U.S. States With No Income Tax

U.S. States With No Income Tax While individuals and businesses in all 50 states pay federal income tax, residents in 41 states also pay state income tax. Seven states have no state income tax  at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. In addition, the states of New Hampshire and Tennessee tax only the interest and dividend income of their residents gained from financial investments.   Of particular interests to retired persons or those nearing retirement, while federal taxes still apply, there is no additional state income tax on Social Security benefits, withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s, and payouts from pensions in these nine states. State income tax is typically based on the taxable income or adjusted gross income reported on the taxpayers annual federal income tax return. Key Takeaways The states of Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming do not tax the incomes of their residents.The states of New Hampshire and Tennessee tax only income from interest, dividends, and financial investments.Due to the needs of these nine states to provide services and maintain infrastructure, other non-income taxes, such as sales taxes, property taxes, and fuel taxes can be higher than in states with income tax. Not Always Cheaper to Live There The fact that a state does not have an income tax does not necessarily mean that its residents pay less in taxes than residents of states with an income tax. All states must generate revenue and they do so through various taxes including income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, license taxes, fuel taxes, and estate and inheritance taxes, just to name a few. In states without state income tax, higher sales, property and other assorted taxes can exceed the annual cost of a state income tax. For example, all states except Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon currently charge sales tax. Food, clothing,  and prescription drugs are exempt from sales tax in most states. In addition to states; cities, counties, school districts, and other jurisdictions impose real estate and sales taxes. For cities that do not sell their own utilities, like electricity and water, these taxes represent their main source of revenue. Still, it is worth noting that during 2006 and 2007, the seven states with no income tax whatsoever, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, led the nation in net population growth. However, the nonpartisan  Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has reported  that a states income taxes have little influence over whether people ultimately decide to live there. How Do These States Get By Without Income Tax? Without revenue from income tax, how do these states pay for the basic functions of government? Simple: their citizens eat, wear clothes, smoke, drink alcohol, and pump gasoline into their cars. All of these and more goods are taxed by most states. Even states with income tax tend to tax goods and services in order to reduce their income tax rates. In states without an income tax, sales taxes and other fees, such as vehicle registration fees, tend to be higher than in states with income tax. For example, Tennessee, where only investment income is taxed, has the highest sales tax in America. When combined with local sales taxes, Tennessee’s 7% state sales tax results in a combined effective sales tax rate of 9.45%, according to the independent and bipartisan Tax Foundation. That’s more than twice the combined sales tax rate in tourist-laden Hawaii. In Washington, gasoline prices are usually among the highest in the nation, largely due to its gasoline tax. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Washington’s gas tax, at 37.5 cents per gallon, is the fifth-highest in the country. Non-income states of Texas and Nevada also have higher-than-average sales taxes, and according to the Tax Foundation, Texas also has higher-than-average effective property tax rates.   And So, Higher Costs of Living for Some Those extra taxes help to result in higher-than-average costs of living in some of the non-income tax states. Data from the independent Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness, Florida, South Dakota, Washington, and New Hampshire all have higher than the median costs of living than in most states with an income tax. So the bottom line is that there is just not enough concrete evidence to say whether or not it is really cheaper to live in a state with no income tax.

Each vs. Both

Each vs. Both Each vs. Both Each vs. Both By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, What is the correct usage for each and both? Example: You and I both know what its like. or You and I each know what its like. Each is singular. In relation to a group, it means â€Å"all of any number, considered individually.† Examples of usage: Each child in the school has been vaccinated against smallpox. When groups of individuals join together in business partnerships,  each  member of the partnership becomes bound by basic legal  duties.   Both is plural. It refers to two of something. Examples of usage: Both men are Nobel Prize winners. Walthers lectures were  both informative and entertaining. When speaking of two people, both is usually the more appropriate choice. The only reason to use each when speaking of two people/things would be to emphasize the individuality of separate acts or to avoid ambiguity. Consider the following sentences: 1. Jack and Bill share a room. Both are responsible for cleaning half. 2. Mr. Jones gave both his daughters a dog. 3. Both of us received a letter this morning. Most listeners would understand the first sentence to mean that each boy is responsible for one half of the room. Sentence three might be understood to mean that each of the two received separate letters. Sentence two is definitely ambiguous: Did each daughter receive a dog of her own, or did both daughters receive one dog to share? The following revisions would prevent misunderstanding: 1. Jack and Bill share a room. Each is responsible for cleaning half. 2. Mr. Jones gave each of his daughters a dog. 3. Each of us received a letter this morning. In the reader’s question, the first example is correct: â€Å"You and I both know what its like.† The second example presents an impossibility of agreement: â€Å"You and I each know what its like.† The subject â€Å"You and I† is plural and requires the plural verb know. The word each, however, is singular and would require the singular verb knows. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in S30 Baseball Idioms10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing

Identify business decision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Identify business decision - Essay Example At some point these decisions are long term and strategic. In that, writing off debts give the company a competitive advantage in the market. However, it is risky to make such decisions because it affects the revenue of the organization, also it can trigger many conflicts with other departments, particularly the marketing section. In addition, it affects monetary statement by understating a company’s profits. This is a very critical issue for comprehensive auditing and top management and therefore, require many consents from different directors based on approval limits (Piccirillo & Noro, 2008). Furthermore, the strategic nature of the decision require a lot of efforts and determination to collect these debts from customers. Notwithstanding, the importance of the decision require that action should be taken sooner or later since these debts are outstanding from long time, and after taking all necessary action with customers, and sending there documents to court without any hope to receive these amounts. This decision is justified under structure procedure as per the write of policy which came under many steps and legal

Instrumentation systems assignment Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Instrumentation systems assignment - Lab Report Example Single-point adjustment allows for the linear characteristic curve to be shifted in positive or negative direction over the entire measuring range. The large selection of pressure units of up to 6 different units is possible. It is far more than any complicated dual-scale, or multi-scale gauge can offer. The digital pressure gauge has a selection point for the required display unit to be posted on the screen. The desired value can be read directly eliminating the need for conversions (Kobata, Kojima and Kajikawa, 2012). Pressure is applied to the pressure sensors within the equipment. These sensors can either be resistive, capacitive or piezoelectric crystals. A pressure on the crystals causes a generation of electric current due to the piezoelectric effect. Since the generated voltages are slight, an amplifier is used to amplify the output to a readable value. The output is in analog form due to the analog sinusoidal voltage output from the transducers. The analog to digital converter is thus used to convert the analog output to produce its digital counterpart for ease of reading. The final output is displayed on a digital display screen (Morris, 2001). There are two operating keys on the Reference Type E. The left key turns the instrument on while at the same time used to execute its functions. Contrarily, the right key helps in switching between the MAX and MIN-value. The device displays the pressure range after turn-on for two seconds before changing into measuring mode. The functions of the device include: An indication on the display shows if the ZERO- and/or CONT-function is activated. By pressing the left key until ZERO and/or CONT disappears, the zero is reset to factory settings with the possibilities of reactivating the automatic turn-off function. It the actual pressure goes beyond the measuring range, OFL (overflow) appears on the display (Quinn, 1970). Pressures of known values were

