Definition and Examples of Interrupting Phrases

Definition and Examples of Interrupting Phrases Its a playful device favored by bloggers, diarists, and (woo hoo!) the staff writers at Entertainment Weekly. But nowget ready for itthe interrupting phrase is popping up in more formal kinds of writing as well. Unlike appositives and conventional modifiers, which rename or qualify other words in a sentence, the contemporary interrupter is a (nerd alert) metadiscursive trick. The writer pauses to address the reader directly and signal her feelings about the news shes reporting. Consider these examples from a recent issue of EW: Not only does Amanda have anxiety attacks tonight, but Ella tries to beyucksweet.Travesty: Wilhelmina has a perforated ulcer. Bigger travesty: At the hospital she has abrace yourselfroommate.Tara barely had time to register that Franklin would still be alivehooray!before Sookie had her and Alcide helping to wrap Bill in a tarp so they could move him.The press release (its real!): Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary teams up with CBS to release The Colonoscopy Song. The interrupter can be the verbal equivalent of a wink, a smirk, or a smack to the forehead. It may be a single word (usually an interjection), a lengthy clause, oryou guessed itsomething in between. You can slip one in parenthetically (like this), or use dashes to call attention to it cowabunga!like that. But this intrusive maneuver isnt limited to the pop-culture press. One sign of the convergence of journalism and blogging is the growing presence of interrupters in upscale newspapers: Cash funds offered by the Pru (named Cash Haven Trust, would you believe?) and Clerical Medical also lost money because they were exposed to mortgage debt.(Paul Farrow, Good Fund Investors Must Look Beyond the Name. The Daily Telegraph [UK], August 16, 2010)So lets beat back this unnecessary, unfair andlets not mince wordscruel attack on working Americans. Big cuts in Social Security should not be on the table.(Paul Krugman, Attacking Social Security. The New York Times, August 15, 2010)No such problemhooray!at the Tories forthcoming party conference, which promises a Pride dinner in Birmingham followed by a disco at Nightingales, Brums premier gay nightclub.(Stephen Bates, Diary. The Guardian [UK], August 11, 2010)Ironically, Odgen Jr. was the only one of the five children who got to live the life he wanted. (He was also the only one to marryhappily, go figureto a wealthy railroad widow who left him a huge fortune when she died six years after the wedding in 1910.)(Yvonne Abraham, A House Full of Tales. The Boston Globe, August 1, 2010) Along with the crafty use of fragments, contractions, and the pronouns I and you, interrupters can add a more conversational, down-home flavor to our prose. But as with any potentially distracting device (teacher is talking), lets not overwork them.

Quotes Showing Why Anakin Skywalker Turned Evil

Quotes Showing Why Anakin Skywalker Turned Evil If you are a Star Wars fan, you have probably read up everything about Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. Darth Vader is one of the most popular sci-fi villains. The transformation of pristinely good and golden Anakin Skywalker into the dark and dangerous Darth Vader is interesting. So what makes Anakin Skywalker, the most powerful Jedi, turn evil? Who Is Anakin Skywalker? Anakin Skywalker, the hero, once worshiped by the Jedi Order becomes a victim of his circumstance. His love for his wife Padme Amidala becomes his undoing. He turns to the dark side when he realizes that it was the only way he can save his beloved wife from dying. After a vicious battle with the Jedi led by his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin is left badly injured. He is saved by Palpatine, his Jedi mentor who is secretly a Sith Lord. Of course, Palpatines motives are to use Anakin against the Jedi Order, as he wants to manipulate Anakin Skywalkers strengths and weaknesses. The Rise of Darth Vader Lord Palpatine turns Anakin Skywalker into the dark and deadly Darth Vader for his selfish pursuits. Darth Vader rises like a phoenix with his mind filled with hatred for the Jedi. He becomes the oppressor and tyrant that fills the Jedi with trepidation. Darth Vader, the ruthless slayer of Jedi younglings, is a victim of political vendetta. He is an agent of evil with a heart of goodness. What Can You Learn From Anakin Skywalkers Character? Anakin Skywalkers complex personality makes him one of the most popular characters in sci-fi movies. The two faces of Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader remind us that it is good and evil in every one of us. It is your choice to be what you want to be. You can blame your circumstances for your misdeeds. Or you can accept reality, and work hard to be good despite the negative energy around you. The choice is yours. Here is some soul-stirring Anakin Skywalker quotes that will put you in a reflective mood. For those who love Darth Vader, read some quotes from the evil Sith Lord himself. Anakin Skywalker Prequel Quotes Episode II - Attack of the ClonesYoure asking me to be rational. That is something I know I cannot do. Believe me, I wish I could just wish away my feelings, but I cant. Episode I - The Phantom MenaceMom, you said that the biggest problem in the universe is no one helps each other. Episode II - Attack of the ClonesAttachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion- which I would define as†¦unconditional love- is essential to a Jedis life. So, you might say that we are encouraged to love. Episode II - Attack of the ClonesWe will find out whos trying to kill you, Padmà ©. I promise you. Episode II - Attack of the ClonesSomeday I will be the most powerful Jedi ever. Episode II - Attack of the ClonesI killed them. I killed them all. Theyre dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. Theyre like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM! Episode II - Attack of the ClonesIts all Obi-Wans fault. Hes jealous. Hes holding me back. Episode II - Attack of the Clones[Anakin uses his Force levitation to slice a fruit for Padme] If Obi-Wan caught me doing that, he would be very grumpy. Episode III - Revenge of the SithIm going there to end this war. Wait for me until I return. Things will be different, I promise. Please wait for me. Episode II - Attack of the Clones[Anakin Skywalker, after Obi-Wan Kenobi cuts off Zam Wesells arm] Jedi business, go back to your drinks!

Response Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Response - Assignment Example ial component of the educational system and the way their responsibilities and training have changed over the decades makes them an active participant in the evolving educational system of the present and future. The school principal is the architect of a students educational life. He is the person who dictates what subjects are to be taught and how. He holds in his hands, the power to educate or dumb down his students. The Wallace Report has proven that principals have slowly come to embrace the fact that just because they are administrators, that does not mean they are no longer educators. Thanks to their continuous training programs, the students of the future will continue to benefit from the skills of principals who concentrate more on the educational welfare of their students rather than the financial bottom line of the school districts. Overall, I learned a lot from this study about how a principal should perform his job as an administrator. As such, my first order of business is to ensure the quality of education and teaching that the children in my school receive. I have to work towards the end result of having no child left behind in the educational system before making sure that my school is running within its budget and other requirements of the school district. The Wallace Foundation published a book or rather, the results of their decade long research into what makes for an effective learning environment in schools. With the publication of â€Å" The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and learning, they try to answer key questions that are relevant to the quality of education that our students receive. Their data came back as clear as daylight. The school principal is the most important person within the existing school system. The weight of the quality of education delivered by a school is reliant upon his effective administrative and educator skills. Every parent has a vision of what the perfect school system should be

