Tuesday, December 31, 2019

How to Deal with Bad Lab Partners

Have you ever taken a lab class and had lab partners that didnt do their share of the work, broke equipment, or wouldnt work together with you? This situation can be really hard, but there are steps you can take to make things better. Talk to Your Lab Partners This may be harder than it sounds if your problem is that you and your lab partners dont speak the same language (which is relatively common in science and engineering), but you can improve your working relationship with your lab partners if you can explain to them whats bothering you. Also, you need to explain what you would like them to do that you feel would make things better. Be prepared to compromise, since your lab partner may want you to make some changes, too. Keep in mind, you and your partner may come from very different cultures, even if youre from the same country. Avoid sarcasm or being too nice because theres a good chance you wont get your message across. If language is a problem, seek an interpreter or draw pictures, if necessary. If One or Both of You Dont Want to Be There The work still has to get done. If you know your partner wont do it, yet your grade or your career is on the line, you need to accept that youre going to do all of the work. Now, you can still make sure it is evident your partner was slacking. On the other hand, if you both resent doing the work, its reasonable to work out an arrangement. You might find you work better together once you acknowledge you hate the task. Willing but Unable If you have a lab partner who is willing to help, yet incompetent or klutzy, try to find harmless tasks that allow the partner to participate without damaging your data or your health. Ask for input, let the partner record data and try to avoid stepping on toes. If the clueless partner is a permanent fixture in your environment, its in your best interest to train them. Start with simple tasks, clearly explaining the steps, reasons for specific actions, and desired results. Be friendly and helpful, not condescending. If you are successful in your task, youll gain a valuable ally in the lab and possibly even a friend. Theres Bad Blood Between You Maybe you and your lab partner had an argument or theres past history. Perhaps you simply dont like each other. Unfortunately, its not always possible to escape from such a situation. You can ask your supervisor to reassign one or both of you, but youll run the risk of getting a reputation of being hard to work with. If you decide to ask for a change, its probably better to cite a different reason for the request. If you absolutely must work together, try setting boundaries that limit how much you actually have to interact. Make your expectations clear so both of you can do the work and retreat. Take It to the Next Level Its better to try to work out problems with your lab partners than to seek intervention from a teacher or supervisor. However, you might need help or advice from someone higher up. This might be the case when you realize you cant meet a deadline or complete an assignment without more time or changing the work dynamic. If you decide to talk to someone about your problems, present the situation calmly and without bias. You have a problem; you need help finding a solution. This may be difficult, but its a valuable skill to master. Practice Makes Perfect Having trouble with lab partners comes with the territory. The social skills you can master dealing with lab partners will help you, whether youre only taking one lab class or are making a career out of lab work. No matter what you do, youll have to learn to work well with others, including people who are incompetent, lazy or just dont want to work with you. If you are making a career in science, you need to recognize and accept youll be a member of a team.

Monday, December 23, 2019

Enron Was A Publicly Traded Energy Company - 2856 Words

Enron was a publicly traded energy company formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay when Internorth acquired Houston Natural Gas; the company, based in Houston Texas, Enron (originally entitled â€Å"EnterOn†, but was later subjected to abbreviation), worked specifically in power, natural gas, and paper and even ventured into various non-energy-based fields as they expanded, including: Internet bandwidth, risk management, and weather derivatives. Several years after the founding of the company, Enron hired a man by the name of Jeffrey Skilling, a former chemical and energy consultant, who, upon promotion, created a team of high-level administrative employees who, by using special purpose entities, lackluster reporting of finances, and unethical accounting practices, hid billions of dollars of debt from unsuccessful arrangements and ventures from stock holders and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Enron executives achieved this scheme by using a controversial accounting method entitled â€Å"mark-to-market accounting,† which in essence, assigns value to financial commodities based on their projected market values; mark-to-market accounting is the opposite of cost-based accounting which records the price of a commodity at the purchase price. As a result of this new method, Enron’s worth skyrocketed to over $70 billion at one time, only to collapse miserably several years later—ultimately costing thousands upon thousands of people their jobs, pensions, and retirements. Enron’s employeesShow MoreRelatedSarbanes Oxley Act Of 20021410 Words   |  6 Pagesresult of some major accounting frauds such as Enron and WorldCom. The main objective of this act is to recover the investors’ trust in the stock market, and to prevent and detect corporate accounting fraud. I will discuss the background of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and why it became necessary in the first section of this paper. 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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Competitive Analysis of Starbucks Free Essays

