First Day at an Electrical Job Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

First Day at an Electrical Job - Essay Example    On June 15, 2011, joy would be seen all over my face from the fact that I had secured a job at an Oryx gas-to-liquid company that is classified as a Natural gas producing company. The position that was designated to me was electrical maintenance personnel. My arrival at the Oryx Company was marked with great apprehension because I did not know what to expect in the electrical department of a gas producing company. Numerous pipes could be seen running from one place to another in the company’s compound. Additionally, thick electrical cables were visible that were providing the machines with electrical powers. Natural gas dish machines contributed to most of the electrical machines, which I was designated to maintain by the human resource manager of the company. The morning production section alter I arrived at the company was running smoothly and my job was only to go through manuals that contained the maintenance procedure of the natural gas dish machines. ... exactly twelve o’clock, my supervisor and other electrical personnel took my presence very helping and decided to leave the observation of the electrical wiring as well as the natural gas dish machines. I observed the machines for two hours after which I sensed an electrical burn smell in one of the main supply electrical cable. The smell attracted the attention of other personnel in various departments in the company, which lead to numerous phone calls on the department that I was titled to, which was the department of electrical maintenance. With minimal time to waste, I picked the tools in the office and rushed to a spotted faulty cable. I was surprised to find that one of the motors coolant fans had slipped out of the confined metallic cages and cut the main supply electrical cable into two. The supply cable in that was cut fell on the surface of one of the motors. Most motor surfaces carry a current and once the cable had fallen on one of the surfaces, an electrical short followed intriguing a fire. Fortunately, the company had effective self-fire distinguishers; hence, the fire was put off immediately. Nevertheless, the avoided fire incident did not solve the main problem that had been caused by the faulty coolant fun, which was power cut-out to three natural gas dish machines. Additionally, there was no experienced electrical personnel at the moment that necessitated me to act quickly to fix the electrical supply cable. The process of fixing the cable involved creating a joint at the point that the fun had cut. The other main step was to ensure that the faulty fan was replaced to avoid such a risky incidence. However, most of the risk I got exposed to was fixing the damaged electrical supply cable.  Ã‚  

The function of catecholase Essay Example for Free

The function of catecholase Essay 5 mL of enzyme, and all of the trials were set up as two tubes to begin with. One tube had 3. 5 mL of water and 2. 0 mL of catechol, and the other had . 5 mL of enzyme. By keeping the enzyme and substrate separate, we were able to have more control over the starting point of the reaction, and were able to bring each individual component to the desired temperature before starting. The temperatures that our group tested were 37oC, 45oC, 50oC, 55oC, 65oC, and 75oC. Both our group and group A-4 tested 37 and 45 degrees. This allowed us to compare each groups results more accurately. The setup for the actual experiment was that each temperature had its own test tube rack. Four tubes of water and catechol and four tubes of enzyme were put into each rack, and these racks were then submerged into either a hot water bath or a circulating water bath, depending on which temperature was being tested. The tubes were allowed to sit in the water for approximately five minutes to allow the contents of the tubes to come up to the temperature we were trying to test. Then the tube of enzyme was poured into the tube of catechol, the tube was covered and inverted to mix the contents, and the timer was started. We allowed the reaction to run from three to five minutes, keeping track of exactly how long each set went for. Our method for ensuring that the reactions ran for the exact length of time stated was to start each reaction thirty seconds later than the first, and then take the measurements from the spectrophotometer exactly thirty seconds apart, keeping the tubes in the same order. Before measuring each tube, we again inverted it several times to make sure that the product was uniformly distributed throughout the tube. Results Results for Group A-5 Temperature (degrees Celsius) Trial 1. Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Mean Standard Deviation 3 (Table 2) (Graph 1 (Graph 2)According to our results, the optimal temperature for the reaction of catecholase is 45oC. We were able to determine this because the average reaction rate was highest at this temperature (see table 1). We were correct in assuming that the reaction would gradually speed up as the temperature increased until it reached a point where the enzyme began to denature, and then the reaction rate would slow after that. This gradual increase, peak, and then decrease can be seen in the graph 1 above. The bars above and below each data point are representations of the standard deviation associated with each value. This shows how much variation we had within each set of trials. When we compared our results to group A-4, it was clear that they too found the peak reaction rate to be at the 45-degree temperature. This served to further verify our results. It is interesting to note that in the graph of both of our data, although the actual values are not the same, the overall conclusions are. Discussion After analysis of the data, it is clear that our hypothesis was correct, because the found peak does fall within the range of 23 and 75. We can be fairly certain that our data are correct because we were able to control the fixed variables, such as the amounts of each component of the reaction, very well by having the same person measure out the same thing for each trial. We were fairly accurate at controlling the temperature because the baths were monitored at a steady