Comparison and Contrast Uk and Russia

As two countries that have different cultures, economics, and politics, Russia and United Kingdom have developed their own education systems respectively, which have their differences and in certain circumstances similarities. In the paragraphs that follow, some major aspect of these will be covered. This essay will present the main structures of the education systems in both countries and will compare and contrast the two systems in terms of number of taught subjects, the structure of educational institutes and the ability to pursue higher education at the universities. I will consider both paid and free education.Pre-higher education Today's education system in Russia is federal and centralized. Currently, it consists of, pre-school education, primary education, secondary education of 5 years, full secondary education and higher education. Formal education is from the age of 7 till 18. The duration of the school year is 34 weeks. Students are trained 5 to 6 days a week. In Russia, many types of secondary schools exist, such as common schools, lyceums, gymnasiums, etc. , and they teach variety of different educational programs. In Russia, as in the UK, private and public schools are differentiated.Basic education lasts for 9 years (9 classes). It is completed by successfully passing the â€Å"GIA† exam (State Final Attestation). After finishing 9 classes students are thought to have acquired incomplete secondary education. At the end of the 11th class students pass the â€Å"RSE† exam (Russian State Exam) and successful pass completed their secondary education. Students normally go to university from the age of 18 to do their academic degree. A modern system of education in UK consists of early childhood education, primary education, secondary education and higher education.Across the country a free public education for all children between the ages of 5 to 16 years exists. The duration of the academic year at schools is 38 weeks. The year is div ided into trimesters, which are separated by holidays: summer (6 weeks), Christmas and Easter (2-3 weeks). A week break is provided in the mid of trimester. The working week lasts for 5 days. The school day usually lasts from 9:00 to 15:30, with a lunch break in between. Although counterintuitive in UK paid schools are called ‘public schools’ and free are called ‘state’ schools. However for the purposes of this essay I will name chools which are paid – private, which are free – public. They take the primary school graduates with different levels of mental abilities. They were organized with the aim of creating equal opportunities for education. In grammar schools the child receives a general upper secondary education. The principle of differentiated curriculum serves as the basis of teaching at this type of schools. High School is completed by successfully passing the GCSE exams (General Certificate of Secondary Education). ___________________ ____________________________________________________________ (http://www. mpeloverseas. com/StudyAbroad/UK/UK-Education-System. aspx) Higher education Education in Russia is provided predominantly by the state and is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Science. Regional authorities regulate education within their jurisdictions in context of the prevailing framework of federal laws. Depending on the number of areas of study, students are divided into colleges, universities, academies and institutes. University graduates may have following qualifications: bachelor, graduate, master's degree in the relevant areas of training (specialization).Graduate who has successfully passed the final state certification by doing an accredited educational program in an accredited educational institute receives a transcript of his qualifications of his level of education. Russia is in the process of migrating from its traditional tertiary education model, incompatible with existing Western aca demic degrees, to a modernized degree structure in line with Bologna Process model. Russia had enacted a law that replaces the traditional five-year model of education with a two-tiered approach, namely a four-year bachelors’ degree followed by a two-year of masters’ (Russian magistr) degree.However, regardless of the changes made by the state, training methodology and the quantity of taught subjects have survived. In the first two years of an undergraduate degree, all students regardless of their degree end up studying between 12 and 15 subjects. And on the third and fourth courses, it reduces to 3 to 5 subjects specifically targeting their chosen profession. Furthermore general education in Russia is free and is guaranteed by the constitution of the country. However there is also an option of paid education. Furthermore if a andidate has fallen short of the entry requirements of any particular university, the ‘university commission’ may give him an oppo rtunity to still study there, but on paid basis. In all public universities 80% of the seats are for free study, and only 20% is for paid. All students who are studying for free get a stipend (study salary). The fellowship amount is dependent on the rating of the university. However Russian education for international students is only on paid for basis, but they have the opportunity to study free if they receive a special scholarship from the Russian state.It is conditional on passing an exam called â€Å"RSE† (Russian State Exam). There are also few private universities, which are can issue state diplomas. But often, due to low ratings in the league table and poorer quality of education, these universities are not popular. In Russia, a degree from a state university is valued higher than independent one, for the purposes of a future employment. Historically in UK, all undergraduate education outside the private University of Buckingham and BPP University College was largely state-financed, with a small contribution from top-up fees, however fees of up to ? ,000 per annum will be charged from October 2012 onwards2. ————————————————- The typical first degree offered at English universities is the bachelor's degree, and usually lasts for three years. Many institutions now offer an ‘undergraduate master's degree’ as a first degree, which typically lasts for four years. During a first degree students are known as undergraduates. The difference in fees between undergraduate and traditional postgraduate master's degrees (and the possibility of securing LEA funding for the former) makes taking an undergraduate master's degree as a first degree a more attractive option.However the novelty of an ‘undergraduate master's’ degrees means that the relative educational merit of it is currently unclear. 2 ( http://en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/Education_in_England#Fees) Some universities offer a part-time education, which typically lasts for two years and is tailored for those students who want to do their university degree but also wish to remain in employment. Regarding the number taught subjects, British universities concentrate most of their attention on subjects that are needed for ones profession. They are usually no more than -5 subjects and make up ‘core’ of the degree. Studying and successfully passing these subjects is crucial for one to qualify in their degree. Such system makes it possible for universities to prepare highly skilled workers. It helps for the graduates to be competitive in the labor market, as professional edge is crucial in today’s era of globalization and migration of labor from around the world. Regardless of the differences and similarities of educational systems in the UK and Russia, education remains one of the most important aspects of the development of the count ry.

