Semantic Technology-based Media Publishing Boosts User Engagement

Semantic Technology-based Media Publishing Boosts User Engagement Over the centuries, globalization and various technologies have profoundly changed the way we consume news.Just as a brief comparison, in Medieval times messengers rode far and wide to deliver news and rulers used town criers to inform the (predominantly illiterate) population about the latest laws and local taxation bills. Today, most people around the world have direct access to vast amounts of information and political institutions use social media to engage voters. Technological Advances and MediaTechnology is steadily transforming the way we experience news. It seems only yesterday when we relied on reading the newspaper in the morning and watching TV news in the evening to catch up with local and world events. Nowadays, consumers are constantly exposed to news and news outlets are reaching their audiences through media platforms, mobile apps, email newsletters, social media, podcasts, etc.In this overflow of news and information, media publishers have to go the extra mile to keep users engaged and willing to come back to their online platforms. Just as in Medieval times the town criers dressed in bright colors to catch the eye, media publishers today are applying various strategies to attract readers’ attention. They are also relying on different technologies to be able to accommodate their readers’ interests by recommending relevant content while also looking to maximize ad revenues by serving relevant ads. The Role of Semantic Technology in Media Publishing A recent report from The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism What do News Readers Really Want to Read about shows that, in our high-choice media culture, people rely most of all on a notion of personal relevance to choose the news they consume.Thanks to solutions based on semantic technology, media publishers are able to better engage their readers with the help of sophisticated tools like user-focused recommendations, sentiment analysis and more. These are also the major components of the multi-faceted solution developed by semantic technology expert Ontotext to meet media publishers’ needs.How does it work? A semantic annotation service, with the help of a knowledge base, automatically tags content and extracts specific information from the text, which is later used by the other services in the stack. In the meantime, a sentiment analysis service evaluates how users feel about and react to certain concepts, people, products or topics, based on the comments they p ost.Another major component of Ontotext’s solution is the recommendation services based on the user profiles. They take into consideration various factors such as the semantic fingerprints of the content a user has read and actively engaged with, their liking and disliking of content provided by other users and any other sentiments expressed.Finally, to help media publishers improve their control of the serving of ads and their relevance to the users, Ontotext has built a custom ad serving platform. With the help of semantic analysis, the platform selects out of several candidates the ad that matches best the user’s activity and preferences. Simply put, the more media publishers know about how users consume their content, the more relevant their content and ad recommendations will become. Which is the shortest path to higher user engagement and boosted ad revenues. Click To TweetOf course, as technology continues to get integrated more and more into our lives, the way we navigate the news environment and what drives our interests will continue to evolve.Want to know more about how semantic publishing helps media publishers keep users happy?

Ambush essays

Ambush essays When reading Ambush by Tim OBrien, I was a little thrown off at first. It seemed to start very abruptly and I wasnt too clear on the direction it was going. There was no real background information, like which war it was about, or even an introduction, so I had to read the first two paragraphs over again to get a better idea. As the story developed, I noticed the way OBrien lead into it, particularly how he set the scene and then used very engaging imagery to illustrate a better picture. For example, Very gradually, in tiny slivers, dawn began to to break through the fog.. The way he describes the setting made me feel like I was right there in the story and watching it all happen. The more detail he used in his writing, the more suspense there was towards what would happen next. Then as he began to recall the systematic way he was thinking, it gave a full understanding of the thoughts going through his mind, and the time frame they happened in. OBrien then explains how he ...did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy; I did not ponder issues of morality or politics or military duty... What I found most interesting was the way he structured his sentences in brief, separate verses, just as his thoughts would have been at the time; very sporadic and inconsistent. This made it more interesting, especially when he balanced out the shorter sentences with longer more descriptive details further along in the story. Then he even continues with a different style of sentence form, switching to dashes: The grenade made a popping noise-not soft but not loud either-not what I expected-and there was a puff of dust and smoke-a small white puff-and the young man seemed to jerk upward as if pulled by invisible wires. He fell on his back. I think the way he structured this sentence in particular was to portray the panic he was feeling, and how quickly i ...

