Airport Improvement Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Airport Improvement Program - Essay Example Sponsors are generally permitted to expend AIP money towards major airfield capital improvement efforts as well as repairs. Projects eligible for AIP funding include; airport safety associated enhancements, improvement of capacity, protection of the environment in the airports and enhancement of security. The funds can also be used on professional services that come with the eligible projects i.e., plans, survey services and designs. It should be noted that the operating expenses associated with the same projects are not eligible for AIP funding. The projects must therefore be sufficiently justified apart from complying with federal requirements of procurement and environmental safety. In major primary airports, AIP grants cover 70% of the total eligible costs or 80% for implementation of noise programs. The range of coverage for general aviation airports, reliever and small primary airports ranges from 90%-95% of the total cost as per the statutory minimum requirements. AIP grants to airports are aimed to fund planning, development and implementation of noise compatibility projects at the public-use airports. In order to be eligible for AIP grants therefore the airports must either be owned by the public, privately owned but with scheduled services & a minimum of two thousand five hundred enplanements yearly. Also private airports designated as relievers by FAA are eligible. Inclusion in the NPIAS is another important eligibility requirement for AIP. AIP funds are generally used towards projects contributing to capital improvement at the airports. The funds can thus be expended on most of the airfield capital improvement projects and in some unique events on terminals, and hangars as well as some nonaviation developments. Professional services related to the projects are also eligible for funding. On the other hand, those projects associated operations in the airports and improvements that are revenue generating are typically not funded by AIP. Other