temperature for the time the reaction was taking place, although it would have probably been to our benefit to actually take the temperature of the liquids inside the test tubes instead of only monitoring the environment outside of the tubes. Also, we could have increased accuracy by having the spectrophotometer nearer to the baths, because there was some heat lost during transport, which could have affected the tubes that were measured later. There was also some confusion at the beginning of the experiment about exactly what technique was to be used, which resulted in our having to repeat the trials for the 65-degree temperature. We assume that similar problems are to blame for the differences in the reaction rates for 37o and 45o between our group and group A-4. We also discovered after the experiment had been completed that the other group had left the catechol out in a separate tube during heating, while we left the enzyme out. This difference in method may have contributed to the differences. To make sure that these problems did not result in faulty conclusions, I looked up another experiment on the effects of temperature done by Pierre Greenway. Greenways findings indicate that the peak temperature for enzyme function is actually at 40oC, and not 45. This is an interesting discovery, since we did not test thoroughly in the range of 37o-45o. The next course of experimentation suggested by these findings would be to thoroughly test the reaction rates at temperatures between 35 and 45 degrees Celsius. Measuring at one-degree intervals would give the best results, but may require another collaboration to be achieved in a reasonable amount of time. It may also be interesting to test the reaction rate at even higher temperatures, and try to find the point at which all of the enzyme is completely destroyed. According to the results of Greenway, this temperature was around 60oC for him, but we tested beyond that in our own experiment and found the rate to still be decreasing. Any of these questions would be interesting to try to answer.   Show   The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Patterns of Behaviour section.

European Union’s Democratic Deficit: A Critical Assessment

European Union’s Democratic Deficit: A Critical Assessment Introduction The European Union is in a middle of a crisis. The worst part of its economic crisis has passed but it still faces even more severe issue: a trust crisis. People do not feel represented by the European Union and have turned their support towards populist and radical movements. What is the basis of this crisis? Some authors incline to say it is the EU’s democratic deficit. Thus, since there is a wide gap between what EU citizens want from their politicians and how the EU bureaucrats and institutions act. This leads to a situation where the public’s opinion and desires are not taking into account by the body that should represent them[1]. Yet, first we need to analyse in detail what a democratic deficit means to then address this problem. Democratic deficit is a tricky issue as it does not have a widely accepted definition between politics and law scholars. Depending on the author and its background, the term can be used with different connotations and meanings; hence, the results of the analysis tend to depend on the notion of democratic deficit the author uses[2]. Therefore, first, we shall develop our own democratic deficit conceptual approximation. Then, we will be able to lead a critical assessment on representation and participatory actual problems of the European Union. Afterwards, we will have all the tools necessary to address in detail if there is a true democratic deficit problem in the European Union and to propose some possible alternatives to solve it. The European Union and Democratic Deficit If a hyperbole is permitted, democratic deficit may have as many meanings as authors have discussed it. It is not an easy issue to address or to encompass in a single-simple definition. First of all, especially because, even though we can agree on some basis for democracy, in wide terms it is an ambiguous subject. So, what an author considers a democratic deficit will be highly influenced by what he considers to be a democracy. One of the first scholars to use this term was British David Marquand. He used it to define the democratic legitimacy faintness of –then- European Community. He suggested direct elections for representatives before the European Parliament. When this was adopted, the issue around European Community democratic legitimacy arose even further, as for the European Parliament represented the voice of the European Community citizens but the Community was not ready to give more powers to the Parliament, causing more tension. After the approval of the Maastricht treaty, the problem grew. Two pillars were added to the Union (common Foreign and Security Policy and Home Affairs), and in none of them the Parliament had any control[3]. Other authors propose the democratic deficit problem in the terms of a backwards Hume’s is/ought as they consider there is a discrepancy between is and ought/ should in the European Union[4] institutions and democracy as the transfer of substantial amounts of political decision-making towards the supranational level on non-elected institutions has diminished the democratic influence and the basic control the citizens have on their political institutions. It is obvious that at the first stages of the European Community it was reasonable and necessary to keep citizens away from decision-making as it was initially designed to be an economic community and not a political institution[5], but its goals mutated in time. The Community passed from a purely economic institution to a political one. As it was a community formed by democratic countries, one could expect that the supranational body they formed would also have democratic and participatory channels. Nonetheless, European Union turned into a bureaucratic and political giant that has slowly diminished the national entities and directly-elected supranational bodies -European Parliament- and passed it to its hands. Yet, other approaches[6] suggest that, even though the democratic deficit issue is real, it has to be attributed to the Union’s member states, rather than