Virus Invaders Essays - Virology, Virus, Medicine, Clinical Medicine

Virus Invaders Katie Turner Technical Writing Period 7 Virus Invaders, written by Alan E. Nourse, M.D., explores different viruses and our body's defenses against them. This book traces the history of the discovery of viruses, and discusses the difficulty of identifying them, major diseases caused by viruses, the present state of virology, and the prognosis for the treatment. This book is an up-date examination of the structure and function of viruses that covers how they invade the body and what they do once they have entered. Common and uncommon diseases (chicken pox, hepatitis, mononucleosis, herpes, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, encephalitis, AIDS) are discussed in depth. Viruses are so mysterious and their behaviors are so complex that it is almost as difficult to describe them to the nonscientist as it is to study them in the laboratory. Nourse does an awesome job of writing in laypersons' terms without making the reader feel like a child. The most fascinating chapter describes viruses as the not-quite-living enemy. The photographs of laboratories look dull and fuzzy in the book and the black-and-white illustrations are not that great for representing magnified specimens. However, Nourse does a good job in explaining this information. Nourse describes the discovery of viruses and their nature, and discusses the variety of viral diseases, vaccines and immunity, and recent research. He presents a wide scope of information; detailed, complex explanations about such topics as DNA and RNA; and focuses on AIDS and HIV. Likewise, hepatitis A, B, and C are dealt with separately. An excellent double-page chart details in outline form the viruses, diseases caused, organs attacked, symptoms, usual outcomes, and possibilities of an available vaccine. Analogies and action-packed adjectives and nouns will keep young readers actively involved in unraveling the mysteries of these 'tiny tyrants.' . . . Current areas of viral research are presented, encouraging a continued interesting this subject. Only a couple of minor flaws are seen in the beauty of this excellent presentation. The book is recommended highly, both for general knowledge and as material for the classroom. Bibliography Whats up man English Essays

Essay on The ethicsEssay Writing Service

Essay on The ethicsEssay Writing Service Essay on The ethics Essay on The ethicsA person must say the truth, affirms ethics. There is a slight objection: a person also has other obligations. The situations when obligations are conflicting occur quite often in the life. In this case, the realization of two duties is impossible at the same time. Considering similar situations concerning lie, some philosophers think that a person can tell lies in definite situations, while the others say that it is absolutely unacceptable.When a person foreknows that his lie will lead to unfavorable consequences, he can think that it will save him. He regards lie as a way to happiness because it will save him from punishment or atonement. Such a lie is unjustified from the point of view of ethics.Kant affirms that the duty of telling the truth is an absolute obligation in any circumstances. Thus, I. Kant considers that a person has no right to lie. I can hardly agree with his position. Sure, a person should tell the truth but there are cases when voicing of the t ruth can lead to the divulgence of worthwhile secret (state or commercial one). In the example, given by I. Kant, a malefactor is chasing a person. Thismanishidinginhisfriend’shouse. According to I. Kant, theowner of the house is obliged to give up his friend, when the malefactor demands if the man is in the house.Deontological theory (a part of ethics that considers human’s duty as an intern compulsion) examines duty from the point of view of moral rights and justice. The positive aspect of deontological theory is, according to I. Kant, considering moral actions as reasonable ones. Thus, moral actions should be regarded as logical, universal and independent of consequences. In such a way, an action is right only if a person wants that all people do the same in a similar situation. But person’s actions are conditioned with various circumstances, so it can be considered as a negative aspect.

Ikea case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ikea case study - Essay Example Competitive priorities are directly linked to the performance of any business. The IKEA Company is involved with manufacturing of household items across the world. As a manufacturing company, IKEA has divided its competitive priorities into the following elements; cost or price, quality, innovation, flexibility and delivery. Under cost, the IKEA Company is able to pick a price of any prospective product and calculate what the product would cost. The company involves all its experts in design, product developers and purchasers to make the price choice. IKEA also ensures that there is quality in all the manufactured products.2 This is ensured by maintaining the usual suppliers of raw materials, for instance, the Romania factory. The products are also produced with Keen Corporation with suppliers. Innovation has also seen the company develop better products for their consumers. IKEA’s products are designed and produced by the best personnel of the company. This has led to increased convenience in the use of their products in addition to more sales for the company. IKEA’s design and manufacturing process is also flexible. This means that they are able to accommodate any necessary changes to products in any phase of production up to the distribution level. The company was able to change the design of various tables to ease transport. Moreover, the design of the mug was changed three times to fit the packaging in order to ensure more sales. Finally, IKEA’s delivery system is efficient in all aspects of adding value to consumers. The company ensures that the correct numbers of goods are delivered to the right stores and at the required time.3 These priorities explain the success that IKEA Company has enjoyed for a long time. The nature and dynamism of today’s global market requires new products to ensure survival in business while maintaining the market share. IKEA understands this thus there is always an

