America Online 

Mission Statement 

"To become the world’s most respected and valued company by connecting, informing and entertaining people everywhere in innovative ways that will enrich their lives." 
Introduction 

America On-line (AOL), the largest commercial on-line service provider in the US, has been presented with a daunting task. Remaining a viable competitor in an increasingly crowded, fast- changing and competitive market. . Consumer services are entering a highly contested market that is expected to be even more competitive with the arrival of telephone and cable television giants in the months to come. For example, AT&T dealt a devastating blow for AOL as well as hundreds of other Internet providers by offering five hours per month free Internet usage to its approximately 90 million customers, 20 million of whom already have personal computers. 

AOL, the largest commercial on-line service, offers their customers more than access to the Internet. AOL features include chat rooms, electronic magazines, software and entertainment services. Analysts believe that such content makes these services less vulnerable in the short run to AT&T's offerings. A value-added feature of AOL is its proprietary system that it provides users access to proprietary content. For AOL, that which makes them unique (proprietary system), also makes them most vulnerable. 

AOL has aggressively marketed to the mass media of on-line users. Marketing efforts have focused on selling the idea of AOL as an easy-to-use, fun, interactive, "community" with a lot of content exclusively provided to its members. AOL distributes their software via direct mailings, inserts of diskettes as well as request forms for disks/CDs in magazines, downloadable web sites, OEM bundling agreements, media partnerships and retail sales. In 1995 AOL increased their level of direct marketing. As previously stated, AOL hopes to capture up to 97 million users, as well as expanding internationally. 


America On-Line: Customer Value & Satisfaction 

America On-Line it has delivered customer value and satisfaction by its narrow focus on average consumers, and its determination to make using its services simple and clear. AOL is known for providing the most convenient and easiest-to-use interactive service available. The company pioneered technologies such as keywords for simple navigation and the buddy-list feature to enable instant messaging by displaying member’s contacts who are online 

As the internet becomes more central to consumers daily lives, people are increasingly demanding ways, in addition to the PC, to access- anytime, any place- features and content they rely on. Through its AOL Anywhere initiative, the company is working to provide a new level of service bringing the average to the next stage of development. 

AOL members can now access their e-mail, instant messages, news headlines, stock portfolios, and other key features over any telephone using simple, spoken commands and AOL-by-Phone; on wireless devices such as Sprint PCS and AT&T Digital wireless phones, Palms and other personal digital assistants and the new AOL Mobile Communicator, and on any PC with the personalizable AOL Anywhere Web site. 

Consumers also are demanding faster connections to the Internet. Through AOL High Speed Broadband, members can enjoy rich media such as music, movies, and games as well as an always-on connection. 

AOL’s major competitor is Microsoft, which it already battles in the web portal business, dial-up access, and corporate software. Microsoft has a real advantage because of the power of its Windows operating system. Moreover, Microsoft is using its massive cash stockpile to make significant investments in interactive TV and cable, trying to establish its place as the access provider for cable TV set-top boxes. 

Another competitor is the free service providers such as Kmart-Yahoo, NetZero, and Freei Networks. Many observers suggest that these free services threaten AOL’s power. 

America On-Line: Social Responsibility 

With the rapidly advancing technologies that are occurring in modern business, organizations are required to be ready, and able to adapt within their ever-changing environment. It is true across all diverse industries that in order to stay competitive, organizations must be able to utilize the various tools that technology has to offer. AOL is committed to serving the public-interest by using their unique talents to enrich peoples lives and strengthen communities around the world. They focus their attention on the areas where their expertise has the greatest impact. 


Recommendations 

The increasingly different needs of customers necessitate a choice. A few years ago customers had a standardized set of needs, today those needs have, and are steadily changing. Failure to select target segments will further weaken AOL offerings by not meeting any set of needs fully. Creating a marketing organization that can respond to the high-paced competition of the On-line Services Business. The pace of technological change, and overnight changes in customer needs must be addressed in a timely fashion if AOL is to survive. Decrease the acquisition cost of customers. The range between consumer value and acquisition cost must be increased in order to become profitable. Given increasing price pressure from competition, raising fees is not feasible. The only option left is lowering the acquisition cost. 

Online Business 

Abstract 
This paper includes the process of online business; how to sell a product, advertising, various ways to create awareness and how to become a reseller. Laws and conditions for an online business. 

Online Business 
Introduction 
This article includes the process of online business; how to sell a product, advertising,various ways to create awareness and how to become a reseller. Additionally it consists of Laws and conditions for an online business, spamming, electronic signatures and online sales tax. 