Memory retention and retrieval in aging adults Term Paper

Memory retention and retrieval in aging adults - Term Paper Example Aging can affect both long term and short term memories of a person. Long term memories can act like the hard disk of a computer whereas short term memories can function like the Random Access Memory (RAM) of a computer. When the computer switches off all the information in the RAM will be lost whereas the information stored in the hard disk will be saved for future use. In the case of old people, both long term and short term memories can be exhausted if proper precautions are not taken. Long term memory consolidation occurs in human brain with the help of complex interactions among multiple brain systems like neurohormones. In the case of old people, these interactions among brain systems will be exhausted along with the exhausting of the body. Same way, short term memories may disappear once an old person completes a sleep cycle. Memory retention is essential for old people to conduct a normal life. Loss of memory may prevent them from identifying the objects or forgetting about t heir daily routine works. Thus their life becomes miserable when they approach their end of life period. Medical science has developed a lot and it is possible to reduce the pace of memory exhaustion among old people. In some cases, it is possible to regain the lost memory of the old people. This paper reviews the literature with respect to memory retention and retrieval among old people. Memory loss among old people There are many theories and views about the beginning of memory decline. Many people are of the view that memory mays started to decline from the age of sixty onwards. On the other hand many other are of the view that memory declining starts as early as thirty years of age itself. These contrasting views are the result of unawareness about the memory systems. Craik (2008) has succeeded in explaining these contrasting views with the help of the architecture and functioning of memory. He has explained that every human has at least five major memory systems and these syste ms show very distant rate of declining in the course of aging. â€Å"Episodic memory (memory for specific events) and working memory exhaust rapidly whereas memory for perceptual information, for highly practiced habits and procedures and for general knowledge (semantic memory) hold up relatively well†(Craik, 2008, p.343). In other words, some memory systems start to exhaust even in the early ages of thirties or forties whereas other memory systems exhaust only at a later period. People will take episodic memory loss and working memory loss as natural and less seriously than other types of memory loss and that is why these memory losses are often not catching the attention of people. Older people have relatively less abilities in keeping specific information in the memory compared to the younger generation. However, most of them are capable of retrieving general information. This is purely because of the dependency of various memory systems to age for the active functioning. Cognitive abilities such as attention, executive control, learning and problem solving etc can exhaust in the course of normal and pathological aging†. This is because of the growing inefficiency of the neurophysiological systems, blood supply, neural connectivity,

Current Trend in Management Essay Example for Free

Current Trend in Management Essay The management should recognize the important role of human resources management in order to successfully guide organizations towards profitability. It is essential for the management of investment and time-consuming and the amount, to see change scenario for the human resources department in the 21st century. In order to stay competitive and be in the race, and human resources management should consciously update itself with a shift in human resources, and be aware of the human resources issues cropping up. With high attrition rates and poaching strategies of competitors, and there is a huge shortage of skilled staff, and therefore, the company human resources activities play a vital role in combating the crisis. Should be put in the appropriate human resource policies that would lead to the organization as well as the individual s goals. And human resource managers to manage all the challenges facing staff recruitment, training them, and then develop strategies to retain their career and build an effective management system for them. That just taking care of employees will not be enough; new initiatives for human resources should also focus on the quality and productivity needs, and direct clients and stress, teamwork and leadership building. This book is divided into two parts, which sheds light on the emerging trends in human resources, and discusses the issues of human resources in various industries such as financial services, information technology, energy and health care, for example a few. It should be the value of this book is to practice human resource managers in each institution, as well as for those who have a great interest in the field of human resources management, to realize the increasing importance of human resources and understand the need to build human resources effective strategies to combat human resources issues emerging in the 21st century. Has evolved Human Resource Management Introduction to a large extent over the past century, and has seen a major shift in form and function primarily during the past two decades. Led a number of large forces environmental internal and external, progress has been made in the management of human resources function maintenance to a large extent, with little if any impact down the line, why many scholars and practitioners regard today as a source of competitive advantage for sustainable organizations operating in the global economy. Changes in human resources management: some significant changes that are likely to take place in the management of human resources are as follows: An increase in the levels of education: Due to the technological progress and the spread of educational institutions, workers will become increasingly aware of the needs of a higher level, managers must develop appropriate policies and techniques to motivate knowledge workers. Better-educated workforce and greater demand management assessment and self-governance in the workplace. Technological developments: This will require re-training and vocational training in the middle of each of the workers and managers. The rise of an international company to prove new challenges for individuals and function. Change the composition of the labor force: In women, in the future, minorities, SCs and STs become an important source of manpower in the future at the expense of ease of access to better education and employment opportunities. Therefore workforce planning will from each organization to take into account the possibility of the availability of talent in these groups. And will change the mix of the workforce leads to new values ​​in organizations. Increase the role of government: In India and management, personnel have become so certified. Will be required in private institutions in the future will be to coordinate its programs with those welfare work in the government sector, especially the increasingly to support the governments efforts to improve public health and education, training and development and infrastructure. Occupational Health and Safety: Because of the existence of the legislative and the trade union movement, and management personnel should be more health and safety conscious in the future. OD: in the future, and will have started to change and able to improve organizational effectiveness. And senior management will become more actively involved in the development of human resources. New work ethic: more troops will be on the forms of the project and a team of the organization. And change the work ethic requires a greater focus on the individual. You will have to redesign jobs to make the appeal. Development planning: Will be involved personnel management are increasingly in organizational planning, structure, and composition etc.. This will require greater awareness in terms of cost and profit based on attitudes on the part of the Department of Personnel. Better evaluation and reward systems: There will be a need to post the highest gains patrol organizations with the goal and the result more workers compensation-oriented systems performance and linking performance evaluation will have to be developed. New personnel policies: This will require the adoption of new and better policies for the labor force in the future. The traditional family management to give way to professional management with greater forces on human dignity. Hence, it will be in personnel management in the future cope with new challenges and new responsibilities performance. And will take place participatory leadership authoritarian leadership. And creative skills must be redone and rewarded the focus will shift from a legally binding approach and rule to a more open and humane. Recent trends in human resources Human Resource Management is the process of bringing people and organizations together so as to achieve the objectives of each other. The role of Director of Human Resources continues to shift from the role of protector and sort of the role of planning and agent of change. Management personnel are the new heroes of companies. The name of the game today in business is individuals. At present it is not possible to show good report your financial or operating only personnel relations are in order. Over the years, a high degree of skill and knowledge based on increasing employment opportunities while jobs that require low skills are diminishing. This calls for the appointment of skill in the future through human resource management initiatives occasion. Indian organizations have also experienced a change in systems and cultures and management philosophy due to the global alignment of Indian organizations. There is a need to develop multiple skills. The role of human resource management is becoming more important.

War Between Political Parties :: Free Essays Online

War Between Political Parties Why can’t we all get along? â€Å"Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today (Miller).† Today politics is all about who you know and how to obtain â€Å"the goal.† It isn’t about who is going to do the best job or informing the public about important stands on issues. On September 1, 2004 Senator Zell Miller of Georgia illustrated a great example of this. Zell Miller is a conservative democrat from Young Harris, GA. He is an ex-marine, a Methodist, and a family man. Senator Zell Miller gets way off track and begins using a very negative rhetorical approach during his speech at the National Republican convention. Senator Miller begins and ends his speech by relating to the audience. He refers to his family as his most precious possession. This is a good technique to get his audience, the registered voter, interested in his speech. He then uses key words and phrases to draw the audience in even further. â€Å"I know that’s how you feel about your family also.† â€Å"Like you, I think of their future, the promises and perils they will face.† â€Å"Like you, I believe that the next four years will determine what kind of world they will grow up in. â€Å"And Like you, I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and yes, the backbone to best protect my family?† Senator Miller uses denotative language when making comments about his family. He gives examples to show Bush is a family man and a religious man as well. Miller says, â€Å"I am moved by the respect he shows the First Lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America. Miller builds his credibility by stating that he was a Marine (patriotic). He tells the audience he's family oriented (just like everyone else). He also states that he worked with George Bush as a governor (knowing him on a personal level being able to talk of his character).

Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Pan-Islamic terrorism in the Middle East Essay

Being unique is what sets us apart from others; it gives us the edge over other people. Differences amongst us have been one of the most unique features God has granted human beings. One look and the differences are evident, making it clear no one is the same and no one will end-up in the same way. Human beings not only vary physically but also in lifestyle, culture, emotions, perspective in life, and in religion. At times human set aside these differences for the greater good, for the cause of peace and prosperity, but most of the time they fight for what they believe in even if it costs them or others life. Countless wars have been waged for the cause of justice, freedom and sovereignty over a piece of property. One dispute over a piece of land known to the world is the dispute between Israel and Palestine over the Land of Israel/Palestine. Israelites are Jews while the Palestinians are Arabs, but, this does not mean that the dispute is a religious one, it is solely a dispute over a 10,000 sq. mile property where both party claim rights over it. The reason for such a 60-year old dispute is based on the history of the land each party is trying to claim. According to the History Guy1, historically, the ancient Jews from Biblical times called their land Israel, Canaan, Judea, etc. and that in the days of the Bible God gave the land to the ancient Jews known as the Hebrews. But due to massive killings brought about by the Roman Empire, Jews were forced to move out from their land resulting to â€Å"The Diaspora†. But after some years, the Palestinians settled, earning them as the majority ethnic group in the land, thus Palestines claim the right over it. And since the Jews have returned, they also want their rights over the land given that it was granted to them by God. Both of these groups struggle to keep what they believe is theirs, by law or by nature. But the Palestinians went over board. They have inflicted intolerable pain to the world. Where Palestinians send out death threats, destroying infrastructures as well as eliminating __________________________ 1 â€Å"The Israeli-Palestiniam Conflict†, The History Guy. Retrieved June 5, 2007 from The History Guy Website. http://www. historyguy. com/israeli-palestinian_conflict. html job opportunities, and worse, destroying the lives of countless innocent souls now forever shadowed by fear. Terrorism as defined by Britannica Online2, is the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. Many Islamic groups have arisen in different parts of the earth to spread terrorism in the face of the planet. The Al-Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf and others are examples of the different Islamic groups present in different locations on Earth with one mission in mind, to inflict pain. Islamic issues on terrorism have stopped the world in its tracks, as the massive killings became worse. The world became spectators as bomb after bomb set off, killing people stripping them of their right to live. The world watched in horror as the World Trade Center where many employees work, were blown off to pieces. Some were found severely injured, others were never found under dusts and pile of debris. No one surely knows the reason for such terrorism; could it be that these Palestinians want to rule the world? Or they just want to prove something? There are many speculations on the cause of the terrorism brought about by these Arabs. But a certain speculation reveals that this terrorism was started by the dispute of the Palestinians and Israelites over the piece of property. That due to this dispute over a piece of property, the Palestinians brought terrorism to the world to inflict fear and pain in order to get what they want, and eliminating those who stand in their way. And as these Palestinians see it, the only way to get what they want, and in this circumstance that piece of land, force has to be used. Believing that inflicting pain and fear to the masses can weaken their decisions and give these Arabs what they want. These Palestinians truly believe that the piece of land they are fighting for is truly theirs. And they will fight for the right over it even if it takes how many lives or how much blood shall be spilled, as long as this goal is achieved.  2 terrorism. (2007). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9071797 References: terrorism. (2007). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9071797 â€Å"The Israeli-Palestiniam Conflict†, The History Guy. Retrieved June 5, 2007 from The History Guy Website. Being unique is what sets us apart from others; it gives us the edge over other people. Differences amongst us have been one of the most unique features God has granted human beings. One look and the differences are evident, making it clear no one is the same and no one will end-up in the same way. Human beings not only vary physically but also in lifestyle, culture, emotions, perspective in life, and in religion. At times human set aside these differences for the greater good, for the cause of peace and prosperity, but most of the time they fight for what they believe in even if it costs them or others life. Countless wars have been waged for the cause of justice, freedom and sovereignty over a piece of property. One dispute over a piece of land known to the world is the dispute between Israel and Palestine over the Land of Israel/Palestine. Israelites are Jews while the Palestinians are Arabs, but, this does not mean that the dispute is a religious one, it is solely a dispute over a 10,000 sq. mile property where both party claim rights over it. The reason for such a 60-year old dispute is based on the history of the land each party is trying to claim. According to the History Guy1, historically, the ancient Jews from Biblical times called their land Israel, Canaan, Judea, etc. and that in the days of the Bible God gave the land to the ancient Jews known as the Hebrews. But due to massive killings brought about by the Roman Empire, Jews were forced to move out from their land resulting to â€Å"The Diaspora†. But after some years, the Palestinians settled, earning them as the majority ethnic group in the land, thus Palestines claim the right over it. And since the Jews have returned, they also want their rights over the land given that it was granted to them by God. Both of these groups struggle to keep what they believe is theirs, by law or by nature. But the Palestinians went over board. They have inflicted intolerable pain to the world. Where Palestinians send out death threats, destroying infrastructures as well as eliminating __________________________ 1 â€Å"The Israeli-Palestiniam Conflict†, The History Guy. Retrieved June 5, 2007 from The History Guy Website. http://www. historyguy. com/israeli-palestinian_conflict. html job opportunities, and worse, destroying the lives of countless innocent souls now forever shadowed by fear. Terrorism as defined by Britannica Online2, is the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. Many Islamic groups have arisen in different parts of the earth to spread terrorism in the face of the planet. The Al-Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf and others are examples of the different Islamic groups present in different locations on Earth with one mission in mind, to inflict pain. Islamic issues on terrorism have stopped the world in its tracks, as the massive killings became worse. The world became spectators as bomb after bomb set off, killing people stripping them of their right to live. The world watched in horror as the World Trade Center where many employees work, were blown off to pieces. Some were found severely injured, others were never found under dusts and pile of debris. No one surely knows the reason for such terrorism; could it be that these Palestinians want to rule the world? Or they just want to prove something? There are many speculations on the cause of the terrorism brought about by these Arabs. But a certain speculation reveals that this terrorism was started by the dispute of the Palestinians and Israelites over the piece of property. That due to this dispute over a piece of property, the Palestinians brought terrorism to the world to inflict fear and pain in order to get what they want, and eliminating those who stand in their way. And as these Palestinians see it, the only way to get what they want, and in this circumstance that piece of land, force has to be used. Believing that inflicting pain and fear to the masses can weaken their decisions and give these Arabs what they want. These Palestinians truly believe that the piece of land they are fighting for is truly theirs. And they will fight for the right over it even if it takes how many lives or how much blood shall be spilled, as long as this goal is achieved. __________________________ 2 terrorism. (2007). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9071797 References: terrorism. (2007). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Online: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9071797 â€Å"The Israeli-Palestiniam Conflict†, The History Guy. Retrieved June 5, 2007 from The History Guy Website. http://www. historyguy. com/israeli-palestinian_conflict. html.

