How to Build a Backyard Kennel

? How to Build a Backyard Kennel? By Kimberly Mathis The most important thing, about building a backyard kennel, is what size, what strength and what features are needed for your dog. What is a backyard dog kennel? A backyard dog kennel is a small, fenced – in area used to contain your dog. It is an area used to keep your dog safe and contained while outdoors. It is not recommended that your dog stay in the kennel permanently. In fact, dog psychologists recommend that you allow your dog time inside as well. What size do you need? Well, what size is your dog? If you have a small dog, you won't have to build a big yard. The larger the dog, the bigger the yard. A yard has to be big enough for your dog to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom. A dog will not soil the area where he eats. This is very important because if you have a large dog and you put him in a small kennel, he has nowhere to eat and do his business. The size of your dog, also, depends on how strong you need to make it. You also need to ask yourself â€Å"How long is my dog going to stay in this kennel? † As I mentioned before, it is not a good idea to make the kennel your dog's permanent home. It causes anxiety in your dog. It also causes behavioral differences in your dog. Okay, let's get started. First, you will need to get supplies. Now most of the supplies can be bought at a local feed store or a local hardware store. You will need the following: Wooden Support Poles. You want these poles to be 6 ft high and at least 4 inches at the base. Unless you have a big dog, then you want to go taller with the posts. We don't want the dog to jump out of his cage and cause a unpleasant mess. U-nails is also required. These will help hold your fence in place. You will also need fencing. The experts prefer you to use portable metal fencing. You will need a gate for your kennel. This gate needs to be heavy and with a latch. That way your pooch can't push it open and escape. Finally, you will need a hammer and a screwdriver. Next, you will need to measure out where you are going to put this kennel. You need to make sure that it is big enough so your dog can run around yet not so big it inhibits your whole yard. Then you go and buy your materials. Remember that your yard is outside and should be able to withstand the forces of nature. Pick your spot. Make sure that there is shade and sunlight. A grassy yard is a good thing. It helps recycle the dog's urine and feces well. You also want to make sure that when it rains, it isn't going to fill up with mud and puddles. These can cause serious problems for your pet. Make your fence. Put your posts in the ground approximately 2 feet down and 4 foot apart. After you put in your posts, you want to put the dirt in around them and pack them down well. It will help your fence stay sturdy and strong. Now you are ready to attach the fence. You will attach your fence by using the U-nails. The experts say to use 3 per post. You are almost finished now. The last thing you want to do is attach your gate. Now to attach the gate, you have to make sure that it will close†¦. that was a little humor†¦. I would be the type to put a gate on and it not close properly. The gate should have a latch on it. You want to screw the hinge onto a post. Check that the gate swings easily. I cannot express how important it is that the latch work. I actually have a backyard dog kennel that was built almost exactly like the one I am describing. There is no latch on the gate. This creates a problem. My dog manages to push the concrete bricks, that are holding the gate shut, out of the way. With a latch, I wouldn't be having this problem. I have stated previously that I have a backyard kennel made almost exactly like the one I described. I found that it doesn't work very well. I have a wolf breed type of dog and she digs out from under the fence. My suggestion would be to lay concrete down and make sure the fence is in the concrete. Also, with a large breed dog, you will want to make sure that it is high enough so your dog will not crawl out of it. We have had that problem as well. I searched for different sites to help me write the best description of a backyard kennel and found only one. It is apparent that most sites do not recommend putting your pet outside in an enclosure. I, personally, am one that doesn't find anything wrong with it. I tried to let my dog inside and she ate my house. She likes being outside. Unfortunately, she likes to be UNDER our house and that is not acceptable. So we built her a dog yard with house and a porch and a canteen area. She is living the life of dogs out there and doesn't seem to like it. She is constantly figuring ways to escape and go under our home and into our duct system. I refuse to put air conditioning in her house. We have a state-of-the-art dog house that is under a perfect shade tree. The only solution, that I could come up with is that I am going to have to install concrete around the fence line. I am hoping that it works and keeps our dog in her yard. I did my essay on this subject in hopes of finding out what we did wrong. Unfortunately the only thing I see that we did wrong was making it her permanent home. I really didn't learn a lot about this but it was a fun and informative subject. This is how to make a backyard dog kennel. http://www. ehow. com/about_4568749_backyard-dog-kennels. html

Army Crew Team Case Analysis Essay

Colonel Stas Preczewski, better known as Coach P., was the coach of the Army Crew Team for the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was responsible for managing two teams of rowers for the 2000 meter race. They were the Varsity and Junior Varsity (JV) teams and consisted of eight rowers per crew. The 2000 meter races are considered to be very rigorous and could also be compared to playing two basketball games. Because rowing can be so exhausting, the sport requires a lot of endurance and strength to be successful. It is also important to focus on the psychological aspects of this sport. According to a survey that was done by the U.S. Olympic Committee, coaches with at least four years’ experience felt that psychological aspects should be focused on as part of coaching a successful and winning crew. Teamwork was considered essential for all of the rowers. If a rower only thought about his technique, it could potentially slow the entire boat down because the team wou ld no longer be synchronized. All crew members must also have trust in one another. The Army Crew Team of 2001-2002 had gone through extensive training year-round to prepare for the National Championships that are held in spring. In winter they spend time building strength by lifting weights and perfecting technique by practicing on the Ergometer, or ‘erg,’ which is a measuring tool for rowers to determine individual technique and endurance. In the spring they went on a retreat to Atlanta where ultimately Coach P. would determine the members who would fulfill the Varsity and JV teams. Coach P. determined the teams by using a system referred to as ‘seat racing,’ the same method that is used in selecting rowers for the Olympics. He determined the members of the Varsity team by taking the top eight scores for individual strength, with the exception of two men. One was more self-absorbed and was only concerned with his own success, and the other did not have a strong technique. After he chose the teams, they raced each other and the Varsity team won, which confirmed his evaluation. Immediately when they got back to training on the Hudson River, the Varsity team was unhappy because they did not beat the JV team by a greater margin at the retreat, and Coach P. thought that they were just striving for excellence. However, throughout the spring, the JV team was consistently beating the Varsity team. Coach P. was concerned with this and did more testing, which revealed that the Varsity team was stronger and  had more endurance then the JV team. He could not figure out why this was the case. He, along with his assistant, determined that there were many more team disrupters on the Varsity team, and there were no team disrupters on the JV team. They then brought in members from the Center for Enhanced Performance, who could help with building team and individual performance. The JV team took well to this and employed the techniques for building new attitudes and confidence, but the Varsity did not seem to do this and felt that any positive display towards one another was too ‘touchy feely.’ The JV team continued to beat the Varsity team. After each race the Varsity team would heavily critique one another on an individual level. The JV team only focused on displaying inspirational sayings such as â€Å"we will succeed together, we will fail together.† The Varsity team and Coach P. were looking for answers. Problem The Varsity team was not winning races because they did not know how to work well with each other and work as a team. This is something that the JV team was able to do very effectively. It has been proven through many findings in research that people perform better if they exhibit teamwork (Chieh-Wen, Yi-Fan & MingChia, 2010). When a team works together, it enhances the quality of the work and instills trust and satisfaction in the team members (Chieh-Wen, Yi-Fan & MingChia, 2010). It was very apparent that the Varsity team was not happy with the outcomes of any of their races, including the first race they had against the JV team. Throughout the season the Varsity team was not working well together, which translated into poor performance. Trust is also very important for effective teamwork. Welch and Welch (2011) state in the article â€Å"How to Build a Winning Team† that when a winning team â€Å"is infused with trust, people play to their better angles. They share ideas freely (p. 2).† Clearly the Varsity team had opinions about each other, however, they were not encouraged to state their problems directly to each other, they were to direct the questions to Coach P. Each of the members of the Varsity team were selected because of their strength and endurance, so most of them thought that they were the best, and it almost seems as if they did not trust that any of the other teammates were as good. This could also be explained when Coach P. examined both the JV and Varsity  teams strengths and weaknesses and determined that the Varsity team consisted of many team disrupters, or people that either talk too much or criticize others during practice. The article called â€Å"Nurturing Interpersonal Trust in Knowledge-Sharing Networks† (2003) also talks about two dimensions of trust. One dimension is benevolence, or the idea that people feel that they are being cared about and have an interest in their well-being and the other is competence, which is that the person has relevant expertise and can be depended on to know information (Abrams, Cross, Lesser, and Levin). These are two important aspects to teamwork that are clearly an issue impacting the Varsity team. The Varsity team also felt that at one point in the season Coach P. was trying to create a rivalry between the two teams which is why they had to row against each other in practice so often. A member of the Varsity team felt that it was unnerving that they had to compete against the JV team, almost like making them off of their game. They had no clear direction as to where the team was going, no proper leadership to direct them. â€Å"In groups that had high levels of collaborative behavior, the team leaders clearly made a significant difference (Gratton, Erickson p. 106, 2007).† It is important to have leadership and direction. The Varsity team did not have any members who did this nor did they feel that their coach was always supportive. The problem lies with the lack of teamwork within the Varsity team. They did not have proper leadership or trust to be able to be a winning team. The Varsity team continues to be beaten by the JV team due to the lack of teamwork. Being in synch is what rowing is all about, and they are not able to do this. The dictionary defines teamwork as â€Å"cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interest of a common cause.† Solutions Coach P. must determine what to do with the Varsity team and he is faced with three options. The first option would be to switch the Varsity and JV boats. Second, he could switch individual members from each boat. Finally, he could keep everything as is, and try to increase the Varsity boat’s  performance so that they start to win. Each option will be evaluated based on several criteria. The ultimate goal of Coach P. and all of the team members is to develop a winning team. Each option must be evaluated on whether the chosen team will maximize its performance and win races. Also is there enough time to make the changes necessary to win? Timing is important because there were only four days until the National Championships. Can there be a positive relationship between team members with each option? The important aspect to focus on is whether or not the relationships can maintain or be mended. Having positive relationships are directly related to the importance of teamwork and whether or not positive teamwork will happen at all. The first option to be evaluated is the possibility of switching the Varsity and JV boats. The team members on the JV team were assigned to that boat because their performance, individually, was not as good as the members who were initially chosen for the Varsity team. With the exception of two members on the JV team, they consisted of members who were not nearly as strong, had less endurance and were also technically not as good as the Varsity team. It would be fairly easy to make this adjustment so timing would not be an issue since and could be easily done within four days. Will the relationship between both of the boats change if the boats were switched? There is a possibility that the JV teams relationship would change because they initially thought that they had nothing to lose being on the JV team. If they were to be named the new Varsity team, personalities could change because of the increased stress level since they no longer will have the ‘nothing to lose’ feeling. Even one of the members from the JV team were not chosen for the Varsity team initially because of his focus was on individual performance, and he was also critical of others, and these reactions could be reignited if the switch was made. Coach P. could switch individual team members between boats. Based on documented results, Coach P. specifically chose the Varsity boat due to their strength and endurance. Since there were a few members that were also very strong on the JV team, the switch could still keep the performance at a high level. The rower that struggled with technique could maybe improve on  performance if he were with other members that were just as strong. Being in synch is something that is extremely important in rowing, and if a team is not able to do this, they will not be successful. Timing could be an issue with this option since they only have four days to learn how to work with one another. Trust could be a problem as well since they have not worked with each other on a consistent basis. Because of the short amount of time that they have to work with one another, it can also have a negative effect on the relationship of the team. Psychological factors are important to the success of any rowing team and they could be compromised, especially the original members of the Varsity team. They will feel even more beat down. Coach P. has already tested this option and the JV team members had a difficult time getting along with the Varsity members. Finally, Coach P. could not make any adjustment between the JV and Varsity teams and try to focus on getting the Varsity team to work with one another. The members of the Varsity team were evaluated at the Atlanta retreat by Coach P. and he determined that they were the strongest, had the most endurance, and had the best technique. This is the reason that they were chosen for the Varsity team in the first place, so the performance potential is definitely present in each of the Varsity team members. Timing is something that could be an issue because it might be questioned as to how can the Varsity team learn to work with each other in four days if they were unable to work well as a team up until then? Four days is a very short time frame to develop trust in one another. This is also important in determining whether or not the relationship could be mended. Coach P. has already tried to work on building a more positive relationship that would enhance performance when he brought in a person from the Center for Enhanced Performance to specifically work on building their confidence in one another. When Coach P. initially selected the teams, he did not see that there were ‘team disrupters’ even though he did see that in members that he did not select for the Varsity team and purposely put them on the JV team. This shows that there may be potential in mending the relationships, if Coach P.’s initial analyses were correct. Recommendations and Plan of Action Coach P. should keep the Varsity team as-is and try to build on the  teamwork. The main reason is because in his initial analysis at the Atlanta retreat he had determined that they are in fact the strongest, have the most endurance and technically are the best rowers out of the sixteen men. If he were to switch the boats, it is almost like settling for second best since he knows that they are not the best performers. The relationships are also something that could be of issue in the other two options. It is unknown that the relationship will maintain if the JV team boat were switched, and it was clear that if individual team members were switched that they did not work well with each other through the initial tests that done by Coach P. Coach P. needs to realize that he needs to stand in front of his team to help influence them to perform better and find ways so that they can work well together. â€Å"Research findings demonstrate that perceived team support significantly influenc es teamwork behavior and trust (Cheih-Wen, Yi-Fang &Ming-Cha, 2010).† Since they do not have trust in their coach at all times, based on discussions that they had when they were pinning their failures on their coach, how can they develop trust in one another? Coach P. has put a lot of pressure on them to be a winning team. Along with that pressure, comes more criticism. Coach P. asked that each of the team members only go to him when they have negative things to say about another team member and the Varsity team would email him on a consistent basis. Open and honest communication is extremely important when building trust with one another and if Coach P. is only asking his team to come to him with negative comments, this is not endorsing an open and honest line of communication (Byrne 1999). It does not seem that the Varsity team was able to build any personal connections. Learning what one another has in common on a personal level rather than just a competitive level could help with building that trust (Abrams, Cross, Lesser & Levin 2003). If Coach P. would help with facilitating more personal relationships, they may learn to work well together, even possibly quickly. The process of teamwork â€Å"requires spending time together as a team and making that time enjoyable. By coaching, training together, establishing common goals†¦and having fun together† teams can accomplish a lot together (Byrne, 1999). They need to find something that is fun to do rather than just concentrate on the seriousness of competition. Personal connections  can help develop a care for one another and also more approachable when there are more serious issues that are needed to be discussed (Abrams, Cross, Lesser and Levin, 2003). If the Varsity team is able to laugh together, they will be able to communicate on a more positive level and develop teamwork. In the future, Coach P. should focus developing personal connections with his team earlier on. They will develop trust and positive teamwork that will translate onto the water where they can be more in synch. Conclusion The Varsity Army Crew team did not know how to work well together as a team albeit they were great performers individually. They were not able to beat the JV team, who exhibited a great amount of teamwork even though they were not as strong performers individually. The varsity team was too critical of one another and had no personal connection. After evaluating several options as to what Coach P. should do days before the National Championships, it was determined that he should try to work things out with the Varsity team so that they could work together more cohesively. If they are able to work together as a team, their outstanding strength, endurance and technique should translate to success as a winning team.

