Housing and Habitability Essay

Question 1: You are an environmental health inspector asked investigate problems at a local low-income and poorly main apartment complex. There is lead-based paint peeling from the walls, and mold growing on the walls. Living in a room that has lead-based paint peeling from the walls and mold growing on the walls has certain health complications. The two factors are considered to be the worst indoor air pollutants and its effect can be seen after repeated exposure or soon after exposure. Occupants of an apartment with such conditions are exposed to such risks whether children or old people. Lead-based paint peeling from the walls has a number of health complications to low income family members especially children (Stewart, 2001). Excessive exposure to lead can cause damage to nervous system and the brain making it hard for the victim to have good health. Other main health problems include high blood pressure, headaches, and muscle pain, difficulties during pregnancy and digestive problems. Control of lead-based paint from peeling off the walls is a major challenge for low income earning family living in a poorly maintained apartment. The following measures can be taken to control lead paint health problems;  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cleaning up paint chips once they peel off.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Washing children’s hands more frequently and items they play with such as toys.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Planting grass to cover soil with high levels of lead  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cleaning painted surfaces weekly and rinsing the cleaning tools thoroughly.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Keeping children from chewing painted surfaces Molds are other major health hazards as they are invisible organisms that grow on walls under suitable conditions such as light, water and air. Health problems associated with molds include breathing problems, asthma, and irritation of skin, eyes, sneezing, nausea, headache and fatigue. Control of molds requires the application of simple measures such as opening the windows to let fresh air flow inside the building (Strang, 2003). With enough sunlight and clean air, humidity inside the rooms is decreased hence eliminating growth of molds. Question 2: One of your goals is to protect the health of swimmers at a local recreational pool. Discuss two methods that have been used to treat swimming pool water, ozonation and chlorination. The health of swimmers is usually at risk as the water is in most cases contaminated. There are two commonly used methods to treat swimming pool water such as ozonation and chlorination. Any swimmer has high chances of contaminating swimming pool through sweat, urine, mucous, skin flaks or hair ointments. These contaminants can be treated through the use of ozonation which proves to be the most beneficial and advanced method of treating swimming pool water (Ball, 2006). Ozonation works by injecting ozone on the filter then coagulant is added. Once filtration is done chlorine product is added as a residual concentration. Once the chlorine mixes with ozone, the level of chlorine reduces making the process one of the best treatment method. The ozone reduces large molecules into small molecules which are easily decomposed by the filter. Ozonation has a number of benefits which include increase in the quality of swimming water as the level of chlorine is reduced. Another benefit is oxidization of organic and inorganic matter without formation of by-products and clearing away of chlorine scent which might have some health problems. Chlorination is another method used to treat swimming pool water whereby chlorine is used as a disinfectant.   Routine chlorination is used to kill harmful microorganisms which act as health threat. Chlorine reacts with organics and produces nitrogen trichloride and chloramines which are dangerous chemicals. As disinfectant, chlorine prevents the growth of bacteria or algae making the swimming pool water safe. Ozonation is the best method of treating swimming pool water compared to chlorination. Ozone is used as a purification agent while chlorine is used as a disinfectant (Goldstein, Martin, 2002). This means that there are no harmful by products produced through ozonation while chlorine produces dangerous chemicals which are harmful to swimmers.

International Management Essay

Chapter 1 Q1. What are the differences between international, global, and multidomestic companies? Multinational company : An organization with multi country affiliates, each of which formulates its own business strategy based on perceived market differences. Global company : An organization that attempts to standardize and integrate operations worldwide in all functional areas. International company : Either a global or a multi domestic company Q2. Give examples to show how an international business manager might manipulate one of the controllable forces in answer to a change in the uncontrollable forces. Uncontrollable forces(External forces) : Physical/political/Sociocultural/Competitive/Economic/Socioeconomic/Distributive/Financial/Legal Manager can lobby for a changing a law and promoting a new product which requires changes in a cultural attitude. Q3. â€Å"A nation whose GNI is smaller than the sales volume of a global firm is in no position to enforce its wishes on the local subsidiary of that firm.† True or False? Explain. False. GNI is different from sales volume in terms of a calculation method. GNI is a measure of value added, not sales. And each subsidiary of global firms is also a local company that must comply with law in the country where it is located. Q4. Discuss the forces that are leading international firms to the globalization of their sourcing, production, and marketing. 