Difference Between Black and White

Audrey Edwards propagates her belief that blacks must only marry blacks for the simple reason that whites continue to feel superior to blacks because the latter were their slaves at one time. Apparently, the difference between the whites and the blacks of the United States is deep-rooted – going back to early America where Europeans had brought African slaves. Although slavery was abolished in the centuries to come, the huge socioeconomic difference between the white masters and their black slaves was to remain at the level of the subconscious mind of America.From the subconscious mind to the culture of America – it was effortless for the â€Å"difference† between black and whites to make a transition. In a newspaper report published in the year 1957, the Governor of Arkansas maintained that peace was not possible without racial segregation, that is, without strict adherance to the concept of white privilege, which is defined as â€Å"a special advantage or bene fit of white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc.  (Clark)†Integration was virtually impossible, in other words, and racial tension was expected to rise as a result of the discussions about letting the African Americans and the whites study together in an academic institution (â€Å"Act To Block Integration in Arkansas†). After all, the concept of white privilege entailed that the whites were socially and intellectually superior to the blacks, and therefore could not study with those that were inferior to them. In a racial riot like the one that was expected back in 1957, the African Americans were expected to fight for their self-esteem.The white Americans, on the contrary, were expected to protect their notion of superiority by fighting back. It appears to be a fact that the â€Å"difference† was mainly maintained by the whites as opposed to the blacks. The blacks wer e fighting for equal rights during the Civil Rights Movement of America. In response to the racial abuses they had suffered at the hands of the whites who had considered themselves superior to their slaves of the past; the blacks had to be compensated by means of affirmative action.Affirmative action is defined as a â€Å"policy that gives a preference to individuals based upon their belonging to designated groups who are underrepresented not only in the most desirable occupational classes, but also in school admissions and government contracts. † Those who are underrepresented thus can be referred to as disadvantaged groups, seeing as they do not have a powerful representative voice to speak for their rights.The policy of affirmative action serves as a blessing for the disadvantaged groups for this reason, by not only adding extra points to the credit of the members of disadvantaged groups when performance evaluation is called for, but also by allocating extra funds to recru it such members of the community. Whereas the opponents of affirmative action claim that it is injustice to favor a group just because it is considered â€Å"disadvantaged,† proponents of the policy assert that affirmative action is necessary to right the wrongs of the past with respect to discrimination and/or racism (Boylan).In other words, in the absence of affirmative action, discrimination and/or racism may very well continue in almost any if not all spheres of life. The â€Å"difference† between whites and blacks has definitely seeped into the culture of America from its subconscious mind where the history of the nation is stored. If the whites of America had not used the services of black slaves in the past, there would have been no question of white privilege, and America would not have found it useful to combat racism with affirmative action.In actuality, white privilege translates into obvious racism, which is a belief system claiming that individuals can be superior to others solely on the basis of race. The theory of racism has led to much violence and genocide in the world. It was racism that led the Nazis to slaughter the Jews simply by believing that the latter were inferior. The theory of racism seems to have been applied everywhere in the world, even though universal values inform us that people who are superior are only those who do good in this world.Would universal values, therefore, be able to end the â€Å"difference†? The answer appears to be Yes. Even so, the collective memory of America will not be eradicated, and nobody can force the whites, in particular, to forget that the blacks were their slaves in the past. The â€Å"difference† is expected to be maintained at some level. Finally, it is worthy of note that without the great socioeconomic divide between the blacks and the whites in America’s early memories, there would have been no conflict whatsoever.

Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essays

Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essays Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essay Image Crisis at British Petroleum Essay Bp’s BRAND IMAGE More packaging than substance ? Introduction: Corporate image symbolises the values an organisation stands for. Organizations can create it to define themselves or get branded due to their actions. Therefore, its more important to have a the right image that reflect an organization’s commitment to quality, excellence and its constructive role in the society. British Petroleum (BP) is a major enterprise to redefine its core values in the light of its ethical considerations. It is an example of antagonism between its core business and it’s core values. Since years it has been subject of criticism more than any other oil producer for failing to deliver on its commitments of environmental protection, ethical business model and health / safety procedures. A series of accidents have also undermined BP’s credibility of going green and the range of disparity between its business values and business practices is anyones guess. In order to assess the extent to which BP has been successful, we will equate its position with respect to the extrinsic factors like industry macro-drivers, strategy implementation, crisis management and intrinsic factors such as size, capital, costs, technology and location. It is the change of dynamics between these extrinsic and intrinsic factors that decides the amount of resources that can be allocated to bring about any change. We will also aim to explore how BP is affected by dynamics of a business sector on which its customers are rather dependent and shareholders who are looking for the return on their investment. The kind of leverage BP has to sideline its ethical commitments and favor profit generation. There are unexploited oil reserves in this highly profitable industry and switching to alternative energy solutions cannot viably offset current technologies brought about by years of research and billiols in investment. How does BP plan to manage this change across the company and time of implementation is debatable. â€Å"Bp’s internal culture is characterized by intense pressure to keep the costs down and budgeting always took precedence over routine maintenance and occasionally over safety. † Forbes The business ethics that are followed in this sector are questionable and BP is no exception. Seemingly the company has protocols setup for operation but due to the rapid expansion of the oil industry, these have to be adapted to the local conditions that leads to complacency and rearrangement of ethical priorities. This results in a business mechanism where the core values does not filter down to the grass root level. The ethics of any organization is comprised of the individuals representing it. Customizing ethics with respect to the operating environment increases heterogeneity in values which is not permissible. the values are real, but they haven’t been aligned with our business practice in the field a scream at our level is, if anything, a whisper at their level. † anonymous BP executive quoted by Fortune magazine There are challenges faced by BP as well to bring about changes. Change in technology is relatively easier than to bring change in attitude. Being conti nuously under the scrutiny of environmental agencies like green peace and WWF it is hard for the company to invest into alternative energy considering the profit it is making from the existing operations. Moreover, it is understandable that BP is a business concern that generates profit and not a charity, therefore it would be unfair to ask it for a paradigm shift in its policies and operations. It has made mistakes and hopefully learnt from it, there is actually no intention of reinventing the wheel. Therefore, the aim of this article is analyse the success BP has had since it was rebranded and whether its actions are in line with its green strategy or result of a covert master plan. Overview of the study: In this study we aim justify if BP is taking concrete steps to go green. We will cite examples and then examine how they translate in the light of stakeholder management, business ethics and crisis management and their political, economic, social, technologcal, environmental and legal effects (PESTEL). These management, ethics and PESTEL phenomenon occour differently in different strata of any organisation, their understanding is even more important as these individual processess lead to a cascade of events that define the actions of an organisation. Therefore, in most of the cases BP’s green credentials have to be judged as consequences rather than results of these processes. Stakeholder Management: A key issue in stakeholder management is the identification of ‘key’ stake holders which in turn helps an organization to filter out its ‘strategic’ stakeholders. â€Å"A stakeholder in an organization ( by definition) any group or individual which can affect or is affected by the achievements of the organizations objectives. † (Freeman 1984, Pg 46). Therefore, in order to maximize profits, stakeholders have to be prioritized on the basis of their affect or the organization. Stakeholders that can affect the management of the organization need to be handled instrumentally but if the firms decisions affect the well being of the stakeholders, then it is just a case of moral obligation (Berman et al. , 1999). They can also be categorized no the basis of their interest, claim or ownership in the organization and its activity (Clarkson 1995), where as equal merit should also be given to any consideration that a stakeholder might have (Donaldson Preston 1995). In the case of BP, we can clearly see that there is a genuine attempt to give equal merit to all its stakeholders. Even more so as its new branding scheme credits the environment as its stakeholder to which it ideally only has a moral obligation. Environmental organization maintains that BP is still ‘toying’ with the idea or going green (Barley, 2009) and on the company website the green trademark has been replaced with the commitment to be ‘Responsible’. (Barley 2009) One can only imagine the internal and external forces that come into play while corporate decisions are made. Primary stakeholder have an upper hand in influencing corporate decisions and an organization survival may depend on their continuous participation. Shareholders and investors, employees, suppliers are considered to be the primary stakeholders in an organization while secondary stakeholders constitute groups that are not essential for the direct functioning of an organization but are influenced or affected by it (Clarkson, 1995). Secondary stakeholders have a unique participation that they can mould people perception and have a major impact by striking interaction between stakeholders. Imperical studies have demonstrated that firms with different levels of commitment to environmental issues vary in managers perceptions of which groups of stakeholders is important (Buysse and Verbeke, 2003; Harvey and Schemer, 2001; Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999; Hoffman, 1996). BP being a profitable organization gives justice to this model. An insight into the this area leads to the fact that it has given good return on investment for its investors and ranks good on employee satisfaction surveys (BP Annual Review 2008). It is well known that the supply chain has always been happy in this generally profitable business sector. Considering customer satisfaction, the subject becomes debatable as their primary focus is on the fuel in their vehicles rather than its producer or its methods of production. Agle (1999, Pg 508) advocates that the importance of stake holders on attributes such as ligitimacy, power, urgency. Organization however big or small have limited resources where these attributes provide additional criteria for identifying and prioritizing stakeholders. Legitimacy refers to a legal or contractual obligation and categorizes shareholders and investors having interest in the harms and benefits generated by a company’s actions. Power is the ability to influence a firm’s behavior. Again it can be deduced that power comes to legimate stakeholders. Urgency is a dynamic component for a stakeholder to grab attention of managers. BP seems to adhere very strongly to above theory as we can see that the secondary stakeholders like environmental and health safety concerns do not feature high in its priority list. BP codes demands requiring immediate attention or change implementation as one and for future attention as zero. In year 2000 four environmental NGO’s lead the boycott of British Petroleum requesting it to pledge to avoid drilling operations in Alaska. This request was coded as zero (LexisNexis Academic, 2003). Bp’s Alaskan Northstar operation began production in the same year. It is also noteworthy that bp has done very well as an organization by contradicting a Harvard study that concludes that the companies that prioritize shareholders did less well for their stakeholders as compared to companies that put equal weightage on both (Caulkin and Black, 1994; Kotter and Heskett, 1992). Along with profit generation and market penetration, it has also expanded its product portfolio to alternative energy like solar energy, wind farms etc. ( However, it has not provided any explanation as to why it regards natural gas as alternative energy). As stakeholders, environmental agencies like greenpeace are its biggest critiques but other than that it ranks high on corporate social responsibilities initiatives like social innovation, energy efficiency, operating efficiency, product emission and research on renewable sources of energy (BP 2004). Its alternative energy division has been downsized to department as they have reported losses of $900 million in Q1 2009 due to sales slump and $193 million in Q108 (Yarrow, J. , 2009). Understandably, this decision should have been taken due to economic feasibility since BP as a business seeks profitability rather than investing funds in loss making operations. Therefore, viewing BP’s stakeholder management in the light of strategy implementation, we can see that fundamental changes in its business processes actually comprise its very long term strategy. It might be due to the fact that its secondary shareholders are miniscule considering its financial and political might within an industry that operates in an essential commodity business sector where it is hard, if not impossible, to persuade its customers to abstain using its products. It gives fair credit to political and economic aspects of PESTEL. Primary stakeholders have been prioritised and secondary stakeholders like society and environment have been sidelined. It is difficult to be profit oriented and environmentally comitted in this industry sector. The closest it has gone for being green on enviromental sustainability is cleaner energy that primarily focuses on process efficiency and carbon offset farms. In the current scenario it looks like BP’s strategy is to align stakeholders with its own business policies rather than implementing changes that reflect stakeholders’ concerns. Business Ethics: It is defined as the study of business situations, activities and decisions where the issues of right and wrongs are concerned (Crane and Matten, 2007). The fundamentals of business ethics have been deduced from applied ethics. By taking business environment into account, it addresses decision making when moral or ethical problems arise. Being a normative discipline, it provides a framework of values by averaging or bordering. It means that a decision being ethical or unethical actually depends on the situation and the environment where it may or may not be morally and socially acceptable. BP has had major criticism for unethical practices due to its collaboration with apartheid governments, exploration in protected areas, use of force in West Papua, Columbia, Azerbaijan, inadequate adherence to safety and most notably failing to deliver on its green initiatives. Bp’s trade agreements with the Souch African government under apartheid is a classis case where BP even denied to report its involvement ( Tutu, D. , et. Al, 2002). BP along with other major oil companies paid levy to South African government’s Strategic Oil Fund which financed SASOL to produce fuel for domestic transport (Burton, B. , 1998), which seriously undermined the effect of sanctions. However, it explained that embargoed oil was exported twice but that was an error. Like all other oil companies operating there, it said that it was compelled to purchase oil through the State Fuel Fund. Burton, B. , 1999) Bp’s publicly support to the Bush government to open oil drilling in Arctic National Wildife Refuge in Alaska and continues to explore in environmentally sensitive areas like the Atlantic Frontier, foothills of Andes and Alaska (Beder, S. , 2002). In 2001 PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) reseased the survey results of ADEC employee s that suggested that there is a widespread perception of regulatory favoritism towards the petroleum industry, political arm-twisting of pollution enforcement and waek agency leadership (Ruch, J. 2002). Bp’s move to extract oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada is another example where BP is involved in extraction involving process which is five time more energy intensive and equally polluting. BP does state its advantages of such a dirty extraction process but there are few takers. ( bp. com, 2007) It has been widely reported that BP uses force and in some cases collaborates with defence agencies to start or continue its production abroad and sometimes prosecute opposing fractions. In West Papua, BP has been developing athe massive Tangguh gas project at Benton Bay, where it has tried hard to gain community support by proclaiming its intention to avoid the disasters occurred while other companies were operating there. Rather than gaining community approval it has tied up with the Indonesian military. In March 2003, Bp was warned by US senator George Mitchell that it could trigger human rights abuses based on the fact that indonesian military would be deployed to guard its Tangguh LNG facilities (Macalister, T. , 2003). In Columbia, BP has been accused of making deals with local security forces and introduced voluntary principles while contracting private security providers and trying to ensure their implementation later (Warner, M. , 2002). BP was yet again in human rights vioation during the execution of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project connecting operations in the caspian sea to the medeterranean sea. It was accused osf sidelining the rights of Turkish villagers and environmental authorities as it struck a deal which exempted it from its environmental, social and human rights laws. Moreover, this deal included the fact that the pipeline would remain outside Ankara’s jurisdiction for its lifetime (Brown, P. , 2002). In March 2006, a sever corrosion was detected in the Purdhoe Bay oil transit line resulting in an oil spill. In June 2006 BP’s North America division was charged for illegal profit of $20 million by manipulating propane prices. In September 2006, 1000 barrels of oil was spilled at BP’s port of Long Beach, California due to rupture in its underground pipeline. In 2005 there was an explosion in its Texas refinery that killed 15 and injured more than 170. A government enquiry was carried out issuing fines and recommendations. Payment of fines was hardly a dent in its balance sheet but new health and safety management systems were incorporated such as OMS (Organisational Management System) and ERNP (Environmental Requrements for New Projects). Since 2007 there has been no reports on any accidents or mishaps so far. After the pipeline and Texas refinery disasters it went for damage control with a series of public relation campaigns, mainly in North America. There were adverts in newspapers, parties, barbrques, celebrity receptions, road shows, footrace etc. In 2007 it went for a US wide campaign called ‘Helios Power’ through newspapers, radio and television. One might wonder why such initiatives were not taken in other parts of the world, where it primarily settled lawsuits with monotory compensation, notably in the case of Columbiam farmers (Verkaik, R. , 2006). There can be no doubt that human rights abuse in Turkey could go unnoticed as BP had already made legal arrangements to circumvent it. It really is a blemish that would take long to wash off. Human rights grops have questioned BP’s business ethics and corporate culture it operates within. If a corporation can go against governments would it head to its citizens’ concerns; doubtful. Print and visual media is also to be credited as they break these news all over the world so that the people become more concious about the blood-fuel that is being delivered to them. Keeping strategy implementation in focus, it seems like its current strategy is to gamble and take chances. Its financial and political might does give it leverage to do so which could also be the root of this problem. Interestingly, BP in 2002 has also stated that it woll no longer offer donations to political parties as they have no democratic legitimacy anywhere in the world (Cowell, A,. 