The Hagfish Essays - Myxinidae, Scavengers, Ichthyology, Hagfish

The Hagfish The most disgusting creature on Earth.? The Hagfish is known to those who know of it as the most disgusting creature on Earth, a reputation well earned. The Hagfish or known also as the slime eel to fisherman who are unlucky enough to get one in their fish, live between depths of 60m and 1300m. The live in soft bottoms, in boroughs, with only their head sticking out. the Hagfish depending on type (their are 2 types: Eptatretidae and Myxindae) range anywhere from 12-40 inches. hagfish off the Californian coast are common, being centrally populated around the Monterey bay area the Eptatidae live in all oceans, and the Myxondae live in all oceans as well, excluding the North Atlantic. In the Phylum Chordata, class Agnatha, order Myxinoidea. Physical Description: They sort of look like an eel, they have a tail fin, but no paired fins, and no jaws or bones. Like sharks they are Cartalageous. They have slit like mouths, with a tongue that has horny teeth on it. They have degenerate eyes buried under their skin, and a single nostril on the end of their snout. On the snout they have five barbels, that act like feelers, sensing motion. They are scaleless and soft skinned as well, and are related to the Lamprey. The reason Hagfish are so disgusting is because of their dietary habits. A hagfish favors dead or dying invertebrates, and marine animals as prey. They then latch on to the animal, and using their tongue with horny teeth, burrow a hole to the insides of the prey. From their eating the animal, which may still be alive, from the inside out. Hagfish have been known to latch on to fish caught in nets, or on the end of a fisherman's hook. Although their are no known reports of Hagfish eating a live human, it is possible, however unlikely; being that the person would probably notice the fish latching into their skin, and beginning to eat them alive, and pull it off. Hagfish however, and this is my speculation, would eat a dead corpse from a shipwreck and such. When these fish are handled by humans, they excrete unbelievable amounts of slime. Giving way to the name slime eel. As for the Hagfishes future who knows? it seems as long as things die, the Hagfish will flourish. And will continue to earn its place as one of the most disgusting creatures on this Earth. So next time you go scuba diving, remember: Beware the Hagfish.