Night Terrors

An article by Ph. D John Cline has help me to come to believe otherwise. There was a situation In which a woman woke up to her sleeping husband's fists. Indeed the husband was sleep but far away from peace. The husband was experiencing a night terror. A night terror is far worse than a bad dream, a night terror is when someone wakes up screaming and in some cases they act out their dream.In this case the husband acted out his dream; however, his actions occurred unknowingly. His wife screamed his name for him to stop, this of hich woke him up. These events didn't stop there so the husband decided to seek professional help. upon being appointed to a sleep specialist he learned about Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder. He quickly learned that he was suffering from a very rare disorder. About 0. 38 percent of the general population and about . 50 percent face this disorder.This disorder is also known as RBD his class of which is known as parasomnias. Parasomnias are unwanted phy sical events dealing with sleep. RBD happens to blend with Rapid eye movement. In the sense of this disorder the person's body is paralyzed and intense and colorful dreams occur. This sleep disorder is most common to men over the age of fifty years of age; however, Its possible for anyone to have this disorder but theyre not as Ilkely. Many sleep dfferent disorders associate with each other such as this one and sleep apnea in relation to rapid eye movement.R8N happens to also be associate to Parkinson's disease. There are Whitehead 2 many sleep disorders that can effect our sleep. This of which happens to be important because sleep Is Important to use as humans. Sleep can determine how health one can be mentally and physically. The Importance of sleep speaks for itself n fact, we do spend one-third of our life sleeping. I chose this article because everyone sleeps but, who says that we have to be at peace while doing it? I couldnt possible picture life without sleep.Honestly, I thin k life would be entirely too long and tiring without it. I also wanted to know more about this disorder for future references. Psychologically this article covers REM which happens to be the movement of the eye as someone dreams. In addition, I believe that our society would be pleased to know this disorder Is not a common one. This article was great in terms of knowledge of the disorder. I would have maybe even njoyed reading this article on my free and not Just for class purposes.In reading this article Ive learned that I am at a greater risk in having this disorder than the general population. To sum things up, never take your recommended six-eight hours for granted, because you never know when things could start to go bump in the night for you. Night Terrors By tiequeisha Jones me to come to believe otherwise. There was a situation in which a woman woke up to Upon being appointed to a sleep specialist he learned about Rapid Eye Movement however, its possible for anyone to have t his disorder but theyre not as likely.Many sleep different disorders associate with each other such as this one and sleep apnea in relation to rapid eye movement. RBN happens to also be associate to Parkinson's important because sleep is important to use as humans. Sleep can determine how health one can be mentally and physically. The importance of sleep speaks for itself peace while doing it? I couldn't possible picture life without sleep. Honestly, I think that our society would be pleased to know this disorder is not a common one. This this article IVe learned that I am at a greater risk in having this disorder than the

Al-Shabaab Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Al-Shabaab - Assignment Example This movement is seen to be similar to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)of Uganda where the Al-shabaab seek to establish a theocratic state based on Sharia Law through Islamic Rule in Somalia while the LRA enforce the 10 Commandments Rule in Uganda. They both use religion as a basis of their struggle but at the same time argue that no religion advocates for violence and also use unethical methods to recruit new members within their borders and all over the world . Recruits have joined the two groups for different reasons and under different circumstances. Al-Shabaab usually recruits its members that are considered to be Islamists sympathizers who entice new members by showing the a different way of life that makes the recruit in a better position to share out their religion with new friends and this is done through Quaranic schools and other educational institutions. It is also sad that some of them are lured by salaries as they pay those involved and thus take advantage of the unemployment and poor pay situations in most countries ‘‘(Kisiangani,2011,p228)’’. The Al-shabaab has over the years learned its strategy and tactics from al Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan and Iraq that provide them with knowledge on remote-controlled explosives, assassinations, bomb making and suicide bombing.The movement has all along moved steadily closer to al Qaeda and adopted a modus operandi that increasingly resembles that of the Taliban in Afghanistan.The foreign impact on al Shabaab has taken two forms which are the transfer of tactics, Ideologies and Strategies learned by Somali al Shabaab leaders as they associate with the Taliban and al Qaeda and the recruitment of foreign fighters

