Microbe Report on Escherichia coli Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Microbe on Escherichia coli - Lab Report Example Most of the strains found in the gut are actually beneficial to the host by inhibiting the growth of other harmful bacteria and synthesizing vitamins, like K2. However, some serotypes can cause severe food poisoning in humans. One common strain, O157:H7, releases strong toxins, specifically enterotoxins, that damage and infect the host’s intestinal lining (Rasko, 2011). At times, a small colony of only 10-100 cells in enough to cause infections in children. The incubation period of these types of infection causing strains can range anywhere from a few hours to a week. The bacteria penetrate and thrive in the intestinal lining, eating away at the mucosa (Hayhurst, 2004). Symptoms of Disease: Symptoms usually manifest themselves in adults after 3-4 days of being infected consisting mostly of mild diarrhea, abdominal cramping and nausea. In severe cases the diarrhea can become bloody and the infection can cause kidney problems leading to pale skin, fever, chills, and bruising. Most healthy adults get better within a weak while for infants and young children it can take longer. In rare and extreme cases the virulent strain can also cause pneumonia, hemolytic uremic syndrome (kidney failure), and dehydration through diarrhea, eventually leading to death in young children and older adults (Hayhurst, 2004). Diagnosis: Usually the doctor carries out a physical examination and a medical history involving a series of questions about many of the symptoms. The questions will also try to determine travelling history, recently eaten foods, contact with contaminated foods and unpasteurized dairy products, and antibiotic use. The physical examination consists of checking the patient’s temperature, blood pressure, skin color, stomach tenderness and a rectal exam. If E. coli infection is suspected, the doctor will request a stool culture examination to determine the presence of the infectious strain and

The Madding crowd Essay Example for Free

The Madding crowd Essay Although he appears reserved, Bathshebas maid Liddy warns her mistress that the insincere Valentine will worry him to death. Perhaps this is because it is common knowledge that a distant relative of Boldwoods went mad and subsequently Boldwood cannot take things lightly. Boldwood has no real passionate feelings for Bathsheba before she sends him the Valentine, but when he receives the declaration of Bathshebas love, it sparks off the beginning of an intense obsession. Boldwood struggles to cope with the extreme emotions that sweep over him; his sheltered childhood in a society where different sexes were kept apart, means he is completely unprepared to deal with his obsession logically. He describes his feelings towards Bathsheba as being as strong as death. He neglects his farm, which had once been his priority and does not appear to be affected by the money he is loosing and the staff he will have to dismiss. Boldwood sees Troys death as an opportunity to have Bathsheba for himself. He plays on her guilt by reminding her of how she had led him on, and pressures her into promising to marry him six years after Troys death. When Troy reappears to everyones astonishment, Boldwood cannot handle the shock and is dismayed at the thought of loosing Bathsheba once more. Acting out of desperation, Boldwood kills Troy and attempts suicide. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and left unbalanced, in despair and completely dysfunctional. Although his obsession drove him to kill another man, Boldwood is the victim who suffers the most from an obsession that has ruined his life. Comparable to Bathsheba, Sergeant Francis Troys main obsession is with himself. His callus and egotistical nature make him constantly determined to get his own way. Yet he is often not content when he gets what he is after and it seldom takes him long to set his mind towards striving for something else. However, this can sometimes lead to the beginning of another obsession. His pride causes him to overreact when Fanny confuses the church where the couple are supposed to be married. This is purely because of the humiliation she has caused him. Whereas most people would forgive someone easily for such an innocent mistake, Troy is so offended and shamed that he cannot bear to risk his reputation once more, even if it is for someone he loves. He turns his attention to Bathsheba as he thinks it is unlikely she will publicly humiliate him. The full extent of his shallow nature is revealed when Troy is married to Bathsheba but treats some of his servants with more respect than her. He abandons Bathsheba under the false pretence of drowning without taking her feelings into consideration and then returns to the farm oblivious of the pain he has caused. If he had not left Bathsheba for so long and been so untruthful towards her, it is unlikely Boldwood would have reacted in the way he did and Troy would probably have survived. Fanny Robin is a relatively minor character in the novel, however she is involved in a complex subplot involving Troy. She was deeply in love with him to the point of obsession. In spite of the mistake she made in confusing the church where she and Troy were due to be wed, Fanny was determined to be with Troy. She arranged to meet him once more in a place of his choice, far away and difficult for Fanny to reach. She attempted the lengthy journey on foot but eventually her steps became feebler and it was clearly impossible for her to reach her goal. Her resolution to be with Troy was indubitably strong but the exhaustion and fatigue she felt was ultimately stronger. Willing and ready to be with Troy even if it killed her, a few of Fannys last words were, If I could only get there! Perhaps I shall be in my grave before then. Tragically, the next time Troy set eyes on Fanny she was, indeed, in her coffin. Therefore it is fair to say that obsession killed Fanny Robin. An obsession can take over a persons every waking thought; it can drive them and people around them to despair and can even cause them to kill another or themselves by simply trying to fulfil that obsession. These things happened in varying degrees of seriousness to every character in Far From the Madding Crowd which therefore suggests obsession is a key feature of the Novel. The variety of obsessions in the novel highlights the many different forms in which people can be obsessed.