Essay on Organizational Diagnostic Models

Essay on Organizational Diagnostic Models Essay on Organizational Diagnostic Models Essay on Organizational Diagnostic ModelsManaging a business requires an integral approach based on the analysis and synthesis of relevant facts. Organizational management requires systems thinking which involves considering the organization in the context with its internal and external factors, inputs and outputs, etc. In order to identify a viable business strategy, it is reasonable to utilize a matching organization diagnosis model. The organization considered in this paper is Whole Foods Market, and the organization diagnosis model which most effectively matches the factors important for Whole Foods Market strategic development is the Nadler-Tushman congruence model. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the chosen company and its operations using is the Nadler-Tushman congruence model, to identify outputs of Whole Foods Market at three levels individual, group and organizational, and to assess the congruence of the outputs.Congruence model and outputsNadler-Tushman congruence model belongs to the class of organizational diagnosis models which consider the organization in relationship to its environment. Congruence model views the organization as an open system which has its inputs and outputs, and is driven by the relevant external factors and internal factors. Congruence model takes into account the history of the organization, its current strategy and the influence of the environment. This model allows to assess the position of the organization and the processes taking place in the organization in the proper context.One of the core advantages of congruence model is the fact that it can be applied for analyzing transformations and change in the organization. Nadler and Tushman identified three types of outputs: individual, group and organizational (Nadler Tushman, 1980). At the organizational level, the companys outputs are its products and services, the companys performance and the extent to which the company manages to implement its goals. At the gr oup level, the performance and the match between goals and achievements of different organizational groups can be considered (Nadler Tushman, 1980). Groups are often divisions or branches of the organization. At the individual level, it is possible to consider different characteristics; in the context of this paper, the key jobs and the approaches to measuring the performance of these jobs will be considered.Whole Foods outputsOutputs at the organizational levelWhole Foods Market sells organic and natural products, so the companys main outputs are the products offered at the stores as well as the sales of these products. The major products sold by Whole Foods Market are perishable goods. According to the companys annual report, the selection of products at Whole Foods Market includes, but is not limited to: produce and floral, grocery, meat, seafood, bakery, prepared foods and catering, coffee, tea, beer, wine, cheese, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, and lifestyle pro ducts including books, pet products, and household products (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). The number of SKUs sold in the stores of Whole Foods Market is almost 21,000 (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). In 2013, the sales of perishable products constituted 66.2% of total sales, and the sales of non-perishable products accounted for the remaining 33.8% of sales (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). In particular, Whole Foods Market has a number of exclusive organic brands; the sales of these brands constituted 12% of total sales, and 16% of non-perishable sales (Whole Foods Market, 2014a).The companys sales in 2013 constituted almost $13 billion (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). Overall increase of sales in 2013 was 7%, which is in line with companys growth during 2010-2013 period (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). In 2013, Whole Foods Market   opened 26 new stores, acquired 6 stores and relocated 5 stores. The company expanded into 10 new areas in 2013. The companys net income increased by 18.24% (Whole Food s Market, 2014a). The companys dividends increased by 43%; however, stock prices of Whole Foods Market in 2013 were very volatile and this volatility might have a negative effect on the companys performance (Whole Foods Market, 2014a).As for the current financial performance of Whole Foods Market, it is also very beneficial: the companys current ratio is 1.7, which means that Whole Foods Market has plenty of cash available (Yahoo Finance, 2014). The companys profit margin is 4.14% and operating profit margin is 6.75% (Yahoo Finance, 2014). At the same time, the companys debt to equity ratio is 1.54 (Yahoo Finance, 2014), which indicates that Whole Foods Market is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy.Outputs at the group levelAt the group level, Whole Foods Market is organized into National Offices and Regional Offices, which oversee the functioning of the store groups at state level and at country level for international locations. Functionally, the major group units in the str ucture of Whole Foods Market are stores. Most decisions which directly influence performance are performed at the store level: hiring, managing supplies, managing sales, etc. The teams (store teams in particular) are independent units in Whole Foods Market. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider the outputs at the store level.The goals of stores are expressed in sales and sales growth and store size dynamics. In 2013, average weekly sales of stores reached $711,000; this value was by 6.9% higher compared to average store performance in 2012 (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). Average size of a Whole Foods Market store in 2013 was 38,000 sq. ft., which is the same as in previous years (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). Taking into account that Whole Foods Market is currently focusing on increasing sales and reducing costs (which means reducing store sizes, in particular), it is possible to state that in 2013 the performance at store level in Whole Foods Market was reasonably high.Outputs at the individual levelIndividual outputs of Whole Foods Market will be considered from the point of view of an employee. There are various types of jobs at Whole Foods Market, which belong to the following directions: delivery of store products, team leadership, facility operations, facility leadership (Whole Foods Market, 2014b). In the individual context, the following five jobs might be considered: healthy eating specialist, produce team member working with sign maintenance, bakery team leader, prepared foods service team member and customer service specialist.The responsibilities of healthy eating specialist include educating customers about healthy food, providing guest service, acting as a spokesperson, demonstrating healthy cooking examples at special events organized by the company, performing ordering of products for the store, stocking and merchandising them (Whole Foods Market, 2014b). Performance characteristics associated with this job are order delivery time, fulfillment of department time and supply margins, inventory level dynamics, inventory turnover and inventory balance.Produce team members in Whole Foods Market have to perform signage of produce and floral products, taking care of sale signs, maintaining inventory of relevant equipment and supplies, operating produce equipment, auditing signs, assisting customers, etc (Whole Foods Market, 2014b). The most appropriate performance measures for this job are customer satisfaction pertaining to signs, signs accuracy and signs comprehensibility.The responsibilities of a bakery team leader include setting team standards, scheduling and assigning duties for team members, supervising, participating in hiring and training of team members, managing inventory and labor, developing and maintaining store layout (Whole Foods Market, 2014b). In this case, key performance values are job satisfaction of team members, team turnover, scheduling efficiency, life-work balance of team members and customer satisfaction. Team members of prepared foods service team have to maintain attractive displays of prepared foods, supporting the customers, packaging and weighing customer selections, making prepared foods (e.g. salads), tracking products and spoilage (Whole Foods Market, 2014b). In this context, key performance measures are speed of service, customer satisfaction, attractiveness of food layout, availability of goods and percentage of spoilage.Customer service associates are responsible for assisting customers, maintaining customer responses, product recalls and customer communications, providing information to the customers, etc (Whole Foods Market, 2014b). The major performance measure for this job is customer satisfaction; speed of customer service and the level of customer awareness can also be considered as performance measures.In general, Whole Foods Market added more than 5,600 new jobs in 2013 (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). The turnover within the company is estimated at 10%, which is consi dered quite low for a retailer (Whole Foods Market, 2014a). Furthermore, Whole Foods Market continues entering the list of 100 best companies to work for during the recent 16 years (Whole Foods Market, 2014a).Congruence of the outputsThe results of the analysis of organizational outputs show that Whole Foods Market is quickly expanding, both at due to organic growth and due to acquisitions. The company is actively investing into growing its store chain. At the same time, Whole Foods Market aims to optimize the costs by reducing store size, reducing losses due to product spoilage, etc. The companys sales have increased at approximately the same rate as during the previous years. It is possible to state that Whole Foods Market effectively reaches its goals at the organizational level.At the group level, the performance of Whole Foods Market is also high: store revenues continue increasing and new stores were opened at a record rate in 2013. Store sizes remained the same, so Whole Food s Market has yet to strive for the reduction in store size. At the individual level, Whole Foods Market offers a variety of jobs with different job responsibilities and performance characteristics. However, the turnover in the company is low and new job openings are being created. Hence, it is possible to state that Whole Foods Market manages to reach its goals at individual level, too.The company manages to utilize its resources in an efficient way. However, Whole Foods Market is too focused on horizontal expansion: the company has a high level of debt despite its strong financial position. The level of adaptability within the company is moderate as Whole Foods Market is pursuing a direct model of growth through increasing its store network. Such business model is vulnerable to market changes, market saturation and the change of customer preferences. Hence, it is possible to recommend to Whole Foods Market to work on the optimization of its internal resources and to consider opport unities of vertical integration.

