Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to practice interviewing and listening skills through an informational interview with a professional. An informational interview involves talking with people (and asking them predetermined career related questions) who are currently working in the field to gain a better understanding of an occupation or industry — and to build a network of contacts in that field.
Assignment
In this assignment you will do four things:
1. Create a professional email and send it to individuals you have identified to request an informational interview as part of your course studies (use letter writing concepts similar to a cover letter). You will need to submit in the dropbox one email including the reply from the person you will be interviewing who accepted your invitation. This email with the reply must be uploaded in the dropbox as a separate pdf file.
2. Interview one professional in person or via video call (ask about 5-6 questions, 20 minutes)
3. Write a brief reflective essay about the information you learned (1-2 pages of content not including the appendix list of questions, single spaced, 12-point font)
4. Create a professional “thank you” email and send it to the individual you met with as a sincere expression of gratitude (use letter writing concepts similar to a cover letters). The actual “thank you” email you sent (and if the person replied include that too) must be uploaded in the dropbox as a separate pdf file.
The person you choose to interview may not be someone with whom you already have an established relationship. They must be someone new to you, otherwise you are playing it safe and not expanding your professional network. Do not seek an interviewee who is a family member or personal friend. You may conduct a face-to-face interview (best) or in a Skype/video interview. As a last resort you may interview over the phone but you will lose points for a phone interview. You may not “interview” via email.
Narrative Essay
You will write a brief reflective essay as a narrative of your experience highlighting one or two key points that you found interesting as it relates to your consideration of this industry or job. The content of your essay will summarize and reflect upon your findings from the interview. Essays will be 1-2 pages (not including the appendix – your list of questions), single-spaced, 12-point font size with an introduction, body, conclusion, and an appendix. Your paper should contain:
Introduction:
• name of your informational interviewee
• their job title/position and the company they work for
• a brief description of his/her job or career field
• the reason why you chose to interview this person
• how you met and made the contact with this individual.
Body:
• Summary of the significant information you gained from your interviewee o What did you learn (include both positive and negative impressions)?
• Reflect on one or two items you learned /discovered from the informational interview
o How does this information fit or not fit your own interests, abilities, goals, values, skills etc.?
• Reflect on how the information you learned pertains to you, your future, and career interests o What do you still need to know about this industry/job? o What is one thing you will do as part of your career plan of action based on the information your learned in the informational interview?
Conclusion:
• Closing remarks and additional positive outcomes from your interview (e.g. did you get the name of another networking contact, did they offer to assist you in your job search, send you job postings, or offer to review your résumé)
• The impact this interview had on your career plan and pursuits Appendix:
• Include a list of questions you asked at the informational interview (not the answers, just questions)
Be sure to apply the concepts that we discussed in class when preparing your documents (read the
“Preparing for your Informational Interview” document on DC Connect and be sure to take the 60-minute tutorial). Also, make sure that you review the rubric carefully (next page), so you have a clear understanding of how your work will be assessed.
By using the SQ3R concept, read and evaluate your article and answer two questions.
1. Did I learn anything new? Explain.
2. What, if any, part of the SQ3R concept helped you in anyway? Explain.
•Irrigation modernization has greatly changed the land structure in the District.•Irrigation modernization has improved the irrigation efficiency.•Irrigation modernization has reduced the irrigation labor cost and increased the energy cost.•Availability of real-time irrigation consumption data provided by remote control.•Analyses of remote control data to optimize water and energy use efficiency.
An important modernization process providing pressurized irrigation systems to the traditional surface irrigation districts has taken place in Spain over the last 20 years However, an adverse consequence of modernization is the important increase in the energy cost in the modernized irrigation districts, which is aggravated by the current high energy prices. The Almudévar irrigation district (AID), a traditional surface irrigation district, was transformed into a pressurized sprinkler irrigation system in late 2010. The irrigation network was equipped with a high-level telemetry and remote control system that reaches the hydraulic valves of the irrigated blocks into which the plots are divided. Therefore, the telemetry system enables the centralized management of the irrigation scheduling from the district office. The district is divided into four independent networks with their own reservoirs and electric pump stations. A comparison of the land structure, crop patterns and irrigation management between the modernized AID in 2011 and the pre-modernization AID in 2006-2008 was performed. The temporal evolution of the irrigation water and energy demands in the 2011 irrigation season was analyzed with the available telemetry data from 2011. An irrigation performance index (SIPI) of the monthly and seasonal frequencies was computed for the main crops of the AID. Most irrigation events were performed during the low electricity tariff periods (P6 electric tariff) due to the centralized irrigation scheduling. Meteorological constraints had a low incidence in irrigation scheduling. Generally, a slight decrease in total irrigation deliveries was observed before and after medium-to-large precipitation events, but no changes in irrigation deliveries was observed with increases in wind speed. The exploitation of telemetry data in the AID has been an important tool to optimize the contracted electricity power in each tariff period and in decreasing the electric bill of the AID. This type of telemetry data analysis, similar to the analysis performed in the modernized AID in 2011, could be used in other water use associations as an important decision-making tool to improve water and energy management and to control the irrigation cost.
