Exploring the Earths Four Spheres

Exploring the Earth's Four Spheres The area near the surface of the earth can be divided into four interconnected spheres: lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. Think of them as four interconnected parts that make up a complete system, in this case, of life on earth. Environmental scientists  use this system to classify and study the organic and inorganic materials found on the planet. The Lithosphere The lithosphere, sometimes called the geosphere, refers to all of the rocks of the earth. It includes the planets mantle and crust, the two outermost layers. The boulders of Mount Everest, the sand of Miami Beach and the lava erupting from Hawaiis Mount  Kilauea  are all components of the lithosphere. The actual thickness of the lithosphere varies considerably and can range from roughly 40 km to 280 km. The lithosphere ends at the point when the minerals in the earths crust begin to demonstrate viscous and fluid behaviors. The exact depth at which this happens depends on the chemical composition of the earth, and the heat and pressure acting upon the material. The lithosphere is divided into 15 tectonic plates that fit together around the earth like a jagged puzzle:  African, Antarctic,  Arabian, Australian, Caribbean, Cocos,  Eurasian,  Indian, Juan de Fuca, Nazca, North American,  Pacific,  Philippine, Scotia, and South American. These plates arent fixed; theyre slowly moving. The friction created when these tectonic plates push against one another causes earthquakes, volcanoes and the formation of mountains and ocean trenches. The Hydrosphere The hydrosphere is composed of all of the water on or near the planets  surface. This includes oceans, rivers, and lakes, as well as underground aquifers and the moisture in the atmosphere. Scientists estimate the total amount at more than 1,300 million cubic feet. More than 97 percent of the earths water is found in its oceans. The remainder is freshwater, two-thirds of which is frozen within the earths polar regions and mountain snowpacks. Its interesting to note that even though water covers the majority of the planets surface, water accounts for a mere 0.023 percent of the earths total mass.   The planets water doesnt exist in a static environment, it changes form as it moves through the hydrological cycle. It falls to the earth in the form of rain, seeps into underground aquifers, rises to the surface from springs or seeps from porous rock, and flows from small streams into larger rivers that empty into lakes, seas, and oceans, where some of it evaporates into the atmosphere to begin the cycle anew.   The Biosphere The biosphere is composed of all living organisms: plants, animals and one-celled organisms alike. Most of the planets terrestrial life is found in a zone that stretches from 3 meters below ground to 30 meters above it. In the oceans and seas, most aquatic life inhabits a zone that stretches from the surface to about 200 meters below. But some creatures can live far outside of these ranges: some birds are known to fly as high as 8 kilometers above the earth, while some fish have been found as deep as 8 kilometers beneath the ocean surface. Microorganisms are known to survive well beyond even these ranges. The biosphere is made up of biomes, which are areas where plants and animals of a similar nature can be found together. A desert, with its cactus, sand, and lizards, is one example of a biome. A coral reef is another. The Atmosphere The atmosphere is the body of gasses that surrounds our planet, held in place by earths gravity. Most of our atmosphere is located close to the earths surface where it is most dense. The air of our planet is 79 percent nitrogen and just under 21 percent oxygen; the small amount remaining is composed of argon, carbon dioxide, and other trace gasses. The atmosphere itself rises to about 10,000 km in height and is divided into four zones. The troposphere, where about three-quarters of all atmospheric mass can be found, stretches from about 6 km above the earths surface to 20 km. Beyond this lies the stratosphere, which rises to 50 km above the planet. Next comes the mesosphere, which extends to about 85 km above the earths surface. The thermosphere rises to about 690 km above the earth, then finally the exosphere. Beyond the exosphere lies outer space. Conclusion All four spheres can be and often are present in a single location. For example, a piece of soil will contain minerals from the lithosphere. Additionally, there will be elements of the hydrosphere present as moisture within the soil, the biosphere as insects and plants, and even the atmosphere as pockets of air between soil pieces. The complete system is what makes up life as we know it on Earth.

