Sunset at Santorini Essays

Sunset at Santorini Essays Sunset at Santorini Essay Sunset at Santorini Essay This evening, we decided to go watch the sunset at Santorini, a beautiful island which had a sunset that meant exactly beauty beyond measure. I consider myself lucky to have even set foot on this faraway island, let alone, witness this truly extraordinary event. After my first glance at it, I was captivated. My family and I were on a vacation to Santorini. One of the biggest parts of it was the sunset.From our hotel, we rode a Taxi to Oia, the best place to view the sunset. By 7 o’clock in the evening, the place was already swarming with people. We walked along with the vast wave of crowd, looking for a place to sit. Suddenly, I saw it. Just beside the path full of people, there was a large stone boulder; the perfect viewing spot. After waiting for the sunset for about 30 more minutes, it was finally here. The sky flared with radiant streaks of color, which settled on top of the ocean.Light purple, cotton candy pink, brilliant orange, and bright golden yellow swirls decorated the evening sky, as if alight with fire. All the smooth colors blended perfectly into each other. The once-fiery sun, now glowing softly, rested upon the tranquil, dark-blue ocean, slowly sinking into the horizon. As the last ray of light faded, everything was dark and peaceful. Suddenly, a standing ovation filled the air. I was among those clapping like I have never before.The sun had set, in a way that filled the sky, even though it, itself, was small compared to the endless sky. It has shown its importance here and was off to somewhere else to shine. After that breathtaking display of nature’s beauty, it was time to retire to bed. As I lied down on my silky mattresses, I thought back to what just happened. I had just observed a sunset on Santorini. It is considered one of the world’s most magnificent sunsets. â€Å"It was an amazing sight! † I whispered into the air as the marvelous feeling of awe swept over me again.

MEMS essays

MEMS essays Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) Micro-electromechanical systems are a technology based on the combination of computer and mechanical elements such as: sensors, valves, actuators, mirrors and gears enclosed in semiconductor chips. It is basically the integration of micromechanisms and microelectronics. The combination of these engineering areas makes impact near all branches of science and technology in fields such as biology, medicine, automotive engineering and others. MEMS, also called smart matter, because they are able to do information processing and transduction tasks for certain applications. So it would be a device that can sense and react accordingly to the environment. Motivating factors behind MEMS include the package size due to its decreased size. In addition facts of manufacturing and economic advantages are also present. Potentially, such chips can be built in large quantities at low cost. A high develop sensor takes information from the environment without damaging the environment. Therefore, ener gy exchange is reduced. Fast response and high sensitivity with minimal power are also important attributes. MEMS can be used for numeral purposes. MEMS are being used in lots of different fields of science and engineering, such as: biotechnology, communications, accelerometers and other. In the biotechnology field, DNA amplification and identification system has been developed called Polymerase Chain Reaction. A Scanning Tunneling Microscope, for the detection of hazardous chemical and biological agents. In communications high frequency devices circuits would be benefit by MEMS technology. Inductors and tunable capacitors with are electronic devices can improve if made with MEMS technology. All of these will improve the performance of communication circuits and at the same time power consumption and cost will be reduced. MEMS accelerometers are replacing the ones now for crash air bag deployment system...

