Friday, May 22, 2020

Countries With Negative Population Growth

Data from the Population Reference Bureau showed in 2006 that there were 20 countries in the world with negative or zero natural population growth expected between 2006 and 2050.   What Does Negative Natural Population Growth Mean? This negative or zero natural population growth means that these countries have more deaths than births or an even number of deaths and births; this figure does not include the effects  of immigration or emigration. Even including immigration over emigration, only one of the 20 countries (Austria) was expected to grow between 2006 and 2050, though the rush of emigration from wars in the Middle East (especially Syrias civil war) and Africa in the mid-2010s could revise those expectations. The Highest Decreases The country with the highest decrease in the natural birthrate was  Ukraine, with a natural decrease of 0.8 percent  each year. Ukraine was expected to lose 28 percent  of its  population between 2006 and 2050 (from 46.8 million to 33.4 million in 2050). Russia and Belarus followed close behind at a 0.6 percent  natural decrease, and Russia was expected to lose 22 percent  of its population by 2050, which would be a loss of more than 30 million people (from 142.3 million in 2006 to 110.3 million in 2050). Japan was the only non-European country in the list, though China joined it after the list was released and had a lower-than-replacement birthrate in the mid-2010s.  Japan has a 0 percent natural birth increase and was expected to lose 21 percent  of its population between 2006 and 2050 (shrinking from 127.8 million to a mere 100.6 million in 2050).   A List of Countries With Negative Natural Increase Heres the list of the countries that were expected to have a negative natural increase or zero increase in population between 2006 and 2050. Ukraine: 0.8% natural decrease annually; 28% total population decrease by 2050Russia: -0.6%; -22%Belarus: -0.6%; -12%Bulgaria: -0.5%; -34%Latvia: -0.5%; -23%Lithuania: -0.4%; -15%Hungary: -0.3%; -11%Romania: -0.2%; -29%Estonia: -0.2%; -23%Moldova: -0.2%; -21%Croatia: -0.2%; -14%Germany: -0.2%; -9%Czech Republic: -0.1%; -8%Japan: 0%; -21%Poland: 0%; -17%Slovakia: 0%; -12%Austria: 0%; 8% increaseItaly: 0%; -5%Slovenia: 0%; -5%Greece: 0%; -4% In 2017, the Population Reference Bureau released a fact sheet showing that the top five countries expected to lose population between then and 2050 were:China: -44.3%Japan: -24.8%Ukraine: -8.8%Poland: -5.8%Romania: -5.7%Thailand: -3.5%Italy: -3%South Korea: -2.2%

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Key Objectives For School And Career Readiness Essay

Key Strategic Objectives This information was gathered in an interview with Andrea Williams, Principal of Theresa Bunker Elementary School. The key objectives for this school are defined in the yearly district strategic plan. The district strategic plan states three key objective that all schools should achieve over the course of the school year. There is a key objective for literacy, numeracy, as well as college and career readiness. The literacy objective is for students to be proficient in reading by 3rd grade. The math objective is that elementary students will be proficient in math and be prepared to transition to the next grade. The final objective of college and career readiness is just that: Students will be college and career ready. The key objective this school uses to define college and career ready for their younger students is based on their social and academic behaviors as recorded through the school-wide system of PBIS. 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Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Apologies on Academic Changes Free Essays

Please receive much apologies for my late reply regarding academic changes. I have already been admitted at UCSD’s Economics undergraduate and returned my chosen classes form. However, I recently made some changes on my class choices. We will write a custom essay sample on Apologies on Academic Changes or any similar topic only for you Order Now Contained in this letter is new lists of subjects and ways on how i will still cover formerly chosen classes, and a request on how i should proceed. I have already chosen new subjects for the Fall, Winter and Summer academic quarters. All the courses contained in my new selection are shown in the university’s catalog. I will take several classes that i dropped from my list from the online program. In the upcoming fall quarter, I plan to take Econ 9, 25, and CIS 15A. I will take the rest of courses from either Foothill College or another community college. I have been looking for course offering in these colleges and ha found that they are all available. This is all in the attempts to make sure i get my A.A Degree in 2009. Further, i will be taking Math 11 and 12 at UCSD, which serves the purpose of the required Calculus for Business and Economics. I will also be taking the Math 1C, which you had inquired, in this Summer 2008. Having taken and performed well in other online classes is a good indication that i will perform well in the just mentioned courses. This is because i have gained the much important independent work ethic that is needed in such classes. I have already talked to my academic counselor on this situation reading my academic plans. The counselor has confirmed that independent and online courses are available for the above mentioned programs. This gives me confidence to work towards averting the crisis. Will kindly provide my counselor’s contacts so you can communicate when need arises. All this will be in the attempts of ensuring that my studies to make sure that my graduation of academic standing stand unaffected. I have made the point of scheduling the courses so as to have enough time allocation for each course. This will ensure maximum usage of time beyond the expectation of your office. I have already met all the IGETC economic major requirements, meaning that I just need to work on other requirements in order to graduate on time. Having met these key requirements leaves me with enough time to use in the classes listed above. In addition, I promise to work in the process of achieving the goal of meeting University requirements, performing well in my classes, as well as graduating on time. In the meantime, i am preparing myself for the academic challenge that lays ahead of me and i am sure of performing well and graduating on time. Despite my preparations on this matter, I am kindly asking for your guidance on the way i should move forward. I have no doubt that your office will understand my situation. I will make a point of regularly visiting and communicating with your office in order to keep you updated on my progress. Will also have my counselor communicate with your office regarding my plans and updated tentative plan. I highly appreciate your time and the efforts you have made to ensure my academic progress remains on course. With Thanks, How to cite Apologies on Academic Changes, Papers

