Should there be any specific limitations on the powers of the Essay

Should there be any specific limitations on the powers of the president - Essay Example Americans hold consultations in high regard, and it is even required by the Constitution. Consultation, decision-making and deliberation are fundamental concepts in the Constitution, with frequent mentions of participation and collective approaches to situations. Even the Constitution itself is the result of consultation among past leaders (Meter 102). Successive presidents have disregarded the need for greater consultation and acted without consulting Congress or the Senate. Limiting the president’s power should be a priority for the American public and Congress to prevent impunity from creeping into the presidency. More often than not, presidents get away with individual decisions that go against the consultative spirit of the Constitution (Meter 96). The Watergate scandal brought a halt to the â€Å"imperial presidency† and the concentration of presidential power. However, it appears that this halt was only temporary. In the wake of the scandal, Congress enacted multiple laws meant to change the political process. Revelations during the Watergate inquiry into money-laundering convinced Congress to allocate public financing of national elections, limits on private campaign donations and spending, public revelation of sources of financing, and to implement campaign finance regulations through an autonomous Federal Election Commission. The Watergate scandal acted as an eye-opener for Congress, pushing it to do more to protect American people from power-hungry executives. The decision by Nixon to order wiretapping of Democratic Party headquarters symbolized to Congress and other legislators – the early indications of concentration of power and increasing abuse of power by presidents. Nixon clearly violated the law and ethical standards of the office of the president of the United States by ordering domestic espionage, which is illegal in the United States. His impeachment and subsequent

Post disaster shelter reconstruction Coursework

Post disaster shelter reconstruction - Coursework Example Research has shown that sustainable post-disaster shelter reconstruction is crucial in strengthening resilience and provides full and equitable benefit (Ganapati & Ganapati, 2009 p.57). The principle of sustainable post-disaster shelter reconstruction requires that such reconstruction should meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the capacity of the coming generations to meet their needs (Ahmed, 2011 p.159). There are certain challenges hinder sustainability in post-disaster shelter reconstruction and they include: massive displacement crisis, extensive physical destruction and limited accessible land. Effective shelter reconstruction in urban setting must therefore balance between all interests including, social equity, environment, as well as the economy. Provision of shelter in urban setting after a disaster should be considered as an integrated approach where technical, socio-economical, institutional as well as environmental concerns are considered in each and every stage of the reconstruction process (2010 p.103). As indicated by Hayles (2010 p.104), post-disaster shelter reconstruction process should ensure sustainable results not only with regard to design and construction activities, but also in ensuring ease of access to supply of water, roads as well as sanitation systems. Integrated approach to shelter reconstruction is therefore very important and should include livelihood opportunities, social structures and safety opportunities. This paper focuses on post-disaster shelter reconstruction in urban environments with specific reference to shelter and settlement planning. It outlines the planning process for post-disaster shelter reconstruction within urban and critically analyses the roles of shelter practitioner including needs assessment, methodological approach, settlement planning & design and construction. While the aim of planning for shelter reconstruction process is

Sewage Treatment Plant Power Generation

Sewage Treatment Plant Power Generation Answer 1: Sewage treatment plants could be a power house of the future. Sewage contains a number of diverse chemical compounds which can be with the help of microbes converted to useful commodities. The proposed sewage plant is as under. The waste water sludge of the plant is where a microbiologist is interested in to utilize the components of the sludge and modify them microbiologically. For the correct type of fermentation we first of all need the microbes which operate in the same environment and produce the desired products. For this the sampling of the microbes from the sludge is the first step. After sampling they will be isolated with the help of biochemical tests based on the characteristic property we want to utilize. Here in this case we can grow;  Ã‚   Methanogens Hydrogen gas producers Organic compound synthesizers Heavy metal