5 major forces : Political, Technological, Market, Cost, and Competitive Followings are the five change-based drivers that are leading international firms to globalize their operations, with an example for each kind : (1)political-preferential trading agreements, (2)technological-advances in communications technology, (3)market-global firms become global customers, (4)cost-globalization of product line and production helps reduce costs by achieving economies of scale, and (5)competitive-firms are defending their home markets from foreign competitors by entering the foreign competitors’ markets. Q5. Business is business, and every firm has to produce and market its goods. Why, then, might managers be unable to apply the techniques and concepts they have learned in their own country to other areas of the world? Despite firms have knowledges and skills for business in own country, they might not be successful in foreign countries that have their own cultures and trends of consumption. Good example for this question is Wal-mart in Korea. The international environmental defined as the interactions (1)between the domestic environmental forces and the foreign environmental forces and (2)between the foreign environmental forces of two countries when an affiliate in one country does business with customers in another. Q6. What do you believe makes foreign business activities more complex than purely domestic ones? To make a decision in foreign country is more difficult than home country. They not only must take into account the domestic forces bot also must evaluate the influence of 10 foreign national environments. Q7. Discuss some possible conflicts between host governments and foreign-owned companies. I am the opinion that restrictions for subsidiaries of foreign companies are sensitive problems. For example, If a certain nation prohibits funding for foreign companies, conflicts will increase. And complains of foreign companies will also increase. On the other hands, If a certain nation is open to the funding for foreign companies, there will be some troubles with foreign companies about taxes and incentives. Q8. Why, in your opinion, do the authors regard the use of the self-reference criterion as â€Å"probably the biggest cause of international business blunders†? Can you think of an example? If I do business in overseas, I don’t know everything exactly concerning about foreign country’s culture, policy, social situations, economy, and trends. So, doing business well in foreign country is very difficult. Self-reference criterion means unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values when judging behaviors of others in a new and different environment. Managers’ unfamiliarity with other cultures, to make matters worse, some managers will ascribe to others their own preferences and reactions. For example, selling beefs by self-reference criterion business in Muslim countries will be failed. Q9. You have decided to take a job in your hometown after graduation. Why should you study international business? Owing to globalization trends in the worlds, and importance of relationship between domestic and foreign country, we have to study hard international business. I will take a job in home country. But I might have opportunities for business in overseas and meeting foreign buyers. Thus, to obtain other countries values, cultures, policies, and trends by studying international business is very important for me. Q10. Although forces in the foreign environment are the same as those in the domestic environment, they operate differently. Why is this so? I think that domestic environmental and foreign environmental are different in terms of domestic and foreign’s culture, and international environmental. When comparing with domestic environmental, operating company in the foreign country has different environments such as company’s market share, foreigner’s own culture, and growth in global. And domestic environmental is also originated in home country’s culture which effect on the companies. Q11. What examples of globalization can you identify within your community? How would you classify each of these examples(e.g., international investment, international trade)? – International investment : I could feel the globalization by watching the Coka-Cola in every super market. – International trade : FTA(Korea and Chile) is a good example for international trade. This free trade agreements is mutually profitable for each nations Q12. Why is there opposition to globalization of trade and integration of the world’s economy? Please assess the major arguments for and against such globalization efforts. I think that this argument against globalization is originated by the different people’s valules and concepts. This argument can be examined by three primary ones (1) that globalization has produced uneven results across nations and people (2) that globalization has had deleterious effects on labor and labor standards (3) that globalization has contributed to a decline in environmental and health conditions. Chapter 2 Q1. How large and important a role do small and mediumsize enterprises play in generating export sales? The proportion of generating export sales from the SMEs in the U.S.A increased constantly. According to the Exporter Data Base in the text book, Of total exporters, 218,382 were SMEs(small and medium-size enterprises). It is 97 percent of all U.S.A exporters. Q2. How has trade in merchandise and services changed over the past decade? What have been the major trends? How might this information be of value to a manager? Although the economic growth of global has slowdowned in the 2000, the absolute value of their merchandise exports increased, the proportion of exports coming from the regions of Latin America, Africa, and Middle East decreased between 1980 and 2004. The largest exporters and importers of merchandise are generally developed countries. The results of services exports are similar with merchandise exports. Regionalization of trade is increasing more and more. It is accounted for over 70 percent by 2005. Further, South and East Asia’s share of the world’s manufacturing value added has nearly quadrupled since 1980. From this information the managers may be prepared for the increased competition from exports to their own domestic markets. Q3. â€Å"The greater part of international trade consists of an exchange of raw materials from developing nations for manufactured goods from developed nations.† True? or false? Explain. False. This is correct partially. More than half the exports from developing nations go to developed countries. Also, over 70% of exports from developed economies go to other industrialized nations Q4. â€Å"The volume of exports has increased, but the ranking of U.S. trading partners in order of importance remains the same year after year.