Cause and Effect of Sleep deprivation Essay Example for Free

Cause and Effect of Sleep deprivation Essay I am a firm believer that many factors such as our culture, our upbringing, and beliefs that we were introduced to all affects what we do, how we live and even what we eat! People in China, Vietnam and Switzerland have been known to eat dogs for thousands of year, some as a source of survival during war and famine while others eat it as a cuisine meaning it is a part of their regular diet! I’ve even read somewhere that people in China have been known to say that a huge reason they consume dog meat is to keep them warm in the harsh winters! Have they heard of a jacket and hot coco? They don’t see it any different from eating cows and pigs, but someone like me thinks that is disgusting! I see people all the time whose treat their dog as their best friend, I’ve heard that when you begin to grow attached to your dog you soon see them as people. I could never imagine it being okay to eat a dog! Functionalism has a lot to do with this also when you come to think of it. This tradition has been the norm in these places for years! It wasn’t until recently that proposed laws have been presented to implement a law that bans the eating of cats and dogs. Americans are truly the people of the land of the free and are strong believers that a dog is a mans best friend, in my opinion. Beating, not feeding, and mistreating dogs are all violations of the law, neglect, and animal abuse! I could not even imagine hearing a story of someone eating one! It is common knowledge here that dogs are like people and should be treated as such and so they are not put on a dinner plate, at least the way I view things. I strongly feel that our individual believes and knowledge is the reason we eat what we eat, they are culturally relative in more ways that one. This definitely is a beautiful thing as everyone can be their own person and act how they feel but this causes cultural diversity conflict all the time! Take this scenario for instance; two people are meeting for a blind date and obviously know nothing about one another. It becomes time to order and the woman is disgusted by the menu because everything is meat and fat of the meat from some type of animal, see, she’s vegetarian. The woman loves animals and does not believe in eating them and this sparks a conversation. Do you think it’s a good one as her date has already ordered the number four, which is the half slab of baby back ribs with chicken shish kabobs, and a side of pork rings? I can imagine that she stormed out of there after giving him a good lecture. Though her actions are understandable they aren’t quite right. Ethnocentrism would be the perfect would to explain that situation! The woman thinks that he beliefs are the right ones and that the man is wrong for eating what he loves to eat! Ethnocentrism is when you believe that your culture, your beliefs are better than everyone else’s and only yours make sense! This is a big reason there is conflict within cultures. Instead of using cultural relativism and trying to understand others point of view or even just accepting it as their choice we fight for what we think is the right way, the only way. Interactionism helps us understand that our mind plays a role in our how what our body does including why we eat or don’t eat what we eat. I love dogs, so I would vomit at the thought of eating one. However, once again this doesn’t mean I should hate someone that eats it as a dish at home. Being open and understanding can truly help because just as the conflict theory states that there is a power struggle between cultures, these cultures have the power to become knowledgeable of one another and ultimately obtain culture relativism.

Essay --

Drew Foster Foster 1 Mrs. Bueno Honors English 14 December 2013 Darrin M. Mcmahon the author of the article, â€Å"In Pursuit of Unhappiness†, was born in 1963. Darrin broke out of the order of saying â€Å"Happy New Year!† and realized they are only expected words that are said without any meaning behind them. Even around the holidays where people are expected to be happy, they think the words â€Å"Happy New Year!† are just words that are supposed to be said. If you think about the words â€Å"Happy New Year†, year does not only mean one day, so the words are meant to wish a whole year of happiness. But instead, people just reserve their happiness only for the holidays. John Stuart Mill, Carlyle's long-time rival who are both philosophers makes a valid statement about those who have their focus set on something other than happiness are only happy. For example, setting your goal on being happy is risking being happy, because when you don't achieve it you lose even more happiness. Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill both have similar concepts on happiness. Carlyle, who is a Scottish Philosopher, notices the wrong idea of religion before 17th century. Many disregarded the ideas of religion that put misery into their lives, but some people recognized God's care very satisfying. Earthly satisfaction, McMahon states, was an attempt to bring heavenly felicity down to the earth. This religious change was to replace the feeling of misery with happiness. John Stuart Mill, who is an English philosopher, explains another way of achieving happiness based off of his personal experience. After suffering from a d... ...for such books is a strong indication that they aren’t working.† Setting your goal and being determined or even being desperate to find happiness is dangerous and is risking your happiness. If and when you do not achieve happiness, you lose all of it and even become unhappy. Focus your mind on something other than your own happiness and you will achieve true happiness. Darrin M. McMahon says to â€Å"...Have dinner with your family or walk in the park with friends...put in some good hours t the office or at your favorite charity, temple or church. Work on your jump shot or your child’s model trains. With luck, you’ll find happiness by the by.† So instead of saying â€Å"Happy New Year†, Darrin M. McMahon says â€Å"‘Don’t have a happy new year!’†, because â€Å"Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness† says John Stuart Mill.