Online Business 

At the very start, internet revolution was known as a world wide web that would change everything. In 1990s, the concept of "online business" was created, this business is known by various names such as dot-coms, e-biz etc. which made easier to start a business on internet and inexpensive as well. Whether it's a big or a small, local or international it can reach infront of the world very easily. Thousands of ventures have been made on internet for online business on the basis of brick and mortar. Online business is not different from any other venture. Same rules and principles are applied. First thing to start up a business is to create a business plan and think of how to make money. Some of the options which should be applied for an online business includes, sell products, sell advertising, sell information, sell services and to become a reseller. All of these options are complied together. For any virtual business an individual should always look for products with high margins, high demand and less competition either for physical or digital manner. However, many services are sold on internet such as web hosting, domain name registration, software applications and comparison of different products and services. Selling information is another basic option in an online business which is done in two forms, one is subscribing on a website where online articles are available for free and on the other hand e-books are popular and are free, they can be downloaded easily plus when the writing is done the cost of subscription is very low. Advertising on internet leads toward a lot of money though it's an expensive procedure, with a lot of traffic on a web site one can make money easily by joining any kind of ad network such as Google. By getting affiliated with another web site can also make a lot of money such as sending a buyer on another merchant's web page, like this one can get a percentage on per sale basis but first an individual needs to get expert in marketing for search engines. In all a lot of traffic in required to generate money. Once a business plan is made, to make a web site is the second most important thing for any online business because it helps to determine the content needed on a web site, makes easier communications with web developer and can measure proper results. For instance a person needs to drive customers for a store front, it can be easily accomplished by making a simple single paged web site for online coupons, promotions and newsletters but for brand awareness a web site should be designed deeply with developed online advertising. If a company is working on a big scale than a lot of money is spend plus time. This work can be done by a good web site consultant who can fulfill the requirements by using latest software's. A web site is also known as a business tool which helps to create awareness among the customers. 
Sometimes, it gets hard to sell a product on internet. There are various methods to be applied for selling products online, such as eBay which it self can help to sell a product, if a business has started on small scale than an experiment with eBay is most important. Drop shippers is another choice, it's a process where a wholesaler will ship directly towards a customer. In this way investment is not necessary. It can be done by finding a local business or low scale businesses which offer's the right product which is not yet into online business, it can help to exchange percentage if it is sold online. Another way to sell products is to buy them in a huge quantity which means many of the seller gives a discount for buying their products like this and then to sell them online. Competition is another problem for any online business. It is very necessary to analyze the competition that every business should attempt, web sites change so quickly that it becomes very hard to keep an eye for what they are doing. Search engine's can be used to find another company which can be done by writing different kinds of keywords, web sites which appear on the first page of the search engine are the ones who are succeeding in this game. In order to recognize the same company to check out their updates, a bookmark is must for marking out those web sites. Following stuff should be kept in mind while analyzing a competitor's web site, usability, site content, search engine ranking, benefits, promotions and offers. All the characteristics are shown on the web site while examining the web site. (Ana Rincon) 
When internet business grew and became popular in many states, the legislation took action for electronic and digital signatures. When E-Sign took place the question arose that whether it takes such state laws on the subject. an electronic signature is an electronic data used for parties to a transaction. This signature is a unique, electronic and is in a form of a code for electronic contracts or documents, this allow the parties for easier and quicker transaction without any paper work. Electronic signatures are also define as an electronic sound or process which is associated with a contract which accepted by a person to sign a record. A policy was made for on the basis of E-Sign's that the legal electronic signatures and records cannot be denied because they are in electronic form but if the states law modifies and points out an alternate process for the use of electronic signatures or records for such procedures with the involvement of E-Sign may not validate only one type of technology. Online business should keep in their mind that individual states can add various laws affecting electronic signatures. However, legislation has failed to enact bulk, commercial e-mailing etc. In order to balance financial structure most of the companies use e-mail as very helpful tool for advertising and marketing because it's has potential vast reach and at times e-mail is used for sending beneficial information to specific consumers according to their requests. Furthermore, It should be noted that commercial e-mails are often send as bulk which is also known as spamming. Many laws have been passed but it didn't help to enact anti-spam law. In United States, court passed a law for retailers that they cannot collect sales if a customer is in another state tax unless they have physical presence. If an online business is selling tangible products than sales tax is required. A state may requires collecting taxes on sales from its resident which are out of the state. Such taxes are also known as 'use' taxes. Although, the main point is that for any state it is very difficult to enforce laws, so the state only rely on honor system for collecting use taxes.