Specific public policy case in USA during the government shutdown Essay

Specific public policy case in USA during the government shutdown - Essay Example The issue of national security in the United States is one of the most sensitive issues. After the Twin towers were attacked in 2001 security policies were given priority over other policies during appropriation of funds by the legislature (Campbell, 2008). However, as the national security stabilizes and the country becomes more and more secure many proponents are of the opinion that the appropriation has now become too much in comparison with its contribution to the status of the national security (Klein, 2013). Some legislators, in the events leading to the government shutdown, were proposing a cut, while others were of the opinion that the move to cut on military expenditure will only prove costly in the long run. This paper will discuss the government shutdown of 2013 and then go ahead to explore the US security policies using several sociological and political theories to analyze the key themes of the policy and ponder on the future developments and the alternative course of ac tion. The paper will also employ the Eugene Bardach policy analysis model to bring out the contentious issues and their possible alternatives. The Bacchi model will also be integrated to problematize the issue and discuss the presumptions of the policies. The US Government Shutdown The United States of America operates under a federal system of government. This government offers a wide range of public services in the areas of health, education, social security, medical, insurance and the country’s security while the other services are offered by the individual states to the citizens. For it to offer these services, it needs funds, which are allocated to each of its department by the legislature. The last government shutdown took place in 2013 under the President Obama administration from October 1 to October 17 when a bill was signed. A shutdown of the federal government happens when there is no Appropriation bill that has been signed that allocates the various government dep artments to continue spending funds (Bill, 2013). These funds are allocated at the start of a fiscal year and when the year ends if there has not been any more appropriation from the Congress, and then the government has to shut down because of the funding gap that is created. The 2013 government shutdown took place because the Republicans, and the Democrats could not agree on the funding of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. This act was signed into law in 2010 but has created deep divisions in the House of Representatives and the Congress. The Republicans who are controlling the House of Representatives want to cut the spending, and the amount allocated to this policy whereas the Congress which is dominated by the Democrats did not support the cut. This confrontation led to the shutdown as the House of Representative passed a bill that had suggested a funding cut which was rejected by the Congress (Steinhauser, 2013). The main reason behi nd the Republicans proposing a cut in spending is because the government deficit in budget had already hit 15.7%, and the International Monetary Fund was already considering not lending the US government any more funds because of their rising debt levels; the credibility of borrowing was in question. During the 16-day shutdown, however, the Congress continued passing specific bills that addressed specific policies, which were then signed by

