Mexico Essays (6926 words) - Economy Of The Arab League,

Mexico Mexico Country Profile Country Formal Name: United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicans). Short Form: Mexico. Term for Citizen(s): Mexican(s). Capital: Mexico City (called Mxico or Ciudad de Mxico in country). Date of Independence: September 16, 1810 (from Spain). National Holidays: May 5, commemorating the victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla; September 16, Independence Day. Mexico Geography Size: 1,972,550 square kilometers--third largest nation in Latin America (after Brazil and Argentina). Topography: Various massive mountain ranges including Sierra Madre Occidental in west, Sierra Madre Oriental in east, Cordillera Neovolcnica in center, and Sierra Madre del Sur in south; lowlands largely along coasts and in Yucatan Peninsula. Interior of country high plateau. Frequent seismic activity. Drainage: Few navigable rivers. Most rivers short and run from mountain ranges to coast. Climate: Great variations owing to considerable north-south extension and variations in altitude. Most of the country has two seasons: wet (June-September) and dry (October-April). Generally low rainfall in interior and north. Abundant rainfall along east coast, in south, and in Yucatan Peninsula. Society Population: Estimated population of 94.8 million persons in mid-1996. Annual rate of growth 1.96 percent. Language: Spanish official language, spoken by nearly all. About 8 percent of population speaks an indigenous language; most of these people speak Spanish as second language. Knowledge of English increasing rapidly, especially among business people, the middle class, returned emigrants, and the young. Ethnic Groups: Predominantly mestizo society (60 percent); 30 percent indigenous; 9 percent European; 1 percent other. Education and Literacy: Secretariat of Public Education has overall responsibility for all levels of education system. Compulsory education to age sixteen; public education free. Government distributes free textbooks and workbooks to all primary schools. Official literacy rate in 1990 was 88 percent. Health and Welfare: Health care personnel and facilities generally concentrated in urban areas; care in rural areas confined to understaffed clinics operated mostly by medical graduate students. Life expectancy in 1996 estimated at seventy-three years. Infant mortality twenty-six per 1,000 live births. Leading causes of death infections, parasitic diseases, and respiratory and circulatory system failures. Religion: About 90 percent of population Roman Catholic, according to 1990 census. Protestants (about 6 percent) ranked second. Number of Protestants has increased dramatically since 1960s, especially in southern states. Mexico Economy Overview: From a colonial economy based largely on mining, especially silver, in the twentieth century, the economy has diversified to include strong agriculture, petroleum, and industry sectors. Strong growth from 1940-80 interrupted by series of economic crises, caused in part by massive overborrowing. 1980s marked by inflation and lowering standard of living. Austerity measures and introduction of free-market policies led to a period of growth from 1990-94. Membership in North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 led to hopes of continued economic growth. However, growing trade deficit and overvalued exchange rate in 1994 financed by sale of short-term bonds and foreign- exchange reserves. Series of political shocks and devaluation of new peso in late 1994 caused investor panic. Inflation soared, and massive foreign intervention was required to stabilize situation. Although overall economy remains fundamentally strong, lack of confidence makes short-term prospects for strong growth unlikely. Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Estimated at US$370 billion in 1994; approximately US$4,100 per capita. Currency and Exchange Rate: Relatively stable throughout most of twentieth century, the peso (Mex$) began to depreciate rapidly during economic crisis of 1980s. In January 1993, peso replaced by new peso (NMex$) at rate of NMex$1 = Mex$1,000. Exchange rate in January 1993, US$1 = NMex$3.1; rate in April 1997, US$1 = NMex$7.9. Agriculture: Contributed 8.1 percent of GDP in 1994. Main crops for domestic consumption corn, beans, wheat, and rice. Leading agricultural exports coffee, cotton, vegetables, fruit, livestock, and tobacco. Industry: Mining, manufacturing, and construction contributed 28 percent of GDP in 1994. Industrialization increased rapidly after 1940. By 1990 large and diversified industrial base located largely in industrial triangle of Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. Most industrial goods produced, including automobiles, consumer goods, steel, and petrochemicals. World's sixth largest producer of petroleum and major producer of nonfuel minerals. Energy: More than 120 billion kilowatt-hours produced in 1993, about 75 percent from thermal (mostly oil-burning) plants, 20 percent from hydroelectric, and the rest from nuclear or geothermal plants. One nuclear plant with two reactors at Laguna Verde in Veracruz State. Huge petroleum deposits discovered in Gulf of Mexico in 1970s. In 1995 sixth-largest producer of oil and had eighth-largest proven reserves. Exports: US$60.8 billion in 1994. Manufactured exports include processed food products, textiles, chemicals, machinery, and steel. Other important export items are metals and minerals, livestock, fish, and agricultural products. Major exports to United States are petroleum, automotive engines, silver, shrimp, coffee, and winter vegetables. Imports: US$79.4 billion in 1994. Main imports are metal-working machines, steel-mill products, agricultural machines, chemicals, and capital goods. Leading imports from United States include motor