Online Communities

I. Introduction
     York university in Canada once created a web site called York University Student Center Online. This web site concern about the student activities on campus and outside. First lunched in 2001, the aim of York’s website is entertainment and media publication. It has a good reputation among other Canadian universities’ websites. The web site archives many of the student activities since its launch till today. Some of the website activities are holding online orientations for new students, weekly newsletter about student clubs and organizations, collecting donations, web register for events and concerts, online discussion with professors. The article York University Student Centre Online says that lots of York’s students has got active in the university from behind their computers screens only. These students where in some day in the past the typical character of the passive students. The articles also claims that many crimes came about from behind the website. Students misused the other students properties and tried to steal their work and ideas that they have published on the website (yorku.ca). These disadvantages appears to the surface always with the existence of a new web technology. York’s website is an example of what so called an online community for college students. This new form of a web site can also be applied at AUS. Although an online community for AUS students may have some disadvantages, it is beneficial for four main reasons.
II. Online communities background
Community is an odd and rich term in the world of Internet public life. Like many key conception of the social sciences, it has specific and rigid meaning for scholars, and broader connotation when it is used in the information technology language. According to Christian Crumlish, an online community or virtual community “is a group whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet” (Crumlish, p. 142). By this definition of the online community, the Internet is the term behind the internationally connected computers that link the people all around the world into online discussions by using the great CMC (Computer-Mediated Communications) technology. This general definition fulfills all the possible activities that can be done in an online community. Howard Rheingold in his book The Virtual Community claims that the important thing to keep in mind is that the worldwide interconnected telecommunication network that we use to make telephone calls in sharjah and Dubai can also be used to connect computers together at a distance, and you don't have to be an engineer to do it (rheingold.com). That gives us a hint on how online communities on the Internet started and how it got all this reputation. 
     There is a wide range of applications that online communities are being used for. People in weekends log in to the internet to chat, surf, or send e-cards to their friends. Other people join or build online communities on the internet for similar motivations, to be in touch with friends. Whether the purpose of building an online community is personal or public, these online communities are used to meet people for entertainment, business, planning and organizing, or to discuss different issues. E-learning is a type of online communities that targets the people who can not afford studying abroad. Also with E-learning, academic institution like universities can have online courses similar to those the offline ones. Sue Boetcher talks about other types of online communities that are specialized for business. She claims that businessmen use the internet to build their working team, work on projects with their colleges, and solve the problems they might face with the help of their partners (fullcirc.com). Another type of online communities is introduced by Howard Rheingold in his book The Virtual Community which is the civil society. Rheingold says that the civil society is a “web of informal relationships that exist independently of government institutions or business organizations, [which] is the social adhesive necessary to hold divergent communities of interest together into democratic societies” (rheingold.com).
     College online communities is a very fresh entry to the online community world. The idea of that media can be used to build a community is quit old, hence the online communities that are being used by college students have started with the existence of the Internet. Lassen Grave says that the college online communities has first appeared in the United States in mid 90s, in the middle of the necessitate for network mediated groups that help the students to contact with other students in the same university. These college online communities has played same the role of the living room in a house. The student rest and relax in them away from the books pressures (Graves, p. 5).
Jenny Preece talks in her book Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability about the sociability on the internet and how online communities for college students can in the future achieve one of the goals Preece proposed. Universal access or global access is a prospective criteria of any online community that is under development. Statistics says that the amount of people who uses the internet double every 52 days. This huge growth of the users of the Internet raise a big question mark to hour heads, can all these people access the internet. The digital technology is impacting cultural mixtures, environmental concerns, and standard of living around the world. To grantee a universal access to online communities, the electronic dividers must be eliminated first. Preece think that doing so is an ultimate goal for the future. Researches in the fields of language and technology will be necessary to inform national and international agencies so that they can deploy resources appropriately (Preece, p. 441).
III. Disadvantages and arguments against online communities for college students
The topic of using online communities for college students has been attacked by many critics who claim that building an online community for college students has more disadvantages over its advantages. A disadvantage is that the students themselves may become addicted by the time they use these online communities. When evaluating York’s online community, the article York University Student Center Online says that about 32 percent of the students used to set behind the screens chatting more than four hours per day (yorku.ca). Sue Boetcher argues that the students on the Internet who are chatting with other students are being socially isolated in early ages of their practical life. Boetcher also claims that there are “tens of thousands of college students spending their time and government-sponsored resources to chase virtual dragons” (fullcirc.com).
Rheingold argues that some users on the online communities have hidden agendas (rheingold.com). These users are usually appear as exactly as the inverse to what they are really do. They have ill-conceived motivations to participate in such communities, therefore, they take the advantage of flexible identity that the Internet furnish them and this always the start of a new crime. Abusing other people systems or cracking encrypted messages posses a problem: will students misuse an online community for their college, especially in an environment where there are no properties rights are saved.
Some critics may claim that holding an online community for students is unfair with the presence of ignoring the professors and the staff members. Instructors are used to step down from their stages, and to play the role of coaches and co-participants who can display ignorance as well as knowledge. Social relationships may be multivalent, as when students are supposed to collaborate, but are also graded individually, and thus competitively. Lessen Graves discusses argues on the approaches of developing learning communities which rely on carefully planned stages of activity for encouraging the participation of professors in college online communities. Graves claims that college online community can not ignore the professors, where at the same time students can not ignore that they are monitored in their discussions inside such communities (Graves, p. 174).