A Great College Recommendation Letter Template

A Great College Recommendation Letter Template SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips While the best recommendation letters are unique to each student, they all share certain key features that make them effective. This guide provides you with a structure to help you produce an outstanding letter of recommendation. Not only will this recommendation letter template guide you through the writing process, it'll also assist you in determining whether you’re able to truly recommend a student for admission to college. Before outlining the steps, let’s consider what goes into a good letter of recommendation. What Makes for a Good Letter of Recommendation? The best recommendation letters are enthusiastic and highly positive about a student. They’re not just filled with compliments, though. They dive deeply to illuminate a student’s key intellectual and personal qualities. Additionally, these letters give specific examples to back up what they have to say. Rather than tell admissions committees everything they could ever want to know about a student, strong rec letters are focused on a specific narrative. You don't have to covera broad range of qualities, but rather you can focus in on the most significant ones, especially as they relate to your relationship with the student. You should start every recommendation letter by brainstorming the qualities you wish to highlight and examples you want to give. If you find you haven’t come up with much that’s positive or personal, then you might ultimately decide that you’re not the best person to write that student a recommendation letter for college. Let’s look more closely at this first stage in the rec letter writing process: brainstorming. The Brainstorming Stage There are a few main considerations in the brainstorming stage. First, how do you feel about recommending the student and why? Second, what key qualities do you intend to communicate in your letter? And third, what stories can you share to illustrate your points? Read on to consider each of these thoughts individually. How Do You Feel About the Student? Before delving into specifics, you should pause here and ask yourself how you feel about recommending the student. Are you able to genuinely provide a positive endorsement? If you feel relatively neutral, do you need more information from the student? In the case that you feel negatively towards a student, you may suggest that she ask another teacher to provide her with a letter. A lukewarm or negative letter would not be useful, or could even hurt, the student’s application. Admissions officers have a discerning eye when it comes to reading letters. They’ll be able to tell if you wrote your letter with reservations. If this is how you feel, then you may have to do the difficult thing and inform the student that you’re unable to provide a recommendation letter. If the student still wants you to fulfill the requirement, she should know that your letter may not do much to boost her chances of admission. In all three cases, you should root out the reasons behind your evaluation of the student. What qualities of the student have stood out to you? What Qualities Do You Plan to Highlight? Considering the features mentioned above, what intellectual and personal qualities of the student have you noticed or been impressed by? Intellectual qualities you could highlight include problem-solving skills, analysis, curiosity, creativity, communication, collaboration, and foreign language skills. Some personal qualities you could emphasize might be strength of character, honesty, integrity, courage, humor, thoughtfulness, maturity, cultural awareness, and compassion for others. Once you’ve narrowed down the key qualities you want to present, you can think about stories and examples. What Anecdotes Can You Share? After considering what qualities you plan to highlight, you should think about whatspecific anecdotes you can shareto illustrate your assessment and help the student come alive in the eyes of the reader. These stories can be based on your interactions with and observations of the student. They may also be informed by the student herself, through discussions and her â€Å"brag sheet.† The student should provide you with her thoughts on her goals and significant experiences that have shaped who she is today. These reflections can be helpful reminders, but ideally you also know the student well enough to write an insightful letter based on your familiarity with her academic work and personal character. Some potential anecdotes include times when the student you're writing the letter for showed exceptional intelligence, compassion, motivation, tenacity, leadership skills, and/or teamwork abilities. Once you’ve come up with a list of what you want to focus on and how to back up your evaluation, you can begin to draft. Want to build the best possible college application, with the strongest recommendations? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. The Drafting Stage After brainstorming, you can start to shape your thoughts into the typical structure for a recommendation letter. It's usually a full page consisting of four paragraphs: the introduction, body paragraph 1, body paragraph 2, and conclusion. Let's look at what should be included in each paragraph, and how a teacher and counselor might write their first body paragraphs with different ideas in mind. You can choose to start your letter as creatively as you wish, but all introductions should include certain key information, as you'll see in the next section. Introduction What does the reader want to know when she starts reading your letter? One, she wants to know who the letter is about. Just as importantly, she wants to know who you are, along with what makes you qualified to assess this student. Logistically, you should answer the latter question by providing your name, school, and contact information in official letterhead at the top. In your introduction, furthermore, you should explicitly state who you are and how you know the student. If you’ve taught the student in more than one class or gotten to know her in other contexts, like as the advisor of a club, then you should include that as well. The better you know the student, the more weight your recommendation carries. Here are a coupleexamples for starting out your recommendation. Example 1 To Whom It May Concern, It is my pleasure to recommend Judy, whom I taught in my th grade honors English program. Example 2 Dear Admissions Committee, I am delighted to recommend the multi-talented Eduardo for admission to your undergraduate program. As Eduardo’s th grade music teacher, as well as his chorus leader throughout all four years of high school, I've watched him grow into an outstanding and dedicated musician. Your entire introduction should be three to