Monday, January 27, 2020
Phosphate Uptake Process
Phosphate Uptake Process Introduction Whilst soil moisture and nitrogen (N) are major limitations to agricultural production systems in the SAT, phosphorus (P) deficiency also limits crop growth on many soils. The cost and availability of phosphatic fertilizers to the majority of farmers in the region restrict their use. Attention has, therefore, turned to making more efficient use of the soil phosphate reserves by seeking crop genotypes and management systems that result in more effective uptake and utilization of soil-P. A number of promising strategies are being explored, many of which are presented in this Workshop. To be effectively developed, all of them require an under- standing of the mechanisms of phosphate uptake and utilization by crop plants. Use of molecular tools by nutritional physiologists in recent years has consider- ably enhanced the understanding of these mechanisms and provided new opportunities for manipulating nutrient uptake and utilization. Key genes involved in the process have been identified and information on their role and regulation is accumulating. This paper provides a summary of the phosphate uptake process and highlights some of the important molecular mechanisms involved. The external phosphate concentration Plant roots acquire their phosphate from the external soil solution where it is in equilibrium with phosphate sorbed onto soil minerals and colloids. These sorption reactions maintain low concentrations of phosphate in soil solution whilst buffering the amount of phosphate in solution. The movement of phosphate ions to the sites through which it is taken up into root cells occurs by diffusion. This is a relatively slow process and, in P-deficient soils, results in the concentration of phosphate in solution being depleted around plant roots. Thus, many of the strategies for improving phosphate uptake are aimed at reducing this depletion zone and increasing the solution phosphate concentration immediately adjacent to the sites of phosphate uptake in the roots. Extension of roots into undepleted regions of soil provides the root tip with external P concentrations similar to those in the bulk soil solution.à Further back along the root axis extension of root hairs from epidermal cells in many plant species considerably increases the volume of soil explored for phosphate. Still further back, the soil volume explored by some species growing in low phosphate soils may be enhanced by the presence of hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi which can extend several centimeters from the root surface. A cone of soil in which the concentration of phosphate in solution is depleted thus develops back from the root tip. Within this zone the equilibrium of the phosphate sorption will have shifted towards release of sorbed phosphate ions into solution. Distance to the uptake sites within the root and any barriers to phosphate diffusion determine whether the plant can access these ions. The root apoplasm The walls of root epidermal and cortical cells and the associated intercellular spaces make up the apoplasm. In young roots, these walls are composed of inter- laced fibres that form an open latticework (Peterson and Cholewa, 1998). Soil solution can therefore, move radially towards the central stellar region of the root through the pores in this latticework and the intercellular spaces. The suberised Casparian band around the tangential walls of endodermal cells prevents radial movement into the central stele of nutrients in the soil solution. The band also restricts nutrients within the stele from leaking out into the apoplasm. Older areas of some roots have another layer of suberised cells in the outer layers of cortical cells that form the exodermis. This layer further restricts apoplastic movement of external soil solution in these regions of the root. In slower growing roots, such as those on plants subjected to stress, the exodermis may be formed closer to the tip than in rapi dly growing roots (Perumalla and Peterson, 1986). Movement of solutes through the apoplasm also appears to be restricted near the meristematic region close to the root tip where the microfibrils of the cell walls appear densely packed (Peterson and Cholewa, 1998). The interlacing fibres of cell walls in the apoplasm serve to filter soil solution. They also increase the path length over which phosphate ions must diffuse to the underlying uptake sites on the plasmalemma. The presence of carboxyl groups associated with the pectic polysaccharides of the cell wall fibres results in an overall negative charge. Anions such as phos- phate are repelled by this charge and restricted to the larger pores within the apoplasm. Mucilages, ex- creted into cell walls and surrounding many roots, carry negatively charged hydroxyl groups which can further modify the flow of anions.à These, and other root excretions, provide substrates for rhizosphere micro-organisms that can influence nutrient concentrations close to the uptake sites. The net effect is that movement of phosphate may be impeded within the apoplast, further modifying the concentration of phosphate at the outer surface of the plasmalemma, particularly in cells in the inner cortex. Even in soils w ell supplied with phosphate this concentration is likely to be less than 2 micro molar. In the P-deficient soils of the SAT, the concentration will be much lower than this. Uptake of phosphate into the symplasm The plasmalemma of root epidermal and cortical cells provides the boundary between the apoplasm and the symplasm. Once inside the symplasm, nutrient ions in the cytoplasm can move radially through to the stele via plasmodesmata connections without encountering further membrane barriers (Clarkson, 1993). Trans- port of ions across the semipermeable plasmalemma is, therefore, a critical step that mediates and regulates the uptake of nutrients into the plant. The physiology and kinetics of transport of nutrients across the plas- malemma has been known for a long time. Epstein and colleagues (Epstein and Hagen, 1952; Epstein, 1953) conducted classical experiments over 40 years ago that showed that ion uptake by plant roots could be described by first order kinetics in a similar manner to many enzyme reactions. They also showed that, for the major nutrients studied, the process could be described by two phases a high-affinity system operating at low external nutrient concentrations and a low-affinity system operating at higher external concentrations. An implication arising from these experiments was that uptake through the plasmalemma was mediated by proteins embedded in this membrane. However, isolation and identification of the