Privacy might turn out to be the most important term all over the Internet, as an aid to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each new web tool become to the surface. Online communities are built up on the Internet, the Internet is happening to all people all around the world with different goals and personalities. Howard Rheingold argues that the Internet is increasingly becoming a multicultural forum, the only multicultural forum of any scope. Therefore, to focus on developments in the privacy is wise because that is where the web began and where many technical and social innovations emerged such as the online communities. Ethical issues crisis is in how to protect the users’ privacy. For example, how to notify users about the encystations of the traffic. It also emphasize on how the users’ data and participations are shown to other users and how to ensure privacy and build a relationship of trust. Rheingold argues that lacking the privacy restrictions on online communities may end up to a war. This war is provoked from the high concentration of people with the same desires (rheingold.com). 
IV. Advantages of online communities for college students
Beside all the above disadvantages of online communities, there are four main advantages students can get behind a well-oriented online community in a university like AUS. The first main advantage is communications. Online communities are very efficient when they are used as a mean of communication. A college online community can act as the media that promote for the student activities and events held by the students. In such an online community students can tell, advertise, write, recognize, publish content to inform other students about a the activity that are happening or will happen on campus. This also works the other way around, the same students who submitted their work to the web can review, search, and surf hundreds and hundreds of content submitted by other AUS students. On online communities the communication goes in the text-based style. The benefit of text-based communication is that written communication are more likely to be reflective than the spoken interaction. Berge Booler says that “The very act of assembling one’s thoughts and articulating them in writing for a conference audience appears to involve deeper cognitive processing.” (Berge, p. 10).
On the other hand, college online communities when they play the role as communication media they serve the student in two ways. The first way is that they keep the student in touch with his/her partners and professors outside the class room. Such an online community will substantially help the students who work on projects to discuss with their partners about their work. They can even discuss with the professors about the class material. These students can get answers to simple questions directly from their professors in a more efficient way than consulting in the regular office hours. The second way is that these college online communities work 3. In the summer holiday students tend to go back to their homes, but an online community would definitely work to get the student know about their friends news. 
Another advantage of Online communities for college students is that they create a good environment for, debating decision making, and problem solving. Debating usually take place in an electronic message boards or chat rooms. Freshmen students usually debate about the problems they face in campus. While doing so, other students who have better experience with such problems may help them to go over theses problems. The text-base style make these procedure goes smoothly. In addition, college online community helps the students to make decision. Our examination of the advantages on college online community shows that a it has value as an online resource for students. It is easier to provide communication infrastructure for creating groups of students talking and talking decisions than it is to build a conference room to perform the same groups. Thus, the college online community may benefit from the addition of bounded groups that involve greater ability to take decision, stimulate trust, and are complemented by offline activities, thereby enabling the online community to support a wider variety of works and activities.
Entertainment is the main objective of most college online communities. Students in college always face a trade off between studying and joining the students unions. Online communities can give the students a decent amount of amuse away from the tensions of studying. In addition, the same students can have their activities and enjoyable experience with the help of rich features that online communities have like message boards, chat rooms, picture galleries, e-journals, online gaming ..etc. Preece says that when dealing with online communities we deal with the keyboard and the monitor screen, we don’t interact with real people. Here goes the role of imagination. We human feel the sense of people from interacting with their work on the Internet, and with imagination come the pleasure (Preece, p. 254).
While many student portray online communities as caring arrangements in which to share experiences and thoughts and learn new ideas and practices, participation in such communities can involve risk and thus require trust between the students. Students who share good information danger earning a lower grade than if they did not share when they are graded in a competitive environment. Students who ask for help may be seen as incapable (although that may also be a mark of pride in some schools for some topics). In college online communities, professors who share experiences of bothered teaching, and even of collapse, risk being viewed as incompetent by their peers. Those who propose a novel idea risk the opportunity of being seen as strange. We say that students and professors are more willing to take risks in college online communities that develop a high level of trust. There are several ways to characterize trust, and one of these is as a measure of risk. For example, Mayer define trust as “the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party” (Mayer, p. 32). Trust can develop over time, as people respond in sharing information, demonstrate respect for one another, are careful in maintaining certain information as confidential, and so on. Each of these steps involves a certain measure of risk, and when that risk is rewarded, trust is more likely to develop.
V. AUS
     An online community for AUS student has ambitious goals in encouraging the students to launch their creative energies and also supporting them in their academic life at AUS. To fulfill these goals, the online community must be capable of supporting a high level of integration between the offline side which is the student activities on campus and the online side which is the AUS online community. The impact of a prospective online community for AUS students is where it is a social divider between the two different sides. What's going on with online community is not fundamentally different from what is going on with community in the physical world. Hence the most weakness of online community is in the relation between the two sides of equation, online or offline. When looking deeply at the present of the situation of the online communities for college students and comparing with the past, we can notice that these societies around the world no matter where it is have made a quantum leap in creating a virtual environment for the student to practice their talents.