Taking both a product and a service of your choice you are to identify Essay

Taking both a product and a service of your choice you are to identify the elements of the marketing mix - Essay Example Keeping the aim of customer satisfaction in mind, it becomes essential for the marketers to make sound decisions regarding various aspects of the product or service (marketing mix), rather making decision solely on the basis of estimates or guesstimates. As a result of evolution of such concepts in the business world, the field of marketing has now become something far beyond rule of thumb decision making. This article is intended to analyze the marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) of one commodity and one service. Before starting the evaluation, it is essential to have a brief overview of the theoretical basis of the elements of marketing mix. In the end, we will comment on the effectiveness of marketing mix of both of them. The marketing mix is one of the most frequently used term in the field of marketing, in fact we can call it a buzz word of marketing. It includes the basic tactical components of marketing mix. Traditionally there are four elements of marketing mix; product, pricing, place, promotion. However, some of the authors add other three Ps too, to make it 7 Ps. The rest of the three are process, people and physical environment. All these Ps have a number to specific decisions to be taking and the sum total of all those decisions ultimately contribute to what we call marketing mix, a set of tactical decisions aimed to better market the product and thus increase customer satisfaction. Costa coffee established its first coffee shop â€Å"Costa Expresso Bar† in 1978 in Vauxhall Bridge Road in London. Even to this date, they still use the same method of slow-roasting coffee beans. Now it serves the brothers’ authentic blend of 6 Arabica beans to 1  Robusta in 500 coffee shops all over the world. The brand name of COSTA has been promoted as a symbol of status, a symbol of high class. The COSTA coffee is basically a hot drink; however, the various customer researches show that customers who have come here are actually not more intend to

History of my immigration or how I got the new life Essay

History of my immigration or how I got the new life - Essay Example Realizing that conditions were not going to get better in Tyver, I decided that immigration to the United States would be the best course of action for finding a more suitable and rewarding lifestyle. To accomplish those goals, I completed my Russian education by attending college while also working as a data entry clerk at a local factory. Five years later, further economic disruptions caused significant changes to my stable lifestyle in the Soviet Union, causing huge financial losses through lost bank accounts, job stability, and loss of pensions in the entire family. It is next to impossible to accurately inform an individual what it feels like to not know where your next meal will come from, however this was the reality of life in the Moscow region in the early portion of the 1990’s. Hunger was a common element of lifestyle as salaries regarding work outputs were delayed not only for weeks, but for years on end, due to any variety of broad economic rationales. Realizing that I could no longer sustain myself in Russia, I began to explore alternatives, as I had a great education, but no appropriate clothing, no job, and was only 25 years old. I happened upon a newspaper advertisement which stated Change your life and earn money in the process, which was a promotion for USA jobs. A couple of days later, I made the phone call, despite being apprehensive about potentially moving to a foreign country. This singular phone call changed my life entirely. Over a period of weeks, I began to collect all of the necessary information required to travel to the United States, including a visa and a travel ticket. By June 1, 1998, I was ready to leave Russia behind to begin a new life overseas. Though I was quite nervous about making the transfer, unsure of what I would find in the U.S., I realized that there could be no looking backwards if I wanted to find a new life and experience a better quality of living. Upon arrival, I found radical differences in the social

T-Moblie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

T-Moblie - Essay Example public, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Poland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the Slovakia– including the US Virgin Islands, US, and the Puerto Rico. On the global level, the International subsidiaries of T-Mobile possess total subscribers which are roughly 150 million in number, which makes it the twelfth-largest service provider of mobile phone in the entire world in terms of subscribers. Besides this, T-Mobile bags the rank of the third-largest multinational and stand after Spains Telefà ³nica and UKs Vodafone. T-Mobile, in the year 2010, became the segment of the agreement of joint venture with the UK mobile-network provider of France Telecom, Orange UK. These companies combined and formed the largest mobile-network operator of UK and called itself Everything Everywhere. However, even after forming the joint venture, the Orange brands and T-Mobile go on to co-exist in the markets of United Kingdom. T-Mobile complies with all the laws which are applicable to the state and federal codes of laws and regulations. The management of the company does not indulge in any activity which violates the policies of the company such as non-retaliation, non-discriminatory and non-harassment policies. The unacceptable conduct in the company constitutes of violation of company laws and policies, removal of the property of company without permission, willful or neglectful damage or defacing of the company property, dishonesty, fraud, improper record keeping and all the related activities. Any criminal conviction amongst the employees results in their termination from the company. Besides this, all the secret trade laws and other legal information are kept confidential from others except the concerned parties. The company makes the decisions in the business by giving proper consideration to the social, ethical and legal regulations. The T-Mobile makes returns to the society through the afterschool community outreach program. The company makes efforts to