the Union itself. Integration between European states was responding to a series of already-existing democratic legitimacy issues within the states. They argue that the Union is not democratic enough because the member states have not been able to democratise their integration. The issue of the lack of democracy within European Union institutions is not considered as the cause of the problem, but the natural consequence of the democratic deficit of European Union members. This perspective must be necessarily rebuked. Even with their flaws, most of the European Union members have developed and stable democracies. If an institution poses itself as the supranational ruler of a continent and its legitimate representative, it must follow the same form of government that those national units it intends to rule, which is democracy. Where could European Union legitimacy come if not from its citizens? The Union’s decisions directly impact its citizens, as much as a national government decision, or even more. It also breaks citizens’ capacity to rely on the regular channels of influence –voting- to ensure they are being listened and to participate in political process[7]. The lack of democracy of the Union and is tightness to evolve and accept citizens demands only causes further disgust and loss of legitimacy. European Union is a sui generis institution, as it is not a state but it represents them and takes decisions in their name, therefore it should be held accountable for its decisions in direct elections. One cannot fail to notice that there is a deep democratic deficit in the European Union from the turnout in its elections. Ever since legislative powers were transferred to the Council of Ministers of the European Union from the national governments, the setup of the European Union shifted from that of an economic block to that of a political one. The lack of democracy in the Union has been evident in the voter turnout. From the first vote in 1979, the turnout has been going lower and lower with the 2014 election having a disappointing turnout of 42.54%. Compared to the individual member nations where the average voter turnout is 68%, this is a sign that the members of the European Parliament have noted something wrong with the setup and are thus silently revolting. This has led to the debate as to what ought to be done to get the Union back on track. While one side states that reforms are enough to make the Union serve its needs, others think the European Union should be simply debunked. The fact that the European Union has a lot of benefits for its member states and the world in general, however, means that its abolishment is not the best solution. To get the best solution for the case, therefore, requires an in-depth analysis of how the Union works and where it is failing. The Origin of the Democratic Deficit of the European Union Looking at the origins of the European Union, it is easy to make the conclusion that it was primarily meant to be purely economic and the introduction of the political aspects only complicated issues. The Treaty of Paris in 1951 saw to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) which was meant to provide a trading bloc for coal and steel in Europe as suggested by its name. In 1957, the Treaty of Rome saw to the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC’s original members were known as the European Communities. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty would see to the establishment of the European Union. With the European Union came the introduction of European citizenship. The latest of the treaties in this regard is the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon. While a lot has changed in the structure and function of the European Union to the present moment, some of the problems that plague the Union are the same.   The Manifesto for the Young European Federalists by Richard Corbett first raised the issue of the lack of democracy in the European Union in 1977 where the term democratic deficit was first used. David Marquand would later use the term in reference to the workings of the European Economic Community. The coining of the term primarily focused on the European Parliament, which was previously referred to as the European Assembly, and why it had a deficit of democracy. The primary argument behind this assertion is that the Parliament was made up of members who had not been directly elected by the citizens of the European Union. As such, the European Union was not serving the needs of its citizens but those of a few people. Effectively, the European Union is thus not democratic enough given that it does not meet the definition of a democracy where there is a government for the majority. The fact that the majority is not represented through free and fair elections of the members of the European Parliament is one point to the fact that there is a deficiency of democracy in the Union. The European Constitution The European Union prides itself in democratic legitimacy through various aspects of the constitution. The first of these aspects is the European Parliament. The Parliament is subject to the electorates of the member states. The other organs are the Council of the European Union also called the Council of Ministers, and the European Council made up of the heads of national governments of the member states. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union appoint the European Commission members. This system of making decisions is supposed to give the European Union democratic legitimacy in the same way the US House of Representatives and the US Senate give democratic legitimacy to the United States. Decisions are thus to be reached by both bodies agreeing, and a third organ in this case the European Commission. The intended democratic legitimacy has, however, not been entirely attained by the European Union. The construction of the Union itself has occasioned what the German Constitutional Court called a structural democratic deficit in the Union. This court established that the process of making decisions for the European Union was primarily those of an international organisation rather than those of a government. The difference is that, as an international organisation, the European Union based its democracy on the equality of the member nations rather than the citizens of these countries. It is thus difficult to reconcile the needs of the citizens and those of the member nations of the European Union provided its operation as an international organisation rather than a government. Similarly, the British Electoral Reform Society filed a report in 2014 to the same issue of the EU constitution having a structure which focused on the needs of the member states rather than the citizens. The r eport stated that, while the European Union has focused on upholding the principles of democratic engagement, accountability and representativeness, there is the need to focus on the needs of the minority in any democracy. The European Union, being mostly made up of minorities, thus needs to have a focus on serving the needs of the citizens rather than those of the member governments[8]. Democratic Deficit and the European Commission One of the main structures put in place by the European Union in support of democracy is the European Commission. First, there has been criticism concerning the legitimacy of the European Commission and its role in the initiation of legislation in the European Union. However, this criticism does not have the backing of facts as similar bodies within national governments have yielded similarly poor results. However, its position as a body that legitimises the European Union and its take on democracy has failed by a large extent. The main weakness with such a body, as also noted in the case of the United States government, is that the regulations may be so detailed that the member states have little freedom in making their decisions on legislation[9]. While the issue of a democratic deficit was noted as far back as the 1970s when the idea of a united Europe was still in development, democratic legitimacy has always been an issue the Union has been dealing with ever since. When the Treaty of Lisbon was put in place, its primary aim was to provide room for better democracy in the region. The Treaty of Lisbon required that the President of the European Commission ought to take account of the results of the European Union parliamentary elections. This simply means that the President of the European Commission should be nominated by the   most dominant group in the parliament. This step effectively makes the European Union a political body rather than the economic one meant for the over watch of the economic activities of Europe. In fact, the European Union, owing to this kind of structure, has become partly a federation and also an international organisation[10]. The President of the European Commission would thus be partly elected and partly appointed. This position gives the president less power than is needed to win the confidence of the population, and too much power to earn the trust of the governments of the member nations. The resulting model is one where little democracy is accorded to the citizens of the European Union and their governments as well. The European Parliament and Democratic Deficit When the European Parliament was set up, a lot of people were ready to voice its weaknesses in seeing to the implementation of legislation. However, political scientists would come to the rescue of this organ by stating that, first, the European Parliament is different from the parliaments of single countries due to various factors such as the lack of a divide between the government and the opposition, the presence of a divide between the executive and the legislature, the presence of political parties that are decentralised, bipartisan voting, and the roles of the various committees. For this reason, the European Parliament has been compared to the US House of Representatives but with the advantage of not having a governing body over it like the latter house. The fact that the majorities in the European Parliament have to be built each time while depending on negotiations, persuasions, and explanations ought to make it better in function than the US House of Representatives. This is true given that the lack of interference between the executive and the legislature has made the European Commission and the European Parliament more effective. For instance, the member states of the European Union have less than 15% of their legislative initiatives becoming the law. This is largely due to the lack of support from the executive. The executive bodies, on the other hand, rarely require the input of the legislature in the same nations to pass amendments. The role of the European Parliament is the propositioned amendments to the existing laws. The success rate of these amendments is as high as 80% with the lowest levels recorded (mostly for the hotly contested topics) is at 30%. To an extent, however, the structure of the European Parliament allows for a level of lack of accountability and weakness when it is compared to parliaments with an overwatch body like the case of the US House of Representatives. Voter Turnout in European Elections and the Impact on Democratic Deficit With any democracy, the legitimacy of the leaders in power heavily relies upon the turnout of the voters during elections. The European Parliament has had some of the lowest levels of elections voter turnout hence the reduction in its democratic legitimacy. This is based on the fact that the turnout of the European Parliament elections has been declining consistently since its formation. However, the President of the European Union, Pat Cox, said that the 1999 European Parliament elections and a far much better turnout than the presidential elections in the United States. Compared, the voter turnout for the presidential elections in the United States in 1996 was 49%. However, the voter turnout in the European Parliament elections for 1999 was at 49.51 percent. For both types of elections, this turnout was among the very lowest. While both are at their lowest, it is difficult to use this as an excuse for the lack of democracy in the European Union. As a matter of fact, the case of the United States is very different from that of the European Union and the reasons for the low voter turnouts. For the European Union, the people have an option of whether to belong to the Union or not. And the way they can show their willingness to belong or not