General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 Term Paper

General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 - Term Paper Example Eventually, the impact of GARA 1994 on the socio-economic welfare of the manufacturers of general aviation aircraft before and after the Act was enacted will be thoroughly discussed. About General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) of 1994 With the purpose of amending the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA)1 was enacted (Angelley, 2011; Clinton, 1994). Under GARA of 1994, the term â€Å"general aviation† includes all types of aircrafts with no more than 20 passengers that had received an airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (Kovarik, 2008; Clinton, 1994; Kister, 1998). The said Act applies to all aircrafts 18 years old or more when the accident happens (Angelley, 2011; Clinton, 1994). GARA is an Act of Congress that was made under the Senate Bill S. 1458 – 103rd Congress. Aside from preserving the rights of the pilots and passengers, the main reason why the Act was created is to protect the aircraft manufacturers from the prolonged adverse socio-economic impact of product liability in small aircrafts of not more than 20 passengers (Angelley, 2011; Kister, 1998). ... In fact, the enactment of GARA 1994 has made a lot of general aviation aircraft victims and their attorneys become frustrated for failing to receive justice for losing the lives of their loved ones or facing the consequences of physical injuries caused by the general aviation aircraft accidents (Kovarik, 2008). The main purpose of implementing the GARA of 1994 is to create some exceptions wherein the general aviation manufacturers can be protected from the risks of lawsuits caused by manufacturing designs created more than 18 years since the aircraft was released from the warehouse of general aviation companies2. On top of the number of years when the general aviation aircraft was manufactured, other important considerations that will not protect the general aviation manufacturers under the GARA of 1994 include the following conditions: (1) in case the manufacturer of general aviation aircraft can prove that there has been a misrepresentation or withheld information coming from the F AA that could somehow have triggered the plane to crash; (2) in case the victims of the plane crash is a passenger who is at the time of the crash receiving emergency or medical treatment; (3) in case the person who died or was physically injured in the plane crash was not a passenger of the aircraft; and (4) in case the lawsuit has a written warranty that directly involve a specific aircraft3 (Angelley, 2011; Kovarik, 2008). With regards to the future maintenance requirements of the aircraft, the said Act does not protect the owners of the general aviation aircraft for not being able to perform their responsibility in maintaining the quality of the aircraft’s engine

Management of a Family Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Management of a Family Business - Essay Example A family business can be described as the kind of commercial organisations where the decision-making process is often influenced by several generations of a group of people that are united by marriage or blood. In many instances, these people are often identified by the particular business through ownership or the process of leadership. It is important to realize that businesses that are characterized by an effective relationship between the owner and manager cannot fall into this category of businesses because of lack of the element of marriage or blood relationship. For this reason, family businesses are those that have a unique relationship of the leaders and managers of the particular business. In the recent, studies on the growth and operations of family-run businesses have been increasing; however, DeRond &Bouchikhi, explains that this is not always easy as compared to those businesses that do not have such kinds of mutual relationships. According to Deresky, one of the reasons that makes the study of these businesses something quite hard depends on the fact that these businesses do not always have proper standards of business management like other businesses. On many occasions, it is the high level of trust among the managers and other leaders that drives the growth and success of these businesses. These businesses tend to lack many of the requirements for effective financial reporting; additionally, very little information is often given to the public about these businesses regarding their financial performance as well as other important aspects

Technology Development Essay Example for Free