† True or false? Of what use in this information to a manager? False. Of the top 15 nations, 8 have remained on the list over the years listed, including Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Brazil. However, each nation’s ranking has changed over time, and some new nations have been added to replace other nations that have become relatively less important as trade partners. Q5. What is the value of analyzing foreign trade data? For example, what should the quadrupling in real terms of exports in less than 35 years indicate to managers? The analysis information would be helpful to anyone just starting to search outside the home market for new business opportunities by studying the general growth and direction of trade and analyzing major trading partners. Q6. Knowing that a nation is a major trading partner of another signifies what to a marketing analyst? There are advantages to focusing attention on a nation that is already a sizable purchaser of another country – The business climate in the importing nation is relatively favorable – Export and import regulations are not insurmountable – There should be no strong cultural objections to buying that nation’s good – Satisfactory transportation facilities have already been established Q7. What are the different components of foreign investment? Why has the distinction between them begun to blur in recent years? It can be divided into two components : First is portfolio investment and second is direct investment. 1. Portfolio investment : The purchase of stocks and bonds to obtain a return on the funds invested. 2. Direct investment : The purchase of sufficient stock in a firm to obtain significant management control. Because of globalization in recent years, the distinction beetween them begun to blur. Q8. How has the level and direction of FDI changed over the past decade, both overall and in terms of annual outflows and inflows? Why would this information be of relevance to managers? Annual FDI outflows hit a historical high in 2000-$1,201 billion. However, By 2002, the total was only $647 billion, only about 54 percent of the 2000  figure because of a subsequent decline in the overall level of annual FDI flows. Outflows significantly increased to $730 billion by 2004. The vast proportion of outward FDI, over 87 percent, originates from the developed countries. This data has been associated with mergers, acquisitions; purchasing of companies in other nations. In annual inflows’ case, developed countries have been alse occupying over 70 percent of annual FDI investments. Recently for managers, important issues related to inflows are trend that proportion of Asian FDI that has been directed to China and its territories. Their combined proportion of Asian FDI grew from 52.4 percent during 1985-1995 to 75 percent in 2004. Q9. Why has FDI historically followed foreign trade? What is it about the new international business environment that is causing this path to market expansion to change? Reason is that engaging in foreign trade is typically less costly and less risky than making a direct investment into foreign markets. Also, management can expand the business in small increments rather than through the considerably greater amounts of investment and market size that a foreign production facility requires. Generally, because the local market would not be large enough to support local production by all the firms exporting to it, the situation would become one of seeing who could begin manufacturing there first. Q10. Why has most foreign direct investment gone into acquiring existing companies rather than establishing new ones? 1) Corporate restructuring in the United States caused management to put on the market businesses or other assets. 2) Foreign companies wanted to gain rapid access in the United States to advanced technology, especially in computers and communications 3) Management of foreign firms felt that entrance into the large and prosperous American market could be more successful 4) Increased international competitive pressures also could be reasons for this question. Q11. What are the main reasons that a firm might enter into foreign markets? First reason is to increase their profits and sales (Enter new markets / Obtain greater profits / Test market) Second is to protect markets, profits, and sales (Protect domestic market / Attack in competitor’s home market / Protect foreign markets / Guarantee supply of raw materials / Acquire technology and management know-how / geographic diversification / Satisfy management’s desire for expansion) Q12. What are in-bond plants? Why might they be an attractive alternative for a manufacturing company? In-bond plants, often called maquiladoras, is production facilities in Mexico that temporarily import raw materials, components, or parts duty-free to be manufactured, processed, or assembled with less expensive local labor, after which the finished or semifinished product is exported. Because the Mexican government permitted duty-free importation of parts and materials from the USA within the in-bond plant, provided that the finished products were re-exported. Q13. How can a firm protect its domestic market by investing overseas? When companies face competitor which has lower price advantage in domestic, companies can break this difficult situation by using advantages of overseas investments.