belong to the Union is through participating (or not participating) in its activities such as elections. The social aspect of the European Union, that of being accepted or rejected by the people, has been observed in the way the people have turned out in low numbers at each European Parliament vote[11]. The massive lack of knowledge for the common citizen of the European Union has led to the lack of participation by the voters. On the other hand, the United States electorate can have a low voter turnout for many other reasons none (or very little) of which is being against the union that is the United States. As it is, the European Union is not a very effective and efficient democracy given that its workings are not in line even with the developing democracies of the world. First, it is torn between being a government, and an international organisation. Secondly, the citizens, having seen that the democracy of the Union does not work (and it is too complex to understand), are increasingly ceasing to buy into the idea of the European Union being there to improve their lives through fostering democracy. Democratic Deficit and the Council of the European Union Another organ of the European Union is the Council of the European Union. This Council is also part of the efforts of the union to foster democracy among the member states. Its primary role is acting as the voice of the member governments of the EU while adopting the laws European Union and coordinating the polices of the union as well. Depending on the policies of the union, the government ministers of the members states are the members or the Council of the European Union. The presidency of the Council is held on a rotating basis (among the states) with each president holding the office for 6 months only. The Council carries out voting on legislation and discussions with both exercises being held in public. The decisions are based on a qualified majority whereby at least 55% of the countries (which is about 65% of the total population of the European Union) are required. In blocking a decision, 4 nations are needed (being the equivalent of 35% of the European Union population). For issues that are of an administrative and procedural nature require a simple majority while a unanimous vote is needed for the very sensitive topics such as taxation and foreign policy. While the structure of the Council of the European Union seems to read democracy all through it, the same weaknesses that plague the European Parliament plague it hence it is just another example of democratic deficit in the EU. For one, own-initiative reports from either the European Parliament or the Council of the European Union do not have legal consequences as such to the member states. Also, both bodies cannot play major roles in the amendment and repealing of legislation that is already in place. Lastly, and most importantly, the bodies do not address the needs of the citizens of the member nations. Looking at the structure of the European Union, it is easy to conclude that the reason it has not met the needs of the citizens is because there is too much bureaucracy between the top organs of the Union and the common citizens for the member states. The organs are too separated from the citizens in that the decision made take a very long route to reach the citizen. The representatives also have to make decisions which serve the needs of the Union and those of their respective countries; an issue which often introduces a conflict of interest. What the European Union has Done to Better Democratic Legitimacy All the concerns expressed here about the democratic legitimacy of the European Union have been expressed before by various persons and bodies and they have been heard by the people at the helm of the Union. For this reason, the Union has put in place various changes to the constitution with the focus being on doing away with the noted weaknesses in the laws and constitution of the Union in general. Among the changes made include the introduction of the Maastricht Treaty. This was a landmark treaty which is credited with the introduction of citizenship of the European Union. This citizenship would grant EU citizens voting rights to the European Parliament in each of their countries. Even municipal elections of the European Union were also included in the treaty. The treaty would also introduce co-decision procedure in which the European Parliament was given powers that gave it an equal footing to the Council of the European Union in making legislative decisions[12]. These steps would make the European Parliament much more functional and powerful but not powerful enough to overcome the issues of being a purely democratic entity.   The other change made to the constitution of the European Union is the Treaty of Lisbon. Becoming effective from the 1st of December 2009, the treaty saw to better representation of the EU citizens both directly in the European Parliament and indirectly through the Council of the European Union. This was meant to foster democracy and representation. The treaty would also see to the implementation and acceptance of the co-decision procedure as the primary procedure for the legislative dealings of the Union. The Treaty of Lisbon is also credited with tremendously increasing the powers of the European Parliament by a large extent[13]. One of the main areas in which the Treaty of Lisbon helped focus on the EU citizens was in giving the citizens the right to make petitions to the European Parliament concerning any matters of material effect[14]. This increased the powers of the citizen and their levels of participating in the making of decisions. Further on, the treaty would ensure th at Council of the European Union meetings which discussed public matters are made public for all to see. In this way, the citizens can better understand the debates and the workings of the European Union. The Treaty of Lisbon also receives credit for improving on the role played by the national parliaments of the member nations in putting in place the laws and legislations of the Union[15]. Lastly, the Treaty of Lisbon is credited with giving the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union full legal effect. This meant that various steps taken by