Points to Consider in Human Services Delivery
The Irony of Human Services
Read these introductory materials carefully, as they form the basis of the assignments and discussions that follow.

Yeheskel Hasenfeld
Click the image to review Hasenfeld’s Reality: What A Concept! Ten Concepts from Human Services as Complex Organizations
In order to effectively develop components in the human service delivery system it is important to understand the characteristics of human service organizations. Yeheskel Hasenfeld in an article, “The Nature of Human Service Organizations,” discusses the types of work that are transacted in these organizations. Hasenfeld introduces us to familiar human service organizations as those that provide services to people in need. Institutions such as hospitals, schools, mental health centers and welfare departments are examples of such entities.
Hasenfeld notes an essential irony in these human services organizations. In outward form and manifestations, the human service agency embodies the values of caring and commitment to human welfare through effective and timely response to client needs. However, in practical terms, the human service organization is often a formidable bureaucracy, burdened by incomprehensible rules and regulations that impede the delivery of services. This course is designed to help you effectively respond to human needs within the constraints of bureaucratic requirements.
Halley: Learning the Language of Human Services
In the Halley text, the discussions move from the theoretical to the pragmatic and focus on the steps the practitioners go through in a learning process that focuses on the awareness of the skills and knowledge that are necessary to properly deliver services to clients in need.
The readings and exercises in the introductory portion prepare you to understand and implement practice elements that are needed to respond to the client’s service needs. Many of the interactions that human service workers and clients enter into require listening, reading, observation, and analytical skills. The focus of this section is to concentrate on learning the language and systems necessary to manage work and competent practice. The readings and exercises will heighten your awareness of your role as practitioner in complex and sometimes confusing systems.
Halley’s third lesson in Chapter One introduces systems approach as a way of thinking about delivering human services. (See the videos on this module’s Media Section for descriptions of systems thinking.) There are several ways Human Service systems can be analyzed when using systems thinking. Halley reviews human service systems from the perspective of single social institutions, as subsystems of programs, as areas of functioning, as networks of agencies and based upon approaches to service delivery. Institutions, agencies and consumers themselves are all systems, which can be analyzed using this method. We are all a part of several systems and systems thinking means recognizing the interrelatedness of these parts. Consumers are also connected to multiple systems and a systems thinking approach means the human services worker looks at a consumer holistically, as a person connected to multiple systems.
Changes in Case Management
Dr. Kenneth B. Clark, a New York psychologist and educator, is shown at a staff meeting of the North Side Center for Child Development he founded, in Harlem, NYC, 11/9/1965. Earlier this year Dr. Clarke resigned from the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited program, stating it was becoming a political vehicle.The program provided guidelines for President Johnson’s War on Poverty initiative. (AP Photo)
Case Management is a central ingredient in the delivery of human services that provides the linkage between the client, and the agency or program that will meet the client’s needs. The case manager furnishes direction and leadership in an effort to deliver quality services. Norma Raiff (1993) in her discussion of case management, states that case management is a major activity that is critically important to the delivery of human services.
The majority of professionals involved in the delivery of services have recognized the importance of case management. Despite that recognition, they have not always used it effectively as a link to the client’s needs. Raiff begins the discussion of case management by defining it. In the “new case management paradigm,” Raiff introduces terminology, which relates to components and models of service delivery that have emerged in the past two decades. Landmark movements like the War on Poverty, and the Model Cities programs of the 1960’s brought the issue of fragmentation and inaccessibility of human services programs to national conscientiousness. In the 1970’s, service integration became the key ingredient of case management. At that time, “information and referral” became two of the key components of service for people in need. Large multi-service agencies grew out of this era, and have been a major part of the service delivery system ever since.
After these innovations were introduced, there was an effort to develop methods to focus on the “hard to reach” clients. These “treatment resistant” groups caused the professionals in the field to rethink old models. This effort caused the birth of new forms of case management such as Intensive Case Management. managed care and other alternative delivery systems that dominate the delivery system emerged from these intensive case management efforts. With the onset of these new forms of client triage and management, case management has taken on a new perspective. While case management is critically important, its content and application have had to be adapted to respond to the new and sometimes complex infrastructures have been developed to accommodate new reimbursement and funding methodology.
Core Tasks of Case Management
Core Tasks of Case Management
Norma Raiff and Barbara Shore (1993) in a textbook used for this course in the past, list six core tasks of case managers. Although this textbook is now fourteen years old, the core tasks of case management remain the same although the list has been modified by McKnight (2007) to reflect the recent emphasis on outcomes based assessment. It should be noted that although the term “client” generally refers to an individual, it may also refer to a couple, a family, a small group, an organization, a neighborhood or community, or a self-identified category such as alcoholics, parents of small children, etc.
A word cloud created from the text of this page. The larger the word, the more frequently it appears(and by implication the more important it is).