specific proteins involved proved to be very difficult until nutritional physiologists began to apply molecular techniques to the study of the mechanisms of ion transport in plants. With the aid of this new technology over the past 8 years, many of the specific proteins involved in transport of a number of nutrient ions in plants have been characterized, the genes encoding these proteins identified, and the complex regulatory systems involved have begun to be untangled. Genes encoding the phosphate transporter proteins responsible for influx of phosphate into the cells of roots and some other tissues have been isolated, and the roles of some of these have been defined. Uptake of phosphate into the root symplasm involves transport from concentrations less than 2 micro molar in the surrounding apoplasm across the membrane to the cytoplasm where phosphate concentrations are maintained in the mill molar range. This, together with the net negative charge on the inside of the plasmalemma, necessitates that strong electro- chemical gradients need to be overcome for successful transfer of phosphate anions into root cells. Trans- port of phosphate across the plasmalemma, therefore, requires a high-affinity, energy driven transport mechanism. The genes encoding such transporters have been isolated from a number of plant species during the past 4 years and the sequence and topology of the encoded transporter proteins inferred from the DNA sequences. Identification of plant phosphate transporters An Expressed Sequence Tag from an Arabidopsis clone containing similarities to the sequences of genes encoding phosphate transporters that had been isolated from yeast and fungi led to the isolation of the first reported genes encoding plant phosphate transporters (Muchhal et al., 1996: Smith et al., 1997a). These genes were isolated from Arabidopsis. They now form part of the rapidly growing Pht1 family of plant phosphate transporters which includes members isolated from tomato (Daram et al., 1998; Liu et al., 1998a), potato (Leggewie et al., 1997), Catharanthus (Kai et al., 1997), Medicago (Liu et al., 1998b), barley (Smith et al., 1999) and additional genes from Arabidopsis (Mitsukawa et al., 1997a). Eight different members of this family of phosphate transporters have been isolated from the barley genome to date (Smith et al., 1999). A member of a second family of phosphate transporters, Pht2, that has similarities to the quite different family of phosphate transporters represent ed byà someà mammalianà Na+/phosphate cotransporters has recently been isolated from Arabidopsis (Daram et al., 1999). This transporter, which functions as an H+/H2PO4âËâ cotransporter in plants, is primarily expressed in Arabidopsis shoot tissues. It appears to be involved in the internal cycling of phosphorus within the plant.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
The nature versus nurture debate Essay
The nature versus nurture debate was founded by Francis Galton in the 19th century. It basically states that all of your attributes are either hereditary or environmentally. There are many theories that have challenges the nature versus nurture theory. For example; some of the theories state that there are different kinds of attributes such as life experiences, how our parents raise us, what we are taught at school and our cultural backgrounds. It is obvious that we are born with some of our parents attributes, for example your parents may both have long legs that you inherited, but things like perhaps a love of poetry or your sexual preference werenââ¬â¢t inherited, and have influenced your personality from your surroundings. There are lots of identical twins separated at birth that reunite as adults to find they had been using the same brand of toothpaste or have named their dogs the same names. This proves the nature theory, proving that attributes are founded at birth. But other scientists are taking this further and into ethical questions such as ââ¬Å"what if serial killers were born to commit their crimes?â⬠The most current nature versus nurture debate is whether the ââ¬Å"gay geneâ⬠exists or not. This would suggest that homosexuality is no more a choice than eye colour. There are also attributes that are a mixture of nature and nurture, such as: Personality: Nurture ââ¬â often there are similarities and differences that come from your parents. Nature ââ¬â Children develop personalities and lean towards certain behaviours such as shyness and anger. It sometimes cannot be explained because the parents sometimes donââ¬â¢t have these traits. Homosexuality: Nurture ââ¬â Itââ¬â¢s widely seen that it is a humans choice to be a homosexual, where as some people believe that itââ¬â¢s to do with someoneââ¬â¢s upbringing. Nature ââ¬â People believe that homosexuality is genetic, like your foot size or eye colour. The argument for this is the perspective that nature being responsible for the individual development in life. Intelligence: Nurture ââ¬â This could be based on the childs educational background as well as how the individuals parents had raised them. Nature ââ¬â Someones ability to achieve and someone who picks up on their parents level of intelligence and tries to match it. To conclude the nature versus nurture debate, It shows that the physical and mental aspects can be queried by an individual to show how a person can develop through their parents or nature. Whatââ¬â¢s most likely is that both nature and nurture play some role in how we all turn out. But no one really knows with certainty. The true answer as to which side tips the scale remains to be seen. How this affects Samora: Samoraââ¬â¢s Early childhood- Physical ââ¬â Samora would have inherited her average height and weight from her parents meaning that her parents must also be of average height and weight. This physical attribute is nature, and will affect Samora by making her less vulnerable to diseases like obesity and diet related issues. She had all the normal childhood diseases, meaning she was quite an average child. Mental ââ¬â Samoraââ¬â¢s development at this life stage would be brief. Her childhood is the most important part of her mental development as this is the time she would be nurtured to start moulding her personality. She is averagely intelligent, leaving school with a decent amount of A-C GCSEââ¬â¢s, and having good A level grades allowing her to go to university, This was nurtured in to her since she was a child as her parents must be clever as they both have quite well paid jobs, and her brother and sister do also. Emotional ââ¬â At this age Samora would have become stubborn or angry when change occurred, as she doesnââ¬â¢t have full control over her emotions. As her early