Biodiversity Museum exhibit Presentation Essay Example for Free

Biodiversity Museum exhibit Presentation Essay Very little is known about biodiversity and its effect on livelihood and the environment. In order to clearly understand where we are coming from a clear definition of the broad concept is in order Biodiversity is the difference in number, frequency and variety of living organisms in an ecological system. This includes plants, animals, birds, fish among others. Basically this term encompasses variety of ecosystems species, and relative abundance (http://www. equalearth. org/wildlifeextinction. htm ). Importance of Biodiversity. Tropical rainforests are dying or being cut down at a faster rate than be replaced. The rainforests play a vital role in water catchments areas and are home to thousands of birds spices and animals. The replacement of these forest with artificial ones is insufficient because the rainforest support undergrowth and attract more rain. Animals species take millions of years to adapt to their habitat and no human being should fuel elimination of such progress. Biodiversity sustains our own survival as well as that of the global economy. The small millipedes play a profound role of improving the quality of our soils. The same also goes for the fungi, algae, and bacteria among other microorganisms. These organisms aerate the soils, incorporate crucial elements like minerals and nitrogen. Additionally ecosystems in marshes remove excess nutrients from the soil. A good example is the mollusus. The forests reduce soil erosion through wind and water. What’s more, forests hold the soil firmly together thus preventing landslides. Furthermore, biodiversity ensures stabilization of the climate in the sense that they act as repositories of CO2 in exchange for O2, act as wind breakers and lessen the brunt of freezing temperatures. Other benefits include controlling natural disasters, pollinations of plants by the bees and birds thus better crop production and such like. On a different note biodiversity provide food security, aesthetic, medicinal bioprospecting, spiritual healing and value. Virginia is an area rich in biodiversity with variety of native plants and animals. It is important that this ecosystem is preserved and hence it is important to educate visitors on the causes of wildlife extinction. Deforestation is one reason that causes extinction as humans destroy forest to build roads, cultivate and other infrastructure. In US only 15% of tropical forest remains. Other causes of wildlife extinction include poaching, habitat degradation (through mining), animal diseases, pollution and overexploitation (http://www. equalearth. org/wildlifeextinction. htm ). The aquatic life is also not spared. Whales, Atlantic cod, bald eagle and others are hunted town piercely for economic gains especially whale oil. Water pollution has also killed several aquatic species in a short duration. The impact of wildlife extinction on our world increases as the destruction of ecosystem progresses. This is because each species of living organism has a role in maintaining a balance in the system. If one species becomes extinct the whole system is destabilized. For example the food consumed by that species will overpopulate causing the others that fed it to reduce. Extinction of wildlife depraves future generations from knowing nature as it was. The extinction of dinosores millions of years ago stripped humanity of the knowledge of such creatures. Extinction of species also die hence food insecurity and economic loss. The relationship between wildlife extinction and deforestation is clear cut. The rainforests support life of over a million species of plant and animals. Deforestation Randers these animals homeless and without food to eat. The destruction of their habitat forces them to look in other areas which they are not adapted to. In such a case only the fittest survive the hostile environment fuelling extinction. Deforestation leads to food insecurity for animals, which eventually starve to death. Additionally exposing animals to unsheltered habitats puts them in the hands of poachers who kill then for money. This leads to extinctions of wildlife. Besides, deforestation strips wildlife of their homes, which in turn exposes hem to adverse climate and temperatures causing diseases and death, thus extinction. Deforestation has some current and potential impacts on world cultures. For instance, the economic lifestyle of a people in Brazil depends on extraction of rubber, nuts and other raw materials which they sell to companies in exchange of money to buy food and other necessities. Deforestation hampers this source of income. Culture incorporates the kind of shelter, foods and lifestyles people have. Deforestation causes disharmony in this culture in that indigenous people go without traditional medicine from tees, lack materials for building their homes, go without recreation facilities and no longer have good soil to cultivate crops. Given that clear understanding, of biodiversity, I have been hired by the largest, natural history museum in the world and charged with the responsibility of designing an exhibit that introduces visitors to the importance of biodiversity, causes of wildlife extinction, ways that wildlife extinction impacts on the world, causes of deforestation, and its relationship to wildlife extinction current and potential impacts of deforestation on world cultures and description of the methods that are and could be implemented to preserve the present level of aquatic biodiversity. This task is equally challenging, as it is exciting. The proposed design will be submitted to the Museum’s board or trustees. Aquatic life zones Currently, the US and other countries have realized the importance of aquatic biodiversity and taken steps to preserving it. The well-being of lakes and water bodies directly promotes well-being of aquatic life. The US has laid down laws that prohibit pollution of H2O. It has also banned the use of pesticides and fertilizers that contain elements which could pollute water. Sensitization of communities living near tributaries to plant trees by rivers sides has also helped to preserve aquatic life fro soil sedimentation. The coral reefs are an attractive feature of aquatic biodiversity. The EPA has been in the forefront of banning sewage discharges (human/industrial) which deposit pathogens and other harmful compounds into the coral reefs thereby destroying them. In Florida, the FKNMS) ensures sustainability of the Florida key reefs with the help of EPA and NOAA. As it stands the EPA intends to develop a watershed approach to protect coral reefs. Reference http://www. equalearth. org/wildlifeextinction. htm Accessed on 11th October 2007

