Rio Grande River

Rio Grande River River Pollution in the Rio Grande River Environmental Pollution in the Rio Grande River The Rio Grande River is known as the river that provides a natural boundary between the United States and Mexico. This river is over 2,000 miles long reaching from the southern Rocky Mountains to the end of Texas. Many people depend on this river as a source of drinking water for them. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley this river receives a lot of agriculture due to all the farmlands and is also used by many people for recreation purposes. Additionally, this river provides a home to much wildlife. Due to an increase in the economic growth and rapid population in the surrounding cities, the Rio Grande has had a tremendous increase in pollution that has caused a negative impact on the surrounding environment. Furthermore, the American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has severely impacted the river causing it now to become the seventh most endangered river in the United States (Flynn 2000). Scientific studies have confirmed that the contamination/pollution of the Rio Grande still poses a prob lem (Garcia et al. 2001, Berry et al. 1997 a b, Mendoza et al. 2004, Mora et al. 2001, Rios-Arana et al. 2003). Since these arising circumstances the river endures problems of run-off pollution, discharging of polluted water, over-pumping and the release of millions of gallons of raw sewage by Mexico which clearly defines a present danger to the surrounding environment. Such negative effects have been linked to border health issues and have been attributed to wildlife defects and deaths. For example, in 1994 a young boys death was linked to swimming in the Rio Bravo. The cause of his death was traced to an amoeba which was found in the river water that can cause deadly brain infections. In 1994, the United States and Mexican governments completed a study regarding the presence of toxic substances in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo between Mexico and the U.S. During a three year period, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved and completed phase two of this study ending in 1997. Results from the study identified an increase in chemical pollution in the river which then led to identifying Laredo, TX as a pollution trouble location (U.S. EPA 2007). The major pollutants observed to have significantly increased over the years in the Rio Grande were heavy metals and pesticides (Garcia et al. 2001, Berry et al. 1997 a b, Mendoza et al. 2004). In general it seems that some segments of the Rio Grande along the US-Mexico border do pose potential health and/or reproductive harm for wildlife and fish that depend on this river for survival along with the humans that eat fish from those segments (Mora et al. 2001). In 2001, Mora et al. (2001) conducted a study in the Texas, USA-Tamaulipas, Mexico border region to investigate the contamination of pesticides in fish from Texas. Results showed that pesticides were present in fish where concentrations were reported to be significantly greater than data collected during the 1980s and 1990s. The presence of heavy metals in the Rio Grande has continued even up to the year 2003. In 2003, a study performed by Rios-Arana et al. (2003) confirmed the presence of heavy metals in the water and sediment of the Rio Grande in the area of El-Paso-Juarez. In this study, they found that zinc and lead surpassed the freshwater chronic criteria set by the EPA. Again, this study emphasizes that elevated heavy metal concentrations in the river can post significant harm to the health, survival and reproduction of organisms (Rios-Arana et al. 2003). Furthermore, in 2004 a study conducted by Mendoza et al. (2007) examined the microbial contamination and chemical toxicity of the Rio Grande for a 112 km segment of the Rio Grande between Fort Hancock, TX and Sunland Park, NM. Their results showed the presence of fecal coliform and E. coli in the river. This study suggests that chemical toxicity applies for most sites along that segment which leads to a concern of water quality in those sections. However to date, the year 2007, Carlos Rubinstein, Rio Grande watermaster and area director for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Region 15, stated that the situation in the Rio Grande is improving. Rubeinstein mentioned Weve had infrastructure improvements on both sides of the river and those will clearly assist in water quality. He then goes on and says that the rivers water quality is influenced by many elements and that the U.S. can only control part of those elements. Rubeinstein states that wastewater dumping in Mexico, and agricultural runoff still contributes to the pollution problem in the Rio Grande. TCEQ suggests that in the Gulf, dissolved-oxygen levels (water quality parameter) have showed some improvement over the years from 1996 to now (McEver 2007). On the other hand, a study conducted by Buelna and Riffat (2007) suggests that there is still a need for constant monitoring in the Rio Grande in order to keep track of the environmental status since results from their study still showed high levels of contamination. References Berry MR, Johnson LS, Jones JW, Rader JI, Kendall DC, Sheldon LS (1997a) Dietary Characterization in a study of human exposure in the Lower Rio Grande Valley: I. Foods and beverages. Environment International 23(5):675-692 Berry MR, Johnson LS, Brenner KP, Thomas KW (1997b) Dietary Characterizations in a study of human exposures in the Lower Rio Grande Valley: II. Household waters. Environment International 23(5):693-703 Buelna G, Riffat R. (2007) Preliminary environmental monitoring of water quality in