6 Essential Tips to Memorize to Save on Advanced Presentation Skills Training

6 Essential Tips to Memorize to Save on Advanced Presentation Skills Training 6 Essential Tips to Memorize to Save on Advanced Presentation Skills Training When you are tasked with creating a presentation for a class, having advanced presentation skills training can help you impress your audience and make your performance mind-blowing. There are tons of courses online that offer such training, but some of them are ineffective or expensive. It is for this reason that learning these tips are a much better investment as far as improving your skill-set is concerned: Give Slides with Just One or Two Bullets to Summarize Your Content This is important. When you are creating your slide, add one or two words which function as a roadmap to the presentation. This is essential for the audience and for you. You can prepare yourself by making sure you have just a few keywords which remind you of all the sections to cover, and the order of stating your info. Divide Your Information into 3 Main Points Again, it is very crucial to follow this tip. You don’t want to be overloaded nor do you want your audience to be over informed. By separating the slides and the notes into three main points, you can cover your presentation just as easily as you would write a 5 paragraph essay. You will stay on point, and so will your audience. Edit for Clarity You want to only have the keywords you need in your presentation. This means you will likely condense or edit for clarity on more than one occasion. You will benefit from making a list of the words and phrases your audience need to pay special attention to and try to articulate that list from memory. Have the ability to take self-assessments, even those created by yourself: they help to memorize the information you need to deliver without using prompts and cue cards. This might include practicing on someone else before you present to your class. Find Great Images to Represent the Points You Make They say a picture is worth 1000 words and this is absolutely true for a presentation. If you can find one great photo to represent your content, you will have no issue remembering the related facts or notes when you are presenting. The photo is not just there to drive your point home, but to attract the attention of the audience and make them remember what you are talking about. Use Notes Sparingly and Keep the Audience Engaged You will want to have some notes so that you can really remember key items, but not so many that you fail to notice the fact that no one else is listening. Do what you can to rely upon the pictures and bullet points inside your slides and presentation. Ask Easy Questions of Those Paying Attention For example, if you see someone on a cell phone and you ask them a series of questions, you will come off as though you are scolding them in class. But if you regularly ask questions after each slide or two, you can avoid looking like the angry parent and still keep the audience engaged. Overall, the ability to remember, especially when you are giving a presentation is paramount. The more you can remember the better eye contact and presentation you can make. But it’s essential to keep the audience attentive as well because they need to extract something from your presentation too. That’s why you need to follow the tips listed above and make your PowerPoint presentation short, precise and bright.

