Thursday, January 23, 2020

Ozone Depletion Essays -- essays research papers fc

Ozone Depletion A Case for â€Å"Ignoring the Facts†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ozone forms a layer of the earth’s atmosphere that protects us from the sun’s deadly ultraviolet rays. During the last decade there has been a scare set forth by environmental enthusiasts that Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) destroy the ozone layer. Although there has been no evidence of any CFC destruction of the ozone layer there is an international stoppage on using CFCs, as well as an executive order set forth by Clinton to limit the sell and use of CFCs in the United States. These bans are unnecessary , since they are merely based on fear and politics. Basing the ban on evidence can not be possible, because there is no factual evidence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This executive order is not only futile, but ridiculous. Facts are the ozone layer is not depleting due to CFCs or any other manmade chemical. Qualified scientists have proven the whole notion of the ozone layer is not something fixed and finite to be destroyed faster and slower rates. It is simply not a depletable resource like a fossil fuel. The process by which CFCs are supposed to deplete it is highly speculative and has never been observed to take place, and even if it did, the effect would be small compared to what happens naturally.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ozone is dynamic. It is constantly being created and destroyed, and as long as the sun emits rays the process will continue. Ozone is the Trioxide molecule (O3), which is created by photons radiated from the sun. A normal oxygen molecule (O2) consists of two oxygen atoms, in diatomic form. High energy ultraviolet radiation known as UV-C can split one of these molecules, through a process known as photodissociation, into two free oxygen atoms. These atoms then join with a third oxygen and form ozone. Some ozone is found at ground level, but most occurs in the â€Å"Ozone Layer,† a concentration of O3 approximately 30 miles above the Earth’s surface. Most ozone is produced in the tropics where ultraviolet flux is the strongest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ozone is destroyed by chemical reactions that convert the O3 molecule into O2. The reaction that causes this is mostly nitrogen dioxide (produced in part by high altitude cosmic rays), through ultraviolet dissociation by the same UV-C that creates ozone, and also by a less energetic band know as UV-B, which... ...e negative effects of CFCs are in the tens of thousands, there are no grants to study the positive effects of ultraviolet flux. It is curious that all the grant proposals written by scientists concerning the other side of the CFC issue are being turned down. Is ozone depletion created by political/economical issues? It has not been proven by facts—just ignoring the facts. All this while the media plays on the fears of the general public. As Bob Holzknecht, a CFC engineer for twenty years observes, â€Å"Nobody’s interested in reality. Everyone who knows anything stands to gain. The public will end up paying through the nose, as always, but the public is unorganized and uniformed. Bibliography Begley, Shannon, â€Å"Is the Ozone Hole in Our Heads?† Newsweek, 122, October 11, 1993.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bush, David A., â€Å" Ozone Anxiety: It’s a White Thing,† Harpers Magazine, 287, December 1993.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kerr, Richard A., â€Å"Stratospheric Injection by Volcanic Eruptions,† Science, 260, May 21, 1993   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Zurer, Pamela S., â€Å"Researchers Lack Data on Trends in UV Radiation at Earth’s Surface,† Chemical and Engineering News, 71, July 26, 1993

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

The Ttc: Private, Public, or Private-Public Partnership?