detoxifiers Safe effluent water Sludge as manure Microbial Pathways: Methanogenesis: The microbes usually found for methane gas production are Methanosarcina, they have the enzyme machinery suitable for the methane gas production. Hydrogen Gas Producers: (Sikora, BÅ‚aszczyk et al. 2013) The pathway responsible for the hydrogen gas production has been shown in red. Lactic acid bacteria have been found to produce hydrogen in the consortium. Organic compounds synthesis: (Peralta-Yahya, Zhang et al. 2012) Biofuels such as butanol is one of the many organic compounds which can be synthesized using the sludge as the feed of the microbes (Revellame, Hernandez et al. 2012). Heavy metal detoxifiers: (Gregoire and Poulain 2014) Microbes like this phototrophic organism exemplified here are a very valuable source for detoxification of water from heavy metals. Analytical tests: Analysis accompanying processes and analytical monitoring of quality parameter: Industrial water treatment: fresh water and industrial water treatment, condensate and feed water treatment, e.g. analytical monitoring of decarbonization, coagulation, reverse osmosis, desalination, ion exchanger; Power generation plants and steam generators: monitoring of water-steam circulations according to statutory regulations (VGB and VdTÃÅ"V), ultrapure water analysis, flue gas desulphurization, REA-plaster (according to VGB-M 701); Cooling circuits: cooling water treatment, cooling water conditioning, microbiological testing in cooling circuits; Waste water treatment: waste water declaration analysis, control of waste water discharges according to statutory regulations, supervision of biological waste water treatment plants; Drinking water analysis, hot water systems (chemically, physical-chemically, microbiologically): drinking water treatment, distribution networks, installation of in-house water systems, water pipe releases; Ground water analysis: ground water purification plant, ground water gauge networks, landfill leachates; Check of measuring devices by means of on-site laboratory testing and control testing with portable testing facilities; Development of customer-specific solutions and standards for measuring devices; Waste and residue analysis: declaration analysis relating to the landfill (LAGA-regulations, TA Abfall), declaration analysis for the reassembly at the chemical site Leuna; Composition of foulings in industrial plants. (Lubello, Gori et al. 2004) Parameter of water and waste water analysis pH-value electrical conductivity temperature redox potential oxygen coloration clouding hardness (total- carbonate- and noncarbonate hardness) acid and base capacity permanganate index ((MBAS) particle size distribution carbon compounds (TOC, DOC, TIC) calcite saturation according to DEV C10-R3 nitrogen compounds (TNB biochemical oxygen demand (5 days) chemical oxygen demand ammonium chloride nitrate[i] sulfate nitrite bromate sulfide sulfite fluoride settleable solids filtrate dry residue test filtratable solids anionic surfactants silicic acid cyanide easily purgeable iron (total, dissolved, Fe II) hydrazine total phosphor free chlorine orthophosphate phenol index lipophilic substances nitrification inhibition depletion test biodegradability (Zahn-Wellens-test) suspended solids References: Grà ©goire, D. S. and A. Poulain (2014). A little bit of light goes a long way: the role of phototrophs on mercury cycling. Metallomics 6(3): 396-407. Lubello, C., et al. (2004). Municipal-treated wastewater reuse for plant nurseries irrigation. Water Research 38(12): 2939-2947. Peralta-Yahya, P. P., et al. (2012). Microbial engineering for the production of advanced biofuels. Nature 488(7411): 320-328. Revellame, E. D., et al. (2012). Lipid storage compounds in raw activated sludge microorganisms for biofuels and oleochemicals production. RSC Advances 2(5): 2015-2031. Sikora, A., et al. (2013). Lactic Acid Bacteria in Hydrogen-Producing Consortia: On Purpose or by Coincidence?. Describe the entire process for bioinformatics analysis? Metagenomic analysis of the sludge needs to be done for isolating the useful bacteria and reusing them for the treatment plant. Moreover when this treated water is subjected to reuse then it is necessary to confirm that the disease causing resistant microbes are not present in the water. First of all the sampling of the sewage needs to be done for micro floral determination. On the basis of biochemical tests the microbes are isolated. For methanogens for example test kits are available article number 01110015 of Vermicon VIT ® Methanogenic bacteria; can be used. For hydrogen gas determination fermentation in an airtight container and sampling the overhead air for hydrogen presence is done(Oh, Park et al. 2003). Same goes for the organic synthesis and the enzyme production(Ausec, Zakrzewski et al. 2011). Phylogenetic analysis of the bacteria e.g. methanogens (Anderson, Ulrich et al. 2009)and others will be done. Their evolutionary characteristics and the genes involved in the