Should MDMA be prohibited Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Should MDMA be prohibited - Assignment Example proffered MDMA’s ability to cause long term brain impairments in normal learning and memory functioning, aside from toxic effects to the cardiovascular system leading to dehydration, hyperthermia and seizures. It is my personal conviction that MDMA should be used to maximize its potentials for psychotherapeutic purposes through controlled and managed professional care. The problems that emerge from excessive and irresponsible use of MDMA were actually rooted from lack of local and state controlled regulations on â€Å"dangerous therapeutic† drugs. I support Riedlinger & Montagne’s contention that if MDMA were produced and administered in samples of purity through the lowest therapeutic dose and frequency with proper patient screening, then, adverse effects could definitely be avoided. There have been numerous sensationalized cases of drug-related deaths accountable to regulated drugs that were ultimately easily accessed in greater dosage and frequency all over the world. The root cause of this is the lack of local at state governing bodies that could regulate, monitor, and restrict the dispatching of dangerous drugs. Narcotic pain relievers and drugs such as MDMA have continued to be abused by patients and drug users due to the accessibility of purchasing them in black markets and small unregulated and unmonitored drug stores. The lure of profits, concurrent with the weak regulation of drug agencies to monitor, penalize, and ultimately cause the cessation of operations of these drug stores and sellers, make this issue a continuing public health hazard. I share exactly the same opinion posted made by a class member who stipulated that not all uses of MDMA should be prohibited due to its psychotherapeutic purpose. However, it is still disturbing that despite the enormous volume of research work and testimonies on MDMA’s therapeutic value, there is still no officially approved medical or psychiatric application since its initial use in the 1970s. In this

Global Warming and Agriculture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global Warming and Agriculture - Essay Example Biologists believe that the agriculture practices represent a very carefully designed natural pattern in which the production is limited by a specific amount of natural growth. If these limits were pushed too far beyond, their natural allowance then, the cycle would be destroyed leading to a decline in productivity in general. However, with the increase in global warming, and drastic undefined climate change and decrease in agricultural produce proves the dilemma that both the variables work negative to each other, (negative correlation) and shows how vulnerable the entire system is upon the external changes such as the climate. Thus, it destroys the basic concept of sustainable agriculture, as this system was supposed to have an â€Å"adaptive capacity, as the ability to adjust to climate change, to moderate potential damages, to take advantages of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences† (McCarthy et al., 2001). Climate is the most significant variable of agriculture, whose even the slightest variability has pertinent effects upon the crop produce. The climate may have a stronger impact through indirect factors such as soil, water and terrain which influence the yield are actually produces of the weather conditions, and even slight variability in it, can have a massive impact upon the crop yields, which might be positive or negative, but certainly varying the regular pattern of production. Sustainability was the idea, which wanted to enhance the economic development of the world, in lure of the future generations. The ecologists were concerned with the increasing soil erosion, water depravity and its contamination, pest attacks and their immunity to chemicals, and foremost the social and economic equity all arising t and from the lack of production and its increasing variability. Ecologists worldwide through the analysis of historical data of crop yield suggest that mankind had through decades

Examining The Study Of Rational Choice Theories Criminology Essay

Examining The Study Of Rational Choice Theories Criminology Essay Within the Criminal Justice field, the goal is to reduce crime by utilizing methods that may deter offenders from committing a heinous act. The aspects that are going to be explored in this manuscript will explain how Rational Choice Theory and crime prevention techniques refer to one another. Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) techniques will focus on different types of offenders, their crimes and the success rate of prevention in different levels of criminal activity. Furthermore, some case studies have been reviewed to give a comparison of preventive techniques of crime and its effects. The following research will discuss negative effects and its alarming concern for SCP techniques. Examining the study of rational choice theories and how useful it can be in crime prevention Academic Scholars, along with law enforcement officials review criminal activity in the event to develop methods for which crime may be prevented. Having an understanding of the theory reviewed will further explain the approach investigators take when apprehending perpetrators, interviewing witnesses, and interacting with victims. The research will explore many different views of scholars and