Factors Affecting General Motors

Factors Affecting General Motors Industry involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing and sale of motor vehicles are known as automotive industry. More than million of motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide in 2007. Figures show that in 2007, around 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide in which 22.9 m sold in Europe, 21.4 m in Asia-Pacific, 19.4 m in USA and Canada, 4.4 m in Latin America, 2.4 m in the Middle East and 1.4 m in Africa. Though the markets in North America and Japan were inactive but in South America and Asia markets grew very strongly. Russia, Brazil and China were the one who showed rapid growth compare to others. In 2008, automotive industry were experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material cost and changes in consumer buying habits due to rapid rise in the price of oil. G.M and other automotive industries were also facing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage. U.S is the worlds largest consumer market for light vehicles, passenger cars and light trucks which are conquered by big three companies i.e. General Motors, Ford Motors and Daimler/Chrysler. But recently these three industries were started to lose their market share to other rivals within the industry. General Motors are facing huge competition by domestic company such as Ford Motors and Daimler/Chrysler and also by foreign companies such as Toyota Motors and Honda Motors who are able to produce car much cheaper cost than General Motors. In 2006, General Motors has been bankrupted and has been avoiding a filing for years. For years it has been using cars as razors to sell consumers a monthly package of razor blades- in the form of highly profitable car loans. And the reasons for its bankruptcy are because they were focusing mostly on their finance division rather than it vehicle design operation. GM cars were poorly designed and build, took long time to manufacture as compare to its toughest competitor Toyota who has better designed and high quality and cheaper. In past GM controlled half of North America vehicle market but presently it has only 19 percent control as GM has been ignoring competition due to which Toyota and other industry took over the market share. Since General Motors were focusing on making profit from finance they did not care about building better vehicles. It was managing in bubble as GM rewarded those employees who followed the old way of doing things and those who praises CEO wisdom and carry out his orders. PEST Analysis (P)olitical: Since 1960, there were more powerful and strict laws and Government intervention that has affected GM and other car industries. Mostly, all regulation was related to consumer increasing concern for environment and concern for the safer automobiles. (E)conomical: Automobile Industries plays an important role on every countries economy. As Automotive industry are major user of computer chips, aluminium, textiles, copper, steel, iron, lead, plastics, vinyl and rubber. Research and study had shown that for every autoworker there are seven other jobs created in other industry which include aluminium to lead to vinyl. (S)ociocultural: Todays people are mostly concern about their status and society judges on the basis of what type of car one drives. Manufacture takes advantage of this thought and target the market. Every one want attractive and nice car which other people admires. Consumers feel better when they driving nice and new car. (T)echnology: Internet had played a significant role in automotive industry. A study showed that about 60 % buyers referred to internet before making their purchase and out of that 60 percentage. 88 % buyer went to auto website before going and taking test drive. Strength and Weakness of General Motors. Strengths: Huge Market Share: Although General Motors market shares has dropped in United States but it still has very much competitive at 26 percent. On the other hand, it is increasing its share in Chinese market and world wide. They still believes that they have an opportunity to become automotive leader once again as it was before. Global Experience: Although General Motors share have decline recently but they have capability of becoming leader once again due to vast experience of almost 100 years. As GM current opportunity is to expand globally and it has got experience to do so. Variety of Brand names General Motors had been leaders in the past and reason for that is wide variety of quality brand names that differentiate it from other automotive manufacturer. Its current brands include GMC, GM Daewoo, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Holden, Buick, Cadillac, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GMAC