The Details of Chat Rooms and Online CommunitiesOnline communities? What are they? Well I’m not too sure. One thing I can tell you is that when I hear those words I usually think of chat rooms. I am sure you know that if you go online one of the things you can do is go into the chat rooms. In fact, one of the first things I did when I first go America Online was go into a chat room. I remember my friends telling me how much fun it was. I wondered what was so fun about it. f I wanted to talk to someone why wouldn’t it be more exciting to just pick up the phone and call some one or just get together with some of my friends. My friends would tell me that it was fun because you could talk to people all over the world. 

One of the first things you must do before being able to join a chat room is create a screen name. This is a process I think is really fun. There are billions of names you can choose; although you quite annoying when you finally pick a name only to find out that some one else has already picked that name. I have always found screen names interesting because I think they give you an inside look to the people you can not see. If you meet some one for the first time it might appeal to you to talk to them because you like their screen name. 

When I went online after picking my screen name, I then had an even harder task. Now I had to decide on which room I wanted to go into. It did not take me long to figure out that the regular chat rooms offered were not that interesting; at least not to me. I then went to the section of chat rooms that are made by people themselves. There are millions of categories. I think that there is a category out there for everyone. 

One thing that I did find weird was that if you went into a certain category once you got inside there was usually no one talking about that subject. What I did figure out was that even though people might not be talking about the subject they all usually have similar interest. So usually you can get along with them because you will know that they like at least one thing you do too. 

One of the chat rooms that I went in was the “Gothic” chat room. Most people in there were gothic. They all had names that had something to do or at least seemed to be gothic in a way. One question that frequently come up was people asking, “What is Goth,” and then of course the chat room regulars would start trying to answer the question and what it meant to them personally. 

One of the reasons I think people go online to chat is because it gives you the chance to be anyone you want. A person who might have low self-esteem or be shy might feel comfortable enough to start talking to other people. I suppose it is kind of fun to be able to talk to people from all over the world. Also, many kids go online because when you are young most parents will not let you go out at night. Kids usually have nothing to do so they find it as an entertaining way to pass time. I did find out that a lot of the people online chatting seemed to be kids. 

The language used in chat rooms varies from person to person. There are a lot of people in the gothic room that talked using big words and sound scholarly but then of course you had some people using street talk, slang and bad language. Another thing that is funny about online chatting is that people like to find ways to communicate faster so they invent smaller words like brb which stands for be right back. Also they have come up with ways of showing there emotions; lol which is the most frequently used one stands for laughing out loud. A new thing is the yellow smiley faces that can frown, smile, cry and many more cute faces . 

I can see in a way why chat rooms would become addicting in a way. You might find some people over time you form a bond with. They turn into real friends except that you probably will not know what they look like. Although now a days I think that chatting has become funner because now people can meet each other and send pictures to each other. So now when you make a friend it’s not as mysterious. Some people like chatting because if you keep going back to the same room you see the same people and before you know it they become your friends. The room because a sort of “hang-out” for you. 

Even though chat rooms have their pluses the only thing I think is bad about them is that people can lie to you and pretend to be something they are not. Also there have been many cases where older men try to get young children to meet with them. Our government needs to learn to move with technology and come up with new fair laws to help deal with computer crimes. Until humans learn to be more honest with each 
other when chatting with each other then we can not assume that it is completely safe.

  Atomic Bomb

In 1945, the United States made a decision that forever changed the face of warfare on this planet. That decision was to drop a brand new invention, the atomic bomb, on Japan. The atomic bomb was, and still is, the most feared weapon any nation could possess. This bomb took years to evolve into a useful weapon, and in this paper the timeline will unfold. Although the attack took place in 1945, the years of development are just as important.

In all reality, Hitler played a major role in the development of the atomic bomb. It was his belief that Germans were better than Jews. This provoked one of the greatest minds in our history, Albert Einstein, to leave Germany. Einstein, who was a Jew, had enough money to flee Germany and settle in America. When Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity, Einstein asserted that matter (mass) and energy were two forms of the same thing. According to Einstein, if somehow we could transform mass into energy, it would be possible to "liberate" huge amounts of energy.