Gender and Sexuality Barriers in Healthcare

Gender and Sexuality Barriers in Healthcare â€Å"Vancouver School Board Introduces Gender-Neutral Pronouns† – and many similar headlines spanned across website pages and swept newspapers stands just this past summer, surely an indication of progressive politics in action for the queer people of Vancouver. In this case, giving non-binary and gender-neutral identifying students in Vancouver a chance to use gender-neutral pronouns – pronouns that do not make assumptions about a person’s gender. No longer are they stuck having their identities ignored at school: they can be recognized and respected in official records for who they are. This recent event demonstrates how the social barriers that complicate the lives of queer people are disintegrating; however to me, it begs the question: are the same barriers disintegrating within the workplace? Or are they still present and as strong as ever? The barriers in question being a situation or event in which a non-binary gender (transgender) identified indiv idual is treated differently to a non-transgender individual, or if the same discrimination applies to someone because of their sexual preferences (sexuality). It is also important to understand the definition of â€Å"queer† and the false negative connotation that society associates with the word. The negativity stems from its original meaning of â€Å"bizarre†, â€Å"strange†, or â€Å"outlandish†; however, the word has evolved over time to now define and encompass people within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. In its essence, the evolution of the word is parallel to societies’ attitudes towards queer individuals – changing rapidly for a virtuous cause. Not only is the discrimination being experienced by queer people unethical, disrespectful, and wrong, but these barriers that Eliason et al., Brewster et al., and others have proven to exist through their research must be preventing a whole range of studies and fields of research from progressing as lawyers, scientists, doctors, and more are not hired solely based on their gender or sexuality (Eliason et al., 1365). It is also evident that many queer people will in fact leave their work place because of the discrimination, or even be fired because of higher management discovering their sexuality or gender (Eliason et al., 1365). In an effort to diminish these clearly existing barriers, the most prominent ones in the field of healthcare will be researched and discussed: What do scholars suggest are some of the key gender and sexuality barriers that exist within healthcare, and prevent others from entering healthcare in 21st century North America? Beginning with gender barriers that queer patients face inside the field itself, it is clear that physicians are less comfortable working with male-to-female (MTF) and female-to-male (FTM) transgender individuals than lesbian, bisexual, or gay (LGB) individuals, based on Eliason et al.’s research in 2011. The study spanned 45% of LGBT physicians in the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and a select number of heterosexual, non-transgender physicians in the American Medical Association (AMM). Of the male physicians in the AMM, only 65% felt comfortable working with MTF patients, and 64% felt comfortable working with FTM patients (Eliason et al., 1363). The female physicians in the AMM came in with slightly elevated numbers: 66% felt comfortable working with MTF patients, and 69% felt comfortable working with FTM patients (Eliason et al., 1363). These numbers are relatively low when compared to comfortableness levels of physicians working with LGB patients. This can generally b e expected, as society has had more time to grow accustomed to LGB individuals, and thus most physicians are more comfortable when practicing with LGB patients, with an average comfortableness rate of 92%, 93.5%, and 91.25%, respectively (Eliason et al., 1363). A physician’s uncomfortableness levels with MTF and FTM patients can be related to unacceptable behaviour such as denying of patient referrals and accusation of â€Å"unethical behaviour† (Eliason et al., 1365). Non-conventional gender and transgender ideals â€Å"[†¦] challenge prevailing social conventions regarding the expression of gender [†¦]†, according to Brewster et al., who quoted Fassinger and Arsenau in their 2007 study, and are very new to not only the healthcare workplace, but society in general (61). However, according to Eliason et al., queer discomfort with patients stems from not only general unease due to differing societal norms, but the lack of LGBT education within medical s chools across the United States. Their study finds that some students are only exposed to as little as one hour of transgender health studies across their whole time spent at medical school. Of which, 56% of the students described the little time they had as â€Å"unhelpful†, whereas 76% of the students said that their own â€Å"personal experience working with LGBT patients† was very helpful (Eliason et al., 1362). Based on this research, these personal experiences should be cultivated in medical school in order to prepare students for facing real life experiences with LGBT patients when they proceed to become a physician. Even after stepping out of the healthcare work environment and looking at entrance to the field of healthcare as an LGB individual, it is apparent that sexuality barriers of entry to healthcare exist during even the earliest stages of education. 15% of students in Merchant’s, Jongco’s, and Artemio’s study were found not to disclose their sexuality during admission interviews to medical school because they felt that they would not be admitted if they did (786). Another 17% of students did not disclose their sexuality because they felt uncomfortable in the interview environment (Merchant, Jongco, Artemio, 786). Based on this evidence, one can extrapolate that a medical school which openly advertises LGBT support and education would essentially disintegrate these problems of interview admission, and also help bridge the apparent â€Å"not at all comfortable† gap between physicians and LGBT patients (Eliason et al., 1363). In the bigger picture, a student†™s sexuality is of no concern to any admission advisor of any school; students are not admitted, or should have their admission affected by their sexuality or gender identification. Additionally, from an objective point of view, if a medical school were to publicly advertise their openness and accepting nature of LGBT students, they would have more students apply and thus gain popularity, as LGBT students will seek out education in environments in which they are accepted and respected. This is evident in Merchant’s, Jongco’s, and Artemio’s study, which displays a drastic increase in the number of students willing to disclose their sexuality when applying for university residence, as they are aware of the university in question’s advertised â€Å"affirming environment†, and that there is no consequence for admitting so (787). Even after graduating medical school, LGBT physician’s work environments do not seem to improve in any notable fashion. Common experiences amongst colleagues in the workplace consist of 65% of LGBT individuals recall hearing â€Å"disparaging remarks†, 22% feeling â€Å"socially ostracized†, and 15% being harassed by their fellow coworkers (Eliason et al., 1365). General psychology agrees that this discrimination is mostly due to the simple human nature of pushing away things that do not fit the sociological norm. Conversely, Brewster et al. present an alternative view on the source of workplace discomfort with LGBT individuals; describing the workplace relationships as being built from â€Å"lower job satisfaction and higher anxiety†, using Lyons et al.’s, Smith Ingram’s, and Waldo’s research to prove their point (61). Although almost all researchers agree that the negativity towards LGBT patients, LGBT physicians in the workplace, and LGBT students is decreasing, there is a common consensus among gender and sexuality researchers that it is difficult to measure the rate of change in negativity (Burke, White, 61; Eliason et al., 1366). The difficulty arises from having simply too small of a sample size for conducting research at regular intervals of time. Burke and White argue that LGB individuals comprise of roughly 3% of the population (a very â€Å"conservative estimate†), and that if these proportions apply to the healthcare field, there would only be 20,000 LGB physicians across the country (61). And of course, not all of these physicians would be willing to participate in a study. This limits a research essay to only having a select few studies available for analysis. Another limitation that exists within queer research is the fact that gender-variant and differing sexualities are very new, and thus have had less time to be observed and addressed. However, as society becomes more accepting over the course of time in the workplace, the barriers of gender and sexuality to healthcare should shatter to give rise to acceptance, and research will hopefully not be in need at all. Works Cited Eliason, Michele J., Suzanne L. Dibble, and Patricia A. Robertson. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Physicians Experiences in the Workplace. Journal of Homosexuality 58.10 (2011): 1355-371. LGBT Life with Full Text. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. Brewster, Melanie E., Velez Brandon, DeBlaere Cirleen, and Moradi Bonnie. Transgender Individuals Workplace Experiences: The Applicability of Sexual Minority Measures and Models. Journal of Counseling Pyschology 59 (2012): 60-70. PsycARTICLES. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. Burke, Brian. P., White, Jocelyn C. The Well-being of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Physicians. Western Journal of Medicine 174.1 (2001): 59-62. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. Merchant, Roland C., Artemio M. Jongco, and Luke Woodward. Disclosure of Sexual Orientation by Medical Students and Residency Applicants. Academic Medicine 80.8 (2005): 786. PsycINFO. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Economic Analysis of Roundup-Ready Soybeans :: Agriculture Economics Essays