(cheap labor cost, raw material, and etc.) Q14. What are the seven dimensions along which management can globalize? How is it possible for a firm to be multidomesic on one dimension of globalization and global on another? There are at least seven dimensions : 1) product, 2) market, 3) promotion, 4) where value is added to the product, 5) competitive strategy, 6) use of non-home-country personnel, and 7) extent of global ownership in the firm. The possibilities range from zero standardization(multidomestic) to standardization along all seven dimensions(completely global). The challenge for company managers is to determine how far the firm should go with each one. Chapter 3 Q1. Describe mercantilism, and explain why mercantilism has been argued to be a poor approach to use in order to promote economic development and prosperity. Mercantilism is an economic system (Europe in 18th century) to increase a nation’s wealth by government regulation of all of the nation’s commercial interests. Mercantilism that stressed governments’ promotion of limitation of imports from other nations and internal economies in order to improve tax revenues; popular during 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. The Paradox of Mercantilism is to be â€Å"rich† a country needed to have a lot of poor people. Mercantilism failed to understand the notions of absolute advantage and comparative advantage and the benefits of trade. For instance, Portugal was a far more efficient producer of wine than England, while in England it was relatively cheaper to produce cloth. Thus if Portugal specialized in wine and England in cloth, both states would end up better off if they traded. This is an example of the reciprocal benefits of trade due to a comparative advantage. In modern economic theory, trade is not a zero-sum game of competition, because both sides can benefit. Q2. a. Explain Adam Smith’s theory of absolute advantage. The ability of a country, individual, company or region to produce a good or service at a lower cost per unit than the cost at which any other entity produces that good or service. Entities with absolute advantages can produce something using a smaller number of inputs than another party producing the same product. As such, absolute advantage can reduce costs and boost profits. b. How does Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage differ from the theory of absolute advantage? Absolute advantage and comparative advantage are two basic concepts to international trade. Under absolute advantage, one country can produce more output per unit of productive input than another. With comparative advantage, if one country has an absolute (dis)advantage in every type of output, the other might benefit from specializing in and exporting those products, if any exist. A country has an absolute advantage economically over another, in a particular good, when it can produce that good at a lower cost. Using the same input of resources a country with an absolute advantage will have greater output. Assuming this one good is the only item in the market, beneficial trade is impossible. An absolute advantage is one where trade is not mutually beneficial, as opposed to a comparative advantage where trade is mutually beneficial. A country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good if it can produce that good at a lower opportunity cost relative to another country. The theory of comparative advantage explains why it can be beneficial for two parties (countries, regions, individuals and so on) to trade if one has a lower relative cost of producing some good. What matters is not the absolute cost of production but the opportunity cost, which measures how much production of one good, is reduced to produce one more unit of the other good. c. Using the example from the chapter, explain why no gains from specialization exist(and thus why two countries could not trade in a manner that benefits each) if there is no pattern of comparative advantage(if the ratios of soybeans to cloth production are the same in the two countries). China has an absolute advantage in producing both soybeans and cloth. If there is a trade between 2 countries according to comparative advantage theory, United States will have 4 tons of soybeans and 5 bolts of cloth. On the other hand, China will have 4 tons of soybeans and 5 bolts of cloth. Therefore, china will have a loss for their total soybeans compared with before trading the products. Q3. Consider the case in which a country does not have a comparative advantage in the production of a product, such as apples, because its soils or climate are not appropriate. Explain who would be likely to favor free trade, and who would be likely to oppose free trade, in this product. – Favor to free trade : countries which has a comparative advantage in production of a product, such as apples. – Opposite to free trade : countries which has a comparative disadvantage in production of a product, such as apples. Q4. What is the relationship between the Heckscher-Ohlin factor endowment theory and the theories in question 2? It builds on David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage by predicting patterns of commerce and production based on the factor endowments of a trading region. The model essentially says that countries will export products that utilize their abundant and cheap factors of production and import products that utilize the countries’ scarce factors. Q5. Why were Leontief’s empirical results considered to be paradoxical? In 1954, Leontief found that the U.S. (the most capital-abundant country in the world by any criteria) exported labor-intensive commodities and imported capital-intensive commodities, in contradiction with Heckscher-Ohlin theory. Q6. Why does most of the world’s international trade take place between economies that are similar in their level of economic development? According to the Linder’s demand-oriented theory, The reason is 1) income levels of both nations 2) overlapping demand. Because an entrepreneur will produce goods to meet demand, the kinds of products manufactured reflect the country’s level of income per capital. Goods produced for domestic  consumption will eventually be exported, due to similarity of income levels and therefore demand in other countries. Q7. Name some products that you believe have passed through the four stages of the international product life cycle. Telegraphy. I read recently how Western Union sent the last telex / telegram in 2006, so that definitely qualifies to decline. You can literally see how this expanded based upon rail and cable laying; and didn’t start in all places on earth (let alone a single country) simultaneously; and continued to be a viable business in some countries long after voice, fax, then email and SMS replaced such. Q8. What factors increase the cost of trading goods and services across borders? Can these costs be reduced? How? I think that import/export tariffs, subsidies, expensive transaction costs, and etc are factors which increase the cost of trading goods and services across borders. This factors which occur costs can be reduced by free trade agreements(FTA) or regional trade agreements such as NAFTA, EU. It will reduce unnecessary costs and encourage trading