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Stop Writing for Everyone Why You Need to Establish Your Writing Niche

I talk to a lot of writers in my line of work. Through all of my conversations though, one thing I’ve noticed is that many writers do not see the advantage of establishing a niche. The usual argument is that they don’t want to limit the number of opportunities available to them. While I can understand the desire to want to get as much work as possible, I think finding a niche is a huge opportunity rather than a limitation. I’m not saying that writers shouldn’t be adaptable. But if you can be especially strong with one or two types of writing or an expert on a few select topics, your value to clients can significantly increase. It might seem counter-intuitive, but you’ll have more success if you narrow your focus to a few particular niches. Here are just a few benefits of focusing on a writing niche 1. You’ll Develop a Stronger Portfolio While it’s natural to want to grab as much work as you can, being a jack-of-all-trades can have its downsides. Your portfolio may seem scattered to potential clients who are looking for something specific in their niche. Additionally, a portfolio that represents you as a generalist can keep you stuck in areas of writing that you’d prefer to leave behind. If your portfolio still features your articles on home improvement while you’re trying to break into the field of science writing, you’re probably going to still attract more clients looking for content about roofing. A cohesive portfolio that represents work in your chosen niches will make you more appealing to the clients you want in addition to being able to produce higher quality work more easily. Time is money and every hour you spend vying for new work or learning a new client’s style is time you could have spent writing. If you can build up a loyal client base that keeps coming back to you with assignments, you’ll find it easier to maintain a steady income and you’ll have better luck negotiating rate increases as time goes on. 3. You’ll Have More Opportunities to Create Unique Content Becoming a leader within a niche can help you stand out. The more writing you do in your chosen niche, the more you establish a reputation as someone who can write with ease on those topics. This type of reputation helps you gain more quality clients. If you’re a content writer who focuses on real estate financing topics, potential clients who are looking for a writer are much more likely to want to hire a specialist. 4. You’ll Enjoy Your Work More If you’re lucky enough to become established in a niche you love, it won’t feel like a burden to do your research or stay on top of industry trends. That enthusiasm will show in your work and clients will appreciate your passion and enthusiasm for your area of interest. 5. You’ll Make More Money Specialists earn more money than generalists. This is true in the worlds of medicine, law and consulting, and writing is no exception. Your in-depth, specialized knowledge and experience has real value and clients are going to be willing to pay for it. It’s Up To You To Take Charge Casting a wide net may seem like the safest way to pay the bills as a writer, but it’s likely not the best bet for long-term success. Establishing a niche can help you develop your professional reputation, attract more loyal clients and command better rates. If you haven’t already, think about some possible areas you might want to focus on, and start building your brand as an expert writer.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches

Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches By Maeve Maddox The President has invited some factions to Washington to break the lockjam. The copywriter who came up with this statement confused two common English expressions used to convey a state of of inaction: deadlock and logjam. The term deadlock refers to a stoppage brought about by the opposition of two forces, neither of which will budge. The term logjam comes from the practice of floating newly-cut trees (logs) down a river. When several logs become so crowded they can no longer move, the result is a logjam. I understand such idiomatic confusion in the speech of someone speaking off the cuff. We all come out with mixed-up speech from time to time, especially when were surprised or nervous. My examples are not from people responding to impromptu interview questions. They come from newspaper stories and the words of professional announcers or scriptwriters. I see the tendency to conflate idioms in this way as a result of limited reading. Others may disagree, seeing it instead as innovation, the deliberate altering of old expressions to avoid clichà ©. It may be the lattersome of the time. Idioms are something that have to be absorbed from immersion in the language. My own language patterns were set when English teachers corrected their students grammar every time they opened their mouths, and assigned book reports and summer reading. Back then, movie and radio scripts were written by men and women who observed not only pronoun case, but the subjunctive mood of verbs! Somewhere theres a growing disconnect between the usual sources of idiomatic language and the people who write for the media. I think that it is a problem and that the solution is close reading of the best authors. Here are some more examples: They took it in good stride. The context was a news story about a group that was dealing with disappointment. The two expressions mingled here are to take something in stride and to take something in good part. Both have the sense of dealing with something without making a fuss. if other airlines join suit and raise their fares. This is from a news story. The altered expression is to follow suit. It is an expression taken from a card game. One player leads with a heart and the next one must follow suit by putting down another heart. guess well have to button down the hatches. This was spoken by a Fox anchorman talking about a coming storm in Florida. The expression is to batten down the hatches. It refers to the act of nailing lengths of wood (battens) across trapdoors in a ships deck so they wont open during a storm. We use it in the sense of securing things before a storm, either a real storm or a metaphorical one. The present participle form is battening. Deliberately altering a familiar idiom for effect is one thing. The result can be witty and entertaining. Mixing them up out of ignorance is something to be avoided. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Program vs. ProgrammeThe Difference Between "will" and "shall"20 Ways to Laugh

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Environmental Costs of Cotton

The Environmental Costs of Cotton Chances are that on any given day we wear some clothing items made of cotton, or sleep in cotton sheets, yet few of us know how it is grown, or what are  the environmental impacts of cotton cultivation. Where Is Cotton Grown? Cotton is a fiber grown on a plant of the Gossypium genus, which once harvested can be cleaned and spun into fabrics used most commonly for linens and clothing. Needing sunshine, abundant water, and relatively frost-free winters, cotton is grown in a surprising variety of location with diverse climates, including  Australia, Argentina, West Africa, and Uzbekistan. However, the largest producers of cotton are China, India, and the United States. Both Asian countries produce the most, mostly for their domestic markets, and the US is the largest exporter of cotton with about 10 million bales a year. In the United States cotton production is mostly concentrated in an area called the Cotton Belt, stretching from the lower Mississippi River through an arc spanning the lowlands of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Irrigation allows additional acreage in the Texas Panhandle, in southern Arizona, and in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Chemical Warfare Globally, 35 million hectares of cotton are under cultivation. To control the numerous pests feeding on the cotton plant  farmers have long relied on heavy application of insecticides, which leads to the pollution of surface and groundwater. In developing countries cotton growers use a full half of the pesticides used in agriculture. Recent advancements in technology, including the ability to modify the cotton plant’s genetic material, have made cotton toxic to some of its pest. This reduced but did not eliminate the need for insecticides. Farm workers, particularly where the labor is less mechanized, continue to be exposed to harmful chemicals. Competing weeds are another threat to cotton production; generally tilling practices and herbicides are used to knock back weeds. A large number of farmers have adopted genetically modified cotton seeds that include a gene protecting it from the herbicide glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup). That way, the fields can be sprayed with the herbicide when the plant is young, easily eliminating competition from weeds.   Naturally, glyphosate ends up in the environment, and our knowledge of its effects on soil health, aquatic life, and wildlife is far from complete. Another issue is the emergence of glyphosate resistant weeds. This is an especially important concern for those farmers interested in following no-till practices, which normally help preserve the soil structure and reduce erosion. Reliance on glyphosate resistance makes it more difficult to control weeds without turning the soil. Especially problematic in the southeast US is Palmer’s amaranth pigweed, a fast growing glyphosate resistant weed. Synthetic Fertilizers Conventionally grown cotton requires the heavy use of synthetic fertilizers. Such concentrated application means much of it ends up in waterways, creating one of the worst nutrient pollution problems globally, upending aquatic communities and leading to dead zones starved of oxygen and devoid of aquatic life. In addition, synthetic fertilizers contribute an important quantity of greenhouse gases during their production and use. Heavy Irrigation In many regions rainfall is insufficient to grow cotton but the deficit can be made up by irrigating the fields with water from nearby rivers or from wells. Wherever it comes from, the water withdrawals can be so massive that they diminish river flows significantly and deplete groundwater. Two thirds of India’s cotton production is irrigated with groundwater. In the United States, western cotton farmers too rely on irrigation. Obviously, one could question the appropriateness of growing a non-food crop in arid portions of California and Arizona during the current multi-year drought. In the Texas Panhandle, cotton fields are irrigated by pumping water from the Ogallala Aquifer. Spanning eight states from South Dakota to Texas, this vast underground sea of ancient water is being drained for agriculture far faster than it can recharge. In northwest Texas, Ogallala groundwater levels have dropped over 8 feet between 2004 and 2014. Perhaps the most dramatic overuse of irrigation water is visible in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where the Aral Sea declined in surface area by 85%. Livelihoods, wildlife habitats, and fish populations have been decimated. To make matters worse the now dry salt and pesticide residues are blown away from the former fields and lake bed, increasing the frequency of miscarriages and malformations among the 4 million people who live downwind. Another negative consequence of heavy irrigation is soil salination. When fields are repeatedly flooded with irrigation water, salt becomes concentrated near the surface. Plants can no longer grow on these soils and agriculture has to be abandoned. Salination has happened on a large scale in much of the former cotton fields of Uzbekistan. Are There Environmentally Friendly Alternatives? To grow environmentally friendlier cotton, a first step must be to reduce the use of dangerous  pesticides. This can be achieved through different means. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an established, effective method of fighting pests which results in a net reduction in pesticides used. According to the World Wildlife Fund, using IPM saved some of India’s cotton farmers 60 to 80% in pesticide use.  Genetically-modified cotton can also help reduce pesticide application, but with many caveats.   In its simplest form growing cotton in a  sustainable manner  means planting it where rainfall is sufficient, avoiding irrigation altogether. In areas with marginal irrigation needs, drip irrigation offers important water savings. Organic farming takes into consideration all aspects of cotton production, leading to much reduced environmental impacts and better health outcomes for the farm workers and the surrounding community.  A well-recognized organic certification program helps consumers making smart choices, and protects them from greenwashing. One such third-party certification organization is  the Global Organic Textile Standards. Sources World Wildlife Fund. 2013. Cleaner, Greener Cotton: Impacts and Better Management Practices.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Radio Shack Strategic Management Research Paper