2002). It indicates that there were donations made that might have lead to malpracitces. With this many number of environmental blunders under its belt, its environmental credentials have hit rockbottom. In terms of basic ethical standards such as honesty, trustworthiness and co-operation (Collins 1994; Watson 1994), BP has set wrong examples that might, in future, undermine the commitment it enjoys from its investors and shareholders. CRISIS MANAGEMENT: Crisis management is a process that enables an organisation to manoevour under unpredictable situations which may threaten to harm the organisation, its stakeh olders or general public. Common challenges faced in a crisis situation is that of threat to the organisation, element of surprise and short decision time (Seeger et. l. 1998). Due to the large ambit of a crisis situation and organisation wide reach of the process a hybrid term has been coined called business crisis and continuity management (BCCM) (Shaw, G. , 2005). It has also been defined as the farmework that integrates strategic business protection, response recovery and business continuity (Mitroff and Pauchant 1992, Mitroff 2001) (Fink 1986). Bp’s crisis managem ent strategy suggests that it is accomodating rather than proactive. There have been instances like the Alaskan and Longbeach oil spill, Texas refinery disaster. Something common in all these situation is that fact that BP executives were swift enough to apologise and stop production but fact of the matter is that the fines and compensation it paid out hardly made a dent in its balance sheet. It has coerced stakeholders, made illegal government deals in Turkey, abused human rights in Azerbaijan, exploited environmentally sensitive areas and even denied involvement in worngdoings in South Africa shows the deapth of its crisis management. After the Texas refinery inqust, health and safety protocols like OMS and ERNP were introduced and will be tested over time. If the abovementioned situations are not regarded as crisis than what is? If these crises are catagoried ( Coombs 1999; Lerbinger 1997), BP has faced nearly all of them like technological, confrontational, malevolence, deception, organisational misdeeds and management misconduct. Falling back on the MItroff, Pauchant and Fink definition, BP does prform well in terms of business protection and business continuity but has failed to provide industry leading examples of response and recovery in any crisis situation. These crices situation have brought massive negative public relation to BP. Even more so the heavyhanded approach towards their resolution and recovery further exposed the rift there exists between BP policies and actions. Its blatent disregard for the very objectives it stands for proves that afterall it is an oil company and will remain one until these resources are exhausted and alternative energy becomes equally profitable. The need for rebranding and what BP got out of it: â€Å"Its not a matter of competition. Its a matter of different character. † -BP exchief executive John Browne Bp’s rebranding campaign is still considered a success story. With the acquisition of US based Amoco and ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Corp), access to the north american market, Amoco and ARCO brand ceased to exist and being catapulted in the big league was an ideal situation for rebranding the organization as a whole. This exercise in year 2000 brought two kinds of changes. Visibly, the old shield logo metamorphosed into a Helios sunburst with white yellow and green colours thereby defining the company as innovative, progressive, environmentally responsible and performance driven (Mufson, S. and Eilperin, J. (2006), and declared BP to stand for ‘Beyond Petroleum’. Psychologically it initiated a change in attitude and future orientation of the business as an energy company. This led to a series of organizational and leadership changes. This change in logo is seen with sarcasm these day as year 2000 and onwards BP has been associated with accidents, oil spills, government enquiries, protests, global warming etc. The effectiveness of BP’s new brand and the public relations can be judged on defintion given by Grunig and Hunt (1984) which stated that a non-product advertisement as being concept, general promotion, goodwill, image, issue, personality and responsibility. With the juxtaposition of being green to being responsible, BP has practically achieved these with its new brand but their realisation seem farfetched. CONCLUSION: Being green or not, it is important to consider that it is the people who make our society, inhabit the planet and will be most affected by issues like pollution and global warming. The managers in BP breathe the same air and hopefully do understand their moral responsibilities. Is it a race between oil majors to make maximum profits because one day or another final damage will be done? Green colour is not all about environment but it also signifies life. Being green is about respecting life. Its is hard to consider an oil giant to be environmentally sensitive if it earns $25 billion a year and pland to invest $8 billion over a period of ten years on alternative energy sources. BP has strady increased its profits year on year and the above figures correspond to year 2005. Since then its alternative energy subsidiary has been downsized to a department, getting even lesser funding. Other than environment, it has topographically and geologically disturbed the ecosystem, thereby causing irrepairable damage. In addition to bringing harm to the environment it has also taken resort to political lobbying, human rights abuse is South America and collaborated with apartheid government of South Africa. Going to these extremes clearly shows that it is a concious attemp on BP’s side to move away from its environmental claims. Moreover, the people that have been subjected to its abuses feel compromised as the benefits of their resources is being concenrated elsewhere. Bp’s Bold move to explore oil in environmentally sensitive areas have drawn a lot of flak from agencies such as Greenpeace, Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (PRIG) and Amnesty International. BP contends that it should be allowed to drill in sensitive areas because it has the ability to operate in a manner that will not harm these unique places, We disagree with that argument. The best way to preserve biodiversity and important protected areas is not by making a best practices gamble but to not operate there at all. Justin Tatham, PRIG representative There is no match to the long term damage caused by oil companies in general, but they are not to blamed alone. It is the world’s insatiable thirst for oil from which these companies derive motivation to move forward with the plan. It is also a plausable excuse that if BP doesn’t enter a market other oil majors will, but its still worth a try on moral grounds. In order to extract oil cheaply political and military collaborations forged and put common public on the receieving end. The importance of controlling production assets has gained impetus recently as countries like Russia and Venezuela are using their oil exports as political tools and there might be a day when BP’s political lobbyists may ask for its favour. Therefore, considering its working practices, orgsnisation culture, business ethics, shifting priorities and ambiguous future strategies, it can be clearly seen that BP has not lived up to the expectations. Its going to be a decade since BP rebranded itself, this journey of transformation has been marred by accidents, employee unrests, management shuffling and awards for being the worst performing company by Greenpeace. In 2008, BP was awarded ‘Emerald Paintbrush’ award for the worrst green-wash of the year, which speaks reams about what BP has achieved with its green commitment (Jossc 2008). It can only be hoped that BP has learned from its mistakes and responsibility has also been added to its commitments, it translates these commitments into business practices to ‘think out of the barrel’ and assimilate the green vision it stands for. REFERENCES: Agle, B. R. , Mitchell, R. K. , and Sonnenfeld, J. A. 1999. â€Å"Who matters to CEOs? An investigation of stakeholder attributes and salience, corporate performance, and CEO values. † Academy of Management Journal 42:507–25. Barley, S (2009) Greenpeace tars and feathers energy giant BP bbc. co. uk, Available: bbc. co. uk/blogs/climatechange/2009/05/greenpeace_tars_and_feathers_e. html Last accessed 28 June, 2009 Barley, S (2009) Green replaced as a BP brand value bbc. co. uk/, Available: bbc. co. k/blogs/climatechange/2009/04/bp_from_responsible_to_green. html Last accessed 3rd July, 2009 Beder, S. (2002), bp: Beyond Petroleum? in Battling Big Business: Countering greenwash, infiltration and other forms of corporate bullying, edited by Eveline Lubbers, Green Books, Devon, UK, pp. 26-32. Berman, S. L. , Wicks, A. C. , Kotha, S. , and Jones, T. M. 1999. â€Å"Does stakeholder orientation matter? The relationship between stakeholder management models and firm financial performance. † Academy of Management Journal 42:488–506. BP Annual Review 2008 (2008) p. com, Available: bp. com/extendedsectiongenericarticle. do? categoryId=9027583contentId=7050339 Last accessed: 28 June, 2009 BP (2004) crs best practice, Available: article13. com/A13_ContentList. asp? strAction=GetPublicationPNID=940 Last accessed: 28 June, 2009 BP and the Casanare Project, Columbia (2002) ethicalcorp. com, Available: ethicalcorp. com/content. asp? ContentID=70 Last accessed: 3rd July, 2009 Brown, P (2002) Human rights row over BP plan to lay Turkish pipeline guardian. co. k, Available: guardian. co. uk/world/2002/aug/31/oil. business Last accessed 3rd July, 2009 Burton, B. , (1999), Oil companies defend apartheid role, Mining Monitor, Mineral Policy Institute, Volume 4 Number 1, March 1999, page 10. Burton, B. , (1998) Oil mining companies silent on apartheid role, Mining Monitor, Mineral Policy Institute, Volume 3 No 4, page 3. Buysse K, Ve rbeke A. 2003. Proactive environmental strategies: a stakeholder management perspective. Strategic Management Journal 24(5): 453 – 470. Caulkin, S. , and Black, M. 1994. The new corporate crusade: A wider social and economic role is now expected of the corporate sector. † Management Today, October, 56–60. Clarkson, M. B. E. 1995. â€Å"A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. † Academy of Management Review 20:65–91. Collins, J. , (1994), Is business ethics an oxymoron? , Business Horizons, Greenwich, Vol 37, Iss 5, Pg 1,8 Coombs, W. T. (1999). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Cowell, A (2002) BPs Chief Says the Oil Company Is Ending Its Political Donations ytimes. com, Available: nytimes. com/2002/02/28/us/bp-s-chief-says-the-oil-company-is-ending-its-political-donations. html Last accessed 28 June, 2009 Crane, A. And Matten, D. , (2007), Business E thics, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, pg. 5 Donaldson, T. , and Preston, L. E. 1995. â€Å"The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. † Academy of Management Review 20:65–91. Fink, Steven. Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable. Authors Guild Backprint Edition. 1986, 2002. Freeman, R. E. 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Marsh? eld, MA: Pitman. Harvey B, Schaefer A. 2001. Managing relationships with environmental stakeholders: a study of U. K. water and electricity utilities. Journal of Business Ethics 30: 243 – 260. Henriques I, Sadorsky P. 1999. The relationship between environmental commitment and managerial perception of stakeholder importance. Academy of Management Journal 42: 87 – 99. Hoffman A. 1996. A strategic response to investor activism. Sloan Management Review 37(2): 51 – 65. Jossc. (2008). BP wins coveted Emerald Paintbrush award for worst greenwash of 2008. Available: greenpeace. org. uk/blog/climate/bps-wins-coveted-emerald-paintbrush-award-worst-greenwash-2008-20081218. Last accessed 28 Jun 2009. Kotter, J. P. , and J. L. Heskett 1992. Corporate Culture and Performance. New York: The Free Press. Lerbinger, O. (1997). The crisis manager: Facing risk and responsibility. Erlbaum. LexisNexis Academic. 2003. LexisNexis Universe: General News Topics. lexisnexis. com/ universe [1 July 2009] Major upgrade planned at US refinery for Canadian oil processing (2007) bp. om, Available: bp. com/genericarticle. do? categoryId=2012968=7038865 Last accessed: 28 June, 2009 Mccalister, T (2003) BP panel warns of risk to human rights in Indonesia guardian. co. uk, Available: guardian. co. uk/business/2003/mar/12/indonesia. internationalnews Last accessed 3rd July, 2009 Mitroff, Ian I. , Pauchant, Thierry, C. Transforming the Crisis-Prone Organization. Jossey-Bass, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 1992. Mufson, S. and Eilperin, J. (2006). For BP, a Pair of R epairs. Available: washingtonpost. om/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080801127. html. Last accessed 28 Jun 2009. 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Spotted Eagle Ray Facts

