Blow the Whistle or Breath Insulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Blow the Whistle or Breath Insulation - Essay Example The issue was dealt with by county inspector who recommended the improvement of the condition such as cleaning of all fallen fibers and removal of the asbestos or sealing of the pipes. However, the management did nothing to change the situation apart from cleaning the fallen asbestos. They however informed the workers to continue working in the same environment, but never to do anything that will disturb the asbestos and cause fibers to fall off. The high cost of eliminating the asbestos hazard prohibited the company from implementing the recommendations of county inspector. The dilemma in this case is whether the high cost of mitigating the risk posed by asbestos to the workers is worth the health risk to the workers. The workers are in disagreement as to whether asbestos truly cause cancer and whether the company should incur that cost in order to implement the recommended action by the county inspector. Some workers believe that if the asbestos is left undisturbed, there are no fi bers hence no health risk to those working in that environment. Main ethical principles in Manly Construction Company The working regulations require both workers and employers to be truthful in their operations (Anonymous, 16). In this case, Manly Construction Company is deceitful by assuring workers that the environment is safe for them yet they warn workers against revealing their negligence to the external stakeholders. The company has already been fined by the county inspector and requested to clean up the fallen asbestos. The county inspector further recommended the removal of asbestos or sealing of the pipes, but the company has refused to do so due to high cost involved in executing the recommendations. The ethical principles require individuals to be given an opportunity to exercise their autonomy of expressing their views and ideas regarding the issues affecting them (Anonymous, 18). In the case of Manly Construction Company, the workers have no autonomy to speak up their mind or enjoy better working conditions. The company’s management is forcing them to work in a risky environment by assuring them it is safe yet they do not the workers to share their views regarding the risk they are exposed to with external stakeholders. The company is acting unfairly by issuing threats to workers and by failing to protect workers against dangerous asbestos (Anonymous, 19). It is not in order for the organization to force employees to work in an environment that is likely to cause them health problems such as contracting cancerous diseases. This may result to disagreement between workers and employers since the only alternative for workers is to expose the malpractices of the company hence the workers may end up being fired from their jobs. The company is acting against the law since they have failed to rectify the issues that are posing threat to the workers despite the county inspector’s recommendations for the company to do so (Anonymous, 25). Fur thermore, the company is prohibiting the workers from sharing their experiences with corporate world since they are aware of the consequences it will pose to the company’s image. The main issue is balancing between the cost of mitigating the health hazard the current condition in the company is posing to the workers and wellbeing of the employees. The condition in Manly Construction Company affects both workers and the organization. The workers are exposed to cancerous diseases, while the organization has already been fined by county inspector and are likely to lose contracts in case they are exposed by their workers. If the workers suffer health problems the company will have to incur

Briefly discuss the functions of NAT, ICS, and WINS as well as their Essay

Briefly discuss the functions of NAT, ICS, and WINS as well as their uses - Essay Example It does the access control to resources between computers on the either sides of the firewall. NAT also conserves the number of public addresses used within an organization, considering the economic and security aspects Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) is the Microsoft’s NetBIOS name resolution service for the TCP/IP networks. WINS helps the users to access the resources with NetBIOS names in the remote network. WINS supports NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT). Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) is a feature implemented in Windows Operating system to share a single Internet connection present in one computer with the other computers on the same local area network. ICS works with the help of Dynamical host control protocol of (DHCP) and network address translation (NAT).This Internet connection sharing is done by using a device with Internet access such as 3G cellular service, broadband via Ethernet, or other Internet gateway as the access point for the other devices

WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WEEK 3 - Assignment Example Nevertheless, unresolved conflict may lead to feelings of unhappiness, dissatisfaction; depression, hopelessness as well as a whole wide range of other emotions. In addition it can lead to such behaviors as resigning from jobs, ending of personal relationships, aggressiveness as well as violence (Coombs & Avrunin, 2013). The way one communicates can both be the cause of as well as the cure for conflict. It should be noted that understanding how to communicate effectively as well as satisfactory resolution of disputes can result into a happier and more productive life. The fundamental components of most conflicts include; involvement of 2 or more individuals, there is a perception of incompatibility in regard to ideas, goals, beliefs or actions and finally the opposing parties view their way as the only way to accomplish their objectives and goals (Baack, 2012). Boeing is a top aerospace corporation in the world as well as the largest manufacturer of military aircraft and commercial jetliners. Boeing designs in addition to manufacturing rotorcraft defense and electronic systems, satellites, missiles, launching vehicles etc. The company has been a leader and an authority in aerospace industry for the past century. Boeing’s headquarter is in Chicago, Illinois. It employs more than 27,000 employees in America as well as in 70 other countries (Greenberg & Moore, 2010). On 6th of September, Boeing was on headlines when about 27,000 of its employees in Washington, Kansas, California and Oregon went on strike. At the time, the company was holding negotiations with International Association of machinist and Aerospace Workers (IAM) in regard to benefits pay as well as job security. The main stakeholders in Boeing’s conflict were its employees alongside their families, suppliers and customers affiliated to Boeing. The strike affected several parties spanning from its employees to