the Rio Grande in the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo Region. J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 42 (10):1379-90 Flynn LR, (2000) Rio Grande No. 7 on List of Endangered Rivers Laredo Morning Times, April 12, 2000 Garcia SS, Ake C, Clement B, Huebner HJ, Donnelly KC, Shalat SL (2001) Initial results of environmental monitoring in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. Environment International 26:465-474 Hernandez-Romero AH, Tovilla-Hernandez C, Malo EA, Bello-Mendoza R (2004) Water quality and presence of pesticides in a tropical coastal wetland in southern Mexico Marine. Pollution Bulletin 48:1130-1141 McEver M (2007) River water quality report finds some improvements, new trouble spots July 23, 2007. The Monitor Harlingen, TX Mendoza J, Botsford J, Hernandez J, Montoya A, Saenz R, Valles A, Vazquez A, Alvarez M. (2004). Microbial contamination and chemical toxicity of the Rio Grande. BMC Microbiol. 22:(4):17 Mora MA, Papoulias D, Nava I, Buckler DR (2001) A comparative assessment of contaminants in fish from four resacas of the Texas, USA-Tamaulipas, Mexico border region. Environ Int. 27(1):15-20 United States Environmental Protection agency (U.S. EPA) EPA Region 6 Toxic Substances Study Questions and Answers, Binational Study Regarding the Presence of Toxic Substances in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo and Its Tributaries Along the Boundary Between the United States and Mexico. Available [Online]: http://www.epa.gov /region6/water/ ecopro/watershd/monitrng/usmexico/rio_qa.htm. Retrieved Aug. 2, 2007

CA Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to Earth Essay

CA Technologies wanted to be viewed as the leader of their business sector, offering quality service while keeping their organization aligned and thriving in a strong corporate culture. However, the leaders of the organization did not agree on how the organization should achieve these goals nor were they confident that their business structure could sustain them. Overall, CA Technologies financial performance is viewed as stable and growing. The organization had shown growth in revenue, income from continued operations and stock holders equity between March 2007 and March 2011. Furthermore, the company had grown their assets and reduced their long term debt during the same time frame (Annual Report). CA Technologies focus was/is creating solutions to contribute to their customers businesses and support them in a challenging IT environment (p2). Their main customer focus was 1000 of the Fortune 2000 organizations that were $2 billion businesses and above. None-the-less as their product line changed so did their customer base, to $300 million to $2 billion sized companies (p1,13). Their customer base is international consisting of companies from the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Their consumers come from various industries including banks, insurance companies, financial services, governments, manufactures, technology companies, retailers, educational institutes and health care providers. Their product line consists of service management and assurance, mainframe, project and portfolio management, security, virtualization and automation, and cloud computing (Annual Report). CA Technologies chooses to go to market through their own sales and marketing team and by leveraging partners. They have selected strategic partners to help them enter into new markets, grow their product awareness and integrate different technologies. At the same time they have their own direct sales team to create rapport with customers and to use initial consumer’s feedback to cannibalize on new opportunities (Annual Report). It is imperative that they use multiple ways to go to market because this is a highly competitive industry. At one point the organization’s â€Å"merger and acquisitions team had about 250 to 300 companies on their radar at one time† and in nine months they had acquired nine organizations and within twelve months they had invested close to $1 billion in acquisitions (p11). Some of these organizations are going to be commentators and others are direct competition, none-the-less there is a lot of competition. Furthermore, this market is not saturated as it is changing every day and has potential for new entrants. When the focus is on cloud technology and not their full portfolio, calling cloud technology highly competitive is an understatement. To display how competitive the industry is there is an online newspaper called â€Å"CloudTimes† that has a list of the top 100 Cloud Computing Companies (Martin Tantow). The CRN (online technology cite) goes as far as listing the coolest cloud computing vendors by their business category (CRN). There are several other articles such as â€Å"The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing†, â€Å"85 Cloud Computing Vendors Shaping the Emerging Cloud† and more (Ray DePena). The buyers have a great deal of bargaining power. With so many organizations offering cloud services and offering to customize their services for customers business needs, there is a lot of competition. The CRN breaks down Coolest Cloud† companies by the top 20 in each cloud specialization. These specializations are: Platform and Development, Infrastructure Vendors, Security, Storage and Data Center, Applications and Software (Mark Tantow). CA Technologies was listed under â€Å"Coolest Cloud† top 20 for security. This specialization may give them a leg up especially in the Security market. On the other hand, if an organization is looking for a generalized cloud function, this may discourage that organization from choosing CA technologies. The suppliers in this situation