Account for the economic development of the Tokugawa period Essay

Account for the economic development of the Tokugawa period - Essay Example Japan had a very unsteady history with periods of civil wars and not much progress. The country was divided with poor developmental progress. But the scenario was greatly altered after Tokugawa Ieyasu took over the country. He provided for a new beginning in the history of Japan. The period during which he ruled was known as the Tokugawa period. It was also referred to as the Edo period because the capital of the country was moved to Edo after Ieyasu took over. The Tokugawa period was a period of modernization, expansion and progress for the country and thus was also given the name of the Modern Period. This period lasted for approximately two and a half centuries. It started from 1603and ended in 1868. During this entire episode the country was ruled by Tokugawa and then his family and hence the entire phase was given the name of the Tokugawa period. In the Tokugawa period, there was not much technological advance in the country but the economy of the country flourished. In this period Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world which can be a reason for its lesser technological advances. This period laid the foundations for today’s economically stable Japan. This period was a golden era. The population of the country remained constant for these two and a half centuries. According to a first population consensus which was conducted in 1720 the population of the country was thirty million which stayed almost the same during the entire period. It has been seen that now Japan depends greatly upon imports from other countries particularly for food and energy. But in the Tokugawa period Japan was very self sufficient in all its resources. Though Japan is not very rich in natural resources but it was seen in the late Modern Period that salt was produced from coal and still there was no shortage of the fossil fuels. Reasons that have been provided for this are that because of the isolation from the rest of the world, there was a realization

Quality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Quality - Research Paper Example The CNE article uses reliable data through showing consultations with the IOM report of 2000 and the studies of James in 2013. For instance, by referring to the studies such as that of James, it is clear that the research conducted is of high quality, reliable, and valid. The assumption is that the study involves the identification of preventable adverse events that are readily applicable in the hospital contexts. For example, some of the preventable adverse events encompass the errors of omission, errors of context, errors of commission, errors of communication, and those of context. The experimental design used in this article entails several measures concerning the patient safety and culture. Besides, the experiment includes varied elements of the patient safety culture that undergo developments. The design in this context gains confidence by using numerous tools to ascertain the safety of the patients. Some of the tools involved include the safety attitude questionnaires, safety cultural surveys, and the safety cultural improvement tool. There is tailoring of the instruments to various individuals to gain a broader perspective of the issue in question. Contextually, the tools targeted the hospital staff, the patients, and the medical personnel. Thus, it is a good design for the analysis of the safety of patients in the health care setup. Ulrich & Kear (2014) have managed to use accurate data and statistics from recognized studies and reports. For instance, the IOM report indicates the numbers of people injured and those that died due to preventable adverse events. In spite of the accurate use of this data, the research fails to carry out a critical statistical analysis to ascertain and give feedback to the individuals that participated in the surveys and questionnaires. In summary, the article provides an account of what safety has entailed in the US after the patient safety took the center stage of the health care system. It reflects on

Base on the prompt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Base on the prompt - Essay Example There are three business segments through which Wal-Mart operates its business: Walmart US, Sam’s Club, and Walmart International. The retail stores have four different formats: discount centers, supercenters, neighborhood markets, and other small formats (Company Profile Wal-Mart Stores Inc, 4). The key products that are offered by Wal-Mart, Inc. include: food products, consumables, entertainment goods, apparel, and goods for home; major services are: pharmacy and optical services; money order services, check cashing, photo processing services, etc. (Company Profile Wal-Mart Stores Inc, 23-24). In addition to the retail units, Wal-Mart offers its products and services through the e-commerce websites available in 10 countries (Corporate.walmart.com). Wal-Mart launched its strategy of the international business expansion in 1991, by going to neighboring countries: Canada, Mexico, and some countries of the Latin America. The total number of Wal-Mart’s international locations exceeding the number of 6,100 enables the company to generate almost 30% of its revenue ($136, 318 mln in 2013) (Company Profile Wal-Mart Stores Inc, 26). Table 1 provides an overview of some of the key facts related to the Wal-Mart’s operations in different foreign markets. Wal-Mart has started its international expansion with opening its stores or by acquiring established local retailers in neighboring countries, such as Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. The company’s success in these countries has encouraged the management to go further and expand to China, the UK, Japan, Central America, India, and African continent. Wal-mart has opened its stores in few countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, China, and India. In order to enter all other countries, Wal-Mart has applied Mergers & Acquisition strategy, buying out either whole leading retailing companies operating locally or some stake of

Role Of A Lawyer In Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Role Of A Lawyer In Business - Essay Example Provision of ideas to the client- The lawyer may provide the necessary ideas and the advice to the client. However, the nature and the type of advice may differ depending upon the type of the client. In certain areas, the client may be extremely knowledgeable exhibiting complete mastery over the particular issue. In those cases, the advice may be limited to certain trivial and core operational areas. On the other hand, there are certain businesses where the lawyer assumes a much larger role when compared to the current role. As for example, in the areas where the business is dependent on the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), the legality of the case become increasingly important. Thus, in cases like this, the lawyer basically plays the role of a business advisor. Other areas that can be included in the following gamut are the businesses that run out of multiple countries or sell products in multiple countries. Implementation of the determined business objectives- The successful operation of any business is dependent on the achievement of the stipulated business objectives. The attainment of those business objectives is a function of proper business decisions in the relevant areas. The lawyer has to get a fair idea about the long term goals, the mission, the vision and the objectives of the business. This may help in the determination of proper steps towards the outcome. The financial implication can also be better understood if the lawyer devises the proper strategy and the roadmap for the same. This will help the businesses to determine what is important, what is relevant and what could be used to achieve those objectives. The lawyer should help in demarcating the business issues from the legal issue so that the necessary steps could be taken without any problem. The lawyer could also look into the possible alternatives for running any business. Thereby, all the stop gap arrangements coul d be done to ensure that the business keeps on running. Protection of the interests of the client- The first and the foremost responsibility of all the lawyers is to protect the interest of the clients. The interests of the clients are varied and different. Therefore, the necessary areas of the contention are also different. The lawyer must always ensure that the proper directions are given to the client. Limitation of risk to the client- One of the most important activities of the lawyer is to ensure that the risk to the business is mitigated at all costs. All the measures should be taken by the lawyer to see that at any point of time, the business does not suffer any kind of loss. The lawyer and the business head must be able to develop a consensus on the business needs. This includes two steps, looking at the ability to diminish the effects of the quantitative risk and the effects of the risk on the business. Therefore, this complete procedure ensures that the clients and the ind ividuals are on the same page in terms of the proliferation of business.

Results and discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Results and discussion - Essay Example A biofilm structure hinders antibiotic entry to cells, and at the same time, increases oxidative damage, which increases the mutation rate. To show that mutation frequency in response to the antibiotics mupirocin and rifampicin is due to oxidative stress in planktonic and biofilm cultures, Staphylococcal aureus strains SH 1000 and UAMS-1 were grown in media supplemented with hydrogen peroxide and antioxidants. Planktonic cultures that were supplemented with antioxidants did not differ in their mutation frequency. However, the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the growth media significantly increased mutation frequencies under antibiotic selection. The mutation frequencies declined significantly with the addition of antioxidants, together with hydrogen peroxide, to the culture media significantly. Biofilm cultures, that were not treated with oxidising agent, showed high levels of mutation frequencies, equal to that obtained for planktonic culture in hydrogen peroxide alone. In cultures growing in rifampicin selection plates, the bacterial have mutation frequency of 10-5, which was indicative of a mutator phenotype. The increase in mutation frequency indicates defects in the methyl-mismatch repair system during biofilm formation. Similar to planktonic cultures, the addition of antioxidants to the culture media reduced the mutation frequency to levels between 10-7 and 10-8. A bacterial biofilm is a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed within a self-produced extracellular polymeric matrix attached to surface (Costerton, Stewart & Greenberg 1999). Bacterial biofilms are present mostly on wet surfaces and are mostly visible to the naked eye. The biofilms consist of microcolonies on a surface and develop into organized communities with functional heterogeneity. Different bacterial species specifically attach to different surfaces and could aggregate with other species or a combination of species. The organization and structure of

No topic, just answer the following questions Research Paper

No topic, just answer the following questions - Research Paper Example Sale of the company would realize a profit return of about 4.39 million dollars (30) PressureShot Management structure proved to be a good plan for the company. The company’s operations would run smoothly and reliably because of the excellent corporate structure. Product brand chosen would improve public image and profit returns. Increased profit and market share results from the monopoly status of the company. PressureShot is the sole producer and service provider in tennis industry (Thuell, King, and Dennison). The company also boost of good Customer service plan that would improve its relations both locally and internationally. PressureShot strengths besides excellent customer service provision also include fantastic products that are long lasting (17). Based on PressureShot structure on capacity levels and inventory management, the company ought to have created its own storage facilities. Although trusting Sandstrom manufacturing company with storage, production, and shipment of company paints increases convenience, it would be expensive in the end. Installation of storage and paint manufacturing facilities will not only reduce operations costs but also remain as Company’s assets (21). Though the exit strategy promised good return on investment, it is immature as the company still has space for

A REFLECTIVE WRITING ON CASE STUDY 1 MANAGING A SICKLE CELL ANEMIA FOR Essay

A REFLECTIVE WRITING ON CASE STUDY 1 MANAGING A SICKLE CELL ANEMIA FOR ASSESSMENT 2 - Essay Example Diagnosis is usually made at birth at the time of newborn screening. Disease management is usually focused on pain, hydration and infections prevention and various complications resulting in vaso-occlusive crises (Lee, Askew, Walker, Stephen & Robertson-Artwork, 2012). This paper is a reflective essay and discusses leadership management on the caring of a patient with sickle cell disorder by applying the theoretical concept from Gibbs framework of reflection. The essay is based on the case study of a 25-year old African-Caribbean man who had been diagnosed episode of sickle cell pain. The patient has been admitted in the Lister Hospital six times on the same issue. Though the previous pains were on the abdominal and legs, this time round he came up with chest pain also. Skills, knowledge and attributes linked to leadership are also discussed and change management leadership concept applied. The paper has analyzed my accountability and delegation, ending up with conclusion summarizing the whole paper concept. The reflective model that I have decided to apply is Gibbs model of reflection. This framework is grounded on Gibbs Reflective Cycle developed in 1988 (Gibbs, 1998). The framework is related to Kolbs Learning Cycle, but it covers the principles at large. Every step of the cycle starts with describing the event, then reviewing; reflecting on the experience then ends up with the formulation of a plan to deal with the same experience in the future. This cycle constitutes six steps of which the practitioner is expected to provide answers to various questions each leading to the next step, stressing an adequate event analysis provoking decisive thought. Fresh meanings are developed making the learner come up with an affirmative plan of action (Gibbs, 1988). The six steps involved include: description- what occurred? , feelings-what were you experiencing? ,