the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Parliament would have full legal effect in areas where they apply[16]. Conclusion The workings of the European Union in seeking democracy have been so far ineffective on various levels as observed above. While there is intention from the leaders of the European Union to remedy these weaknesses in the workings of the Union, the fundamental reason why there have been low levels of success when it comes to attaining democracy for all citizens is its structure. It aims to operate like a government yet at its basic form it is an amalgamation of governments. Each of these governments have different needs, goals, histories and fundamental principles. The rest is that the leaders of each country first take care of their countries’ needs before those of the European Union. Also, its structure makes it difficult to make laws that will lead to better governance as each piece of legislation needs to have the needs of the many member states at heart. With time, it can be hoped that better legislation will be enabled for all the democracy to be attained. References Avbelj, M. 2005. Can the New European Constitution Remedy the EU Democratic Deficit?. EUMAP.org Campbell, M (2012) The Democratic Deficit of the European Union. Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union, p. 25. Castro, C. (2015). Assessing the Democratic Deficit in the EU: towards a Participatory Approach. RIPS, 14 (1), p. 63. Craig, P; Grainne De; P. P. Craig (2007). Chapter 11 Human rights in the EU. EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 379. Dilek, K. (2011). The Problem of â€Å"Democratic Deficit† in the European Union. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1 (5) p. 244. Electoral Reform Society — Close the Gap — Tackling Europes democratic deficit. European Parliament: Relations with National Parliaments. Innerarity, D (2015). The Inter-Democratic Deficit of the European Union: The Governance of Europes Economic, Political and Legal Transformation. Pp. 173-174. Kelemen, R. (2012). The Rules of Federalism: Institutions and Regulatory Politics in the EU and Beyond. Harvard University Press. pp. 21–22. Milev, M. (2004) A ‘Democratic Deficit’ in the European Union? Master Thesis, I.H.E.I. p. 10. Schà ¼tze, R (2012). European Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. [1] Castro, C. (2015). Assessing the Democratic Deficit in the EU: towards a Participatory Approach. RIPS, 14 (1), p. 63. [2] Milev, M. (2004) A ‘Democratic Deficit’ in the European Union? Master Thesis, I.H.E.I. p. 10 [3] Milev (2004), pp. 11-12. [4] Dilek, K. (2011). The Problem of â€Å"Democratic Deficit† in the European Union. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1 (5) p. 244 [5] Castro, C. (2005), p. 66. [6] Innerarity, D (2015). The Inter-Democratic Deficit of the European Union: The Governance of Europes Economic, Political and Legal Transformation. Pp. 173-174 [7] Campbell, M (2012) The Democratic Deficit of the European Union. Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union, p. 25. [8] Electoral Reform Society — Close the Gap — Tackling Europes democratic deficit. [9] Kelemen, R. (2012). The Rules of Federalism: Institutions and Regulatory Politics in the EU and Beyond. Harvard University Press. pp. 21–22. [10] Charlemagne. 2013. A democratic nightmare: Seeking to confront the rise of Eurosceptics and fill the democratic deficit. The Economist. [11] Avbelj, M. 2005. Can the New European Constitution Remedy the EU Democratic Deficit?. EUMAP.org [12] Schà ¼tze, R (2012). European Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press. pp. 31–32. [13] Schà ¼tze, R (2012). European Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–44 [14] Schà ¼tze, R (2012). European Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. [15] European Parliament: Relations with National Parliaments. [16] Craig, P; Grainne De Burca; P. P. Craig (2007). Chapter 11 Human rights in the EU. EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 379.

Culture Essay -- Sociology, Hofstede

Hofstede (1997) defined culture as the â€Å"collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others† (p. 6). He referred to mental programming in order to explain patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. Cultural manifestation is identified as symbols, heroes, rituals, and values as a learned programming that is dependent on a social environment. Values represented the deepest manifestations of culture and are considered culture’s building blocks (Hofstede, 1980). One well-known paradigm Hofstede introduced is called cultural dimensions that include four independent cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, and uncertainty avoidance. After further research, he developed the fifth dimension known as long-term/short-term orientation (Hofstede, 2001). The following section will discuss five of the dimensions to identify the cultural differences between the United States, India, and Thailand. Power Distance The power distance index â€Å"is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally† (Itim International, 2009). It is a fundamental structure endorsed by the societies’ followers and leaders in areas such as social status, wealth, and sources of power. A high power distance society embraces people with power. Powerful people are expected to have privileges, openly show their status and wealth, and are perceived to be good. On the other hand, a low power distance society embraces uniformity and minimizes inequalities. Those who hold more power in these societies attempt to look less powerful than they are (Albers-Miller & Gelb, 1996). Hofstede’... ...tinuous, ANOVA is the most appropriate method of analysis. Research Question The research question proposed there would be differences in levels of organizational dissent between India, Thailand, and the U.S. The ANOVA revealed significant differences in levels of dissent between the three groups. The means and standard deviations are displayed in Table 2. Overall, Americans are the most likely to express articulated dissent, with Thais being the less least likely: F(4, 1446) = 5.10, ï  ¨2 = .01, p Discussion The results revealed significant differences between Americans, Indians and Thais regarding the expression of dissent.