Scientific Concepts and Methodologies Assignment

Scientific Concepts and Methodologies - Assignment Example The lag phase is described with minimized or no uptake of water after the previous imbibition. The water that is imbibed in the first phase is crucial to the processes of physiology that takes place in the second phase. The third phase is the radical protrusion (Vysotï ¸  sï ¸ ¡kiĭ, Kornilova & Smirnov, 2009). The effect of up taking water is the cell enlargement which is characterized by the cell division. The small root enlargement helps in weakening the walls of cells and breaks through the coat of seed. It is evident, that water plays a crucial factor in the germination phases. Water is among the main environmental factors that affect the seed germination. In some cases, water is a single factor that will limit if or not a seed is going to germinate. In the case of marigolds, a given temperature needs to break the dormancy for the marigolds to start the first stage of taking up water. The seeds of marigolds take in water in three staged, each is characterized by the amount of water absorbed and the impact it will have on the amount that is absorbed and the impact it has on the seed itself. The hypothesis if water is given to the marigold seed, the seed will germinate and later grow compared to the seed having no water was supported. From the observation, only three of the seeds without water grew. In the controlled group 8 of the 10 seeds germinated and later grew. The average growth for the controlled group was 4.37 while the average growth for the experimental group was 0.38. Therefore, given water is needed for a seed to grow. The water is important in chemical reactions since it is photosynthesis raw material. Without water no growth can take place and he plants will lack the energy to carry out chemical reactions. 9 of the planted seeds did not grow at all. 2 from the control group and 7 from the experimental group. It is no surprise that some of the marigold seeds did not germinate from the experimental

IT Professional Presentation Essay Example for Free

IT Professional Presentation Essay Presentations are meant to be professional with a lot of effort required in the structuring of speech and the assurance of putting across the right message. Professionals in any field or walk of life need to have a good speech which would make them better presenters and hence a noticeable being among all the other employees. An organization has hundreds and thousand and sometimes even more than that employee in number. To make oneself noticeable in the eyes of the one that matter, makes a lot of difference in the career growth. Hard work is something that everyone does but few are those who are able to present it in a manner that enables the top officials to notice you. There are many ways to present and presentations are becoming increasingly common in today’s world. PowerPoint and Flash are the most utilized of all but written means of assistance and even plain verbal speech is also presentation. All these means of presenting are justified depending on the situations and the matter to be presented. Hence, it is not the material that matters to a large extent but it’s what you say right at the right time is what matters. Introduction Information system can be any organised combination of people, hardware, software, communication networks, and data resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates information in an organisation. Like any other system operates within an environment, information system and technology are very important in contemporary business, because they have become a significant component for success in any organisation, such as university, healthcare centre and company. However these are the most important and vital in internet business area because it cannot be managed without information system and technology. In addition internet business can increase their sales and profits by implicating efficient and effective e-commerce which is one of major parts of information system. There are big names that are involved with the IT industry such as the Amazon. com which is solely an internet based company. Other multinationals such as McDonalds are also involved in it despite being a fast food organization. Brief information regarding the two organizations are as follows. Critical Analysis of the Presentations ‘Things they are Achangin-1’ talk about the computer and Information Technology details. It starts off with telling the memory capacity of a computer. The different memories and the capacities that a computer and its hardware has, is explained in the presentation. Along with that it talks about the computer networking and the usage of broadband. It had become increasingly famous and popular in the current years and most of the people in the world have it. ‘Things they are Achangin-2’ on the other hand talks about other energy sources such as batteries and cars and how their mechanism works. These two mentioned sources have also become increasingly important over their years for day to day life. Along with that it has compared their mechanical sources with human body and mind and has talked about the structure of a robotic body. Delivery Channel Strategy ‘Delivery Channel Strategy’ defines the objective of delivery channel which are Projecting and representing the brand defending and developing the active consumer base, obtaining new customers and meeting essential service requirements. It also talks about the benefits of branches, which branches are used more for financial services and why. It explains self servicing and explains the benefits of automated machines which empower the customers. It takes into account the different product used by the financial institutions and their usage. Key Implications of Delivery Strategies In order to have an effective delivery strategy, one needs to take into account all the aspects that come before that as well in order to execute the plan in the most effective manner possible. The following delivery process is explained with an example of Amazon. com, the online trading place. a) Goods, products, ecommerce solution: It started off as a book store with an online presence but later on it kept on adding products in its portfolio and now they have different categories in which they divide their products into such as ‘Books, Music and Movies’, ‘Clothing and Accessories’, ‘Computer Office’, ‘Consumer Electronics’, ‘Food and Household’, ‘Health and Beauty’, ‘Home and Garden’, ‘Kids and Toys’, ‘Sports and Fitness’, ‘Tools and Automotives’, ‘Bargains’ and ‘Gifts and List’. There are further bifurcations within these categories as well which offers further variety to the customers. There services are divided into the categories of ‘Make Money’, ‘For the Community’, ‘For Developers’, ‘For Advertisers’ and ‘Partner Services’. .A9. com caters to the information content requirement which is a search engine present directly on the Amazon. com. (Amazon, 2007). b) Performance and services: The existence of the website over this long period of time indicates its efficiency and the level of customer satisfaction. The website is very well put together so that the customer can easily find their way through to their desired destination. â€Å"Amazon. com, BN. com, and Half. com aren’t getting any complaints at all because they are very simple to use and to understand. Each of these web sites are made for the computer illiterate or just plain lazy† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). c) Personalization: The site lay out of the website is also user friendly and it takes no time to find where one wants to go unlike the complicated sites which are hard to browse. It offers the customer to personalize by offering a shopping cart just like an actual shopping mall to create a sense of personalization. They have many products and services and â€Å"different categories of all their items. They also have the option to make â€Å"Your Store,† this is where they store all the information that you like the best and what products you are most interested in† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). This gives a sense of individuality to the customers wanting them to come back for a visit. d) Communities and Look and Feel: Amazon. com also offers chat forums for the customers in order to discuss their views and opinions. This is also one reason for the customers to visit the website. ‘Internet Chat Headset Forum’ is one of the examples of their chat forums and virtual customer online communities. The storefront of Amazon. com has been rated high as it offers a number of varieties on the page and also provides clear layout for the customer to assess where they are required to go. e) Incentives: Amazon. com offers different incentives to the customers such as bargains of Friday Sales, Today’s Deals and many more. It offers auctions and personal accounts to give the customers a sense of individuality and personalization encouraging them to visit more often. f) Security Reliability For such sites security is utmost important and therefore it can be said that â€Å"Security and Privacy Policy for these are very well put together and are very private† and one has to â€Å"go through various checks and double checks for e-mail and password verifications. This ensures that the website company and you have the right passwords and e-mail addresses for your privacy and protection. They also have protects programming on their sites to ensure that no one can get you password, e-mail address, and most important your credit card number† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). g) Successful achievement One of the many highlighted features of the website is that very recently â€Å"Amazon. com is to Webcast Investor Conference Presentation Morgan Stanley Technology Conference† (Business News, 2007) which is considered to be a huge achievement for the organization along with earning million of dollars of revenue. Another one of its achievements could be the introduction of software called the Amazon S3â„ ¢ which is â€Å"a simple storage service that offers software developers a highly scalable, reliable, and low-latency data storage infrastructure at very low costs† (Amazon Web Services Launches Amazon S3, a Simple Storage Service for Software Developers, 2005). Ethics and Professionalism in the ICT discipline ‘Ethics and Professionalism in the ICT discipline’ talks about the importance of the code of ethics in the professional environment not for one’s career but for the sustainability of its moral values. It describes Ethics as Doing good, Not doing bad, Not screwing people, Only screwing the competition, Letting the competition screw you, Doing things right, Doing the right thing. Key Implications These key implications of Ethics in IT are explained with respect to the example of Amazon. com. For such sites security is utmost important and therefore it can be said that â€Å"Security and Privacy Policy for these are very well put together and are very private† and one has to â€Å"go through various checks and double checks for e-mail and password verifications. This ensures that the website company and you have the right passwords and e-mail addresses for your privacy and protection. They also have protects programming on their sites to ensure that no one can get you password, e-mail address, and most important your credit card number† (B2C e-commerce design and performance for Amazon. com, BN. com, Half. com, n. d. ). Risk Assessment of Ethics in IT Despite the existence of internet over the years, it has still not been able to gain trust regarding the transactions online. Amazon. com along with other organization based online for selling face the challenge of assurance of security to its customers. As for Amazon. com, it failed to provide trust in regard of security to e-commerce project because they did not concern about technical risks. Despite the presence of a huge customer base, a lot of potential customers are hesitant to buy from amazon. com because of this particular reason. However, there is a long procedure regarding the security of credit cards and its personal information which is utilized by many websites present today. â€Å"Many sites that accept credit cards claim they are secure when they have an encryption certificate. This is where you can see the padlock symbol at the bottom of the screen. The encryption certificate encodes the message with the credit card details when it is sent and the organization issuing the certificate (e,g, Thawte or Verisign) verify the business before they issue it. (E-commerce Security, n. d. ). Amazon. com follows the same long procedure of ensuring that the customer feels safe but even then there is a lot of chance of stealth of the information and its misutilization might lead to disastrous losses to an individual. This is the fear that stops the potential customers from entering into the market of internet. â€Å"If credit card numbers are stored on a server they are still potential targets for a hacking attack. Afferent Media protects its server with anti virus and firewall systems. Its ultimate defense though is that it does not store any credit card numbers† (E-commerce Security, n. d. ). Hence, despite the effort, due to technical risk involved Amazon. com is facing the same threat as many other online