five sentences. After stating who the recommendation is for, who you are, and how you know the student, you may add about two sentences describing the student and introducing what’s to come. If you’re customizing your letter to a specific program or college, then you’ll mention that here too. Once you’ve introduced the student and yourself, you’ll move onto the first body paragraph. If you’re a teacher, you may focus on the student’s intellectual qualities and academic work. If you’re a counselor, you may speak more to a student’s growth throughout high school and role in the school community. Let’s start out by considering the first body paragraphthat a teacher might draft. Body Paragraph 1 (Teacher) Your first body paragraph should consist of four to six sentences. As a teacher, you may use this paragraph to hone in on the student’s key academic strengths and interests. In your brainstorming, you should have come up with the main qualities you want to describe, along with a meaningful anecdote to back up what you’re saying. Make sure to use enthusiastic and vivid language that will make the letter interesting and memorable to an admissions officer, who might be reading through hundreds of teacher rec letters. If the student especially impressed you, you might use a statement of high ranking, calling her, for example,one of the best students you’ve taught. This example uses a statement of high ranking and will go on to focus on Bella’s writing talent. Bella is one of the most talented writers I’ve had the pleasure of teaching in my ten years at Forks High School. She demonstrates a nuanced understanding of literature and is comfortable within spaces of ambiguity and interpretation. She produced a particularly thought-provoking thesis paper on spirituality in Native American literature... This second example focuses more on Dave’s strong interest in the subject of computer science. Dave has developed an avid interest in computer science. Not only was he an excellent student throughout the year, but he also worked on developing an app that would use a school-wide crowdsourcing strategy to clean up the school grounds†¦ As mentioned above, a teacher will draw on her experience with the student from class. A counselor, on the other hand, may speak more clearly on a student’s development over the years and/or participation in the greater community. Body Paragraph 1 (Counselor) While a teacher interacts with a student every day in the classroom, a counselor has a different relationship with the student. Rather than speaking to their work as a student, the counselor may talk about the student’s maturity, development, community service, and interactions with other students and faculty. As with a teacher recommendation, a counselor recommendation should hone in on a few specific qualities and give an insightful example. In the following examples, the counselor touches on one student’s school leadership and on the other'sgrowth throughout high school. Example 1 Rory brings an infectious energy and enthusiasm to her fellow students and teachers. As Class President, she organized fundraisers and events that both raised money for class projects and were enjoyed by all. Last spring, she set up McKinley High’s version of The Sing Off, complete with spinning chairs for the judges to scoop up contestants for their teams. The entire performance was recorded and is available on our new YouTube channel, which Rory and her fellow student council members set up and have added to throughout the year. Example 2 Michael has impressed all of us at Washington High School with the incredible progress he’s made over his four years. While he arrived in 9th grade with limited English, he’s grown his language abilities in leaps and bounds. Now he actively participates in his classes and contributes to the school newspaper. His latest article on college planning for ELL students, in which he shares his personal story and family background, has been shared among faculty and counselors here at the school. While the teacher and counselor may start out their recommendations by focusing on different aspects of the student, their second body paragraph may share more similarities. Here you might discuss the student’s impressive personal qualities. Body Paragraph 2 In the second bodyparagraph, you might focus on revealing the student’s personal strengths and personality. You could talk about traits like integrity, honesty, compassion, courage, and resilience, to name a few. Admissions officers want to know if the student has overcome any particular challenges in life, or if there are any special family circumstances that have affected the student. Apart from shedding light on the student’s personal journey, you also want to consider how you can add to her application. What has she already shared, and how can you both complement and add to her story? Whatever you choose to share, it should be something that you can speak in some depth about. In the following example, the recommender speaks about Jamie’s strong value of integrity. Not only is Jamie an outstanding history student, but he also displays exceptional strength of character. When you speak toany of his teachers aboutJamie, the first word that comes up is "integrity." He’s an honest and caring young person committed to upholding these values in our school community. When administrators revised the school handbook last year, Jamie volunteered to review and give input into the section on academic integrity and plagiarism. He helped promote the ideas throughout the school and stayed after for discussion groups on what leads students to turn to cheating. Once you have two strong body paragraphs, you’ll finish yourletter with a succinct and memorable conclusion. Conclusion In the conclusion of your letter, you should reiterate your support for the student’s application to the college or program. You can add a concluding statement of her strengths and assets, making sure to reinforce the points you made above while still adding fresh language. On top of this, your conclusion may offer a vision of how the student will perform in the future, both in terms of personal achievement and contributions to her college community. Finally, finish up by inviting admissions officers to contact you for any further information. Most letters end with the salutation of â€Å"Sincerely,† followed by your name, position, and school. Outside of this overall four-paragraph structure, there are a few formatting points to keep in mind. Want to build the best possible college application, with the strongest recommendations? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Format of Your Recommendation Letter Your recommendation should be a full page in length. Any less may look that you didn’t have much to say about the student. Any more is unusual and not necessary apart fromexceptional circumstances. Use official school letterhead and include all the necessary contact information described above. Ultimately, you’ll upload your letter to the Common Application or a college’s individual application portal. In closing, let’s review the structure to follow when brainstorming, drafting, and revising your recommendation letter. Following the Recommendation Letter Template As you brainstorm exactly what you want to communicate in your letter, keep in mind how you can structure your thoughts according to therecommendation letter template described above. To review, let's go over the key elements you should include: Introduction:Here, you'll state your support for the student, describe how you know the student, and touch on her key strengths and achievements. Body Paragraph 1: In your first body paragraph, you may speak about a student's academic strengths and interests, along with an anecdote to back up your assessment. If you're a counselor, you may focus more on the student's community involvement in this first body paragraph. Body Paragraph 2: In the second body paragraph, you can reveal the student's impressive personal qualities, ones that admissions officers may not know about from the rest of her application. Make sure to include a meaningful example to back up your assessment. Conclusion:Restate your support of the student, andprovide a vision of her future success. Invite admissions officers to contact you with any questions. While letters will vary in terms of writing style and emphasis, the best ones will include these key elements. To write an effective letter, as well as to make sure that you can genuinely recommend a student, you should take the time to plan and map out your letter according to this template. You can include meaningful anecdotes based on your interactions with the students and discussions with her about her college plans and application strategy. By gathering thoughts from the student herself and informing yourself about how to structure your rec letter, you'll be poised to write a memorable letter that will both impressadmissions officers and help them get to know the studentbetter.Your letter canreveal meaningful insight into the student's academic and personal strengths and thereby make a significant impact in improving her chances of admission to college. What's Next? Now that you've learned about a template you can use to structure your recommendation letter, check out these sample recommendation letters. Here you can read 4 great teacher recommendation letters, plus 3 examples of bad teacher recs. Beyond this structure, what else do you need to know about writing a letter of recommendation? This complete guide discusses how to write a strong letter of recommendation, from how to choose powerful language to the common traps to avoid. Are you a counselor writing a letter of recommendation?Check out our guide that includes three excellent examples of counselor letters of recto give you some ideas. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 1986

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 1986 At 1:23 a.m. on April 26th, 1986, reactor four at the nuclear power plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine exploded, releasing more than a hundred times the radiation of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosion and thousands more are expected to die from the long-term effects of radiation. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster dramatically changed the worlds opinion about using nuclear reaction for power. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in the wooded marshlands of northern Ukraine, approximately 80 miles north of Kiev. Its first reactor went online in 1977, the second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983; two more were planned for construction. A small town, Pripyat, was also built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to house the workers and their families. Routine Maintenance and a Test on Reactor Four On April 25, 1986, reactor four was going to be shut down for some routine maintenance. During the shutdown, technicians were also going to run a test. The test was to determine whether, in case of a power outage, the turbines could produce enough energy to keep the cooling system running until the backup generators came online. The shutdown and test began at 1 a.m. on April 25th. To get accurate results from the test, the operators turned off several of the safety systems, which turned out to be a disastrous decision. In the middle of the test, the shutdown had to be delayed nine hours because of a high demand for power in Kiev. The shutdown and test continued again at 11:10 p.m. on the night of April 25th. A Major Problem Just after 1 a.m. on April 26th, 1986, the reactors power dropped suddenly, causing a potentially dangerous situation. The operators tried to compensate for the low power but the reactor went out of control. If the safety systems had remained on, they would have fixed the problem; however, they were not. The reactor exploded at 1:23 a.m. The World Discovers the Meltdown The world discovered the accident two days later, on April 28th, when operators of the Swedish Forsmark nuclear power plant in Stockholm registered unusually high radiation levels near their plant. When other plants around Europe began to register similar high radiation readings, they contacted the Soviet Union to find out what had happened. The Soviets denied any knowledge about a nuclear disaster until 9 p.m. on April 28th, when they announced to the world that one of the reactors had been damaged. Attempts to Clean Up While trying to keep the nuclear disaster a secret, the Soviets were also trying to clean it up. At first they poured water on the many fires, then they tried to put them out with sand and lead and then nitrogen. It took nearly two weeks to put the fires out. Citizens in the nearby towns were told to stay indoors. Pripyat was evacuated on April 27th, the day after the disaster had begun; the town of Chernobyl wasnt evacuated until May 2, six days after the explosion. Physical clean-up of the area continued. Contaminated topsoil was placed into sealed barrels and radiated water contained. Soviet engineers also encased the remains of the fourth reactor in a large, concrete sarcophagus to prevent additional radiation leakage. The sarcophagus, constructed quickly and in dangerous conditions, had already begun to crumble by 1997. An international consortium has begun plans to create a containment unit that will be placed over the current sarcophagus. Death Toll From the Chernobyl Disaster Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosion; however, thousands of others who were exposed to high levels of radiation will suffer serious health effects, including cancers, cataracts, and cardiovascular disease.