Sustainability Asset Management (SAM)

Sustainability Asset Management (SAM) Introduction The concept of Sustainability currently is been paid more and more attention. The idea of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) which Economic, Social and Environment or Profit, People and Planet (PPP) are concerned not only from societies or non-government organization (NGO) but also from all stakeholders; shareholders, investors, employees, customers, etc.. As there are many studies on corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility which many of them shown positive outcome or positive relation between corporate sustainability and corporates performances or outcomes in either in monetary or non-monetary term or both (Groot Churet, 2009; Peters Mullen, 2009; Samy, Odemilin, Bampton, 2010). Monitoring system has been developed to make business more sustainable by supporting corporation to measure, indicate, monitor and report their operation or sustainability activities and performance for their performance improvement overtime. A characteristic of monitoring system should be accurate, balance in performance accounting, comparable, easy to understand and match to firms activities plan (GRI, 2010) which also mean monitoring system should able to assess sustainability performance respect to the legislation, norm, code, and standard with accountability, be able to continuous developed according to the expectations, be able to interpret and understand the positive and negative impact to the firms, comparability over companies, over time that can support organization to make decision for organization strategy, implementation plan, outcome and continuous improvement (GRI, 2010). One of the most well-known monitoring systems is Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which will expl ore further detail in this report. This report will briefly introduce the history and the development of sustainability accounting and reporting following by the overview concept of SAM Sustainability Asset Management, Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as monitoring systems. Then review and analyze a selected company, Nestle as a leader multinational food Producer Company in which their vision and mission are concerning not only on economic but also environment and social as their hope to be a part to shape the world for more sustainable (Nestle, 2010). Furthermore its relevant sustainability dimensions will be identified and described on the boundary implemented in its operation, including the indicator measured and results reported to the publics, its limitation, challenges and how will it use those indicators for company performance improvement. Literature review history and development One of the literatures of sustainability accounting and reporting development reviewed from Burritt and Schaltegger (2010) which aim to classify paths and the future of sustainability accounting and reporting assessment mentioned that there are two main developing tracks. The first one is a viewpoint of a critical theory which seen sustainability accounting development as a cause and source from corporate sustainability problems which may not reach the purpose of firms sustainability information disclosure and can be seen as a fashionable which may fade out after sometime. While another path looks sustainability reporting as a tool for management to support and make different decisions and actions according to those information. In the critical path sustainability accounting development, the Bruntland Report, World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), was published in 1987 and seemed to pull attention from the public for the global need of sustainable development but because insufficient understanding of sustainability this corporate sustainability report was not well defined and been abandoned (Burritt Schaltegger, 2010). Even the sustainability accounting process and reports was not clear though some companies still use sustainability reports caused by the pressure from both internal stakeholder managers and external stakeholder publics, media, societies to gained competitive advantage as reputation, market opportunities and to perceived from others perception on sustainability (Bebbington et al. as cited in Burritt Schaltegger, 2010). Another sustainability accounting development, managerial path, by comparing the financial accounting, the management reports were designed to meet the need of firms managers for decision making, planning and controlling while financial statements e.g. balance sheet, financial performance reports were designed for external stakeholders in which the first sustainability reports tried to linked with these accounting reports by integrating economic, social and environment aspect to support management decision and other stakeholder decision. Burritt and Schaltegger (2010) proposed three approaches for sustainability accounting which are inside-out, outside-in and twin-track. For the first approach inside-out, it is an approach for a company to define its business strategy, implementation plan and make decision from sustainability performance measurement and reporting that trying to contribute to social and environment together with economic to strengthen their market position, gain competitive advantage from good reputation or value added to customers and even in monetary term from new technologies concerning with triple bottom line or innovated process that reduced waste, energy saving, emission reduction which decrease operational expenses and increase profit for the firm. Secondly, the approach of outside-in is an approach from external organization such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that supply guideline for a company for sustainability reporting and can be used as a driven forces for management consideration of how can the firm contribute to sustainable development and meet expectation from stakeholders. In which GRI is one of the best well-known sustainability reporting guideline (Brown et al. as cited in Burritt Schaltegger, 2010). Also, the way to measure, indicate, monitoring and reporting had taken into account as the study on the market reaction to the first-time release of corporate sustainability reports (Guidry Patten, 2010) in which they examined from US firms report according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) found that even there were no significant market reactions from the corporates sustainability released announcement but the it is positive significant to the quality of the reports in which the more market reaction to the highest quality report than lower quality report. Those evidences could implicate that people (investors in this study) are more concern in the detail or quality of the sustainability not only to have or simply mention corporate social responsibility in the annual report (Erusalimsky et al. cited in Guidry Patten, 2010). Monitoring System: SAM Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and Global Report Initiative One example of monitoring system that has been develop as the important of corporate sustainability and increased interested from organizations stakeholders consist of societies, media, customers, employees, NGO, investors etc. reviewed earlier, an asset management company in Switzerland, SAM; Sustainable Asset Management, specializing in corporate sustainability investments has founded in 1995 