biochemical pathway would be studied. For this 16s RNA sequencing will be done and phylogenetic trees will be constructed. This gives us the insight of the microbial pathways and helps us in improving the strains during strain construction and increasing the efficiency of the industrial processes. After genetics next step is the proteome analysis of the microbes, this is done in metaproteomics, this provides us the functional gene expression information (Schneider and Riedel 2010). As we are using these microbes for useful purposes and commodity generation, therefore we need to have a better understanding whether the genes present in the microbe are functional or not because we have to manipulate them later on. For this purpose 2D gels would be run and the proteins separated can be analyzed by first identifying the sequences, then comparing them with databases. On obtaining the protein information we can easily identify the functional genes of the microbial genome (Wilmes, Wexler et al. 2008). The useful proteins are the enzymes of the biochemical pathways who are the key players in the product generation. Till here the useful or the productive part of the project has been discussed now the effluent safety needs to be ensured as microbes resistant to the conventional disinfectants need to be identified. (Chao, Ma et al. 2013). For this the resistant genes analysis through metagenome study would be done. References Anderson, I., et al. (2009). Genomic characterization of methanomicrobiales reveals three classes of methanogens. PloS one 4(6): e5797. Ausec, L., et al. (2011). Bioinformatic analysis reveals high diversity of bacterial genes for laccase-like enzymes. PloS one 6(10): e25724. Chao, Y., et al. (2013). Metagenomic analysis reveals significant changes of microbial compositions and protective functions during drinking water treatment. Scientific reports 3. Oh, Y.-K., et al. (2003). Isolation of Hydrogen-producing Bacteria from Granular Sludge of an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor. Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering 8(1): 54-57. Schneider, T. and K. Riedel (2010). Environmental proteomics: analysis of structure and function of microbial communities. Proteomics 10(4): 785-798. Wilmes, P., et al. (2008). Metaproteomics provides functional insight into activated sludge wastewater treatment. PloS one 3(3): e1778.

Mad Cow Disease :: essays research papers

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease (BSE), degenerative brain disorder of cattle. Symptoms in cows include loss of coordination and a typical staggering gait. Affected animals also show signs of senility, for example, lack of interest in their surroundings, the abandonment of routine habits, disinterest in feed and water, or unpredictable behavior. Affected cattle show symptoms when they are three to ten years old. First identified in Britain in November 1986, over 170,000 cases have since been recorded there. Sporadic incidences have been confirmed in other European countries, with Switzerland (over 260 cases) and Ireland (over 260 cases) identifying the largest number. It has also been recognized in Canada, where cases are confined to dairy cows imported from Britain. BSE has not been officially confirmed in the United States or any other major milk-producing country. Autopsies of affected cattle reveal holes in the brain tissue that give it a spongy, or spongiform, texture. Similar spongiform diseases have been recognized in humans (for example, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or CJD) for over a century and in sheep (scrapie) for over 200 years. The cause of BSE is unproven, although there is strong evidence that prions, which may be infective proteins, are the agent. Other hypotheses suggest that prions work with an as yet undetected virus to cause the infection. Recycled animal tissue, which had been routinely fed to British dairy cows as a protein supplement, was identified as the source of the infection. The European Commission's Scientific Veterinary Committee and the world control body, the Fà ©dà ©ration Internationale des Epizooties (FNE) believes that BSE was originally spread from sheep's brains infected with scrapie and that its spread was accidentally accelerated by the ingestion of brain tissue taken from cows that had become infected with BSE. Following through with this fodder transmission theory, the British government introduced compulsory destruction of suspect animals and their carcasses beginning in 1988. The feeding of animal tissue to cows was banned in Britain in July 1988 and since mid-1992, monitors working for the United Kingdom Ministry of Agriculture have recorded a persistent decline in the number of confirmed cases. It is estimated that the program will eradicate BSE in Britain by the end of 1999. Since the initial report of the disease, there has been fear and speculation that it might be transferable to humans through milk or beef products. The appearance of CJD in several dairy farmers in Britain in the early 1990s heightened the alarm.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac Essay