The six core tasks are:
1. Assessment: To ensure adequate understanding of the client’s strengths, weaknesses, values, goals, and interpersonal environment
• Collection of information on clients’ needs and resources including resources within the family and community
• Establishment of a baseline status by observation and contact with other service providers (observing appropriate rules of confidentiality)
• Conduct formal assessments
• Collect ancillary information as appropriate
• Integrate case management assessment with clinical and testing data
2. Service Planning To plan appropriate services with the active participation of the client
• Ensure client input and feedback
• Set long and short term goals compatible with the client’s values and strengths
• Consult with multidisciplinary team for input and review
• Establish who (staff, client, other) is responsible for specific functions
• Establish clear criteria for success
• Establish timeline for objectives and plan review
• Establish crisis plan in advance
• Develop a cycle of service planning review with the client.
3. Implementation To assure optimum outcomes based on client needs
• Maximize client autonomy in making contacts, keeping appointments, and following through with service plan
• Provide direct counseling and support to empower clients to participate in services
• Contact and broker individually tailored “wrap-around” services
• Provide crisis services, if needed
• Discuss progress regularly with client and make changes as needed.
4. Systems Coordination To monitor the various service systems involved in the service plan. To make corrections as needed
• Identify key systems involved in service plan including internal agency services, other formal human services organizations, community systems, family supports, and other formal or informal support systems available to the client.
• Develop/clarify purchase of service control and authority.
• Develop a joint process for client and case manager evaluation of each system as implementation unfolds.
• With client jointly monitor service provision for appropriateness, quantity, quality, intensity, and efficacy.
• Systematically document unmet needs in services/resources.
• Monitor outcomes in measurable terms such as client’s/case manager’s perceptions of client quality of life, crisis events, acute/long term care requirements, overall client satisfaction.
• Monitor cost of services.
• Monitor client utilization of services and reasons for non-compliance (i.e. missed appointments, failure to follow through on recommended treatment options, etc.).
• Work with client to identify and “unblock” barriers to compliance.
• Follow-up with service providers as well as with client to assure expectations of each are being met (being careful to maintain client confidentiality).
5. Advocacy Advocacy involves both enabling individual clients to obtain deserved services and whole categories of clients to receive needed services. Case managers have a responsibility in both areas.
Case Advocacy: To enable clients to receive needed services.
• Explain client’s perspective to others
• Appropriately intervene on client’s behalf
• Help client collect evidence of need and qualify for benefits
• Support client attendance at self-advocacy training
• Role play self-advocacy with the client.
Class Advocacy
• Define group or “class” in need of advocacy
• Document need using accepted social science research methods
• Provide accurate information for needs assessments
• Staff an advocacy committee or group
• Identify effective community leaders and resources
• Facilitate community groups
6. Termination typically takes two forms: transfer to another case manager or completion of services
Case Transfer
• Help client assess continuing need for services and their intensity
• Provide (and/or brainstorm) options for meaningful choice
• Schedule transition meetings with yourself, client, and new case manager
Termination
• Allow time for termination and processing experiences
• Help client assess options and maximize choices with emphasis on client-generated plans
• Allow ventilation of feelings (expect feelings of abandonment, fear, loneliness, relief, etc.)
• Mutually review progress and goal achievement
• Celebrate successes
• Follow-up as needed and appropriate
• Be careful of encouraging on-going dependency
Raiff and Shore (1993) edited by McKnight (2007)
M1 Media Resources
Systems Thinking Videos
This Systems Thinking video was produced by the University of South Australia.
Systems Thinking – Text
Systems thinking explores how separate parts work together as a whole. It’s a way of looking at the world, where everything works as a system of systems.
In this line of thinking, every system is made up of smaller systems. For example, a lake is composed of the chemical systems of the water, but also biological systems of plants and fish.
Conversely, every system is also part of a larger system. For example, our lake is also part of an ecological system weather patterns, mountains, plants, animals and watershed. This ecological system is also part of a larger social system of a resort community composed of vacationers and townspeople. Additionally, all of these local systems interact with and within larger political, economic and ecological systems.
This complex relationship of systems is called an environment. Environments are dynamic, which means they are constantly changing. A change in any one system can have a ripple effect on all the other systems that make up the environment. For example, waste water from the watershed can cause a change in the chemical composition of the lake that may kill off a number of plants, which may decrease the population of the fish, which may discourage vacationers from coming to the lake, which then may depress the economy of the town.
Systems thinking views the world as a system of systems. Each system is made up of a number of smaller systems; while at the same time is part of a number of larger systems. Consumers are always part of multiple systems.

Systems Thinking and Systems Coordination
Systems Thinking is an approach to problem solving that looks at all of the parts of system and examines the relationship of these parts. The goal is to see the larger picture rather than narrowly focusing on one element of the problem. When working with consumers, using a systems thinking approach means attempting to understand more than a single issue or problem. 