and turn to be one of the worlds leading investment groups, looking for and identify the leading companies base on sustainability criteria using one of the largest sustainability corporation database by cooperated with Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) in analyze companies all over the world in yearly basis (SAM, 2009). In 2009, from 2,500 largest companies according to Dow Jones Wilshire Global index had been analyzed and only 15% 367 companies in 57 different sectors were qualified which classified in three different level; SAM Gold Class scored more than 75%, Silver Class scored 70-75% and Bronze Class scored 65-70%. The scores were measured across all three perspectives economic, social and environment. As mentioned the SAM collaboration with DJSI. DJSI is one of the biggest and longest datable that has been launch in 1999 provided reference point for corporate sustainability assessment by measuring and indexed base on economic, environment and social criteria of the firms. The assessment processes are conducted annually by SAM using different weighted criteria in general and specific-industrial to assess companies according to firms opportunities and risk from their sustainability trends. The assessment are the response from the companies based on SAM questionnaire including companies document and from others third-party. This assessment report then will assure by Deloitte defining rules. The dimension, criteria and weighting are shown as diagram below: Source: Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, 2010 Another example of monitoring system is GRI Global Reporting Initiative which has developed in 1997 from the idea to disclosure sustainability information framework by CRES, non-profit organization in Boston, the pioneer of environmental reporting framework since early 1990s. The first GRI version of sustainability report guidelines, G1 guideline, had released in 2000 following by the G2 Guideline in 2002 and the recent version of GRI, G3 Guideline launched in 2006 (GRI, 2010). The GRI Guideline aim support an organization to what it has to report and how to report. The overview concept can be explained by the figure: Source: Global Reporting Initiative: G3 Framework and Executive Summary (GRI, 2010). In how to report, the GRIs Principle Guidance and Protocols are provided to ensure that the report is focused to both internal and external stakeholders value. In the principle and guidance part the processes are first, to define the report content relating to core component, stakeholder comprehensiveness, sustainability perspective and completeness. Secondly, make sure the report quality by concerning with accuracy, balance, comparable, easy to understand, timely and reliable of the report. Third, set the report boundary by determine the organization unit, function or process to be include in the report. Another part on what to report Standard Disclosure, Sector Supplements and National Annexes are provided and using three different measurements which are: Profile to express strategic approach and governance, Second, Management Approach to explain the sustainability goals and management used and Third, Performance Indicators which accountable on economic, environment and social performance. Company Description: Nestlà © was established in 1867, Switzerland by Henri Nestlà © (Koese, 2008). The meaning of Nestlà © is little nest (Nestlà ©, n.d.). The first product of Nestlà © was FarineLactee Nestlà © for children who mother cannot feed them with the breast. The current product line including chocolates, soups, instant coffee, cornflakes, frozen foods, seasoning and mineral water as well as they expanded their products to pet foods, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics (Sefcik, n.d.). Nestlà © accomplished with the innovative and business acquisitions to become the world largest Food Company in term of sales which has factories in 83 countries globally. The vision of Nestlà © is known as the leading in Nutrition, Health, and Happiness company (Nestlà ©, 2010; Mali, Ali, Rana, Ilyas Khan, n.d.). According to Nestlà © (2010) stated that Our mission  of Good Food, Good Life  is to provide consumers with the best tasting, most nutritious choices in a wide range of food and beverage categories and eating occasions, from morning to night. With it vision and mission, Nestlà © focuses on 5 areas namely the consumers, human rights and labour operations, human resources, supplier and customers, and environment (The Nestlà © Corporate Business Principles, 2010) using 10 principles on its business operations consist of: Consumers Nutrition, health, and wellness is the first principle that company needs to increase the quality of consumers daily life by adding more tastier and healthier to their products. Quality assurance and product safety provides the safe and high quality to consumers. Consumer communication, the company provide responsible to consumers to reach consumers need such as infant foods. Human rights and labour operations Human rights in our business activities is the fourth principle which emphasizing providing and supporting good real situation of human right and labour performances via business activities. Human resources Fifth principle is leadership and personal responsibility by respecting and reputing to all staff as well as motivating and providing opportunities to develop themselves in management and leadership. Safety and health at work is the sixth principle of business operations that concern with obviating the hazard, harm, and sickness from work. Suppliers and customers The seventh principle is suppliers and customers relations by expressing the reliability and equality to contractors and clients. Agriculture and rural development, the company provides the advancement in the production, community, and financial to farmers and rural people as well as create environmentally friendly in term of sustainability. Environment Ninth is environmental sustainability. The company takes the sustainability in environmentally friendly into action through business activities as well as product life cycle by using the resources efficiently. The last principle is water due to the company create the sustainable of water as well as development in water systems by managing as the confining resources. Sustainability dimensions most relevant to Nestlà © Nestlà © is responsible for creating the corporate achievement in long term in term of creating shared value. (Nestlà ©, 2009) The company follows the highest standard of business activities and environmental sustainability which concerns in various areas of sustainability such as socio-cultural, economic, and environmental. Refer to the companys objective is known as the leader in Nutrition, Health, and Wellness; it relates with the sustainable in triple bottom lines such as financial, social, and environment issues (Nestlà © Oceania, 2009). Nestlà © believes their business activities in term of sustainability can create environmentally friendly for future. (Nestlà ©, 2009) Regarding to sustainable development to Nestlà ©, it can define as the expansion that reach the need in the present by using the fully ability to satisfy individuals need of next generation. Description: CSV Conversely, the company makes business profit in long term by going beyond cooperation and sustainable to create value for investors and society. In addition, Nestlà © emphasizes on the global environmental issues such as nutrition, water, and rural development as well as these issues can create strong business strategy and competitive advantage to increase the shareholder value and attain the socials requirement (Nestlà ©, 2009). The dimensions relevant to Nestle are categorized as: Socio-cultural dimensions First of all, nutrition is one of the relevance of Nestlà ©s sustainability due to the company focuses on helping people and society healthy (Nestlà ©, 2009). The company creates the nutrition aim to improve health and provide more choice to consumers as well as adding up quality of life. In addition, the company also focuses on the lowest impact with environmental problems. Moreover, the company needs to provide knowledge and understanding in the consumers. The company tries to develop and improve their products with high quality of foods to support low-income consumer as well as pursuing with World Health Organizations regulation. Furthermore, Nestlà © renovates products by providing the nutrition labelling and descriptions on the packaging as well as develop nutritional knowledge and training in infant formula marketing employees (Nestlà ©, 2009). Nestlà © has several aspects that make corporate sustainability. For instance, the research and development is one of factor that concern for the social sustainability. The RD needs to have well planning to drive the company achievement in the consumers needs. The company also provides diversify of products to improve branded active benefits for health benefits to customers. However, there are some problems that Nestlà © faces such as the increasing rate of obesity in the developing countries (Nestlà ©, 2009). Second, rural development is one of aspects that Nestlà © concerns due to the company works directly with the farmers. Most of them live in the rural areas and work as agriculturists. Nestlà © creates sustainable by supporting them to have better standard of living, increasing in productivity, and protecting the environment. The company also has the high quality of raw material to support the consumers and make more profit because they reduce the intermediaries. Nestlà © supports social sustainability by providing the knowledge, loans, rural employment, and training as well as technical assistance to rural people. The company also manages the relationship with suppliers to save the distribution costs and obtain high quality of raw materials. Moreover, the company can create shared value via supplier development by providing training and knowledge as well as reach high standard of the company (Nestlà ©, 2009). Last are human resources that focus on the sustainability and stability in work life as well as the employees satisfaction. Nestlà © aims to invest for professional training and development in quality of staff as well as provide the job opportunities and environmental in the workplace. The company also needs to create the respect and parity at all level within the company (Nestlà ©, 2009). Health and safety is one of the important factors that can create the sustainability in organization such as the zero accident during work. Employees need to work in the secure and comfortable place which can create more productivity. The relationship within employee is emphasizing on the human rights, culture and equity which can connect to the sustainable in corporation. Moreover, Nestlà © concerns in the gender balance in term of multicultural diversity within the company. Training and learning are necessary to create business success by staffs need to understand their job and use effectively skills as well as the company provides the management training and leadership development to their employees. In addition, Nestlà © creates in employee engagement and workplace wellness to build corporate sustainable (Nestlà ©, 2009). Environmental dimensions Nestlà © concerns in water and environmental sustainability which improve production process and environmental performance as well as they produce goods with lowest environmental effect. The company launches the environmental sustainability programs to reduce use in water and natural resources as well as develop the packaging to maintain environmentally friendly. Moreover, company promotes more sustainable in supply chain management in water. Nestlà © is continuing to improve the environmental performance such as water resources and reduce the energy consumption as well as renovate energy sources (Nestlà ©, 2009). Nestlà © has environmental management to improve the sustainable development in order to business activities. The company is also responsible for engaging stakeholders performance and capture leadership role. The company also creates the environmental sustainability in product life cycle by focusing on the environmental impacts such as production process, conveyances, a nd consumption. Water is the natural resources that an essential for Nestlà © due to the company uses water for agriculture. (Nestlà ©, 2009) Therefore the company manages the water resource as main factors of creating shared value. Another factor is climate change, Nestlà © concerns for the greenhouse gas emanation by improving energy, and converting to cleaner fuels as well as renewal of energy. Moreover, transport and distribution, the company works on the environmental impact to reduce the environmental issues. The company also reduces the waste and recovery of by-products and increases the reprocess of by-products as well. In addition, Nestlà © emphasizes on the packaging due to it is necessary for food safety by providing the nutritional information to consumers. Hence, the company focuses on the innovative of packaging that makes from natural resources such as plastics as well as motivates consumers to reuse plastic bottle (Nestlà ©, 2009). Economical dimensions Nestlà © provides the economic sustainability through the principles and policies which concerns in management approach. (Nestlà ©, 2009) Nestlà © also indicates the economic sustainability into risk and opportunities in climate change. Nestlà © create sustainability in core strategy in term of rural development due to the company provides knowledge training to communities as well as develop the rural areas. Moreover, the company provides long term micro financial loans to farmer as well as employment. Nestlà © has project to invest and develop in term of agriculture activities such as growing and improving coffee quality and sustainability. Nestlà © also shares the Creating Shared Value and supply chain in order to consumers, suppliers and distributors, industry, employees, government, and shareholders which sharing as consumer surplus, suppliers of raw materials and packaging, price and cost of company productivity, job and revenue of staff, taxes, and enhance in share-holder value. Analysis of Nestle indicators From Nestle company perspective, they believed that Creating Shared Value for societies that go beyond regulations, business principle, code of conduct compliance and sustainability to protect the future concerning with all stakeholders can create long-term value for their shareholder and company value in the term of economic, innovation, social and environment too. They are support UN Global compact and committed business principle base on sustainability and had developed conceptual framework measured the impacts on all stakeholders which depict as the figure below. Apart