Do human beings need illusions or fictions in order to live life Term Paper

Do human beings need illusions or fictions in order to live life meaningfully Why or why not Discuss by drawing on the work of two philosophers we have discussed this to defend your claim - Term Paper Example With this, it can be claimed that meaningfulness is often defined in relation to an ideal figure or state. While this may not necessarily imply that the ways to a meaningful life should be similar to all people, it highlights the fact that its primary characteristics should be. Thus, more often than not, we use certain standards to evaluate a person’s life. In our evaluation, however, we do not consider the four facets equally. Typically, we rank the facets this way, from most important to least important: spiritual, personal, social, and professional. Thus, it is our idea of morality that usually influences our judgment of a meaningful life. Simply put, to live a meaningful life is to live a moral life. Morality, loosely defined, is the practice of good habits, freely and knowingly. Indeed, for a person to be moral, not only must he know the conceptual differences between good and evil, he must also wholeheartedly do good acts. Through this example, we can see the interrelated roles of knowledge and freedom in the formation of good character in a person. With this, it is the formation of good character that is regarded to be the concrete manifestation of a meaningful life. It is in the acquisition of virtues, which is a result of having done wise decisions in life, that makes a person truly happy. While we all agree that it is natural for us to choose to do the good, understanding why and how we do so is hard. Thus, it is in the intention we possess and the quality of good acts we do that ultimately define our character. And this is where the big issue starts. In this essay, we aim to shed light on the nature of a meaningful life (in the context of moral life) by looking at theistic and existentialistic positions. As for the existentialistic positions, we examine the teachings of Sartre and Kierkegaard. In the end, we intend to prove that morality can be accessed and practiced