the differences in crimes that can be committed. The theory that has been discussed is Rational Choice Theory. Rational Choice Theory is a perspective that criminality is a conscience choice that predicts that individuals choose to commit crime for the sole purpose of the benefits outweighing the cost of the crime (Schmalleger, 2006). This manuscript will provide information on the examination of Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) and how the examples of the methods given have been successful. Literature Review Verma (2007) wrote an article that discusses the approach of situational crime prevention and how it pertains to mass casualties. His article, with assistance of I.K. Mackenzie (1982) recommends a five stage action plan that may dissolve mass casualties before they start (to be discussed later). Verma argues that enforcement officials should work harder on strategies to better leadership skills in the event of a riot. Vance and Trani (2008) focus on crime prevent in white collar crimes. Many individuals in our society believe that white collar crime is not as heinous an act as other crimes. The issue Vance and Trani want to address is that white collar can be a larger issue if overlooked. Schmalleger (2006) is one of the many scholars who have developed books on criminology and its success in educating future scholars. He introduced to other scholars what situational Crime Prevention (SCP) truly means and how understanding crime better could assist in understanding the criminals. The debate that Schmalleger has with other scholars is the difficulty in which criminals are subject to become repeat offenders. Cullen and Agnew (2006) comprised a reading text called Criminological theory: past to present, 3rd edition. It discusses the comparison made by Clarke and Cornish of classical theory and economic theory and the strong connection these theories have to rational choice theory. Furthermore, the text continues to process this choice by defining two major stages that are important to know about rational choice theory. Ratcliffe (2006) developed a manuscript on video surveillance in public places that may deter criminal activity; in which he provided information about a closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system. He explains what CCTV is and how it was developed to prevent crime and also how the development of this system brought unintended consequences. A chart, established by Clarke outlined 25 techniques (Center for Problem Oriented Policing, 2010) that may be useful in the SCP theory. The chart is broken down into five categories and examines different parts of criminal activity. Clarke further breaks down the categories into subsections to explain the techniques correctly in accordance with the category. Several other studies have been reviewed and analyzed to provide information or examples of Clarke ¿Ã‚ ½s SCP techniques (Center for Problem Oriented Policing, 2010). The crimes that will be incorporated with this study in further depth are the security needs of passenger on public transportation (Smith, 2008), closing off opportunities for crime with alley-gating (Bowers, Johnson, and Hirschfield, 2004), and crime in libraries incorporating all five of Clarke ¿Ã‚ ½s SCP techniques (Cromwell, Alexander, and Dotson, 2008). For the entire criteria of Clarke ¿Ã‚ ½s 25 techniques, see Appendix A. Discussion There are many different ways to explain Rational Choice theory and how it is incorporated to Situational Crime Prevention (SCP). Schmalleger (2006) defined SCP as a social policy that looked to develop a greater understanding of crime and with strategies concerning the organizational and environments that make crime possible. Other academic scholars go on to state that Rational Choice Theory is a choice process that occurs in two stages; First, the criminal will need to decide if he wants to engage in crime to satisfy his needs and second is when the decision is made to engage in criminal activity, what particular offense will he commit (Cullen, and Agnew, 2006). However, the best or most innovative explanation was developed by Clarke with his twenty-five techniques of situational crime prevention (Vance and Trani, 2008). The techniques in the chart give examples of SCP and how each category and sub sections apply to a criminal act. The categories of the chart are divided in to five groups, which are: increase the effort. Increase the risk, reduce the rewards, reduce provocations, and remove excuses. This manuscripts main focus is to discuss the two categories that are connected to rational choice theory and situational crime prevention. The first category happens to be increasing the efforts, which has a subsection of target hardening and deflecting offenders and the second category is increasing the risks, which has a subsection of extend guardianship and strengthening formal surveillance. Increase the Effort The Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) subsection category of deflecting the offender is applied by creating a separation for men and women in public surroundings, which in turn does not give offenders the opportunity to create a  ¿Ã‚ ½hot spot ¿Ã‚ ½ for their victims (Innes, 2003). For example, most sex offenders have a tendency to victimize certain women that appear to be vulnerable or less aggressive then they are. There was a study performed on several sex offenders and the process they go through in order to hunt their victims. The study