market – Information about the numbers of coffee market was good in showing the increase in coffee consumption. – Also how Japan has become the world’s third largest importer of coffee. †¢SWOT analysis †¢Marketing Objectives †¢Marketing Strategies – Excellent target market. †¢Supply chain strategies †¢Implementation Plan 1 2 – Researching upscale stores, Partner with a local ad agency, and Promotions such as taste tests are excellent idea. Sampling is the best way to promote a product. †¢Measurement and Control Strategies – Surveys are a great way to gain feedback both positive and negative. Weak Points †¢Situation Analysis †¢Markets. †¢Economic Environment – Could go more into detail about reasons why expansion would be good in this market. How is Japans economy? †¢Distribution †¢Competitive Environment †¢Promotion Strategies – A little bit weak on promotion. The biggest promotion should be social media. Missing Points †¢Situation Analysis could have gone more in depth – Main competitors are not mentioned – Product distribution missing – Environmental factors – Core fundamentals such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats need to be slightly mentioned †¢Mission statement is missing. – Although I did find a cute quote on their web page â€Å"The warmth of the islands in every cup†. †¢Distribution – Could have mentioned how much is distributed to each store – Also how much is sold online My Conclusions: Although Japan is in its infancy in coffee culture I think it would be an excellent idea to offer Hawaiian coffee because Hawaii is seen as paradise. This analysis is missing in the report as well as Japans culture. They didn’t mention the fact that Japans coffee shops serve as meeting rooms for businessmen to talk and possibly capture new clients. It is very important to understand origins of culture so as to understand how to promote new 2 3 products in the best way possible. They don’t quit mention much about how brief japan customers visit a coffee shop and how to manage this problem. They would have to draw in and make the products attractive. It should be mentioned when Starbucks entered into Japan how it changed the views of coffee shops in Japan. It brought back a sit-and-have-a-chat style of coffee consumption. References http://www. hawaiianisles. com http://www. japantoday. com/category/opinions/view/japans-coffee-culture 3.

Activities to Practice Decoding Skills for Reading

Activities to Practice Decoding Skills for Reading Decoding skills help a child learn to read and develop fluency in reading. Some of the major decoding skills include recognizing sounds and sound blends, deciphering the meaning of a word through recognition or context and understanding the role of each word within a sentence. The following activities help a student build decoding skills. Recognizing Sounds and Sound Blends Give the Clown a Balloon This exercise helps teach and reinforce that letters can sound different depending on the letters around them, for example, the a in hat sounds different than the a in cake because of the silent e at the end of the word. Use pictures of clowns; each clown represents a different sound for the same letter, for example, the letter a sounds differently in many different words. One clown can represent a long a, one can represent short a. Children are given balloons with words containing the letter a and must decide which clown gets the balloon. Sound of the Week Use letters or letter blends and make one sound the sound of the week. Have students practice recognizing this sound in daily reading, picking out objects in the room that have the sound in them and coming up with a list of words that contain the sound. Be sure to keep the letter or letter blend on the board or in a place that is highly visible in the classroom throughout the week. Understanding the Word’s Meaning Building Vocabulary - Synonym Crossword Puzzle This activity can be used for different ages, using simple words and clues for young children and more difficult for older children. Create a crossword puzzle; students need to find a synonym for the clue. For example, your clue might be blanket and the word covers can be put into the crossword puzzle. You can also create a crossword puzzle using antonyms. Change the Words without Changing the Story Provide students with a short story, maybe a paragraph long, and have them change as many words as they can without changing the meaning of the story very much. For example, the first sentence might read, John went running through the park. Students might change the sentence to read, John moved quickly through the playground. Parts of a Sentence Adjectives Have students bring in a picture of something from home. This can be a picture of a pet, a vacation, their home or a favorite toy. Students trade pictures with another class member and write as many adjectives as they can about the picture. For example, a picture of a pet dog can include words such as: brown, little, sleepy, spotted, playful, and curious, depending on the picture. Have students trade pictures again and compare the adjectives they found. Race to Make a Sentence Use vocabulary words and write each word on two cards. Divide the class into two teams and give each team one set of the words, face down. The first member of each team picks up a card (should be the same word on both cards) and runs to the board and write a sentence using the word. The first person with a correct sentence gets one point for their team.