among nations. Q9. It seems that free, unrestricted international trade, in which each nation produces and exports products for which it has a comparative advantage, will enable everyone to have a higher level of living. Why, then, does every country have import duty restrictions? Because many nation did not produce other nation’s product and the nation has lower qualities or a lot of cost better than other nation’s product. In case that many nation needs other nation’s product. At the trading among the nations, there are a lot of problems. For example, economical, historical problems, political and so on. If a nation has infant industry. For example, farming which is needed to develop for domestic market, The nation can be protect the industry from competitive companies by having import duty restrictions. And then, their nation’s infrastructure can be collapse. For  fair competition, nation have to improve the balance of the trading. Q10. â€Å"We certainly need defense industries, and we must protect them from import competition by placing restrictions on competitive imports.† True or false? Is there an alternative to trade restrictions that might make more economic sense? I think that it may be not true. All is not certainly, If nation’s competitive industry help income of nation that select and improve nation’s industry. A nation trading needs of basic infrastructure among the nations. And then, About tariff of the trading remove or a little portion levy. Q11. Suppose that a country negotiates an agreement with its trade partners to restrict its imports through voluntary export restrictions(VERs). What impacts might be expected from implementing such VERs? VER(Voluntary Export Restriction) mean’s that exporting nation restricted quantities of export and list of article. In case that at nation’s exporting product surplus or insufficiency in a given situation. In a surplus situation, nation should be restricted for their quantities. In a insufficiency situation, nation make some increasing demand and higher cost. Q12. â€Å"Workers are paid $20 an hour in the United States but only $4 in Taiwan. Of course we can’t compete. We need to protect our jobs from cheap foreign labor.† What are some possible problems with this statement? In a given situation, cheaper product come round in our nation. At the same time, our nation’s job of labor disappeared. LDC(Lower Develope Country) has cheaper wage that supply more profi better than industrialization nation. But Many industrialization nation has higher wage and lower productivity. Production costs may actually be higher in a low-wage. Q13. There are two general classifications of import duties : tariff and non-tariff barriers. a. Describe the various types of tariff barriers. An ad valorem tariff is a set percentage of the value of the good that is being imported. Sometimes these are problematic, as when the international price of a good falls, so does the tariff, and domestic industries become more vulnerable to competition. Conversely, when the price of a good rises on the international market so does the tariff, but a country is often less interested in protection when the price is higher. A specific tariff, is a tariff of a specific amount of money that does not vary with the price of the good. These tariffs are vulnerable to changes in the market or inflation unless updated periodically. A revenue tariff is a set of rates designed primarily to raise money for the government. A tariff on coffee imports imposed by countries where coffee cannot be grown, for example raises a steady flow of revenue. A protective tariff is intended to artificially inflate prices of imports and protect domestic industries from foreign competition (see also effective rate of protection,) especially from competitors whose host nations allow them to operate under conditions that are illegal in the protected nation, or who subsidize their exports. b. What are some of the nontariff barriers? Non-tariff barriers may also be in the form of product standards and technical regulations, which may dictate particular manufacturing guidelines or product specifications. If products do not meet the given requirements, they will face an import ban. Examples of this sort are the European Union restrictions on genetically-modified organisms or beef treated with growth hormones. Q14. â€Å"A firm entering the market first will soon dominate it, and the large market share it acquires will enable it to obtain the benefits of economies of scale.† True or false? Remember that there are at least two studies showing that first movers held large market shares. True. First-mover advantage theory is economic and strategic advantage gained by being the first company to enter an industry. However, If only the firm possess core strategies such as superior technology, knowledge about local market, and other advantages over indigenous firms. It could be failure that you awkwardly enter the market for the first mover without these strategies. This conclusion will bring about more advantage opportunities to the second mover who has been indirectly experienced the failure of first mover. It is never true that only the first mover strategy is the best theory. Q15. According to theories presented in this chapter, why do companies engage in foreign direct investment? For defensive reason, Refer to the international product life cycle theory. International investement as well as international trade. Refer to the eclectic theory of international production, the company must have location and ownership advantages to invest in a foreign plant. It will invest where it is most profitable in internalize. It is monopolistic advantage. Chapter 4 Q1. What are some reasons that business people should be aware of important international institutions? International institutions have resolved conflicts among nations. It is very important to make business internationally. International institutions has also valuable data which apply to business. Q2. Even though the UN is best known for peace keeping missions, it has many agencies involved in activities affecting business. In your judgement, do these activities justify support for the UN? Would it be better if the activities of these agencies were done by private entities such as trade groups? The UN has helped some countries which need support