childhood progresses, she should have been nurtured to gain more control over her emotions and learn right from wrong. Social ââ¬â At the beginning of Samoraââ¬â¢s childhood she would have been the centre of attention, which her older siblings may not have liked. This could of affected her relationship with her siblings as the youngest child is always the most vulnerable to sibling jealousy. How nature/nurture affects early childhood ââ¬â I believe that nature is obviously a very important part of a personââ¬â¢s early childhood, asà it is the attributes they are born with, and will live with for the rest of their lives. However, nurture plays an extremely important part in a personââ¬â¢s overall development. For example, if both of a personââ¬â¢s parents smoke, the person is more likely to smoke in the future, as they are nurtured in to believing that is the correct thing to do. Samoraââ¬â¢s Adolescence- Physical ââ¬â As Samora is of average height and weight, her physical attributes should develop averagely. For example, during adolescence Samoraââ¬â¢s breast would start to develop, she would have started body hair, her weight should increase and she may develop acne. This is nature, as they are things that Samora canââ¬â¢t change. Samora started smoking at the age of 15, which is very young and could have shunted her full lung development. She also does dancing and netball, which would have helped her going through puberty, as she wouldnââ¬â¢t gain as much weight as she was active. Mental ââ¬â This is where Samora decided her career. She is a qualified primary school teacher, which she would have had to of decided on when she started college. This could have been a stressful time for Samora as she had to decide the rest of her future at such a young age. She may have started smoking due to a false safety net, believing that bad things cant happen to her. For exampl e, she could have believed that she wouldnââ¬â¢t get addicted to cigarettes because she believed she was untouchable. Emotional ââ¬â Adolescence is where you develop your identity, This could have been when Samora decided she was a lesbian. I believe that Samora wasnââ¬â¢t a troubled teenager as she isnââ¬â¢t addicted to drugs or alcohol, and she had good GCSE grades. This is due to the nurture of Samora. Social ââ¬â It says that Samora is sociable meaning that she must have friends. During adolescence, teenagers may struggle making and maintaining friends as they will act out at anyone and everyone, This is nurture as you arenââ¬â¢t born with friends. How nature/nurture affects adolescence ââ¬â Nature affects adolescence as they have to go through a lot of physical changes (puberty) which is a very important part of development. Nurture is also important as a person starts to develop their identity, and their surroundings could have an important influence on this.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Improved Management Decision Making Essay
Managers at all levels of a business are required to make decisions constantly. Whether it be at an often low risk operational level, or at high importance strategic level, precise analysis is essential, failure on doing so could end in disaster in businessââ¬â¢s unforgiving world. Evidence of this can be seen in the strategic level of Dell management in 2004. A poor decision to enter the market with their DJ.Ditty MP3 player, Dell failed to address any strong marketing campaign along with failure to analyse stronger substitute products concluded in Dell discontinuing the product two years later in 2006. The decision made in the development of the product were likewise poor as rival companies such as Apple and Zenââ¬â¢s product features far overpowered Dells weak product. (Laubacher 2011). Simple research into Information Systems tells us they are able to display information that can lead us to answer questions we are often queried with. But often management decisions are not j ust simple rhetorical answers but strategic procedures that will aid the business in specific ways. In this essay I will assess the different methods of how IT based systems through the means of Information systems can aid management decisions or, if they do at all. (C.Lucas 1994)In his book information systems concepts for management, defines an IS as ââ¬Å"a set of organised procedures, that when executed, provides information to support organisation. The information is a tangible or intangible entity that serves to reduce uncertainty about some state or event.â⬠(Oz, Jones and Gowthorpe 2009) Back this definition up stating an ââ¬Å"IS system is a computer based set of hardware, software and telecommunications components, supported by people and procedures to process data and turn it into useful information. The information system can then be divided up into different subsystems with varying goals that help gear towards the organisations main goalâ⬠. It is clear that ISs are significant in the day to day operation of a business. The fact that ISs can answer question is indisputable, but the process in which they answer them and the form of answers they give can be debated. Synergy defines the combined resource output exceeding the total output of the same resources if they were employed separately (Oz, Jones and Gowthorpe 2009). This theory can be stretched as far as the four stages of processing that an information system goes through. Input is the first stage of this process which is entered by the human. The next three stages include the processing of the IS system, these include changing and manipulating the data, extracting the information out of the information system and finally storing the information that the IS system has administered. This is a great example of synergy, the IS system calculates the data at a quicker and cheaper cost than if a human were to do it, but the IS system first needs input from an event or scenario from a human, this evidence of synergy. (C.Luckem 2002) Theory on complex event processing relates to this very well. He defines each business action (be this internal with staffing decisions or external with customers through sales) taking several stages of events to reach a final state and in todayââ¬â¢s technological driven domain ISs play a very Important role in each of these states. He relates to the use of ISs gathering and storing of data, sharing of information and the ability of systems to automate and often control components playing a vital part of CEP. ISs that relate to CEP are systems such as Supply Chain Management, according to (B.Handfield and L.Nichols 1999) ââ¬Å"Is a set of approaches utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and stores, so that merchandise is produced (often by computer