Medical Marijuana Essay

Marijuana is a very prominent and controversial issue in society today. Although many slanderous claims have been made about cannabis in recent history, the truths are slowly starting to resurface. Unfortunately, these truths are under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical â€Å"pot smoker.† This skewed perception of a lazy and unmotivated American is the result of over seventy years of propaganda and misinformation spread by private interests who relied on illegal cannabis illegal from their own personal gains. As a marijuana consumer and a current medical marijuana patient, I strongly believe that marijuana should be legalized for all users. Currently in the United States today, marijuana is prohibited by federal law and has been a topic of controversial debate since the start of the prohibition. There are several, important reasons for the legalization of marijuana, including research concerning these issues are beneficial in understanding both sides of the debate. The result of abolishing our country’s marijuana prohibition by supporting legalization will stimulate the economy, to show the medical properties, and lower the crime rate. The legalization of marijuana has both positive and negative outcomes; although, the benefits of legalization outweigh the risks of the negative impacts. Marijuana is a natural plant with psycho-active properties that is commonly used by Americans as a recreational drug. Additionally, marijuana has been used for medical purpose for thousands of years. Records show that â€Å"A native of central Asia, cannabis may have been cultivated as much as ten thousand years go. It was certainly cultivated in China by 4000 B.C. and Turkestan by 3000 B.C.† (Grinspoon 3). Furthermore, from 1900 to 1940, marijuana, including opium and cocaine were considered part of everyday drugs. As time went on, the U.S. cracked down on crack and opium, eventually outlawing them, nut continued to be very â€Å"loose† with the use of marijuana. Eventually, as time continued to roll on, the use of marijuana became â€Å"frowned upon.†For instance, marijuana was made illegal and the U.S. govern ment became very strict with cannabis laws. This began around the 80’s and then started to become increasingly worse. Then, around the late 90’s and early 2000’s, scientific studies started to produce jaw-dropping results. Scientists started to discover that marijuana can significantly help people that have become ill. Medical marijuana has been tested to help people with cataracts, cancer and severe depression just to name a few (Zeese). States wanted to only make medical marijuana legal so it may help sick people, but the government did not want any form of marijuana legal. The law that was known throughout the United States was any form of marijuana was illegal. But now with this new discovery, doctors in states across the country wanted legalization of marijuana. The first state to allow the use of medical marijuana was California in 1996 (Zeese). The only distribution of medical; marijuana though is through the recommendation of a certified doctor. Other states began to follow in the footsteps of California such as Arizona and Colorado. One thing led to the next and now there is up to fourteen states that have legalized the distribution of marijuana medically, with many more to come. These states allowed the use of medical marijuana to help people with anxiety and certain types of cancer. But the U.S. federal government has tried to prevent patients from obtaining cannabis and threatened physicians who prescribe it with criminal prosecution or loss of their license to practice medicine. But yet, the growing support for medical marijuana has grown massively in numbers over the past twenty years. Furthermore, the United States has worked its economy into a financial crisis over the years and needs to start coming up with some plans to balance out the debt. The citizens of the United States are almost equally divided on the decision of legalization, but when examining the facts, there are many outstanding benefits that would arise as a direct result of legalization. A benefit of legalizing marijuana includes providing the government with leverage to this problem. Marijuana is currently against federal laws yet medical marijuana complies with several state laws. Every year, the government is obligated to spend money directly related to the cost of enforcing marijuana laws. Marijuana is a cash crop and can be used for clothes, paper, medical substances, along with many other uses. The legalization of marijuana would provide the government and our country with control over a huge cash crop that can be easily cultivated to our climate. In addition to exporting hemp and marijuana to accumulate more funds, the government would be able to tax the plant very similarly to alcohol or tobacco. If this were the case, it is estimated ‘according to the calculations here, legalization would reduce government expenditure by $5.3 billion at the state and local level and by $2.4 billion at the federal level.† (Miron18). These figures generated in the article the Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition reinforce that the calculated values of getting rid of the expenditure caused by marijuana offenders along with the taxation of the substance would be a substantial revision to our economy. Moreover, using marijuana for medicinal purpose is not a recent discovery. In fact, written references to use medical marijuana date back nearly 5,000 years. Western medicine embraced marijuana’s medical properties in the mid-1800s, and by the beginning of the 20th century, physicians had published more than 100 papers in the Western medical literature recommending its wide for a variety of disorders. These disorders include pain relief, nausea, glaucoma, and movement disorders. It is also used as a powerful appetite stimulant which helps patients that had HIV/AIDS or cancer patients going through chemotherapy. Today, thousands of patients â€Å"like me â€Å"are able to use marijuana as an effective method of treatment for their ailments. This is possible because fourteen state governments across the country have acknowledged cannabis’ effective healing properties and legalized its consumption for medicinal purposes with the consent of a licensed physician. However, these patients are at the mercy of the federal government. On the other hand, opponents of medical marijuana or just marijuana itself have given many reasons for why it should not be legalized. One of the main reasons they argue is that Marijuana smoke contains known carcinogens and produces dependency in users. In many studies, it has shown that it does have some harm, such as the harms associated with smoking. But the National Academy of Science affirmed that â€Å"marijuana’s short term medical benefits outweigh any smoking-related harm for some patients. Though marijuana has been proven to be damaging to the lungs more than tobacco a study in 2006 found no evidence that marijuana smokers had higher rates of lung cancer. The FDA has tested the effectiveness of marijuana and has found that the cannabinoids are helpful in treating pain associated with chemotherapy, postoperative recovery, and spinal cord injury, as well as neuropathic pain, which is often experienced by patients with metastatic cancer, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes. There is also no evidence shown that patients who use marijuana become addicted. Through the opposing side argues this, they show no evidence in supporting this claim, which therefore, the claim is invalid. There are many pharmaceutical drugs used for treatment and they are addictive, yet it’s legal. Also carcinogens can have a negative effect, but there are many things in society, such as tobacco, that contains harmful toxins, yet it’s still legal. To say marijuana should remain illegal because it is addictive, is irrelevant because these items are still present in society today and are harmful to the human body, but still they remain legal. In addition, a huge controversial subject on marijuana legalization movement is the topic of criminal activity as a result of the plant’s legalization. Oppositionists in favor of keeping marijuana illegal argue that crime rates will spike to unheard of levels if marijuana is legalized. Advocates believe that the result of legalizing marijuana will result in the opposite. The legalization of marijuana will result in the opposite. The legalization of marijuana would create adverse effects on criminal activity levels. For example, the level of criminal offenders on marijuana will drop to zero. This would directly result on lower levels of crime as a whole due to the no longer existing costs associated with decriminalization. The end result of this would be no longer filling prisons and jails with marijuana offenders. Another key issue on this point is whether or not organizations involved in cultivating, selling, or smuggling will strengthen to overcome the government control on marijuana. This is a hypothetical situation which more realistically would result in drug organizations holding power of more serious drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamines, or heroin. Drug trafficking organization control most of the power associated with these drugs already. The governmental control of marijuana would not strengthen drug organizations or gangs as no one would be able to compete against them. Authors from the Elliot school of International Affairs/Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission states that â€Å"a retail markup between 20% and 50%, and state-level tax of 25$ per ounce, the price of legalized marijuana in California would likely be between $60 and $75 per ounce†¦ legal marijuana regulated by the government would be roughly the same price as its Mexican competitor and between 23.6 times as potent† (Miron 28). The advantage would be largely held by the government if it was made readily available for public consumer use due to the convenience, price, and quality of the marijuana. In conclusion, the United States as a whole is in need of new more effective policies to stimulate more economic growth, provide more advanced healthcare, and lower the nation’s criminal activity rate. As it stands today, marijuana is against the law and counteracts the advancement and prosperity of the United States. Through the research has been shown that marijuana has a large potential to become a solution and wiser decision to thee ongoing issues. Some of the top issues in the debates when arguing either side of marijuana prohibition and legalization were analyzed to effectively prove the benefits of legalization over prohibition. The legalization of marijuana has been analyzed to be effective addition to the federals laws set by the United States. Many of the different reasons that the opposing side has given are irrelevant and can be easily proven by the evidence given by the proponents. The DEA has let millions of patients suffer miserably for many years because they refuse to give them the proper care. Research has already proven that it has medicinal values and it shouldn’t be withheld from the patients any longer than it already has.

Political Influences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Political Influences - Essay Example e members of the government regarding the interest of the common man or businesses as their interest is at stake when the government is making policies. They educate the policy makers regarding the pros and cons that are associated with a particular decision (Mahoney 215). The policy makers then take into consideration this information to devise policies. For example: during the period of 2013, an interest group regarded as Minnesotans United for All Families lobbied against a policy that would have been implemented and would have banned same sex marriage in the state. The interest group was involved in the hiring of a total of 14 lobbyists who lobbied in against the law that the government was going to pass in order to ban same sex marriage (Minnesota.cbslocal.com 1). In this example an interest group that was trying to protect the interest and the rights of LGBT was involved in the process of lobbying by hiring lobbyist and were successful in their

E-Procurement and Supply Chain Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

E-Procurement and Supply Chain - Assignment Example Manufacturing Source Preparing (MRP) as part of SCM can help plan and figure out the needs and timeframes for new development procedures to be able to estimate item distribution daily activities, and reply to changes in the marketplace or item. It is an application based development planning and inventory control system used to handle manufacturing procedures (Blanchard 2010). Before the internet came along, the ambitions of supply chain application enthusiasts were restricted to enhancing their capability to estimate demand from customers and create their own supply chain run more easily. But the cheap, popular characteristics of the internet, along with its simple, globally approved interaction requirements, have tossed things open up (Blanchard 2010). Now, organizations can link their supply chain with the supply chain of their providers and clients together in a single wide system that improves expenses and possibilities for everyone engaged. This was the reason for the B2B explosion; the idea that everyone a company does business with could be linked together into one big satisfied, supportive family (Simchi-Levi 2007). Of course, truth isn't quite that satisfied and supportive. But these days most organizations discuss at least some data with their supply chain associates.... Suppliers wouldn't have to think how many raw components to purchase, and producers wouldn't have to purchase more than they need from providers to create sure they have enough on side if need for their products suddenly improves. And suppliers would have less vacant racks if they distributed the details they had about income of a company's item in all their shops with the maker (Petrovic-Lazarevic et al 2007). The internet makes displaying your side to others possible, but hundreds of years of mistrust and lack of synchronization within sectors create it difficult (Jacoby 2009.). The benefit of appropriate and precise supply chain details is the capability to create or deliver only as much of an item as there is an industry for. This is the exercise known as just-in-time manufacturing, and it allows organizations to decrease the amount of inventory that they keep. This can cut expenses considerably, since you no longer need to pay to generate and store unwanted products. But many or ganizations and their supply chain associates have a long way to go before that stage of supply chain versatility can be carried out (Jacoby 2009). The benefits from business resource planning are stated to include: lower inventory holding costs lower purchasing costs lower development costs lower bookkeeping and documentation costs lower transport costs lower investment in equipment lower investment in plant lower investment in land reduced assembly-line down-times more versatile manufacturing processes more effective lot styles and scheduling reduced mistakes due to better coordination the cost and efficiency improvements (mentioned above) could increase profitability or increase market share (at a lower price) reduced number of

Curriculum questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Curriculum questions - Coursework Example According to the chosen standards documents, the analysis process is highly focused on few major aspects including curriculum documentation process, situation resulted in the development phase primary purposes and organizing process of the contents, implementation process of the curriculum and evaluation of the learning outcomes, and identifying strengths and limitations of the curriculum (Parkway Central Middle School, 2013). The limitations that have been recognized in the curriculum documentation process are the inability to define the key roles and significance of the curriculum critically along with its transaction. Moreover, problems associated with exploring syllabuses and their association with the ESOL standards is observed as a major limitation of the curriculum analysis (Posner, 1995). During the development phase of the curriculum, the project team is involved in various situations. In this regard, the superintendent makes the curriculum development project. The superintendent is accountable for generating effective set of cast characters associated with the curriculum standards and accordingly, supervise their roles. Few of the major cast characters associated with the development phase of the curriculum include Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning; Assistant Superintendent of Student Services; Human Resources Consultant; Chief, Communication, Information and Financial Officers. The key cast characters in the curriculum development project are affiliated with the curriculum standards in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). According to the curriculum development project for 6-8 grade, the Assistant Superintendents of both teaching and student services are responsible to identify the required set of curriculum activities that can address t he needs of the first grade learners. Moreover, they are also accountable to