In July 2012, the TTC was evaluated and given a disappointing grade by TTCriders Group based on its performance at five aspects. These five aspects are about fares, transit expansion, accessibility, service frequency, and environmental impact (â€Å"TTC gets†, 2012). Unlike any other major city in North America, the TTC fares covered 70% of its operating cost, which was the highest fare box ratio within the 11 major North American cities (See Appendix 1). After derailed for 16 months, transit expansion plan finally came back on track, still with concerns about certainty of funds.Due to budget constraints, the target timeline of making all new and existing subway accessible has been pushed back several times from 2020 to 2024, then to 2025. The TTC ridership increased by 12. 5% in 2011 while service levels only rose by 8. 4%, resulting in insufficient service to connect our neighborhoods. As for the environmental impact, the TTC collected no data for this purpose (â€Å"The st ate,† 2012). All these issues are mainly accounted for prolonged budget deficits, which the TTC has been struggling for many years.HISTORY OF THE TTC The Toronto Transportation Committee (TTC) is a public transport service agency established in 1954, the third largest transit system in North America that operates streetcar, transit bus, and rapid transit service (subway and RT) in Toronto. The TTC consists of four repaid transit service lines with 69 stations, 149 bus routes and 11 streetcar lines, making 243 connections among them. In 2011, the ridership went up to 500. 2 million, which exceeded all historical records.The TTC service covers the Greater Toronto Area benefited 4. 5 million people. Particularly, the TTC provides Wheel-Trans service that is responsible for door-door accessible transit service for physically disabled people, 2. 7 million trips made through this service in 2011 (â€Å"2011 TTC,† 2011). Toronto Private Transportation Companies 1849-1921 The W illiams Omnibus Bus Line was the first private-owned transportation company in Toronto, which carried passengers in stagecoaches drawn by horses erving a limited area along Young street in 1849. With the population growth, Williams Omni Bus Line was heavily loaded. The city then gave the first transit franchise for a street railway to Alexander Easton’s Toronto Street Railway (TSR) in 1861. After the franchise expired in 1891, the city passed on the right to a new company, the Toronto Railway Company (TRC), under James Ross and William Mackenzie. The TRC made the first electric car ran on August 15, 1892 to meet the franchise requirement.The city limits had extended greatly by 1912. The city attempted many times to force TRC enlarge its serve area, and failed. In order to build several routes and better serve the greater area, the city created its own street railway operation, the Toronto Civic Railways (TCR). By 1921 when TRC’s franchise expired, the city created the Toronto Transportation Commission combined with the TCR (Filey, 1996). Toronto Transportation Commission 1921- 1954 Toronto Transportation Commission went through boom times and down times from 1921 to 1954.Streetcars and railways served progressively in the extended Toronto area. There were many remarkable milestones during this period such as: 575 new â€Å"Peter Witt† street cars entered service in 1921; first gasoline-electric hybrid bus entered service in 1926; in 1927, TTC expanded its lines of service with Island ferry, hydro-electric railway, and other intercity bus service; TTC overcome the stock crash in 1929 and made improvements; 745 PPC streetcars, which are also called â€Å"red rocket†, entered service in 1938; The great moment came on Sep. 8, 1949, that the city of Toronto was symbolized with its opening ceremony of â€Å" Canada’s First Subway†; in 1954 Toronto Transportation Commission was renamed as Toronto Transit Committee (â€Å"A c avalcade,† 1954). TORONTO TRANSIT COMMITTEE AND ITS BUDGET ISSUES Financial Situation at Beginning From the early 1950s, Toronto Transit Committee had been operated by the supervision of Metropolitan Toronto, which was under the auspices of Province of Ontario who united Toronto with other 12 suburbs. Since the opening of its first subway in 1954, TTC had planned to expand its subway due to increasing needs of the largely adjacent Metro area.This plan was facing obstacles because of the quadrupled bus service and the pressure from Metro Toronto to set up unprofitable service to the suburbs. The development of the TTC went forward because of the subsidy of Metro Toronto as well as the Province of Ontario, making the entire capital budget came from taxpayers. In the 1970s and the 1980s, the Toronto Transit Commission was seen worldwide as a ‘transportation showcase’. From 1979 until 1990, it won awards after awards for safety and design (â€Å"A BRIEF,† 2012) .From 1972, the TTC’s operating profit was greatly affected by the request from the City’s political pressure, which was to eliminate the fare zone system to prevent the suburban paying an additional fare. By the late of 1980s, the subsidies from Metro Toronto and the Province was up to a quarter of the taxpayers’ money, which was 32% of the TTC total revenue, however, the subsidy level within the North American cities was still the lowest (â€Å"A BRIEF,† 2012). Budget Cuts from the Province By the late 1990s, budgets shortage became a major issue for the TTC.Previously the TTC’s subsidies were split in halves provided by the Province and the City. On Feb. 18, 1996, the newly elected government of Mike Harris ended the province subsidy for the TTC. In 1998, provincial government put an end to the federal system of Metro Toronto and let Toronto become a unified City. The result was a significant cutback in transit services. The City of Toronto†™s subsidy of the TTC was roughly $150 million, and the TTC had a continental high farebox recovery of 82%. With passengers paying far more for far worse service, the TTC’s ridership had dropped to roughly 360 million (â€Å"A HISTORY,† 2012) (See Appendix 2).From that point on, the TTC has been always struggling among its fare box recovery, city subsidy, and possible subsidy from the province of Ontario. The TTC would sacrifice its frequent service and routes to save its operation cost. The TTC also have many employees working overtime to compromise the labor cost, saying that this way can be more cost efficient than hiring more employees. Nevertheless, the TTC was renowned because of its sunshine list that has more and more employees every year earning more than $100,000 annually. Other ProblemsAlong with struggles for its budget subsidies, the TTC also had been dragged off by other problems such as service cuts, fare hikes, and union strikes. In February 2012, The TTC reduced its frequency service on more than 35 routes in order to meet its targeted operating budget (â€Å"TTC bus,† 2012). In November 2009, the TTC board discussed a fare increases proposal that would generate $62 million (â€Å"TTC fare,† 2009). This fare hike was implemented on January 3, 2010 (Litwinenko, 2009) (See Appendix 3). The bargaining between the TTC and its union had been on and off for decades.In March 2011, at the request of Mayor Rob Ford, the Ontario government agreed to ban transit strikes in Toronto and would pass a bill to set the TTC as an essential service. In a long-run, critics argued that this would cost taxpayers more because TTC contract disputes could cause bigger raise to settle in the arbitration (â€Å"Liberals close,† 2011). OPTIONS FOR THE TTC Given the facts that the TTC consistently facing budget shortage, frequent service reduction and routes cut, and union issues, the discussion of finding solutions for the TTC has bee n ongoing for a long time.Some people think that privatizing the TTC would make the TTC operating efficiently and profitably in the hands of private company. Others argue that private sector emerging in a