aided design) and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time, in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service level requirementsâ⬠It is easy to see how this can be related to management decision making, at each stage of a process with the use of SCM managers can stop the process and analyse production rates, therefore using IS systems to make a decision, which In the case of SCM means utilising every process so that wastage is at a minimum and costs remain low throughout production . Luckem further expresses that the use of IS systems in CEP does not function with remotely one source but needs both the Human and IS system to work collectively for any form of process to work accordingly. Although(Bider 2010) argues the reliability of information processed by ISs. He states that human error can often be the cause of incorrect data. This is not uncommon; often as information is filtered through the information map from department to department human error can cause faults. So an argument could be formed that managers can often put great analysis into ISs, but decisions can be made using the wrong output from the system. In relation to the four stages of processing, this output can then be stored incorrectly meaning any future decisions based on this first problem will not aid the answer process as the information will be incorrect. There are other types of systems that can significantly aid decision making DSSs or Decision Support Systems are systems that aid making decisions through the use of built in models. (Turban 1995) Defines it as ââ¬Å"an interactive, flexible, and adaptable computer-based information system, especially developed for supporting the solution of a non-structured management problem for improved decision making. It utilizes data, provides an easy-to-use interface, and allows for the decision makerââ¬â¢s own insights.â⬠DSSs are comprised of three modules data management, model management and dialog management or in profit terms (actual prior, possible sales, possible revenue, and possible profit). Using these modules DSSs helps find an ideal course of action, able to analyse and finally answer questions that are often asked upon humans, ââ¬ËWhat ifââ¬â¢ or ââ¬ËHow will this action impact revenueââ¬â¢ are example. DSSs are able to process raw data, and draw comparisons to generate information to aid a business decision. Although (Jensen, B.Lowry and Jeffery 2011) argue that the now more wide spread use of Decision Support Systems due to the increase in technology used in business today should not replace the decision making of a human. They argue that although ââ¬Å"It is often difficult for people to assess credibility correctly in face-to-face interactionsâ⬠but argue the use of DSSs cannot be used as an absolute decision making process ââ¬Å"The capability of face-to-face interactions is critical to effective communication and decision makingâ⬠. Their views can be seen as somewhat old fashioned when relating to decision making. Similar to DSSs are Strategic information systems. The root of this system is based upon Michael E. porterââ¬â¢s Concept of competitive advantage. This concept analyses the strategic steps a business undergoes to gain an advantage over its competitors. According to (E.Porter 1998), SIS works by enhancing opportunities through analysing competitors, recording seller patterns, identifying potential substitute products and finally retrieving information on keeping a healthy share in the businessââ¬â¢s market. All of these should aid a business to create a competitive advantage through the means of SISs. The storing of data and analysis of this data is what managers will use to make decisions. In both the DSSs and SISs the analysis will often plan out a possible route in which the business may take to achieve its aims. It is then up to management to take these recommendations on board through adopting the ideas or not. IS used in the hierachary of a business are important to assess, at an operational level Systems used will be Transactional Process systems are Electronic point of sale, both of these systems allow managers to analyse structured data and draw conclusions for themselves, examples of this maybe the management of stock ordering to improve on wastage, or assessing what product sells at an appropriate time. These systems can then be assessed by the tactical level that may use the means of DSSs to assess new pricing strategies to adapt to the operational level through the help of DSSs but on the evidence of data outputted by TPSs or EPOS. The next and final stage will be the use of the systems at a strategic level. Strategic level will use DSSs and Executive information systems (similar to DSSs but often seen as more precise and concentrated form of system) along with unstructured data which occurs through the means of meetings, conversations and emails .Furthermore strategic level generally have access to IS of all subordinates ISs to help make decisions as well as ISs linked together with external commercial services, such as the latest stock prices and general business news are also common. It is clear that ISs aid management decisions, but in context of this it is important to assess the characteristics of the managers, as well of the management styles. For example managers that adopt an autocratic style of management will be less interested in staff well-being which may affect their reaction to support they receive through IS systems, meaning they may adopt any plans a DSS comes up with whether or not it has a negative effect on staff. Democratic style managers may rely heavily on the data produced from systems of their subordinate. When assessing the improvement of decision making through the means of ISs, I feel it is important to assess manager characteristics, it is clear that there are systems that aid the decision making process but as (Bider 2010) stated there can be human error caused through the input of a system which may lead to poor decision making. I feel steady analysis through each stage of the input process will allow data to be used correctly, therefore being pivotal in decision making process and consequently improving them. Bibliography B.HANDFIELD, Robert and L.NICHOLS, Ernest (1999). Introduction to Supply Chain Management. vol.1. 1st ed., Prentice Hall. Business Using IS , BIDER, IIia (2010). Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling. vol.50. 1st ed., Queensland, Springer. 364213050X. C.LUCAS, Henry (1994). Information systems concepts for management. 5 ed., indiana, Mitchell McGraw-Hill. 11. C.LUCKEM, David (2002). The Power of Events: An Introduction to Complex Event Processing in Distributed Enterprise Systems. 1 ed., Addison wesly. 1. E.PORTER, Michael (1998). Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance : with a new introduction. Havard, Simon and Schuster. JENSEN, Matthew, B.LOWRY, Paul and JEFFERY, Jenkins (2011). Effects of Automated and Participative Decision Support in Computer-Aided Credibility Assessment. Journal of management information syetems, 28 (1), 201-233. LAUBACHER, Robert (2011). Managing Corporate Reputation in the Blogosphere: The Case of Dell Com puter. Corporate Reputation Review, 14 (2), 133-144. OZ, JONES and GOWTHORPE (2009). Finacial and Management Informatoin. vol.2. London, Cengage Learning. TURBAN, Efriam (1995). Decision support, And what they do? In: Decision support and expert systems : management support systems. Englewood cliffs, Prentice Hall, p.576.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Should You Become a College Resident Adviser (RA)