Theobromine Essay Example for Free

Theobromine Essay Theobromine is very similar to caffeine but has two less hydrogen atoms. Theobromine is the substance in chocolate that can be toxic to animals. It also has a bitter taste, and is found in higher quantities in dark chocolate than milk chocolate. Theobromine increases excretion of water from bodies, relaxes, and stimulates. There is no evidence of the relationship between the structure and functions. Theobromine is an alkaloid belonging to the methylxanthine group. It is made up of seven carbon atoms, eight hydrogen atoms, four nitrogen atoms, and two oxygen atoms. Theobromine is very similar to caffeine but is ten times weaker. Caffeine has two more hydrogen atoms than theobromine. The structure of theobromine also contains two amide groups and three amine groups. Theobromine naturally occurs in cacao beans and is found in all chocolate products. It is what is toxic in chocolate to animals. Cardiac and central nervous system distress in dogs can be caused by 100-200 mg of theobromine per kg of the weight of the dog. It is toxic because animals metabolize theobromine much slower than humans. Theobromine has a bitter flavor, therefore found in higher quantities in dark chocolate than milk chocolate. Theobromine also increases the excretion of water from bodies, relaxes, and stimulates. It can also be used to dilate blood vessels to lower blood pressure. There is no easily accessed evidence of the relationship between the structure and functionality of theobromine.