classroom management Essay -- essays research papers

There are many different ways to run a successful and effective classroom. Numerous people have tried to give me the best advice for making things work, but ultimately it will be my choice to decide what works best for me. By assessing the students' needs, I will be able to provide a curriculum and classroom environment that will hopefully motivate their learning. In assessing my own needs, I can make the proper actions necessary to make sure that those needs are met. Rules and consequences fall under both the needs of the student and the teacher, so those are essential as well. In the following, I will discuss what I find to be the needs of the student, the needs of the teacher, and how my philosophy on rules, consequences, and discipline play into these needs. According to several educational psychologists and theorists, there are many different needs of a student. I agree particularly with Glasser, who states that students have a need for belonging, "fun", freedom, and a warm environment with a meaningful and engaging curriculum. Linda Albert contributes more by theorizing that the student needs to feel accepted (by being who they are, without judgment), and that student needs attention and affection (Devito, 2004). These, in my own opinion, are some of the most important needs that a teacher might face, especially when teaching adolescents. While all students have different needs, these are a few that are shared by most. Often times, as a teacher you are the most influential adult figure in a child's life. By creating a warm environment where the student not only feels comfortable, but is eager to come to, you have created the beginning of a successful learning environment. Once you have the student in class, who is ready to learn, the need for an interesting and stimulating curriculum is a must. One cannot teach a student who is disengaged and bored, so as a teacher it is necessary to understand the need for exploring topics of interest. Not only do students have the needs as listed above, but according to Kohn, they also have the need to be treated as individuals (Devito, Spring 2004). Democratically speaking, Glasser says they also need a sense of power in addition to their need to be treated as individuals (Devito, Spring... ...tor, not an acquaintance. Disciplining a student isn’t the highlight of my career path, but it is essential to maintaining the organized classroom I need and it will be done. In order to learn, students need discipline with dignity. They need to know that misbehavior is not okay, and that there are rules and standards to live by in the classroom, just like there is in the â€Å"real world†. Students, when given a routine and are treated with structure, generally perform better. By instilling discipline in the classroom, I hope to provide a more stable and more effective learning environment for all. Above all, my educational philosophy in discipline focuses on consistency. I have learned through all theorists, Ms. Devito, all my other professors, and by my own experience that this is a must in the classroom. It is important to be impeccable with our word as teachers because often times, it is the only leverage that we have over the students. As humans alone, it is the most powerful tool that we possess. If a teacher makes false promises and empty threats, then inevitably, their word becomes worthless and their credibility is ruined. This is somewhere no teacher wants to go.

Lucent Technologies :: essays research papers fc

Lucent Technologies BACKGROUND   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1996, AT&T decided to split into three different companies. These new companies were the new AT&T, NCR, and Lucent Technologies. Lucent Technologies is one of the leading designers, developers, and manufacturers of telecommunications systems, software, and products.1 They are beginning to emerge as a Fortune 40 company. Lucent Technologies builds local networks, business telephone systems, and consumer telephones that access the global networks.2 Lucent Technologies was launched with an initial public stock offering in April.3 AT&T owns an 82% share of the company.4 KEY PERSONNEL   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lucent technologies has 125,000 employees worldwide. Approximately 82% of its employees come from the United States and the other 18% come from foreign countries.5 Lucent Technologies has offices in more than 90 countries, and Bell Labs has offices in 13 countries.6   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The chairman and chief executive officer is Henry B. Schacht. Schacht has been on AT&T's board of directors since 1981. He has also held chairman and chief executive officer positions at Cummings Engine Company, INC.7   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lucent Technologies' President and chief operating officer is Richard A. McGinn. McGinn joined AT&T in 1978. He has previously served as executive vice president and chief executive officer of AT&T's network group. From 1994 to 1996, McGinn served on the AT&T management executive committee.8 BUSINESS STRUCTURE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lucent Technologies is composed of four operating units. These four units are: Business Communication Systems, Consumer Products, Microelectronics Group, and Network Systems. These units are designed to work together to provide innovative and cost-efficient solutions for customers. Bell Laboratories supports each group.9   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bell Laboratories is a research and development organization that is recognized throughout the world for its achievements in science and technology. Currently, Bell Laboratories is focusing on developing: Digital signal processor algorithms, Lightwave communications (photonics), Networking, Silicon chips, Software, and Wireless communications.10   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Business Communications Systems design, manufacture, install, and service advanced voice and multimedia systems worldwide.11 Consumer Products design, manufacture, sell, and lease communications products for consumers, small offices, and home offices. In 1995 in the United States, Consumer Products sold 31% of the corded phones, 28% of the cordless phones, and 35% of answering machines.12 The Microelectronics Group makes integrated circuits, power systems, and optoelectronic components for Lucent Technologies.13 The largest unit of Lucent Technologies is the Network Systems. The Network Systems designs, develops, and manufactures networking systems and software for telecommunications providers, wireless communications is growing at an annual rate of 33 percent.14 BUSINESS STRATEGY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The worldwide demand for communications systems is booming. Lucent Technologies is predicting a 10% annual growth for the communications industry. The business is pursuing growth opportunities around the world and is trying to build on Bell Laboratories established global relationships with its key customers. 15   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Much emphasis for advancement is being put on the areas of Wireless