Systems Coordination is one of the tasks of case management that involves monitoring the various service systems that a consumer is involved with. A consumer may be referred to different agencies for help with different types of problems. Perhaps the consumer has a housing problem and mental health problem and a child care problem. The role of the human services worker is to not just make referrals to agencies to assist the consumer but to coordinate and monitor the consumer’s progress with all of these systems.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FOR MANAGERS
only 16 questions
1. For some positive value of Z, the probability that a standard normal variable is between 0 and Z is 0.3770. The value of Z is:
a. 0.18
b. 0.81
c. 1.16
d. 1.47
-2-
2. If we know that the length of time it takes a college student to find a parking spot on central campus follows a normal distribution with a mean of 3.5 minutes and a standard deviation of 1 minute, find the probability that a randomly selected college student will find a parking spot in less than 3 minutes.
a. 0.3551
b. 0.3085
c. 0.2674
d. 0.1915
3. Given the data above, find the probability that a randomly selected college student will take between 2 and 4.5 minutes to find a parking spot.
a. 0.0919
b. 0.2255
c. 0.4938
d. 0.7745
4. Given the data above, find the point in the distribution that 75.8% of the college students exceed when trying to find a parking spot.
a. 2.8 minutes.
b. 3.2 minutes.
c. 3.4 minutes.
d. 4.2 minutes.
5. The owner of a fish market determined that the average weight for a catfish is 3.2 pounds with a standard deviation of 0.8 pound. A citation catfish should be one of the top 2% in weight. Assuming the weights of catfish are normally distributed, at what weight ( in pounds ) should the citation designation be established?
a. 1.56 pounds.
b. 4.84 pounds.
c. 5.20 pounds.
d. 7.36 pounds.
6. Suppose a sample of n = 50 items is drawn from a population of manufactured products and the weight, X, of each item is recorded. Prior experience has shown that the weight has a probability distribution with µ = 6 ounces and s = 2.5 ounces. Which of the following is true about the sampling distribution of the sample mean if a sample of size “15” is selected?
a. the mean of the sampling distribution is 6 ounces.
b. the standard deviation of the sampling distribution is 2.5 ounces.
c. the shape of the sample distribution is approximately normal.
d. all of the above are correct.
7. At a computer manufacturing company, the actual size of computer chips is normally distributed with a mean of 1 centimeter and a standard deviation of 0.1 centimeter. A random sample of 12 computer chips is taken. What is the standard error for the sample mean?
a. 0.029
b. 0.050
c. 0.091
d. 0.120
8. The owner of a fish market has an assistant who has determined that the weights of catfish are normally distributed, with mean of 3.2 pounds and standard deviation of 0.8 pound. If a sample of 64 fish yields a mean of 3.4 pounds, what is the probability of obtaining a sample mean this large or larger?
a. 0.0001
b. 0.0013
c. 0.0228
d. 0.4987
-5-
9. The standard error of the mean for a sample of 100 is 30. In order to cut the standard error of the mean to “15”, we would:
a. increase the sample size to 200.
b. increase the sample size to 400.
c. decrease the sample size to 50.
d. decrease the sample size to 25.
44. The amount of bleach that a machine pours into bottles has a mean
of 36 ounces with a standard deviation of 0.15 ounces. Suppose we
take a random sample of 36 bottles filled by this machine.
The probability that the mean of the sample is between 35.94 and
36.06 ounces is 0.9836 .
TRUE FALSE
Problems ( Fill In The Blank )
The amount of time necessary for assembly line workers to complete a product is a normal random variable with a mean of fifteen ( 15 ) minutes and a standard deviation of two ( 2 ) minutes.
Requirement:
1) What is the probability that a product is assembled in less than 12 minutes?
______________
2) What is the probability that a product is assembled between 14 and 16 minutes?
______________
3) What is the probability that a product is assembled between 10 and 12 minutes?
______________
-10-
4) What is the probability that a product is assembled in more than 11 minutes?
______________
5) What is the probability that a product is assembled in less than 20 minutes?
______________
6) Within how many minutes would 70% of the products be assembled?
1. Marsha is charged with revamping an order-taking system where customers place orders to purchase products from Martin’s Mail Order Tools and Hardware Co.. The system requires customers to supply basic ordering information (e.g., part numbers for the products they desire, the quantity of items). It should capture information on the name, address and corporate affiliation of the person making the order, as well as information on the destination to which the order will be shipped. It should be able to price the order, factoring in sales tax (based on the tax rate of the State where the order will be shipped) as well as shipping/handling charges. Finally, it should capture credit card data and be able to authorize closure to the transaction. Once the transaction is authorized, the system should route the order request to the warehouse where products are stored and should route the payments data to the accounting department.
In an attempt to capture user requirements, Marsha contacts a broad range of users and asks for their inputs on what they would like to see incorporated in the new order-taking system. Following are some of the responses she gets:
a. “The order-taking screen should be dynamic”
b. “The system must have sufficient capacity.”
c. “The rules must be flexible.”
d. “When transactions are made, all interfacing systems should be updated.”
e. “The application must be user-friendly.”
Each of these “requirements,” as stated, is too vague to be useful. Restate each requirement in order to clarify what the requirement is really addressing.
2. Assume you are in charge of a project to develop processes that will enable a call center to handle incoming calls effectively. At this moment you are working on complaint-handling procedures. Your enterprise wants to employ the following process for handling called-in complaints. First, when a call arrives, a determination must be made to see if it is a complaint. If it is not a complaint, it should be routed to the appropriate department that can handle the caller’s issues. If it is a complaint, then the nature of the complaint needs to be identified. At your enterprise, two well-established lines of complaints often arise: those dealing with the enterprise’s products, and those dealing with its processes. Product and process complaints should be routed to the Product and Process Departments respectively. Sometimes it happens that novel complaints arise that address neither products nor processes. These complaints are given special treatment, and are routed to a Senior Supervisor, who will determine how to deal with them.
a. Capture the complaint handling process described above using structured English.
b. Capture the call handling process described above using a decision table.
c. Create a flow chart to capture the call-handling process described above
d. Create a context diagram to capture the call-handling process described above
Operating System (Short answers with brief explanation.)
only 5 questions requires brief explain.