Domestic violence Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Domestic violence - Research Paper Example ic violence shelter has established several programs that can ensure the safety of domestic violence victims and provide the relevant support in an effort to eliminate domestic violence in the community. This paper will provide the details of all the processes and activities carried out by the program. The main objective of establishing a local, domestic violence shelter was to provide both short-term and long-term accommodation to domestic violence victims. Volunteers working in the shelter receive children, women, as well as men who have suffered domestic violence and can no longer live in their homes. Notably, women and children form the majority of domestic violence victims. Therefore, the local, domestic violence shelter receives children and women exposed to extreme domestic violence and present them with a safe place to live before situations return to normal. In some cases, the program organizes for long-term accommodation, especially for victims whose lives are at a risk. At the shelter, all the victims receive the relevant counseling from psychological experts. Domestic violence causes high levels of trauma in the victims. It can affect the normal development of children (Cook-Craig, Lane, & Siebold, 2010). Therefore, children who are exposed to domestic violence in the community can receive the relevant counseling and support in an effort to minimize long-term effects of domestic violence. In order to address issues related to domestic violence effectively, the volunteers indulge in a risk assessment process.The process sought to establish members of the community who are prone to domestic violence as well as establishing the potential causes of domestic violence in the community. All the volunteers recognize that it is impossible to address domestic violence effectively if the root causes of the problem are not identified (Cook-Craig, Lane, & Siebold, 2010). After identifying the social and community conditions that contribute to the increasing