Quality Assurance in Clinical Bacteriology Assignment

Quality Assurance in Clinical Bacteriology - Assignment Example From start to end, the full production line has to be properly monitored and to be prepared with contingency plans. To achieve Total Quality Management, a Quality System—defined as the organizational structure and resources needed to implement quality requirements (Kumari and Bhatia, 2003, p. 20)—must be established. The organizationl management and structure, the referential (quality) standards, documentation, assessment (monitoring and evaluation) and training are all part of Quality Systems. Proper delegation of responsibilities and appropriate distribution of work load will provide balance to the systems as well as make a stable foundation for the work flow. Standards for quality measurement are also critical not only in ensuring the uniformity but also in the assurance of providing quality output all the time. Proper documentation and assessment of the work flow usually defines the level of progress the system will be able to achieve. Thorough evaluation of the whole process may uncover loop holes, weaknesses and possible sources of errors of the production line. Identifying th ese flaws is the first step in developing its solution. Henceforth, training of the work force and countinous update of protocols must be implemented for the whole group to improve. Aside from Quality System, Quality Audit is also important for the improvement of the laboratory. As explained by Kumari and Bhatia (2003), Quality Audits are established to verify the effectiveness of the acivities of the laboratory. This is to test whether the implemented actions do solve and/or accomplish its designated target. A separate team, either another group within the laboratory (internal audits) or a group not within the laboratory (external audits), usually handle these concerns to achieve an impartial view and judgement. Improvement is not a one-step thing. It is continous. It is vital for the system to repeatedly plan, do (implement), check and act

Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria Research Paper

Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria - Research Paper Example This can partly be attributed to the fact that microbes and bacteria which spread the infections are quite flexible in nature and have a great tendency to resist the effect of antibiotics. Another factor that has increased the resistance of microbes and bacteria against the antibiotics is the increased use of antibiotics. 12500 tons of antibiotics were prescribed in the US in the year 1998. More than 60 percent of the use of antibiotics in the US can be attributed to the agricultural practices resulting in an increase of 18000 tons of antibiotic use yearly (Todar, 2009). These days, almost 70 percent of the infection-causing bacteria are able to resist some common antibiotic drug. Antibiotics were found originally as a result of an experiment conducted in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. In the 1940s, the findings generated by this experiment were employed for mass-production of penicillin using the Penicillium notatum as a mold. Strains resistance of bacteria were started to be found in t he late 1940s. As of today, over 70 percent bacteria which are responsible for the spread of the hospital-based infections resist at least one antibiotic. There are myriad of reasons for the continued spread of the antibiotic resistance. These reasons include but are not limited to the excessive recommendation of the antibiotics’ by the doctors, retarded compliance of the patients with the prescribed treatments, employment of the antibiotics as growth drivers in the animals, insufficient hygiene of the hospital environment and enhanced international voyage. There are two fundamental ways in which the resistance of bacteria can be improved. The first way is by employing a built-in feature that facilitates the exchange of resistance genes among the bacterial DNA. The second way is by mutation. Antibiotics kill the cells of the bacteria by causing a distortion in the critical function. â€Å"This is achieved in the cell in much the same way that a saboteur can cause a massive j etliner to crash by simply cutting the hydraulic lines† (Purdom, 2007). Antibiotic resistance of bacteria works only by causing a disruption in the functional systems. Evolution of the bacteria into man needs strengthening of these systems. It becomes difficult for the antibiotic to link with the altered protein when the bacteria â€Å"have a mutation in the DNA which codes for one of those proteins† (Purdom, 2007). Public health is exposed to a lot of threats with the increase in antimicrobial resistance because it declines the efficiency of the antimicrobial treatment and increases the mortality rate, morbidity and the cost of healthcare in the long run. The mortality rate jumped from 0.2 percent to 3.4 per cent upon the outbreak of resistant Salmonella spp. Strains. â€Å"In 1995 the cost of containing an outbreak of infection caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus in a district general hospital in the United Kingdom was estimated to exceed US$ 560 000†¦whil e the annual health care cost associated with the treatment of resistant infections in the USA was estimated at over US$ 4 billion† (Smith and Coast, 2002, p. 126).