Answer the following: ( all the questions requires brief answers like 2~4 lines are fine.)
1. Suppose a system implements threads in kernel. Can two threads in the same process synchronize using a kernel semaphore? Explain. [4 points]
2. Consider the following codes of two processes sharing a variable turn that is initialized to 1. Do the processes satisfy all requirements of critical region solution (i.e., mutual exclusion, progress & bounded waiting)? Explain. [6 points]
Process P0 Process P1
/* other code */
while (turn != 0){ } /* wait */
update(); /* critical region */
turn = 0;
/* other code */ /* other code */
while (turn != 1){ } /* wait */
update(); /* critical region */
turn = 1;
/* other code */
3. Suppose there are two processes – i and j, sharing variables turn and flag[2]. Consider the following code for process i. Process j has similar code.
do {
flag[i] = true;
while (flag[j]) {
if (turn == j) {
flag[i] = false;
while (turn == j); /* do nothing */
flag[i] = true;
}
}
critical_task(); /* critical region */
turn = j;
flag[i] = false;
other_tasks(); /* remainder section */
}while (true);
Explain whether the above solution satisfy the necessary conditions (mutual exclusion, progress & bounded waiting) of critical region problem. [7 points]
4. A counting semaphore can have any arbitrary integral value. A process using such semaphore does not block until a down() invoked by the process on the semaphore makes the value negative. A negative value of the counting semaphore indicates that many processes blocked on the semaphore. An up() on the semaphore will wakeup a blocked process if the value is still non-positive. Describe how such a counting semaphore can be implemented using only binary semaphores and ordinary machine instructions. You may also use simple integer variables and list data structure. [7 points]
5. Briefly explain a monitor construct. How does it achieve synchronization of processes? [6 points]
Historical Event Influence” Please respond to the following: Please respond in a primary posting of at least 200 words. In addition, please make a substantive comment of at least 100 words to at least one [1] of your classmates.
Choose one (1) historical event and discuss the effect that it has had on you. Provide a rationale for your response
Genetically Modified Organisms Affect Food justice around the World
Proofreading and Editing my essay and use Chicago footnote.
Please be on time!Â
Welling to help me or discuss questions regard to the essay
File #1
To: Hugo Hans Siblesz, Secretary-General of Permanent Court of Arbitration
Genetically Modified Organisms Affect Food justice around the World
Introduction
What if one day everyone has to pay higher prices for food companies to satisfy our hunger? Food is a fundamental right, and the government needs to protect our rights. Nowadays, food security is in danger of so we have to promote the idea of food justice. Chelsea Green states, “food justice is the idea of having access to healthy, locally grown, fresh, and culturally appropriate food” (Henderson). The concept of food justice is vital because, without a proper diet, humans will become unhealthy. The innovation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) has created a series of debates. Therefore, in order to secure our future, it is necessary to study GMOs since it is a controversial topic that has the potential to lead to a great disaster. The issue that I will focus on is Monsanto as it is an agricultural giant that specializes in the creation of GMOs. Also, the side effect of GMOs is present around the world; it is hurting people economically and physically and potentially a high risk for our future.
Introduction to GMOs
GMOs can be easily found in our daily lives, but most of the time we fail to notice their presence. Since the 1980s, the U.S. permitted ownership rights over GMOs and allowed companies to develop GMO technologies as a valuable tool. Twelve years after, the first GM food crop was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Rangel 2015). Nowadays, there are around twenty kinds of GM crops which are being sold in the U.S.; these include corn, soybean, cotton, potato, papaya, tomato, canola, rice, apple, and more. Additionally, there are about 92% of corns that are genetically modified in the US in 2016 (USDA). We should be aware of this issue since GM crops are essential components in the food for syrup, acid, starch, and oil. Therefore, it is extremely hard to avoid products that contain GMOs. Eventually, we will have few to no options left in what type of foods that we can consume. When we talk about GMO, we have to speak of the biggest GMO company in the world – Monsanto. According to Monsanto’s financial report, seeds and the total genomics sale reached 10.7 billion in 2014 (Monsanto). Nowadays, cooperation has bigger and bigger power; an inevitable tendency is that corporations are continuously launching new products in the market after asking for approval from the government. Monsanto may be the world’s salvation as they claimed; however, it has a higher chance to create a catastrophe.