Types of CAPTCHA

Types of CAPTCHA Text-Based CAPTCHAs CAPTCHA was at first conceived by Andrei Broder and his associates in 1997 and around the same time Altavista site utilized this technique as a HIP around the same time. This strategy utilized a contorted English word that a client was made a request to sort. The bended word was less demanding for clients to see however troublesome for bots to perceive utilizing OCR procedures. Content based CAPTCHAs are as a picture containing a hard to perceive content string to be distinguished and written by the client in a content box gave close to the CAPTCHA picture on the Web page. The CAPTCHA picture is of low quality with various types of clamor and solid debasement connected to it. Blum and Von Ahn in Collaboration with Yahoo contrived EZ-Gimpy and Gimpy CAPTCHA to shield talk rooms from spammers. These CAPTCHAs challenges have been broken by lexicon assaults which contained a predetermined number of words in them. A more secure sort of content based HIP, called reCAPTCHA has been proposed by similar creators. Confuse Text CAPTCHA is the Xerox Pato Alto Research Center (PARC) form of Gimpy test. Unmistakable content based CAPTCHA methods incorporate Scatter Type, Handwritten Word based CAPTCHA and Human Visual System veiling Characteristic CAPTCHA. Different specialist organizations on the Internet like PayPal, Hotmail and YouTube utilize their own forms of content construct CAPTCHAs considering their sites and overhaul them with more current forms every now and again. With a point of enhancing ease of use of content based CAPTCHAs, Richard Chow et al have proposed a nonexclusive system for changing over a literary CAPTCHA into an interactive CAPTCHA. It propos es situation of various content CAPTCHA pictures in a matrix among which some are English words while others are not. The client must tap on all legitimate English words to breeze through this CAPTCHA test. Image-Based CAPTCHAs Blum and Von Ahn proposed at first picture based CAPTCHA called ESP-PIX CAPTCHA. It utilized a bigger database of photos and energized pictures of ordinary items. The CAPTCHA framework gave a client an arrangement of pictures all connected with a similar question or idea. The client was required to enter the question or idea to which every one of the pictures had a place with e.g. the program may show pictures of Globe, Volleyball, Planet and baseball anticipating that the client should effectively relate every one of these photos with the word ball. When all is said in done picture based CAPTCHAs show a visual example or idea that the client needs to distinguish and act as needs be. Diverse picture based CAPTCHA plot utilizes distinctive examples or ideas which are anything but difficult to be perceived by the clients and troublesome for the bot projects to mimic. Other than a few others, this class of CAPTCHA strategies include: Microsoft Asirra, Image Generation for Internet Authe ntication, Image Block Exchange and Face Recognition CAPTCHAs. Mosaic-based Human Interactive Proof called MosaHIP proposes a CAPTCHA conspire for securing the download of asset against Web-bots. It utilizes a solitary bigger picture called mosaic picture which is made from littler and halfway covering genuine and fake pictures. The client needs to drag an asset communicated in type of versatile content protest on the site page and drop it onto the zone of the mosaic picture containing the picture showed in the CAPTCHA picture. Google has proposed a CAPTCHA strategy in which a client must alter randomly pivoted pictures to their upright positioning. As of late, an Image Flip CAPTCHA technique proposes utilization of a composite CAPTCHA picture involving flipped and non-flipped pictures. The client needs to tap on all pictures that show up as ordinary and with no flip connected to them. Audio-Based CAPTCHAs The main sound based CAPTCHA was actualized by Nancy Chan to give another option to content based CAPTCHAs for outwardly impeded individuals. Sound CAPTCHAs take an arbitrary grouping drawn from recordings of straightforward words or numbers, consolidate them and add some unsettling influence and clamor to it. This recording is played when the client clicks a catch gave on the website page. The CAPTCHA framework then requests that the client enter the words or potentially numbers in the recording. Sound CAPTCHAs are more hard to tackle, hard to internationalize and more requesting as far as time and endeavors in contrast with content and picture CAPTCHAs. Notwithstanding, sound based CAPTCHA tests have turned into an option for outwardly impeded individuals. Most Web administrations incorporate it notwithstanding content and picture CAPTCHAs. Different CAPTCHAs Besides above sorts of CAPTCHA tests, Collaborative Filtering and Implicit CAPTCHA challenge have been proposed in writing. Joint separation CAPTCHAs approaches contrast from others in the scenes that CAPTCHA creators dont know at first the right solution for their planned CAPTCHA, however measure it from human conclusion. Understood CAPTCHA proposes single tick difficulties recognized as fundamental perusing joins which can be replied through involvement of the setting of the Website.