Spotted Eagle Ray Facts The spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) is a cartilaginous fish belonging to the eagle ray family of stingrays. Its common name comes from its distinctive spots, fins that flap like wings, and protruding snout that resembles an eagles beak or ducks bill. Usually, the ray is a solitary predator, but it sometimes swims in large groups. Fast Facts: Spotted Eagle Ray Scientific Name: Aetobatus narinariOther Names: White-spotted eagle ray, duckbill ray, bonnet rayDistinguishing Features: Disk-shaped ray with long tail, blue or black body with white spots, and flat snout resembling a duck billAverage Size: Up to 5 m (16 ft) long with wingspan of 3 m (10 ft)Diet: CarnivorousLife Span: 25 yearsHabitat: Warm coastal water worldwide, although modern classification restricts this species to the Atlantic ocean basinConservation Status: Near threatenedKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: ChondrichthyesOrder: MyliobatiformesFamily: MyliobatidaeFun Fact: Newborn pups look just like their parents, except much smaller Description The ray is easily recognized by its blue or black top dotted with white spots, white belly, and flat duck bill snout. There are five small gills on each side of the front half of the belly. The tail is very long and features two to six venomous spines located just behind the pelvic fins. A spotted eagle rays disk-shaped body can reach 5 meters (6 feet) in length, have a wingspan up to 3 meters (10 feet), and weigh 230 kilograms (507 pounds). In addition to its spots, the spotted eagle ray may be identified by its beak-like snout. Terry Moore/Stocktrek Images / Getty Images Distribution Prior to 2010, the species included spotted eagle rays living in warm coastal waters around the globe. Now the name only refers to the group that lives in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. The population living in the Indo-West Pacific is the ocellated eagle ray (Aetobatus ocellatus), while the group in the tropical East Pacific Ocean is the Pacific white-spotted eagle ray (Aetobarus laticeps). Only very recent sources make a distinction between the rays, which differ slightly in terms of genetics and morphology. While spotted eagle rays live in coral reefs and protected bays, they may migrate great distances through deep water. This is the historical spotted eagle ray range. Under modern classification, the fish only resides in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf. Diet Spotted eagle rays are carnivorous predators that feed upon mollusks, crustaceans, octopuses, and small fish. The rays use their snouts to dig in the sand to expose food, then apply calcified jaws and chevron-shaped teeth to crack open hard shells. Predators and Parasites Sharks are the principal predators of spotted eagle rays. Specifically, tiger sharks, lemon sharks, bull sharks, silvertip sharks, and great hammerhead sharks prey upon pups and adults. Humans also hunt rays. Spotted eagle rays host a variety of parasites, including the gnathostomatid nematode Echinocephalus sinensis (in the intestine) and monocotylid monogeneans (on the gills). Reproduction and Life Cycle Spotted eagle rays are ovoviviparous or live-bearing. During mating, one or more males pursue a female. The male uses his jaws to grasp the females pectoral fin and roll her over. When the rays are venter to venter (belly to belly), the male inserts his clasper into the female. The entire mating process takes from 30 to 90 seconds. The female retains the fertilized eggs, which hatch internally and live off the egg yolk. After a gestation period of about a year, the female gives birth to as many as four pups that are miniature versions of their parents. Rays mature in 4 to 6 years and live around 25 years. Spotted Eagle Rays and Humans For the most part, spotted eagle rays are shy, gentle creatures that pose no significant threat to humans. The intelligent, curious animals are popular with snorkelers. However, on at least two occasions, leaping rays have landed in boats. One incident resulted in a womans death in the Florida Keys. Because of their interesting pattern and the graceful way they fly through water, spotted eagle rays present a popular aquarium attraction. They have been successfully bred in captivity. Burgers Zoo in the Netherlands holds the record for the most births. Conservation Status The spotted eagle ray is near threatened in the wild, with a decreasing population trend. However, the latest IUCN evaluation occurred in 2006, which is before the fish was assigned to three separate species. The IUCN categorizes the ocellated eagle ray as vulnerable, while the Pacific white-spotted eagle ray has not been evaluated for conservation status. From a global perspective, including all three species, threats to the spotted eagle ray include severe population fragmentation, unregulated overfishing, bycatch, pollution, collection for the aquarium trade, and hunting to protect mollusk farms. Fishing pressure presents the most significant threat and is expected to increase. However, there are few portions of the animals range where the threat is lessened. The spotted eagle ray is protected in Florida and the Maldives and partially protected in Australia. Sources Carpenter, Kent E.; Niem, Volker H. (1999). Batoid fishes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes. 3. pp. 1511, 1516. ISBN 92-5-104302-7.Kyne, P.M.; Ishihara, H.; Dudley, S. F. J. White, W. T. (2006). Aetobatus narinari. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2006: e.T39415A10231645. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T39415A10231645.enSchluessel, V., Broderick, D., Collin, S.P., Ovenden, J.R. (2010). Evidence for extensive population structure in the white-spotted eagle ray within the Indo-Pacific inferred from mitochondrial gene sequences. Journal of Zoology 281: 46–55.Silliman, William R.; Gruber, S.H. (1999). Behavioral Biology of the Spotted Eagle Ray, Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen, 1790), in Bimini, Bahamas; an Interim Report.White, W.T. (2014): A revised generic arrangement for the eagle ray family Myliobatidae, with definitions for the valid genera. Zootaxa 3860(2): 149–166.