public transit could be a better option, giving the reason that private sector infuse profitable drives and boost skills in a public transit system. Many others defend that the TTC should stay public in order to serve better for the public rather than only chasing profit as what happened in private companies. Each of them gives insights of this transportation crisis. Privatizing the TTCThe voices of privatizing the TTC is not sound nowadays comparing to 1990s. Corcoran (1990) stated blankly â€Å"mass transit and mass losses go hand in hand†. He doubted the reason of government so heavily involved in public transportation and the seemingly inherent unprofitable operations. Despite the fact that government rejected the proposal by five developers for investment to build the s ubway extension, a public transit system proved its ability in managing this mass system, which was badly managed, underfinanced, poorly planned, and heavily subsidized. Private-Public PartnershipWith regards to privatizing the TTC, many people generally meant to privatize parts of the TTC because they still want the TTC remain the function to serve and benefit the public. Which parts should be privatized could be a complex process of evaluation. City councilor Karen Stintz thought â€Å"adding some private-sector appointees could boost skills on the TTC board without reducing its accountability to the public. Private-sector members could contribute project management, financial and customer service skills† (Kalinowski, 2010). Staying Public Staying public remains its power in many people’s thoughts towards the TTC.These people think public transit should benefit the public in its full strength. Serving the TTC riders at its very best could be conflict sometimes with g aining profit through the operation. Knowing and still offering some money-losing services to benefit its needed riders differentiate the public system from the private or so-called private-public partnership system. â€Å"Keep TTC public†, the message was given through a coalition, the public transit alliance with the members from the Toronto Environmental Alliance, the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113, and community activists.They held a $500,000 ad campaign for â€Å"Keep TTC public† to claim that private or private-public partnership can be a disastrous experiment for Torontonians, and the TTC should stay public (Yuen, 2010). The video of â€Å"Keep TTC public† presented compelling reasons against transit privatization, compared with other cities’ transit system that were in either private or private-public partnership. The examples used were London, Melbourne, Auckland, and Vancouver. In 2003, a Private-Public Partnership was introduced in London transit system. This partnership ended in 2009 because the 30 years contacted of ? 7 billion was used up in 7. 5 years, and even overspent more than ? 1 billion. Private companies ran Auckland transport by using the zone system. Due to the tickets difference, riding the similar distance as from Scarborough to Etobicoke would cost $16. 5 in Auckland. When Melbourne government decided to privatize its transit system, its original objective was to reduce the city’s subsidy and increase the quality of service by using the private company. By 1999 when the privatization became effect, the subsidy to the transit system doubled the previous level when it was in public.Till 2010, comparing between Melbourne and Toronto, the subsidy to Melbourne transit system was 4 times than the subsidy for the TTC, while the ridership of Melbourne transit system was just 1/3 of the TTC. Vancouver Canada line was another example for PPP (Private-Public Partnership) which drown money from the bus fa res to subsidize this rapid transit line. This video logically presented the historical cases from different angles to demonstrate the disability of the private system to public transit, giving an inevitable statement that the private company operates for the profit rather than the benefit to the ublic (â€Å"Keep TTC,† 2010). CONCLUSION In December 2011 the 2012 Budget Committee meeting, the TTC presented its less services on many routes because of the subsidy budget cut (Munro, 2011). It is a definite scheme that the TTC will still be facing various problems due to its political context, budget structure, service range, and union issue, simply put as its complexity. Looking back its history and steps of its developments, the TTC managed to meet the service requirement and survived in public for today’s economy. However, the debate of whichever is the best solution for the TTC will still be ongoing.There is no simple answer for this question, but only hopes that peopl e wish the TTC carry on its responsibility in better serving the people in Toronto. REFERENCES: A brief history of transit in Toronto. (2012). Transit Toronto. Retrieved from: http://transit. toronto. on. ca/spare/0012. shtml A calvalcade of progress. (1954). TTC. ca. Retrieved from: http://www. ttc. ca/About_the_TTC/History/cavalcade_of_progress. jsp A history on fares on the TTC. (2012). Transit Toronto. Retrieved from: http://transit. toronto. on. ca/spare/0021. shtml Corcoran.T, (1990). Privatizing the TTC would relieve strain on subway service. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: http://search. proquest. com. ezproxy. library. yorku. ca/business/docview/385631727/1383962EB1D56AD7336/2? accountid=15182 Filey. M, (1996). The TTC story. Toronto, Ontario: Dundurn Press. Retrieved from: http://www. ttc. ca/About_the_TTC/History/The_first_75_years. jsp Kalinowski. T, (2010). TTC board could could be public, private mix: Non-elected members, bring new skills: Stintz. Toronto Star. Ret rieved from: http://search. proquest. com. ezproxy. ibrary. yorku. ca/docview/812554793? accountid=15182 KeepTTCPublicToronto, (2010, September 17). Keep TTC public. Video retrieved from: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=xAmnmehAy3w Liberals close debate on bill declaring TTC essential service. (2011). The Canadian Press. Retrieved from: http://www. cp24. com/liberals-close-debate-on-bill-declaring-ttc-essential-service-1. 614350 Litwinenko. J, (2009). TTC fare hike approved. Blogto. Retrieved from: http://www. blogto. com/city/2009/11/ttc_fare_hike_approved/ TTC bus service cut back. (2012). Toronto Star.Retrieved from: http://search. proquest. com. ezproxy. library. yorku. ca/business/docview/921300938/138368A888C7C5B89BC/2? accountid=15182 Munro. S, (2011). Can the TTC survive budget 2012?. Torontoist. Retieved from: http://torontoist. com/2011/12/can-the-ttc-survive-budget-2012/ TTC fare hike is unavoidable. (2009). Toronto Start. Retrieved from: http://search. proquest. com. e zproxy. library. yorku. ca/business/docview/439627577/1383691789B38A6B670/8? accountid=15182 2011 TTC operating Statistics. (2011). TTC. ca. Retrieved from: http://www. TTC. caTTC gets failing grade from TTCriders group. (2012). City News Toronto. Retrieved from: http://www. citytv. com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/215620–ttc-gets-failing-grade-from-ttcriders-group The state of public transit in Toronto. (TTCriders, 2012). Retrieved from: http://www. ttcriders. ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-State-of-Public-Transit-in-Toronto-July-2012. pdf Yuen. J, (2010). Keep TTC public-coalition. Toronto Sun. Retrieved from: http://www. torontosun. com/news/torontoandgta/2010/09/20/15415186. html APPENDIX 1 REVENUE/COST RATIOS – CANADATTC Montreal Ottawa Vancouver 70% (2011) 56% (2009) 43% (2009) 48% (2009) REVENUE/COST RATIOS – U. S. TTC? Atlanta Chicago Los Angeles New York Philadelphia Boston Washington 70% 29% 40% 29% 54% 38% 42% 45% (2011) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) (2009) Source: City of Toronto Toronto Transit Commission 2011-2020 Capital Plan, http://www. toronto. ca/budget2011/pdf/presentation11_ttc. pdf APPENDIX 2 TORONTO STATISTICS FOR 1921-2004 APPENDIX 3