It Took a While, but the Midget Raisin is No More

It Took a While, but the Midget Raisin is No More Responding to a petition first filed by the Little People of America in May 2103, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to remove â€Å"midget† from its list of size classifications for raisins.   In a new federal regulation proposed by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) on August 13, the USDA would eliminate all five occurrences of the word â€Å"midget† from the â€Å"U.S. Standards for Grades of Processed Raisins.† The USDA had used â€Å"midget† to describe the smallest size of commercially processed raisins since WWII. ‘Small,’ Not ‘Midget’ â€Å"The action would clarify AMS grade standards by eliminating the use of the term ‘midget,’ while consistently using the term ‘small’ for raisins graded in that category,† states the USDA’s proposed rule. â€Å"The industry has used the two grade terms interchangeably for years. The proposed grade standards would be applied uniformly by all handlers.† The USDA acknowledged that the change was being made in response to the petition from the Little People of America (LPA), a non-profit advocacy group providing support and information to persons with a medical diagnosis of dwarfism or other form of short stature between 2’-8† and 4’-8† tall and their families. â€Å"On May 13, 2013, AMS received a petition from the Little People of America stating that they ‘are trying to raise awareness around and eliminate the use of the word midget,’† the USDA said. According to the USDA, the petition also stated that, â€Å"Though the use of the word midget by the USDA when classifying certain food products is benign, Little People of America, and the dwarfism community, hopes that the USDA would consider phasing out the term midget.† The Problem with ‘Midget’ The LPA considers the word â€Å"midget† to be â€Å"an antiquated slang term often used as slur toward shorter than average persons, specifically, â€Å"a person with a diagnosable skeletal dysplasia or medical condition,† according to the group’s Web site. In 2014, the LPA criticized Marvin Lewis, head coach of pro football’s Cincinnati Bengals for referring to Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel as a â€Å"midget.† Manziel, while considered by some in the sport to be â€Å"short† for a pro football quarterback, is 6’-0† tall. â€Å"LPA has been actively working to get the word taken out of societys vernacular, where it is often used carelessly and without regard to who else it may affect,† states the LPA. Dwarfism is a recognized condition under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In 2011, Startbucks Coffee agreed to pay $75,000 to settle an ADA-based disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charging that the coffee retailing giant had unlawfully denied a reasonable accommodation to a barista with dwarfism at one of its El Paso stores and subsequently fired her because of her disability. How Tall is a Midget Raisin? Under USDA standards adopted in 1978, midget – now to be called â€Å"small† raisins are â€Å"95 percent, by weight, of all the raisins will pass through round perforations 24/64-inch in diameter, and not less than 70 percent, by weight, of all raisins will pass through round perforations 22/64-inch in diameter.† Size standards for commercially-processed raisins are set by the USDA’s Raisin Administrative Committee, which had already â€Å"approved the removal of the term midget from the standards† in 2014. When Will You Notice the Change? While you might already see â€Å"small† replacing â€Å"midget† on raisin packaging and advertising, the change will not become official for while. As required by law, the USDA must continue to accept public comments on the new regulation until October 20. At least a month later, the new regulation will be published in the Federal Register, making the change from â€Å"midget† to â€Å"small† official. Justice or ‘Political Correctness?’ Interestingly, the only two comments submitted on the rule change so far have come from people opposed to the growing demand for â€Å"political correctness.† â€Å"This is akin to killing fleas with a cannon,† wrote on commenter. â€Å"Certainly, there is a better use for workers at the USDA than to be checking under every rock for an offended person.† â€Å"Its a shame political correctness has come to censoring the federal government!† stated the other comment. â€Å"Eliminating 5 ‘midget’ mentions in the guidelines at expense of millions more ‘midget’ mentions on the interwebs is ridiculous!†

Scientific Inquiry In Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Scientific Inquiry In Biology - Essay Example The condition of high Soil sodium is referred to as sodic, and is common in desert and arid lands. An example is the Yelarbon area of Australia. When the Chloride form dominates, it is referred to as saline. Salinity though may also refer to an increased amount of the chlorides of Potassium, Magnesium and Calcium. Increased Sodium salinity often leads to sodicity. An excess of the cation may lead to increased pH and increased soil osmotic pressure retarding the ability of plants to absorb water. Furthermore, an increase in the Sodium Carbonate concentration leads to an ion exchange reaction that immobilizes Calcium. Calcium is an important regulator of growth and development in plants. Its participation involves nearly all aspects of plant development. (Harper J.F, 2004) Another problem associated with increased soil Sodium is the toxicity to Na+ sensitive plants, and disruption of soil structure leading to crusting and poor drainage. (Ruiz Vera, 2006). This reduces available soil oxygen as well. The causes of increased sodium may be man-made or natural. Irrigation of soil with water having increased sodium carbonate is one artificial method. A natural cause may be weathering of rocks containing Sodium carbonates. The control of sodicity is by addition of Calcium in form of Limestone, Sulphur and drainage of the soils affected. If an increase in soil osmotic pressure leads to retarded growth of lawn grass, then addition of a proportional amount of salt to a control sample will lead