retailers. Although Amazon. com has developed a trustworthy image over the years but when it comes to monetary losses people are hesitant to take risk as the loss incurred might get too huge to counter. This technical risk can however be countered in order to gain the potential customers that are hesitating at the moment. This can be countered if â€Å"transactions are carried out in real time, in just the same way as an EFTPOS machine. The message is encoded and sent to the bank, if the card passes the checks then funds are transferred directly to the vendor. This is just like when you buy petrol or shop in a supermarket. The vendor swipes your card in and EFTPOS machine, they do not store the card details. † (E-commerce Security, n. d. ). Like every weakness, if this factor is also addressed in its early stages it might not even classify as a problem and may be included in one of the challenges but the more Amazon. com delays it, the more it might lead to disaster and reduction of customer base. It has the advantage that the solution has already been identified, therefore the company just needs to incorporate this procedure in its security e-commerce procedure and keep proper checks and balances over a period of time and the job is done. Once the authenticity of the procedure is verified, it would not be hard for customer to develop trust in the online services. Despite the overall success of the organization, there are still factors that it needs to counter before the issues convert into real threat to the existence of the organization. The security factor is always vital in e-commerce as no customers would want to risk their monetary gains for shopping online. Lean Thinking ‘Lean Thinking’ is a presentation which defines the importance of customers with the help of practical examples taken from different scenarios. It also takes into account the impact of value on customer’s choice and the importance of value in a product. Key Implications McDonalds is a world wide known brand and hence it is famous and loved all around the world for its customer hospitality. A fast food chain, so customer friendly has also made use of the IT sources which is explained as further. The company is a fast food chain across the world known by the name of McDonalds. It is world renowned and is among the top most fast food chains across the globe. It has different kinds of fast foods in its menu ranging from rapid on-the-go burgers to healthy breakfasts and other food items. The organization is known for its quality and variety in food across the globe along with paying its full due to the corporate and social responsibility to the members of the society. Our organization not only is concerned about regular people who are health or weight conscious but also make sure that people with certain individual problems are also given attention to. The entire nutrition information is available on its website and can be completely relied on as it is taken from â€Å"from testing conducted in accredited laboratories, published resources, or from information provided from McDonald’s suppliers. The nutrition information is based on standard product formulations and serving sizes. All nutrition information is based on average values for ingredients from McDonald’s suppliers throughout the U. S. and is rounded to meet current US FDA NLEA guidelines† (McDonalds – USA, 2006). Despite of enjoying the top most notches in most of the countries we are present in; it is made sure that the organization does not lag in its due responsibility towards its customers, employees or the society it caters to which is evident by the brochure of Corporate Responsibility by McDonalds. This brochure is known as ‘The McDonalds USA Corporate Responsibility Brochure’ and another third worldwide corporate responsibility report has been published recently in 2006. It has the ability to adapt to country to country environment and culture. It pays utmost importance to kids and their meals and therefore because of that reason we have specialized meal for children as well. These meals are set with kids preferences in mind and offers incentive such as toy gifts which children can enjoy along with their respective meals. Capabilities and Potential with Risk Assessment McDonalds is known for its customer service and for increasing indulgence in the technology sector as well. McDonalds has some of Information technology involved in its procedures as well as to offer to the customers. As a Manager it is very important to be well equipped and well informed regarding the knowledge of the on-going dynamics in the information technology sector of the country. The advancement of the organization in the information technology sector is indicated by the fact that it offers one of the most novel technologies of the information system which is the McDonald’s Wireless Connectivity. It offers Wi-Fi service to its customers so that they can even bring their work to McDonalds along with enjoying a good meal. Its not just limited to United States which is one of the most technologically equipped country of the world but 7,000 outlets around the globe. We believe in giving the best to our customers and Wi-Fi is a part of it as â€Å"We believe in bringing you innovative and convenient services that enhance your McDonalds restaurant visit, and Wi-Fi is a perfect example. As McDonalds continues to deliver fast and friendly food service at more than 30,000 convenient locations around the world, you can now enjoy the possibility of staying connected with friends, family and co-workers† (McDonalds Wireless Connectivity, 2006). Apart from this, our organization has even stepped in introducing a technology that would bring into use the real time network used by huge and well-known places such as Wal-Mart. In order to manage its hardware and software in different location across the globe, it took help of the Fujitsu Philippines Incorporation to implement a system the system. The system is called Help Desk which enables in the monitoring of the inventory system and the management of the SMS and documents. Due to Help Desk the technical support service now take half the time it previously did. (McDonalds Philippines improves customer service via technology, 2007). Due to high volume of sales of McDonalds around the globe, the manual or low level storing data system is not anymore a product of efficiency for the organization. Therefore, it has moved a step forwards and â€Å"The PC POS system replaced proprietary computer registers that delivered information to in-store processors. These computers are a McDonalds restaurants black box, recording information on operations such as an individual stores total sales for the day, and the number of patties, buns, cups and other products used, and delivering it