Leadership At Berkshire Hathaway And General Electric Commerce Essay

Leadership At Berkshire Hathaway And General Electric Commerce Essay Since, the researchers interest was the effects of diversification on two American Conglomerates (Berkshire Hathaway and General Electric). First, its important to look at why the researcher has chosen these two companies. Both companies have a wide range and diversity of product portfolios which are of particular interest. Following earlier research (Natter, Mild, Feurstein, Dorffner, Taudes, 2001; Krishnan Ulrich, 2001) the paper intends to narrow down area of focus to Berkshire Hathaway Inc and general Electric. Both companies are going against the trend of diversification, starting from the last decade the trend has been becoming less popular, but both corporations are still diversifying their business lines. Berkshire Hathaway currently has 80 businesses and one of the reasons for the companys success might be strong management, the CEO, Warren Buffett is a core resource for Berkshire Hathaway, he is known for buying excellent businesses at a price that make business sense. On the other hand, with so many businesses, diversification strategies might help companies in spreading market risks: adding products to the exiting lines of business can be viewed as analogous to an investor who invests in multiple stocks to spread the risks. Diversification into other lines of business can especially make sense when the core product market is uncertain, which is the case for Berkshire Hathaway and General Electric. 4.2. 2 Reasons for their success (Berkshire Hathaway and General Electric) In order to achieve higher performance, GE generates great results from the people and process. This combination unlocks GEs business breadth, revealing new paths to growth. The company has 2 councils that are responsible for achieving such high performance: The Commercial Council that drives the Companys growth initiative: Growth as a Process. This initiative has yielded record-setting organic revenue growth for the last three years (Annual report, 2008). They also have Leadership, Innovation and Growth team training program, all are meant to achieve the long-term profitability and success of the Conglomerate and to develop communications expertise to create new ideas and foster existing ones. Also there is the Operating Council which was formed in 2007, which consisted of leaders from engineering, supply chain, sourcing, finance, and product management. The goal of the council was clear: create a $1 billion funnel of ideas, and improve the Companys operating profit margin rate by 100 basis points to a world-class level of 18% (Annual report, 2008). Also, The Council is focused on lowering product costs, reducing overhead, countering inflation, turning inventory, and improving price. It is a forum to share best practices on topics such as productivity, simplification, sourcing, restructuring, quality, and new products -all critical disciplines in an increasingly competitive and global environment. The Council uses a common scorecard to measure progress across the company and spreads its success to all businesses. In addition, General Electric has been a leading source of corporate strategy concepts and innovations for more than half a century. The firm has been among the top five members of fortune magazines Americas Most Admired corporations since the listing began. Considering the research question in this project which is the reasons for the success of two American conglomerates through diversification strategy and their achievements, the researcher refers diversification as a growth strategy and both 9Berkshire Hathaway and General electric) are known for their wide range of businesses and their growth through acquisitions. Makron Associated identified several conglomerates with exceptional performance in terms of ten-year shareholder returns. Berkshire Hathaway and General electric were part of these identified firms. The common characteristics of these companies were: strict financial discipline, rigorous analysis and valuation, a refusal to overpay for acquisitions and a willingness to close or sell existing businesses (Kaye and Yuwono, 2003) However, the case against conglomerates can be overstated and there are certainly potential advantages to unrelated diversification in some conditions: Exploiting dominant logics, rather than concrete operational relationships, can be a source of conglomerate value creation. As at Berkshire Hathaway, a skilled investor such as Warren Buffett, the so-called Oracle of Omaha and one of the richest men in the world, may be able to add value to diverse businesses within his dominant logic (Prahalad and Betis, 1986, 1995). Berkshire Hathaway includes businesses in different areas of manufacturing, insurance, distribution and retailing, but Buffet focuses on mature businesses that he can understand and whose managers he can trust. During the e-business boom of the late 1990s, Buffet deliberately avoided buying high-technology businesses because he knew they were outside his dominant logic. Countries with underdeveloped markets can be fertile ground for conglomerates. Where external capital and labor markets do not yet work well, conglomerates offer a substitute mechanism for allocating and developing capital or managerial talent within their own organizational boundaries. For example, Korean conglomerates (the chaebol) were successful in the rapid growth phase of the Korean economy partly because they were able to mobilize investment and develop managers in a way that standalone companies in South Korea traditionally were unable to. Also, the strong cultural cohesion amongst managers in these chaebol reduced the coordination and monitoring costs that would be necessary in a Western conglomerate, where managers would be trusted less (Markides, 2002). The same may be true today in other fast-growing economies that still have underdeveloped capital and labor markets. General electric has operations in many underdeveloped countries, For example, in 2008; GE completed the Hamma Seawater Desalination Plant, the largest desalination plant in northern Africa, which provides 2 million Algerian residents with a reliable source of fresh drinking water every day. Through innovatory thinking and cutting-edge technologies from GEs Oil Gas and Power Water businesses, GE is able to solve some of the problems that Algeria faces under todays harsh climate, while helping to position them for a brighter tomorrow. Also, graduate students in US compete to get entry-level positions with diversified corporation such General electric and Berkshire Hathaway and this provides them opportunities like the hiring of high calibre of employees. Other General Electric Success reason is the corporations strong core values: which are the underlying principles that guide an organizations strategy. Collins and Porras (2002) have argued that the long- run success of many US corporates-such as General Electric and Disney can be attributed (at least in part) to strong core values. The company workers consider their culture as part of innovation, a culture that was built over decades by their leaders and which is still the unifying force for the many GE business units around the world. While, communicating the strategy is an important within a company: Both corporation communications should be focused on the key components of the strategy, avoiding unnecessary detail or complex language. For example, CEO jack Welchs famous statement that General electric should either be number one or number two in all its markets. This strategy clearly shows that General Electric is a company that always strives hard to be a dominant player wherever the company competed. On the other hand, some of the most important sources of value creation within diversified firms are the ability to apply common general management capabilities, strategic management systems, and resource allocations processes to different businesses. Such economies depend on the existence of strategic rather than Operational commonalities among the different businesses within the diversified corporation (Robins and wiersema, 2002). Berkshire Hathaway is involved in insurance, candy stores, furniture, kitchen knives, jewellery, and footwear. Despite this diversity, all these businesses have been selected on the basis of their ability to benefit from the unique style of management established by warren buffet and CEO Charles Munger. The essence of such strategic-level linkage is the ability to apply similar strategies, resource allocation procedures and control systems across the different businesses within the corporate portfolio (Grant, 1988). While, GE participates in a wide variety of markets including the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity (e.g. nuclear, gas and solar), lighting, industrial automation, medical imaging equipment, motors, railway locomotives, aircraft jet engines, and aviation services. It co-owns NBC Universal with Vivendi (Annual Report, 2008). With all these many business divisions General electric remains still successful. 4.2.3 How the shareholders value is enhanced as the firms product diversifies. With so many ups and downs of corporate diversification, financial researchers have been worried with its benefits and costs. Majority of the benefits of corporate diversification come all along with the advantages of internal capital markets over external financing. By avoiding transaction cost and additional cost of informational asymmetries diversified firms with a bigger internal capital market allow for a more efficient capital allocation (Chandler 1977, Stein 1997). Also there are other benefits such as risk reduction on corporate level for diversified firms: lower cash flow volatility may increase the debt capacity of the company and thereby the tax shield of debt without facing prohibitive cost of financial distress (Lewellen 1971). Additionally lower volatility helps to reduce underinvestment cost when external financing is not available or only at prohibitive cost (e.g. Stulz 1990). In addition, Berkshire Hathaway and general Electric are companies that create Value by acquiring companies at favorable prices, and they closely monitor their financial performance, and operate through an effective internal capital market. At general Electric, Jack Welch was an especially effective example of corporate initiatives as a means of driving organizational change. His initiatives were built around communicable and compelling slogans such as General Electric growth engine, boundarylessness; six-sigma quality and destroy -your business-dot-com. The research assumes that diversification is a means by which a firm expands from its core business into other product markets, and that is what the corporate management is actively engaged in, diversifying activities than ever before leading to a considerable amount of rise observed in diversified firms. As it was earlier stated, companies diversify for three main reasons, Growth, Risk reduction and Profitability in a simpler way. Normally, Growth and Risk reduction have been significant motives for diversification; they tend to be not consistent with the creation of shareholder value. Therefore, both general electric and Berkshire Hathaway had and still have the desire to grow. Berkshire has been acquiring and owning stakes in companies since early 70s. We clearly see from the companys timeline that the Berkshire continued growing through acquiring stakes in many companies. The latest acquisition was in February 2010 which was the Corporations purchase of the remaining shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation for $26 billion, the companys biggest purchase ever. While General Electric has acquired Vital signs Inc for $860 in 2008 (Chicago Tribune, 2008) and it also announce in 2009 that it will buy out Vivendis stake in NBC Universal and sell a controlling interest of the company to Comcast, with General Electric retaining a 49 interest in joint venture (Goldman and Pepitone, 2009). With the Acquisitions history, Both Corporations have been growing and expanding their business with the objective of Maximizing Shareholder wealth. Referring back to the next motive for diversification which is the desire to spread risks To isolate the effects of diversification on risk, consider the case of pure or conglomerate diversification, where separate businesses are brought under common ownership but the individual cash flows of the business remain unaffected. As long as the cash flow of the different businesses are imperfectly correlated, then the variance of the cash flow of the combined businesses is less than the average of that of the separate businesses, Hence Diversification reduces risk. Both of the companies have engaged in numerous activities for decade, they have expanded their businesses. Rumelt (1974) discovered that companies that diversified into businesses closely related to their core activities were significantly more profitable than those that pursued unrelated diversification. According to Peters and Waterman (1982) Virtually every academic study has concluded that unchanneled diversification is losing proposition. This observation provided the basis for one of peters and watermans golden rules of excellence -stick to the knitting: Our principle finding is clear and simple. Organizations that do branch out but stick very close to their knitting outperform the others. The most successful are those diversified around a single skill, the coating and Bonding technology at 3M for example. The second group in descending order, comprise those companies that branch out into related fields, the leap from electric power generation turbines to jet engines from General electric. Least successful, as a general rule, are those companies that diversify into wide variety of fields. Acquisitions especially among this group tend to be wither on the vine (Peters and waterman, 1982). Finally, the research paper postulates that shareholder value is increased when companies diversified in related businesses, since they share capabilities and core resources across the businesses. And the growth of such (GE and Berkshire Hathaway) conglomerates might improve the companys profitability, since new related businesses means spreading of risks and increasing of profitability across each business segments. 4.2.4 The costs and benefits associated with undertaking product diversification. In order to find out the costs and benefits of product diversification, the research paper looks at: the relative costs and benefits of corporate diversification are likely to depend on how the different business activities of a firm are related to one another. Where separate business activities use a common, indivisible input, a diversified firm can exploit economies of scope. However, One of the benefits of diversification focuses on the presence of economies of scope in common resources: Economies of scope exist whenever there are cost savings from using a resource in multiple activities carried out in combination rather than carrying out those activities independently (Baumol, panzer and willig, 1982). Also Economies of scope can arise in finance, by combing an industrial company with a financial services company; General electric lowers its cost of capital to both sides of the company. Also, Economies of scope arise not just from tangible input like a common R D department or a common distribution system but also from intangible assets like brand names and production know-how. For instance, general electric has the fourth most recognized brand in the world, worth almost $48 billion (Business week, 2009). While businesses within diversified firms can therefore be related in at least one of two ways: They could be related either because they share markets, distribution systems, product and process technologies, or manufacturing facilities (Ansoff 1965, Rumelt 1974, Teece 1980), or because they rely on common technologies, managerial capabilities and routines and repertoires (Prahalad/Bettis 1986, Kazanjian/Drazin 1987, Winter 1987, Grant 1988). The use of these assets may be transferable at negligible marginal costs. For instance, General electric shares of its activities like RD and Distribution channels across its wide range of businesses. Also, the companies engage in lots of transaction costs and its very complicated to manage such businesses but in the end they reap Benefits of high returns from their activities. 4.2.5 The incentives Top management expect as companies diversifies In Berkshire Hathaway, managers are paid modest salaries and also receive very significant cash bonuses if performance goals are achieved. Buffett tailors the compensation plan to each business, based on its economics and competitive positioning. Managers are compensated for elements of the business that are directly under their control (such as growth and profitability of insurance contracts). Major emphasis is placed on the capability to return free cash flow to headquarters. The company does not grant equity-based awards because their value cannot be as closely correlated to performance as can cash bonuses (meaning: In terms of value realized rather than expected value on the grant date). Still, cash bonuses can reach extreme levels-tens of millions for superior performance. So, Here the compensation have no relation with the size of the Company and thus it doesnt matter for Berkshire Hathaway whether they have many diversified business or not but the main focus is Achieving the targets and High performance is highly rewarded However, on the contrary, Buffett and his vice-President Munger receive humble compensation. Their salaries are set at $100,000. They receive no bonuses, options, or restricted grants. Instead, their economic incentive is driven by direct holdings of company stock which they purchased with their own money in the 1960s. As of year-end 2009, the values of those holdings were $40 billion of Buffett and $1.3 billion for Munger. Similarly, board members receive insignificant fees for their services and are encouraged to purchase substantial sums of company stock with their own money. To sum up, Berkshires top management performance has no direct influence to how diversify businesses may be, Instead each manager is rewarded for the excellent achievement of his area of control. On the other hand, General electrics CEO, Mr. Immelt earns higher salary than Warren Buffet. Immelts Base salary is $3,300,000 plus Bonuses. While the managers are rewarded on the basis of a guiding principle of compensation program which ensures that the management has in place the right metrics and incentives, applied over the appropriate performance periods. The company rewards consistent performance and discourage short-term-oriented behaviour that may yield a single period of good results without regard for proper risk management or the long-term health of the business. The committee uses a mix of compensation that balances rewards for current and long-term performance. Performance metrics include growth in earnings per share, revenue, and cash flow. Managers believe this is the best way to stimulate innovation and ensure solid execution, while guaranteeing that risks are recognized and managed appropriately over the long term. Although they have fine-tuned compensation programs as conditions change, the management believe it is important to maintain consistency in the compensation philosophy and approach. There is also a recognition that value-creating performance by an executive or group of executives does not always translate immediately into appreciation in GEs stock price, particularly in periods of severe economic stress. Nonetheless, General Electric continues to reward such performances based on the firms belief that, over time, true value creation does translate into stock price appreciation. 4.2.4 Risks associated with the strategy of diversification Buffett is also primarily responsible for enterprise risk management. Risk oversight is not delegated to a committee or risk management function. According to Buffett, I regard myself as the chief risk officer at Berkshire. ( Berkshire Hathaway, Annual meeting 20080 The companys primary tool to mitigate enterprise risk is the delegation of responsibility to managers with proven skill and integrity. Munger explains : A lot of people think if you just had more process and more compliance, you could create a better result in the world. Well, Berkshire has had practically no process. We had hardly any internal audit until they forced it on us. We just try to operate in a seamless web of deserved trust and be careful whom we trust. (Wesco Financial, annual meeting 2007). Due to the global economic crisis was the failure of many executives and businesses the ability to understand and adequately manage and price risk. At GE, the corporation has strategies and management processes that effectively manage risk and maximize opportunities across its many businesses. Its process includes long-term strategic planning, executive development and evaluation, regulatory and litigation compliance reviews, environmental compliance reviews, GE Capitals corporate risk function and GEs senior level Corporate Risk Committee. And as a result of the current financial crisis; GE expects that managing risk will be even more important to competitive advantage and long-term success. The corporations executive compensation program is designed to reward those executives who demonstrate an ability to assess and manage risk effectively. At the same time as over the past year, General electric leaders have demonstrated the ability to identify risks and adapt strategies in order to protect the Company. GE acted quickly to improve liquidity, raise capital, and transform the financial businesses. The company has also exited businesses with unacceptable rates of risk-adjusted return. Similarly, Berkshire Hathaway believe that it is important to continue to reward those who demonstrate this disciplined ability to protect the firm;s businesses, but its only appropriate that certain components of compensation will decline during periods of economic stress and reduced earnings. Both General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway, have techniques to spread risks and overcome challenges and thus their activities of diversified businesses. As it was explained earlier, Berkshires CEO considers himself as a chief risk officer and while the managers of both corporations have responsibilities in reducing the risks involved in the activities under their control. In addition, both General electric and Berkshire Hathaway fits in the Prospector strategy of Miles and Snow. Since both firms have highly diversified businesses. This is the most aggressive of all the four strategies. It typically involves active programs to expand into new markets and stimulate new opportunities. Innovative product development is vigorously pursued and attacks on competitors are a common way of obtaining additional market share. The both corporations have a way to respond quickly to any signs of market opportunity, and they do so with little research. A large proportion of their revenue comes from new products or new markets. They are often highly leveraged sometimes with a substantial equity position held by venture capitalists. The risk of product failure or market rejection is high with the prospector strategy. Their market domain is constantly in flux as new opportunities arise and past product offerings atrophy. They value being the first in an industry, thinking that their first mover advantage will provide them with premium pricing opportunities and high margins. Price skimming is a common way of recapturing the cost of development. General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway are known for being opportunistic in headhunting key employees, both technical and managerial. Thus this explains why both firms spend so much on advertising, sales promotion, and their personal selling costs are a high percentage of sales. Typically firms who fit in the prospector strategy are structured with each strategic business unit having considerable autonomy. With Berkshire Hathaway trusting responsibility of business performance entirely in the hands of local managers and General Electric decentralising decisions within each business units, Risks might be reduced. And Firms in these industries tend to be in the introduction or growth stage of their life cycle with few competitors and evolving technology which also provides opportunities such as less competition to both companies Products. Example of GE acquired firms includes Vivendi in 2009,(which is a French international media conglomerate with activities ranging from filming, publishing, telecommunication, music, television and it also have Internet, and video games. The acquired firm had financial troubles due to over-expansion in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. In addition, General electric acquire Vital Signs Inc. for US$860 million in 2008 (Appendix 6.2, GE timeline). The acquired firm makes disposable medical products used to help patients during surgery to breath. Berkshire acquired several companies the last 2-3 years, for instance: the company purchased 80 percent stake in Iscar Metalworking for $4 billion in 2006, which was the firms first purchase of a foreign subsidiary. Johns Manville Corp, a business unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired Corbond Corp, a manufacturer of polyurethane spray foam insulation products in august 2009.