Online Shopping Acceptance Model OSAM Assignment

Online Shopping Acceptance Model OSAM - Assignment Example The components of OSAM are generated from OSA components. The OSAM module is described as an entity offering a group of services that can be achieved from the background of service growth and service provision (Dede et al., 1997). This model presents an easy method of obtaining comprehensive information about the constituents managed automatically at the beginning of the structure and can hypothetically affect its function. Zhou et al. (2007) state in their study that the knowledge-orientated view of the customer approval of electronic shopping is currently predicted and clarified by observing technical descriptions such as content and design on the website, user boundary features, and structure usability of an available store. Without the approval of the technology, e-commerce would be limited. The customers’ willingness to acknowledge the technology guides the achievement of electronic promotion (Zhou et al., 2007). Several factors influence the consumer acceptance of online purchase like consumer attitude, environmental factors, and availability of resources. The main aim of the OSAM model is to enable traders market their products using different modes like mobile phones and social media channels. Advertisement can be made through mobile phones and social media networks. References Carlota, L., Efthymios, C., and Maria-del-Carmen, A. (2013). Social Media as Marketing Strategy: An Explorative Study on Adoption and Use by Retailers, in Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan, Tanya Bondarouk (ed.) Social Media in Strategic Management (Advanced Series in Management, Volume 11). New York: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Chen, S. J., & Chang, T. Z. (2003). A descriptive model of online shopping process: some empirical results. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 58(6): 556-569. Close, A. (2012). Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media, Advertising and E-tail. London: Routledge. Dede, A., Arsenis, S., Tosti, A., Lucidi, F., Westerg a, R. (1997). OSAM Component Model - A Key Concept for the Efficient Design of Future Telecommunication Systems. In IS&N, (67):127-136. Doherty, N., and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2010). ‘Internet retailing: the past, the present and the future.’ International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38(11/12): 943–965. Flick, K. (2009). Assessing Consumer Acceptance of Online Shopping: Examining Factors Affecting Purchase Intentions. London: ProQuest. Howladar, M., H., H., and Mohiuddin, G. (2012) Developing Online Shopping Intention among People Bangladesh Perspective, Developing Country Studies, 2(9): 2225-0565. Lina, Z., Liwei, D., and Dongsong, Z. (2001). ‘Online shopping acceptance model – a critical survey of consumer factors in online shopping.’ Journal of Electronic Commerce Research. 8: 41—61. Mikalef, P. Giannakos, M., Michail, G., and Pateli , A. (2013). ‘Shopping and Word-of-Mouth Intentions on Social Media.’ Jour nal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 8(1):17-34. Monsuwe, T.P.Y., Dellaert, B.G.C. and Ruyter, K.D. (2004). What drives consumers to shop online? A literature review. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 15 (1): 102-121. Olumayowa, S. M. (2012). Acceptance and Impact of Social Networks Marketing Using Extended Technology Acceptance Model unpublished

The Simplicity of Raymond Chandlers The Big Sleep :: sleep

The Simplicity of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler would like us to believe that The Big Sleep is just another example of hard-boiled detective fiction. He would like readers to see Philip Marlowe, Vivian Regan, Carmen Sternwood, Eddie Mars, and the rest of the characters as either "good guys" or "bad guys" with no deeper meaning or symbolism to them. I found the book simple and easy to understand; the problem was that it was too easy, too simple. Then came one part that totally stood out from the rest of the book &emdash; the chessboard. Marlowe toyed with it whenever he got the chance, and it probably helped him think of a next move in a particular case. I found it odd that Chandler made such a brief mention of chess, but I did not realize why until I finished the book and had time to think about what I had read. In a very interesting sense, the entire novel resembles the game of chess. Each character is a piece, and the name of the game is survival. Though the ultimate goal in chess is to take poss ession of the king, the underlying strategy is to eliminate as many pieces as one possibly can. This serves as insurance in the overall goal. Being that the characters/pieces determine the direction of the goal, let us look at them to begin. I have chosen to examine two characters in-depth and then put them on the board with the rest of the people in the novel. Philip Marlowe does not correspond to the knight of the chessboard. Chandler assumes that the reader will fall into the easy trap of assigning Marlowe to the role of the knight. After all, he is the main man in the novel, the one who needs to solve the case. His self-description in the opening chapter lures the reader into believing he is a typical white knight hero. "I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be" (3). This is a fitting description of a knight only because knights must possess similar qualities in order to be heroes. The Simplicity of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep :: sleep The Simplicity of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler would like us to believe that The Big Sleep is just another example of hard-boiled detective fiction. He would like readers to see Philip Marlowe, Vivian Regan, Carmen Sternwood, Eddie Mars, and the rest of the characters as either "good guys" or "bad guys" with no deeper meaning or symbolism to them. I found the book simple and easy to understand; the problem was that it was too easy, too simple. Then came one part that totally stood out from the rest of the book &emdash; the chessboard. Marlowe toyed with it whenever he got the chance, and it probably helped him think of a next move in a particular case. I found it odd that Chandler made such a brief mention of chess, but I did not realize why until I finished the book and had time to think about what I had read. In a very interesting sense, the entire novel resembles the game of chess. Each character is a piece, and the name of the game is survival. Though the ultimate goal in chess is to take poss ession of the king, the underlying strategy is to eliminate as many pieces as one possibly can. This serves as insurance in the overall goal. Being that the characters/pieces determine the direction of the goal, let us look at them to begin. I have chosen to examine two characters in-depth and then put them on the board with the rest of the people in the novel. Philip Marlowe does not correspond to the knight of the chessboard. Chandler assumes that the reader will fall into the easy trap of assigning Marlowe to the role of the knight. After all, he is the main man in the novel, the one who needs to solve the case. His self-description in the opening chapter lures the reader into believing he is a typical white knight hero. "I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be" (3). This is a fitting description of a knight only because knights must possess similar qualities in order to be heroes.