back to the McDonalds mainframe systems in Oak Brook each night over a modem connection† (Food, Folks and Forecasting, 2006). We as Managers also make use of this technology to place orders to the suppliers for replacement as well, hence making tasks easier for everyone of storing the large bulks of information everyday. The Future of Business Information System ‘The Future of Business Information System’ talks about the consultancy by Dennis Keeling. It takes into account the trends in business cycle, the types of business applications and the industry changes. It talks about different operating systems and system designs and data file structure. Key Implications of The Future of Business Information System The most upcoming trend in the future is outsourcing. Outsourcing is a trend that has recently become very popular among the multi-million and multi-billion organizations around the world. Outsourcing â€Å"often refers to the delegation of non-core operations from internal production to an external entity specializing in the management of that operation† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). There are various functions of an organization that are not the main operations and therefore can be outsourced to other parties such as â€Å"Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities and real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions, manufacturing and engineering† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). There are several reasons why one would outsource their operations to an outside party, which might include the purpose of exploiting cheap labor in case of third world countries or utilizing the efficiency of specialized expertise in a particular field of work. Outsourcing might also involve reducing the cost even it effects their quality to a slight extent. IT outsourcing helps improve the efficiency of IT department as after outsourcing there is special attention given by an entire group people to only one operation, hence in return increasing its importance and therefore its efficiency. IT outsourcing might also be done due to cost reduction by utilizing brains that are willing to work for less as compared to the human resource that is present domestically. Along with a lot of benefits in outsourcing, there comes a bucket full of criticism as well. The critics believe that outsourcing reduces the quality of the operation outsourced hence reducing the overall performance of the organization. Hence, it is believed that organizations reduce their cost by compromising on their quality and exploiting cheap labor by outsourcing. On the other hand â€Å"proponents of outsourcing believe that arguing that outsourcing leads to lower product quality is pointless because if it were true, consumer demand will force firms to shift back to producing the good or service in-firm rather than out-firm† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). Risk Assessment regarding Future of IT With respect to outsourcing, the possible risk or problems that IT could face in the future are as explained further. There are different outsourcers depending to where they are located. They include three kinds that are outsourcing, offshore outsourcing and offshoring. Although these terms are used as a replacement of the other but their meaning is different from one another. Outsourcing is the allocation of an organization’s operation to another responsible party. Now the difference lies in the presence of this third party, that is, if the third party is located outside the host country, it is known as offshore outsourcing. While on the other hand, offshoring is when an operation of an organization is taken to another country without transferring control to the third party. Hence the difference is of transfer of control to another party, that is, the power remains within the organization in case of offshoring while in offshore outsourcing it is transferred to the third party. In case of IT offshore outsourcing, the main country that receives the majority deals is India due to its IT success in recent years with able IT graduates and world-renowned IT universities present in India. Different problems might occur due to the location of the outsourcer, that is, in case of offshore outsourcing, the cost of checks and balances, transportation, dealing across distances might end up being equal or surpassing the cost cut that is the purpose of outsourcing. Hence, nullifying the effect of outsourcing with the cost incurred for distant dealing. â€Å"One issue offshoring of technical services has brought more attention to is the value of education as an alleged solution to trade-related displacements† (Wikipedia, n. d. ). The foreign location of the outsources in case of offshore outsourcing and the exapanding of business globally in case of offshoring might also be subject to crticism due to the reason that it causes the host country to suffer with opportunities travelling to other countries rather than being available to others. Hence, along with certain positive outcomes, outsources is subjected to a sufficient amount of criticism as well. In order to counter the crticism, it would have to scrutinze itself and remove such drawbacks. Weaknesses in Current Information Technology Capabilities However, the McDonalds journey may be rapidly moving towards the success ladder but there are several pitfalls that have occurred in its Information System and its capabilities. For us as managers, it is very important to identify those pitfalls and rectify them as soon as possible in order to avoid any forthcoming problems or issues. The technological world is an extremely rapidly evolving environment, with information becoming obsolete after a certain period of time. Hence, it is very important for the Managers to take that into account and be on the constant guards to protect their image. Wi-Fi is a very innovative and healthy technology but in those countries that are well equipped to support this kind of technology and the citizens prefer to have it in a restaurant. As per a management’s perspective, to implement it in a country like Bangladesh or Pakistan, where there isn’t much knowledge of technology among the masses, would not only be unfeasible but also irrelevant expenditure. As for the PC POS System implemented, it does save time but being a Manager it is very important to receive the detailed information to further process it for other uses which it failed to do. â€Å"The data that is batch-dumped to the McDonalds mainframe system in Oak Brook every night doesnt offer the detail McDonalds executives needed and, worse, took as long as a week to be compiled analyzed and distributed to managers who would then order more patties, buns, etc. from McDonalds vendors†. Hence, it needs to