discussed the rational choice the perpetrators make so that the outcome of the assault gives them pleasure. The starting point of the crime is where the offenders seek to benefit themselves by their criminal behavior; that this involves the making of decisions and of choices, however rudimentary on occasion these processes might be; and that these processes exhibit a measure of rationality (Beauregard, Rossmo, and Proulx, 2007). The separation that has been made for men and women in public places are the development of men and women restrooms and changing areas in department stores. With these adjustments, crime in public still occur but committing assault is in public would appear to be more difficult and offenders would have to make more of an effort to assault their victims. Everyone in America can remember what they were doing or where they were at the time of the September 11 attacks. Since the attack, transportation in this country and around the world has experienced some form of target hardening. When a passenger steps into an airport, bus or train station, the passenger is checked almost from head to toe. This policy is more abundant in airports but in major cities, passengers on a train or bus are still checked in an attempt to prevent another major attack since 9/11. There was an article by M. J. Smith (2008) that addressed the needs of women passengers taking public transportation. Smith goes on to address four key elements for analyzing the security need of women passenger, and they are: (1) women ¿Ã‚ ½s reported victimization, (2) issues related to calculating the risk of being a crime victim, (3) the rationality of women ¿Ã‚ ½s fear of crime and disorder, and (4) the need for effective and comprehensive crime prevention measures to address those security-related issues. These concerns and policies have made transportation more equipped with metal detectors, more uniformed and plain clothes officer stationed in subways, airports, and train stations, along with additional baggage tagging and inspections. Increase the Risks Strengthening the observations of society may help in preventing individuals from becoming a victim. For example, many crimes happen during the holiday season and for good reason because individuals get wrapped up in the three P ¿Ã‚ ½s, which are: presents, parties, and planning. Families are planning to go on vacations for the holiday season, friends are picking out outfits for all the parties they will be attending and presents will be exchanged among co-workers before the end of business day. The crimes that are more common during the holiday season are burglary and theft. Kane (2008) suggest that being aware of your surrounding and recognizing motivated offenders will help prevent individuals from becoming a victim during the holiday season. That does not mean taking matters into your own hands; it means to practice being alert when out enjoying the festivities of the holidays. One way to being more alert is to ask a neighbor or a friend to house sit for you while you are off on vacation. You can direct this individual to check on your house once a day or every other day in order to give off the impression that someone is home. If you live in a community with police patrol, you can ask for the officer or security to check on your home in your absence. Or you can develop a form of prevention that closes off opportunities for crime. Bowers, Johnson, and Hirschfield (2004) studied a recently introduced prevention technique in Great Britain that involved fitting a gate to several alleyways along the back of terraced properties to restrict access to local residents and reduce the offender ¿Ã‚ ½s opportunity to commit a crime. The study was performed on homes that were narrow in space and could be connected to other dwellings for the purpose of the experiment. The alley-gates could secure an entire block and all the houses within this radius. The gate will be a ccessible with a key for which only the residents will have and there will be a limit to the number each household can acquire. This study demonstrated that a small gated community had reduced its burglary attempts in comparison to communities that were not gated. Video surveillance is one way police can deter offenders from committing crimes. By upgrading the performance of surveillance, it is less likely that a criminal will want to commit a crime because of the risk of apprehension. When using the method of strengthening surveillance, one of the most employed surveillance technologies is closed-circuit television (CCTV). CCTV is a number of cameras connected to a loop or closed circuit, with images produced being sent to a monitoring station (Ratcliffe, 2006). Using this type of surveillance is predominately for large groups of people that congregate in areas that are too wide for regular patrol. For example, college ¿Ã‚ ½s campuses, sports arenas, department stores and major club venues are the kinds of establishments that CCTV systems are employed. The cameras are placed in locations that may be more prone for criminal activity which will allow the individual operating the camera access to see what the actual crime has or will be committed. There has even been an incident or two where the individual operating the cameras has given a warning to other individuals making them aware that they can be seen committing some type of foul play on camera. The primary g oal of utilizing video surveillance is to increase the perceived risk of