If youve ever lived on campus, your Resident Assistant or Adviser (RA) was probably one of the first people you met on move-in day. RAs coordinate move in, get to know their residents, build community, handle emergencies, and overall make themselves available to people in their residence halls. Ohââ¬âand did we mention that they get their own rooms? Being an RA can be a great gig as long as you know what youre getting into. A private (at least most of the time) room, fun activities, and a job where you get paid to hang out with people can be counterbalanced by late nights, tough situations and a major time commitment. While the pros usually outweigh the cons, its good to know what youre getting into in advance. Being an RA: The Pros You get your own room. Lets face it: this is a major draw. When you arent on duty, you finally get some private space of your own without having to worry about a roommate.The pay is usually pretty good. You may already want to live in the halls, so being paid with a waiver of full or partial room and board fees and/or a stipend can be a great deal financially.Youll get great leadership experience. While your role as an RA may require you to get your residents involved, it will also require you to step past your own comfort zone from time to time and develop some solid leadership skills.You can give back to your community. Being an RA is a feel-good job. You do good work, help people out, help build a sense of community, and make a difference in peoples lives. Whats not to like about that?It looks good on a resume. Lets be honest about this one, too. If youre looking for ways to demonstrate your leadership skills, being an RA looks great on a resume. And you can always use some of you r experiences to demonstrate your practical experience in a job interview.The hours can be great. You dont have to worry about commuting to a job off campusà or finding time to fit a job in during usual business hours. Youre most likely already in your hall at nightââ¬âand now you can get paid for it.Youll be part of an awesome team. Working with other RAs and the rest of your hall staff can be a major benefit. Most folks involved in residence life are really interesting, engaging, smart people, and being part of a team like that can be a highly rewarding experience.You get to return to campus early. In order to get yourself moved in and your hall up and running (not to mention going through training), most RAs are able to return to campus earlier than everyone else. Being an RA: The Cons Its a major time commitment. Being an RA takes a lot of time. You may need to get your paper done the night youre on call, but if a sick resident appears you have to handle it. Being good at time management is a key skill to learnââ¬âearlyââ¬âsince your time isnt always your own as an RA.You dont have much privacy. When youre on duty, your room door is often required to be open. Your stuff, your room, your wall decorations: all of it becomes fodder for people who just want to come in and hang out. Additionally, even when youre not on duty, other students may view you as a friendly, accessible person. It can be hard to maintain your sense of privacy amidst that environment.You are held to higher standards. Anyoneââ¬âfrom an RA to a corporate CEOââ¬âwho is in a leadership position is held to a higher standard, even when theyre not officially on the job. Keep that in mind when thinking about how being an RA will affect your life when youre technically no longer on the cl ock.You may have to deal with issues you already worked through your first year in school. If you have any first-year students in your hall, you may have to deal with issues like homesickness, self-confidence, time management, and freshman fears. It may be frustrating to listen to someone who has been at school for two weeks cry about their experience when you were able to move past everything years ago.You have to return to campus early. Returning early to campus for training, set-up, and freshman move-in can throw a major wrench in your summer plans. Coming back to campus a week (or two or three) early can have a major impact on your summer travel, research, or job plans.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
The Child Pornography Prevention Act Of 1996 - 914 Words
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) took away many sections of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. The Act made it illegal to virtually possess or distribute child pornography. Congress passed the Protect Act in 2003 to advertise, solicit, or promote any material of minors having sex or performing sexual acts. Michael Williams was in a chat room attempting to obtain child porn. A secret service agent instant messaged with the man to bait him. Williams later wrote he had pictures of a four year old being raped. After receiving several pictures the agent got a warrant for Williamââ¬â¢s house. Williams was arrested under Section 2252 A of the Protect Act. Williams pleaded guilty but challenged the Acts constitutionality. An Eleventh Circuit Appeals Court reversed Williams conviction. The government appealed to the Supreme Court. 3. Questions of the Court Does the Protect Act violate the First Amendment? 4. Holding No. The vote was 7-2 in favor of the U.S 5. Opinions of the Court Justice Scalia wrote the opinion of the Court. Section 225 A (a) (3) (B) bans the distribution of child pornography. This case is to determine if the law violates the First Amendment or Fifth Amendment due process clause. The Court has long decided the inappropriate material is not protected by the First Amendment, Roth V. United States (1957). When explicit material has true value to society it has been held as free speech, Miller v. California (1973). The Court has considered childShow MoreRelatedReflections on the First Amendment Paper1627 Words à |à 7 Pagesaffirmed the Ninth Circuits judgment against the plaintiffââ¬â¢s broader definition of pornography in enacting the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. This broader definition, the court finds it in contravention with the First Amendment. 