â€Å"On the Road† by Jack Kerouac is largely autobiographical work attributed to the genre of stems of consciousness creation. The novel is based on the author’s spontaneous trips with his friends across mid-century America. The novel is deeply inspired by poetry, jazz and drug experiences. The author has changed many of the names, but most references are claimed to be real-world counterparts. In the five parts and sixteen chapters the author describes restless and crazy journeys of Dean, Sal and his friends across the country. Dean Moriarty plays important role in the novel progression as he symbolizes the changeable nature of human relations and the dark side of society. Nevertheless, he pushes and inspires other to act towards their destinies symbolizing changes and shifts. Dean is certainly negative character, though he has positive impact of Sal – one of the protagonists – as he makes his stronger and more confident. Dean lives in San Francisco, travels across the country. Kerouac defines Dean as â€Å"the perfect guy for the road because he actually was born on the road†. (p. 0) However, he presents Dean as wild and mad character stressing that it is his craziness and energy that affects others to act. Dean drinks a lot, uses drugs and has many women. Moreover, he is a father of four children from two different women. Dean manages to change the life values of Sal. For example, before Sal meets Dean, he had â€Å"just gotten over a serious illness that†¦had something to do with†¦my feeling that everything was dead†. (p. 10) Dean’s character can be defined as embodiment of the whirlwind day and as Sal’s shifts from the East to the West Coast. Dean symbolizes changes acting as mechanism for movement beginning. Dean is zealous and wild personality, though he is captivating as well. Sal says about Dean: â€Å"the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . (p. 14-15) Therefore, Dean’s character plays crucial role for Sal’s development as personality, as well as he is the embodiment of passion for life and constant activity.

Barilla Case Study: The Underlying Factors In Operation Management

case analysis| MGSM890 Operations Management| | Thursday 9 AM class | Term 3, 2012 Deepika Choudhary | 42621186 | | | Question 1. What underlying factors are driving the distributors order patterns to look the way they do in Exhibit 12, and the DC sales, inventory and stock-out levels in Exhibit 13?The underlying factors that are driving the distributors order patterns to look the way they do are primarily due to extreme demand fluctuations where it was week to week variation in distributors order patterns due to which Barilla suffered increasing operational inefficiencies and cost penalties.The major reasons that speak for demand fluctuation are –excessive promotional activities, volume discount, transportation discounts, no limit in order quantities from distributors or worked out ordering strategies for retailers, product proliferations, poor customer service rates, poor communication and lack of sophisticated forecasting techniques or analytical tools at distributors end. The method adopted to curb this demand fluctuation was in two ways; one with excess FG inventory to meet distributors demand and second additional inventory at distributors warehouses. However this method adoption led to impact in – overburdened manufacturing and logistic operation, poor product delivery, thinning of retailers/distributors margin, increased inventory carrying cost, unanticipated demand, and bull whip effect in the entire supply chain.Whereas the causes for bullwhip effect was due to inaccuracies in demand forecasting, long lead times, inflated orders in high estimated demand scenarios, and, price fluctuation due to promotional activities and order batching (to reduce ordering costs, to take advantage of transportation economies such as full truck load, sales incentives and forward buying due to promotional activities to get benefit from lower price).Thus to counteract the bull-whip effect four strategic options became crucial, which are, to: reduce variabilit y (every day or year around low pricing), reduce lead times (information lead times: EDI and order lead times: Cross Docking), reduce uncertainty (POS, sharing and centralizing demand information) and strategic partnerships (quick response, continuous replenishments and vendor managed inventory (VMI)) The other factors are as follows: Orders placed once a week – most distributors (GDs and Dos) checked the inventory levels and placed orders with Barilla once per week which was not inlined with the pace of demand variation * Average lead time ten calendar days – order once placed would be shipped by Barilla to the distributor over the course of the week that started eight days after the order was placed and ended fourteen days after the order was placed; which was recognized as a bottleneck for