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

5 situaciones migratorias que se pueden tener en USA

La situacià ³n migratoria que se tiene en Estados Unidos afecta a los derechos y obligaciones que se tienen segà ºn la ley. Muchas veces es posible cambiar de categorà ­a, mientras que en otros en prà ¡cticamente imposible.     Ciudadanos americanos La inmensa mayorà ­a de las personas que vivimos en Estados Unidos somos ciudadanos americanos. La ciudadanà ­a se puede obtener de cinco formas distintas. La mayorà ­a son ciudadanos desde el momento de su nacimiento pero tambià ©n se puede adquirir posteriormente.   Los ciudadanos tenemos el derecho de vivir y trabajar en Estados Unidos y todos los que nos reconocen las leyes. Pero tambià ©n tenemos obligaciones. Desde el punto de vista migratorio, ser ciudadano tiene importantes ventajas como: imposibilidad de ser deportadosà ³lo en casos extremos y concretos se pierde la ciudadanà ­ase pueden pedir los papeles para varias categorà ­as de familiares y en aplicacià ³n de DAPA los ciudadanos podrà ¡n extender proteccià ³n frente a la deportacià ³n a sus padres y madres. Por à ºltimo recordar que la ciudadanà ­a americana se extiende a los territorios de Estados Unidos como, por ejemplo, Puerto Rico (estos son los documentos que se necesitan para viajar a la Isla). Residentes permanentes legales (LPR por sus siglas en inglà ©s) Los residentes permanentes legales tienen a su nombre una green card, tambià ©n conocida como tarjeta de residencia. Pueden vivir y trabajar indefinidamente en Estados Unidos, pero no son ciudadanos, por los que sus derechos està ¡n mà ¡s limitados y tienen obligaciones que sà ³lo aplican a a ellos. Estas son 13 diferencias entre ciudadanos y residentes que hay que tener presentes. Una vez que se tiene una tarjeta de residencia, en casos muy concretos es temporal (inversores y algunos casos de esposos de ciudadanos), convirtià ©ndose mà ¡s tarde en definitiva, si todo va bien y se cumplen con todos los requisitos legales. En todos los demà ¡s casos es permanente, debià ©ndose renovar antes de que expire.   Los inmigrantes con una green card pueden optar por conservar ese estatus de residentes permanentes o pueden solicitar convertirse en ciudadanos mediante el proceso que se conoce como naturalizacià ³n, una vez que transcurren los plazos mà ­nimos que tienen que esperar los residentes para aplicar por la ciudadanà ­a. Extranjeros con visa no inmigrante En esta categorà ­a entra un amplio grupo de personas. Cada una debe respetar las condiciones de su visado (o, en su caso del Programa de Exencià ³n de Visas).En là ­neas generales y para ilustrar las diferencias pueden establecerse las siguientes subcategorà ­as: Visas de doble intencià ³n Son las visas de trabajo H-1B para profesionales y modelos y la L-1 (versià ³n A y B) para ejecutivos, directivos y personal con conocimiento especializado que trabajan para multinacionales.  Son visados muy cotizados.Una de sus grandes ventajas es que son consideradas como visas de doble intencià ³n. Esto quiere decir que su titular no tiene que demostrar la intencià ³n de regresar a su paà ­s y que puede buscar activamente quedarse en Estados Unidos como inmigrante y que le patrocinen una green card. Visas especiales Como la K-3/K-4 para esposos/hijos de ciudadanos americanos, que es poco utilizada o la K-1/K-2 para novios/as de ciudadanos y sus hijos, que es mà ¡s utilizada. Particularmente la K-1 puede dar problemas si no se siguen sus reglas. Se otorga al novio o prometida de un ciudadano americano para que ingrese a Estados Unidos para casarse y a partir de ahà ­, mediante lo que se llama ajuste de estatus, solicitar la green card. Una vez que se ingresa a EEUU hay que seguir todos los requisitos de la visa. Es decir, no casarse a tiempo, de ninguna de las maneras o casarse con otra persona distinta a la que solicità ³ la visa es un error (grave).   Visas no inmigrante Son muchas y muy diversas entre sà ­, con distintas reglas. Pero tienen un elemento en comà ºn: se tiene que demostrar la intencià ³n de no quedarse en Estados Unidos y de tener lazos econà ³micos y/o familiares fuertes en el paà ­s de residencia habitual.   En esta categorà ­a entran visas como las de trabajo, las de estudiante o la de turista e incluso las de inversià ³n como la E-1 para casos de negocios de importacià ³n/exportacià ³n o la E-2 donde hay una inversià ³n sustancial de dinero.   En cuanto a los turistas, pueden ingresar a Estados Unidos con visa B2, en el caso de mexicanos en la frontera con la là ¡ser y chilenos  y espaà ±oles sin visado (si llegan por avià ³n necesitan una ESTA).   Todos los turistas deberà ­an tener en cuenta  con  cuà ¡nta frecuencia se puede ingresar a EEUU como turista  y quà © pasa si una persona se queda en Estados Unidos mà ¡s tiempo del permitido. Es cierto que en circunstancias especiales es posible cambiar una visa no inmigrante por  otra visa o incluso una residencia. Pero no siempre. Hay que tener siempre presente las circunstancias y requisitos de la visa que se tiene (o no visa, en su caso) y cà ³mo se quiere hacer el cambio y si es posible y cà ³mo. Para evitar problemas siempre es aconsejable consultar con un abogado de inmigracià ³n e informarse sobre quà © tipo de visa se tiene. Situaciones especiales Algunas personas presentes en Estados Unidos tienen una situacià ³n especial debido a sus circunstancias personales, como por ejemplo: AsiloVisa U para và ­ctimas de violenciaVAWAVisa T para và ­ctimas de trata de personas En general, esas personas con el paso del tiempo y si se cumplen los requisitos acabarà ¡n obteniendo una tarjeta de residencia (green card).Especial mencià ³n merece el caso de los cubanos  que al  aà ±o y un dà ­a de ingresar legalmente pueden pedir la residencia permanente (green card) por  ley de ajuste cubano. Lo que ocurre es que esto à ºltimo suele suceder antes de que se resuelva el caso de asilo y asà ­ la residencia por ajuste cubano cancela al proceso de asilo. Indocumentados Se calcula que en Estados Unidos pueden vivir como indocumentados mà ¡s de 11 millones de personas. Los indocumentados pueden ser deportados, carecen de acceso a beneficios sociales excepto los mà ¡s bà ¡sicos como WIC, en la mayorà ­a de los estados no pueden obtener la licencia de manejar (aunque hay importantes excepciones), etc. Pero no todos los indocumentados son iguales desde el punto de la ley. En la actualidad los jà ³venes que llegaron a Estados Unidos siendo nià ±os pueden acogerse a DACA que les protege frente a la deportacià ³n y les permite obtener un permiso de trabajo por dos aà ±os. Para el resto de los indocumentados que no pueden beneficiarse de DACA las posibilidades de legalizacià ³n son escasas, siendo estos 15 posibles caminos. A tener en cuenta Ciudadanos, residentes permanentes e indocumentados que son jà ³venes y varones tienen todos una misma obligacià ³n: cumplir con el Servicio Selectivo. Y donde hay migrantes, desgraciadamente hay personas que intentan tomar ventaja de su situacià ³n y prometen beneficios migratorios que no son posibles a cambio de dinero. Si se es và ­ctima de un fraude migratorio, considerar reportarlo. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Monday, December 30, 2019