are the employees and they have an immense amount of bargaining power. With there being hundreds of Cloud companies currently, more starting and existing companies expanding their cloud products, the job market is large. Microsoft alone has reported they will create 14 million jobs from 2011- 2015 due to public and private cloud computing (John Callaham). CA Technologies has 13,400 employees, 4,000 are in sales and marketing and 4,400 employees are in product development (Annual Report). Selling, marketing and product development are the rolls that will be created and that other companies are looking to fill. If not all employees, nearly two thirds of the organization’s employees have a great deal of bargaining power due to the expansion and demand for experienced workers in this field. There are several substitutes to cloud computing and most of them are what organizations were using prior to cloud computing. Some of these substitutes are main frames, networks, and email. The plus is CA Technologies already offers the substitute services. There are many commentators to cloud computing right now that we use every day, for example Microsoft is a complementor to Google.Docs. A company that offers the cloud also has the power to decide what complementors are going to work with their cloud, some of these complementors can be calendars, emails, word processors and many other every day applications. On the Treacy and Wiersema 3-D Chart the organization would fall under the product differentiation and customer responsiveness category. Even though the organization would like to see themselves in the middle of these two categories, realistically, they were not, when this article was written. The case states the organization was functioning vertically in all divisions, which made it difficult to focus on the customer and created inefficiencies in development (p10). With this being said, they would fall closer to the axis between the two categories on this chart. Before the reorganization, the business strategy, organization strategy and information’s strategy were not aligned. The organization was running like a manufacturing company, internally focused (p11). The mission of the organization that can be gathered from the case is that the organization wants to offer superior customer service, to create the most innovative and leading technology in an effective manner and sustain a thriving corporate culture. However, this mission was not achievable because they went to market vertically and that is not what their customers needed. The different structures of the organization worked independently which meant many inefficiencies and repetition in development (p11). The organization was not set up to reach the business needs of superior customer service and creating innovative leading technology effectively. Furthermore, the information strategy was unattainable due to the organization strategy. In the moment of truth the organization decided to reorganize. They created five focus areas to focus the information strategy and product development. Furthermore, they split the organization into 3 main categories which focused on customers, go to market and innovation. The new strategy helped align the business, organization, and information strategy. On the strategic grid, CA Technologies was acting like a factory. They were not prepared to make changes that would be necessary for future success such as creating a prosperous cloud system. They were working on their already existing product line and even showing signs of complacency with that product line. However, once they began reorganizing to a new strategy their organization went into the turnaround phase, splitting the business into a customer innovation focused. This is where they began working on getting the proper structure to create a sustainable business in the cloud revolution. On the grid, the organization would fall in the top turnaround stage close to strategic. Their management is learning new ways to go to market and handle customers and at the same time the business is going to be shaped by their future innovation. Overall, I do not believe that the organization had a choice whether or not to embrace the cloud. By 2011, they had already entered into the market and were seen as leaders in their already existing technology systems. If they backed out at this point, they may be viewed as not willing to move forward with the direction of future technologies. Furthermore, the market is fast and highly competitive, but CA Technologies has an advantage due to their rapport with already existing customers and their seniority in the industry. The cloud made the organization re-evaluate their strategy and now they will be a stronger organization in all categories due to their reorganization. The cloud is not going anywhere; however their legacy way of thinking would not be relevant if they did not move forward with cloud innovation. Bibliography Callaham, John. â€Å"Microsoft: 14 Million Jobs to Be Made via Cloud Computing.† Neowin.net. 5 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. . CA Technologies. Annual Report. One Goal Our Customer Success. Islandia, NY: CA Technologies, 3/2011. Annual Reports-CA Technologies. http://investor.ca.com/annuals.cfm CRN Staff. â€Å"The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors Of 2012.† CRN. 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. . DePena, Ray. â€Å"90 Cloud Computing Companies to Watch In 2011.† Business Innovations. 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. . Tantow, Martin. â€Å"CloudTimes Top 100 Cloud Computing Companies.† Top 100 Cloud Computing Companies. 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. .