distributors * Usage of simple periodic-review inventory systems – distributors placing orders on a weekly basis for those products whose levels fell below a specified reor der level, which made their ordering system obsolete * Computer-supported ordering systems – which all of the distributors possessed but lack of sophisticated forecasting systems or analytical tools for determining order quantities for future demand * Holding huge current inventory levels – distributors and retailers carrying huge current inventories followed by requests from Barilla (manufacturing and logistics personal) to carry additional inventory (to hold goods bought on any type of promotion, including quantity discounts, truckload discounts and canvas period discounts) to dampen the fluctuation in distribution orders; this incurred additional costs to their operating systems * Retail inventory pressure – retailers realizing space crunch in their stores and warehouses to carry very large inventories; limited shelf space in retail outlets; continuous launch of new products and attain best shelf display; which reinforced distributors attitude and felt simila r pressure to increase inventory of items they already stocked and to add items they currently did not carry to their product offerings * Lack of good service from distributors to its retailers – Exhibit 13 (in case study) depicts the huge stockouts that Dos experienced in 1989 despite holding a couple of weeks of inventory.This reflects lack of Dos efficient job servicing to its retailers * Plant has high product change over costs because Barilla has either inefficient production or excess finished goods inventory * Utilization of central distribution is low in terms of workers and equipment’s Question 2. How might they be addressed? Will the proposed JITD system solve the problem? The underlying factors in the traditional approach of order fulfillment had a direct impact on manufactures and retailers in the form of thinning margins. Thus, to address these factors an alternative approach of product delivery was crucial and also to take costs out of distribution channe l without compromising service.This was introduced by Brando Vitali’s JITD (Just-In-Time-Distribution) proposal, which focused solely on dry products to be sold through distributors. This approach was also expected to radically change the way in which Barilla’s logistics managed product delivery with JITD bringing in its two key concepts of: replacing sequential optimization with global optimization and eliminating some of the â€Å"false† economies that drive traditional ordering processes. The major challenges of the traditional and rhetoric logistics and distribution channel were: * Extreme demand fluctuations – Barillas dry products often swung wildly from week to week creating extreme demand variability in distributors’ order patterns and also for Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics operations (since 1980s). Distributors sales volumes variation – to manage demand and supply amongst small distributors order and large distributor s order by forecasting and keeping a check on what is required and where it is required and when it is required * Pressures to manufacturing in terms of production lead-time and perishability of product * High Inventory Carrying Cost & manufacturing cost due operational inefficiencies * Unacceptable Cycle Service Levels (CSL)–inadequate product availability * Distributors’ inability to carry large number of SKUs The proposed JITD system will help to, first, determine the quantities and delivery schedules and assist to improve the operations for Barilla and its customers. Second, ship products only when they are needed and what products are needed, rather than building enormous stocks in Barillas’ facilities. Third, Barilla will reap an indirect advantage by reducing its own distribution costs, inventory levels, and ultimately manufacturing costs, by not responding to the volatile demand patterns of the distributors.Fourth, Barilla will be able to manage the much -needed and important capability to achieve â€Å"flexibility† to respond to the demand from end-consumer, which manages the input filter to produce the orders. Fifth, Vendor Managed Inventory Concept. Sixth, using point-of-sale data from retailers (but this is a limitation of Barillas given distribution channel and lack of bar-code scanner and computer linkage at most grocers in Italy). Seventh, ultimate authority to determine shipments is Barilla SpA. Eight, distributors will provide POS data (current) stock level of all SKUs. Hence, expected benefits for Manufacturer are: * Reduced manufacturing cost * Reduced inventory cycle Increased supply chain visibility will lead to better relationships with distributors * High bargaining power over distributors * Increased distributors dependence on Barilla * A planned production planning is possible * Improvement in manufacturing planning using objective data Expected benefits for distributors are: * High service