The BCG study Essay Example for Free

The BCG study Essay The Boston consulting group is a global management consulting firm serves as an advisor to clients in the private, public, and non-for-profit sectors across the world. Now, the Boston consulting group is private company with more than 75 offices in 43 countries and recorded revenues $3700 million in 2012. The headquarter of the Boston consulting group is in Boston and employed 6200 consultants. The company was founded by Bruce D. Henderson in 1963 as a division of the Boston sage deposit and trust company. In 1975, Handerson arranged an employee stock ownership plan and the buyout or all shares was completed in 1979. Serving as a management consulting firm, Boston consulting group acts as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions. The recent clients of the Boston consulting group include Google, IBM, American Airlines, Ford Motor Company, Tata Group, Havard School of Public Health, Russian Ministry of Energy, Government of Canada and so on. As a world’s leading advisor on business stratedy, the Boston consulting group focus on cooperate clients to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. The SWOT analysis of Boston consulting group: Strangths Weaknesses Well accepted in the industry of consulting. Expertise covers a wide range of insustries. Lagging behind in the technology area. Comperetively low scale on the area of oprations. Opportunities Threats Strengths: Well respected and globally accepted brand in the strategy consulting domainBCG, over the years has cultivated and built up a reputation for itself and a corporate brand which has become almost synonymous to strategy consulting. In the process, BCG has pioneered some path breaking ideas and concepts in the strategy consulting domain that provided innovative frameworks and solutions to address the needs and problems of business  community. The companys focus on conceptual, strategic thinking has yielded many concepts that went on to become classics of strategy, and resulted into many academic constructs, tools and methodologies. It pioneered the growth share matrix/BCG Matrix model which was one of the famous concepts in resource allocation strategy and was the basis for origin of further models.The company also formulated many concepts, including the experience curve, time-based competition, sustainable growth, and total shareholder value, which many organizations have leveraged to improve their competitive positions. Most of BCGs models are regarded as benchmarks in strategic management and business consulting areas. The strong acceptance of BCG as a strategy consulting brand differentiates it from many of its peers and equips the company with competitive traction. Expertise developed across multiple industry sectors strengthens its business reach The company has gradually developed broad expertise in offering services for various industries, including automotive, biopharmaceuticals, consumer products, energy and environment, engineered products and infrastructure, financial institutions, insurance, media and entertainment, medical devices and technology, health care payers and providers, metals and mining, private equity, process industries, public sector, retail, technology and software, telecommunications, industries, transportation travel and tourism, and social impact. The company works with humanitarian organizations on a range of areas, including poverty and hunger, global health, education, community and economic development, arts and culture, philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility. The expertise developed across multiple sectors, industries and areas enables the company to keep its business sustenance at high levels. Weaknesses: Lagging technology enabled offerings with a poor presence in technology consulting BCG, on a relative basis to its competitors lagged in integrating and utilizing technology in its various offerings and also has a relatively weak technology consulting practice. Technology consulting is one of the high potential areas for consulting companies to take advantage of the growth potential it offers in long term. In recent years, technology companies, such as Capgemini and Infosys, added business and strategy consulting capabilities to their portfolio to pursue cross-selling  opportunities for consulting services for their existing clients. Further, consulting companies, such as Accenture and Deloitte Touche, developed technology capabilities pursuing growth opportunities. As a result various companies, such as Accenture, Capgemini, Booz Allen Hamilton, IBM and Infosys, have achieved strong presence in technology consulting. However, BCG has not been a significant player in the technology consulting area. Also, most of its competitors developed strong research andanalytics platforms to support their various consulting practices by creating large outsourcing capabilities in strategic locations. The companys poor presence in high growth practice areas, such as technology adversely impacts its growth prospects and cross-selling opportunities. Lower scale of operations limits its competitive ability The companys scale of operations is comparatively lower than its competitors. Many of its competitors, such as McKinsey Company, Accenture, Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton, have substantially greater financial and other resources than the company. For instance, the company’s competitor, Booz Allen Hamilton reported revenues of $5,859.2 million during the financial year ended March 2012 (FY2012). Also, the company’s another competitor, Accenture reported revenues of $27,862.3 million during the financial year ended August 2012 (FY2012). Comparatively, BCG recorded revenues of $3,700 million in FY2012. Large scale enables these competitors to leverage on their facilities and resources to achieve operating efficiency. The company stands to lose out often in bidding for larger projects and assignments due to its lower scale which also impacts its operating efficiency significantly. Opportunities: Management consulting market potential in emerging markets The emerging markets are expected to record strong growth in coming years driven by their contribution to global commerce. Despite the global economic slowdown and recession in developed countries, the emerging markets continued to maintain growth. In coming years, the emerging markets are forecasted to increase their contribution to global commerce and consumption. This can be perceived by the growth prospects for emerging markets. For instance, the emerging and developing economies real GDP growth is forecast to reach about 5.5% and 5.9% in 2013 and 2014, respectively, compared to a growth of 2.1% in 2009. The growth is being driven by China, India, and other emerging Asian  economies. Positive outlook for emerging markets provide growth opportunities for various businesses. Moreover, in recent years, most of the companies in emerging markets continue to pursue global practices in their operations. Positive outlook for emerging markets provide growth opportunities for various businesses. Moreover, in recent years, most of the companies in these markets continue to pursue global practices in their operations. BCG being one of the major players in the business consulting market is in a position to capitalize on growth opportunities in providing services for companies in emerging and developing markets. Positive outlook for non-IT end markets drives demand for consulting servicesSome of the companys non-IT end markets returned to growth trajectories in 2011. Markets including the healthcare, oil and gas, and pharmaceutical markets are forecast to show a steady growth. For instance, the US healthcare sector is providing positive growth opportunities for the company. According to the industry estimates, the total US healthcare expenditures were $2.7 trillion in 2011, and are expected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2016. The US healthcare expenditures are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 4.6% during 2007-11. Healthcare spending in the US is expected to reach 20% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2021. The global oil, gas and consumable fuels market is forecast to reach a value of $10.9 trillion in 2014, growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 13.5% during 2009–14. In addition, the US government initiatives are catalyzing the growth of new energy projects. Further, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. According to MarketLine, the global pharmaceuticals market grew by 3.5% in 2011 to record a value of $782.1 billion and it is forecast to reach $971.1 billion in 2016, an increase of 24.2% since 2011. BCG conducts research and analysis across a range of industries, including biopharmaceuticals,benergy and environment, and health care payers and providers, among others. Positive growth in such end markets will result in the origin of new projects, thereby creating the demand for the companys consulting services. Threats: Intense competition BCG operates in a highly competitive consultancy business and requires product and solution innovation on a regular basis to create and maintain competitive edge.The company faces competition from other large  players in the consultancy market such as McKinsey, Accenture, Deloitte Consulting, Booz Allen, and Ernst Young International. BCG also faces competition from companies that originated in the strategic consulting environment such as Bain, firms with core competence in IT solutions such as IBM, Capgemini, Hewlett Packard, and Infosys entered and extended their presence in the consulting industry, bringing a new breed of innovations and solution design, allowing other smaller IT companies to do the same. This trend may put pressure on the margins of mainstream consultancy firms such as BCG. Intense competition in the marketplace may negatively impact BCGs growth in market share and margins. Continued and prolonged weakness in global economic outlook In recent years, the global economy has undergone significant turmoil amid stock market volatility, difficulties in the financial services sector, tightening of the credit markets, softness in the housing markets, concerns of inflation and deflation, reduced corporate profits and capital spending, reduced consumer spending and various other economic difficulties. According to industry estimates, the global economy is expected to remain weak and uncertain in 2013. The downturn in the euro zone is forecasted to continue till the end of 2013. The recent macroeconomic data, state-level regional data, and the increased volatility in the financial markets in the US shows significant downside risksto the economic growth in the near term. In addition, factors such as weak household balance sheetsand confidence, relatively tight financial conditions, and continued fiscal consolidation are expected to halt the growth. According to the IMF, the US economic growth is expected to fall from 2.2% in 2012 to 1.9% in 2013.Weak economic outlook could affect business prospects of the company. The company derives most of its business in strategy consulting and substantial part from government and quasi-government agencies. The government bodies in developed world have deferred their various expenditures to curtail growing fiscal deficit. Similarly, large organizations in these countries have planned to go slow on their domestic growth strategies. The company may find it difficult towin new consulting business from these regions.