However, a theory is only a theory until it is proven. During the next decade, a major step was taken in proving the theory of relativity when Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr described the structure of an atom more precisely. They said an atom consists of a positively charged core, the nucleus, and negatively charged electrons that revolve around the nucleus. It was the nucleus, scientists concluded, that had to be broken or "exploded" if atomic energy was to be liberated.        

In 1939, prior to the beginning of World War II, Albert Einstein wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Einstein and several other scientists told Roosevelt of efforts in Nazi Germany to purify Uranium-235 which might in turn be used to build an atomic bomb. The letter, which bore only Einstein's signature, helped lend urgency to efforts in the U.S. to build the atomic bomb, even though Einstein himself played no role in the work and knew nothing about it. It was shortly thereafter that the US government began the delicate task known only then as the Manhattan Project. Simply put, the Manhattan Project was committed to expedient research and production that would produce a viable atomic bomb.

The most complicated issue to be addressed was the production of ample amounts of ‘enriched’ Uranium to sustain a chain reaction. At that time, Uranium-235 was very difficult to extract. In fact, the ratio of conversion from Uranium ore to Uranium metal is 500:1. An additional drawback was that the one part of Uranium finally refined from the ore consists of over 99% Uranium-238, which is practically useless for an atomic bomb. To make it even more difficult, U-235 and U-238 are extremely similar in their chemical makeup. No ordinary chemical extraction could separate the two isotopes. Only mechanical methods could effectively separate the two. Several scientists at Columbia University finally managed to solve this dilemma though.

A massive enrichment laboratory/plant was constructed at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  H.C. Urey, along with his associates and colleagues at Columbia University, devised a system that worked on the principle of gaseous diffusion. Following this process, Ernest O. Lawrence (inventor of the Cyclotron), at the University of California in Berkeley implemented a process involving magnetic separation of the two isotopes. Following the first two processes stated above, a gas centrifuge was used to further separate the lighter U-235 from the heavier non-fissionable U-238 by their mass.

Over the course of six years, from 1939 to 1945, more than two billion dollars was spent on the Manhattan Project. Finally the day came when all at Los Alamos would find out whether or not “The Gadget” (code-named as such during its development) was either going to be the colossal dud of the century or perhaps the end of the war.  It all came down to a fateful morning in midsummer, 1945.

On July 16th, 1945, in a white blaze that stretched from the basin of the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico to the still dark skies, “The Gadget” ushered in “The Atomic Age”. The light of the explosion turned orange as the atomic fireball began shooting upwards at 360 feet per second, reddening and pulsing as it cooled. The characteristic mushroom cloud of radioactive vapor materialized at 30,000 feet. Beneath the cloud, all that remained of the soil at the blast site were fragments of jade colored radioactive glass caused by the heat of the reaction. The brilliant light from the detonation pierced the early morning skies with such intensity that residents from a far away neighboring community would swear that the sun came up twice that day.

Upon witnessing the explosion, reactions among the people who created the bomb were mixed. Isidor Rabi felt that the equilibrium in nature had been upset, as if humankind had become a threat to the world it inhabited. J. Robert Oppenheimer, though ecstatic about the success of the project, quoted a remembered fragment from the Bhagavad Gita (a book of ancient East Indian philosophy), "I have become Death," he said, "the destroyer of worlds." Ken Bainbridge, the test director, told Oppenheimer, "Now we've become our own predator." Several participants, shortly after viewing the results, signed petitions against unleashing the monster they had created, but their protests fell on deaf ears. As it later turned out, Jornada Del Muerto of New Mexico was not the last site on planet Earth to experience an atomic explosion.

As many people know, atomic bombs have been used only twice in warfare. The first and foremost blast site of the atomic bomb is Hiroshima. A Uranium bomb (which weighed in at over 4 & 1/2 tons) nicknamed "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima August 6th, 1945. The point of total vaporization from the blast measured one half of a mile in diameter. Total destruction ranged at one mile in diameter. Severe blast damage carried as far as two miles in diameter. At two and a half miles, everything flammable in the area burned. The remaining area of the blast zone was riddled with serious blazes that stretched out to the final edge at a little over three miles in diameter.

On August 9th 1945, Nagasaki fell to the same treatment as Hiroshima. However, this time, a Plutonium bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" was dropped on the city. Even though the "Fat Man" missed by over a mile and a half, it still leveled nearly half the city. Nagasaki's population dropped in one split-second from 422,000 to 383,000. Over 39,000 people were killed and more than 25,000 were injured. That blast was near 10 kilotons as well. Physicists who have studied each atomic explosion state that the bombs that were used had utilized only 1/10th of one percent of their respective explosive capabilities.