to make their industry by funding and teaching knowledges. This activities justify support for the UN because UN has a number of informations which is originated by connections of other counties. Q3. How did the WTO come into existence? What purpose does it serve? Would bilateral trading agreements work better than the multilateral WTO approach? The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 proposed the creation of an International Trade Organization (ITO) to establish rules and regulations for trade between countries. The ITO charter was agreed at the UN Conference on Trade and Employment in Havana in March 1948, but was blocked by the U.S. Senate (WTO, 2004b). Some historians have argued that the failure may have resulted from fears within the American business community that the International Trade Organization could be used to regulate, rather than liberate, big business (Lisa Wilkins, 1997; Helen Milner 1993). Only one element of the ITO survived: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT before the eighth round – the Uruguay Round – concluded in 1995 with the establishment of the WTO as the GATT’s replacement. The GATT principles and agreements were adopted by the WTO, which was charged with administering and extending them. Unlike the GATT, the WTO has a substantial institutional structure. I think that the multilateral trading agreements is better than bilateral trading agreements because there will be no discrimination to all WTO members. Q4. What are the four main organs of the EU, and what is the purpose of each? 1. European Parliament: to pass European laws, voice of the European people in EU 2. Council of European Union: policy setting, voice of the member states, where decisions on foreign policy and security issues are made 3. European Commission: represents the interest of Europe as a whole, runs the day to day operations of EU 4. European Court of Justice: court that decides cases related to EU policies Q5. What is the impact of the EU on business? The European Union has had a significant influence on international trade, especially in respect of the countries that are member states in the Union. Internally, trading between the member states within the European Union has become less restrictive, because of the laws and regulations passed. Globally, the European Union has created a power that can compete internationally with superpowers such as the United States. Q6. The U.S. Congress approved the North American Free Trade Agreement despite strong opposition from organized labor. Why would labor have opposed NAFTA? I think a reason why is that they (organized labor) want to obtain working visa in North America. Q7. What is the importance of the OECD for business? OECD promotes economic expansion and provides a number of economic information/researches which can support and help its country members. Q8. Mercosur’s major trading partner is the EU rather than the United States. Why might this be the case? Mercosur is based on the EU and can trade several countries in the EU. Q9. How might a small business person in Des Moines, Iowa, who is exporting agricultural products find useful the international institutions and agreements that this chapter describes? 1. To find out which countries is available for a business person to export their productions. 2. To protect their products from other foreign competitors.

Western Lowland Gorillas

Western Lowland Gorillas October 23, 2009 Introduction: When I was around 14, I saw one of the best movies. The movie was Gorillas in The Mist, starting Sigourney Weaver as Dian Fossey. It was one of the most impressive movies of my life. My step-mother at the time notice how must I liked the movie and game me her very well torn copy of Gorillas in the Mist to read. I still have that book and since the first time I read it, I have been fascinated with these great apes. This is way I believe they deserve funding to help them off of the endangered species list. Western Lowland Gorillas: Biological Needs: However, in west Africa, where fruits tend to makes up the majority of the gorilla's diet compared to those that live in east Africa. Groups of gorillas living in west Africa normally split into temporary feeding subgroups but are less common in east Africa, as animals range far apart searching for the relatively scarce ripe fruit. There are some reports of sleeping subgroups however, they are rare. This may occur in the process of permanent splitting of a multi-male groups into two single male groups. Groups usually can range from 5 to 10 individuals, but some groups can accumulate as many as 20 to 32 animals. Csomos, 2008) Habitat: The habitat of the Western Lowland Gorilla is made up of primarily rainforests, swamp forest, thickets, forest edges, and clearings. Western Gorillas have been seen nesting in along the Savannah forest edge or in the Savannah itself. Although they visit the Savannah, it is not a permanent habitat for them. Western Gorillas inhabit areas that are typicall y lowland tropical forest at sea-level and up to 1,300 mm. (Beudels-Jamer, 2008) Food: Other Life Forms and Interrelations: Human Intrusions: Humans are the gorilla’s greatest threat. Human intrusions of the gorilla’s habitats have caused a decline of the species. The three main threats that humans pose, commercial hunting, logging of the forest (which has increased poaching) and Human illnesses like the Ebola virus. According to studies recent annual rate of decline in the gorillas was 4. 7 percent and mortality rates caused by the Ebola virus were as high as 80 percent. The gorillas DNA is 98 percent the same has humans. Any flu or virus a human can carry or transmit the gorillas can catch. Since they live away from humans, any virus or flu can be deadly to them. The gorilla’s immune system does not have the ability to defend against any virus or flu that has been transmitted from humans. (Cosmos, 2008) Current Safeguards and Protections: Additional Measures: Going Unchecked: The Congo basin has been recognized as a globally important factor in inter-continental weather patterns and for maintaining climate stability. The COMIFAC Convergence and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership have joined forces to protect the whole Congo Basin ecosystem. They will tack the carbon sequestration and storage, rainfall generation and the areas bio-diversity. The Western Lowland Gorillas ecological role must be taken into account. The Western Lowland Gorillas are keystone species in their forest habitats, so their protection is essential to long-term management of the Congo basin. (Cosmos, 2008) Conclusion: Reference Page: Beudels-Jamer, R. (2008) Western Lowland Gorilla. Retriever on September 25, 2009 from www. yog2009. org September 25, 2009 from www. animaldiversity. unnz. unnz. edu Western Lowland Gorilla Profile, (na) (nd) Retrieved on September 25, 2009 from www. animal. nationalgeographic. com