The Tax Issue Regarding Volunteer Mileage Rate - 1321 Words

Every year we are faced with the undesirable task of filing taxes. While the non-profit sector may not necessarily be entrepreneurial in nature, it does not mean they are entirely exempt of the taxation burden especially for those who are employed receiving salaries versus those volunteering their time for free. I would like to discuss a tax issue regarding volunteer mileage rate. Volunteers who use their personal vehicle to perform work for a nonprofit are only allowed deducting 14 cents per mile while the standard business mileage rate is currently 57.5 cents per mile for the current year 2015. Volunteering is more than just doing something for free. It is taking someone’s skills and utilizing them to help the community without the†¦show more content†¦How making the change is motivational for volunteerism As with a paid employee, volunteers need the same motivational push to perform and be their best and return on a regular basis. However, with increased fuel costs, those who regularly give of themselves will stop volunteering. The motive is not to have a different mileage rate, just one equivalent to those receiving an actual fiscal benefit for their services. A volunteer may already have personal, financial, professional, and in some cases emotional ties that may possibly deprave a person’s motivation when making decisions. Why add to the burden when it can be a benefit for those charitably contributing to society. Incentivizing an individual with a form of indirect remuneration can motivate someone to continue serving a non-profit organization. While Government may grant a tax-exempt status to an organization it does not extend the exemption to the individuals carrying out the duties and burdens imposed on and related to volunteering. While it could be argued that non- profit’s should receive more, having this mileage rate equal to the private sector is a great way to keep volunteers on the road. The Non-profit

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Support Services Available For People Living With...

There are many support services available for people living with disabilities. It is important these services are in place to ensure disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. The Equality Act was put into place in 2010 to ‘support the rights of disabled students by giving greater legal protection against discrimination’. (Disability Rights UK, 2012) The act emphasises the legal duty on education providers, employers and service providers to make appropriate changes in order for disabled people to take part in education, use services and work. The act was in place to bring together different laws that cover discrimination into one. Therefore the act says that disabled people should be treated equally and protection†¦show more content†¦Specialist support services are tailored to an individual needs and are different to other support services as the individual can be supported during the day, in the evening, over night and/or at weekends. Not all services can offer support at such flexible hours. Specialist services are beneficial to an individual with disabilities as they are flexible, offer expert personalized support and can offer support to people with a range of complex needs; furthermore, this service can also be funded by a local authority. (Mencap, 2016) There are many other support services that have a positive impact of a person living with a disability for example; befriending and mentoring services are in place for disabled people as well as families of disabled people to provide short-term, one-to-one support. This support can range from emotional support, coping skills, new ideas and working towards goals. (Scope, 2016) Another example of support would be professionals in place to support disabled people to find jobs, work experience and volunteering opportunities that will develop their careers and allow the individual to feel valued. A wide range of policies effect the lives of disabled people both directly and indirectly. The government introduced a wide range of policies such as the Disability Discrimination Act