Essay on Congress

AP Essay- Congress The framers of the Constitution created a bicameral legislation where there were two chambers of congress made. There was the Senate and the House of Representatives and these two chambers split the necessary duties that congress needed to fulfill. The framers of the Constitution chose a bicameral legislature because they did not want all powers of the government concentrated in a single government institution as they would have been if a unicameral legislature was used. They feared it would lead to rule by oppressive or impassioned majority. They believed that a bicameral legislature would balance powers in congress so that neither chamber would ever gain tyrannical power. When making congress, the framers also knew that the states were jealous of their independence and would not consent to a national constitution if it did not protect their interests and strike a reasonable balance between large and small states. There were many disputes between small and large states on how representation in congress should be gained by delegates at the Constitutional Convention. This was the reason a bicameral legislature was created, and this was known as â€Å"The Great Compromise†. This gave small states equal representation in the Senate and large states their proportional representation in the House. The House of Representatives is the lower house and it contains 435 members. Members are chosen by districts based on population. Some of the House of Representative’s powers are to impeach the president and initiate taxing and spending bills. One unique power the House of Representatives holds is that it gets to select the president for the country if no candidate wins the electoral vote. This was almost the case during the 2000 election between Bush and Gore, the winner was in question after the votes in Florida went uncounted. The framers of the Constitution gave the House of Representatives this power because this chamber is closer to the people than the Senate and is more informed on what the people want. The Senate is the upper house and it contains 100 members. Election time is on a rotating basis and 1/3 of the senate runs every 2 years. Some of the Senate’s powers are to accept or reject treaties and tries the president after the House of Representatives impeaches them (HIST). One unique power the Senate holds is that it can approve presidential appointments such as cabinet positions, Supreme Court judges, federal judges, and heads of agencies. The Senate approved Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court judge. The framers gave the Senate this power because in order to carry out checks and balances, they wanted the congress to make sure that the President was not holding too much power. By approving or disapproving presidential appointments, the president’s power is weakened and the executive branch does not contain more power than the legislative branch.

Business Ethics Assignment on Innocent Drinks Walmart - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1494 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Ethics Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Did you like this example? Business Ethics Innocent Drink Innocent Drink is a fastest emerging drinks company and a well-known juice manufactures in the UK, producing high quality smoothies. Their products are sold in many supermarkets, coffee shops and various other outlets. Innocents Drinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s mission is to supply consumers a health-conscious drink by only using 100% natural fruits with no added artificial, with a mission statement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“make a natural delicious food and drink that helps people live well and die oldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  encouraging consumers to keep a healthy lifestyle so they are physically and mentally better off after have consumed their food. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Business Ethics Assignment on Innocent Drinks Walmart" essay for you Create order The principle the business has set is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“create a business we can be proud ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  which they have used to set their values around. Their five core values they want every employees to work by is to be natural, be entrepreneurial, be responsible, be commercial and be generous. The five core values support the business to become successful and build trust in their products by becoming more environmentally and ethically conscious. Business ethics plays a vital role on the business aims and objectives. Innocent drinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s takes business ethics very seriously as they accept responsibility for the impact of their business caused on the community and the environment, aiming to change theses impact from negative to positive as they trying to become a truly sustainable business which has positive effect on the society and the environment. Innocent has placed high standards to ensure that the quality of their food and drink by keeps things all natural and using only 100% pure fruits and vegetable on the product. Given the values it indicates about what their business ethics are. Above all the business is committed to provide their workers with a best working environments and ensuring that every worker is being treated fairly with dignity. In order to ensure that they are ethical, Innocent Drink carry out a few activates including: The innocentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s main aim is to reduce the energy consumption and waste in their supply chain much as possible. This aim benefits both the company and the environment as the business will cut down cost if less energy is used, reduces greenhouse gas emission and reduce global warming. Additionally the business focuses on sustainability, using less environment footprints as much as they can. They also concentrate on producing products and packaging which are eco-friendly and does less harm to the environment, innocent has already managed to decrease its carbon emission by 21% using more eco-friendly packaging whilst keeping their products fresh as long as possible. Innocent seeks to make the world a better place by becoming more environmentally friendly and using recycled PET packaging as much as possible. Currently in one factory had 0 wastage to the landfill sites as they give their surplus stock to homeless people and people in need to ensure that nothing is wasted. T hese activities carries by the business allows them to stick to their core value and supply customers a truly innocent drink. Furthermore, Innocent helps the people supply their fruits to make sure they earn a decent wage for the work they do and the business donates minimum of 10% of its profit to charity every year, even in the year 2008 when they were nearly bankrupt and did not have enough to themselves. This proves very