capture in the hope that any measure of the offenders improprieties will have them reconsidering to commit a crime (Ratcliffe, 2006). SCP Application Among the Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) examples stated above, there have been several other studies that represented SCP and its effects on the prevention of crime. One study discussed the situational crime prevention approach when dealing with mass causalities or riots. This research suggested that riots could be prevented by aligning practical guidelines and theoretical considerations by a recommended five-stage action plan. The stages incorporated are: (1) attempt to identify, isolate and remove those individuals who precipitate the incident before the crowd begins to organize, (2) break the crowd into smaller groups to disrupt communications, (3) quickly deal with the crowds leaders and remove from the spot, (4) create diversions in other places, so there is no focus, and (5) do not let the crowd gain strength in numbers (Verma, 2007). In the article, Crime and Incivilities in Libraries, Clarke ¿Ã‚ ½s five SCP techniques are explored and further examined to uncover how crimes such as theft, vandalism, and assault have reared its head into the library. Cromwell, Alexander, and Dotson (2008) conclude that the crimes mentioned above, along with problems with disruptive patrons can be substantially reduced by the implementation of SCP strategies and a well-conceived security plan for staff training. The research discussed more incivilities that could occur while at or in a library, however they were not addressed in this manuscript. Unintended Consequences With any research or study, there are concerns that are discussed that will possibly bring about some negativity towards any technique, theory or experiment. Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) is not perfect and it has its concerns with an issue of displacement. Ratcliffe (2006) describes displacement as offenders moving their offending to a place that has less risk of being caught. For example, an offender may not want to rob a jewelry store if he can see that there is a camera system set in place to identify him. This is a concern for the perpetrators because in the rational choice theory, a criminal wants to seek the benefits from the act with the least amount of punishment. The turnout for unintended consequences are not high, however the concerns still prove that displacement can occur and using current SCP may reduce a higher percentage in the future. Conclusion Without the hard work performed by researches, investigators, and academic scholars the study of rational choice theory and its assistance in situational crime prevention (SCP) may not have been explored. SCP is an important and useful tool in the prevention of crime. The research and studies mentioned in this manuscript on the prevention of crime have been reviewed in all types of criminal offenses. The SCP techniques have assisted in giving steps to maintain order in riot situations, white collar crime and women passenger travel using public transportation. These SCP techniques may prevent criminal activity in places that offenders deem easier to victimize individuals but it does not deter criminals from seeking pleasure in other venues that are not affected by preventive solutions. References Beauregard, E., Rossmo D. K., Proulx, J. (2007). A descriptive model of the hunting process of serial sex offenders: A rational choice perspective. Journal of Family Violence. 22(6). 449-463. Retrieved October 20, 2010 from ProQuest database. Bowers, J. K., Johnson, D. S., Hirschfield, G. F. A. (2004). Closing off opportunities for crime: An evaluation of alley-gating. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 10.285-308. Retrieved on October 15, 2010 from ProQuest database. Center for Problem Oriented Policing (2010). Twenty five techniques of situational prevention. Retrieved January 12, 2010 from http://www.popcenter.org/25techniques/. Cromwell, P., Alexander, G., Dotson, P. (2008). Crime and incivilities in libraries: Situational crime prevention strategies for thwarting biblio-bandits and problem patrons. Security Journal. 21. 147-158. Retrieved July 18, 2010 from ProQuest database. Cullen, T. F., Agnew, R. (2006). Criminological Theory: Past to present, 3rd edition. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing Company. Innes, B. (2003). Profile of a criminal mind: How psychological profiling helps solve true crimes. Pleasantville, NY/Montreal: Reader ¿Ã‚ ½s Digest Association, Inc. Kane, M. (2008). A Guide for a Safe and Crime-Free Holiday. Thrive Journal. Retrieved October 17, 2010 from Mountain State University. Ratcliffe, J. (2006). Video surveillance of public places. Washinton D. C.: U. S. Department of Justice. Schmalleger, Frank (2006). ¿Ã‚ ½ Criminology today: An integrative introduction, 4th edition. ¿Ã‚ ½ Columbus, OH: ¿Ã‚ ½ Prentice Hall. Smith, M. J. (2008). Addressing the security needs of women passengers on public transport. Security Journal. 21. 117-133. Retrieved July 18, 2010 from ProQuest database. Vance, N. Trani, B. (2008). Situational prevention and the reduction of white collar crime. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 9-18. Retrieved September 18, 2010 from ProQuest database. Verma, A. (2007). Anatomy of riots: A situational crime prevention approach. Crime Prevention and Community Safety. 9. 201-221. Retrieved September 20, 2010 from ProQuest database.