from the stakeholders impact matrix mentioned, they also looked in to materiality issues and analyze on their value chain which concerning from stakeholders and identified key performance index, focused area and prioritize according to degree from low to high of the impact and the interest of society that helped the company to utilize resources allocation, clearly goals setting and proper action plan in each focused areas. Source: Nestle Creating Shared Value, published on www.nestle.com, 2010 Analyzing to the Nestle monitoring system, their recent indicators are measured and reported in the form of United Nation Global Compact Principles which are Economic, Nutrition, Water, Environment Sustainability, Rural development, Suppliers, People and in addition with external assessment from SAM using Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) and Bureau Veritas assurance for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This report will describe and evaluate indicators from the dimensions of Socio-Cultural, economic and environment by using DJSI and GRI for analysis. Overall, results of performance indicator by SAM, Nestle been classified in to SAM Gold Class and ranked second leader in Food Producers Sector according to SAM methodology and assessment as shown in figure below. Source: SAM Sustainability Yearbook 2010 The performance indicators measured were weighting across Economic 34%, Environment 29% and Social Dimension 37% which can been seen that it got highest score in Social Dimension and almost highest in Environment Dimension that match with the firm focused areas on Nutrition, Rural development Our people as Social and Water Environment Sustainability as Environment Dimension as shown in table below. Source: SAM Company Benchmarking Scorecard, Corporate Sustainability Assessment, 2010 Looking into another indicator, GRI, Nestle GRI report shown its application level on B+ which mean they met criteria requirement in level B shown below and the report assured by external auditor Bureau Veritas. The reasons Nestle not met level A are because the reports did not respond to core G3 version and Sector Supplement Indicator; Nestle are categorized in Food Producers Sector. Source: GRI Application Levels version 3.0, 2010 The detail indicator analysis according to different dimension will explain in the following section. Economic Dimension DSJI Sustainability Assessment in economic dimension In DJSI Economic Dimension, it evaluated in 6 criteria indicators using the Sustainability Assessment questionnaire responded from the company, Nestle, consist of Corporate Governance Risk Crisis Management Code of Conduct / Compliance / Corruption Bribery Innovation Management Health Nutrition Strategy for Emerging Markets The DJSI report of Nestle Company evaluated by SAM can be seen as table below: It can be seen that Nestle Score are more than average in every area that evaluated by the answers responded from the questionnaire. For example: In corporate governance, it reported Checks Balance of the Board structure using two-tier system with supervisory board from non-executive and independent directors of total 14 persons compared to 13 from management board from executive management and the role of CEO is split from Chairman. It reported formal corporate government statement. There are 3 women in board for gender diversity. Board owned the company stock to align with long-term interest of shareholders. Another example in Risk Crisis Management including water and climate which Nestle got the best score shown that it assigned specific management staff Head of Group Risk Management, to response and report in this area, it using risk analysis tool such as HACCP, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), etc. and correlated analysis all this risks to business and financial risk including sensitivity and stress test such as change in carbon pricing, water quality. It has contingency plans using Nestle Environmental Management System (EMS) including ISO14001. More detail questionnaire answers can be seen from SAM Research Corporate Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire, DJSI Sustainability Assessment 2010, NESTLE SA/AG. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for Economic dimension measuring in 3 performance areas as Economic performance, 4 indicators: EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4 Market presence, 3 indicators: EC5, EC6 and EC7 Indirect economic impacts, 2 indicators: EC8 and EC9 For example: Nestle reported EC1: Direct economic value generated and distributed as below figures: It reviewed that the group achieved organic growth of 4.1% but because of Swiss franc currency weakness, it reported sale down to 107.6 Billion CHF. While the EBIT margin is increased to 14.6% and also dividend per share are increased 14.3%. The profitability is increased because of the cost saving target from Nestle Continuous Excellence (NEC) program. Also it increases its RD investment by 1.9% of sale for long-term brand building and investment. Another example of EC2 Risks and opportunities due to climate change: It can be seen that Nestle has improve energy efficiency and renewable energy expansion use over year such as it reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 3.1% from 2008. Environmental Dimension DSJI Sustainability Assessment in environmental dimension The score are measured in 8 different sub dimensions and Nestlà ©s score are shown in below table: Nestlà ©s all scores are above the average and some of them get the best score. Those score achieved by the company performance, for example in Environmental Policy / Management System, Nestle has adopted environmental policy which committed to environment since publish global policy on environment in 1991 where preserving natural resources and reduced wasted are in its operations which include the reduction use of water per kilo of food and beverage produced, signed UN Global Compact, improved environment through SAI-platform (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative), participated Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), shared knowledge through Greening the Supply Chain (CGS) program which help suppliers to develop their EMS (DJSI, 2010). Nestle EMS verify by ISO14001. Another indicator in Operational Eco-Efficiency, reported that the EP- Direct Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2009 was 3976158 Metric ton CO2 equivalent compared to 4104488 in 2008, also Indirect Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Energy purchased, Water consumption, Waste generation were reduced from the previous year. Additional example of Packaging indicator, Nestle policy is integrated with environmental aspects which applied to holistic life cycle farm to consumer to reduced weight and volume of materials, Packing reduction, recyclable packaging, use recycled materials, biodegradable packaging, recovered energy from used packages in which all detail reported can be seen from Nestle publications, eco-design and by invested in RD Sustainability Council to ensure that sustainability is taking in to account in all development products. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in Environment Dimension are measured in 9 different areas as Material: 2 indicators EN1 and EN2 Energy: 5 indicators EN3 to EN7 Waster: 3 indicators EN8, EN9, EN10 Biodiversity: 5 indicators EN11, EN12, EN13, EN14 and EN15 Emissions, effluents and waste: 10 indicators EN16 to EN25 Products and Services: 2 indicators EN26 and EN27 Compliance: 1 indicator EN28 Transport: 1 indicator EN29 Overall: 1 indicator EN30 At Nestle, for example in Material EN1: Materials used by weight or volume, it shown that it reduced 58,995 tons of materials weight from 21.43 million tons in 2008 to 21.18 million tons in 2009 as table below: Next example of Energy EN3: Direct energy consumption by primary energy source. It can be seen that Nestle had reduced energy consumption and move toward renewable energy sources. Additional example of Water EN8: Total water withdrawal by source in which Nestle aim to be the most efficiency water user and they can reduced 143 million cubic meters in 2009. Another example of Emissions, effluents and waste EN16: Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight reported reduced in 2009 compared to 2008. Further example of Products and Services EN26: Initiative to mitigate environmental impacts of products and services, and extend of impact mitigation. Nestle conducted Life Cycle Assessments to determine the impact to environment from its product such as coffee products and used those information for RD and share among communities for further improvement as shown in figure below: Social Dimension DSJI Sustainability Assessment in social dimension SAM was assessed in 7 main area indicators which Nestle assessment score are shown as below table: For example in Labor Practice Indicators, Nestle reported that it has a strict policy of non-discrimination base on gender, ethnic, nationality, religion and performance characteristic which from the Labor KPI as Non-Discrimination / Diversity shown 33% of women in the workforce and 27% in management position and the diversity distribute among 33.9% in Europe, 38% in America 28.1% in Asia, Oceania and Africa. Also for the safety in the workplace it used international standard of OHSAS 18001 as safety work indicators in which only 0.23 in

Business Plan for a Car Wash Essay example -- essays research papers

1.0 BUSINESS PROFILE 1.1 Business Description Modern people are very busy and they often neglect to clean their cars, and sometimes the limited living space also is the problem for the people who want to clean their car but they do not have space to clean their car, especially in Taiwan. Therefore, the car wash shops are increasing quickly, and people are happy to send their cars there. In Taiwan, hand-washing cars is more popular, because the customers think using hands to wash is softer. It does not damage the pain of the cars, and it is a luxury way to take care their cars. Kevin Car Wash ( ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW) business is a newly established car washing company located in the city of Kaoshung, in the south of Taiwan.  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW was established to cater for people who are busy and often neglect to clean their cars as well as those people who have difficulty cleaning their cars at their homes because they do not have an available area. Taiwanese people believe that washing cars by hand is better for the cars paint because washing by hand is softer than by mechanical washing. This car washing shop will be about 100~150 squares in size and will be located on the corner of the street in the central. 1.2 Business Mission Statement  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW is dedicated to providing its customers the ultimate car wash & care experience. Focusing all of its energy and resources on customer satisfaction and value, while providing owners and employees an excellent reward. 1.3 Situation Analysis  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW is entering their first year of operation. Kevin believes that a comprehensive marketing strategy will be key to the success of the business.  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW offers a premium hand car washing service provided by a well-known local family. The basic market need is a premium car washing service that is far less abrasive than the traditional automatic car washes. 1.3.1 Pest Analysis Political Factors Economic Factors Social Factors Technical Factors 1.4 SWOT Analysis The following SWOT analysis captures the key strength and weaknesses within the company, and describes the opportunities and threats facing  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW. 1.4.1 Strengths  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good relationships with many perspective customers in the target market.  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Strong family name recognition and equity in the community.  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Well trained employees. 1.4.2 Weaknesses  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The need... ...le risk, and it may cause the price of petrol to getting higher; the exchange rate of currency to change. If the price of petrol gets higher and the exchange rate of currency is changed this will decrease the usage and sales of cars. Under this situation, the car washing shop will decrease the demands from the car drivers. They prefer to use the public transportation than using their own cars. Furthermore, the environment regulation is the important issue that  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW need to consider all the time, because if my car washing shop disobeys the rules, the shop may lose its the operation license or even be closed down by the law. 8.2 Contingency Plan To create a contingency plan  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW are considering the following factor and areas. Again, once  ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœKCW has this plan will help its operation and compete with its competitor. Difficulties and Risks  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Problems generating visibility.  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Overly aggressive and debilitating actions by competitors. Worst Case Risks May Include  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Determining that the business cannot support itself on an ongoing basis.  ¡Ã‚ ¤Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Having to liquidate equipment to cover liabilities. REFERENCES 1. http://www.glaze.com.tw/procedure1.htm

A Comparative Essay on Plato’s and Aristotle’s Philosophies on Beauty, Tragedy and Art Essay