Technology Development Essay The causal link between development and historical time is often contested, although there is persuasive evidence of this link. Therefore, this essay will have the following structure: first of all, theoretical justification of the claim that historical time is connected with development will be given; secondly, several case studies will be analyzed; and finally, the counterarguments will be discussed and refuted. Starting with the theoretical explication of the link between historical time and development, it is necessary to admit that power in international relations has been defined differently in different historical eras. For example, once military capabilities were the only measure of a state’s power; nowadays, a variety of economic, social, and cultural indicators contribute to a country’s position on the international arena. Power, in turn, is associated with development, being its cause and consequence at the same time: only developed countries can attain power, which later accelerates their economic development through providing access to resources and capabilities of other countries. As concerns case studies that prove this point, American involvement in World War I and World War II will be analyzed. These wars have had a significant impact on the economic conditions of the United States, although they were not started or incited by America, therefore can be regarded as external historical influences. Different war involvements have had different influence on the U. S. economy. The legacy of the World War I is associated with the Great Depression; on the contrary, US entry in the World War II boosted economic growth. The World War I was not the main reason for the Great Depression, but almost all causes of this economic disaster are directly or indirectly connected with the war. For instance, if we speak about agricultural sector, during the war the government was subsidizing farms and paid absurdly high prices for wheat and other grains, but when the World War I was over, the federal government abruptly stopped their policies to protect farmers. As the result, agriculture suffered from such an unbalanced approach. Moreover, foreign trade suffered significantly. The Fordney-McCumber Act of 1922, Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 and a number of other lawsuits increased import tariffs without any economically sound reason. The result of the abovementioned tariff changes was that European businesses, devastated by the war, could not sell their products on the U. S. market in necessary quantities. It is possible to perceive the American entry into the World War II as an event that has actually ended the Great Depression in this country. Due to large numbers of citizens enlisted in the army, unemployment rates fell to record low levels during the war. Soldiers received decent salaries and were eagerly spending their money after the return from the battlefield. Strengthened consumer spending fueled growth and was a sign of restored consumer confidence. Large sums of defense spending pulled the U. S. economy out of the Depression for the ample reason that such fields as defense and security are very labor-intensive and created thousands of jobs to further decrease unemployment. The necessity to manufacture war supplies had given rise to a powerful military-industrial complex. While wars have had varying overall effects on the U. S. economy, they definitely fueled the development of the military-industrial complex. Wartime production of the military-industrial complex has been soaring throughout the American history. The military-industrial complex came to play a significant role in the overall structure of the economy. It is quite self-evident that the complex’s raison d’etre is the production of arms and equipment for subsequent use in military operations. Thus, military operations following the World War II have only strengthened the America’s leading position on the international arena, which in turn provided for beneficial trade agreements, migration of skilled labor to the U. S. , and a voice in international institutions. All the aforementioned factors are directly linked to economic development. Coming back to the link between the World War II and economic development, several other factors have to be mentioned. War machine demanded scientific innovations, so the war stimulated many important fields (Ruttan, 2006). The Marshall Plan was introduced after the war and helped to secure markets for numerous American products by providing financial help to devastated European countries. International monetary arrangements were reconsidered. Due to the spurt of economic growth and economic devastation of Europe, America became the world’s superpower. War is not necessarily an economic stimulus to the victor, but there was no destruction on American soil, so the U. S. was prosperous in the post-war era. The U. S. got involved in the World War II only at the closing stages of the conflict, when the victory over fascism was secured by its European allies. The U. S. entry in the World War II boosted the growth of the military-industrial complex, and that was one of the major reasons behind the decision to engage in it. This is an example of how a state can take advantage of historical circumstances to boosts its development. There are several strands of counterargument to the statement that development is connected with historical time. The most important strand argues that the development is associated solely with the country’s internal resources and capabilities: for example, natural resources are of greater importance for development than global historical conditions. However, there are examples that disprove this theory. For instance, Japan has very limited range of available natural resources, and their dependency on foreign energy sources is almost total. However, due to historic factors such as defeat in the World War II and Japan’s occupation by the Allied Powers, Japan adopted Western principles of state-building and social organization. Despite lack of natural resources, rapid westernization and modernization following the World War II allowed Japan to develop the most cutting-edge high-tech industry and become the second largest economy in the world. Therefore, the claim that internal resources are more important than historical time with regard to development does not hold. While the claim might have had some credibility in the past, when all important processes were confined to the borders of nation state, globalization changes the nature of those processes by reshaping all fields of human activity ranging from manufacture to governance. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that there is a strong link between development of a given state and global historical conditions. References Ruttan, V. W. (2006). Is War Necessary for Economic Growth? Military Procurement and Technology Development. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bedside Index for Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP)

Bedside Index for Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP) Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of Bedside Index for Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP) score for predicting severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) in the early phase. Method The PubMed, Cochrane library and EMBASE databases were searched until May 2014. The strict selection criteria and exclusion criteria were determined, and we applied hierarchic summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) model and bivariate random effects models to assess thediagnosibility of the BISAP score for predicting SAP. We obtained pooled summary statistics for sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and calculated the area under the HSROC curve (AUC). The 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each diagnostic test measure were also calculated. Publication bias was assessed using Deek’s funnel plot asymmetry test. Statistical analyses were performed using the STATA12.0 software. Results The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 64.82%, 83.62%, 3.96, 0.42 and 9.41, respectively. The AUC was 0.77 and the HSROC curve for individual studies was generated and analyzed to explore the influence of threshold effects. Conclusion We confirmed that BISAP score is an accurate means to predict SAP in the early phase. Keywords: BISAP, HSROC curve, severe acute pancreatitis, acute pancreatitis Introduction Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory condition of the pancreas with a clinical course that varies from mild to severe and characterized by activation of pancreatic enzymes to cause self-digestion of the pancreas 1. Generally, AP is mild, self-limiting, and requires no special treatment and ranges about 80-90% of patients with only minimal or transitional systemic manifestations, but about 20%-30% of patients develop a severe disease that can progress to systemic inflammation and cause pancreatic necrosis, multi-organ failure, and potentially death 1-4. So it is important to have an early, quick, and accurate risk stratification of AP patients, which would permit evidence-based early initiation of intensive care therapy for patients with severe AP (SAP) to prevent adverse outcomes and allow treatment of mild AP (MAP) on the common ward. Early identification of patients with SAP would allow the clinician to consider more aggressive interventions within a time frame that could pre vent possible complications. Currently, there are a variety of score systems developed for the early detection of SAP, such as Ranson’s score 5, acute physiology and chronic health examination (APACHE) II 6, 7 and computed tomography severity index (CTSI) 8. Also there are many inflammation markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and others 9, 10. Several studies show that cytokines play an important role in the cascading inflammatory responses 11 and it may act as mediators of distant organ complications in SAP. So the levels of cytokine in serum may also reflect the degree of the inflammatory response 12. In 2008, Wu et al. 13 proposed a new prognostic scoring system, the bedside index of severity in acute pancreatitis (BISAP), is a simple and accurateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ method that can predict the clinical severity of AP within 24 h of presentation. BISAP incorporates five parameters: blood urea nitrogen > 25 mg/dL, impaired mental status, systemic inflammatory response syndrome ( SIRS), age > 60 years, and detection of pleural effusion by imaging 14. Unfortunately there has been no systematic or meta-analytic review of cross-sectional studies of this scoring system. The purpose of this study was to aggregate the reported data across the different studies and to assess the ability of the BISAP score to predict SAP. Materials and methods 2.1 Literature search The search was performed on three databases: PubMed, Cochrane library and EMBASE. These databases were searched from the first date available in each database up to May 2014, using the search terms ‘acute pancreatitis’ AND (‘BISAP’ OR ‘bedside index of severity in acute pancreatitis’). Once articles had been collected, bibliographies were then hand-searched for additional references. 