take that into account as well. Professional Presentations Requirement of Soft Skills All the organization of such calibre are required to have high aptitude personnel in it with the presence of hard skills as well as soft skills. In order to sell your product, one has to make sure that its presentation and the its communication is up to the mark. The more the people are convinces the more is the popularity of the product or service meant to be. It is very important for a professional to possess the skills of speaking well and hiring such professional can be a tedious process but all the effort is worth it. Hiring is a very difficult process; it takes a lot of time, patience, and money. Gone were the days when management only looks for technical skills alone, now, they are more focused with soft skills referring to non technical skills of an individual. What are soft skills? According to Mannering (1998) they are considered to be harder to identify, to distinguish. Ironically, for many managers, the soft skills are the hard skills. Ask anyone who has had to manage change, deal with organizational politics, or build a disparate group of people into an effective team (Holbeche, 2006). Platinum skills are developed through training and delegation, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and creating a motivational environment. (Topchik, 2004). Companies Who Values Soft Skills Fujitsu Here’s an excerpt from an article â€Å"Hi-tech soft skills† IT Training; Jan2007 Fujitsu Services has set up an international Management Academy, headed by Paula Graham (right), to help IT professionals brush up on their interpersonal skills As they progress up the career ladder, many IT professionals could find themselves at a crunch point. They have been hired and valued primarily for their technical and engineering abilities, but as they become more senior they will be expected to adopt more custodial and managerial responsibility over junior colleagues. But where, along the way, were they supposed to have picked up these managerial and interpersonal skills? IT giant Fujitsu Services is tackling the problem of helping the technical person be a better people manager with a new company-wide experiment in delivering soft skills training at leadership level. This programme is about raising the bar on the organization’s people management skills, adds Jeremy Hill, London-based managing director of training partner DIEU. Fujitsu employees are comprised mostly of IT professionals, yes they have all the various technical skills that needed to become one of their programmers, and they keep on giving other technical trainings in order to stay competitive and knowledgeable on diverse IT trends. And yet, management feels they lack something, they need to brush up with communication skills. Employees needed to be more effective communicators; they need to get their message across clearly with the people they are dealing with. Communication is very essential and powerful tool not everybody has the knock off communication skills, and essentially improvement on this part will have a big impact both for employees and their company.

Niccolo Machiavelli Essay Example for Free

Niccolo Machiavelli Essay Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher of the Renaissance. He lived from 1496-1527. Niccolo Machiavelli was also a very famous painter in his time. He painted many famous paintings that are seen in museums, books, and many other places. He was also involved in government throughout his life. Niccolo Machiavelli was a painter, political philosopher, Italian historian, an statesman for influenced many political leaders in Europe. Niccolo Machiavelli led a very political life. In 1494, Niccolo Machiavelli became an important diplomat. He spent most of his time over the years writing history, political philosophy, and plays. The Renaissance was a time of political conflict. Niccolo took part in diplomatic missions through France, Germany, and Italy. In later years, he was forced to retirement of the political business. Machiavelli was known as the â€Å"father of modern political theory†. Niccolo Machiavelli had many political writings. Many of Machiavelli’s writings reflected political issues. He wrote about the world around him and his life in the Renaissance. He witnessed many changes in the environment and wrote about them. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote one political treatise titled The Prince. The Prince was written during a time of tragedy in the Renaissance. Many things Machiavelli wrote about had to deal with politics and violence. The Prince was written in 1513. Although it was written then, it was published however until 1532 and Machiavelli’s death. The theme of this book is about preservation of authority and the establishment of it. Because of The Prince, Machiavelli is considered one of the greatest early modern analyzers of the political power. In 1498, Machiavelli served as a civil servant in Florence. Later in 1512, Machiavelli was imprisoned and the republic failed. Machiavelli had many jobs over his lifetime. He was the head of the second chancery in 1498. Niccolo was also the secretary of council and he studied political tactics. He also studied the strength of a nation with only one prince. In 1509, Machiavelli led a small army to free Pisa. Later in his life, for 5 years he worked as a historiographer. Niccolo Machiavelli had hard times in his life. He lost his place in politics and very much wanted it back. When he wrote The Prince, he wrote it to try and regain favoritism by Medici. In the end, Medici didn’t agree with what Machiavelli said in The Prince and ended up rejecting Machiavelli’s proposal to have that job back. Machiavelli also wrote a book titled â€Å"Discourses On Livy†. The book was on Machiavelli’s full political philosophy. Niccolo also wrote a biography on the Life of Castruccio Castracani. He wrote many plays and also many poems. His most famous poem was The Mandrake. The Mandrake was written in 1524. Machiavelli also wrote the History of Florence in 1525. The History of Florence tells about chronicles of the city. Machiavelli also wrote the Art of the War in 1521. That book describes mercenary troops and their lives. Niccolo Machiavelli was a very productive leader. Over all of his tragedies that happened in his life, he still overcame all of it. He worked very hard producing plays that have become very famous over the years. He wrote The Prince, which is a very well populated piece today. Not only did Machiavelli produce plays but he also wrote poems and biographies for people. Many of his quotes that he resighted in The Prince are still remembered today and used greatly. He was also a very significant political leader and went very far in government.