Pediatric and Adult Migraines Essay -- Health Head Aches Essays

Pediatric and Adult Migraines Many people are surprised to find that children get migraines. It is one of those illnesses that are associated with adults only. A migraine is an intense, pounding headache with nausea that occurs infrequently. The headache starts around the eyes, the forehead, or the sides of the head. Bright lights and loud noises also make the headache worse, and any movements make this headache worse. Migraines last from a few hours to a few days in serious cases (1). Over 8 million children get migraines a year, which results in over 1 million lost schooldays cumulatively. 20% of adolescents in high school suffer from migraines as well. Pediatric migraines commonly stop when a child becomes an adult. Migraines occurring prior to puberty are about evenly split between boys and girls, and after puberty many more girls than boys experience them. Older children experience migraine pain typically on only one side of the head. Younger children, however, experience pain on both sides of the head. Some people also see a "warning aura," which is a pattern of lines or shadows in front of their eyes as the headache starts (2). Types of migraines are therefore classified as either common (no aura warning) or classic (with aura warning). Aura symptoms usually occur 30 to 60 minutes before the acute headache and generally are resolved by that time (3). Why are pediatric and adult migraines different? There are many different stimulants that trigger a migraine headache. Certain foods, like cheese, processed meats, chocolate, caffeine, MSG, nuts, or pickles are common triggers. Stress and too much exercise can also trigger an attack (1). Most children with migraines have a family history of ... ...ds.com/Health/Advice/migrainetreatme_zyg_gn.html 5) Aromaa, M. et al. "Pain Experience of Children With Headache and their Families: A Controlled Study." Pediatrics 106 (2000): 270-275 . 6) Hermann, C. and Blanchard, E.B. "Psychophysiological Reactivity in Pediatric Migraine Patients and Healthy Controls." Journal of Psychosomatic Research44:2 (1998): 229-240. 7)Sartory, G. et al. "A comparison of psychological and pharmacological treatment of pediatric migraine." Behaviour Research and Therapy 36 (1998): 1155-1170. 8) Pivate Pharmacological Information site, greeat online pharmacist answers to questions about metoprolol medication. http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/metopro.htm 9) Gerber, Wolf-Dieter et al. "Slow cortical potentials in migraine families are associated with psychosocial factors." Journal of Psychosomatic Research 52 (2002): 215-222.

Good Writing :: essays papers

Good Writing What is good writing and who writes well? In my college essay writing class we have looked at three famous writers from different ages who are considered to be good writers—Seneca the Younger (3-65 A.D.), Plutarch (46-120 A.D.), and Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592 A.D.). Although they are from different times and places, these writers mastered the art of good writing. Albeit they wrote about different things, there are three aspects of their writings that they all have in common--they write about a topic that will catch the interest of the reader, they write clearly, and they are concise. Writing about something that interests your reader is a very important attribute for a writer. In Seneca’s On Noise he wrote about something that everyone can relate to, that is noise. Everyone has dealt with noise that has distracted and annoyed them, so by writing about it Seneca piques the interest of the reader because they want to see how he deals with and what he has to say about the problem. Plutarch’s Consolation to His Wife is of interest to readers because of the intimacy involved between a husband and wife even when dealing with the subject of the death of a child. There is something voyeuristic by nature in human beings, so this story captures one’s interest. Montaigne’s Of a Monstrous Child interests the reader because of the bizarre deformity of the child. Like the interest in what everyone has in common and voyeurism, people are also curious and interested in oddities. To be a well-written piece, a writing must also be clearly and understandably written. Seneca, Plutarch, and Montaigne all write with very good grammar, using common words and thoughts to express themselves. In their works these three writers are able to get their points across in a very easy to read fashion. Anyone who has had to try to stumble through a poorly written piece appreciates a work that is clearly written in an understandable manner. An other â€Å"must† for a writer to be considered a good writer is that his or her work be concise. Writings that seem to ramble on endlessly are a bore and torturous to read. Our three writers make good use of the virtue brevity. Seneca wrote what noise he encountered, how he dealt with it, how he thought it should be dealt with, what he was going to do about it, and then ended.

Wealth and Democracy :: essays research papers

Wealth and Democracy. By Kevin Phillips. (New York: Broadway Books, c. 2002. Pp. vii, 422. ISBN 0-7679-0533-4.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wealth and Democracy clearly illustrates and emphasizes the importance of Democracy being endangered. The author Kevin Phillips, America’s leading political analyst since 1968 and a graduate of Harvard Law School appears very informed and credible. Wealth and Democracy outlines and explains the politics of the second half of the 20th century. In this book Phillips primarily explores how the rich and politically powerful often work together to create and continue to take advantages at the expense of the national interest, the middle class, and the lower class. The book contains several interesting chapters on history and an analysis of present-day America that reveals the dangerous politics that go with the concentration of wealth. Finally, Phillips gives warnings of new radicalism and argues that the corruptions of wealth and power are destructing the United States. Wealth and Democracy examines the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to point out the symptoms that signaled their declines such as speculative finance, increasing international debt, record wealth, income and unsatisfying politics. Many of the signs that led to the decline of Britain were noticeable signs in America as it entered the twenty-first century. One might be surprised at the way Phillips emphasizes the despiteful practices of the rich considering his republican background. However, due to Phillips increased knowledge of the GOP (Grand Old Party; the first Republicans) He has concluded Republicans economic polices and biases of the 1990s and early 2000s betray the legacy of who He considers the two greatest Republican presidents, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wealth and Democracy performs a splendid job of convincing one that democracy is endangered and that the practices of the rich and those in power can be deceitful. For the most part the book is easy to follow, fairly organized and has an exceptionally good index. However Phillips could have done better when making references to his previous works because they are confusing and unclear. Wealth and Democracy :: essays research papers Wealth and Democracy. By Kevin Phillips. (New York: Broadway Books, c. 2002. Pp. vii, 422. ISBN 0-7679-0533-4.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wealth and Democracy clearly illustrates and emphasizes the importance of Democracy being endangered. The author Kevin Phillips, America’s leading political analyst since 1968 and a graduate of Harvard Law School appears very informed and credible. Wealth and Democracy outlines and explains the politics of the second half of the 20th century. In this book Phillips primarily explores how the rich and politically powerful often work together to create and continue to take advantages at the expense of the national interest, the middle class, and the lower class. The book contains several interesting chapters on history and an analysis of present-day America that reveals the dangerous politics that go with the concentration of wealth. Finally, Phillips gives warnings of new radicalism and argues that the corruptions of wealth and power are destructing the United States. Wealth and Democracy examines the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to point out the symptoms that signaled their declines such as speculative finance, increasing international debt, record wealth, income and unsatisfying politics. Many of the signs that led to the decline of Britain were noticeable signs in America as it entered the twenty-first century. One might be surprised at the way Phillips emphasizes the despiteful practices of the rich considering his republican background. However, due to Phillips increased knowledge of the GOP (Grand Old Party; the first Republicans) He has concluded Republicans economic polices and biases of the 1990s and early 2000s betray the legacy of who He considers the two greatest Republican presidents, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wealth and Democracy performs a splendid job of convincing one that democracy is endangered and that the practices of the rich and those in power can be deceitful. For the most part the book is easy to follow, fairly organized and has an exceptionally good index. However Phillips could have done better when making references to his previous works because they are confusing and unclear.