Critically analyse the relative merits of the capital asset pricing Essay - 2

Critically analyse the relative merits of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and empirical approaches to asset pricing (such as the Fama and French model) - Essay Example The CAPM is the graphically represented by the security market line (SML), which shows the expected rate of return for the individual security as a function of systematic risk (indicated by the beta of the security). The SML is shown in the following figure. Suppose an investment was made in a stock with a beta of 1.5. Assuming the return on the market portfolio at 12%, and the return on the one-year treasury bond benchmark rate to be 8%, the rate of return the investor may expect on the stock would be determined by application of the CAPM as: The stock investment is therefore expected to contribute a return of 14% to the investor’s portfolio, which is an improvement over the market return of 12%. The determination of return on the stock is important not only to balance out the portfolio, but also to enable the investor to determine the value of the stock. Knowing the value will enable the investor to decide whether or not he should purchase (or sell) the stock at the current market price. The expected rate of return is useful in the discounted dividend stock valuation method. Assume the stock’s regular per share cash dividend is $1 per annum without further growth, then the stock is priced fairly at: The price of $ 7.14 is indicative of the value of the investment at the time of consideration, and it may or may not be equal to the price of the stock presently prevailing in the market (exchange). This is then the basis for deciding what investment action to take in the asset. If the market price is presently $9 then the market overvalues the stock, and it would be a good time to sell the stock, but not a good time to buy. On the other hand, if the market price were $6, then the market underprices the stock and it would be a good time to buy, but not to sell, the stock. The CAPM is a theoretical model and like all theoretical models depends on some important assumptions. The following eight

Qulaity curriculum - review plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Qulaity curriculum - review plan - Assignment Example Also, the parents showed concern about the education that was being provided since it was not equipping the children to the level of learning that they should have before starting school. This required that the center investigates into the education that is being provided to the 4 years old as they prepare for transition to school. The focus of the review was framed into a question. Why are children not conforming to the recommended level of learning for school-starters and what measures can be taken to bolster the learning and moral development of the children? The guiding principles, as proposed by the Ministry of Education, define and give a framework for ECE centers to work upon. One of the principles maps out the role of the educators and administrators of ECE centers throughout the country. The principle states that, â€Å"Educators will develop and implement curriculum which assists all children to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society† (The New Zealand Gazette, 1996). This entails that the educators make an analysis of the environment in which the children study and provide â€Å"resources to support the needs of each child and to facilitate quality curriculum and interactions† (The New Zealand Gazette, 1996). The educators must be trained to understand the motivations and thinking of four year old children and should engage in a process to improve curriculum programs. The desirable objectives and practices (DOPs) also require that educators implement a curriculum should â€Å"reflect the holistic way that children learn† (The New Zealand Gazette, 1996). Moreover the ECE center should aim to â€Å"enhance children’s sense of themselves as capable people and competent learners† (The New Zealand Gazette, 1996). The self-review will help the center

Strategic Analysis of Sainsbury Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategic Analysis of Sainsbury - Essay Example In spite of the prevailing issues, the UK market has been able to acquire a stable and reasonable growth rate (Li, 2008, p.1). There are about 92,796 grocery stores in UK which is further divided into four sections, Convenience store; super markets, hypermarkets and superstores; Traditional retails and online channels (IGD, 2011). The biggest retail grocery chain in UK comprises of Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrison and ASDA, accounts for 67.9% of the total grocery market of UK (Li, 2008, p.2). Strategic Analysis Strategy is defined as the scope and direction of an organisation for long term, which is set to achieve advantage for the organisation by way of configuring its resources within a changing environment and to fulfil the demands of the stakeholders (Paul, et.al, 2010, p.36). SWOT Analysis Strength: Sainsbury ranks third in the supermarket chain of UK with about 14.30% of market share. This company has a strong market position in UK and was a pioneered in self service relating and in the development of private label goods. Sainsbury initiatives have kept the company at the number 3 position. Sainsbury strength lies on its strap line which states to try something new each day (Li, 2008, p. 4). The Business Model of Sainsbury, which comprises of five headings, great food offered at fair price, accelerating the growth of non food items, reaching customers by way of traditional means of channels, expanding supermarket space and property management is one of the important strengths of Sainsbury. Major strength of Sainsbury, is that the brand believes in providing the customers with sage, healthy, tasty and fresh food. The company emphasise more on fresh food and continues to innovate products according to the requirements of its customers. The company currently transact 21 million customers per week and have captured a market share of 16% which further adds to the strength of the company. The company offers about 30,000 products and also offers a wide range of non fo od products and services. The internet based home delivery service also adds to the advantage of the company (J Sainsbury Plc, 2011, p.3). Weakness: A major weakness of Sainsbury is that the company deals only in two types of store formats, the traditional supermarket and the convenience stores. As compared to other grocery retail outlet, Sainsbury has the least number of types of stores. Tesco has six different store formats which have greatly contributed to the success of Tesco. Another weakness for Sainsbury would be recession. It has been reported that the company has shown signs of poor sales figure with the warnings of recession. Sainsbury has recorded the slowest sales growth ever since 2005 and its share price dip to 327.7p which was analysed that the company was lagging behind its competitors. The company has the weakest operating margin in the food retail sector as compared to its competitors such as Tesco (Finch, 2010).Thus the company must overcome the weakness by using its strength. Opportunities: A huge opportunity lies with Sainsbury to grow as the UK retail market is growing at a steady rate, it provides ample opportunity for the company to utilise its resources and capabilities and grow and achieve a decent market share. With its five main areas of growth, this includes great food at great price, increasing the number of complimentary food, reaching customers by home deliver, and by active property manageme

Why I Selected a Career Path as a Special Education Teacher Essay Example for Free

Why I Selected a Career Path as a Special Education Teacher Essay With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 and revisions of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), schools have implemented the pre-referral process encouraging individual based level of education for a particular student. Historically, before recent updates to state and federal special education guidelines, students typically received special attention to their specific needs through parent conferences, generic observations, a few general intervention techniques, psychological evaluation, or simply a review of report cards, social records. Since the implementation of IDEA, students are now receiving proactive approaches to match his or her level of need. Two such approaches of evaluating individual students are Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and Response to Intervention (RTI). Both PBS and RTI are structured on a different model, but both have the same goals. Each intervention approach takes into account components and accounts for critical universal factors that target a specific individual, group, or level. These two models offer a range of interventions that are scientifically applied to a student, based on the student’s level of needs through previous monitoring in the classroom. Response to Intervention (RTI) is defined as â€Å"the practice of providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals, and applying child response data to important educational decisions† (Batsche et al. , 2006). RTI has emerged as the more popular of the two intervention model’s and has been accepted by most schools in the United States, as the new way of thinking about early intervention and identifying a child’s educational disability. The RTI approach considers the application of an individual student’s difficulties in schools by evaluating student’s environment and then provides intervention as soon as the student shows signs difficulty, lack of focus, or academic problems. The goal of RTI is to ensure all students receive the highest quality of education and instruction and reduce any possible false referrals to unnecessary classes, or programs. RTI has a three tier model for also eliminating unqualified teachers as a reason for a student’s lack of performance, or grades. For example in, tier I of the three modeled tier, teachers are required to implement different teaching techniques in order to gauge a student’s performance and focus toward learning. This form of teaching is a method only most qualified teachers can provide in the RTI process. Tier one is described as a universal assessment using formal and informal instructional techniques. Tier two targets students that have not made progress in a given amount of time and are monitored frequently. These students are considered as having some academic weakness. Tier three is more of an intensive intervention and for students that do not respond to instruction form tier two. Tier three students may be eligible for special education classes and programs. When a student is evaluated and qualifies for tier three, the students will be specially monitored and eventually reviewed for receiving an individual educational program (IEP). Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS), is based more on a model of how to solve inappropriate behavior and prevent that behavior through teaching and reinforcing appropriate behaviors. â€Å"Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) is a process for creating school environments that are more predictable and effective for achieving academic and social goals. For some schools, PBIS will enhance their current systems and practices, for others it will radically change the culture for the better† (www. cms. k12. nc. us). Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a systemic approach to proactive, school-wide behavior based on a Response to Intervention (RTI) model. â€Å"The concept of PBIS has been researched in education for approximately 15 years† (www. cms. k12. nc. us) and has been implemented successfully in thousands of schools in over 40 states. PBIS applies evidence-based programs, practices and strategies for all students to increase academic performance, improve safety, decrease problem behavior, and establish a positive school culture. Schools implementing PBIS build on existing strengths, complementing and organizing current programming and strategies. The PBIS model had resulted in dramatic reductions in disciplinary interventions and increases in academic achievement. Data-based decision making is a hallmark of PBIS and is a scientific approach to the pre-referral process to special education. There are many ways to define, or explain the concepts of PBIS and RTI, but each provides a specific three tiered pre-referral process to special education that will enhance the quality of life for students participating in these interventions. Whichever intervention a student is placed, he, or she should receive a higher quality education and instruction. Elements common in these models indicate a system of intervention based on a student’s performance that will indicated whether there is a legitimate learning disability, not just the need for additional instruction for no reason. References RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION. (2006). In Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http:library. gcu. edu:2048/login? qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. cred oreference.com/entry/ wileyse/response_to_intervention CPI Educate. Empower. Enrich. (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http://www. crisisprevention. com/Resources/Knowledge-Base/Positive-Behavior-Support SEDL Advancing research, improving education (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from : http://www. sedl. org/pubs/sedl-letter/v19n02/rti. html CMS Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. (2011). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http://www. cms. k12. nc. us/cmsdepartments/PBIS/Pages/default. aspx Response to Intervention (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http://www. nasponline. org/resources/handouts/revisedPDFs/rtiprimer. pdf.