Bioanalytical Technique Practical

Bioanalytical Technique Practical Introduction Improvement in technology has widened the domain of bioanalytics, reliable and reproducible data can be obtained from several instruments and protocols. The drug arena has become really competitive and it is thus imperative that an understanding of the different techniques is crucial to the isolation and analysis of biomolecules. This report is focused on the BCA assay for protein estimation and data analysis of SEC using a UPLC system. The BCA assay is a modified assay that is used for the detection and quantification of total protein in a given sample. The assay generates a purple colour which is as a result of the chelation reaction of bicinchoninic acid with cuprous ions. The complex formed as a result of the reaction is known to exhibit a very strong absorbance at a wavelength of 562nm and this shows an increasing linearity with the amount of protein in a given sample. Two main components make up the assay; the standard curve and the unknown protein sample. The BCA assay is widely used because of its sensitivity and compatibility with detergents and several other buffer types. The drawback however with the assay is that it is not as rapid as some other estimation method such as the Bradford due the incubation time required and moreover it is not an endpoint reaction as colour continues to develop even af ter incubation. The second part of this report is concerned with running a system suitability test on the waters BEH200 SEC UPLC instrument. The American and European Pharmacopeia specifically mentioned that the requirements for a system suitability testing on the day of analysis showing that it is fit for its intended use. It is worth mentioning that this has no bearing with the qualification of the instrument. Failure of any of the parameters simply means that an assay cannot commence. This testing is concerned more about the method on the day of analysis rather than the instrument per se. 1.1 Materials: Pipettes and appropriate tips Microcentrifuge tubes Microwell Plates HPLC Vials Bovine Serum Albumin Protein 2mg/ml BCA Reagent Deionised Water Perkin Elmer Plate Reader 100Mm sodium Phosphate Buffer Waters Aquity H Class Bio UPLC instrument Waters BEH200 SEC UPLC Column 1.2 Preparation of Standards: Standards were prepared as per instruction manual Table 1: Preparation of Protein Standards Calculations: Dilution factor = concentration of stock solution / concentration of diluted solution Volume of stock to add to water = Required volume of diluted solution/ Dilution factor Volume of water to add = required final volume / Volume of stock required 1.3 Preparation of Sample: The sample was prepared as per the instructions on the practical manual. Table 2: Test Sample Dilution 1.4 Preparation of BCA Reagent and Well: The BCA reagent was prepared and the 96 –well microplate was prepared and read in the [emailprotected] 562nm as per the instruction manual. 1.5 Data Analysis: Calculation: Equation of the linear least square fit can be represented as outlined below. Y = 0.0008 (X) – 0.0051 0.035691= 0.0008 (X) – 0.0051 X = 0.035691 + 0.0051/0.0008 X = 0.040791/0.0008 X = 50.98875 Taking the dilution factor into account we multiply by 5 The protein concentration is thus 50.98875 x 5 = 254.94mg/ml Discussion: The sample data had an anomaly, showing a negative reading on the third well. This is suggestive of contamination. The possibility of interference from the reagent can be ruled out because the standard was treated the same way and also taking into cognisance the fact that the experiment was not carried out under a non-denaturing condition. The likely cause could be due to dirt on the Microwell thus blocking out the necessary wavelength for the absorbance reading or the sampling pipette not delivering the right amount of reagent. The intensity of the colour change for the third well was observed to be less than the other two wells. There is also the possibility of the sample not being vortexed properly or sample settling to the bottom of tube. As mentioned earlier there seem to be an anomaly with our absorbance reading and this can be validated from our standard curve as it is not quite linear and on this basis we cannot absolutely rely on the result of the experiment. 2.1 Size Exclusion Chromatography Experiment The priming and purging of the UPLC instrument was carried out by the trainer as per the instruction manual. System suitability testing was then carried out to ensure that it is fit for purpose. The test serves to assure the reproducibility of the instrument and the method. It is a regulatory requirement which was mentioned in both the EU and US pharmacopoeias. The testing is important as it can allow for critical factors that could affect the performance of the instrument to be adjusted to meet the test criteria. Parameters such as the resolution, efficiency of the column, tailing factors, relative standard deviation etc. are used as criteria for comparison with regards to standards and test samples. The table below details the results obtained from the system suitability testing, reference standard and our test sample. The UPLC system used in our experiment can be said to be fit for purpose taking into consideration, the system suitability test. The results obtained were within our test criteria. The resolution of the peak and standard deviation of the different retention time was less than 1 which as a rule of the thumb is quite acceptable. Comparing the test sample to the reference standard one would not fail to notice that the first peak in the reference standard was a dimer while the second peak was a monomer but in our test sample the retention time of the first peak was really short showing evidence of a high molecular weight aggregation .Also from our result the second peak was our product dimer while the third peak was our product monomer. This result serves to highlight the mechanism of protein aggregation and the reason why it should be minimised as it impacts on the yield of the product and moreover it can affect the potency and therapeutic potential of the parenteral. It is also worth mentioning that sometimes early elution may not necessarily mean that there is aggregation, it could be for the simple reason that sometimes intrinsically unstructured proteins can elute so fast that they tend to behave like aggregates. A molecular weight comparison testing