The First Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493)

The First Voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492-1493) How was the first voyage of Columbus to the New World undertaken, and what was its legacy? Having convinced the King and Queen of Spain to finance his voyage, Christopher Columbus departed mainland Spain on August 3, 1492. He quickly made port in the Canary Islands for a final restocking and left there on September 6. He was in command of three ships: the Pinta, the Nià ±a, and the Santa Marà ­a. Although Columbus was in overall command, the Pinta was captained by Martà ­n Alonso Pinzà ³n and the Nià ±a by Vicente Yaà ±ez Pinzà ³n. First Landfall: San Salvador On October 12, Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor aboard the Pinta, first sighted land. Columbus himself later claimed that he had seen a sort of light or aura before Triana did, allowing him to keep the reward he had promised to give to  whoever spotted land first. The land turned out to be a small island in the present-day Bahamas. Columbus named the island San Salvador, although he remarked in his journal that the natives referred to it as Guanahani. There is some debate over which island was Columbus’ first stop; most experts believe it to be San Salvador, Samana Cay, Plana Cays or Grand Turk Island. Second Landfall: Cuba Columbus had explored five islands in the modern-day Bahamas before he made it to Cuba. He reached Cuba on October 28, making landfall at Bariay, a harbor near the eastern tip of the island. Thinking he had found China, he sent two men to investigate. They were Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, a converted Jew who spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic in addition to Spanish. Columbus had brought him as an interpreter. The two men failed in their mission to find the Emperor of China  but did visit a native Taà ­no village. There they were the first to observe the smoking of tobacco, a habit which they promptly picked up. Third Landfall: Hispaniola Leaving Cuba, Columbus made landfall on the Island of Hispaniola on December 5. The natives called it Haità ­, but Columbus renamed it La Espaà ±ola, a name which was later changed to Hispaniola when Latin texts were written about the discovery. On December 25, the Santa Marà ­a ran aground and had to be abandoned. Columbus himself took over as captain of the Nià ±a, as the Pinta had become separated from the other two ships. Negotiating with the local chieftain Guacanagari, Columbus arranged to leave 39 of his men behind in a small settlement, named La Navidad. Return to Spain On January 6, the Pinta arrived, and the ships were reunited: they set out for Spain on January 16. The ships arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 4, returning to Spain shortly after that. Historical Importance of Columbus First Voyage In retrospect, it is somewhat surprising that what is today considered one of the most important voyages in history was something of a failure at the time. Columbus had promised to find a new, quicker route to the lucrative Chinese trade markets and he failed miserably. Instead of holds full of Chinese silks and spices, he returned with some trinkets and a few bedraggled natives from Hispaniola. Some 10 more had perished on the voyage. Also, he had lost the largest of the three ships entrusted to him. Columbus actually considered the natives his greatest find. He thought that a new slave trade could make his discoveries lucrative. Columbus was hugely disappointed a few years later when Queen Isabela, after careful thought, decided not to open the New World to slave trading. Columbus never believed that he had found something new. He maintained, to his dying day, that the lands he discovered were indeed part of the known Far East. In spite of the failure of the first expedition to find spices or gold, a much larger second expedition was approved, perhaps in part due to Columbus’ skills as a salesman. Sources Herring, Hubert. A History of Latin America From the Beginnings to the Present. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962 Thomas, Hugh. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. 1st edition, Random House, June 1, 2004.