2.2 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria To be included in this meta-analysis, studies must meet the following criteria: (1) studies evaluate the BISAP score for predicting SAP; (2) the subjects were diagnosed with AP; (3) prospective study; (4) the absolute numbers of true positive (TP), false negative (FN), false positive (FP), and true negative (TN) test results were available or derivable from the article; (5) the clinical result of patients was indicated as SAP. Studies were excluded if one of the following existed: (1) the numbers of TP, FN, FP, and TN test results were not derivable from the article; (2) cross-sectional study; (3) non-original articles, such as review, meeting abstract, case report and comment; (4) duplicate of previous publications and data description is not clear. 2.3 Data extraction and quality assessment All data were extracted independently by two authors according to the inclusion criteria listed above. Disagreements were resolved by discussion or solved by consultation of a third reviewer. The following characteristics were collected from each study: the first author, year of publication, source, experiment design, sample size, the reference standard (gold standard), the numbers of TP, FN, FP, and TN and others. The QADAS (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies) criteria were used to assess the quality of diagnostic accuracy studies included in this meta-analysis 15. Statistical analyses Hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) modeland bivariate random effects model were performed in STATA 12.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA) software using the program ‘metandi’ to generate pooled accuracy estimates of sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and calculated the area under the HSROC curve (AUC) 16. The HSROC curve for individual studies was generated and analyzed to explore the influence of threshold effects. The 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each diagnostic test measure were also calculated. Publication bias was assessed using Deek’s funnel plot asymmetry test 17. Results 3.1 Eligible Studies The process of selecting studies for the meta-analysis was shown in Fig. 1. There were 32 studies potentially eligible studies identified. Of these, 14 studies were excluded after screening based on abstracts or titles to avoid obvious irrelevance. Finally, 9 studies 14, 18-25 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The data collected from the related studies was summarized in Table 1. Among these studies, kim et al. 20 reported the results of the meta-analysis with the cutoff values set at 2and 3, respectively. All patients were recruited within 24 h from the time of admission or transfer and used for the calculation of the BISAP scores. All included citations were prospective cohort studies. The absolute numbers of TP, FN, FP, and TN were calculated by sample size and the degree of sensitivity and specific. A summary of the quality of the studies was displayed in table 2. The included studies were not descript the tenth quality indicator (were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference?) and the eleventh quality indicator (were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index test?) 15. At the same time, there are some studies not described in detail for eliminate and exit objects. 3.2 Meta-analysis The results of the HSROC model were show in Table 3. The pooled sensitivity of BISAP testing for the diagnosis of SAP was 64.82% (95% CI: 54.47%-73.74%), and the specificity was 83.62% (95%CI: 70.03%-91.77%). The pooled DOR was 9.41 (95%CI: 5.38-16.45), the PLR was 3.96 (95%CI: 2.27-6.89), and the NLR was 0.42 (95%CI: 0.34-0.52). The AUC of the HSROC was 0.77 (95%CI: 0.73-0.80) (Fig. 2). The I2 index of heterogeneity was 95% (95% CI, 91%-99%). 3.3 Subgroup Analyses There was a negative correlation between the logits of sensitivity and specificity (Spearman correlation coefficient, 20.09), indicating the present of an importanteffect of the diagnostic threshold (cutoff level) on the performance of BISAP score. The following cutoffs were selected for subgroups analysis (Table 4). Analysis of studies that set the BISAP cutoff point at 2, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 67.30% (95%CI: 60.53%-73.42%), 78.28% (95%CI: 68.86%-85.46%), 3.10 (95%CI: 2.12-4.52), 0.42 (95%CI: 0.34-0.51) and 7.42 (95%CI: 4.39-12.54), respectively. The AUC of the HSROC was 0.70(95%CI: 0.66-0.74). Analysis of studies that set the BISAP cutoff point at 3, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 61.18% (95%CI: 41.20%-78.00%), 88.64% (95%CI: 88%-97.18%), 5.39 (95%CI: 1.80-16.12), 0.44 (95%CI: 0.30-0.64), and (95%CI: 4.44-34.03), respectively. The AUC of the HSROC was 0.78 (95%CI: 0.75-0.82). 3.4 Publication Bias Deeks’ Funnel Plot Asymmetry Test for the overall analysis showed that no significant publication bias was found (P = 0.359, Fig. 3). Discussion Generally, Ranson, APACHE II, and CTSI scoring systems have been used to evaluate the severity of AP 22, 23. However, these techniques all have their inherent strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Ranson’s score 5 is relatively accurate at classifying the severity of AP, but the evaluation cannot be completed until 48 h, which will miss the potential for early treatment and increase mortality. The APACHE II system 6, 7 allows the determination of disease on the first day of admission and is more accurate than Ranson’s score, but complexity is its major drawback. CTSI 26, 27 is calculated based on CT findings of some local complications and cannot reflect the systemic inflammatory response. Recently, the BISAP score has been proposed as an accurate method for early identification of patients at risk for in hospital mortality 13. Several studies showed that BISAP score is a reliable and accurate means for predicting the severity of AP in the early phase 18, 22, 23. B ut these studies are not systematic, so we collect the reported data across the different studies and apply HSROC model and bivariate random effects model to assess the ability of the BISAP score to predict SAP. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 64.82%, 83.62%, 3.96, 0.42 and 9.41, respectively. The AUC of the HSROC was 0.77. Our meta-analysis indicated that BISAP score is a reliable and accurate means to predict SAP. This meta-analysis assessed the diagnostic performance of BISAP in 1972 individuals from 9 research studies 14, 18-25. The results show that the performance of BISAP to predict the severity of AP has a good specificity, but moderate sensitivity in predicting SAP. In addition, compared with other scoring systems in predicting SAP, BISAP has a higher specificity but a lower sensitivity 21-23, 28. The low sensitivity may be caused by these factors. First, the characteristics of study participants are differences (cultural and geographical differences), such as lifestyle, race, and genetic basis. Second, etiologic distribution may also explain the noted differences. Third, the different definitions of SAP may also be a reason for these variations. The HSROC curve presents a global summary of test performance and shows the tradeoff between sensitivity and specificity. The summary DOR and the AUC of the HSROC were 9.41 and 0.77, respectively.The predictive accuracy of BISAP scoring system was measured by AUC. An AUC of 1.0 represents a perfect test, whereas an AUC of 0.5 represents a test that performs no better than chance 29. The result revealed that the discrimination of disease severity was good in our study, which is similar to other reports. DOR is a single indicator of test accuracy that combines the sensitivity and specificity data into a single number. The DOR of a test is the ratio of the odds of positive test results in the patient with disease relative to the odds of positive test results in the patient without disease. The value of a DOR ranges from 0 to infinity, with higher values indicating better discriminatory test performance (higher accuracy).A DOR of 1.0 indicates that a test does not discriminate between pa tients with the disorder and those without it 30. In the present meta-analysis, we found that the pooled DOR was 9.41, also indicated a high level of overall accuracy. Since the HSROC curve and theDOR are not easy to interpret or use in clinical practice, and likelihood ratios are considered to be more clinically meaningful, we also presented both PLR and NLR as our measures of diagnostic accuracy. Likelihood ratios of > 10 or 31. The PLR and NLR value were 3.96 and 0.42, respectively. This result performed similar to traditional scoring systems in predicting SAP and suggested that the accuracy of still need to improve. But BISAP is relatively simple and had greater accuracy than other scoring systems, making it a promising method of predicting SAP 14, 19, 21, 28. Furthermore,it may be combined in medical decision-making at the extreme of the prediction range, such as enrollment criteria for clinical trials, and as triaging intensive care unit admission 32, 33. We also explored systematically the issue of heterogeneity by use of subgroup analysis. In our analysis, the diagnostic threshold presented an important effect on the performance of BISAP score. The results demonstrated that a BISAP score of 3 had greater accuracy and high predictive value than a score of 2 for predicting SAP. Our meta-analysis had several limitations. First, when the BISAP scoring system converts continuous variables into binary values of equal weight, it fails to capture synergistic or multiplicative effects based on the interactions of interdependent systems 21. Future research could focus on comprehensive reassessment of the pathologic mechanisms of AP with attention to the effects of preexisting risk factors (e.g. age, obesity, genetic) and well-defined end points, identification of accurate biomarkers to assess activity on these pathways, and mathematical models that have strong predictive accuracy. Second, the exclusion of conference abstracts, letters to the editor, and non-English-language studies might have led to publication bias, which was not found in the present review. However, a review of these abstracts and letters suggested that the overall results were similar to the results in the English language studies included. Third, there is a risk for publication bias in which positive results or results with ‘expected’ findings are more likely to be published. We made every possible effort to minimize this type of bias by contacting investigators in the field of BISAP. If editors were more likely to publish manuscripts showing the ‘expected’ results of a good diagnostic performance for BISAP, then our results may be overestimating the real diagnostic performance of BISAP. In conclusion, we confirmed that BISAP score is an accurate means to predict SAP in the early phase. Due to simplicity and easily obtained parameters, BISAP score should gain broad acceptance in routine use not by replacing clinical assessment, but rather by complementing and objectifying it.