Essay --

LITERATÃ… ªRA 1. Dengzhe Ma, Jà ¼rgen Gausemeier, Xiumin Fan, Michael Grafe. Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality in Industry (The 2nd Sino-German Workshop). Springer, 2009. 2. RaghavSood. Pro Android Augmented Reality. Apress, 2012. 3. Gregory Kipper, Joseph Rampolla. Augmented Reality: An Emerging Technologies Guide to AR. Syngress/Elsevier, 2012. 4. Borko Furht. Handbook of Augmented Reality. Springer, 2011. 5. Buhalis D., Yovcheva Z. Augmented reality in tourism: 10 unique applications explained, 2013. Prieiga per internetÄ… (Ã… ¾iÃ… «rÄâ€"ta 2013-11-08): http://thinkdigital.travel/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/10-AR-Best-Practices-in-Tourism.pdf. 6. Webster Ã… ¾odynas. Prieiga per internetÄ… (Ã… ¾iÃ… «rÄâ€"ta 2013-10-28): http://www.merriam-webster.com 7. TarptautiniÃ… ³ Ã… ¾odÃ… ¾iÃ… ³ Ã… ¾odynas, Vyriausioji enciklopedijÃ… ³ redakcija, 1985. 8. Daniel Wagner, Dieter Schmalstieg. First Steps Towards Handheld Augmented Reality. Vienna University of Technology, 2010. 9. Alex Olwal. An introduction to augmented reality. Department of Numerical Analysis and Computer Science, 2010. 10. Irma Lindt. Augmented Reality in Pervasive Games. Fraunhofer FIT, Sankt Peterburgas, 2007. 11. Remi Paucher, Matthew Turk. Location-based augmented reality on mobile phones. University of California, Computer Science Department, Santa Barbara, 2010. 12. Andrew D. Wilson, Hrvoje Benko. Combining Multiple Depth Cameras and Projectors for Interactions On, Above, and Between Surfaces. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc., 2010. 13. Microsoft LightSpace: Behind the 3D Revolution. Prieiga per internetÄ… (Ã… ¾iÃ… «rÄâ€"ta 2013-10-31): http://www.technocentricity.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/microsoft-lightspace. 14. Azuma, Ronald; Balliot, Yohan; Behringer, Reinhold; Feiner, Steven; Julier, Simon; MacIntyre, Bla... ...ding to the results based on analysis of a scientific literature, analytical literature comparison and comparison of microprograms, it is offered to synchronize augmented reality microprograms creation platforms for mobile operating systems between all models of microprograms platforms. If these two operating systems be synchronized, than all augmented reality platforms for microprograms in the cognitive tourism will be available for more than 90% users of smartphones and tablets. Once be downloaded such mobile application, users could have possibility to reach all microprograms installed in this platforme tourism. Empirical analysis revealed that the biggest part of respondents agree with authors opinion – in new platform for cognitive tourism should be installed all seven models for augmented reality microprograms, which were analysed in this Master‘s thesis.

Economic Ideas of Mercantilism in Comparison

Mercantilism was an early capitalistic economic concept, which was based on the following principle: the only sources of a country’s wealth are the money funds and precious metals it possesses, so the more money a nation has the richer it is supposed to be. According to this theory, the government has to follow the policy of protectionism and keeping the money inside of the country, encouraging only domestic trade and the exports, at that reducing the imports and creating maximum trade surplus. This theory was severely criticized by an outstanding Scottish philosopher and economy theorist Adam Smith, who argued that the welfare of the country can not be measured only with money. The main difference of Smith’s theory from mercantilism is his conclusion that not only money accumulation, but also free market and vivid international trade, healthy industrial competition, make-work activities, product exchange and other factors of free market economy are essential for boosting national welfare. In addition, Smith was against the necessity of tough governmental control of the exports and imports, as well as against of any sorts of trade barriers, market limitations and restrictions imposed by government.   He claimed that only market forces have to determine the types and volumes of manufacturing, the directions of international trade, etc. He was convinced that national economy itself will find the most effective ways of own development. Undoubtedly, the findings and ideas of Adam Smith are more influential and important for modern economy, because now the majority of the countries practice one or another form of free market economy. But there are still supporters of the mercantilist ideas, who argue that exports bring more positive outcomes to national economy (new working places, new incomes, etc.) than the imports do, and that is why the exports have to be encouraged. References: Ball, D., McCulloh, W. H., Geringer, M., Frantz, P.L. & Minor, M. S. (2005). International Business. 10th Ed. Columbus, OH: The McGraw-Hill Co.