can be used to differentiate them. From our experiment the test sample showed increase aggregation and this can be explained given the fact that the experiment was not carried out under a non-denaturing environment. The possibility of column contamination or buffer contamination can help to encourage aggregation. It is also important that samples should be free of extraneous particles during injection as this can also be a determining factor. The changing environment of the mobile phase can also be construed as a possible cause of the aggregation observed. The temperature of the instrument is another factor that can play a role and as we all know that the Arrhenius theory of a 10Â °C increase in temperature speeding up a reaction does not relate to proteins as it rather opens up the pathway of denaturation and aggregation. Questions: Estimation of protein concentration is important as we have to know the amount of protein in our final product after fermentation to know if the bioprocess has to be optimised with regards to the expected titre value. The concentration of the protein can also allow for the portioning of the product into the right dosage formulation, certain therapeutic proteins are required in a very high dosage form and their production can be sometimes targeted at a particular section of the population e.g. during an epidemic outbreak to ensure potency and biological activity. The knowledge of the concentration of proteins can also allow us to work out the economy of scale with regards to the profit margin taking into account, the expense incurred in research and development and other aspect of the production process. It is also important to estimate the amount of protein in our biomass so as to be able to optimise our subsequent purification steps. The estimation of the protein concentration can a lso give us an idea of product related impurities and those associated with the process. Proteins are very complex molecules and are prone to several types of condition than cause instability from the starting stage of production to the end of their shelf life. Aggregation can be described in a layman’s term as the propensity for proteins to stick together under conditions such as a slight increase in temperature, pH, shear force, ionic strength of the solution they are contained in etc. Aggregation have been seen to cause delay in several novel biologics due to the debilitating effect on the health of the population that the drug is directed at and also in the context of compliance to regulatory authority as there is a specification to the amount of aggregates that can be allowed. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to totally eradicate aggregation from the process. It is worth mentioning however that the mechanism of aggregation is still subject to debate as it has not been fully understood. Aggregation can be reversible or irreversible depending on the stage it has attained as can be loss of primary structure. The potency of biologics as we all know are normally related to them being in their native structure, in most instances aggregation leads to the loss of activity and moreover the overall yield of the biotherapeutic is greatly affected. Aggregation has also been known to spur immune response in patients that have been administered with protein therapeutics affected by aggregation this could be by way of the neutralisation of antibodies that helps to ensure the effectiveness of the drug. In a worst case scenario the immunogenic reaction can lead to incurable conditions such as seen in patients with pure red cell aplasia where the red blood cells are attacked and blood transfusion is needed for life. The route of administration of biologics is intravenous and the presence of aggregation especially those of very high molecular size can result in the blockage of blood vessels. It is thus very important that at each stage of our production testing should be carried out to check for aggrega tion. Size exclusion chromatography is a purification system that exploits the molecular size of the compound of interest. Simply put it works just like a molecular sieve, smaller particles passes through the sieve which is the stationary phase and could be a bead coupled to a resin. The pore size of the beads are defined and on this basis it will only allow certain particle sizes to pass through while excluding those that are too large for the pore. The larger particles because they are not passing through the beads are thus excluded quickly, their retention time is thus said to be short. The smaller particles are retained longer while the larger particles earlier mentioned are eluted through the void volume. Different gels in use would typically have different pore sizes and can be used to determine the size of the molecules to be separated. Despite all the numerous advantages of size exclusion chromatography which has made it the gold standard over the years for analysing protein aggregation there are still some limitation associated this method. The possibility of the stationary phase and the analyte reacting together can be sometimes rife thus leading to a longer retention time which serves to mimic the compound as being of low molecular size. The cost associated with running this type of separation technique can also be enormous due to the fact that large columns and eluents are required and this serves to add to the overall cost of the unit operation. In comparison to other modes of separation, size exclusion chromatography can be said to have an inherent low resolution as there is a limited range of molecular weight that can be separated as a result of dependence on the pore size of the beads in use. There is also the possibility of proteolytic degradation as the protein of interest can become targets for proteolyt ic enzymes still present in solution. The accuracy of this technique can sometimes come into question due to the fact some aggregates will remain in solution and as such would not be detected. Also taking into consideration the fact that larger molecular aggregate leaves the column through the void volume, there is also the possibility. The possibility of the polymer in use to degrade is also a drawback as this can occur at a very high flow rate. The high flow rate as mentioned earlier can degrade the polymer and it also has the ability of altering the geometry of the beads in use making the separation technique inefficient