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The six to three ruling, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, says the law violates First Amendment freedom of speech rights guaranteed to every citizen of the United States of America. Although many free speech advocates are shouting victory, many citizens across the country are lamenting over the loss in the fight against child pornography. Child pornography has been present in society for centuries, but has only recently becomeRead MoreCognitive Behavioral Therapy For Children Essay863 Words à |à 4 Pagesplan, social skills, independent living, and relapse prevention of sexual offense behavior will follow. Therapy will consist of success oriented cognitive behavioral therapy. Other techniques that will be employed include strategies to control aggression, manage sexual behaviors responsibly, general skill rehearsal, role modeling, and interventions for safety. Background/HX: Walter entered the Ambitions Community Protection Program in August 1996. He has been diagnosed with Mild Mental RetardationRead MoreThe Child Pornography Prevention Act957 Words à |à 4 PagesFACTS: The Child Pornography Prevention Act characterized denied youngster smut to incorporate express sexual pictures which were intended to speak to minors yet did not utilize any genuine kids as subjects, being created by different means, for example, PC imaging. The Free Speech Coalition ontended that this government law damaged the First Amendment. FACTS: The Congress established the CPPA in 1996 to forbid the utilization of pictures which seem to show minors occupied with sexual acts yet whichRead MoreEssay Constitution And Law In America970 Words à |à 4 Pages Constitutionââ¬â¢s Significance with Law in America The definition of constitution is the act or process of composing, setting up or establishing (Websters Dictionary online). When I think of constitution I think of our ââ¬Å"founding fatherââ¬â¢sâ⬠, the ones who established our governemnt and function. 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They are the inspiration for a lot of the humanitarian work in which many people around the world are involved. Threats to the well-being of children are numerous. In addition to many living in less than stable familial environments, children today are continually forced to face the effects of a conflict filled society, regardless of their country of origin. Creating an environment that
Monday, December 9, 2019
Business Foundation Resources Required
Question: Discuss about the Business Foundation Resources Required. Answer: Introduction: For objective number one of carrying out public awareness campaign in the nearby city or town, the campaign will be carried out for a period of one month on weekly basis every Saturday. This is the day where most of the students dont have lectures to attend and also teaching and non teaching staffs have a free day from work (James Wooten, 2006). The group should involve local police administration so that they can control traffic on the said days and provide security. The success of the objective will be to have as many people as possible with banners and in T-shirts that have messages that speaks against gender discrimination. The organizing group will design the T-shirts then share this with the rest of the people whom may want to be part of this noble cause of fighting for the less privileged in the society. The T-shirts and the banners should be designed in a manner that they can easily capture the attention of the audience from both near and afar (Njogu Orchardson-Mazrui, 2013). The organizing group will plan for the peaceful procession two months in advance to enable them reach as many people in the school as possible and also ask them to contribute by sponsoring themselves for the branded T-shirts and placards. The resource required is mainly fund to print branded T-shirts and placards but this will be met by individual participants thus making it easy and viable. Petitioning Parliament to Enact Laws aimed at Protecting People against Gender Discrimination On objective number two of having to petition the parliament to enact laws that will protect against gender discrimination, the group will collect signatures from the students and University staff to petition the local representative of parliament of the place where the institution is found to take to parliament bills that will help fight gender discrimination. The signatures can be collected for a period of month. The resources required is the writing materials which members of the group will contribute (Moser, 2012). The Member of Parliament has to present the bills to the assembly within one month of petition for discussion at the floor of the house. Group members should always follow up on this until the bills are enacted into laws-Time frame depend on the specific country. There will be an anticipated date of completion for each of the actions that have been stipulated in the social action plan for Gender Discrimination. In addition to that, there are various resources which will be needed in order to have such actions completed successfully. A social action plan is quite essential because it can be used as a major mechanism and gender mainstreaming mechanism for ensuring that there is gender inclusiveness in both the design and the implementation of gender discrimination projects. Gender action plans (GAP) are quite important because they present visibility as well as accountability in gender mainstreaming thus making it to not only become tangible but also explicit in project design as well as implementation. The social action plan indicated below is quite essential because it will greatly help in the provision of a road map that will be used in implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the project (Benera, Berik Floro, 2015). In addition to that, it will also help in ensuring that there is delivery of practical benefits to various women and help in the facilitation of strategic changes that will be used in gender relations. Development of Development Strategies to Counter Cases of Gender Discrimination in the Institution As they say that charity begins at home, it will be prudent to ensure that viable strategies aimed at reducing gender discrimination in our institution are not only identified, bit also locally applied before they are ultimately suggested to the parliament for