“Killings” by Andre Dubus’s Essay

Revenge, loss and consequences are explored in Andre Dubus’s, â€Å"Killings†. A jealous husband, angered by the fact that his estranged wife is involved in a new relationship, acts out in a presumable crime of passion and murders the man she was seeing. As a result of this crime, a father suffers the loss of his son and plots retaliation, which results in the killing of his son’s murderer. Both men experience a loss and subsequently act out in revenge. The difference in the moral character of these two men is what appears to determine the fate of their consequences. Richard Strout, a man of inferior morality, commits a crime of passion. He murders a man who is having a relationship with his estranged wife. Strout is portrayed in the story as being a spoiled, selfish, violent man. The pending divorce between he and his wife obviously left him feeling conflicted over the loss of control and he is angered by the fact that she was seeing another man so quickly after the separation. There appears to be no feelings of regret or remorse from Strout after the murder. He seems to feel completely justified in the killing and even makes the statement, â€Å"He was making it with my wife† (Dubus 90). Strout’s lack of moral character is a key element in his being able to live with himself after committing this crime. His personal consequences seemed to be few, if any. Matt Fowler is portrayed in the story as being a man of great moral fortitude; he is a sensitive, loving husband, a protective father and a respected friend. The brutal murder of his son catapults him into a position in which he feels compelled to avenge the death. The conflict that Fowler feels after his son is killed is overwhelming to him. Fowler feels that removing his son’s murderer from the world he and his family live in will ease his wife’s pain. His concern and compassion towards is wife is obvious when he says in the story, â€Å"She sees him all the time. It makes her cry† (Dubus 85). Killing Strout is the act of a protective husband and father doing what he believes to be the only practical solution and he views it as though he has a job to do. Fowler is notably reluctant to carry out this act of premeditated murder. Not even a moment of satisfaction is allotted him after he completes the job of avenging his son’s death. After Matt accomplishes the mission he is immediately left with a profound sense of isolation; undoubtedly because of his high level of morality. The final words of the story indicate the loneliness he feels that he isn’t even able to share with his wife. â€Å"†¦he shuddered with a sob that he kept silent in his heart† (Dubus 96). Killing Strout is not the end of the pain for Matt Fowler; it may give him a sense of revenge, but he is still feeling so alone and hurt. The other Fowler children are left to believe that their brother’s murderer has escaped trial and disappeared. Mrs. Fowler acknowledges this in the story when she says, â€Å"We can’t tell the other kids. It’ll hurt them, thinking he got away. But we mustn’t† (Dubus 96). This is yet another consequence of these murders. Frank Fowler and Richard Strout are dead, Matt Fowler will most likely feel forever isolated, and the lives of Ruth and the Fowler children have been deeply affected by these crimes. Two very different men experience similar feelings of loss, revenge and consequence in this story. Both men commit an act of murder and both pay a high price in the end. One man’s sentence is death; the other’s is profound isolation. Neither life is left unaltered. This story is a lesson in passion, crime and morality.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Essay