John Miltons On the Morning of Christs Nativity :: On the Morning of Christs Nativity Essays

John Milton's On the Morning of Christ's Nativity John Milton was born in 1608 and died in died in 1674. He was by far the most learned man of his time. He influenced men from the Romantic poets to the American Puritans. Moreover, he relied heavily on the historic Christian doctrine of Calvinism. In the first four stanzas of On the Morning of Christ's Nativity Milton paints a beautiful picture of man's redemption in Christ. First, the first four stanzas of Milton's poem have a distinct rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is an adaptation of the rhyme scheme in Spenser's The Faerie Queen. In Spenser's poem the stanza rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. In Milton's poem the rhyme scheme is ababbcc. The two poems have similar rhyme schemes except Spenser's poem has an extra cb. Second, the most common feature of the first four stanzas is the striking allusion. In the stanza, Milton speaks of the "son of Heaven's eternal King" born of a "virgin mother" bringing "redemption from above." The "King of Heaven" is the Christian God. This is a quote from Daniel 4. The virgin mother is Mary, mother of Jesus. This is a prophecy of the birth of Christ from Isaiah 7 fulfilled in Luke 2. The "redemption from above" is the redemption written of in Romans 3:27. The "holy sages once did sing (they prophesied)" about Christ's releasing the elect of death from the Fall (Genesis 3). These prophecies are in Isaiah 9 and 40, among other places. They were fulfilled in Christ's death and resurrection, and God now works a "perpetual peace" in His elect. Â   The second stanza is much like the first, with allusion as the main feature. The "glorious form" and "light insufferable" are symbolic of God. Exodus 33:20 says no man shall see the face of God and live. Here Milton specifically writes about the Son, Jesus Christ. Milton says He sat in "Trinal Unity" at "Heaven's high council-table." "Trinal Unity" refers to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. All three are separate and distinct Persons of one God. They are in perfect unity. Finally, Milton says Christ forsook His glory and came "here with us." This is a reference to Philippians 2 where Christ "humbles Himself" and makes Himself in "the form of a servant." Finally, Milton says He chose "a darksome house of mortal clay." This alludes to 1 Corinthians 4:7 where Paul calls men "jars of clay.

In Defense of Patenting You and Your Family :: essays research papers fc

In Defense of Patenting You and Your Family How would you feel if I told you that I am the new proud owner of you and your family? That is, that I have been granted a United States patent on the DNA sequence particular to your line of descent because I have identified a unique property of your genetic material. A few cultured cells with your genetic makeup, added to lotion and rubbed on the skin, allow one to look younger, wrinkle-free, and be less susceptible to skin cancer. Of course this does not mean that I have control over yours and your family’s actions – only over the application of your DNA to skin care. If you feel like you may have hit the jackpot, then prepare for another disappointment – you are not entitled to any portion of my profits, nor are you rewarded for having such supple genes. Under current patent law, living entities are not patentable in their natural state, which means that you cannot patent your own body1. Other requirements for a patent is that the invention or design is novel – no one else made it public; innovative – it can’t be a development which is obvious; and useful – it has to aid a practical human activity. British woman, Donna MacLean found out that she can’t patent her own body when she became the first person to try to patent herself in early 2000. Her patent application was titled â€Å"Myself† and her reason for trying to do it was as good as any. â€Å"It has taken 30 years of hard labour for me to discover and invent myself, and now I wish to protect my invention from unauthorized exploitation, genetic or otherwise,† MacLean told the British newspaper â€Å"The Guardian.† So Donna and your family will not become wealthy from your respectable DNA, but let’s not discredit our legal system yet. Perhaps the system is accurate after all, and the issues are more complex than they appear at first glance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No matter where your family is from, the US, Britain, or Kenya, the controversial race of biotech companies to own human DNA is having its affect. For example, imagine another family from a third-world country, let’s say somewhere in Africa, and that bioprospectors from the US have isolated an HIV immunity gene from the father’s saliva. The bioprospectors then develop a revolutionary treatment for AIDS, which costthem millions of dollars to research.