Customer Finance Program Since, General Motors Acceptance Corporation establishment in 1919, it has proven to be GMs most reliable source of revenue. On Star Satellite technology Star Satellite technology was developed in1996 with a subscriber of more than 3 million and it is the standard of all GM vehicles. The benefit of this technology is that vehicle can be easily tracked at the time of emergency or theft. On the other hand, it allows the driver as well as passengers to communicate with On star personnel just in one click of button. Weaknesses: Behind on Alternative Energy Movement: This is one of the biggest weaknesses of General Motors. The alternative energy/hybrid technology has already taken place in the automotive industry and GM has been one step behind the competition in terms of alternative energy vehicles. As a result, GM faced lots of problem including loss of market shares and fall in company profit. Now days for any automotive company looking for success must be Hybrid friendly and fuel efficient. Poor Organizational Structure: This is the second and significant weaknesses of GM. Its organizational structure seems to be too vertically integrated. As a result, there is lack of communication between top level management and bottom level management and may have played a part in GM falling behind on the alternative energy movement. Stagnant Profitability: General Motors profit has been certainly falling and they are struggling with respect to the size of their company. General Motors profit margin was about 1.5 % and the ROE has dramatically decreasing by dropping to 10 % in 2004. At this situation shareholders are not happy and they are becoming less interested. Fully Based on US market: For any one who is concentrating on one particularr market cant be successful. This is what happened to GMs case, it fully dependent on the US market. It must take advantage of the opportunity to expand globally. Due to high competition, it is becoming too strong to focus on just one country. Over Dependent on General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) Financing: The other important weakness of General Motors is that it is too dependent on its financing program. Although, it is accepted that it is a great strength for GM, however it will be a problem if it solely rely on financing and cant turn profits, in order to compete with Honda and Toyota who are rapidly growing. Poor Credit Status: GMs credit status is steadily declining same as everything else. It is losing credit in market and amongst the customer. Its current ratio is merely above 1 and its acid test is even lower. Poor strategies and lack of Foresight: Due to increase in oil prices, consumers began to turn away from SUVs, but still General Motors predicted much of its operating success on its ability to sell newly unpopular vehicles. While companies like Toyota, were concentrating on light vehicle and in improving efficiency where GM assumed sales would continue in future. ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT Organizational Development is a system which differs from other systems of organizational change by putting stress/focusing on process rather than problems. In fact, change system focuses on identifying problems in an organization and then trying to alter the behaviour that creates the problem. OD is a methodology intended for use in complex situations to provide intervention strategy for change management. OD finds the behavioural interactions and the pattern that creates or sustain problem. In fact, OD does not change the behaviours, but they focus on creating a behaviourally healthy organization that will automatically solve and prevents the problems. OD generally considered long term effort that is of at least one to three years in most cases. In addition, it mostly focuses on combined management where manager and workers of different level communicate and unite to solve the problem. OD understands the fact that all organization is different and same solution cant put in every co mpany. The other feature of OD is that it gives importance to team work and small group. The important features of OD programs is the change agent, that is group or individual which makes OD process much easier. Almost all change agent are consultant from outside who are experienced in managing OD programs but sometimes companies may utilize its inside managers. The benefits of consultant from outside are that they provide a different outlook and have a less biased view of the organizations problems and needs. The disadvantage of outside change agents is that its lack an in depth of understanding of main issues mainly one specific organization.