Current Event Research Paper Essay

The research paper I found to discuss was a study done on motivation in the work place in a hotel in Konya, Turkey. Since I am currently in the hotel industry I find it very interesting that these individuals were able to conduct a mathematical analysis of what drives employees to stay committed in the work place. The three factors they tested to see which had the highest effect on employees were intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and work motivation. In this study they had employees fill out a survey based on a 5-point scale that consisted of a list of questions pertaining to their work environment and the outcome of certain situations. This study was based on a single 5 star hotel that contained about 500 employees, only about 120 participated in the study. Researchers broke the results down into a mathematical problem that started equal for each of the three factors but then increased/decreased based on test results. They also had a percentage breakdown of age range and gender so you knew the different variables they were working with. The problem they were trying to solve was to see how to keep employees from leaving a company since employee turnover is much more costly than keeping long term employees. I know from my experience that employees need motivation when at work especially in an industry as difficult as hospitality. This test was important to conduct because as managers and supervisors we need to know what keeps our employees going and striving. The result of this study proved to be very informative and helpful when better understanding employee’s basic needs. Researchers were able to find out what the most important factor is and what the least important factor is for employees when we are trying to keep them committed to a company. The first result of this study showed that intrinsic was the most important  motivational factor. This means that employees value being treated as a human more than anything else. Instead of treating employees like they are just a working piece of a machine, they want to know that they are viewed as a social human beings who are important to the organization as a whole. I know from personal experience in this industry that this result is spot on, you can give employees raises but if they don’t feel appreciated within your company or even just your department then they will shut down. This is a very important result to see so that management can see that basic respect of employees by their leaders makes all the difference. The second most important factor for commitment showed to be extrinsic motivation. I was surprised to find that this actually wasn’t the highest result since people generally work towards moving up at their job. This result showed that it is important to reward employees with promotions, salary increases, etc. which I feel is basic common knowledge that you should have as a manager. In my hotel I reward my employees with incentives for receiving good guest reviews which I feel is important to show them that not only are they doing a great job but I want them to be rewarded for going above and beyond for our guests. The outcome of this study shows that in fact employees do need to receive monetary compensation for a job well done alongside praise and respect for doing their job well. The last result was work motivation which showed to have absolutely no effect in this case study. In this specific study it presents that work motivation has no effect on employee’s commitment to a company thus making it irrelevant to this study. Work motivation is the basic internal and external factors management uses to keep their employees going at work. This did surprise me that it has no effect on employee’s commitment to their company since I would feel like if you are being motivated to do your work you would want to stay with that company. I found this entire study to be very interesting since I do work in this specific field so it is good to know as a manager what will make my employees want to stay with the company. I think all in all they went about this study the right way by breaking it down into three factors and calculating it down to percentages and using a 5-point system to rank from most important to least important. I would say that maybe if this test was conducted again that they break it down by department so it was more specified as well as ha ving more participants in the survey so the results  would be more validated.