Economic Analysis of Roundup-Ready Soybeans In 1974, Monsanto Corporation registered the chemical glyphosate for agricultural use in the United States. Monsanto marketed glyphosate, otherwise known as Roundup, as a broad-spectrum herbicide designed to kill â€Å"a wide variety of annual and perennial grasses, sedges, broad-leaf weeds, and woody shrubs† (Mendelson, 1998). Glyphosate kills such a huge assortment of plants and weeds by inhibiting the creation of EPSP synthase, an enzyme in plants that is required to synthesize the amino acid phenylalanine (Kliener, 1998). Deprived of phenylalanine, plants cannot make the proteins necessary for life, so these plants weaken and die. Since glyphosate kills nearly anything green, farmers have been forced to use Roundup as either a pre-emergence herbicide or a weed killer around the borders of their planting area to avoid killing their commercial crop (Sij and Stansel, 1997). Despite farmers’ inability to spray glyphosate directly on conventional crops, Roundup became â€Å"the best-selling weed-killer in the world† (Arax and Brokaw, 1997). In 1994, Roundup had net sales of approximately 1.2 billion dollars, comprising 17 percent of Monsanto’s total annual sales. However, by the mid-90’s, Monsanto neared the expiration date on its patent of Roundup, and faced the possibility of losing the production rights of this cash cow. Desperately needing a new way to continue to reap profits from glyphosate, in 1996, Monsanto, through genetic engineering, introduced genetically modified Roundup-Ready crops, varieties of several commercial crops which are resistant to glyphosate. By inserting a gene derived from a petunia that produced large amounts of EPSP synthase into the genome of several popular commercial crops, Monsanto created varieties of soybeans, cotton, canola, and corn which could produce enough EPSP synthase to overwhelm the EPSP inhibition caused by glyphosate (Kliener, 1998). Therefore, farmers can plant the glyphosate-resistant crops and spray Roundup directly on their fields, thus destroying every weed and plant except their Roundup-Ready crop. Since glyphosate-resistant crops offer the promise of a cheaper and simpler weed management process, farmers have adopted glyphosate-resistant crops at such an alarming rate that Roundup-Ready crops cover over 33 million acres worldwide (Mendelson, 1998). The advent of genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant crops has not only maintained but has greatly expanded Monsanto’s market share in the realm of agribusiness. Since Roundup-Ready seeds are only resistant to the broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup, Monsanto sells a season’s worth of weed killer along with every Roundup Ready seed sale (Arax and Brokaw, 1997).

