Studying Business, Management and Commerce

Studying Business, Management and Commerce

CV, resumes and cover letters… a much valuable and valued written message, especially for business students. Indeed, business, management and commerce students are among those who benefit mostly from introductory courses, since those are the classes and lectures which teach future managers to write CVs, resumes and cover letters. In contract, introductory courses in such as area as psychology, represents perception and introduction to behavioural neuroscience, which hardly prepares one for the job market, at least from the CV writing perspective.

So what do business students study in introductory courses aside from guidelines on how to write a proper cover letter and how to answer interview questions? Of course, the answers go beyond the scope of the present paper, but introductory courses in a typical bachelor of commerce program include Introduction to Marketing, Business Communication and Introduction to Business Statistics, among other things.

Studuying Business, Management and Commerce.  Photo by Elena

Introduction to Marketing covers such as basic concepts as the Marketing Mix or product, price, place and promotion; referring to the fact that in order to be valuable to consumers a product or service must first be invented (research and development), then patented and produced (hence microeconomics and costs of production), then its existence and availability has to be broadcasted to the target audience (potential consumer base) and, finally, the product or service must be sold. Adequate pricing corresponds to adequate demand, an economics concept.

Thus, economics, and supply and demand represent the buyers and consumers’ preferences for a given product or service. Firms stay in business to make money and, consequently, adjust production accordingly. Also, any business, no matter how great the business idea, requires a healthy cash flow to succeed. Indeed, all business operations involve expenses, such as advertisement, administrative and selling expenses, and factory overhead in manufacturing firms. Hence, microeconomics studies the behaviour of individual firms, such as fixed and variable costs of production. Alternatively, macroeconomics focuses on behaviour of large economic entities, such as nations (GDP), central banks and large, multinational corporations.

A Mulch for Every Weed

A Mulch for Every Weed

Black plastic and newspapers can keep your garden happy

Think of mulch as protective blanket for your garden bed. It helps keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A healthy layering of wood chips or pine needles can keep your garden appearing well maintained and attractive. But the principal reason to use mulch is to descrease weeds by smothering them. As a bonus, it can help to prevent soil-moisture loss.

Mulching also can provide an environmentally friendly outlet for all those grass clippings and raked leaves that many municipalities require to be recycled nowadays.

Here we describe some of the different varieties of mulch, the depth at which they should be spread, and what they are best used for:

Black Plastic – one sheet

Not very attractive, but highly effective, black plastic totally smothers existing and emerging weeds and is great for warming soil in the spring. Make sure that enough water is penetrating the plastic to prevent the plants from drying out, though. Black plastic is most effective if it is used with drip irrigation.

Compost – 1-8 in.

Compost can be a combination of many of the other mulches found in this list. It has great color, costs nothing, and naturally enriches soil structure and fertility. Make sure not to put any diseased plants in the compost heap, though. The disease can spread easily to other, healthy plants.

Evergreen Boughs - 8-24 in.

They are a good winter covering for perennial beds. But be sure to remove them in the spring.

Mulch for every weed. Photo by Elena.

Grass Clippings 3-6 in.

A particularly good mulch for vegetable gardens. Do not use if the clippings were recently sprayed with herbicide, though.

Hay 6-12 in.

Especially good for vegetable garden pathways. Salt hay has fewer weed seeds than regular hay.

Landscape Fabrics – One Sheet

These clear films are more porous that black plastic, and some are biodegradable. They are particularly good for foundation plantings.

Leaves 3-5 in.

Leabes make a great all around mulcj and they are easy to come by. If they are shredded, pile them 6 to 8 inches higher so they don't blow away.

Pine Bark 2-5 in.

When shredded, pine bark is good for acid-loving plants; 3 to 6-inch chips also are natural and attractive.

Pine needles 2-6 in.

They have a lovely natural appearance and are excellent for increasing acidity in acid-loving plants like azaleas and rhododendrons.

Newspapers -1/2 – 2 1/2 in.

Best for informal areas like a vegetable garden. Don't use colored inks, and cover the newspaper with an organic mulch to weigh it down and to make it more attractive.

Straw 3-9 in.

