Entrepreneurship

I think the best path for me would be a mixture of both a businessman and entrepreneur. But if I had to choose just one it would be Entrepreneur.  Some traits or strengths that I see aligning with my conclusion of entrepreneur would be valuable time with my family and providing for me and my family as well as the idea to never stop learning.  These are just some examples of the strengths I see that would make me an entrepreneur instead of a businessman. Some weaknesses though are the fact that to have a career I need to make money to go to college and graduate school. By making money I would have to have one of those jobs that take away from the family time and the need to learn since I would not have enough hours in the day to do all of that. I think that once I finish school and find that career I would be in better position to have that family time and commitment to never stop learning. I wouldn’t say that entrepreneurship is just about starting a business. I would say that it is partly that and partly about making your own decisions in both a personal and professional capacity. From the traits it looks like a businessman tries to have a family but is more about the job whereas an entrepreneur has more emphasis on the family instead of the business. I think that you can be an entrepreneur on your own terms because in the end it only matters what you think and not what someone else thinks. In the future, I would think that the more successful one or the happier one would be the one who thinks that they themselves are happy by their terms not someone else’s. But if I had to choose,  I think that the entrepreneur would be the more successive one and be the happier one. The businessman is just someone who is trying to be successful in their career since that is first priority to them; but the entrepreneur’s first priority is his family and then his business. Both are equally important to him but his family would be the number one.

Implementing a Lean Process

 I noticed that our desk drawers had folders, papers and just random things in it that we hadn't used in a while or we just didn't need anymore; so I threw all that away to give room for the papers and folders we are using now so that the desk top would stay clean. So far this lean process seems to be working now that my family knows where to put certain papers and folders and they have a specific spot instead of just everywhere. This is waste that may not be huge but is still waste that was necessary for a lean process to occur.

Criteria for Evaluation

Review criteria
          Attendance/participation
          Tasks Accomplished

Communication

Enthusiasm

Professionalism

Contribution

   
Peer Evaluation
    each person is ranked from 1-11 (1 being better)
    each person is given one number, no reusing numbers

5s system

So as you can see in the before picture my family’s community computer desk was not very organized and it was very messy. As part of the 5s system I went and took each step one at a time and bit the best I could. So I moved all the unnecessary things off of the desk straight off and put them in a pile for now (step 1). I then made a place for anything and everything. I made it so that it was easy access to the key board and the printer, made sure the mouse had room to move, moved all the papers to folders inside the drawers and on the shelf right next to it (step 2). After finding places for everything I proceeded to clean the counter, the keyboard, the printer screen and the computer screen inside and out (step 3).  When I was done I asked my family that they clean up their messes when done with the computer. (step 4). A couple days later I went to see if my family was practicing what I had asked and sure enough they were (step5) Steps 6-8 are pretty self explanatory in terms of safety, security and satisfaction. I am happy with the results of this system. 

Before

After

Quality Management

 The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has just implemented a system to help control the full life cycles of the biotech plants in the future called Excellence through Stewardship. The objectives of this program:

1. Fully comply with applicable regulatory requirements,
2. Seek to achieve and maintain plant product integrity, and
3. Work to prevent trade disruptions in order to facilitate the flow of goods in commerce.

This program/Guide helps make sure that all companies that are biotech food friendly comply to the latest regulations and laws and help make sure that the foods themselves are grown(made) to the best quality assured. But it being a new system it is sure unsure of what is needed in the realm of GM foods.

Specific Ethical question

My field of interest is in Biotechnology and how we can develop new ways to find answers to medical questions, alternative energy situations, etc. A question that has come up in this field is whether or not we should be genetically modifying foods (GM foods).

Supporters of GM food say that the food can potentially produce higher crop yields, which could help by feeding more people in developing countries. Better financial gain in the long run, improved food quality. These foods can be designed to stay fresher longer and with stand diseases better than normal foods which would extend the shelf life of the food. They can be engineered to withstand extreme weather conditions which will again produce higher crop yields in those poor season with bad weather. For example if it was an extremely dry summer certain fruits would not be able to survive well and not produce a lot causing a shortage. With GM foods they would not need the weather to cooperate to produce enough to not cause that shortage. These foods could also be designed to have better nutrition content. They can be designed to give more of the vitamins and nutrients we take from them. Which would help in our attempts to stay healthy.

People against GM foods also have reason to support not modifying our foods. One reason is that the GM foods has the ability of a food to trigger an allergy in humans. Some of the genes used in GM technology might be taken from a food that causes allergies in some people. Inserting that gene into another organism could cause the host organism to express that allergen as a trait. Alternately, a new allergen could be produced when genes are mixed across different species.Another reason is the food could cause organisms in the ecosystem could be harmed, which would lead to a lower level of biodiversity. By removing one pest that harms the crop, you could be removing a food source for an animal and so on. Also, GM crops could prove toxic to an organism in the environment the food is grown and potentially lowering the count of the organism and possible leading to extinction of that organism. There is also fear that GM foods will cause the formation of new diseases since some  are modified using bacteria and viruses.

I personally don't see why we aren't doing this to a lot more foods. I feel that the pros far outweigh the cons. Yes there is a potential to create a new allergy, but doesn't that already happen with the formation of new drugs? But if the possibility to stop hunger is real then I think that would be better than trying to prevent things that may or may not happen. If It was a sure thing that these foods caused new allergies and caused new disease formation then I am sure I feelings would change, but there is still uncertainty to whether or not these issues will occur.

http://www.geneticallymodifiedfoods.co.uk/fact-sheet-pros-vs-cons.html
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml

Project Title and Action Plan

Solar Energy Project