In this essay, I would like to evaluate the first helping of the Harry Potter movie-series which was shown worldwide in 2001. Specifically, I am referring to the movie entitled â€Å"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone†. The movie is an adaptation of J. K. Rowling’s novel of the same title, which chronicles the childhood adventures of a kid named Harry Potter. In this essay, I intend to evaluate â€Å"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone† by looking at how successful the film was able to entertain the general public, especially youngsters. Aspects of the First Harry Potter Movie Since the crux of J. K. Rowling’s novel was about magic, the film’s success was heavily dependent on how well Harry Potter is adequately portrayed as a wizard in control of his magical powers. Thus, the effective portrayal of magical powers throughout the film is the criteria which I employ in my evaluation of the movie. In many ways, the film did not disappoint in this aspect. Magic was the defining aspect of Harry Potter – i. e. , from his birth to his journey to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he is portrayed as a character that needs to get acquainted with his innate magical powers. Along the same vein, magic was the controlling concern of the characters surrounding Harry. The giftedness of the other characters such as Ron and Hermione, as well as his lone enemy Voldemort was also portrayed well in the movie. Which is why, there are many reasons to think the first Harry Potter movie was successful in entertaining its audience because it was able to zero in on use of magic with much flair and fun. This aspect can be further shown if one compares this particular Harry Potter movie with other films – such as Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings – that employ magic in a manner that pits two opposing forces (good vs. bad) against each other. Harry Potter is successful in using this use of contrast as well. For instance, the story of Harry Potter’s survival from the hands of the evil Voldermort was recounted in the movie. In addition, his struggle to emerge victorious from the hands of a bully named Draco highlights the use of magic even more. The use of magic as a way to pit opposite forces makes the movie more interesting. Thus, use of contrast highlights even more the whole point of the movie, which is to entertain the audience with a fair amount of scenes involving magic. Some reviews about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone however does not subscribe to the idea that the frequent display of magic in the movie makes it sufficiently interesting. According to a writer, the movie is entertaining because it reminds people that the art of movies is not just about portraying wars and strife but is about conveying the message of â€Å"peace and plenty† (Bradshaw). In ways more than one, I agree with this assessment. The movie is in fact entertaining because it does not leave the audience with a feeling of anger or anxiety which most action or suspense movies elicit. I feel though that since the primary audience of this Harry Potter consists in children and youngsters, the frequent use of magical powers still served the movie pretty well. Without an adequate portrayal of magic, I think the movie could have been a monumental blunder, especially when it is compared with the liveliness of its book counterpart. Conclusion I wish to end with the thought that, on account of the frequent use of magical powers throughout the film, the first Harry Potter movie must be called a success because it was able to entertain its primary target audience – the children. Nothing is more appealing for children than inciting their imagination; and most often, magic belongs to one of their many preoccupations. As a consequence, any film that is able to cater to children’s fascination over magic would end up being a sure hit. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is one of them. Work Cited Bradshaw, P. â€Å"Harry Potter: A Special Report†. The Guardian, 16 November 2001. Retrieved 14 August 2008

Heres How to Calculate pH Values

Here's How to Calculate pH Values Heres a quick review of how to calculate pH and what pH means with respect to hydrogen ion concentration, acids, and bases. Key Takeaways pH is a measure of how acidic or basic a chemical solution is.Normally, pH runs from 0 to 14.A neutral pH value is 7. A value less than 7 is acidic, while a value greater than 7 is basic.The formula for pH is  pH -log[H]. This means pH is the negative base 10 logarithm (log on a calculator) of the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution. To calculate it, take the log of the hydrogen ion concentration and reverse the sign to get the answer. Review of Acids, Bases, and pH Formula There are several ways to define acids and bases, but pH only refers to hydrogen ion concentration and is only meaningful when applied to aqueous (water-based) solutions. When water dissociates it yields a hydrogen ion and a hydroxide. H2O ↔ H OH- When calculating pH, remember that [] refers to molarity, M. Molarity is expressed in units of moles of solute per liter of solution (not solvent). If you are given concentration in any other unit (mass percent, molality, etc.), convert it to molarity in order to use the pH formula. Using the concentration of hydrogen and hydroxide ions, the following relationship results: Kw [H][OH-] 1x10-14 at 25 °Cfor pure water [H] [OH-] 1x10-7Acidic Solution: [H] 1x10-7Basic Solution: [H] 1x10-7 How to Calculate pH and [H] The equilibrium equation yields the following formula for pH: pH -log10[H][H] 10-pH In other words, pH is the negative log of the molar hydrogen ion concentration. Or, the molar hydrogen ion concentration equals 10 to the power of the negative pH value. Its easy to do this calculation on any scientific calculator because it will have a log button. This is not the same as the ln button, which refers to the natural logarithm. Example: Calculate the pH for a specific [H]. Calculate pH given [H] 1.4 x 10-5 M pH -log10[H]pH -log10(1.4 x 10-5)pH 4.85 Example: Calculate [H] from a known pH. Find [H] if pH 8.5 [H] 10-pH[H] 10-8.5[H] 3.2 x 10-9 M Example: Find the pH if the H concentration is 0.0001 moles per liter. pH -log[H]Here it helps to rewrite the concentration as 1.0 x 10-4 M because if you understand how logarithms work, this makes the formula: pH -(-4) 4 Or, you could simply use a calculator and take: pH - log (0.0001) 4 Usually, you arent given the hydrogen ion concentration in a problem but have to find it from a chemical reaction or acid concentration. Whether this is easy or not depends on whether youre dealing with a strong acid or a weak acid. Most problems asking for pH are for strong acids because they completely dissociate into their ions in water. Weak acids, on the other hand, only partially dissociate, so at equilibrium, a solution contains both the weak acid and the ions into which it dissociates. Example: Find the pH of a 0.03 M solution of hydrochloric acid, HCl. Hydrochloric acid is a strong acid that dissociates according to a 1:1 molar ratio into hydrogen cations and chloride anions. So, the concentration of hydrogen ions is exactly the same as the concentration of the acid solution. [H 0.03 M pH - log (0.03)pH 1.5 pH and pOH You can easily use the pH value to calculate pOH if you recall: pH pOH 14 This is particularly useful if youre asked to find the pH of a base since youll usually solve for pOH rather than pH. Check Your Work When youre performing a pH calculation, its a good idea to make sure your answer makes sense. An acid should have a pH much less than 7 (usually 1 to 3), while a base has a high pH value (usually around 11 to 13). While its theoretically possible to calculate a negative pH, in practice pH values should be between 0 and 14. This, a pH higher than 14 indicates an error either in setting up the calculation or else using the calculator.