How Does William Shakespeare Utilise the Genre of Tragedy

How does William Shakespeare utilise the genre of tragedy in the play, Macbeth. The utilisation of the genre tragedy in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is apparent through the actions that lead up to the tragic death of the plays hero. Other elements needed to classify a play as a tragedy are abnormal conditions of the mind and both inner and outer conflicts. The play consists of prophecies given to Macbeth, leading to the murder of innocents King Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family.Insanity takes a hold on Macbeth and his wife, as she kills herself. Macduff, not being born of a woman, slays Macbeth and restores the throne of Scotland to Malcolm. Through the plot, and other aspects of this play, Macbeth contains the correct standards for it to be classed as a tragedy. Macbeth can be classified as a tragedy, as it contains the death of a hero. The hero is Macbeth, an honourable man, loyal to the crown, before being corrupted by his wife, Lady Macbeth and the prophecie s brought onto him by three witches. Gentlemen rise; his highness is not well† (III, IV, LII), is stating that Macbeth is becoming mentally distorted and is losing his heroic traits, until he is killed in a duel, which brings harmony back into Scotland. Through the life and death of Macbeth, the use of the genre tragedy is apparent in the play. The genre tragedy is also evident in Macbeth by the progressively deteriorating mental conditions of the characters after the murder of King Duncan.This is shown through abnormal conditions of the mind, in which Lady Macbeth sleepwalks during Act 5 Scene 1, mindlessly rubbing her hands together, portraying the action of hand washing. â€Å"What, will these hands ne’er be clean? † (V, I, XLII) is a line in Macbeth which signifies the never-ending guilt that Lady Macbeth felt, which she had hoped would have been inexistent after the physical blood of Duncan had been washed from her hands.In the closing stages of the play, â €Å"By self and violent hands took off her life† (V, VII, XCIX) states Lady Macbeth commits suicide as the guilt was too much for her to bear, which is why Lady Macbeths death assists the play in being classed as a tragedy. The inner and outward conflict that is apparent in Macbeth is another reason that this play can be classed as a tragedy. The outward conflict consists of the ongoing vow of revenge by Macduff towards Macbeth for killing his beloved family. â€Å"Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff;Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough. † (IV, I, LXXI) Stated by an apparition sent to Macbeth from the witches, this line in the play resulted in the assassination of Macduff’s family by Macbeth. Macduff escapes the same fate as he earlier fled to England in hope that he can join Malcolm’s mission to overthrow Macbeth. When told the shocking news about the death of his loved ones, Macduff claims â€Å"Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and mysel f; within my swords length set him; if he escapes, heaven forgive him too! † (IV, III, Line CCVVVIII).From the loss of his cherished family, Macduff becomes enraged, as his desire to slay Macbeth intensifies, in hope that vengeance will be served. The conflict between these two characters is a perfect example of Shakespeare’s utilisation of the tragedy genre. Inner conflict is evident in the play as Macbeth slowly loses his sanity, being faced with the consequences of his rash actions to assassinate Banquo. â€Å"Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none: So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo. † (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 67) In the first, Banquo is illustrated as being Macbeth’s close and loyal friend.Because of the prophecy that Banquo will also be the father of kings, Macbeth chooses to have him killed. The inner conflict is noticeable in the dining room, where Macbeth sees The Ghost of Banquo sitting in the seat designated for Macbeth. This supernatural element of the ghost coming back to haunt his murderer is the inner conflict Macbeth feels, in which he is made to come into the realisation and consequences of his actions. Through the remorse he carries with him till his death, the genre tragedy is enforced in the play Macbeth.In conclusion, William Shakespeare has utilised the genre tragedy in the play Macbeth in a number of ways. Some of these include the life and death of Macbeth, who was thought to have been a hero before corruption and abnormal conditions of the mind, like Lady Macbeth’s sleeping walking and suicide and Macbeth’s hallucinations of a Banquo coming back to haunt in. Inner and outer conflict are also present, in Macduffs longing for revenge on Macbeth for killing his family, and in the murder of Banquo, making Macbeth suffer for his immoral actions.

Philippines in Global Competitiveness Essay

As the Philippines currently indulge its current economic achievement, being included for the first time in the top 50% of world ranking, it makes me ask the question, why only now? What took us too long to be globally competitive? According to Guillermo Luz, the co-chair of the Philippine National Competitiveness Council (NCC), the Philippines registered improvements in 11 out of the 12 categories, from the aspect of government institutions, infrastructures, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training; goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation. It felt like a breath of fresh air! From all the news of bus hostage tragedy, unresolved issues in the RH Bill, China in Spratly’s and the recent impeachment of the Chief Justice Renato Corona, a new positive and uplifting headline was shown to our television screens and newspapers. It’s a great indication that despite of all the negative issues that we deal with everyday, there is still some delightful news that proves that our country is still determined to be placed on top along with our neighbor Asian countries like Singapore and Hongkong. The Philippines’ competitiveness is improving significantly in some aspects of our economy. We can say that businesses around the world are more confident now in investing in our country. Kudos to the people in the government who are truly exerting efforts to provide us with more tangible results rather than the blah blah promises we used to hear every day. But despite of this current triumph, I totally agree to what Ramon Del Rosario Jr., (Chair of the Makati Business Club) has said, that there is still a lot of work to be done to help ensure that the Philippines reach its new goal to be included in the upper third rankings in 2016. This recognition would show that though we are improving in some areas, there are still a lot of weaknesses that are waiting to be focus on. Examples of these are the infrastructures, floods during rainy season, rights to education for the less fortunate, health problems such as dengue and HIV, unemployment, graft and corruption and a lot more. So are we Really  improving? How can we brag that we had improved our economic competitiveness and yet feel that our countrymen are still deprived and poverty-stricken? As a business student, it felt good knowing that the performance of our economy is much better from the past two years. From a double digit improvement in ranking since then, it makes me think that if this trend goes positively, I will have a bright future in my chosen career. But in behalf of a lot of Filipinos currently living, striving and struggling to have a better life in this country, this improvement may not be as convincing as it ought to be. One basis for this would be that the lives of the Filipinos two years ago were not that different from what it is today, and such progress is rarely seen and felt. In addition to this, the only â€Å"development†(?!) that Filipinos had felt from the two years that has passed was the increase in prices of pandesal and jeepney fare. And yes, I’m sorry, that is sarcasm. I also agree to Mr. Ernie Cecilia, that quality human resources can drive global competitiveness. We have different views from the quality human resources who are leaving our country, brain drain anyone? That we didn’t realize that, our own people, is the MAJOR factor that can help our country to do better. Knowledgeable and competent Filipinos are leaving the Philippines to work abroad in search of greener pastures. But no one can blame them! Their stumpy salaries are not sufficient to provide for the ever growing desire to improve the quality of life of their families. They leave the Philippines because of poverty, and the Philippines remain in poverty because they all left. It’s a vicious circle that will never end, like a dog chasing its own tail. It won’t conclude until it straightens up its act and chose the right way. Mr. Cecilia’s approach is really informative and I got to learn a lot of things. But I just to want to express my disagreement on his snarky remark that while Singapore sells anything and everything and Japan and Korea sells high value items, we sell bananas. It astounds me for a second†¦ then asks, what’s wrong with that?! Is there something wrong in selling bananas? Or exporting mangoes, durian, coconuts, woodcrafts and furniture’s? It may amaze him if he knew that even dried fish have a great demand in the international market. These are our countries major exports and while other countries can sell a lot of things, we have our own uniqueness and advantages in exporting our own products too. It may not be as big as petroleum, diamonds, and heavy machineries but a little bit of something is much favorable than nothing at all. In conclusion, and to relate this topic to the lessons that I have learned in the four corners of my classroom in Management 8, I have realize that the Philippines is just like large conglomerate. Like a multinational corporation, it needs the proper structure, competent people and clever strategies to achieve its mission, vision, objectives and goals. It needs to line its strategies according to the changing demands and other factors to attain satisfaction and improvement. Our country, like a corporation needs to analyze its strengths and use them to compete in this fast changing world. Identify its weaknesses and address it, turn threats to opportunities, and maximize the opportunities for greater prospects, not only to improve its current status but also to uplift the life of its people. We may be far from being number one; we may not know where we’ll be next. But with every little step forward goes a long way. It may take us too long, but with determination, proper administration and guide from Above, I know we will get there.

Gods

Plautus, A Haunted House In the play, â€Å"Plautus, A Haunted House† starts off with a young man, Philolaches, whose his father has been away from town, has been partying and has been wasting his family fortune on his mistress. While the son is in no condition to talk to his father due to being intoxicated, his slave, Tranio comes up with a scheme to deceive the old man from catching his son from partying. Tranio, redefined his role as a trickster in the play and along with all his charisma made this into a countless comedy play.In the final scene of The Haunted House, Plautus demonstrate the identity is destiny by representing the character types and personality and having them maintain their identity while everyone else goes back to status quos. Plautus, start of the play by introducing the characters types and their personality to the audience. He demonstrates how identity is destiny and how it relates to the characters in the play. To define identity is destiny it means t hat each character is given a role, and at the end of the play, the character keeps their identity and remains the same.What this mean is Philolaches plays the irresponsible guy and Tranio plays the smart clever slave. Even though this was their identity in the beginning, at the end of the play their identity didn’t change at all. In the scene where Philolaches had his friend Callidamates come up to his father so that he doesn’t have to face him and beg for his forgiveness. Callidamates said, â€Å" You know well that I'm the very closest friend your son has got. Since he's too ashamed to set a single foot in sight of you, knowing that you know all that's been done, he came and asked my help.Now I beg of you, forgive his youth and folly-he's your son. † This scene shows that even though Philolaches is a spoiled wealthy kid, it shows that his identity will remain the same. He’s always going to be the irresponsible young man who asked Tranio and CALLIDAMATE S to talked to his father because he was scared to get punished by his father. At the end of the scene, Plautus had the characters returned to their status quo. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are.After all the tragedy that happened, at the end of the scene everyone went back to normal. In the beginning of the scene it talks about the identity of the characters and that no matter what the situation was, the character would still maintain their own identity. The phase Identity is destiny and status quos demonstrate that no matter what the character did in the play, their personality and their role will remain the same. Plautus did a great job of defining the characters traits and imputed comedian material to his play.