GMO Research
Thanks to research being done on GMOs, this may increase our awareness of GM crops. French scientists have studied a very specific issue with GMOs on liver and kidney functions. Dr. Seralini and his colleagues discovered a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize, which is created by Monsanto to resist Roundup pesticide, which was cultivated with/without Roundup application and Roundup alone in drinking water to exam chronological illnesses on mice (Séralini et al.). The research shows the pesticide is not biodegradable and crops also have high pesticide residues which lead to animals’ liver and kidney illness. Besides this particular group that repeatedly examines GMOs and their adverse effects on health, other teams claim a similar issue. Dona and Arvanitoyannis have raised concerns about GM food safety (Dona and Arvanitoyannis). Franz von Götz strongly recommends that the most important GMOs on the market should be detected by comprehensive tests; however, so far, there is only one GMO that has successfully passed the test (von Götz). Additionally, Dr. The Rótolo’s team has discovered that non-GM seeds have a better performance compared to GM seeds which typically requires high expenditures of resources (Rótolo et al.). Should we keep planting and consuming GMO foods?
However, scientists are supporting GMO foods. Godfray et al. (2010) suggest that genetic modification technology has a great potential to solve the growing population and increase food security (Godfray et al). People may concern about the environmental issue around the GMO However, much of soybean biodiversity has been sustained. Moreover, GM crops allow the reintroduction of seed varieties that had been abandoned engineering because of pest damage. (Barrows et al.). Also, Klümper and Qaim find out that on average, GM technology adoption has reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68% (Klümper and Qaim). So far, we do not have a clear idea about GMO’s effect on humans or the environment, but we have an alternative way to seek the truth.
GMO & Real World Issue – Economics
In this article, I am not going to argue whatever GMO is healthier or not from the scientific standpoint, but is it safe for a non-government organization, who only care about profit, in charge of food security of our future? I would examine the real case happen around the world to show how GMO affect our lives and our future.
Indians have suffered economically ever since the introduction of GMOs. Vandana Shiva, a Nobel Prize winner, says that the Indian government guided the first green revolution; however, Monsanto pushed for the second revolution in India to maximize companies’ (Jafri, Emani and Shiva 1999). In the study, it showed that the private sector approach in agriculture had become the mainstream idea that created high risks, costs, and an increase in vulnerability due to companies encouraging farmers to cultivate cash crops for higher profits, rather than following the first green revolution idea to supply the internal demand on mixed cultivation. This leads to a high suicide rate in India in the province that has an inappropriate climate for GM cotton (Gutierrez et al.).
In The World According to Monsanto, a documentary film, it revealed Monsanto’s plans in India. Farmers fall for the propaganda and are brainwashed into believing that GM seeds could decrease their pesticide usage and increase their profit (The World According to Monsanto). Farmers invest their savings into this new method, but they received the adverse effect of advertising. Higher usage of pesticide increases the expenditure and also kills others non-pesticide tolerant crops. As a result, farmers who don’t plant Bt. Cotton (GM pesticide tolerant crops) loses all of their harvests because pesticides weed out all of the non-GM crops in the village. The low quality of the latest generation of GMO seeds forces farmers to pay money to buy new seeds from Monsanto. Additionally, Monsanto abuses their market power to increase the price of GM seeds. Consequently, farmers are unable to make ends meet and decide to take their lives. When they found out the truth and urged to return to traditional seeds, they could not find those. Monsanto has acquired most seed banks in India; therefore, they have only to have GM seeds to plant. Another documentary, Bitter Seeds, tells the same story how Monsanto’s Bt. Cotton ruin farmers live in India. The subtitle of the movie is “every 30 minutes a farmer in India kills himself (Bitter Seeds).” Monsanto and GMO are not helping farmers or Indian to secure their food supply, pushing them toward a cash crop economy and creating serfdoms for the company.
Now, people may not learn the lesson from Indian farmers’ lives; however, it would eventually hurt everyone’s life, as Monsanto gets bigger and stronger. UC Berkeley researchers, report even in remote mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico, part of the Mesoamerican center of origin and diversification of this crop, they could not find any native maize, which is not included GMO’s DNA (Quist, David, and Ignacio H. Cahpela). GMO corn has polluted most of the corns; even the Mexican traditional farmers could not keep their seed from becoming contaminated. Because once GMO start planting in the field the pollen can quickly spread to a different location and it is only a matter of time to get the world polluted. According to Clive James, in the 29 biotech crop countries, more than 40 percent of farmland plants GM crops in 2010, in additional, a sustained increase 10 percent of farmland over 2009 (James 2017). GM corn is massively planted around the world because it can resist pesticides, insect or increase yield. Eventually, every natural plant would contain a part of the genetically modified gene. As a result, we may see a peculiar-looking corn that grows in a cornfield. As GMO crops are widely planted around the world, it is easy for the modified gene to get into the natural environment. GMO crops’ pollution has high potential to turn into a food monopoly issue around the world.
Monsanto is a major GMO company, asks farmers to sign an agreement that growers may only “consume or sell the resulting crops, but may not save any of the harvested soybeans for replanting (BOWMAN v. MONSANTO CO. et al. 2017).” In other words, next season farmers have to pay an additional license fee to plant GM crops. A recent case, BOWMAN v. MONSANTO CO., Supreme Court of United Stated restated that Monsanto has the right to execute their pattern right. In additional, the Supreme Court rejected that Bowman’s right on the second generation of GMO seeds, which means after each season, farmers have to buy seeds again. Supreme Court of United Stated states that the decision may not apply to every case, but it is clear that in this situation people have to follow this decision. As a result, we have to concern about Monsanto’s market power. Once, the world is full of GM crops dominate the world and create tons of serfdoms who only work for the company’s interest; they can raise the price for our food. Should don’t we be afraid of that? Let’s image one day our food supply is controlled by few companies. That would be horrible. In reality, we are on the terrible path, but is not too late to turn the situation.