Laws and Regulations Essay

Introduction British Petroleum is the US’s largest corporation. One of the largest oil producers, BP services globally for billions of dollars each year. BP distributes oil and natural gas all over the world. British Petroleum has run into several problems with federal regulations over many years. Because of safety issues against the communities OSHA had to investigate many times for oil spills and natural gas leaks. Coca Cola is also one of the largest company beverage companies on the world. Coca Cola was used at first to cure addicts but the n it was revamped and used for making drinks for everyone. Like BP, Coca Cola had its issues with the law as well. They have been accused of violating human rights, pesticides in the groundwater, and finding cancer causing chemicals in the soft drinks. In 2008 it was concluded that Coca Cola was in direct violation FDA for health risk. We will compare and contrast the risks of safety regulations, OSHA violation, product safety and liability, workers compensation, and workplace data security and property protection from Coca Cola and British Petroleum. OSHA The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) of 1970 is a federal regulation that establishes and enforces health and safety policy in the workplace (Goetsch, 2008). It covers private sector employers and employees and encourages states to participate in health and safety programs. States that participate receive half of its funding from the federal government (OSHA.gov, 2011). In the advent of increasing awareness and training of health and safety, company safety representatives must be up-to-date on laws, regulations and liability. The OSH Act requires employers to maintain statistical health and safety records and to report occupational illnesses and injuries under certain conditions at each company location. The reporting conditions are the following: â€Å"Death of one or more workers, one or more days away from work, restricted motion or restrictions to the work that an employee can do, loss of consciousness of one or more workers, transfer of an employee to another job, medical treatment beyond in-house first aid (if it is not on the first-aid list, it is considered medical treatment), and any other condition listed in Appendix B of the rule† (Goetsch, 2008, p. 121). Employers are responsible for informing employees about health and safety practices, laws, and regulations. OSHA regulations apply to BP and Coca-Cola with some deviation because of the nature of the business. OSHA regulations include general industry standards and it provides health and safety training programs for employees and employers. In the last few years, BP has been under much scrutiny. OSHA fined BP $87.4m for safety violations that led up to the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion (Walter, 2009). In 2010, BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill is still under investigation by the government. Insiders blame the spill on BP’s decision to shortcut procedures and skip a quality test (Casselman & Gold, 2010). Unlike BP, Coca-Cola received OSHA recognition in 2009 for having the highest employee safety and health standards at its Milesburg, PA site (OSHA.gov, 2009). Worker’s Compensation According to Goetsch (2008) â€Å" the concept of worker’s compensation developed as a way to allow injured employees to be compensated appropriately without having to take their employer to court† (Overview of Worker’s Compensation, p. 174). British Petroleum (BP) and Coca-Cola are large organization with locations around the world. Both organization have over 90,000 workers worldwide and have worker compensation plans to make sure injured employees are cared for. According to Ramos Law (2011), â€Å"workers at Coke suffer injuries similar to that of other factory employees. These workers suffer shoulder injuries from repetitive jobs such as mixing formula; knew injuries from loading product; or back pain from general warehouse jobs† (Hurt While Working at Coca-Cola or in the Beverage Industry?, para. 1). Coke needs to do a risk analysis and provide training to reduce the amount of workers’ compensation claims. British Petroleum (BP) had a massive oil spill in April of 2010 off the Gulf of Mexico in which BP hired over 20,000 people to help clean up the disaster. The care, training and protective gear for the cleanup crews was below safety standards. Training and protective gear could be the cause of the worker’s compensation claims that BP has will continue to receive. According to Johnston Moore & Thompson Attorneys at Law (2011), â€Å"seven oil spill workers were hospitalized on May 26 after experiencing nausea, dizziness and headaches. Four more were hospitalized on May 28, two of whom were admitted for chest pains† (First Workers’ Compensation Cases Building for Oil Spill Cleanup, para. 4). The fumes from the oil and the touching of the hazardous material to try and reduce the damage caused many to become sick. The safety standards of BP are being questioned for both the workers and the surrounding areas that were hit by this devastating oil spill. Product Safety and Liability Product safety and liability is a law that was created to hold