While the mere explosion from an atomic bomb is deadly enough, its destructive ability doesn't stop there. Atomic fallout creates another hazard as well. The rain that follows any atomic detonation is laden with radioactive particles. Many survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts succumbed to radiation poisoning due to this occurrence. The atomic detonation also has the hidden lethal surprise of affecting the future generations of those who live through it. Leukemia is among the greatest of afflictions that are passed on to the offspring of survivors.

While the main purpose behind the atomic bomb is obvious, there are many by-products that have been brought into consideration in the use of all atomic weapons. With one small atomic bomb, a massive area's communications, travel and machinery will grind to a dead halt due to the EMP (Electro- Magnetic Pulse) that is radiated from a high-altitude atomic detonation. These high-level detonations are hardly lethal, yet they deliver a strong enough EMP to scramble any and all things electronic ranging from copper wires to a computer's CPU (Central Processing Unit) within a 50 mile radius.

During the early days of “The Atomic Age”, it was a popular notion that atomic bombs would one day be used in mining operations and perhaps aid in the construction of another Panama Canal. Needless to say, this never came about. Instead, the military applications of atomic destruction increased.

The atomic bomb was, and still is, one of the most destructive forces ever created by man. Man is the only species on the face of the earth that kills it’s own and other species for sport. We are the most intelligent beings on this planet and we abuse that gift. Warfare does not only affect us immediately, the survivors of war still suffer from many ailments and the families who have lost loved ones constantly grieve. The irony is that the century’s greatest minds contributed to the most destructive force in history.

Amd History

The main component to a computer is the processor.  The two companies that lead in producing processor chips for computers are Intel and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).  These two companies have been competing with each other to get their product to the consumer.  Intel has been producing chips the longest and will remain producing for many years to come.

The website Computerworld defines a processor as, “A microprocessor is the heart of a modern computer, a chip made up of millions of transistors and other elements organized into specific functional operating units, including arithmetic units, cache memory and memory management, predictive logic and data movement.”  A processor is like the brain to a computer.  The processor passes instructions received probably via from a keyboard or a mouse and sends the instructions to where they belong.  In the website Basics, the webmaster gives an analogy, “if you cut your finger your nerves tell your brain, your brain decides that it hurts and sends back the appropriate response through your nerves to the correct part(s) of your body.”  It is like your mouth saying ouch and your finger hurts.

In 1983, processor chips were made with about thirty thousand transistors, but with current processor chips nowadays they are made with forty million transistors.  Computerworld explains, “Any computer program consists of many instructions for operating on data. A processor executes the program through four operating stages: fetch, decode, execute and retire.”  The fetch stage reads a program's instructions and any needed data into the processor.  The decode stage determines the purpose of the instruction and passes it to the appropriate hardware element.  The execution stage is where that hardware element, now freshly fed with an instruction and data, carries out the instruction.  The retire stage takes the results of the execution stage and places them into other processor registers or the computer's main memory. For example, the result of an add operation might be stored in memory for later use.

Intel was founded on July 18, 1968.  Their goals were to make semiconductor memory into a smaller size and greater performance.  An engineer at Intel designed a chip that retrieved its application instructions from semiconductor memory.  This became the first processor.  In 1981, Intel was chosen by IBM to use their processors in their computers.  Intel attracted IBM because of their “long-term commitment to the microprocessor product line and ability to manufacture in volume convinced IBM to choose the 8088” (The History of Intel, 30 Years of Innovation).  The two companies created the first PC (personal computer).

   AMD was founded in 1969 and its founder has been “toiling for months to pull together their scrappy start-up” (AMD-History).  AMD was able to produce their own products after moving to two rooms in the back of a rug cutting company in Santa Clara.  The early years of AMD’s products were “alternate-source devices, products obtained from other companies that were then redesigned for greater speed and efficiency” (AMD-History).  In 1975, AMD released their first processor, the 8080a.  Slowly AMD expanded throughout the world in such places as Malaysia and the Philippines.  Currently AMD is the top contender against Intel in the processor industry.

The battle against the two processor makers has only just escalated.  Intel announced that it will “slash prices some of its high-end microprocessors by as much as 50 percent” (Markowitz).  Consumers think it will put “put pressure on rival AMD and boost PC sales” (Markowitz).  Analysts believe “In an aggressive move to take back market share, we believe Intel is planning to detonate a price bomb on AMD by cutting prices about 50 percent on high-end P4 processors” (Markowitz).  The reason why Intel would do detonate a “price bomb” mainly because, “Since the beginning of the year, Intel has been aggressively pricing its products in order to stimulate demand and to fend off market share losses to AMD.