The Large Hadron Collider and the Frontier of Physics

The Large Hadron Collider and the Frontier of Physics The science of particle physics looks at the very building blocks of matter - the atoms and particles that make up much of the material in the cosmos. Its a complex science that requires painstaking measurements of particles moving at high speeds. This science got a huge boost when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began operations in September 2008. Its name sounds very science-fictiony but the word collider actually explains exactly what it does: send two high-energy particle beams at nearly the speed of light around a 27-kilometer long underground ring. At the right time, the beams are forced to collide. Protons in the beams then smash together and, if all goes well, smaller bits and pieces - called subatomic particles - are created for brief moments in time. Their actions and existence are recorded. From that activity, physicists learn more about the very fundamental constituents of matter. LHC and Particle Physics The LHC was built to answer some incredibly important questions in physics, delving into where mass comes from, why the cosmos is made of matter instead of its opposite stuff called antimatter, and what the mysterious stuff known as dark matter could possibly be. It could also provide important new clues about conditions in the very early  universe when gravity and electromagnetic forces were all combined with the weak and strong forces into one all-encompassing force. That only happened for a short time in the early universe, and physicists want to know why and how it changed.   The science of particle physics is essentially the search for  the very basic building blocks of matter. We know about the atoms and molecules that make up everything we see and feel. The atoms themselves are made up of smaller components: the nucleus and electrons. The nucleus is itself made up of protons and neutrons. Thats not the end of the line, however. The neutrons are made up of subatomic particles called quarks. Are there smaller particles? Thats what particle accelerators are designed to find out. The way they do this is to create conditions similar to what it was like just after the Big Bang - the event that began the universe. At that point, some 13.7 billion years ago, the universe was made only of particles. They were scattered freely through the infant cosmos and roamed constantly. These include mesons, pions, baryons, and hadrons (for which the accelerator is named). Particle physicists (the people who study these particles) suspect that matter is made up of at least twelve kinds of fundamental particles. They are divided into quarks (mentioned above) and leptons. There are six of each type. That only accounts for some of the fundamental particles in nature. The rest are created in super-energetic collisions (either in the Big Bang or in accelerators such as the LHC). Inside those collisions, particle physicists get a very fast glimpse at what conditions were like in the Big Bang, when the fundamental particles were first created. What is the LHC? The LHC is the largest particle accelerator in the world, a big sister to Fermilab in Illinois and other smaller accelerators. LHC is located near Geneva, Switzerland, built and operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and used by more than 10,000 scientists from around the world. Along its ring, physicists and technicians have installed extremely strong supercooled magnets that guide and shape the beams of particles through a beam pipe). Once the beams are moving fast enough, specialized magnets guide them to the correct positions where the collisions take place. Specialized detectors record the collisions, the particles, the temperatures and other conditions at the time of the collision, and the particle actions in the billionths of a second during which the smash-ups take place. What Has the LHC Discovered? When particle physicists planned and built the LHC, one thing they hoped to find evidence for is the Higgs Boson. Its a particle named after Peter Higgs, who predicted its existence. In 2012, the LHC consortium announced that experiments had revealed the existence of a boson that matched the expected criteria for the Higgs Boson. In addition to the continued search for the Higgs, scientists using the LHC have created whats called a quark-gluon plasma, which is the densest matter thought to exist outside of a black hole. Other particle experiments are helping physicists understand supersymmetry, which is a spacetime symmetry that involves two related types of particles: bosons and fermions. Each group of particles is thought to have an associated superpartner particle in the other. Understanding such supersymmetry would give scientists further insight into whats called the standard model. Its a theory that explains what the world is, what holds its matter together, and the forces and particles involved. The Future of the LHC Operations at the LHC have included two major observing runs. In between each one, the system is refurbished and upgraded to improve its instrumentation and detectors. The next updates (slated for 2018 and beyond) will include an increase in collisional velocities, and a chance to increase the luminosity of the machine. What that means is that LHC will be able to see ever more rare and fast-occurring processes of particle acceleration and collision. The faster the collisions can occur, the more energy will be released as ever-smaller and harder-to-detect particles are involved. This will give particle physicists an even better look at the very building blocks of matter that make up the stars, galaxies, planets, and life.