approval. Carrying out a pilot study on such strategies in our own institution is quite essential because it will provide the stakeholders with an opportunity to point out any weak areas and resolve them instantly. The third objective will be the development of strategies within our academic institution that will not only recognize but also accommodate the differences that exist in not only our background, but also in family responsibilities and perspectives of the various stakeholders. To ensure that gender discrimination is not embraced in our institution, student leaders will have to organize for meetings that will comprise of all the organizational stakeholders with an aim of coming up with the best strategies that will address the issue of diversity in our institution and beyond. This process is bound to take a maximum of 31 days or approximately one month and among some of the resources that will be required will be laptops, projectors, and even facilitators who will teach stakeholders regarding the issue of gender discrimination and how it can it avoided in our organization (Chant, 2013). The meetings to be held by representatives of the various stakeholders in the organization will be aimed at ensuring that any continued disadvantage which is experienced by specific groups of individuals in our organization such as women, people having disabilities, and even other individuals who are segregated or discriminated on the basis of their gender are addressed. The major aim of this objective is thus aimed at bringing together all stakeholders in the institution who will be in a better position of not only pointing out the various aspects of gender discrimination that may be occurring in their respective areas, but also ensure all relevant stakeholders are brought on board. It will also be geared at coming up with effective strategies that may be used to ensure that any form of gender discrimination is resolved once and for all. The use of projectors will come as a vital resource because the meeting will comprise of numerous organizational stakeholders and thus the need to have a better communication mechanism. Using of Websites and other social Media Platforms to lobby and Create awareness regarding the Gender Discrimination Issue The use of numerous social media platforms will be a significant resource in helping to not only create awareness among the general public across the world, but it will also significantly help in helping protect individuals against any form of gender discrimination (Kalev, 2014). To ensure that this is achieved, the leadership of the student union will conduct elections to elect leaders who will be tasked with the responsibility of developing viable social media platforms which will be used in reaching a wider audience and providing a platform on which the views of all and sundry can be obtained on how best to deal with the issue of Gender discrimination. Some of the resources that will be required in order to ensure the attainment of this vital objective includes but are not limited to laptops, modems and internet providers, phones, and even website developers and other relevant people who will be tasked with the responsibility of not only maintaining, but also developing the websit es. The creation and maintenance of social media platforms that will be used in the creation of awareness on the issue of gender discrimination will be designed with an aim of reaching a wider local, national, and global audience. Some of the social media platforms that will be designed by the elected team will include among others Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Imo, Whatsapp, and even websites (Cahill Makadon, 2014). In essence, the creation or development of the social media platforms that will be used in raising awareness regarding gender discrimination will take a maximum of two months (Yentsch Sindermann, 2013). The team that will be tasked with the responsibility of developing these social media platforms will be mandated with ensuring that the platforms are not only user friendly, but also ensure that the platforms present users with an opportunity to raise any form of queries and present information in relation to protection against Gender discrimination. Lobbying Stakeholders to support the enactment of laws that protect against gender discrimination Lobbying of stakeholders such as human rights activists, representatives of parliament, and other people towards ensuring that they support the enactment of laws aimed at protecting individuals from gender discrimination will take one month. This is a very important process and thus the organizers will ensure that all the required resources are availed at the right people, at the right time, and at the right place (Missair, 2016). Some of the essential resources that will be used to lobby stakeholders into supporting the enactment of laws against gender discrimination include, but are not limited to buses to ferry members, placard, writing materials, felt pens, whistles e.t,c. Organizers and other people interested in creating awareness and lobbying for the enactment of laws against gender discrimination will carry placards and whistle around parliament as the laws will be undergoing various stages to ensure representatives of parliament are made aware of their importance (Kastellec, 2013). Timeline of the four Objectives Number Objective Resources Timeframe 1. Carrying out public awareness Campaigns Tshirts, ink, paint 1 month 2. Enacting of laws to protect against gender discrimination Writing materials 3 months 3. Strategies to counter discrimination Projectors One month 4. Creation of websites, social media platforms Internet, laptops, modems 2 months There are several potential risks or drawbacks that will be associated or linked with each of the actions points mentioned above and these include among others: Rowdy Crowd The key risk on the first action plan is the crowd turning rowdy. Before the procession starts, the crowd has to be guided and advised to avoid any kind of confrontation along the way. Also others may faint due to fatigue thus the school ambulance must be around in case of such eventuality. Misunderstanding by the Member of Parliament On the second action plan, the key risk involves being misunderstood by the Member of Parliament whom the group intends to petition to forward the request to the parliament for consideration (Ertrk Purkayastha, 2012). The member has to understand the objective of the group clearly before being asked to present the petition to the house on behalf of the group. This will also help when other members of the parliament starts interrogating the petition to see if it has something tangible that can be discussed