To show how Charles Dickens presents Good and Evil characters Essay

To show how Charles Dickens presents Good and Evil characters In the beginning of the Victorian period many children (orphans) were forced to turn to crime mainly because the children in the workhouse were mistreated and abused. Another reason is many people were migrating, which resulted to a growth in the population, which left many children homeless. Charles Dickens has based his novel, 'Oliver Twist' on this. He compares Oliver with what life was like for boys in the 18th Century. Throughout the story Oliver encounters many evil characters and a few virtuous characters. The evil characters try to persuade him to lead the life of crime while as the good characters save him and enable Oliver and the reader to learn that a life of crime does not pay. Charles Dickens uses the novel to criticise how children during Victorian times were forced to turn to crime when laws did not protect them. Dickens main character, Oliver, is presented as the 'hero' of the story; he learns that goodness triumphs over evil. The incident in the story where Oliver's goodness is shown is when Bill Sikes forces him to rob Rose Maylie's house: "Despite the threat, Oliver decided to warn the people in the house" Even though Oliver is threatened to act out this evil deed, he chooses to do the right thing by warning the owners of the house and risking his own life. In doing so, Dickens shows that Oliver is a good character through the choices Oliver makes. Charles Dickens presents Mr Bumble as an evil character. At the start of the story Dickens describes him as a "fat healthy man". While as all the orphans are being starved, he is never going without. When Oliver asks for more food, Mr Bumble: "Aimed a blow at Oliver'... ...liver (Monks was another member of the gang) and began to weep saying: 'Please miss, don't come to any harm! I'd give my own life to save him. Honest I would!' Dickens has tried to emphasise the fact that in the Victorian Times there weren't very strict laws, which meant there were a lot of very bad people round at that time, but still some good left, and even though Nancy was around very dangerous people she was a good person at heart (that's why you have the proverb, 'don't judge a book by its cover!). It also illustrates how good Nancy was, for her to tell Rose everything, she must have been a very brave soul and must have loved Oliver dearly to do such a kind thing. She knew Oliver didn't deserved a better life ad didn't need to be pulled into a life as insecure as her own. Dickens presents Nancy as a good person through her emotions and actions.