well the challenges innocent has faced to give back to the community, showing their generosity going back to their core values. The business has also supported Age UK by donating 25p per a hatted bottle that was sold. The ethical activities that the business carries has a positive outcome on its stakeholders. Global Community is stakeholders who have being positively affected by the business activities as the company is aware of its effects on the environment and it is always trying to improve and reduce the ramification. The global community has influence the business to uses sustainable packing which are 100% recyclable and reduce the energy and waste produced. Moreover, another important stakeholder for the business is its employees. The business purely depend on its employees to produce the products and provide excellent customer service to its customers. The business is influence to treat its employees ethically, Innocent Drinks hopes to retain employees. Walmart: Wal-Mart Store Inc., is a multinational retailer and the biggest retailer in America which offers everyday good at low prices for working families. Wal-Mart has approximately 8970 stores around the world. In this report I wi ll discuss how stakeholders of Wal-Mart are deeply affected by business activities and the unethical issues. Also, suggesting ways the business could improve the ethics of their operation. The documentary à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"The High cost of Low pricesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ demonstrates how Wal-Mart move into small towns and cities impacted the local community and the major effect it had on small business. Due to Wal-Martà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expansion, the local businesses were been forced to close down as Wal-Mart will be providing the same products at a cheaper price like monopoly which has been a serious issue for the local businesses as they already struggling to survive in the current economy . For example a local business in Middlefield, Ohio state had a large hardware store, just as Wal-Mart announced it plans to build a store in the same town, the owner of the hardware store decided to sell their property that they had for many years expecting value of building to rise but prope rty appraiser devalued the property as no buyers were interested due to the fact à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Wal-Mart comes into town, they knock the values downà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ Wal-Mart will soon run all local business out, emptying the building.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  The arrival of Wal-Mart deserted the community as stores were left empty like a ghost town. This has impact on stakeholders such as local business A possible solution would be that Wal-Mart needs to address the impact their business has caused and reduce competition and their size of their stores to give chance to local business to still operateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The film clearly illustrates how Wal-Mart exploits their workers by keeps its part-time employeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s as much as possible, purposefully short staffà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stores and asks employees to consistently work late aiming to reduce the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expenses. There is no overtime, but employees are constantly made to stay long er, the extra time they spend is not recorded and they are therefore not paid for it. Employees are forced to work off the clock, and managers are taught how to change pay figures so that they do not reflect actual time workers. The company employs illegal workers to clean its stores at below minimum wage and violates child labour law. Those workers are locked in store for their overnight shiftà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Wal-Mart employees in the documentary express their dissatisfaction with the company as even full-time employees do not receive enough income to raise their families as the money the employees earn goes right back into Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart does not care about the situation the employees are facing nor if the employee is unable to work. Wal-Mart does pay employees well and they are often unable the insurance that is offered to Wal-Mart associates. The associates are instead forced to turn to the government funded programmes like Medicaid. The docu mentary claims that many of the employees in use Medicaid or other similar services. Most of Wal-Mart employees do not have health care benefits as it so expensive the employees are encouraged to go on welfare and to use taxpayersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ dollars by going to food stamp. Evelyn Dee a employee who worked for Walmart full-time did not have company health care, she couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t affort to pay for it so she turned to government assistance One employee says that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦your dignity is not there, your pride is not there, you go to work knowing that youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re not making enough moneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  In the Impact on employee: Staffs arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t wearing protective gear. Staffs are forces to do over time. Organisation does not consider about employees personal situation Low wages even though they make high profit Employees are not receiving living wages Some employees donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have lunch as they canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t afford it Females and people outside the white community are discriminated and donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have room for any à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Impact on employee: Local businesses are forced to close down, as Walmart will be providing the same product at a cheaper price, like a monopoly. Walmart knocks value of land and property down, Family businesses are ruined Local high streets became empty No parking spaces are available Impact on Environment: Walmart arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t disposing waste appropriately and have increased water and air pollution. Walmart have increase pollution from using greenhouse gases Enough room to build 29,666 classrooms and educate 593,326 kids. The government have to spend more for Walmartà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s employees to provide public health care, medical insurance giving benefits to cover their living costs. Walmart recruit illegal workers, costing the government more to ensure all workers are legal. Website: https://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/documents/suca/consumer_fact_sheet.pdf https://wedreambusiness.org/Innocent-Drinks.html