Friday, December 13, 2019

E-Marketing Presentation Free Essays

Good afternoon tutor and students. I would like to present you an e-marketing plan proposal of Royal Brisbane and women’s hospital foundation today. During the proposal I would like to introduce the RBWH foundation company and clearly identify the website that forms the basis. We will write a custom essay sample on E-Marketing Presentation or any similar topic only for you Order Now As many of the people know, Royal Brisbane and women’s hospital is one of the largest hospitals in Queensland. However, the RBWH foundation is the charity arm of the hospital that was first publicly in 1985. There are two of the mean projects in RBWH foundation; there are Mother’s Milk Bank and P. A. R. T. Y. Program. It also has the largest cancer services in Queensland. Therefore, the aim of the foundation is to raising funds to help and save lifes. The marketing and communication of Royal Brisbane and women’s hospital foundation are promoting on different ways. Such as newsletters by emails, Royal Mums, information on the Queensland health website, RBWH’s own websites and facebook page. As everyone knows, Internet communication is the fastest way to marketing the brand name and the best way to advertising the company. A website should have four generic objectives on it. It should be strategic, integrated, targeted or measurable. This is called marketing effectiveness. However, a successful website must have the key website measurement. Site usage, site content analysis, quantity assurance and how visitor arrived at the site. Home page is the first impression of the websites; it is the most important part. We can clearly see that there is a big labeled of the company name on the left top. It makes a clear mind of the name to the visitors. Also there is a big â€Å"donate now† button on the right top as this is an institution of donation charity. It makes more comfortable for the visitor where the way they can donate. Also make a clearly mind for the visitor what is the meant purpose of this institution want. The menu bar of the home page site shows up all the based information what should the visitor wants be on. Such as â€Å"contact†, â€Å"About us†, â€Å"support†, â€Å"research† and â€Å"Project†, there is a good marketing effect for researching bar, as this is the earlier and quickies way to make the visitors go to the page what they want to visit. Also Facebook page is the most successful part of the website, as facebook got the top view rate in the world. Almost everyone is using facebook in people’s lifetime. Created a facebook page not just can advertised the brand name quickly also can send visitor who do not know about the RBWH foundation to it own site. However, the website do not show out the number which people repeatedly visit the site. And do not have it search terms people used to find the site. Therefore it will lose visitors because of it. These what they need to improve to make the site more perfect. In concluding my presentation, the Royal Brisbane women’s hospital foundation website is a successful example. As it clearly showed up the visitor what the detail information and what suppose to be in the home page and information page. It also connect to a facebook page to do a free advertising for a successful E-marketing way to let more people to know more about RBWH. However, it also need to improve more, such as showing a number which people repeatedly visit the site and search terms people used to find the website. If the website takes the e-marketing promotion more important it will improve the number of visitor and more life will be save and help. This is the end of my presentation, thank you for your time. How to cite E-Marketing Presentation, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Research Report on Animal Cloning for Biological Technique