Loss of Biodiversity

Meaning The definition of biodiversity encompasses the degree of variations in organisms and/ or species within an ecosystem. The loss of biodeversity would be the diminishing of dfferent species within that ecosystem. For example, a lake may be the home to many types of fish. A change in the lake's temperature or chemistry may affect a food source for a certain type of fish. This type of fish may die out and leave the lake with one less species in it. The loss of one fish or food source may impact other populations and furthe diminish species diversity. CauseInvasive Species – plants or animals which have moved to a habitat where they were not naturally found and are more successful than local species. Habitat loss – Agriculture, housing and industry are destroying the habitats of many plants, animals and microbes. Our development means we must destory or decrease the natural ecosystems. Many animals have a certain range that they must maintain in order to live. If the y do not have access to this area, their lives are significantly altered. Pollution – Our oceans, rivers, lakes and lands have become rubbish bins for society's industrial and organic waste.Plastic in our garbage causes enormous problems. It kills or injures many marine animals and birds either through accidental entanglement or ingestion of the material in the mistaken belief that the plastic is food. For example, sometimes bags are misidentified as jellyfish. Climate Change – Many plant and animal species are unlikely to survive climate change. For some species there will no longer be anywhere to live. Exploitation – We have drastically reduced some fish populations, hunted some whales to the verge of extinction and destroyed whole forests and their ecosystems.Blast fishing is another practise which reduces the coral reefs in the sea. It is practiced in many areas. This is the process whereby dynamite is placed into an area in order to catch a large quantity o f fish. Coral reefs especially are devastated by this activity. It is most prominent in undeveloped countries where this practice has existed for years. Effect The ecosystems deteriorate to an unsustainable level, at which the results would be incredibly expensive to reverse (ex. in Bangladesh and India, the over-logging of trees and forests makes floods during the monsoon seasons deadly. environmental changes – Loss of one species may cause a chain reaction, resulting in a change to the ecosystem itself. gives us less choice as humans – If certain species are lost, they are no longer available to us either as food, as enjoyment, or as resources for things we may not even know about yet. For example, if we deplete all the yellowfin tuna in the ocean, we no longer have this species available for our consumption. If we are divers or underwater explorers, we no longer can see this fish in its own environment and receive pleasure from this act.Solution Stop climate change from running out of control. In order to tackle climate change world needs international climate deal that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions on global level. Stop deforestation. Tropical rainforests are the areas of the richest biodiversity in our planet, providing living environment for millions of different species. Reduce environmental pollution. Pollution is not only happening in land but also in our oceans having very negative impact on marine biodiversity. Animals and plants can't thrive in polluted environment.Education and the Media Through educating people about the severity of this issue, there will be (hopefully) less exploitations of resources, pollution, and habitat losses. In addition, the media could be used to spread these types of thoughts and again, emphasize the importance of biodiversity, the detrimental effects it has on ecosystems, and how it impacts us. Biodiversity also needs to be more studied in order to give us the necessary knowledge needed to protect animal and plant species from going extinct.