Most often used in vegetable gardens and, of course, in between rows of strawberry plantings.

Wood Chips – 2-8 in.

Nice appearance, but be sure to add extra nitrogen to the soil – wood consumes nitrogen when decomposing.

History of Olympic Games

Olympic Games from Olympia to Our Days

The games began nearly three millennia ago in ancient Greece, but the modern Olympics are relatively young

276 B.C.: The ancient Olympics are held in Olympia, Greece, for the first time. They are staged every four years for nearly 10 centuries, until A.D. 394, when Emperor Theodosius the Great abolishes what he considers to be a pagan rite.

1892: Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French industrialist, proposes an athletics competition based on the uncorrupted ancient Olympics.

1896: With the financial backing of a wealthy Greek architect named Georgios Averoff, the first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens. Hundreds of athletes from 13 countries compete; winners receive a gold medal and an olive branch from the King of Greece, and the most celebrated event, the marathon, is won by a Greek peasant.

1906: After poorly organized Olympiads in 1900 and 1904 flop, Greece stages the Intercalated (Interim) Games. The event's success keeps the Olympic movement alive.

1916: The Olympics are canceled because of World War I.

1928: Women compete in track-and-field events for the first time.

1936: Although Jews in various countries urge a boycott – narrowly defeated in the United States – the Summer Games in Berlin go on. Hitler's attempts to use the Olympiad to prove Aryan superiority are foiled as the U.S. Track team, led by six black athletes including Jesse Owens, wins 12 gold medals to 4 for the Germans. This Olympiad also marks the first time that the Olympic torch is carried from Olympia to the site of the Games.

Boxing is a very popular Olympic sport. Photo by Elena (Montreal Grevin Museum).

1940: The Summer and Winter games, both initially awarded to Japan, are moved when Japan invades China, then canceled because of World War II. No Games are staged in 1944 either.

1952: The Soviet Union participates in the Olympics for the first time.

1968: Although boycotts and protests had disrupted the Games before, the Mexico City Olympics are considered to mark the beginning of the Olympics' most openly political era. Two American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, thrust their black-gloved fists in the air on the victory stand to call for more power for black Americans. The IOC suspends them and orders them to leave the country. Meanwhile, Mexican police kill hundreds of protesting students who are part of a national strike.

1972: Stunning performances in Germany by Olga Korbut, a Soviet Gymnast, and Mark Spitz, an American swimmer, are overshadowed by the murder of two Israeli athletes and the kidnapping of nine others by Arab terrorists. Television captures the drama as the remaining athletes (all the hostages) and several of their captors are killed in a shoot-out at the Munich airport.

1980: Sixty-four nations, including the United States, boycott the Moscow games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

1984: Most Soviet-bloc countries boycott the Summer Games in Los Angeles. The United States easily dominates the competition, and the Games turn a profit for the first time. For the first time, sports fans could follow the Olympic Games in cyberspace.

The Filters that Refresh

The Filters that Refresh

Home water filters don't all attack the same problems, so it's important to have your water tested before you choose a filter. Your options include:

Physical filters: Designed to sift out particles such as dirt, sediment, and rust, these filters are usually made of fabric, fiber, ceramic, or other screening. They may be effective enough to remove particles as small as asbestos fibers, but they can't screen out all suspect organisms and so shouldn't be relied upon to filter microbiologically contaminated waters.

Activated carbon filters: These may improve your water's smell, taste, and appearance by removing some organic chemical contaminants. But they don't eliminate salts, metals, and most inorganic chemicals and should not be relied upon to treat water containing problem organisms. To avoid becoming sodden with chemical and bacterial impurities, they need to be changed at regular intervals.

Reverse osmosis units: These systems have water pass through a membrane and collect in a storage tank. They are largely effective in removing most inorganic chemicals, including salts, lead, and other metals, asbestos, minerals, nitrates, and some organic chemicals. But they waste about 75 percent of the tap water run through them and slow the flow of water. The membranes also are susceptible to decay and failure and need periodic replacement.

Distillation units: Bu vaporizing water and then condensing it, these units eliminate most dissolved solids, including salts, metals, minerals, asbestos fibers, particles, and some organic chemicals. But they're not effective against all chemical impurities and bacteria, and the heating will raise energy bills.