Radio Shack Strategic Management - Research Paper Example RadioShack is primarily focused on the US market where as at the end of 2011 it employed 34,000 people, and owned and operated 4,476 stores under its brand and an additional 1,496 stores under the Target Mobile centers brand. RadioShack’s products and services are categorized into four platforms: mobility, signature, consumer electronics and other sales. The mobility platform consists of prepaid and postpaid wireless handsets, commissions and residual income, tablets and e-readers. The signature platform includes home entertainment, wireless, computer, and music accessories; general purpose and special purpose power products; headphones; technical products; and services (RadioShack 3). The consumer electronics platform includes personal computing products, laptop computers, digital music players, residential telephones, GPS devices, cameras, digital televisions, and other consumer electronics products (RadioShack 3). Other sales include sales generated by the Target Mobile centers, sales to independent dealers, sales generated by RadioShack’s Mexican subsidiary, sales from www.radioshack.com website and sales to other third parties through the company’s global sourcing operations (Rad ioShack 22). The contribution of each of these product platforms in 2011 is displayed in Figure 1 below. In 2011, RadioShack net sales increased by 2.6%, to $4,378 million over its 2010 revenues. However, the company’s gross margin went down by 3.5% to 41.4% within the same period. This was largely attributed to change in the company’s sales mix within its largest product platform, the mobility platform, towards lower margin smartphones and tablets (RadioShack 20). The company has sound financial strength depicted by its quick ratio of 1.61 and current ratio of 2.73. Figure 1: RadioShack Product Platforms (RadioShack Corp 1) 2.0. Strategic issues There are two major strategic management problems facing RadioShack Corporation: merchandise mix and growth strategy. To begin with, RadioShack established its mobility platform as the more attractive unit and has continued to steer corporate resources towards it. Figure 1 above, shows mobility devices accounted for 51.4% of the company’s net sales in 2011, up from 46.1% in 2010 and 35.3% in 2009 (RadioShack 22). Howev er, the high competitive rivalry in the retail consumer mobility industry, short product cycles, and its much lower margins has made the company vulnerable to weak consumer spending. For this reason, on March 2, 2012, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on RadioShack to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’, with outlook also moved from stable to negative (FitzGerald Para 2). This downgrade lowers investor and creditor confidence on the organization. Ultimately, the lowered rating may affect RadioShack’s ability to raise financial capital for any major investments that it may seek in future. RadioShack’s senior management