GMO & Real World Issue – Physical
Beside the failing to help farmers, GMO crops also hurts farmers’ health condition due to high explore under pesticide. Peasants spray pesticides to prevent pests from eating the crops; the consequences of this action results in serious physical harm to the farmers and their families. The Monsanto tribunal, with victims and experts around the world, collectively accuse that Monsanto is violating human rights and destroying the ecosystem to raise people’s awareness. One of the experts, Doctor Verzeñassi, explains the epidemiological conducted in Argentina. The introduction of pesticides leads to serious diseases, such as hypothyroidism, birth defects, spontaneous abortions, allergies, and cancer live in a high-pesticide-dependent area; in additional, the number of victims steadily rises every year (VERZEÑASSI, Damian And Monsanto Tribunal. Damian VERZEÑASSI_English In Monsanto Tribunal.). After the mid-1990s, the Argentinian government approved the GMO soybeans, Argentina becomes the top soybean producer in the world. Farmers use enormous amounts of pesticides than before to secure a high yield of crops. At the same time, they unintentionally traded their health with a better economic condition. The story started with Monsanto’s false claim that their pesticide (Roundup) was biodegradable and “environmentally friendly (Philpott 2017),” also “it can be used where kids and pets play (Philpott 2017).” Many peasants believe their words; however, it is not the truth. According to the BBC, France’s highest court has ruled that Monsanto was fined 15,000 euros because it lied about the safeness of Roundup and polluted France’s river (“Monsanto Guilty In ‘False Ad’ Row” 2017). Apparently, exposure to a large number of pesticides in a short period can lead to poisoning; however, the effect of small long-term exposure is uncertain, but studies have found out there is diabetes, cancer, and neurological defects issue may increase (Hsaio 2017). However, Monsanto is still appealing with the lawsuit.
Following the doctor’s research, let’s take a deeper look into Argentina. In the past, Chaco Province was known as a cotton-producing province in Argentina; however, nowadays GM soybean has taken over the position in the landscape, especially in the area of Avia Terai. According to BBC reports, “in local research published in 2012, of those surveyed in Avia Terai, nearly a third said someone in the family had cancer in the last ten years.” When farmers started to use Roundup, they found out that except for Roundup-tolerant genetically modified crops, no other plants were able to survive and ducks are dead. After the animals and plants, farmers and their family members are exposed to the poisonous pesticides and suffer due to the high usage of pesticides. Everyone has the right to live freely with water, air, soil and food, but Monsanto is a purely profit-driven machine that exploits all the resource of the area and leaves with a mess to local farmers. Consequently, in the long run, instead of solving poverty and hunger issue, farmers face a problem of increasing health concerns that affect Argentina’s agricultural society as a whole.
There is another potential risk that may threat to human survival that is what if the GM crops are harmful to our body health? In the U.S., there is already large corn production is dominated by GM crops and we have examined Dr. Seralini’s study of how GMO affects the mouse’s health condition. In the Monsanto tribunal, experts only not present those damaging to the environment and humankind, and also show that Monsanto’s power to fight against any unfavorable lawsuit and scientific evidence. After years, scientists may be able to find a convincing direct evidence to prove that Monsanto’s creation is unhealthy and harmful to human bodies, but that may be too late. Since we already have studies in India, Argentina and around the world shows that GMO may profoundly cause human health issue, we need to be aware of how many problems that Monsanto may bring in the future. If the food production becomes a monopoly business, or if the food around the world is no longer health, or the environment is polluted by Roundup, or even pests and weeds become unkillable, the earth is over. I may be over claiming the result; however, it would be better to think about the issue and be prepared now, then after it happened to fix it.
To summarize, nowadays farmer is the only few groups of people get hurt, but in the future, everyone has a high potential risk, either we have to pay the royalty to Monsanto or our health condition. In the future, once Monsanto stops or increase the price of seeds, there will be many people starve on the street. Or, individuals can afford to pay for extremely expensive healthy non-GM foods. In the paper, I hope to raise awareness of the shifting agriculture paradigm and the dangers of industrial and chemical agriculture to further prevent the irreversible issue, which may lead to a great disaster for humankind. Furthermore, I want to let everyone know what’s important to food justice. Again everyone should have access to healthy, locally grown, fresh, and culturally to achieve that we need action to be made for the local communities may create a self-sufficient farm to protect themselves. Additionally, together people can impose regulations on giant corporations and region our power to pursue a quality life.
References
Barrows, Geoffrey et al. “Agricultural Biotechnology: The Promise And Prospects Of Genetically Modified Crops”. Journal Of Economic Perspectives, vol 28, no. 1, 2014, pp. 99-120. American Economic Association, doi:10.1257/jep.28.1.99.
“BOWMAN V. MONSANTO CO. ET AL.”. Supreme Court Of The United States, 2017, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-796_c07d.pdf.