When would a firm choose to operate on a transnational basis? Under what circumstances would a firm use a localization strategy? When would an international strategy be employed? Support your answers with examples. Firms look to operate on a transnational basis primarily to penetrate into foreign markets and expand their business. After tasting success at home, several firms make investments to expand globally in order to attain market share and boost revenues. We will write a custom essay sample on Competitive Analysis of Starbucks or any similar topic only for you Order Now Transnational companies have coordinating and operation-controlling power in multiple countries, even if they do not own them. General Motors, Ford, and Wal-Mart are amongst the world’s largest transnational companies. Japan, North America, and Western Europe account for about three quarters of the world’s transnational companies. When operations go international, localization strategy takes center-stage for firms. Firms use a localization strategy when they counter differences in management styles and cultural practices. Localization strategy is used by firms to adapt and cater to the choices and expectations of foreign customers and quickly occupy new markets. McDonald for instance, which operates in 119 countries, is a good example of a company that maintains its global brand identity successfully by using a localization strategy to adapt to the tastes and temperaments of diverse cultures across the globe. In short, localization strategy helps a firm deliver a unique customer experience that exceeds geographical boundaries. An international strategy is employed by a firm to create value through core competency transfer to a foreign market in which native competitors are not equipped with those competencies. Typically, a firm comes up with an innovative product and introduces it into the foreign market. As the demand for the product increases, the firm begins to export the product. As foreign competitors start production, the firm starts production abroad. The firm then standardizes production and relocates it to countries with low cost production opportunities. Xerox and Proctor and Gamble are examples of companies that followed this model and implemented an international strategy. References: http://www. slideshare. net/clemaitre/tn-cs http://www. ibscdc. org/Case%20Studies/Abstracts/Strategy/Corporate%20Strategy/COS0043. htm http://classes. bus. oregonstate. edu/ba447/Gonzalez%20(Winter%2008)/BA%20447%20-%20day%201. ppt How do the 4 Ps of marketing differ in a global business environment? Give examples from your own organization or one you are familiar with. The 4 Ps of marketing, namely: product, price, placement, and promotion vary widely in a global business environment as firms attempt to get their marketing mix just right so that they sell the right products, at the right prices and places, using promotion methods that are most suitable. A global company like Coca-Cola for instance essentially creates a single product and tweaks it differently for different markets. The sugar and corn syrup formulas of Coca-Cola are packaged using the contour bottle design with the dynamic ribbon in different shapes and forms. Coca-Cola bottles in some countries come in standard beverage-bottle sizes of those countries, with wording in native language as well. The price of a Coca-Cola varies from market to market due to production costs, ingredient costs, delivery costs, expected profit margins, competition, and so on. Coca-Cola’s product placement varies from country to country based on how the company wants to offer competition in the targeted market. Vending machines are not common in all countries and in US for instance, Coca-Cola is sold by the pallet through warehouse stores; however, in countries like India, such an option does not apply. Coca-Cola has moved away from the idea of sending the same message across globally in the wake of its global promotion strategy failure. Coca-Cola uses customized promotional strategies and regional themes instead of universal ones in order to counter varied language and cultural barriers of the global market. References: http://www. thetimes100. co. uk/downloads/theory/marketing_mix_(price,_place,_promotion,_product). pdf http://www. stamfordonline. com. my/courses/dba/dba206/DBA%20206%20Week%2010%20 How to cite Competitive Analysis of Starbucks, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Physical Quality of Life Index †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Physical Quality of Life Index. Answer: Introduction: The term Quality of Life (QOL) sounds complex when asked to define. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the quality of life is defined as the condition of life that is arising out of the combination of several determining factors like determinants in health, happiness, education, social factors and intellectual attainments (Measuring Quality of Life 2017). Here happiness in life is dependent on free of expression, action, justice, comfort in the physical environment and job satisfaction. People at present are demanding a better quality of life wrapped with well-being. It should be noted that the increase in the financial set up and job satisfaction, cannot alone improve the quality of life. Therefore, the government organizations are working in favor of this via reducing the rates of mortality, chances of morbidity, increasing the standards of primary health care while promoting physical and mental well-being (Fayers and Machin 2013). The changes are being affected via refo rmulation of the social policy and societal goals. Physical quality of Life Index (PQLI) is an attempt to quantify the quality of life or well-being of a population of a country. The value of the PQLI is obtained via average of three statistical data which are the rate of literacy, the rate of infant mortality, the rate of lfe expectancy as per the age (Estes 2014). All these statistical factors are rated on the parameter of 0 to 100-scale. Morris David developed the concept in the year of 1970s for Overseas Development Council (Estes 2014).PQLI is the measure of the degree of refinement of the social, economic and political policies and does not reflect the measurement of the economic growth (Estes 2014). (Formula used for measuring PQLI: refer to appendix 1). Human Development Index (HDI) was designed to strengthen the concept of people and their criteria are ultimate for assessing the development of country. Here the development of a country centers not only around the economic growth but refers to the overall development of the people or average achievement in the key areas of human development (Hdr.undp.org 2017). Here achievements in human development include basic human capabilities like being knowledgeable, leading a long life and enjoying a decent standard of living. The value of HDI ranges in between 0 to 1. The indicators, which were used before 2009 to measure, HDI was adult literacy rate, gross enrolment ratio and gross national income (GNI). However, an amendment was made in the year of 2010 and was further updated in 2011 (please refer to appendix 2). The three dimension of HDI as proposed in 2010 are: life expectancy/birth, education index, GNI per capita (Ravallion 2012). Other measures, which are used to ascertain the QOL, are generic questioners. The first is the Health Day Measures used by CDC (Center of Disease Control; https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/hrqol14_measure.htm) and Short-From Health Survey (used to access physical and mental health and is suitable for pharmacogeneic analysis) (Felice and Vasta 2014). Other two questioners are EQ-5D (https://euroqol.org) and AQoL-8D (https://www.aqol.com.au). References Estes, R.J., 2014. Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI).Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, pp.4804-4805. Fayers, P.M. and Machin, D., 2013.Quality of life: the assessment, analysis and interpretation of patient-reported outcomes. John Wiley Sons. Felice, E. and Vasta, M., 2014. Passive modernization? The new human development index and its components in Italy's regions (18712007).European Review of Economic History,19(1), pp.44-66. Hdr.undp.org. (2017).Human Development Index (HDI) | Human Development Reports. [online] Available at: https://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi [Accessed 21 Oct. 2017]. Measuring Quality of Life. (2017). [ebook] World Health Organisation. Available at: https://www.who.int/mental_health/media/68.pdf [Accessed 21 Oct. 2017]. Ravallion, M., 2012. Troubling tradeoffs in the human development index.Journal of Development Economics,99(2), pp.201-209.