Managing Group and Teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Group and Teams - Essay Example Presently, organizations depend immensely on teamwork, hence the need for all employees to possess effective communication skills. Coevolutionary gaming is a scenario process developed by Jim Miskel and Jeff Cares in their article â€Å"Take Your Third Move First†. Coevolutionary gaming has revolutionized the way organizations consider aspects such as teamwork and decision making, both in issues that affect the organization internally and externally. This paper will examine coevolutionary gaming, discussing how the strategy enhances proper decision making, particularly within a group situation such as an organization or department in an organization. The paper will also describe the fundamental limitation of the coevolutionary gaming and the way through which this limitation can be resolved. Miskel and Cares’ article builds on the conception that planning, as well as resultant decision making should never be done within a vacuum. This means that it is not sufficient to just consider the present facts, as well as historical information and data in order to arrive at decisions or plans (Evans, 2012). The coevolutionary gaming also argues that it is unfeasible to presume that those who will be impacted by such planning or decision making, for instance, competitors will simply accept the decisions and not institute some form of counter action. Plans, as well as decisions, made within a vacuum process can be characterized as shortsighted at best. This is primarily because these decisions and plans typically do not take into consideration other factors such as the implications of counter plans and actions, which could be instituted by parties affected by the decision or plan. A decision made on the basis of existing data could turn out to be worse than simply sustaining the status quo, particularly if reactionary actions are taken into consideration (Branke & Rosenbusch, 2008). For instance, the decision of a newcomer to a market to implement robust price reductions so as to capture massive market share can be considered as detrimental in a coevolutional milieu (Axelrod & Hamilton, 1981). On the basis of existing data, this decision appears quite simplistic; however, the choice is erroneous since it wrongly presumes that the market leaders will do nothing in retaliation against the extremely low prices of the newcomer. What such existing data fails to show is that the market leaders are better equipped to retaliate in the event of a price war than the newcomer because of their robust, incumbent market volumes, which provide them the economies of scale needed to make long term decisions such as cutting prices (Ficici, 2004). Consequently, the market leaders can fight aggressively to the point where they bring their prices below the newcomer’ s point of breakeven, which is often higher, until the newcomer collapses since its sales will be incapable of supporting its overall operations (Thompson, 1994). Simply put, this means that if the decision made by the newcomer is not based on coevolutionary gaming, it could prove more fatal for the company than, for instance, identifying a geographic market niche where it can build its brand. Coevolutionary gaming is an essential tool in decision making, particularly within groups when the risk factors, as well as uncertainty levels are extremely high. This is the fundamental reason why Cares and Miskel poised that the process of coevolutionary gaming lends itself particularly well to all decision making endeavors, regardless of the business, from the Department of Defense to the