Sdadsada

Survey Name: _________________________________ Contact number: ________________ |    Please take a moment to rate NRC2 Garden Resort. Check your chosen answer. Thank you for lending us your time. | | | ExcellentGood AveragePoor Promptness of service Quality of service Transportation to NRC2 Garden Resort Cleanliness of the place Condition of rooms Housekeeping services Facilities of the resort Accessibility of the resort Chapter II Review of the Related Literature â€Å"Website marketing can help level the playing field between chain resorts and independent resorts, according to â€Å"Internet Marketing and Distribution for Resorts. Websites can include professional photography, virtual tours, online videos, booking information and online forms for making reservations. They may also provide invaluable feedback forms so resorts can identify strengths and targeted areas of improvement. Strategic online partnerships with complementary industries, such as airlines, car rentals, or fa re-finding websites, can result in mutual referrals. † â€Å"Resort Internet Marketing is an essential factor in attracting customers to exotic resort locations. Since 2009, online marketing spending has climbed almost 15 percent each year.On the other hand, traditional marketing and print media expenses have been steadily declining at the same time. † â€Å"Television is a great way to promote your resort with many opportunities to gain exposure. Of course there is television advertising, but there is also having your resort as a featured location for a television show or feature film. A resort is also a great place to host an event such as a beauty pageant or televised poker tournament. These methods of exposure highlight a variety of resort amenities. † â€Å"Create value-driven packages for both group and transient market segments.The customers surveyed said that price, not rate, drove their decision. Many people (including myself) enjoy traveling in the off -season precisely because of the value. Keeping this in mind, let’s look at examples:  Ã‚  Unique group packages. This strategy actually works year-round but it is especially important in the off-season. Meeting planners work with a budget and an all-inclusive package means no surprises to spoil a successful event when they are handed the final bill. â€Å"Focus on your website and social media channels. Your website and Facebook business page are a gold mine for communicating with both past and potential guests.Ensure that they reflect your hotel’s personality. Wall postings and customized tabs can be used to post reasons to visit during the off-season and use lots of pictures. Encourage guests who have stayed outside of peak season to post their experiences and get a dialogue started. Offer last-minute specials that are really special and limit the availability. Base it on something amusing and unexpected, for example the rate equals the temperature of the day for the first 10 people who book with a special code or who call a special number.Consider using a customized tab to communicate special offers to groups as well. † â€Å"In a competitive industry, every Hotel and Resort needs an effective online marketing strategy to promote their property, drive traffic to their website and generate guest bookings. We believe that a professional, easy to use and attractive website should be the centerpiece of every Hotel and Resort's distribution strategy. With the arrival of internet Search, traditional marketing outlets such as TV advertising, Radio and Newspapers have become ess and less effective. You just need to look at the print industry in the US, every week there are reports of another traditional media company laying off staff, closing their doors. In a tech-savvy time in which most people expect to find the information they need within just a few clicks of their mouse, a strong internet presence for your property isn't just a necess ity, it's crucial for survival. † â€Å"The resort business is competitive, and most resorts must rely on a strong marketing program to attract customers.As you determine how to bring in new and returning customers, consider how you can find travelers who will be interested in the facilities and types of services you offer. â€Å" â€Å"When marketing your resort, create a brand that helps your customers know who you are and why you are different from other resorts in the area. A brand should communicate the style of the resort, the atmosphere travelers can expect to find and give them clues about how to dress and behave. Your brand should feel like your resort through the use of colors, fonts and image styles. It should communicate the essence of your resort without describing it. †

The Canterville Ghost:

The Canterville Ghost is not Just a short story by Oscar Wilde about a haunted mansion with a ghost; it is also a comedy and a parody of British aristocracy. In this story, the author makes fun of American pride and love of wealth by having the American Ambassador who buys the mansion say: â€Å"l will take the furniture and the ghost at a valuation. I have come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy†. Oscar Wilde's â€Å"The Canterville Ghost† is a story of a family's relationship with a haunted house and the ghost who resides there.The novel begins with a warning to the Otis Family, who wants to move into the Canterville Chase house. Mr. Otis ignores the warning and moves his family into the house anyway. They are met with their first problem: a blood stain on the carpet. Mrs. Otis is bothered by the stain and asks that it be removed. However, the stain dates back to the late sixteenth-century. The cause of the stain is attributed to the fo rmer owner, Sir Simon de Canterville, who killed his wife. Now he resides in the house as a ghost unable to move to the next world.Sir Simon tries to terrify the Otis Family, but they only end up tormenting the ghost. He uses many disguises only to be humiliated by the family. By the end of â€Å"The Canterville Ghost,† Wilde brings together the ghost and Virginia, Mr. Otises' daughter. She sympathizes with him and accompanies him to the angel of death. At the same time, she learns life lessons that lead to her own personal enlightenment. Sir Simon, she tells her husband several years later, helped her understand â€Å"what Life is, what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both. â€Å"