distributors, retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers responsible for injuries caused from the product (Goetsch, 2008). This law was designed so that in the event injury occurs the consumer is protected. There are a number of different concepts that have laid the groundwork for the product liability law. The four major reasons that the laws were created were from, negligent manufacture, breach of warranty, strict liability in tort, and negligent design (Goetsch, 2008). Companies must take the time to ensure that the products that have been designed meet the safety standards to prevent potential instances from occurring. Coca Cola ensures that the product safety and liability is met by measuring the product and package requirements against the company standards. The company uses â€Å"The Coca-Cola Management Systems† which is a quality management system that maintains the company’s operations worldwide, maintain the Coca-Cola standards (thecoca-colacompany.com, 2011). BP has been under the analysis for quite some time since the oil spill occurred that caused millions of dollars in damage to the Gulf of Mexico. Since that time BP has created new ideas to monitor the waters that hold different oil rigs, these have been created to ensure quality monitoring. BP has created an observation program that will support constant monitoring. (BP.com, 2011) This will allow for the creation of quality monitoring preventing additional instances of the oil spill occurring in the future. This is important part of the product liability and safety program to ensure that the company follows the guidelines required to prevent future liability’s from occurring. This new quality monitoring will be able to â€Å"detect changes within the water quality, marine mammal vocalizations and weather and water temperature† (BP.com, 2011). Workplace Data and Property Protection In the workplace the most important option to the company is security and protection. Companies spend millions of dollars creating systems to protect all the assets and data that passed through a system. At BP, system security over their data tying global partnerships each refinery is a goal amongst the company. British Petroleum train each employee to keep information confidential and away from media if there is a minor incident. The risk of an employee breaking that code of silence about vital information is likely to happen. They have contracts to state employees cannot talk to media or there will be consequences that could ultimately lead to termination. Environmental Protection Agency protects the property and materials produced by BP. EPA keeps the regulation on what products are safe for BP to use to drill oil. Coke Cola has similar issues of security, but they are interested in keeping new products under the table so they can have the advantage over their competition once they launch a product. Their data protection requires a secure system as well. Both IT departments make sure systems do not get hacked by putting up server walls on the system. The security side of the results of companywide is an enterprise-level record of reference that becomes the official record for a given employee, customer, supplier, facility or other entity. Records of reference are the gold standard against which all other records in the system must be validated. These bind together the mass of company data and are at the core of the master data management approach to enterprise-wide integration (Goetsch, 2008). Although other large corporations are developing their own information frameworks, BP’s design is unique in that it specifically complements BP’s decentralized business structure. Casselman and Gold (2010) describes a situation in which a BP employee might have multiple records in one or more human resource databases, making it time-consuming to weed out the duplicate data. Conclusion There are many risks and contrasting information between the Coca Cola and British Petroleum. Both must follow rules and regulations of OSHA and federal laws in order to stay in business. Both companies had their share of setbacks when it came to employees and safety issues that made the public eye. Both companies continue to make billions of dollars and each year as the rules change they are learning to change with it. References BP.com. (2011) BP Deploying Advance Unmanned Water Quality Monitoring Vehicles in Gulf of Mexico. Retrieved from http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7064711 Casselman, B. and Gold, R. (2010). BP decisions set stage for disaster. Current, 524,14-16. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete. Goetsch, L. (2008). Occupational safety and health for technologists, engineers, and managers (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Johnston Moore & Thompson Attorneys at Law. (2011). Hunysvills Pearsonal Injusry Law. Retrieved from http://www.huntsvillepersonalinjurylaw.com. OSHA.gov. (2009). U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA recognizes Coca-Cola Danone Waters LLC for workplace safety and health success. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/ pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=18137. OSHA.gov. (2011). 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