OXIDATION OF METHIONINE BY SINGLET OXYGEN Essay - 1

OXIDATION OF METHIONINE BY SINGLET OXYGEN - Essay Example Transition metal complexes as photosensitizers 16 Semiconductors 17 Immobilized photosensitizers 17 Methionine oxidation 18 Determination of singlet oxygen 21 Aims 24 Materials and methods 25 General Information 25 Oxygen measurements 25 Singlet oxygen consumption at different methionine concentrations 26 Singlet oxygen consumption induced by laser. 27 Results and discussion 27 Conclusions 47 References: 49 Abstract The methionine oxidation reaction using singlet oxygen was studied. Initially this report is focused on presenting the overview of works associated with the topic. Singlet oxygen is described along with the ways it is formed. It was highlighted that singlet oxygen was a more powerful oxidant then triplet oxygen and the types of oxidation pathways are described. The practical aspect of this research is focused on using a photosensitizer, Rose Bengal, to generate singlet oxygen. This is the reason for giving a short overview of photosensitizers is given making focus on the behaviour of Rose Bengal and compounds similar to it in structure. Methionine oxidation mechanism is also described as well as function of oxygen electrode. In order to research the topic of methionine oxidation by singlet oxygen two experiments were carried out. In the first experiment a series of methionine solutions with different concentrations were prepared. In each case Rose Bengal was added as a photosensitizer. As it was established, the rate of oxygen consumption depends on methionine concentration in the solution being the highest at the lowest concentration of methionine. The process was followed by Michaelis-Menten kinetics therefore the corresponding equations were used to construct Lineweaver-Burke plot and determine the maximum rate of the oxidation reaction as well as the line slope. The second experiment utilised a more vigorous approach. A laser pulse was employed to produce singlet oxygen molecules in the dye containing methionine solution. And by employing various concentrations of methionine and Rose Bengal as photosensitizer construct oxygen consumption plots along with determination of variation of centre-of mass d istance and potential energy of the reacting molecules. Methionine oxidation was also described using SPARTAN calculations and the reaction mechanism was presented. This report is initially focused on describing the key literature associated with oxidation of methionine by singlet oxygen, highlighting relevant for the project issues and arguments, then moving on to presenting the research that has been done so far, making accent on the methods used and results achieved, before finally identifying the existing gaps in the study and setting up a plan for future work. Introduction Oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley in 1775 (Priestley, 1775). Later, Avagadro described the diatomic nature of oxygen, and the paramagnetic properties of this diatomic gas were studied by Faraday in 1811. Differences between oxygen and other gases such as helium or nitrogen were also investigated (Parkes, 1967). Later in 1928, using molecular orbital theory, it was established that oxygen is paramagnet ic due to the presence of the parallel spins of two electrons occupying the outer shell. This form with uncoupled electron pair was named triplet oxygen. Spectroscopy was used to prove the existence of higher energy state, which later was called singlet oxygen (Herzberg, 1934). In the singlet form of this molecule outer-shell electrons are paired in antiparallel spins. Initially, the importance of singlet oxygen was not recognised. It was rediscovered in 1964 in photooxidation experiments and since then became intensively studied. Over the past twenty five years significant increase in data regarding singlet oxygen has led to the