An End to Animal Abuse Essay Example for Free

An End to Animal Abuse Essay â€Å"Animals are dying all over the world and becoming endangered species mostly because of animal abuse and cruelty† (James Gorman). It is a worldwide problem that will continue unless people are concerned about it or stop doing it. There should be more laws regulating child labor. Animal abuse stops scientists from researching animals. Animals become endangered species. It also causes psychological effect. Animal abuse must be abolished. One reason animal abuse must be abolished is because it stops scientists from researching other animals. â€Å"Researching animals helped make medicines for terrible diseases.† (James Gorman). One endangered animal is the chimpanzee, which is endangered because of being trapped in cages. Another reason animal abuse should be abolished is that animals die and become endangered species. â€Å"Breeds of horses face endangerment and extinction because of animal abuse.† (www.horsetradition.com). These horses get slaughtered by people for their meat because people think horses can cure HIV. Some horses are killed because of religion. Last reason animal abuse should be abolished is that animal abuse causes psychological effect. â€Å"This means animals are shy and aggressive because of being injured and hurt. The most negative thing about animal abuse is psychological effect.† (James Gorman). As you can see, there are many reasons why there should be more laws regulating animal abuse. Animals getting injured and hurt badly causes many horrible things. It makes scientists give up on their research on animals, animals get close to endangerment or extinction, and most importantly, it will cause effects when animals are hurt. If you see animals getting abused or treated bad, call the ASPCA. They are professionals and save and find homes for animals every day.

Health Promotion Strategies for Obesity

Health Promotion Strategies for Obesity Introduction Australian Health Ministers have identified obesity as an area of National Health Priority Area as evidenced and supported by Durand 2007 â€Å"reversing the obesity epidemic is an urgent priority†. Through this essay we will discuss the determinants of health, what is obesity and possible strategies for primary, secondary, and tertiary health promotion for obesity. Most of the primary strategies used are targeted towards children as most of the programs used to promote healthy eating and exercise, according to the literature, reside predominantly in schools while secondary and tertiary promotion are targeted at adults and families. The key feature of the primary strategies of health promotion to deter behaviors and lifestyle choices that leads to obesity is education, which is why the school aged population is targeted. The discussion of the primary strategies in health promotion will generally focus on school run programs and activities. From here we will explore the options of screening and testing under the secondary health promotion for obesity which will be aimed at children, adults and families before delving into management of obesity, patient education and other tertiary health promotions available although in this instance most will mostly be targeted towards the adult population. Through the discussion of this health promotion, will we analysis and determine possible limitations and implications for nursing practice. We will commence with the definition of the determinants of health which in this case refers to the causes of obesity in our community and briefly explore possible causes and reasons for obesity. Determinants of health Buttriss (2008) theories that the current obesity trend threatens public health and the research (Galani, Al, Schneider, Rutten, 2007)supports that not only does obesity become a precursor to morbidity and mortality but an economic drain on government funds the healthcare system in turn cause implication for nurses to accommodate a bariatric patient who will become physically difficult to manually handle and becomes a drain on the nurses resources for a condition that could have been prevented or minimized through deterrences and patient education. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the accepted measurement to determine at what state the body is currently in. Chapman, (2004) explains that a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 is a normal weight range and is therefore the desired state however, the trends in this research confirms a steady increase of BMIs over the last 20 years. As a western style nation we have unlimited access to promotion of fast foods and sedientry like activities (internet, video games etc) and in turn have allowed unhealthy food of convience that are econmically and geographically avaliable destroy our health. Television advertisements target young children during children programming hours inluence there decisions and according to Galani (2007) most of the underprivileged suburbs contain the most amount of fast food outlets. So from the research gathered can we establish the obesity impinges on the under privilaged, uneducated and the easily influenced minds of children who in turn influence the main purchasers of groceries. Obesity and other related chronic health condition order to maintain a healthy body weight you must be able to â€Å"balance intake with expenditure† (Frable, Dart, Bradley, 2002) which is were the health promotion strategies take effect by educating about how to conduct this balancing act and why it is important to be within a normal weight range. Primary Health Promotion strategies for obesity Primary health promotion is encouraging behviours that will improve health and over all well being, when relating primary health promotion to obesity we are identifying programs and strategies avaliable to the public in paticular, school aged children. Durand, Logan, Carruth (2007) have labeled childhood obesity â€Å"as a critical public health threat for the 21st century† and so we will examine how some of the programs being run at school will benfit not only the general health of children but also reduce future implications on the nursing practice as these children become adults. The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden National Programs (Better Health, 2009) is a government funded program for primary school children that teaches them to grow and harvest their own fruit in vegetables in a school garden, how to cook and appreciate fresh and seasonal foods and has the benefits of teaching them lifelong skills, keeps them moving and activate in the garden and linking good food choices to optimal health. School ride-a-thons, and walk to school day are also school promoted activities to encourage movement and exercise while portraying exercise to be fun and social activity. Physical education has become an integral part of primary school life where children are encouraged and given an incentive to participate in team sports and activities with a little healthy competition to help motivate and in some children serve a purpose to an exercise. Programs that are inclusive to all children and are made fun provide the incentive they need to get moving and exercise. By promoting positive healthy eating and exercise will help them the healthy choice the easy choice. Schools are enforcing healthy lunch policy where children are encouraged to bring along healthy foods for lunch and monitored by the teachers. Teachers are encouraging experimenting with foods by awarding points or awards for the healthiest food or most interesting food brought during the week and also undertaking a session on the food pyramid and the 2 and 5, 2 fruit and 5 veg a day theory and to enforce these positive attitudes you only have to look to the likes of Sesame Street where the characters explain what a â€Å"sometimes type of food is† meaning food and treats in moderation and on occasion. Popular fruit commercials with catchy jingles such â€Å"Bananas, make those bodies sing† all equate healthy food choices to being healthy. Commercial campaigns like â€Å"Life be in it† displaying fun activities that children can partake in and new adventures to ha ve all while being active and involved in some sort of physical activity. Opposed to secondary and tertiary health promotion of behaviour modification (Galani, Al, Schneider, Rutten, 2007), these programs influence children and their food and exercises choices to have a positive relationship with food and link good food and physical exercises choices with optimal health. Although these programs are designed for children, the influences of their learnings may well sway their parents and family to also adapt a healthier lifestyle pattern and in turn succeed in promoting health and the healthy choice to their families, friends and well into their communities. These programs run at school are addressing the childhood obesity epidemic by providing education in a fun way about healthy choices and in turn will decrease the amount of children becoming obese adults. Although Kelly Melnyk (2008) research shows that the combination of nutrition, physical activity and education decreases BMI, this theory, however, is partial to the limited research on the affects of these programs and a study should be conducted on how these principals may change or influenced once leaving primary school and progress through the life span as according to Buttriss (2008) â€Å"as yet, no indication of a decline in the rates of obesity in children and adults† although Barl ow et al (2002) argues that these health promotion preventions may lead to favourable long term outcomes. Regardless of the limitations discussed these positive approaches to healthy eating and embracing an active lifestyle will set them ultimately as an adult with good lifestyle choices and therefore reduce the risk of obesity in adulthood. Secondary Health Promotion Strategies for Obesity Interventions and screening for obesity are necessary in order to battle this increasing epidemic plaguing the general population. As with the education and programs being run at school with the primary strategies of health promotion, schools are now undertaking responsibility of some possible interventions and screening. As Physical Education has become an integral part of the schools curriculum, the subject measures the BMI students in conjunction with fitness tests and provides information, strategies and resources to those most vulnerable to obesity and how as a family they can combat the prevalence of obesity. As its teachers who are involved with students for most part of the day, they are able to accurately assess using observation of a pupils motivation and participation in activities and according to Larson, Mandleco, Williams, Tiedman (2006) â€Å"a happy child if often a healthy one.† Australian Goverment Department of Health and Ageing (2009) has introduced a health check program called â€Å"Get set 4 life†. It is avaliabe to all Australian residents aged 4 years and serves the purpose to detetrmine if these children are fit, healthy and ready to learn as the enter their first year of primary school. Carried out by a GP or a nurse registered with the program and involves a history collection and assessment and in return provided with interventions and health advice. Using age appropriate tools and resources, this program teachers parents how to teach there children from an early age about better health while making it fun. The benefits of the program is that it is covered by medicare and so can they be bulk-billed and that they can recieve this check with their 4 year old vaccination. These health checks are used as an early detection device to examine those most at risk of childhood obesity and the research conducted by Durand et al (2007) illustartes th at only 1 in 5 mothers were able to correctly identify that they child was in fact overweight which was prevalent in low education knowledge and a high risk of obseity themselves on the mother behalf and â€Å"may be the barrier to prevention of childhood obesity.† This is imperative as Larson et al(2006) research identifeys a link between paternal obesity and the risk of children developing obesity .These health checks provide a professional health care point of view and dilvierd with the best possible intentions and most up-to date resources. Some of the limitations of this program is that it is only avaliable for 3 to 5 year olds and only one health check can be made. With no review or follow up of how effective these interventions and strategies actually are, we are implementing a program that the research in unable to justify. Moving away from just child secondary health promotions we can also explore the Australian Better Health Intiative Campigan, (2009) called â€Å"Measure up† targeting 25-60 particularly families and older Australians most likely to already be suffering from one chronic health condition possibly exacibated by high BMI. This campigan however does not differ from other screening and prevention tools as the goals are still to make healthy lifestyle choices and associate good life style choices with optimal health. This campaign sends measureing tapes out to the population to measure their waist and given an indication of what sort of risk they may be in developing chronic health conditions related to expanding waist lines. This campigan offers the population the chance to investigate for themselves options in reducing their risk of chronic health conditions and to seek further advice from health care professionals with any concerns or further testing while encouraging an invested intrest in their own health as well as that of their families. Tertiary Health Promotion for Obesity Tertiary health promotion in obesity is often when obesity has been identified and management of the condtion which includes â€Å"a wide variety of treatments for obesity are avaliable including diet, physical exercise, behavioural modifications, pharmacological treatmet and surgery† (Galani, Al, Schneider, Rutten, 2007). In order to undertake these treament , assessing and â€Å"identifying at risk families as early as possible† (Buttriss, 2008) is benficial to ensure exstreme measures of treatment are not offered when aquate patient education will suffice. Of course the best way to intervene is to modify behaviours and lifestyle choices to encourage opitmal health. If these means are in no way effective, then surgical options â€Å"should be offered to patients who are morbidly obese, well informed, motivated and willing to accept the operative risks† (May Buckman, 2009)