The existence of philosophies in life is important and valuable because they are to guide and determine the beliefs of a person. These beliefs are what dictates a person to act as such or to say such things. For all of the Classical and complicated philosophies present in the world and founded by great thinkers and philosophers, having a philosophy is as simple as having a belief and that belief is what constitutes our actions, words and thoughts. A philosophy can even dictate on what kind of school or job person would want to go to. In some instances, there comes a time that shallow or inconsequential perceptions of a personal philosophy arises and though it may seem as thus, it is still important to remember and consider that a personal philosophy is important for a particular person—since it is his or her own beliefs, therefore it is who he or she is or who he or she wants to be regarded as. No one can deny the fact that philosophies have gone through intensive and extensive transformation and progress in the world’s history and it is still transforming and changing in the contemporary times we have now. From the early ages of the Mesopotamian civilization to the Egyptian kingdoms and to the Romans and the Greeks, the branch of knowledge we now famously call philosophy have had great origins and greater people who made it a point to make their way of thinking or personal beliefs known—Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli and Nietzsche are only some of the few famous philosophers with different beliefs and different perceptions but which all aimed at the same thing—that is they wanted to explain how things function, how life is and finally, to point out that there can be a better way of life for everyone concerned. Something as simple and mundane as what is happiness or what is love is a catalyst for great amount and efforts of thinking since it aims to answer specific things in life—that is, human beings, how are we as humans and how we function? It is just that in the end, one thing leads to another and we are finally caught up with far more difficult, challenging and complex things. On the other hand, no matter how complex certain philosophies are and no matter how different the philosophers and their beliefs are, one thing remains the same—the philosophers were excellent people who practiced intellectual art and this intelligence is what lead them to more profound concerns about things which could have been considered as unimportant. Literature and art for example may seem unimportant compared to politics or religion but philosophers also studied and scrutinized them. Thus, it is most probable that both literature and art (although literature can be actually considered as an art itself) were probably tremendously influenced by the early examples of the Greek and Roman arts. Therefore, the literature and the art which we are admiring and studying today are all influenced by the offshoots of the particular philosophies which the likes of Plato and Aristotle believed in—and Plato and Aristotle were only two of the many known philosophers. There are many others who actively advocated certain beliefs or their philosophies concerning life and they did it (such advocacy) not just for the pursuit of intellectual development or personal fame but just because they are in pursuit of something greater for humanity as a whole. The likes of Aristotle and Plato advocated such philosophies since they believed that it aims for better things; as what Ahrensdorf wrote: Philosophy, on the other hand, seems to teach that the pursuit of wisdom through reason alone is the greatest good for a human being, that reason is therefore capable of both understanding the world and of guiding us to happiness, and hence that the world is, at the very least, not opposed to our deepest desires. (p. 151) Thus, though philosophy as a branch of knowledge may be very broad but it also influences many aspects; for example, as what was written before, literature and art (which are also two important branches of knowledge) is undeniably influenced by philosophy as well. In this paper, the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle will be discussed and will focus on their beliefs about beauty, tragedy and art. Though both great philosophers have great connections and are intertwined with each other, and there are even some vague similarities, their views are still astoundingly different and that is what makes it more interesting and intriguing. The Philosophy of Plato Plato was said to be a student of another great philosopher, Socrates who favourite Plato among his students. When Socrates died, Plato was said to be devastated and yet, he being a student of the great Socrates, continued his teacher’s legacy and became a man of philosophy as well. It is quite understandable that much of Plato’s philosophies were offspring of the beliefs of Socrates himself though with many exemptions. Plato was more realistic than his teacher and worldlier. Plato’s ideals concentrated on society and the ethical than that of Socrates who concentrated on the more metaphysical and immaterial things of life. In Plato’s philosophies, the definition and function of beauty, art and tragedy, were exemplified and explained. It is through these three aspects of life that we are able to further understand Plato’s reasoning about his beliefs. Beauty According to Plato, beauty is and will never be linked to the world of arts. In fact, he believes that beauty can never be art and art can never be beautiful. This way of thinking is characterized by his belief that beauty can never exist since if beauty exists then it should correspond to the perfect definition of beauty. For something to be called beautiful it needs to justify such term and label—a thing or a person cannot be beautiful just because someone says it so or it has the attributes of being attractive. It should instead, exemplify the perfect virtue of being a beauty. Moreover, Plato believes in the knowledge that if something beautiful does exist, then that is the only time that people can commonly acknowledge that such a beauty exists. Therefore, what we as humans have right now is not beauty but a pretentious definition or judgement for beauty—according to Plato that is. (Adajian and Hughes, p. 5) Art Most famous for Plato’s argument about art is that on the subject of poetry. Plato argues that art are mere representations and are not real as what an original object is. Art are therefore considered as imitations, illusions and a lie. Art is merely copying things in their original form and aims to portray the truth of the original form but they would always lose to its attempts since there is nothing more truthful than the original form and nothing more false than art. Plato’s view on this is most famous for his â€Å"thrice removed† belief wherein â€Å"artworks present only an appearance of an appearance of what is really real†. In simple terms, there is an idea or â€Å"Form† of a person which that person makes into reality or an original physical object but art copies that physical object and is thus, the most inferior of all. (Adajian) Tragedy Plato’s regard for tragedy is not the same intellectual disgust as what he had for the subject of beauty and art; in fact, he is more hostile with the subject of tragedy as he believes that â€Å"by portraying the greatest human beings as suffering beings, tragedy teaches that the world is fundamentally hostile to our aspirations for happiness† (Ahrensdorf, p. 156). Plato, together with the dialogue with his teacher, Socrates (or most likely, inspired by the beliefs of his teacher) further explains why tragedy is not a correct and erring concept. This due to the belief that tragedy deceives people from the truth and unlike art where imitates or mimics a true â€Å"Form†, tragedy actually changes how we perceive true Form and eventually alters how we perceive things. For example, Homer and other tragic poets does not only creates lie with their â€Å"soft heroes† they (meaning the tragedies) also portray mistaken ideals about the Greek gods and how people should act regarding their own personal tragedies. Because of these tragedies, people desire terror and misery and when tragic things do happen in reality, a person’s initial and natural reaction would be either in terror or in misery. Moreover, Plato further explains that because of these