Hong Kong Business Law Assignment

Hong Kong Business Law Assignment 1 1. Zoe wants to sue the retailer to claim back property damage of $22,000. The consumer claim to sue the retailer of HK$22,000 is a minor monetary claim. The Smalls Claims Tribunal was set up to deal with monetary claims involving amounts not exceeding HK$50,000. It is an inferior court which provides a quick , inexpensive and informal method of adjudicating disputes relating to minor monetary claim. Legal representation is not allowed.It is most feasible for Zoe to claim back the HK$22,000 with minimal litigation costs. 2. Possess 0. 05 gram ketamine is categorized as a summary offence. Legal actions for summary offences can be heard in the Magistracy. The Magistracy was set up to exercise criminal jurisdiction over a wide range of indictable and summary offences meriting up to 2 years' imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. Magistrate can also issue warrants, bind a person over to keep the peace and a grant bail. 3. Annie will bring an action under the tort law.Tort law concerns with claims for property damage and personal injuries directly arising out of breaches of a duty of care owed by one individual to another. Tort law provides compensation for both injury to the person and property, causing pure economic loss and for injury. The District Court has limited jurisdiction in both civil and criminal matters. It has civil jurisdiction to hear monetary claims from $ 50,001 and up to $ 1 million. The common types of civil action that the District Court deals with are claims for breach of contract and tort claims.Legal actions for tort claims can be heard in the district court. As Annie wants to claim for claim compensation of HK $85,000, the amount is within the civil jurisdiction of the District Court. Annie can apply to the District Court and a judge will determine whether or not Annie's case will succeed. 4. Bonnie Li can apply to the Labour Tribunal for the unreasonable dismissal by Asia Construction Materials Ltd. Labour Tribunal was set up to provide a quick, inexpensive and informal method of setting disputes between employees and employers. Legal representation is not allowed.It deals with claims arising from the breach of a term of a contract of employment including employment protection. An employee may claim for remedies against an employer under situation of unreasonable dismissal. It is most feasible for Bonnie Li to recover salary in lieu of notice, relevant accrued fringe benefits owed by the employer and other associated compensation with minimal litigation costs. 5. Henry can apply to the Court of First Instance of the High Court for a legal action for judicial review of the decision of the Legislative Council.Constitutional Law are rules which effect distribution and exercise of power and relate to legislature, the executive institutions and the judiciary. Under the Basic Law, legislative council of HKSAR is deemed in law as â€Å"legislature of the Region†. Because the Court of First Instance can exercise supervisory jurisdictions. Supervisory jurisdiction is exercised over inferior courts, tribunals, administrative authorities or public bodies acting judicially through applications for judicial review procedure by the alleged aggravated party. A judge will determine whether or not Henry's case will succeed.

Why should we think sociologically about everyday life Discuss by Essay

Why should we think sociologically about everyday life Discuss by drawing on writings by Mills and Bauman - Essay Example According to Bauman (2001), there are characteristics that set sociological thinking apart from other, more commonsense ways of thinking. Sociological thinking questions basic assumptions – it does not take for granted the everyday suppositions that we make; rather, it deconstructs theses assumptions and breaks them down, making them open to debate and differing opinions. Also, such a way of thinking goes beyond just our individual experiences; instead, it tries to explore multiple world views, trying to look at as many different perspectives as possible, respecting and accepting that difference of opinion will always exist. Another difference between sociological thinking and other kinds of thinking are that when trying to explore human behavior, such a way of thinking does not limit itself to individual experience, but instead, looks at societal behavior as a basis for explaining human behavior. Lastly, sociological thinking is structured in such a way that it bases its argu ments by backing it up with evidence, rather than making claims that are unsupported by facts. So what are the reasons that make it important for us to think sociologically? What can such a thinking do for us and why is it important? One of the most important reasons for thinking sociologically, as Bauman & May (2001) make clear for us, is its emphasis on de-familiarizing ourselves with what we have come to take as granted. What this does is that it opens us up to differing perspectives, allowing us to think beyond what we have taken to be our reality. â€Å"To all those who think that living life in a more conscious way is worth the effort, sociology is a welcome guide† (Bauman & May 2001). Sociological thinking is reflective and perceptive; it encourages us to look at the world in new ways, exploring and understanding issues from multiple perspectives, always accepting the fact that people will hold different opinions, depending on their own individual experiences and social

Nonurgent Use of Hospital Emergency Departments Research Paper