Voter Habits Based on Demographics Essay example -- Voting Voters Demo

Voter Habits Based on Demographics Abstract In this paper I intend to evaluate the voting habits of the American public. I will look at how race, sex, education level, marital status, income level, current employment status, and age affects whether or not people vote. I am also going to examine which political parties these groups have historically voted for, why they vote for them, how this has changed over the years if it has changed at all, and why it has changed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I believe that from previous voting information you could fairly well predict the voters’ choices. I’m not saying you could foretell the outcome of upcoming elections, but you could figure out what to expect given the state of current affairs. I find this interesting because I didn’t know there were so many statistics out there on this. Many that I have looked at already are pretty surprising. It would give me a better foundation of understanding of how our country and society works. Understanding the world around me better will assist me for the rest of my life. Academically I think this is very important and relates to the future elections. For a true democracy people need to get out and vote. With this information we can see what groups aren’t being represented through a lack of voting and we can take action about this. They can be educated on the importance of voting and what a difference they can make.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For my research I will need to find out a lot of statistics. Also I will need to know where they came from. Then I will need to find some information on how to evaluate all this information and what conclusions can be made about it. I will most likely find this information in studies and information included with the statistics. Body There are many differences that separate the American population. I am going to examine some of these differences in relation to voting and make some assumptions as to why these differences occur. These conjectures will be based on statistical numbers obtained from the 2002 congressional elections and previous years. I have chosen to exclude the presidential elections because I feel that they would be too complicated to analyze in a paper of this length. Also I believe the congressional elections provide more consistent and traceable trends in our society. First I will have to take into account the number of people that a... ...he polls. About thirty percent of registered voters did not vote in the 2002 congressional election. Twenty-seven percent of these people said they were too busy or had conflicting work or school schedules. This group was mostly made up of younger males, Hispanics, and people with higher education levels. Going back to education levels, people with lower levels of education were more likely to report that that chose not to vote because they were just not interested or they felt that their vote wouldn’t make a difference. In congressional elections each persons vote carries more weight, because it is only the voters in your state that decide who is going to be your representation on the federal level. There needs to be more information given to people when they register to vote to decrease these numbers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I found many more aspects to the evaluation of voting while doing my research for this paper than I had thought existed. It brought to light many difficulties that our country needs to overcome to try and achieve a situation where everyone’s voice is heard. There are programs and services in place to help try and achieve this goal, but there is still much work to be done.

France :: essays research papers fc

Movement A. Economic Description Compared to other countries, France’s economy is the fourth largest in the world. France is a very industrialized nation, yet it has kept some of the cultural characteristics that contribute to its old-world charm. The economy is â€Å"exceptionally diversified† (â€Å"Economic Structure†, 1). It produces everything from aircrafts to pharmaceuticals. 1. Primary Economic Activities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Agriculture is France’s main primary economic activity. The agriculture and agro-food industries make up about 6% of the gross domestic product which is the total sum of everything in the economy (â€Å"Economic Structure†, 1). However, agriculture is about the only bountiful natural resource in France. While France has limited amounts of coal, uranium, and other materials that could be mined, it is very hard to get to those places because they are so deep in the ground and they are unusable in steel production. France also produces hydroelectric energy but it can not produce enough to meet the entire country’s needs (â€Å"Natural Resources†, 1). 2. Secondary Economic Activities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  France engages in quite a few secondary economic activities such as manufacturing, machinery and transport equipment production, aircraft production, and pharmaceutical items. This part of the economy makes up about 26% of France’s gross domestic product and 25% of its labor force (â€Å"CIA 2001†, 1). Manufacturing plays the largest role out of all of the secondary economic activities with a contribution of 16% to the gross domestic product. Behind it are the construction and energy generation companies which account for 4% and 3% of the gross domestic product (â€Å"Economic Structure†, 1). Tertiary Economic Activites   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Services are a large part of the composition of France’s gross domestic product. It accounts for 70.6% of the GDP and a whopping 71% of the work force (â€Å"CIA 2001†. 1). Tourism has a lot to do with the very large chunk services take up in France’s gross domestic product. People make their way to France for many different reasons. Some people come for the great food, wines, and pastries. Others come for the beautiful scenery of the French Riviera, Eiffel Tower, and fun festivals such as the gypsy festival which is known for its extravagant singing and dancing. Others come for art and entertainment which they can take in at any one of France’s many museums such as the Louvre. The Cannes Film Festival is another event that makes France an attractive destination for those who love the arts. The festival brings film stars together from all over the world to promote their new summer movies.

Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation Essay

These include search, cloud computing, software, and online advertising technologies. Most of its profits are derived from AdWords. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Together they own about 16 percent of its shares. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. An initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. Its mission statement from the outset was â€Å"to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful†, and its unofficial slogan was â€Å"Don’t be evil†. In 2006 Google moved to headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond Google’s core search engine. It offers online productivity software including email, an office suite, and social networking . Desktop products include applications for web browsing, organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging. The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system and the browser-only Chrome OS for a netbook known as a Chromebook. Google has moved increasingly into communications hardware: it partners with major electronics manufacturers in production of its high-end Nexus devices and acquired Motorola Mobility in May 2012. In 2012, a fiber-optic infrastructure was installed in Kansas City to facilitate a Google Fiber broadband service. The corporation has been estimated to run more than one million servers in data centers around the world and to process over one billion search requests and about 24 petabytes of user-generated data each day. In December 2012 Alexa listed google.com as the most visited website in the world. Numerous Google sites in other languages figure in the top one hundred, as do several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube and Blogger. Its market dominance has led to criticism over issues including copyright, censorship, and privacy. History Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California. While conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page, the two theorized about a  better system that analyzed the relationships between websites. They called this new technology PageRank; it determined a website’s relevance by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the original site. A small search engine called â€Å"RankDex† from IDD Information Services designed by Robin Li was, since 1996, already exploring a similar strategy for site-scoring and page ranking. The technology in RankDex would be patented and used later when Li founded Baidu in China. Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine â€Å"BackRub†, because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Eventually, they changed the name to Google, originating from a misspelling of the word â€Å"googol†, the number one followed by one hundred zeros, which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide large quantities of information. Originally, Google ran under Stanford University’s website, with the domains google.stanford.edu and z.stanford.edu. The domain name for Google was registered on September 15, 1997, and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998. It was based in a friend’s . In January 2013, Google announced it had earned $50 billion in annual revenue for the year of 2012. This marked the first time the company had reached this feat, topping their 2011 total of $38 billion. Financing and initial public offering The first funding for Google was an August 1998 contribution of from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given before Google was incorporated. Early in 1999, while graduate students, Brin and Page decided that the search engine they had developed was taking up too much time and distracting their academic pursuits. They went to Excite CEO George Bell and offered to sell it to him for $1 million. He rejected the offer and later criticized Vinod Khosla, one of Excite’s venture capitalists, after he negotiated Brin and Page down to $750,000. On June 7, 1999, a $25 million round of funding was announced, with major investors including the venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. The company offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of $85 per share. Shares were sold in an online auction format using a system built by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, underwriters for the deal. The sale of $1.67 billion gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion. The vast majority  of the 271 million shares remained under the control of Google, and many Google employees became instant paper millionaires. Yahoo!, a competitor of Google, also benefited because it owned 8.4 million shares of Google before the IPO took place. There were concerns that Google’s IPO would lead to changes in company culture. Reasons ranged from shareholder pressure for employee benefit reductions to the fact that many company executives would become instant paper millionaires. As a reply to this concern, co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page promised in a report to potential investors that the IPO would not change the company’s culture. In 2005, articles in The New York Times and other sources began suggesting that Google had lost its anti-corporate, no evil philosophy. In an effort to maintain the company’s unique culture, Google designated a Chief Culture Officer, who also serves as the Director of Human Resources. The purpose of the Chief Culture Officer is to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on: a flat organization with a collaborative environment. Google has also faced allegations of sexism and ageism from former employees. The stock performed well after the IPO, with shares hitting $700 for the first time on October 31, 2007, primarily because of strong sales and earnings in the online advertising market. The surge in stock price was fueled mainly by individual investors, as opposed to large institutional investors and mutual funds. The next year, against Page and Brin’s initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords. When the company changed names to Overture Services, it sued Google over alleged infringements of the company’s pay-per-click and bidding patents. Overture Services would later be bought by Yahoo! and renamed Yahoo! Search Marketing. The case was then settled out of court; Google agreed to issue shares of common stock to Yahoo! in exchange for a perpetual license. In 2001, Google received a patent for its PageRank mechanism. The patent was officially assigned to Stanford University and lists Lawrence Page as the inventor. In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased an office complex from Silicon Graphics at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California. The complex became known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. The Googleplex interiors were designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects. Three  years later, Google bought the property from SGI for $319 million. By that time, the name â€Å"Google† had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb â€Å"google† to be added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as â€Å"to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet.† 2013 onward Google announced the launch of a new company called Calico on September 19, 2013, which will be led by Apple chairman Arthur Levinson. In the official public statement, Page explained that the â€Å"health and wellbeing† company will focus on â€Å"the challenge of ageing and associated diseases†. As of September 2013, Google operates 70 offices in more than 40 countries. Google celebrated its 15-year anniversary on September 27, 2013, although it has used other dates for its official birthday. The reason for the choice of September 27 remains unclear, and a dispute with rival search engine Yahoo! Search in 2005 has been suggested as the cause. The Alliance for Affordable Internet was launched in October 2013 and Google is part of the coalition of public and private organisations that also includes Facebook, Intel and Microsoft. Led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the A4AI seeks to make Internet access more affordable so that access is broadened in the developing world, where only 31% of people are online. Google will help to decrease internet access prices so that they fall below the UN Broadband Commission’s worldwide target of 5% of monthly income. The corporation’s consolidated revenue for the third quarter of 2013 is reported in mid-October 2013 as US$14.89 billion, a 12 percent increase compared to the previous quarter. Google’s Internet business was responsible for US$10.8 billion of this total, with an increase in the number of users’ clicks on advertisements. Acquisitions and partnerships Since 2001, Google has acquired many companies, primarily small venture capital-funded firms. In 2004, Google acquired Keyhole, Inc. The start-up company developed a product called Earth Viewer that gave a three-dimensional view of the Earth. Google renamed the service to Google Earth in 2005. Google acquired Urchin Software in April 2005, using their ‘Urchin on Demand’ product to create Google Analytics in 2006. In October 2006, Google announced that it had acquired the video-sharing site YouTube  for US$1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13, 2006. Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTube’s running costs, and YouTube’s revenues in 2007 were noted as â€Å"not material† in a regulatory filing. In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 YouTube revenue at US$200 million, noting progress in advertising sales. On April 13, 2007, Google reached an agreement to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, giving Google valuable relationships that DoubleClick had with Web publishers and advertising agencies. Later that same year, Google purchased GrandCentral for $50 million. The site would later be changed over to Google Voice. On August 5, 2009, Google bought out its first public company, purchasing video software maker On2 Technologies for $106.5 million. Google also acquired Aardvark, a social network search engine, for $50 million, and commented on its internal blog, â€Å"we’re looking forward to collaborating to see where we can take it†. In April 2010, Google announced it had acquired a hardware startup, Agnilux. In addition to the many companies Google has purchased, the company has partnered with other organizations for research, advertising, and other activities. In 2005, Google partnered with NASA Ames Research Center to build of offices. The offices would be used for research projects involving large-scale data management, nanotechnology, distributed computing, and the entrepreneurial space industry. Google entered into a partnership with Sun Microsystems in October 2005 to help share and distribute each other’s technologies. The company also partnered with AOL to enhance each other’s video search services. Google’s 2005 partnerships also included financing the new .mobi top-level domain for mobile devices, along with other companies including Microsoft, Nokia, and Ericsson. Google would later launch â€Å"AdSense for Mobile†, taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market. Increasing its advertising reach even further, Google and Fox Interactive Media of News Corporation entered into a $900 million agreement to provide search and advertising on the then-popular social networking site MySpace. In 2007, Google began sponsoring NORAD Tracks Santa, displacing former sponsor AOL. NORAD Tracks Santa purports to follow Santa Claus’ progress on Christmas Eve, using Google Earth to â€Å"track Santa† in 3-D for the first time. Google-owned YouTube gave NORAD Tracks Santa its own channel. In 2008, Google developed a partnership with GeoEye to launch a satellite providing  Google with high-resolution imagery for Google Earth. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 6, 2008. Google also announced in 2008 that it was hosting an archive of Life Magazine’s photographs. Some of the images in the archive were never published in the magazine. The photos were watermarked and originally had copyright notices posted on all photos, regardless of public domain status. In 2010, Google Energy made its first investment in a renewable energy project, putting $38.8 million into two wind farms in North Dakota. The company announced the two locations will generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to supply 55,000 homes. The farms, which were developed by NextEra Energy Resources, will reduce fossil fuel use in the region and return profits. NextEra Energy Resources sold Google a twenty-percent stake in the project to get funding for its development. In February 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC granted Google an authorization to buy and sell energy at market rates. The order specifically states that Google Energy—a subsidiary of Google—holds the rights â€Å"for the sale of energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates†, but acknowledges that neither Google Energy nor its affiliates â€Å"own or control any generation or transmission† facilities. The corporation exercised this authorization in September 2013 when it announced that it will purchase all of the electricity produced by the not-yet-built 240-megawatt Happy Hereford wind farm. Also in 2010, Google purchased Global IP Solutions, a Norway-based company that provides web-based teleconferencing and other related services. This acquisition enabled Google to add telephone-style services to its list of products. On May 27, 2010, Google announced it had also closed the acquisition of the mobile ad network AdMob. This occurred days after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation into the purchase. Google acquired the company for an undisclosed amount. In July 2010, Google signed an agreement with an Iowa wind farm to buy 114 megawatts of energy for 20 years. On April 4, 2011, The Globe and Mail reported that Google bid $900 million for six thousand Nortel Networks patents. On August 15, 2011, Google made its largest-ever acquisition to-date when announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion subject to approval from regulators in the United States and Europe. In a post on Google’s blog, Google Chief Executive and co-founder Larry Page revealed that the acquisition was a  strategic move to strengthen Google’s patent portfolio. The company’s Android operating system has come under fire in an industry-wide patent battle, as Apple and Microsoft have sued Android device makers such as HTC, Samsung, and Motorola. The merger was completed on the May 22, 2012, after the approval of People’s Republic of China. This purchase was made in part to help Google gain Motorola’s considerable patent portfolio on mobile phones and wireless technologies to help protect it in its ongoing patent disputes with other companies, mainly Apple and Microsoft After the acquisition closed, Google began to restructure the Motorola business to fit Google’s strategy. On August 13, 2012, Google announced plans to layoff 4000 Motorola Mobility employees. On December 10, 2012, Google sold the manufacturing operations of Motorola Mobility to Flextronics for $75 million. As a part of the agreement, Flextronics will manufacture undisclosed Android and other mobile devices. On December 19, 2012, Google sold the Motorola Home business division of Motorola Mobility to Arris Group for $2.35 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction. As a part of this deal, Google acquired a 15.7% stake in Arris Group valued at $300 million. On June 5, 2012, Google announced it acquired Quickoffice, a company widely known for their mobile productivity suite for both iOS and Android. Google plans to integrate Quickoffice’s technology into its own product suite. On February 6, 2013, Google announced it had acquired Channel Intelligence for $125 million. Channel Intelligence, a technology company that helps customers buy products online, is active globally in 31 different countries and works with over 850 retailers. Google will use this technology to enhance its e-commerce business. The official confirmation of Google’s acquisition of the Israel-based startup Waze occurred in June 2013. Waze is promoted as a â€Å"community-based traffic and navigation app†. Following the acquisition of Waze, Google submitted a â€Å"10-Q† filing with the Securities Exchange Commission that revealed that the corporation spent US$1.3 billion on acquisitions during the first half of 2013. The filing also revealed that the Waze acquisition cost Google US$966 million, instead of the US$1.1 billion figure that was initially presented in media sources. The 2012 acquisition of WIMM Labs, a company that previously made an Android-powered smartwatch, was confirmed in August 2013. As of August 31, 2013, Google has not publicly commented on the news concerning WIMM Labs. The acquisition of  Flutter, a creator of hand gesture recognition technology, was confirmed by the corporation in early October 2013. The reported price is US$40 million and Google spokesperson stated: â€Å"We’re really impressed by the Flutter team’s ability to design new technology based on cutting-edge research.† Flutter’s technology allows users to enact hand gestures to control navigation for apps such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Winamp. Google data centers As of 2011, Google Inc. owned and operated six data centers across the U.S., plus one in Finland and another in Belgium. On September 28, 2011, the company announced plans to build three data centers at a cost of more than $200 million in Asia and purchased the land for them. Google said they will be operational within two years. Products and services Advertising For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues. In 2011, 96% of Google’s revenue was derived from its advertising programs. Using technology from the company DoubleClick, Google can determine user interests and target advertisements so they are relevant to their context and the user that is viewing them. Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, for example by examining click rates for all the links on a page. Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Google’s AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website and earn money every time ads are clicked. One of the criticisms of this program is the possibility of click fraud, which occurs when a person or automated script clicks on advertisements without being interested in the product, causing the advertiser to pay money to Google unduly. Industry reports in 2006 claimed that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were fraudulent or invalid. In February 2003, Google stopped showing the advertisements of Oceana, a non-profit organization protesting a major cruise ship’s sewage treatment practices. Google cited its editorialpolicy at the time, stating â€Å"Google does not accept advertising if the ad or site advocates against other individuals, groups, or organizations.† The policy was later changed. In June 2008, Google reached an advertising agreement with Yahoo!, which would have allowed Yahoo! to feature Google advertisements on its web pages. The alliance between the two companies was never completely realized because of antitrust concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Google pulled out of the deal in November 2008. In an attempt to advertise its own products, Google launched a website called Demo Slam, developed to demonstrate technology demos of Google Products. Search engine According to market research published by comScore in November 2009, Google Search is the dominant search engine in the United States market, with a market share of 65.6%. Google indexes billions of web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire through the use of keywords and operators. In 2003, The New York Times complained about Google’s indexing, claiming that Google’s caching of content on its site infringed its copyright for the content. In this case, the United States District Court of Nevada ruled in favor of Google in Field v. Google and Parker v. Google. The publication 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has compiled a list of words that the web giant’s new instant search feature will not search. Google Watch has criticized Google’s PageRank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites. The site has also alleged that there are connections between Google and the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. Google also hosts Google Books. The company began scanning books and uploading limited previews, and full books where allowed, into its new book search engine. The Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in a New York City federal court against Google in 2005 over this service. Google replied that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books. Google eventually reached a revised settlement in 2009 to limit its scans to books from the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Canada. Furthermore, the Paris Civil Court ruled against Google in late 2009, asking it to remove the works of La Martinià ¨re from its database. In competition with Amazon.com, Google sells digital versions  of new books. On July 21, 2010, in response to Bing, Google updated its image search to display a streaming sequence of thumbnails that enlarge when pointed at. Though web searches still appear in a batch per page format, on July 23, 2010, dictionary definitions for certain English words began appearing above the linked results for web searches. The â€Å"Hummingbird† update to the Google search engine was announced in September 2013. The update was introduced over the month prior to the announcement and allows users ask the search engine a question in natural language rather than entering keywords into the search box. Productivity tools Gmail, a free webmail service provided by Google, was launched as an invitation-only beta program on April 1, 2004, The service was upgraded from beta status on July 7, 2009, at which time it had 146 million users monthly. The service was the first online email service with one gigabyte of storage. It was also the first to keep emails from the same conversation together in one thread, similar to an Internet forum. The service offers over 15 GB of free storage, shared with other Google Apps, with additional storage ranging from 20 GB to 16 TB available for per 1 GB per year. Gmail uses AJAX, a programming technique that allows web pages to be interactive without refreshing the browser. Steve Ballmer, Liz Figueroa, Mark Rasch, and the editors of Google Watch have criticised the privacy of Gmail, but Google claims that mail sent to or from Gmail is never read by a human being beyond the account holder and is only used to improve relevance of advertisements. In 2004, Google started opensource software project hosting, called Google Code, which allows developers to download incomplete programs at no charge. Google Docs, another part of Google’s productivity suite, allows users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents in an online environment, similar to Microsoft Word. The service was originally called Writely, but was obtained by Google on March 9, 2006, and was released as an invitation-only preview. On June 6 after the acquisition, Google created an experimental spreadsheet editing program, which was combined with Google Docs on October 10. Enterprise products Google Search Appliance was launched in February 2002, targeted toward providing search technology for larger organizations. Google Apps allows  organizations to bring Google’s web application offerings, such as Gmail and Google Docs, into their own domains. The service is available in several editions: a basic free edition, Google Apps for Business, Google Apps for Education, and Google Apps for Government. In the same year Google Apps was launched, Google acquired Postini and proceeded to integrate the company’s security technologies into Google Apps under the name Google Postini Services. Other products Google Translate is a server-side machine translation service, which can translate between 35 different languages. The software uses corpus linguistics techniques, where the program â€Å"learns† from professionally translated documents, specifically UN and European Parliament proceedings. Google launched its Google News service in 2002, an automated service which summarizes news articles from various websites. In March 2005, Agence France Presse sued Google for copyright infringement in federal court in the District of Columbia, a case which Google settled for an undisclosed amount in a pact that included a license of the full text of AFP articles for use on Google News. In 2006, Google made a bid to offer free wireless broadband access throughout the city of San Francisco along with Internet service provider EarthLink. Large telecommunications companies such as Comcast and Verizon opposed the efforts, claiming it was â€Å"unfair competition† and that cities would be violating their commitments to offer local monopolies to these companies. In his testimony before Congress on network neutrality in 2006, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf blamed the tactics on the fact that nearly half of all consumers lack choice in broadband providers. Google currently offers free wi-fi access in its hometown of Mountain View, California. In 2010, Google announced the Google Fiber project with plans to build an ultra-high-speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities. On March 30, 2011, Google announced that Kansas City, Kansas would be the first community where the new network would be deployed. In July 2012, Google completed the construction of a fiber-optic broadband internet network infrastructure in Kansas City, and after building an infrastructure, Google announced pricing for Google Fiber. The service will offer three options including a free broadband internet option, a 1Gbit/s internet option for $70 per month, and a version that  includes television service for $120 per month. The project, called Android, turned out not to be a phone but an operating system for mobile devices, which Google acquired and then released as an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license. Google provides a software development kit for developers so applications can be created to be run on Android-based phones. In September 2008, T-Mobile released the G1, the first Android-based phone. On January 5, 2010, Google released an Android phone under its own company name called the Nexus One. A report