on the floor of the house. Financial Constraints It was ascertained that despite the fact that so many people were quite interested to get involved in activities that were aimed at raising awareness against gender discrimination by organizers, it was ascertained that most of them were unable to do so because of financial constraints. Owing to the fact that majority of the organizers were indeed students who relied upon their parents and guardians for financial upkeeps, they were actually unable to raise funds for their own transportation and even to buy t-shirts to drive their point or message home (Fragoso Enrquez, 2016). In addition to that, the fact that the funding to be used in printing of branded placards and T-shirts on gender discrimination will be shouldered by respective participants will make the number of participants to be low. This is attributed to the fact that majority of them are not working class and thus will not be in a better position to raise funds to be used in purchasing of such vital resources. It was prud ent if the organizers could seek for sponsorships and donors to help them carry out such campaigns (Dobbin Kalev, 2013). This is because almost everyone will want free things and thus giving them T-shirts and placards for free will quite definitely make the total number of participants to become higher and easily drive the message home. Harsh weather/climatic conditions Owing to the fact that organizers of events aimed at speaking against gender discrimination may be opted to walk on foot in order to create a positive impact, the presence of both extremely hot and cold weather conditions cannot be totally ruled out. Such conditions can make some of the members to become dehydrated and sickly thus affecting their normal lives (Lassonde, 2014). It is quite apparent that some individuals are highly affected by extremely hot and cold conditions and thus campaigns aimed at creating public awareness on the issue of protection against gender discrimination may ultimately create negative impacts. Invasion of the systems by Viruses Owing to the fact that the success of creating public awareness on gender discrimination will be highly reliant or dependent on the effective use of social media platforms, it is quite apparent that the systems that will be used in the creation of such awareness may become infiltrated with viruses. Viruses are destructive programmes or software that are developed with rogue computer users with the intention of causing inconvenience and destruction for other computer users. The infiltration of such viruses into the systems that will be used in dispatching communication against gender discrimination may greatly affect the endeavors in that not only may lead result into the data loss for this important endeavor, but it may also subsequently expose private personal information of users on such platforms to unauthorized third parties (Barak, 2013). The availability of private user information to third parties who are unauthorized might be quite risky since such people might not only use s uch information to steal money from such individuals, but they may also use such information to commit other cyber crimes without the knowledge of users. The absence of regularly updated antivirus programs on the computer machines and laptops that will be used in storing vital information on public awareness campaigns against gender discrimination may subject them to attack by viruses (Walsh, 2015). This is attributed to the fact that since most of the social media platforms use the internet, the machines are prone to get infected by viruses since the internet is the major source of such destructive programs. Lack of Effective Leadership Skills Owing to the fact that most members organizing campaigns against gender discrimination are students, it is quite evident that they may lack the vital skills to not only control crowds but also lead them to ascertain what is right and what is wrong (Christie Thakur, 2016). The absence of such skills may quite definitely make leaders organizing such campaigns to lose the ability to manage such crowds. Some of the individuals in the crowds may get involved in looting and stealing of peoples property in the name of campaigns thus spoiling the overall image of the entire group whose initial aim was to fight for a worthy cause. Reference List Barak, M.E.M., 2013. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications. Bartlett, S., Hart, R., Satterthwaite, D., de la Barra, X. and Missair, A., 2016. Cities for children: children's rights, poverty and urban management. Routledge. Benera, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., 2015. Gender, development and globalization: economics as if all people mattered. Routledge. Cahill, S. and Makadon, H., 2014. Sexual orientation and gender identity data collection in clinical settings and in electronic health records: A key to ending LGBT health disparities. LGBT health, 1(1), pp.34-41. Chant, S., 2013. Cities through a gender lens: a golden urban age for women in the global South?. Environment and Urbanization, p.0956247813477809. Christie, T.A. and Thakur, D., 2016. Caribbean and Pacific Islands: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts. International Monetary Fund. Dobbin, F. and Kalev, A., 2013. The origins and effects of corporate diversity programs. Ertrk, Y. and Purkayastha, B., 2012. Linking research, policy and action: A look at the work of the special rapporteur on violence against women. Current Sociology, 60(2), pp.142-160. Fragoso, L.P. and Enrquez, C.R., 2016. Western Hemisphere: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts. International Monetary Fund. James, E.H. and Wooten, L.P., 2006. Diversity crises: How firms manage discrimination lawsuits. Academy of Management Journal, 49(6), pp.1103-1118. Kalev, A., 2014. How You Downsize Is Who You Downsize Biased Formalization, Accountability, and Managerial Diversity. American Sociological Review, 79(1), pp.109-135. Kastellec, J.P., 2013. Racial diversity and judicial influence on appellate courts. American Journal of Political Science, 57(1), pp.167-183. Lassonde, L., 2014. Coping with population challenges. Routledge. Moser, C., 2012. Gender planning and development: Theory, practice and training. Routledge. Njogu, K. and Orchardson-Mazrui, E., 2013. Gender Inequality and Women's Rights in the Great Lakes: Can Culture Contribute to Women's Empowerment. UNICEF policy document. Walsh, D.J., 2015. Employment law for human resource practice. Nelson Education. Yentsch, C.M. and Sindermann, C.J., 2013. The woman scientist: Meeting the challenges for a successful career. Springer.
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