Business case to successfully justify a suitable Knowledge Management Essay

Business case to successfully justify a suitable Knowledge Management System (KMS) for managing its tacit knowledge - Essay Example This thesis report highlights the importance of Knowledge Management System in an information-consulting firm that makes implementations of solutions like ERP in order to validate and substantiate the administration of its tacit knowledge. In addition, the Knowledge management theories, methods, and structural design that the enterprise can implement will come under evaluation in conjunction with the knowledge assessment of the company’s tacit knowledge, and will identify the necessary and existing gaps. Based on the assessments and the gap analysis, a framework and collection of possible approaches comes under proposal and recommendation that can better understand the needs of the talked about enterprise, reduce and shrink the threats involved in a Knowledge management system, and eventually facilitate the company in its development and growth. Furthermore, the discussion of the paper will also highlight and accentuate the advantages of a Knowledge Management System that will contribute to the business value of the ABC consulting firm and its productivity. Background Information As the world has entered into the twenty first century, it has undergone many technological advancements and improvements and the industries are transforming their manual processes onto technology-based processes. With this increasing demand of technology, and the growing competition, it becomes complicated and challenging to react to such market oscillations and instability. Therefore, several corporations are moving towards the implementation of solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which is considerably one of the best solutions for the integrated processes, which raise and augment the competitive advantages of the corporations’ (Khosrowpour, pp. 115-118, 2001). The service provider or the information consulting company of these kinds of solutions is the subject of study and report that comes under limelight. Customization has always come under contempl ation and observation as the best alternative way out of any situation, trouble, or different business scenarios from the standard ones that the customer experiences during the implementation phase. It is imperative to comprehend the business processes coupled to the experience factor for the administration of designed and spontaneous situations while implementation. Therefore, during the entire life cycle of the ERP implementation, Knowledge Management is the key and crucial aspect that comes under utilization by the employees in the information-consulting firms (Khosrowpour, pp. 115-118, 2001). The entire life cycle comprises of planning, business process analysis, requirement mapping, gap analysis, system design and configuration, data conversion, communications, end-user trainings, pilot run and production run. As these processes are

Occupational health and safety Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Occupational health and safety - Case Study Example This research will begin with the statement that Occupational Healthy Safety (OHS) has the responsibility of ensuring that people engaged in employment are safe and healthy while at work.   It is an organ that fights for the welfare of employees and advocates for a healthy and safe working environment. As a working environment, it is an interaction of different people like customers, staff, and family members. Therefore, for the effectiveness of health and safety of those involved, OHS system should be active in an organization so as to avoid injuries and deaths that result from a dangerous working environment. Human life should be treated sacredly by taking preventive measures that will create confidence with the workers to offer their service without fear. Companies, which do not take such measures, expose their workers to dangerous consequences inform of injuries.   These injuries make workers stay home while nursing their wounds and pain. When people are not able to attend to their normal duties at work, they affect service delivery, which was seen through the limited returns that the company realizes. Titanic Cove Resort (TCR) is a business firm found in Byron Bay, which provides conference facilities, accommodation services, and food and beverage choices among many to their customers. This indicates that being a service industry; it has 420 members of staff, who attend to approximately 800 guests that visit the business. This paper shall discuss the efficiency of OHS system in TCR in detail, and suggest recommendations that will improve the safety and health of TCR employees and customers. Breaches in WHS Legislation According to New South Wales legislation The world Health Organization and the New South Wales legislation in Australia have a common ground in regard to occupational health and safety (Levy & Wegman 2005). According to these two organs, it is the duty of occupational health to maintain a high level of psychological and bodily safety to workers so as to avoid risks that come with working conditions. The working environment should be improved to create a reliable condition that will protect workers from work related risks. Companies should create a positive climate which would enable workers to improve their productivity in the business. TCR has shown a breach of New South Wales legislation since it has not promoted health safety. The case study indicated that a bar attendant was assaulted by an intoxicated person. This attendant was hospitalized and was to be laid off for tree weeks. This was not according to the labor legislation, which advocates for a suitable working environment. As an employer, TCR should provide securi ty for her employees while at work, but this incident where one of her works suffered these injuries, indicates a breach of legislation. Secondly, the working environment does not promote a healthy and safety climate. This was shown when a fight broke in the firm, and the security offered to go and settle the dispute, but instead he was knocked and became unconscious. This shows that TCR does not uphold occupational health and safety hence a breach of legislation in the company. Cost and Benefits of Occupational Health The above illustration indicates that the current level of occupational health and safety is not legal compliance. When workers are exposed to risks that harm their lives, they lead the company to an extra cost of providing for their medical treatment (Alston 1994). Such expenses can be avoided if the occupational health and safety system is upheld. Lack of proper occupational health may lead to deaths that make families lose their loved ones, who in this case are the bread winners. The loss of a family bread winner indicates that other family members will face challenges in meeting their basic needs. This propagates the rate of poverty in the society. Families that lose their loved ones undergo pain and grief and take time to accept the departure of their friend or relative. Therefore, to avoid such