The Federal Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage is a hotly debated topic and a main point that invariably separates the beliefs of the Democratic Party platform from the Republican Party platform. Today's federal minimum wage is $7.25 (Jamieson, 2018). The federal minimum wage is determined by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), and has not been adjusted from a $7.25 hourly wage since July of 2009. Because of the lack of advancement, many states have developed their own methods for determining minimum wage, but federally, any addition or subtraction must first pass directly through the FLSA (United States Department of Labor, 2018). States determine their minimum wage by analyzing their costs of living which differs depending on location, and analyzing their GDP (gross domestic product) per capita (Stoll, 2014). For example, the minimum wage in Montana as of January 1, 2018 is $8.30 per hour whereas in Massachusetts, where the cost of living is greatly increased, the hourly minimum wage is $11.00. There are 29 states that have an increased minimum wage adjusted specifically to the state's cost of living. The wages in these states range from $7.50 to $12.50 per hour (United States Department of Labor, 2018). Even though many states already increase their minimum wage many people living in the United States claim that the federal minimum wage is entirely too low. The preponderance of evidence suggests that increasing the federal minimum wage would have little effect on poverty and would in time reduce job security and increase unemployment. Other factors that could potentially be affected by an increase in the federal minimum wage include consumer prices, suppressed wages for higher skilled workers, and an increase in outsourcing. Prior to the 2016 election the Democratic Party platform was updated and members decided to adopt a $15 per hour minimum wage. They claim that $15 an hour is the only way that American workers can survive and support their families. The push towards an increase in federal minimum wage began in New York City four years ago when a group of fast-food workers went on strike. The movement caught the attention of many popular political figures and eventually the members grouped together to form the #fightfor15 movement (Seitz-Wald, 2016). Experts that claim the federal minimum wage is not sufficient to support a family and live comfortably argue that an increase to the federal minimum wage would provide an â€Å"important lift† to over 2.2 million people in the United States (Lu, 2017). Usually these experts begin their arguments stating that the federal minimum wage real amounts have eroded nearly 25% since 1968 (Scott & Perez, 2017). The federal minimum wage amounts to only $15,080 annually for full time employment. $15,080 is such a low annual income, experts predict that it is one of the main reasons why living standards have declined nationwide. This number may also contribute to the decline in economic stability, and the shrinking middle class (Lu, 2017). On a national level, supporters of the minimum wage increase provide data that proves the federal minimum wage should be at least $12.00 per hour based on the United States' GDP. A poll taken by The Economist reports that over 1.3 million people work at minimum wage, and nearly 1.7 million work below it, thus meaning these employees are not paid hourly rather are tipped employees (Komlos, 2015). Many people would associate a push for minimum wage strictly with larger cities and areas where the cost of living is significantly above average, however even in Montana, a republican dominated state, many citizens still are pushing for a higher minimum wage. Swartz, a home care worker residing in Great Falls, Montana claims that the amount she makes working for three caregiving agencies is simply not enough to support herself comfortably. The three agencies all pay over both the federal minimum wage and Montana's state minimum wage but due to the inconsistency of job hours she claims that making ends meet every month can be a difficult task. Swartz claims that typically some parts of low-wage workers are â€Å"overlooked†. People who do not make low wages and are not forced to work 70+ hour work weeks do not understand the struggle. Swartz also states that â€Å"Home-care workers, who help people stay in their homes and live with dignity, deserve a $15-an-hour minimum wage.† Attached to Swartz's article is a report published by The Alliance for a Just Society, which claims that the living wage in Montana is $14.36 an hour for a single person with no dependents. Montana determines their state minimum wage using the Consumer Price Index, and updates it annually according to the index. Still however, 3,329 Montana employees earn minimum wage which makes up about 1.2% of the entire workforce. Over half of Montana's minimum wage workers are older than 25 and over 60% are women (Jay, 2016). Beginning January 1, 2018 Montana again raised its minimum wage standard to $8.30 per hour. Governor Steve Bullock addressed the issue in an email that read â€Å"People who work full time for a living shouldn't be living in poverty. This modest increase in minimum wage means more Montana workers will have a little extra money in their pockets,† The workers who Bullock may have been addressing include workers in the accommodations and food industry and also the retail trade industry who are recurrently the largest number of workers that receive minimum wage (Tribune Capital Bureau, 2017). On the contrary, many experts counterclaim that an increase in minimum wage is not the extreme â€Å"poverty tool† that the Democratic Party is hoping for. In fact, one of the biggest arguments against raising minimum wage is the idea of individual states already taking care of the low wage issue. As stated previously Montana, is one of 29 states that already adopted a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage, and many experts believe that if states were to adjust their incomes according to their cost of living, etc. that would be better fitting rather than adjusting the entire nation's minimum wage. Dr. Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan expert, claims that raising the federal minimum wage would actually have unintended consequences, in the sense of reducing hiring and potentially increasing unemployment. He states â€Å"It is unlikely that states with lower living costs would be able to support a $15 per hour minimum wage increase, while keeping hiring processes and current employment rates the same.† He proposes a gradual, stepwise increase to the minimum wage that would occur over time. A drastic increase to $15 per hour would be too abrupt and would have career-changing consequences. A study completed by Harvard's Economic Department points out that most minimum wage earners are second or third job holders in households with other income sources. This could include teenagers, summer employees, etc. Another group that comes to mind when thinking about minimum wage workers is retirees who already receive financial benefits from savings and social security. It is unlikely that an increase in minimum wage would truly benefit the nation, simply because some people working for minimum wage are not attempting to support dependents or themselves entirely. Usually, they are people who are looking for a little extra money rather than needing money to pay for utilities, a house, a car, etc. An even more concerning drawback of raising minimum wage is the elimination of jobs. If the United States government were to demand businesses to pay entry-level workers $15 an hour there would be a huge decrease in job security and job availability. Because, most businesses do not pay entry-level workers at this wage, if they were required to do so, they may attempt to find other means of labor including robots, computers, or other advanced technology. In fact, the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that former President Obama's proposed $10.10 minimum wage, once fully implemented and in use, â€Å"would reduce total employment by about 500,000 workers.† Below is a political cartoon that shows the adverse effects of raising the current minimum wage. Although, many low-wage workers support and advocate for the idea of earning a $15 per hour wage, its effects could actually be deteriorating. Statistics show that raising the federal minimum wage to $15.00 per hour the United States risks eliminating roughly 550,000 part-time jobs and even if the minimum wage was raised to only $9.50 per hour nearly 1.3 million jobs could be lost. Previously, the United States has raised the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25, and adversely only 15 percent of the workers who were expected to gain from it lived in poor households. If the minimum wage today were to be raised to $9.50 per hour, only 11 percent of current minimum wage workers living in poverty would gain from this increase. In 2012, a study completed by the Wilson Review claims that both state and federal minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 had no effect on state poverty rates. Thus, proving the idea that increasing minimum wage does not provide a tool for lowering poverty levels. David Neumark and William Wascher performed over 100 minimum wage studies and found that about two-thirds of the studies had negative effects on unemployment. Thus, meaning that with an increase in minimum wage business owners and corporations would be forced to decrease their labor force and potentially cut long-time in employees in order to compensate for the wage increase. Half of the country's workforce is employed by small businesses. Raising the federal minimum wage is often cast largely as a necessity to ensure that many workers are able to earn a decent living, but in reality it's a complex issue. An example of this complexity has occurred in Oakland California in March of 2015 after they increased their statewide minimum wage by 36%, from $9.00 to $12.25 per hour. The effects are varying but some restaurants have raised their food pricing by nearly 20%, or adding a mandatory service charge and doing away with voluntary tips. The issue, business owners recognize and are working hard to resolve is finding the balance between paying a decent wage and keeping customers rather than driving them away. Some people claim that aside from the direct cost of doing business from salaries, they are also paying more for goods and services in their own communities. They question whether or not a higher wage will raise the cost of living for all employees, including those who currently earn a high-wage. Critics who are against raising the minimum wage also claim that if every entry-level worker was paid $15 an hour to begin with, many would lose incentive to get an education and move up to a higher-paying jobs. Ira Stoll, a minimum wage evaluator, states that † The lower the minimum wage, the more eager a minimum wage worker would be to enroll in a community college course at night, improve his/her skills, and apply for a higher-paying job.† Stoll also states that, â€Å"Making the entry-level jobs higher paying increases the risk that workers will get stuck in them for longer instead of moving on to something more rewarding. â€Å"Another point that many supporters fail to bring about is the idea of freedom of contract. This freedom is not directly protected by the constitution, but it as seen as a â€Å"natural right† and should be exercised. President Kennedy once said â€Å"The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. † Thus, meaning that if two free people want to enter into a voluntary contract or agreement that does not infringe on anyone else's rights or wellbeing the government has no right to step in and stop the deal that is being made. Experts use the idea of freedom of contract to prove that the government should not be involved in every contract made between two people. If a man wants to work for another for $5 an hour, and the other man wants to hire him and pay him $5 an hour than the government should have no authority to infringe on this deal. Raising the federal minimum wage would also affect welfare spending and could potentially increase taxes. Raising the federal minimum wage puts money into the pockets of the working poor people, but this occurs at the expense of business owners. By raising the minimum wage, politicians are taking the roundabout approach of minimum wage increase, rather than building actual political support for these policies. A report published by the Cato Institute claims that evidence shows minimum wage increase â€Å"disproportionately hurt the people they're supposed to help.† In this article the Institute cites a 2012 analysis of the New York State minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $6.75 per hour that found a â€Å"20.2 to 21.8 percent reduction in the employment of younger, less-educated individuals. † They also note that since 1995, eight studies have examined the income and poverty effects of minimum wage increases, and all but one of those studies have found that past minimum wage hikes had no effect on poverty.One of the largest concerns expert's share about a federal minimum wage increase is the impact it would entail on consumer prices. Basically, to raise minimum wage means to pay more people more money which has to be supplied from somewhere. Experts against the increase claim that the extra money will come from increased consumer prices. The 2012 Wilson Review notes: â€Å"A 2004 review of more than 20 minimum wage studies looking at price effects found that a 10 percent increase in the U.S. minimum wage raises food prices by up to 4 percent.† To back up this idea a report posted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago states that restaurant prices increase in response to minimum wage increases. The federal minimum wage is at a lower real value than it once was, but in order to change it law makers are going to have to look deeper into the problem rather than attempting to change the outcome quickly by increasing the minimum wage in all states to $15.00 hourly. Our country is unique in the nature that each state is able to make and regulate their own minimum wage and this matter is better dealt with inside certain states than from the federal government as a whole. There is most definitely a need in the United States to implement a method to decrease the rising poverty level, but this method should not be an increase in federal minimum wage because this method is directly related to rising prices, higher unemployment, job loss, and lack of job security. Small businesses, as stated previously, make up approximately 50% of the nation's workforce and if the government were to demand these businesses to pay their starting employees $12 or more, the businesses would be forced to either higher less people, lay off long term workers, or even more devastating, shutdown. This method proves ineffective in decreasing the families living underneath the poverty line and instead harms those workers who are higher-skilled and higher-paid.