in July 2013 stated that Google’s share of the global smartphone market, led by Samsung products, was 64% in March 2013. Other projects Google has worked on include a new collaborative communication service, a web browser, and a mobile operating system. The first of these was first announced on May 27, 2009. The company described Google Wave as a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. The service is Google’s â€Å"email redesigned†, with realtime editing, the ability to embed audio, video, and other media, and extensions that further enhance the communication experience. Google Wave was initially in a developer’s preview, where interested users had to be invited to test the service, but was released to the general public on May 19, 2010, at Google’s I/O keynote. On September 1, 2008, Google pre-announced the upcoming availability of Google Chrome, an open source web browser, which was then released on September 2, 2008. On July 7, 2009, Google announced Google Chrome OS, an open source Linux-based operating system that includes only a web browser and is designed to log users into their Google account. Google Goggles is a mobile application available on Android and iOS used for image recognition and non-text-based search. In addition to scanning QR codes, the app can recognize historic landmarks, import business cards, and solve Sudoku puzzles. While Goggles could originally identify people as well, Google has limited that functionality as a privacy protection. In 2011, Google announced Google Wallet, a mobile application for wireless payments. In late June 2011, Google soft-launched a social networking service called Google+. On July 14, 2011, Google announced that Google+ had reached 10 million users just two weeks after it was launched in this â€Å"limited† trial phase. After four weeks in operation, it reached 25 million users. At a launch event on July 24, 2013 in San Francisco, U.S., a newer version of the Nexus 7 Google tablet device was released to the public, alongside the  Chromecast dongle that allows users to stream YouTube and Netflix videos via smartphones. In 2013 Google launched Google Shopping Express, a delivery service initially available only in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Moto X  Speaking at the D11 conference in Palos Verdes, U.S. in late May 2013, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside, a former Google employee, announced that a new mobile device will be built by his company, which is wholly owned by Google, at a 500,000 square-feet facility in Texas, U.S. formerly used by the Nokia company. The facility will employ 2,000 people by August 2013 and the new phone, named the â€Å"Moto X†, will be available to the public in October 2013. The Moto X features Google Now software, and an array of sensors and two microprocessors that will mean that users can â€Å"interact with in very different ways than you can with other devices,† in the words of Woodside. Media reports suggest that the phone will be able to activate functions preemptively based on an â€Å"awareness† of what the user is doing at any given moment. Corporate affairs and culture On Fortune magazine’s list of best companies to work for, Google ranked first in 2007, 2008 and 2012 and fourth in 2009 and 2010. Google was also nominated in 2010 to be the world’s most attractive employer to graduating students in the Universum Communications talent attraction index. Google’s corporate philosophy includes principles such as â€Å"you can make money without doing evil,† â€Å"you can be serious without a suit,† and â€Å"work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun.† Employees After the company’s IPO, founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt requested that their base salary be cut to $1. Subsequent offers by the company to increase their salaries have been turned down, primarily because their main compensation continues to come from owning stock in Google. Before 2004, Schmidt made $250,000 per year, and Page and Brin each received an annual salary of $150,000. In 2007 and early 2008, several top executives left Google. In October 2007, former chief financial officer of YouTube Gideon Yu joined Facebook along with Benjamin Ling, a high-ranking engineer. In March 2008, Sheryl Sandberg, then vice-president of global online sales and operations, began her position as chief operating officer  of Facebook. At the same time, Ash ElDifrawi, formerly head of brand advertising, left to become chief marketing officer of Netshops. On April 4, 2011, Larry Page became CEO and Eric Schmidt became Executive Chairman of Google. In July 2012, Google’s first female employee, Marissa Mayer, left Google to become Yahoo!’s CEO. As a motivation technique, Google uses a policy often called Innovation Time Off, where Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on projects that interest them. Some of Google’s newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavors. In a talk at Stanford University, Marissa Mayer, Google’s Vice President of Search Products and User Experience until July 2012, showed that half of all new product launches at the time had originated from the Innovation Time Off. Googleplex  Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, is referred to as â€Å"the Googleplex†, a play on words on the number googolplex and the headquarters itself being a complex of buildings. The lobby is decorated with a piano, lava lamps, old server clusters, and a projection of search queries on the wall. The hallways are full of exercise balls and bicycles. Each employee has access to the corporate recreation center. Recreational amenities are scattered throughout the campus and include a workout room with weights and rowing machines, locker rooms, washers and dryers, a massage room, assorted video games, table football, a baby grand piano, a billiard table, and ping pong. In addition to the recreation room, there are snack rooms stocked with various foods and drinks, with special emphasis placed on nutrition. Free food is available to employees 24/7, with paid vending machines prorated favoring nutritional value. In 2006, Google moved into of office space in New York City, at 111 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. The office was specially designed and built for Google and houses its largest advertising sales team, which has been instrumental in securing large partnerships. As of February 2012, a significant engineering team is based in New York City, and has been responsible for more than 100 engineering projects, including Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets. As of September 2013, Google’s East Coast office is located at 76 Ninth Ave, New York City, New York. In November 2006, Google opened offices on Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Pittsburgh, focusing on shopping-related advertisement coding and smartphone applications and  programs. By late 2006, Google also established a new headquarters for its AdWords division in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Other office locations in the U.S. include Ann Arbor, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colorado; Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York City; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Reston, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Furthermore, Google has several international offices. In October 2006, the company announced plans to install thousands of solar panels to provide up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy approximately 30% of the campus’ energy needs. The system will be the largest solar power system constructed on a U.S. corporate campus and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world. The idea of trimming lawns using goats originated from R. J. Widlar, an engineer who worked for National Semiconductor. Google has faced accusations in Harper’s Magazine of being an â€Å"energy glutton†. The company was accused of employing its â€Å"Don’t be evil† motto and its public energy-saving campaigns to cover up or make up for the massive amounts of energy its servers require. Easter eggs and April Fools’ Day jokes Google has a tradition of creating April Fools’ Day jokes. On April 1, 2000, Google MentalPlex allegedly featured the use of mental power to search the web. In 2007, Google announced a free Internet service called TiSP, or Toilet Internet Service Provider, where one obtained a connection by flushing one end of a fiber-optic cable down their toilet. Also in 2007, Google’s Gmail page displayed an announcement for Gmail Paper, allowing users to have email messages printed and shipped to them. In 2008, Google announced Gmail Custom time where users could change the time that the email was sent. In 2010, Google changed its company name to Topeka in honor of Topeka, Kansas, whose mayor changed the city’s name to Google for a short amount of time in an attempt to sway Google’s decision in its new Google Fiber Project. In 2011, Google announced Gmail Motion, an interactive way of controlling Gmail and the computer with body movements via the user’s webcam. Google’s services contain easter eggs, such as the Swedish Chef’s â€Å"Bork bork bork,† Pig Latin, â€Å"Hacker† or leetspeak, Elmer Fudd, Pirate, and Klingon as language selections for its search engine. The search engine calculator provides the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the  Universe, and Everything from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. When searching the word â€Å"recursion†, the spell-checker’s result for the properly spelled word is exactly the same word, creating a recursive link. When searching for the word â€Å"anagram,† meaning a rearrangement of letters from one word to form other valid words, Google’s suggestion feature displays â€Å"Did you mean: nag a ram?† In Google Maps, searching for directions between places separated by large bodies of water, such as Los Angeles and Tokyo, results in instructions to â€Å"kayak across the Pacific Ocean.† During FIFA World Cup 2010, search queries including â€Å"World Cup† and â€Å"FIFA† caused the â€Å"Goooo†¦gle† page indicator at the bottom of every result page to read â€Å"Goooo†¦al!† instead. Philanthropy In 2004, Google formed the not-for-profit philanthropic Google.org, with a start-up fund of $1 billion. The mission of the organization is to create awareness about climate change, global public health, and global poverty. One of its first projects was to develop a viable plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 miles per gallon. Google hired Larry Brilliant as the program’s executive director in 2004, and the current director is Megan Smith. In 2008 Google announced its â€Å"project 10100† which accepted ideas for how to help the community and then allowed Google users to vote on their favorites. After two years of silence, during which many wondered what had happened to the program, Google revealed the winners of the project, giving a total of ten million dollars to various ideas ranging from non-profit organizations that promote education to a website that intends to make all legal documents public and online. In 2011, Google donated 1 million euros to International Mathematical Olympiad to support the next five annual International Mathematical Olympiads . On July 2012, Google launched a â€Å"Legalize Love† campaign in support of gay rights. Tax avoidance   Google uses various tax avoidance strategies. Out of the five largest American technology companies it pays the lowest taxes to the countries of origin of its revenues. The company accomplishes this partly by licensing technology through subsidiaries in Ireland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Netherlands. This has reportedly sparked a French investigation into Google’s transfer pricing practices. Following criticism of the amount of  corporate taxes that Google paid in the United Kingdom, Chairman Eric Schmidt said, â€Å"It’s called capitalism. We are proudly capitalistic.† During the same December 2012 interview Schmidt â€Å"confirmed that the company had no intention of paying more to the UK exchequer.† In 2013, Schmidt responded to questions about taxes paid in the UK by pointing to the advertising fees Google charged UK companies as a source of economic growth. Google Vice president Matt Brittin testified to the Public Accounts Committee of the UK house of commons that his UK sales team made no sales and hence owed no sales taxes to the UK. Environment Since 2007, Google has aimed for carbon neutrality in regard to its operations. In June 2013, the Washington Post reported that Google had donated US$50,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank. In July 2013, it was reported that Google had hosted a fundraising event for Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, who has called climate change a â€Å"hoax†. See also Comparison of web search engines Criticism of Google Don’t Be Evil Google Google Balloon Internet Google Catalogs Google China Google Chrome Experiments Google logo Google platform Google Ventures – venture capital fund Google X Google+ Googlebot – web crawler Googlization List of Google domains List of mergers and acquisitions by Google Ungoogleable References External links not add links –> at the Internet Archive at Hoover’s Bibliography: Wikipedia