Question: Discuss about theResearch Report on Animal Cloning for Biological Technique. Answer: Introduction Cloning is a biological technique that is used to create a new organism that is genetically identical to another organism. The first idea of cloning was brought forward by German Embryologist Hans Spemann in 1935. However, initially, only trees and plans were cloned successfully. Animal cloning attempts were started much later around the 1980s when various species like frogs, pigs and others were used to develop clones. The first successful clone of a mammal was of a sheep (named Dolly) that was born in 1996 (Song et al., 2016). From that point of time till now, many attempts have been made to clone various other species especially critically endangered or extinct species so that they can be brought back into the world. However, the cloned animals were born, most of them died early due to various organ complications (lung problems in most of the cases). Moreover, it has been found that of all cloning experiments conducted, only around 30% have been successful. With increasing researc h on cloning, ideas have arisen regarding the possibility of cloning a human being (Bohrer Bordignon, 2016). However, human cloning has since been branded as illegal in order to protect ethical and religious beliefs of many communities. Before this, human cloning experiments have been conducted and some scientists were even successful in cloning human embryos. In recent times, researchers have proposed to conduct cloning techniques for therapeutic purposes. However, the ethical factor for such research is still under debate (as many consider it to be an unsafe technology and may result in abuse of the subject) and such, no such implementation has been done yet. In this research report, the subject of animal cloning has been researched in detail and its ethical implications have been discussed. Furthermore, a literature review has been conducted in order to gather some more information on the same topic. Animal Cloning: A Detailed Research Literature Review According to Heinrichs (2017), cloning or agamic generation is a normal type of reproduction that is mainly found in some plants and microorganisms. All plant organs can be wellsprings of agamic propagation, yet stems are the most widely recognized ones. Agamic multiplication incorporates maturing (jellyfish, corals and tapeworms), fracture (worms), and parthenogenesis (a few fishes, bugs, frogs and reptiles). Over the ground stems (stolons) of strawberry plants deliver new plants. Underground stems incorporate rhizomes, globules, corms and tubers. Leaves in irises and underlying foundations of aspen are additionally wellsprings of new plants. In animals the conceptive procedure is likewise broadened to the point that any instrument we can envision has just been executed (Slack, 2014). The different types of agamic multiplication exist together with hermaphroditism and indiscriminate outside and inner sexual intercourse. However, the majority of the animals replicate through partheno genesis just at specific circumstances. Aphids utilize parthenogenesis in the spring when they wind up with adequate sustenance. Parthenogenesis is faster than sexual proliferation and allows speedy abuse of accessible assets (Nichols, 2016). In bumble bees, prepared eggs move toward becoming females, while haploid unfertilised (parthenogenetic) eggs move toward becoming guys. However, it ought to be noticed that abiogenetic multiplication of warm blooded animals isn't a normally happening marvel in spite of the fact that in mammalian generation hereditarily indistinguishable people, known as monozygotic twins, do happen. As per Saliba et al. (2014), these can however not be considered clones in this regard on the grounds that: (a) they are not the consequence of agamic generation and (b) they share all their hereditary material where misleadingly delivered clones just offer their center DNA, though the mitochondrial DNA varies. Dynamic acceptance of agamic plant generation (utilizi ng joining and establishing) has been a typical practice in agribusiness since early mankind's history. It has been utilized to breed and hold especially attractive qualities, for example, development, flavor and protection. In this manner, cloning is another wonder in the historical backdrop of human advancement of ranch animal species (Dillen et al., 2013). The primary cloning investigates animals date from the nineteenth century. In 1891 Hans Driesch isolated the blastomeres (cells framed in the main phases of embryonic improvement) of a two-cell developing life of ocean urchin mechanically by shaking them in seawater. For this situation, one might say that people have utilized the normally happening procedure of generation of the coveted plant species. Be that as it may, with regards to cultivate animals, abiogenetic proliferation in nature is on a par with non-existent. They all imitate by joining the qualities of two individual life forms. The cells began to develop freely and shaped two entire ocean urchins (Ni et al., 2014). After eleven years a similar test, with comparative outcomes, was performed by Hans Spemann in a vertebrate (lizard) utilizing a hair from his child kid to isolate the cells. In any case, the inaccessibility of a productive taking care of framework and, all the more critically, absence of acknowledgment that mammalian oocytes and preimplantation incipient organisms require entirely controlled temperature for advancement hampered the use of the method to warm blooded creatures for just about 80 years (Jin et al, 2017). In the long run the primary fruitful fetus part was performed in local animals with the reason for quick augmentation of profitable people. A proficient animal cloning innovation would give numerous new chances to domesticated animals agribusiness, human prescription, and animal protection. Atomic cloning includes the generation of animals that are hereditarily indistinguishable to the contributor cells utilized as a part of a strategy known as Nucleus Transfer (NT). A large number of the pregnancy misfortunes identify with disappointment of the placenta to create and work accurately. Placental brokenness may likewise have an unfavorable effect on postnatal wellbeing (Ogura, Inoue Wakayama, 2013). These peculiarities are most likely because of off base epigenetic reconstructing of the contributor genome following NT, prompting improper examples of quality articulation amid the improvement of clones. Nonetheless, at exhibit it is a wasteful procedure: in dairy cattle, just around 6% of the developing lives exchanged to the conceptive tracts of beneficiary bovines result in solid, longterm surviving clones (Cibelli et al. , 2013). Of concern are the high misfortunes all through incubation, amid birth and in the post-natal period through to adulthood. While some physiological tests on surviving clones recommend typicality, different reports show an assortment of post-natal clone-related variations from the norm. This changeability in result may reflect species-particular or potentially cloning methodological contrasts. Significantly, to date it gives the idea that these clone-related phenotypes are not transmitted to posterity following sexual propagation. This demonstrates they speak to epigenetic blunders, as opposed to hereditary mistakes, which are amended amid gametogenesis. While this needs affirmation at the atomic level, it gives beginning trust in the principal use of NT in horticulture, specifically, the creation of little quantities of cloned cows from hereditarily recreated bulls, for normal mating, to successfully disperse hereditary pick up. Notwithstanding the animal welfare worries wit h the innovation, the hidden wellbeing of the animals and the significant impact on sustenance security are basic perspectives that expect examination to increase administrative and shopper acknowledgment (Fernandes et al., 2016). The fundamental procedure was first created in creatures of land and water in the 1950s and was utilized to explore atomic totipotency in separated cell populaces. In domesticated animals species, undifferentiated embryonic blastomeres were first utilized effectively in sheep, dairy cattle and pigs. In later circumstances, embryonic NT has been stretched out in mice to incorporate the utilization of other undifferentiated cell sorts including embryonic foundational microorganisms got from the internal cell mass of blastocysts. Future changes in animal cloning will to a great extent emerge from a more noteworthy comprehension of the atomic systems of reinventing. The creation of atomic clones is a multi-step process that basically produces a whole living be ing from the atomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of a solitary benefactor cell utilizing the nuclear transfer process (Yu et al., 2016). On the other hand, the utilization of more separated cell sorts got from either developing lives, embryos or most essentially grown-up animals, as on account of 'Dolly' the sheep, toppled a doctrine in science concerning atomic totipotency from grown-up cells and has opened new open doors and headings in look into. This has been named substantial cell NT to recognize it from embryonic NT. Methodology This research is mainly based on analytic study of existing works on animal cloning as well as review of current happenings regarding animal cloning research works. The entire research has been carried out with the help of extensive literature review that provided sufficient information regarding the history of animal cloning as well as future scope of research. Moreover, sources like research journals, newspapers and recent blogs have been used to find recent news of animal cloning research and what the scientists are currently trying to achieve. Discussion the likelihood of switching the procedure of cell separation and, subsequently, of utilizing more created cells for atomic exchange had been portrayed in 1938 by Hans Spemann. He proposed that one could exchange cores of morula organize incipient organisms (around 4 days old) or "more established cores of different cells" into enucleated eggs. He called the thought "to some degree phenomenal" as a result of the predictable