Risk management in British Airways Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Risk management in British Airways - Essay Example The overall process has been designed in a manner that it remains an iterative process wherein the changes and implementation of the existing and new risk management practices are scrutinized on continuous basis.( Goh, 2011). British Airways (BA) has a separate Corporate Risk Management Group in place which not only oversees the organization wide risk management practices of the firm but is also involved in managing internal control systems of the company. The Corporate Risk Group is overseen by a management board and senior key executives to ensure that the involvement of the key senior managers remains so that required improvements could be achieved and the process is managed strategically. The existing risk management practices of BA involve not only the identification of the key risks and their drivers but also their mitigation and management. The overall process is monitored at the Board Audit Committee level and involves senior management to provide an independent review and in sight into the risk management practices of the firm. Current Risk Management Process The current risk management process and its infrastructure within the organization are based on a combination of independence and authority. BA has put in place a separate risk management group which has the overall responsibility of managing the corporate risk affairs of the firm. The group is headed by the Head of Corporate Risk and Internal Controls and oversees different aspects of the risk management process. Further, there is a supervisory management board which comprises of the key senior managers of the firm to provide strategic insight and ownership to the strategic management process within the organization. (Rothwell, 2011). Company maintains a corporate risk register which is actually used for the purpose of identifying the risks and recording them for the purpose of review and assessment. The overall assessment process is based on quarterly reviews wherein the management board as well as the senior managers along with the Corporate Risk Managers evaluate the existing and new risks and determine the future course of action. It is also important to note that this is the highest level within the organization which actually assess and outlines the risk management processes within the organization. The work is further distributed to the individual departments and risk leaders within each department responsible for the management of risk at the departmental and individual level. It is also important to note that the risk at the individual level is measured through an internally developed matrix called Heat Map. Heat Map takes into account each individual risk based on its likely impact and the overall likely scale.1 This therefore allows BA to map its overall risk identification process according to the overall importance and impact of the risk on the organization. Once the different critical risks are identified, mitigating factors for managing the risk are identified and are each risk is individually managed. A report is finally produced which attempt to address different risk issues and responsibilities and accountabilities are than fixed at the individual level to ensure that the overall process is delegated to the lowest level of the organization. It is also critical to understand that this report usually do not contain the mapped results and critical actions required to be undertaken. This is purposefully done by BA in order to

Pixar Animation Studios Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Pixar Animation Studios - Research Paper Example Pixar Studio’s goal is to merge trademark technology with the most original artistic skills to create computer-animated films that cast unforgettable characters and heartening tales that can be embraced by all ages across the world. To meet this objective, the company has established a unique working culture that has contributed to much of their success. Growing to about 730 employees in the present, the company maintains its closeness as most have been working together since 1970, continuously expanding to accept new creative geniuses. The work environment is described to be laid-back and ‘anti-corporate’, resulting in increased productivity and great fun for all their employees (Icmrindia.org 2006). The organizational culture at Pixar Animation Studios is a unique tool that has attributed greatly to their unparalleled works. Employees are known for their informal and eccentric work style, coming in anytime and working into the night, walking around barefoot, and even taking their pets along to work. Most did not expect to earn much from the job but remained in it for the unconventional environment and the possibility of creating something never done before. Offices are distinctively designed to excite positive creative energy for its entire staff. Its California-based offices are known for its relaxed conditions, which give way to an open stream of thoughts and dialogue. The ‘habitat’ as the studio is called, is a wide space full of toys and life-size Pixar characters.