Nonurgent Use of Hospital Emergency Departments - Research Paper Example This book is relevant to the current study because of its discussion of the nature and effects of nonurgent use of EDs. It also includes a comprehensive discussion of the potential solutions to the problems caused by this pattern. It suggests the construction of additional safety net hospitals, community clinics, and other sources of care as a solution to the problem of caused by nonurgent use of EDs. This book is an excellent source of strategies and policies for EDs. (2) Hodge, M. (2007). Non-urgent Emergency Department Utilization in Southwestern Virginia among Medicaid Recipients. Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest. Generally, this book is about the current American healthcare system, focusing specifically on the evolution of the EDs’ functions. The author studied the prevalence of nonurgent use of EDs among beneficiaries of Medicaid in Southwestern Virginia. The author used both qualitative and quantitative methods to study the perceptions of both the patients and the hospital staff regarding utilization of EDs for nonurgent problems. The author reported that there is a high prevalence of nonurgent use of EDs in Southwestern Virginia and that there are considerable disparity between the perception of patients and hospital staffs regarding what is ‘urgent’ and what is ‘nonurgent’. ... (3) Institute of Medicine (U.S.) Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System (2007). Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. The author focuses on the evolution of the function of hospital-based emergency. It attempts to show, through figures and statistics, the number of ED visits for urgent and nonurgent problems. Through secondary-data analysis the author is able to determine that in recent times visits to the EDs for minor injuries rather than serious health problems dramatically increased. The author argued that although EDs keep on performing their usual tasks of giving urgent medical attention, they are forced to provide additional care for patients with nonurgent health problems. The author clearly illustrates that the responsibilities of EDs are continuously expanding. This book is relevant to the current study because it includes a discussion of the problems caused by the increasing pre valence of nonurgent use of EDs such as overcrowding, limited resources, and limited capacity. The author is able to clearly show that if these problems continue the quality of American healthcare will continue to decline. (4) Jones, R. (2004). Oxford Textbook of Primary Medical Care, Volume 1. New York: Oxford University Press. This book is mainly for general practitioners and primary health providers. The purpose of the author is to provide a conclusive discussion of primary care practice. It involves a discussion of nonurgent use of EDs and the absence of a single definition of the term ‘nonurgent’. The approach used by author is mainly descriptive or exploratory. The author concludes that a significant decrease or total eradication

Google Apps Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Google Apps - Essay Example The number of domains the Google owns may range to dozens providing services like stock quotes, news headlines, images, email service and many more. The request for information is generally in forma of query and in just fraction of a second the query gets processed and is displayed on the users' screen (Google Inc). The Google which we see today has begun its project as a research project. It was hypothesized by Larry Page and was later assisted by Sergey Brin. The techniques over which search engines were based in 1996 used to display results according to the number of times the search term appear on the page. Larry and Brin worked on the concept that that for better results if the search engine analyze the relationships between the websites. The website and the page with the most links from other relevant sites, is considered as the most relevant site related to the query entered. With this thesis Google came into existence using Stanford website with the domain name being google.stanford.edu. Later in 1997, the domain google.com came into existence and in 1998 the company Google Inc became a reality (Wikipedia). The main business of Google is to generate revenue through online advertising. It provides the advertisers the most deliverable and cost effective online advertising opportunity through pages which are most relevant to the product which are being advertised. These advertisements are displayed according to the query searched for and hence are beneficial for both user and the advertiser. The Google AdWords program helps advertisers to promote their products and the Google AdSense program helps many website managers to generate revenue with ad participation though Google (Google Inc). Among all the services Google provides its users, Google Apps is the one which can have a major impact on usage of Office software. In complete sense Google Apps can be said as a service being hosted by Google for business purposes. The communication and collaboration feature of Apps makes it good enough of businesses of any size. This Web based service of Google provides its users tools to ensure collaboration on documents and spreadsheets. The documents can be shared and modified. The libraries for the reference materials can be built. Google provides this service in three different forms. The standard edition is free and has fewer features. It can be used for both normal users as well businesses purposes. The educational version contains all the available features but is available for the colleges and institutions. The condition for being a part of this is that the institute should use for educational purposes, sharing and research. The premium edition of Google Apps is available at a cost of $50 per user account per annum. This edition provides all features that are present in Google Apps. Charging money for its product is something very unique in case of Google. From the beginning Google has generated revenue through advertising tools. Almost all of the soft wares right from searching tool in late 90s of the last century to till date have been made available by Google free of cost. Even Google Apps launched in August 2006 providing services like webmail, calendaring, VoIP, word processing, spreadsheets has been free of cost. Only the premium edition launched this year with target market ranging from small