specialized troubles. Abnormally, the two researchers who in the end completed Spemann's phenomenal analysis had not by any means found out about his proposition at the time. Utilizing frogs, Mohammed, Ma and Lei (2017) evacuated the cores of beneficiary eggs and embedded a contributor core. At first, the contributor cores were gotten from morula arrange incipient organisms. Later they originated from tadpoles and from intestinal epithelium. The strategy brought about an extensive accomplishment in early advancement of incipient organisms. Be that as it may, the mo re separated benefactor cells was, the less achievement could be acquired in the propelled phase of improvement. The work was proceeded by numerous researchers. By the by (albeit a few audits state generally), the full formative cycle couldn't be finished: giver cells from tadpoles brought about completely created frogs, and contributor cells from completely created frogs brought about tadpoles, yet no grown-up frogs were cloned from grown-up frog cells. It might seem impossible to miss that researchers did not endeavor to utilize grown-up physical cells as nucleic contributors in the mammalian investigations performed in the vicinity of 1986 and 1997. According to Keefer (2015), despite the fact that some prior productions had shown that refined cells of incipient organisms at a propelled phase of advancement could be utilized as givers for atomic exchange, the introduction of Dolly was required for wide acknowledgment that it was conceivable to clone a developed animal by evacuati ng the core of a physical cell from a grown-up and embeddings it into an enucleated egg. The cloned posterity disorder is a continuum, in that lethality or anomalous phenotypes may happen at any period of advancement, contingent on the level of dysregulation of key qualities, probably because of principal blunders in epigenetic reconstructing. Indeed, even evidently typical clones may have strange direction of numerous qualities that are excessively unpretentious, making it impossible to bring about a conspicuous phenotype. There has been much verbal confrontation about Dolly's abbreviated telomeres and the likelihood of untimely maturing and early beginning of illness in clones. Telomeres are districts of DNA at the finishes of chromosomes which continuously abbreviate after every cell division in most substantial cell sorts. While Dolly may have created joint inflammation and was euthanised at a generally youthful age on account of a virallyinduced lung tumor, this may have come a bout because of her to a great extent indoor lodging and dealing with instead of the way that she was a clone. Different examinations have been opposing concerning telomere length in clones, with reports of rebuilding to ordinary in dairy cattle and mice and even examples of broadened telomere lengths. The disclosure of a telomere length rebuilding process that happens amid early embryogenesis seems in charge of this. Typical telomere lengths have even been accounted for after rehashed recloning in mice and cows and particularly, in the spermatozoa of physical cell cloned bulls and ensuing descendants. Along these lines, in cows and mice in any event, it gives the idea that telomere disintegration by and large does not happen in clones and is thusly improbable to cause the long haul wellbeing and decreased future concerns raised by numerous current reports. The larger part of (male) mice cloned from youthful Sertoli cells kicked the bucket after roughly 500 days, which was around ha lf of the life expectancy in control mice. The reasons for death were extreme pneumonia and hepatic disappointment. It stays to be resolved whether this is a general wonder with clones, however it seems, by all accounts, to be both cell sort and genotype particular, with other cloned mice having evidently ordinary life expectancies. The mouse demonstrate has the upside of a shorter age interim and natural life expectancy to screen for these impacts. While it is empowering that a few examinations report ordinary soundness of four year old cow-like clones, it is too soon to recognize if phenotypes with shorter life expectancies will likewise happen among animals. In spite of the fact that an imperative issue, regardless of the possibility that cloning were to abbreviate life expectancy, it might be of little hugeness in farming. In business hamburger generation, for example, cows might be butchered at target live weight inside two years, or in the dairy business the normal life expect ancy of a bovine in the group is just six years. In these cases, the profitable existence of cultivated animals is considerably not as much as far as possible for the species. In any case, considers demonstrate that amongst weaning and four years old, the yearly death rate in steers cloned from physical cells is no less than 8%. This is in stamped differentiation to the unimportant mortality experienced with the posterity of clones and the commonly acknowledged mortality of 2% to 3% for every annum in traditional peaceful cultivating. In spite of the fact that the purposes behind death among the clones are variable, and some possibly preventable, the primary mortality factor past weaning is killing because of musculoskeletal variations from the norm. This incorporates animals with seriously contracted flexor ligaments and those showing unending faltering, especially in draining bovines. This accentuates the point that any fundamental frailties in cloned animals may not be completely uncovered until the point when the animals are worried in some way. Ethical Issues There are a lot of ethical issues associated with animal cloning. As a result of these issues, the animal cloning research has always faced obstacles. Some of the ethical issues with animal cloning are as follows. Animal Rights During the cloning of some species like Pyrenean Ibex (that has been extinct since 2000), the offspring was born successfully but died with a few days or months due to defective lungs. Some other offsprings of other species also died due to other complications. Even the first mammal clone Dolly the sheep died due to accelerated aging process. All these issues have angered the animal activists as they have since demanded stopping of such cloning research activities. According to their argument, cloning of animals is against the law of animal rights and should be banned like human cloning has been banned. Some activists have even termed animal cloning as a torture of the subject animal as well as the cloned animal (owing to the extreme amount of pain most of the cloned animals had to undergo due to various organ complications). Some activists have opined that as the animal cloning should be banned on the same grounds as human cloning. Human Cloning Since the first successful cloning of a mammal was achieved, scientists since have pondered over the idea of cloning human beings. Some scientists were even successful in cloning human embryos using biological fertilization processes. However, human rights activists raised some issues that render the human cloning process unethical. Some of the points that defy the process of human cloning are as follows. Torture: Human cloning is considered as torture of the subjects to some as they think most of the subjects will be unwilling to donate their cells for cloning. Moreover, it is also general belief that no individual will allow researchers to build a new version of him / her with the same looks and genetic characteristics. Security: Although no human clone has been developed yet, it is general belief that if such a clone is made, it will be exactly identical to the subject including genetic characteristics, facial looks, thumb prints and other exclusive individual human characteristics. However, it is feared that if the cloned individual becomes hostile and misuses the subjects identity, there will be no way to differentiate between the two individuals. Hence, there are always security issues related to the human cloning process. Religion: Another main obstacle faced by human cloning is the religious issue. Most religions believe cloning of human is against the Gods will as God is the one and only creator of life and human should not even try to take His place by these scientific experiments. Considering all the different views and risks, human cloning is finally banned all over the world. Conclusion In this research report, the subject of animal cloning has been researched in detail and its ethical implications have been discussed. Furthermore, a literature review has been conducted in order to gather some more information on the same topic. Regardless of the possibility that specialized challenges had been settled and the pregnancy rates enhanced, it would have remained the case that an incipient organism must be part one to two times and in this way can make at most two to four hereditarily indistinguishable kin through fake part. Every one of the analyses depicted above utilized embryonic cells as hotspots for contributor cores. In spite of the fact that an imperative issue, regardless of the possibility that cloning were to abbreviate life expectancy, it might be of little hugeness in farming. In business hamburger generation, for example, cows might be butchered at target live weight inside two years, or in the dairy business the normal life expectancy of a bovine in the gr oup is just six years. In these cases, the profitable existence of cultivated animals is considerably not as much as far as possible for the species. In any case, considers demonstrate that amongst weaning and four years old, the yearly death rate in steers cloned from physical cells is no less than 8%. This is in stamped differentiation to the unimportant mortality experienced with the posterity of clones and the commonly acknowledged mortality of 2% to 3% for every annum in traditional peaceful cultivating. References Bohrer, R. C., Bordignon, V. (2016). CLONING ANIMALS BY NUCLEAR TRANSFER.Biotechnology of animal reproduction/editors, Marcelo Marcondes, 293. Cibelli, J., Wilmut, I. S., Jaenisch, R., Gurdon, J., Lanza, R., West, M., Campbell, K. H. (Eds.). (2013).Principles of cloning. Academic press. 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