tragedies, â€Å"human beings unreasonably [become] soft and cowardly by filling them with fear† (Ahrensdorf, p. 158). It can be even said that Plato is disgusted with the existence of tragedy since it fills people with dread about the idea of death and death is something evil. Thus, because of how the tragic heroes are portrayed, the audience or people who watch such tragedies are mistakenly believe that death is something to be feared; in conclusion, it makes people cower and weaklings. The Philosophy of Aristotle Ironically, another great philosopher from Greece is Aristotle who was a student of Plato and who had another great person for a student—Alexander the Great. If Socrates inspired and influenced Plato, it can be the same for Aristotle who was inspired and influence by Plato. If Plato was more concerned with the ethical, Aristotle was more concerned with the scientific and made famous terms which are known today such as the label for â€Å"matter†. More than being a philosopher, he was equally a scientist as well and his philosophies and beliefs would in some point, turn and allude to science. Though he was a student of Plato and was influenced by him, his beliefs were far different than that of his teacher. For example, on the concepts of beauty, art and tragedy, he had different ideas compared to Plato. Beauty While Plato believed in the inexistence of beauty as long as something actually perfectly beautiful exists, Aristotle believed otherwise. According to Aristotle, beauty exists depending on the things surrounding that object or person. Something beautiful exists because it meets certain conditions of being classified as such and usually, these conditions entirely depend on the things within the vicinity of that object. Moreover, he defined any object as beautiful if it is clearly and accurately beautiful. Thus, if Plato believed in perfect beauty, Aristotle believed in measured beauty. This is not that surprising since he was a scientist and believed in more logical and reasonable conclusions than that of mere thoughtful imagination; as what Gaut and Lopes wrote, Aristotle explained in many of his writings like Metaphysics and Rhetoric various allusions and explanation on beauty and how it is measurable and definable: This passage appears to assume a definition of beauty in terms of size and proportion. So beauty is a real property of things. Aristotle says much the same thing in De Motu Animalum, when distinguishing what is beautiful from what is merely perceived as desirable. Aristotle’s beauty is real but equivocal. Its meaning derives from the nature of the beautiful thing in question. Aristotle urges his readers to see the beauty of even repellent animals. All living things boast a design suited to the purpose of their sustenance and reproduction, and that is what beauty comes to. (pp. 25 – 26) Art Plato is not wholly rooting for the subject of art since it is supposedly an imitation and a lie and it can be concluded that Aristotle shares that same belief. Aristotle defines art as something of a â€Å"realization†, a concept which is used to materialize an original and genuine thought. For example, if something is good, and an art is created to depict the concept of goodness then that particular piece of art is a realization. This can be the same as Plato’s philosophy as of art as an imitation of an idea but Aristotle argues that, â€Å"Art however is not limited to mere copying. It idealizes nature and completes its deficiencies: it seeks to grasp the universal type in the individual phenomenon†. (The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) Tragedy As opposed to Plato’s definition and concept of tragedy wherein the poets are the ones who creates the tragedy, Aristotle has very different view regarding the concept of tragedy wherein tragedy is based on the hero’s very own nature. Based on the Aristotelian beliefs of tragedy, the hero is wholly good and almost perfect. He is strong, virtuous and good. The gods favour him because he is the hero but if in the end, it is discovered that he has a flaw, and then he becomes a tragic hero. But there is a critical point on why this is the case. Tragic heroes and their pathetic demise exists for one thing and that is to â€Å"purge† the audience of the feeling of fear and sorrow: â€Å"tragedy, in depicting passionate and critical situations, takes the observer outside the selfish and individual standpoint, and views them in connection with the general lot of human being† (The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy).

Reader Response of Monkey’s Paw Essay

The short story which is going to be analyzed in this paper is Monkey’s Paw. It is a horror short story by William Wymark Jacobs. He is an English author of short stories and novels. The story itself is divided into three parts and will be determine the constituent and supplementary events of it. The constituent event is an event, what if it is removed, will make a gap in a plot of the story. It is also known as main event. Every story must have the constituent event, in order to create a chain of plot. Certainly, Monkey’s Paw has the constituent event in it. First, it is the most important event which is constituent – the title itself, Monkey’s Paw. The title of the story is really influential. The reader can get a gap when the object of monkey’s paw is changed with a mystical lamp, for example. It may feel more Arabian and there will be an event when the user of the mystical lamp rubbed down on it. It also changes the plot of the whole story, even the title itself, and it is not the Monkey’s Paw’s story anymore. Next, it is about the Herbert White’s death. The event when Herbert died is a constituent event which can not be removed or even be replaced. The reason of deciding it in to constituent event is that the Herbert’s death influences the three wishes to the monkey’s paw. If Herbert was not died, Mr. White would not make a second wish to get her son alive. It is shown that the event of Herbert White’s death is influential, and if it is removed, it can damage the plot of the story. Besides the constituent event is the main event in a story, the supplementary event is the removable one. It can be removed or deleted from the story, because it will not make a gap and change the structure of the plot. There are so many supplementary events in Monkey’s Paw. The first is playing chess done by Mr. White and his son, Herbert White. It can be removed, actually. The reasons are the existence of that event do not change the structure of the plot and the event is meaningless. Even if the event is not removed but is replaced its activity by another game, playing bowling for example, it does not mean anything to the structure of the plot. Another example of supplementary event is the last event of the first part of the story. It tells that Mr. White sat alone in the darkness, gazing at the dying fire, and seeing faces in it. This event is a removable and replaceable event. Without the existence of this event, the structure of the plot are not changed. Even, if the event is replaced by Mr. White is going to bed immediately, it is meaningless. In conclusion, the title of the story Monkey’s Paw, is the most important constituent event that are appeared and it is followed by another constituent event which can not be removed or be replaced. Finnaly, to supporting the constituent event, there are also some supplementary events.