Sunflower Incorporated

Sunflower Incorporated is a large distribution company with over 5,000 employees and gross sales over $700 million in 1991. The company purchases and distributes salty snack foods and liquor to independent retail stores throughout the United States and Canada. Salty snack foods include corn chips, potato chips, cheese curls, tortilla chips, and peanuts. The United States and Canada are divided into 22 regions, each with its own central warehouse, salespeople, finance department, and purchasing department. The organization distributes national as well as local brands and packages some items under private labels. The head office encourages each regions to be autonomous because of local tastes and practices. The northeast United States, for example, consumes a greater percentage of Canadian whisky and American bourbon, while the West consumes more light liquors, such as vodka, gin, and rum. Snack foods in the Southwest are often seasoned to reflect Mexican tastes. Early in 1989, Sunflower began using a financial reporting system that compared sales, costs, and profits across regions. Management was surprised to learn that profits varied widely. By 1990, the differences was so great that management decided some standardization was necessary. They believed that highly profitable regions were sometimes using lower-quality items, even seconds, to boost profit margins. The practice could hurt Sunflower’s image. Other regions were facing intense price competition in order to hold market share. National distributors were pushing hard to increase their market share. Frito-Lay, Bordens, Nabisco, Procter & Gamble (Pringles), and Standard Brands (Planter’s peanuts) were pushing hard to increase market share by cutting prices and launching new products. As these problems accumulated, Mr. Steelman, president of Sunflower, decided to create a new position to monitor pricing and purchasing practices. Agnes Albanese was hired from the finance department of a competing organization. Her new title was director of pricing and purchasing, and she reported to the vice president of finance, Mr. Mobley. Steelman and Mobley gave Albanese great freedom in organizing her job and encouraged her to establish whatever rules and procedures were necessary. She was also encouraged to gather information from each region. Each region was notified of her appoinment by an official memo sent to the regional managers. A copy of the memo was posted on each warehouse bulletin board. The announcement was also made in the company newspaper. After 3 weeks on the job, Albanese decided that pricing and purchasing decisions should be standardized across regions. As a first step, she wanted the financial executive in each regions to notify her of any change in local prices of more than 3%. She also decided that all new contracts for local purchases of more than $5,000 should be cleared through her office. Albanese believed that the only way to standardize operations was for each region to notify the home office in advance of any change in prices or purchases. Albanese discussed the proposed policy with Mobley. He agreed, so they submitted a formal proposal to the president and board of directors, who approved the plan. Sunflower was moving into the peak holiday season, so Albanese wanted to implement the new procedures right away. She decided to send an email to the financial and purchasing executives in each region notifying them of the new procedures. The change would be inserted in all policy and procedure manuals thorughout Sunflower within 4 months. Albanese showed a draft of the email to Mobley and invited his comments. Mobley said the Internet was an excellent idea but it was not sufficient. The regions handle hundreds of items and were used to decentralized decision making. Mobley suggested that Albanese ought to visit the regions and discuss purchasing and pricing policies with the executives. Albanese refused, saying that the trips would be expensive and time-consuming. She had so many things to do at headquarters that a trip was impossible. Mobley also suggested waiting to implement the procedures until after the annual company meeting 3 months. Albanese said this would take too long because the procedures would not take effect until after the peak sales season. She believed the procedures were needed now. The email went out the next day. During the next few days, replies came in from most of the regions. The executives were in agreement with the email and said they would be happy to cooperate. Eight weeks later, Albanese had not received notices from any regions about local price or purchase change. Other executives who had visited regional warehouses indicated to her that the regions were busy as usual. Regional executives seemed to be following usual procedures for that time of year. Albanese might analyze what the cause of the ineffective organizationl changes, and she might done differently. Albanese should do something now. From the case above, we now that the cause of the ineffective organization changes are: first, response to changes programs were less enthusiastic. The regional executives was not give their opinions, critics, and participation in developing the programs. Their enthusiastic have showed just in the next few days from the email about the announcement the changes programs was sent. But, there was no enthusiastic in 2 months later. Seconds, the changes program may be agreed by regional executives but were perceived as not in top priority. The regional offices might face the different various problems because of local market characteristics and practices, and they made the priority rank of the problems and other implementations differently. Third, the changes programs seemed to be not well planned. Because the programs built on the Albanese perceptions of the expensiveness and time-consume. Fourth, data gathering was not conducted properly. So, Albanese was not capture the â€Å"real problems† and how to solve it efficiently and instituzionalizing the interventions. Fifth, data analysis was done inappropriately, no follow-up actions were taken to confirm the real problems. The actions wasn’t conducted by accurate data analysis. Sixth, no opportunity was given to regional executives to participate in the change programs. The email procedure was not give the regional executives to build a feedback, and report the implementation problems they faced. Seventh, limited time was avaible to implement the change. Eighth, socialization was done via email only indicated that dominance strategy was implemented, feeding back process was less effective. So, the organization should take change actions building on the cause of the ineffective organizational changes. The Sunflower could be done : 1. Improving the planning process. Sunflower can use the general model of planned change for the Organizational Change and Develoment theory. The four activites in the planning process (entering and contracting, diagnosing, planning and implementing, and evaluating and institutionalizing) can be used to describe how to take changes in Sunflower. 2. Visiting regions to gather (and confirm) the data, offer the changes program, encourage participation, and build commitment. The head office and regional office can discuss together how to plan the changes programs and how well implement it. The commitment for to implement the change continually should be increased. 3. Allocate reasonable time frame for socialization, transition process (process in the organizational change and development when the performance decrease because of the implementation of the changes programs before it result the more effective and increase in the performance), feeding back to improve the changes programs, and provide opportunities to regions executives to speak up, 4. Implement the changes at the (more) appropriate time (not it busy season). It is important to diagnose the best moment for implementation of the changes programs. 5. Actively monitor the implementation and evaluate periodically and accurately. Feedback about intervention’s results provides information about whether the change should be continued, modified, or suspended.