Ultraviolet disinfection:Destroys bacteria and viruses. But it can't eliminate most chemical polluants and, unless disinfection is regularly maintained, dissolved and suspended solids may keep the water from receiving enough exposure to ultraviolet light to be healthy.

New York 42th street. Photo by Elena.

Fact File: Art for safety's sake

Not all art supplies are safe to use, especially by children:

• Powdered clay is both toxic and an irritant. Talc-free, pre-mixed clay is a good alternative.
• Permanent felt-tip markers may be toxic. Use water-based markers.
• Epoxy glue is flammable and an irritant. Substitute white or yellow glue, school paste, or certain glue sticks.
• Instant papier mâché is toxic and irritates. Newspaper and a simple flour paste will do just fine.

Accidents Do Happen

The National Safety Council reports that about 25,000 Americans die from accidents in the home every year. Falls cause nearly one-third of those deaths; fires and burns about a fifth, and all other types, about half. More than a third of those killed were 75 or older. Persons 25 to 44 make up about about a fifth; children under 5 about one-tenth. Among the leading causes of accidental death in the home are falls (includes deaths from falls from one level to another – stairs, ladder, roof, etc., and falls from the same level), poisoning by solids and liquids (includes death from drugs, medicines, mushrooms, shellfish, commonly recognized poisons. Excludes poisonings from spoiled foods, salmonella, etc. Those are classified as disease deaths. Fires, burns, deaths associated with fires (includes deaths from fires, burns,injuries in conflagrations in the home such as asphyxiation, falls, being struck by falling objects. Excludes burns from hot objects or liquids. Suffocation-ingested object (includes deaths from unintentional ingestion or inhalation of objects or food resulting in the obstruction of respiratory passages. Firearms (Includes firearms injuries in or on home premises – such as while cleaning or playing with guns. Excludes deaths from explosive materials.

Superplants for Your Garden

Superplants for Your Garden

Today's fruits, vegetables, and flowers are being bred for perfection

Car designs are always being improved, so are tennis racquets and home computers. So why shouldn't the technology of a tomato plant or an impatiens be perfected? Each year horticulturists at botanical gardens, seed companies, and universities stake a claim to gardeners' gratitude by successfully breeding superior new varieties of flowers, vegetables, and fruits.

Take the plant officially known as the Tomato f1 Big Beef. Introduced in 1994, the Big Beef is a tomato plant  that produces fruit earlier than other beefsteak types and maintains impressive yields throughout the growing season. Even late-season tomatoes developed high on the plant are large, flavorful, and meaty. Or say your passion is for flowering perennials. You'll enjoy the Lavender Lady, which is an English lavender that blooms early and profusely.

Seed catalog aficionados know that each new season's editions carry wondrous claims for their new superplants. But if you are uncomfortable accepting the word of a catalog copywriter, you should be on the lookout for seeds that bear a commendation from All-America Selections (AAS), a nonprofit organization that annually cites what it regards as the best new gardening species. University horticulturists, seed companies, and backyard gardeners submit newly developed seeds to AAS, which then tests the entries at 55 locations across North America. The test sites include private and public gardens from Pennsylvania State University to Disney World.

Superplants for Your Garden. Photo by Elena.

Anyone can enter their seeds as long as they are brand new and have never been sold anywhere in the world say experts which promote the home garden seed industry. New varieties are matched against the closest comparisons currently on the market, and three winners are selected each year from the realm of vegetables, flowers, and bedding plants. Among the winners were many flowers, starting from Petunia f1 Celebrity Chiffonmorn, the Petunia f1 Purple Wave, the Rudbeckia hirta Indian Summer and others.

So what will be the superplants of tomorrow? The hunt is on for plants with more uniform growth patterns. Experts are encouraging the development of produce with old-fashioned flavors. One such fruit, the Showing watermelon, boasts an 11 percent sugar content and tastes almost like a sugar lump. In the past, breeders concentrated on developing hearty commercial varieties, paying relatively little attention to flavor, although that is what backyard gardeners value the most. But now, manufacturers are trying to get the breeders to understand that people need to breed for the home gardener, too.