Dona, Artemis, and Ioannis S. Arvanitoyannis. “Health Risks Of Genetically Modified Foods”. Critical Reviews In Food Science And Nutrition, vol 49, no. 2, 2009, pp. 164-175. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/10408390701855993.
Godfray, H. C. J. et al. “Food Security: The Challenge Of Feeding 9 Billion People”. Science, vol 327, no. 5967, 2010, pp. 812-818. American Association For The Advancement Of Science (AAAS), doi:10.1126/science.1185383.
Gutierrez, Andrew Paul et al. “Deconstructing Indian Cotton: Weather, Yields, And Suicides”. Environmental Sciences Europe, vol 27, no. 1, 2015, Springer Nature, doi:10.1186/s12302-015-0043-8.
Henderson, Elizabeth. “Food Justice: What It Means And Why We Need It – Chelsea Green Publishing”. 2014, http://www.chelseagreen.com/blogs/food-justice/.
Hsaio, Jennifer. “Gmos And Pesticides: Helpful Or Harmful? – Science In The News”. Science In The News, 2017, http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/gmos-and-pesticides/.
Jafri, Afsar H et al. “Globalisation And Threat To Seed Security: Case Of Transgenic Cotton Trials In India”. Economic And Political Weekly, vol 34, 1999, pp. 601-613. doi:10.2307/4407732.
James, Clive. “Global Status Of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2010 – ISAAA Brief 42-2010 | ISAAA.Org”. Isaaa.Org, 2017, http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/42/.
Klümper, Wilhelm, and Matin Qaim. “A Meta-Analysis Of The Impacts Of Genetically Modified Crops”. Plos ONE, vol 9, no. 11, 2014, p. e111629. Public Library Of Science (Plos), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111629.
“Monsanto Guilty In ‘False Ad’ Row”. BBC NEWS, 2017, http://.
Philpott, Tom. “Monsanto’s Roundup Is The Most Used Herbicide In NYC”. Mother Jones, 2017, http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/09/monsantos-roundup-most-used-herbicide-nyc?page=2.
Quist, David, and Ignacio H. Chapela. “Transgenic DNA Introgressed Into Traditional Maize Landraces In Oaxaca, Mexico”. Nature, vol 414, no. 6863, 2001, pp. 541-543. Springer Nature, doi:10.1038/35107068.
Rangel, Gabriel. “From Corgis To Corn: A Brief Look At The Long History Of GMO Technology – Science In The News”. 2015, http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/from-corgis-to-corn-a-brief-look-at-the-long-history-of-gmo-technology/.
Rótolo, G.C. et al. “Time To Re-Think The GMO Revolution In Agriculture”. 2017,.
Séralini, Gilles-Eric et al. “Republished Study: Long-Term Toxicity Of A Roundup Herbicide And A Roundup-Tolerantgenetically Modified Maize”. Environmental Sciences Europe, vol 26, no. 1, 2014, Springer Nature, doi:10.1186/s12302-014-0014-5.
The United States Department of Agriculture,. “Petitions For Determination Of Nonregulated Status”. 2016, https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/biotechnology/permits-notifications-petitions/petitions/petition-status.
“The World According To Monsanto (FULL LENGTH)”, director. Youtube, 2012,.
“VERZEÑASSI, Damian And Monsanto Tribunal. Damian VERZEÑASSI_English In Monsanto Tribunal.”, director.
von Götz, Franz. “See What You Eat—Broad GMO Screening With Microarrays”. Analytical And Bioanalytical Chemistry, vol 396, no. 6, 2009, pp. 1961-1967. Springer Nature, doi:10.1007/s00216-009-3204-z.
Choose one of the corporate scandals from the list below, and then look for 3–4 articles that analyze the ethics of the scandal or how corporate leadership dealt with the scandal.
The Volkswagen emissions scandal.
The Toyota scandal (2007–2010 acceleration and brake recalls).
The BP (British Petroleum) Deep Water Horizon Gulf Coast disaster.
Note: This assignment is not intended to be an in-depth analysis of the full scope of the scandal you choose; rather, it is meant to give you a high-level overview of how effective and ethical global leadership should respond when things happen.
For this assignment, address the following:
Explain the primary ethical challenge for corporate leadership with regard to the scandal you chose.
Analyze corporate leadership’s response to the unfolding scandal.
Compare the skills and competencies a global leader should have with the actions taken during the scandal. What leadership skills and competencies were lacking in corporate leadership?
Explain how leadership might have avoided the situation in the first place.
Was response to the scandal equal to the seriousness of the event?
Recommend an alternative strategy for handling the scandal. Support your strategy using at least two of the leadership theories you have studied in this course. Your strategy may focus on avoiding the scandal in the first place, or on dealing with the scandal after it happened.
Organize your assignment logically, using headings and subheadings as appropriate. Include a title page and references page, using APA guidelines to format citations and references.
Structure: Include a title page and references page.
Number of pages: 3–4, not including title page and references page.
Number of resources: At least 3 resources-WITHIN 5 YEARS.
Formatting: APA format for citations and references.
Font: Times New Roman, 12 point, double-spaced.