level–addit ional services to retailers without incurring extra cost * Improved fill rates to Retail store with a quick response * Reduced inventory carrying cost Question 3. What conflicts and barriers does implementation of the JITD system face? The implementation of the JITD system does experience some conflicts/resistance and barriers. The conflicts/resistance experienced are internal and external as follows: Internal Sales representative feared reduction in responsibilities and flattening of sales levels * Risk of failing to adjust shipments sufficiently quickly to changes in selling patterns or increased promotions * Firms distribution unit not prepared to handle such a sophisticated relationship * Free space in distributor’s warehouses will give competitors an advantage to acquire more shelf space * Inability to quick shipment or disruption in supply process may lead to stock-out of product * Inability to run trade promotion * Lack of sophisticated infrastructure to handle JITD * Skepticism about cost reduction External * Unconvinced distributors Distributors were not willing to share their warehouse data * Distributors got impression that they were not handling their inventories well * A strategic move by Barilla to justify their long delivery cycle * Perceived transfer of power to Barilla * Lack of faith in Barillas current inventory management * Distributors were skeptical about the effectiveness of the system Question 4. How would you address these? Barilla should focus in external context on implementing the JITD in a staged fashion where it starts to target one of its largest distributors with whom its relishes excellent and elongated relationship. The resistance could then be handled by running experiments at Dry Product Depots where top management is involved actively to reinforce Barillas strategic vision of the company to adopt JITD as a company wide effort and not just as logistics program.By doing so, the qualitative and quantitative implication of performance improvements can be made public (like, average inventory level drop down, increase in service level to retail stores, drop in stock out rate, existing warehouse to accommodate the increased requirement and thus saving on substantial investment on expansion) to share with other distributors. In doing so, such experiments will help establish the credibility of JITD system. Also, other benefits highlighted will add substance to the JITD implementation, such as: better demand forecasting using JITD that ensures robust supply chain; insulate from the excessive demand fluctuations that leads to increased average inventory level, poor USL and recurrent stock-outs; Centralized information to reduce bull-whip effects and enhance inventory management system; ease to make strategic decisions amongst â€Å"push† or â€Å"pull† based systems; customers to be convinced with the vision of win-win concept.Following which Barilla can showcase the real results of running such experiments with JITD to other distributors and approach them with confidence. This will buy-in vote of confidence from all of Barillas distributors to implement JITD by adapting to different distributors where Barillas team develops capacity to translate customer’s standards into internal standards. During the implementation process people from all levels (top management to implementation managers) from both parties to get involved along with a neutral party which is trusted by both groups. After implementation of the JITD, Barilla team could analyze daily shipment data of the distributors and create a database of its historical demand pattern. In addition, Barilla should stimulate shipments with JITD in place.Following which it can develop a protocol which could be used to communicate with all of Barillas customers. To ease the process of identification, each SKU can be identifies with three product codes – Barillas code, customers code and EAN (European article numbering system) barcode. This coding system will facilitate the information reception through any code and will significantly improve data sharing. This will significantly increase Barillas interactivity with all its customers where they are linked by electronically to Barillas headquarters and can exchange information on a daily basis for: * Customer code number to identify the customer Inventory for each SKU, carried by DC * Previous day’s â€Å"sell through†: all shipments of Barilla’s products out of DC to consumers on the previous day * Stock outs on previous day, for every Barilla SKU carried by DC * An advance order for any promotions that the customer plans to run in the future * Preferred carton size of the delivery Internal address Links https://www. google. com. au/search? q=Barilla+case+study&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org. mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb http://www. slideshare. net/himadrisingha/barilla-spa-a-case-on-supply-c hain-integration http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=PQgBY5wn0aE