Huffman Trucking

Huffman Trucking Infrastructure Assessment Huffman Trucking is first major freight carrier that has managed to grow tremendously over the past few years (Huffman Trucking, 2008). The company has 925 drivers, 425 support personnel, 800 road tractors, and 2100 trailers. The organization offers various customers base and distribution capacity. The mission of Huffman Trucking is to increase the profit and become a growing, and adaptable company. Huffman Trucking plans to leverage the automated information system, and technology to provide better customer service and business performance. Information System InfrastructureHuffman Trucking is a major transportation company that has four facilities around the country. The organization anticipated that knowledge worker information systems infrastructure requires improvement and to solve this problem, organization implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The infrastructure of Huffman Trucking is as follows: Networks The corporate office of Huffman Trucking is in Cleveland, Ohio. The organization uses Avaya Digital Phone System at Ohio and Missouri locations, and private branch exchange (PBX) and plain old telephone system (POTS) at New Jersey and California locations.The organization uses different workstations with wireless bar code, scanner, shipper, and telephone at Ohio. The location at California uses Nortel Digital Phone System that supports voice overIP (VOIP) connected to an Ethernet connection. The use of Avaya phone is very beneficial for small and mid-sized organizations (Caroll Communications, 2008). Network Protocols and Topologies Huffman Trucking uses different network protocols, to send and receive data, like IPX/SPX, and TCP/IP. Huffman Trucking employs star-ring topology, and token ring topology.The existing infrastructure of Huffman Trucking includes mix of networks. The organization implements local area network (LAN), and wide area network (WAN). The four locations of Huffman Trucking e stablish LAN locally and WAN supports the connectivity of its four locations. The LAN implements Internet and Intranet facility to perform business operations. Network Security The network security at Huffman Trucking involves backing up the data that allows copying critical business data. The organization also uses physical security that includes video monitoring, and biometrics protection.The organization developed in-house system to track the employees for operational and financial data. Information System Huffman Trucking implemented human resources information system (HRIS) that manages employees at enterprise level. The organization analyzes the data regarding new hires, and existing employees’ performance reviews. HRIS provides four functionalities including capturing employee personal information, maintaining state and federal level compliance procedures, capturing employee/labor relations information, and tracking the applicants.HRIS system provides the organization a central place to capture, access, and keep employees’ and applicants’ records. Issues and Opportunities Huffman Trucking information system allows performing daily tasks. The information system provides the functionality for distributing, receiving, and tracking information. The information system also provides processes for sales, service, vehicle maintenance, ordering, scheduling, contracting, general ledger, and payroll. The problems of the information system include downtime, and incorrect information.The problems of information system result into severe issues such as wrong payroll, maintenance logs, and improper customer tracking. These problems affect organizational performance, and cause penalties. The management fears that the rapid growth, and the problems can result into loses, and thus resulting in not meeting the future needs of the organization. To meet the requirements, management has implemented ERP that integrates all the processes of the organizatio n.ERP also integrate all the four locations, and the business components like customer ordering, tracking the order, generating the bill, order delivery, distribution, and after sales service (Huffman Trucking, 2008). Huffman Trucking plans to track the vehicles with tracking devices. The tracking devices enables the organization to measure, analyze freight delivery, and performances. The tracking device ensures accurate delivery time, and tracking shipments on the way. The database at Huffman Trucking will allow capturing, and maintaining the information at its four locations.The database will also support the workers by providing the ability to track the trucks like when a truck requires maintenance work. The database can also capture the information generated from tracking devices and can help drivers to complete tasks on time. Huffman Trucking can make use of distance information and distribution schedule to guarantee the shipments. The trucks can have scheduled maintenance and can avoid problems due to non-maintenance. The database will help in maintaining records, inventory information, and vendor related ordering at appropriate time.Huffman Trucking plans to develop an information system, and database that suffice the requirements. Huffman Trucking plans to become a warehousing delivery supplier with providing the shipments just in time (Huffman Trucking, 2008). The implementation of just in time shipments, ERP, and vehicle tracking devices can enable Huffman Trucking to provide abilities to knowledge workers to improve its service. Huffman Trucking looks forward to improve productivity, better management and customer satisfaction with its connectivity between locations.To sustain company’s growth and focus on the customers, Huffman Trucking should build an understanding of decision-making process of customers. The company can avail the opportunity to initiate a customer audit that allows tracking of orders from ordering to shipment, and delivery . If Huffman Trucking has automated processes, and required information system then knowledge workers can manage the productive outcomes. Knowledge workers employ the automated systems effectively with the help of better decision-making, and appropriate infrastructure.Huffman Trucking future policies, designs, and practices can help in accomplishing the goals and objectives of the organization. Conclusion Huffman Trucking recognized that organization has facing severe problem with the increase in business. To meet the challenges, company has decided to implement an ERP that will ensure integration of business operations. The ERP will automate the business processes like customer ordering, tracking the order, generating the bill, order delivery, distribution, and after sales service.Vehicle tracking device can ensure accurate delivery time, and tracking shipments on the way. The tracking devices enable the organization to measure performances, and provide freight delivery analysis.Re ferences Huffman Trucking (2008). Huffman trucking. Virtual Organizations. Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/PortBus. htm Carroll Communications (2008). Avaya Business Telephone Systems. Retrieved from http://www. carrollcommunications. com/