Product Design Coursework

The aim of this report is to carry out a feasibility study for the development and the manufacture of a novel synthetic fibre to be used to make leisure clothing aimed at the spring and summer market, as asked by our board of directors. I will present a report addressing the project in terms of the Innovation Cycle for product development. This shall cover the definition and evaluation of the products, their form, market and manufacture in terms of the Product Innovation Major Steps, which include: Needs: What needs should the product fill? Ideas: What different products could satisfy these needs? Selection: What ideas are the most promising? Manufacture: How can we make the product in commercial quantities? Innovation Cycle: Product Innovation involves the introduction of a new good or service that is new or substantially improved from previous versions. Innovation is not just about new products, it is a whole new approach to business. The novel synthetic fibre that I will analyse is Nylon with main uses in clothing and footwear. Nylon is a commodity chemical as it is produced in high volumes and yields low profits and so it has a low added value. There is no large scale need for chemists and engineers in commodity chemicals. Needs: What needs should the product fill? The product should fill the customer's needs and to find the needs of the customer, we need to do market research and ask the customers directly what they require through questionnaires or interviews. This is known as primary research as answers are directly answered to the companies needs. Once loads of information has been collected, the customers needs have to be interpreted and taken into consideration. This information can then be used into product specifications and therefore products are produced depending on customer needs. For example, customer needs for the manufacture of Nylon to produce leisure clothing. Essential: o Light weight o Strong o Comfortable Desirable: o Wear resistance o Long lasting o Easy to wash o Easy to iron Useful: o Cheap Specifying a benchmark would be one of the final stages in the needs. The new developed product must meet up to standards with either existing products or an idealised product. If this is not the case then and the benchmark cannot be achieved or surpassed, then it is not worth developing the product. Ideas: What different products could satisfy these needs? The next step in the innovation cycle is to generate ideas. Most of the source of ideas comes from the: > Development team. These people research into the product into great detail and most of the ideas are generated by the developing team. > Customers. Questionnaires and interviews are analysed and a different view of ideas are produced. The interviews and questionnaires can be very important as the customers will be the ones who buy the products at the end and they may also be using similar or existing products. Although questionnaires can sometimes be unreliable if not enough data is collected. > Competitors. Useful data can be obtained if you as a company are selling similar products. > Consultants. These are often not as useful as customers or the development team. > Literature. This will have a large range of views and if researched into properly, books, patents and trade information will produce some excellent ideas. Product development teams generate ideas by brainstorming which is a group exercise and mind mapping which is usually done individually. In developing a product, it requires up to one hundred ideas to find an idea which is really worth going for. To reduce the amount of ideas we have to only the good ideas we have to organise ideas into specific categories which may require more brainstorming. The more ideas are organised, the more we would be able to realise if they are strengths or weaknesses in organisations. Selection: What ideas are the most promising? From all the ideas we have generated, we only take very few good ideas to take forwards for production. To select these few good ideas to take forward we need a Screening Criteria which would select the best ideas. This selection process now would require scientific and engineering judgement. These are: o Safety – Make sure that the product (nylon) would be safe to produce and wear. o Low environmental impact – Make sure that nylon produced clothes and any by-products are not dangerous to the environment o Low cost – Make sure that the method of producing nylon is the cheapest with the highest return for money o Minimum risk – Make the manufacture of nylon economically feasible o Engineering ease – Make the manufacture of nylon technically feasible After the screening process and choosing the best ideas, we now need to do a risk assessment. This will identify and catalogue all risks of producing the product (nylon). Eliminating the risk will be the most important thing and then we can compare quantitatively the terms of the cost and time. Risk management also need to be put in place as to reduce risks or possible risks before proceeding, or accepting the risk and proceeding. This decision is based entirely upon management and the best option will be chosen for the organisation at that time. Manufacture: How can we make the product in commercial quantities? At this stage we are now ready to decide how to produce the product. We have the chemical product we need to manufacture; we have identified customer needs and generated enough ideas to fill this need. When considering the manufacturing process we need to take into account: o Raw materials o Demand for supply o Time taken for product to reach the market o Size of plant o Labour o Operating and capital costs of plant After the manufacturing costs of the product (nylon clothes), we need to consider the packaging. This should be: o Attractive o Waterproof to prevent water ruining the nylon After the packaging, we can finally sell the product. To get the product out onto the market we could: o Advertise in clothes shops o Advertise on TV After advertising, the product would have reached out to a far reaching population.