  Apple The Computer Of “yesterday?“

Apple, the computer of “yesterday?”  

Steve Wozniak and Steve Job, two good friends from high school started a revolution that will never end.  They invented the first Apple computer (1976, www.apple-history.com) the basis for all personal computers to come, the Apple I.  It ran on one megahertz and had eight thousand bites of memory and eight bits of pixels on the screen (Levey 5).  Much like the people of today, the first testers of the computer did not take them seriously.  It wasn’t until the Apple II came out in 1977 that people started paying attention to Apple computers.  The Apple II priced at $1,298 was comparatively inexpensive but was almost exactly like the Apple I (Levey 11).  One major accomplishment of Apple’s was that based on the MOStek 6502 microprocessor, the Apple II was the first personal computer to display color graphics and to come in a stylish plastic housing (Slate 3).  From then on, Apple updated the Apple II line further creating the Apple II+ with increased memory, the Apple IIe, which is the only Apple computer to date to remain in production for more than a decade.  Apple also went on to make the Apple IIc, a compact version of the Apple IIe with a faster processor and expanded memory.  Apple then went on to create the Apple IIct, a later version of the Apple IIc and the Apple IIgs the first last and only 16-bit Apple II, designed to produce enhanced graphics and sound, with a much more powerful microprocessor and yet still backward compatible (compatible with the earlier 8-bit Apple software) (Levey 24).

                                 (Apple I)                              

One big mistake Apple made at the time was releasing the Apple III which at the time retailed any where from $4,000-$7,000 and had only minimal improvements over the Apple II series’, causing it to be considered as one of the biggest bombs in Apple computer history.  Apple’s next computer “The Lisa” (named after Steve Jobs’ daughter) had five megahertz, and a five megahertz hard drive, but perhaps most importantly it incorporated a Graphical User Interface (it is argued that a man by the name of Bill Gates stole this idea as the platform for his extremely successful windows operating system) which was the most important accomplishment of Apple History (www.apple-history.com).  Although it was the best computer yet it did not set well with the general public however it was the model for the Macintosh 128k.  The Macintosh 128k integrated the new Motorola 68000 chip, and had an amazing eight megahertz, and four hundred kilobyte floppy disk drive (approximately four hundred thousand bytes {1 kilobyte equals 1040 bytes which is usually rounded to 100}).  This amazing machine sold for $2,495, which was a lot of money but comparatively cheap (www.apple-history.com).

Sadly, in February 1981 Steve Wozniak was injured while piloting a high performance plane (MacDirectory Interviews), and that’s when Apple computers began a long downward spiral.  Because of this Apple computers made a huge mistake that it would regret for a while, being that Steve Jobs took complete control of the company.  He became corrupt and caused Steve Wozniak to quit, and Apple computers to split in half.  One half was the Macintosh side and the other was strictly Apple.  As a result Steve Jobs lost his job (levey 138).  This slump lasted until 1996 went Steve jobs regained his composure and went back to Apple computers (Steve Wozniak), turning the downward spiral into and upward skyrocket (www.apple-history.com).  No Apple or Macintosh sold as much as the Apple II series until Jobs brought on the “Power Mac”, the “iMac”, the G3 Power Mac”,  and one of the newest PC’s (Personal Computers) the “G4 Power Mac” with its 500 megahertz and twenty seven gigabyte hard drive.  The rest are yet to come.

Microprocessor An integrated circuit that contains the entire central processing unit of a computer on a single chip

Megahertz One million cycles per second used to measure clock rate

Families of Macintosh and Apple computers

  Amazon.com

Amazon.com is a company that sells all kinds of books and most recently music through their website at discounted prices.  It was founded by Jeff Bezos and began taking orders in July of 1995(Derie).  Since then, Amazon has acquired five businesses that range from virtual database technology to videos while expanding to the European market. Its massive amount of sales can be attributed to its low competitive prices and ease of shopping conveniently from home.

  The business level of Amazon.com is cost leadership. Best selling books are sold at a 30 to 40 percent discount and other books are discounted at 10 percent (Bade).

Amazon.com’s corporate strategy was in the form of single business to dominant all of business, but has since moved towards unrelated because they are offering more than just books at their website, ranging any where from kitchen and house ware to toys and games, DVDs, and herbal supplements.

Amazon.com has increase in size since it began operations in July 1995, doubling in size every 2.4 months with an 838 percent increase in sales form 1996 to 1997.  To keep up with this extraordinary growth, Amazon had 800 employees on its payroll as of August 1998(Bade).

Amazon.com has plans in the works to capitalize on its increased market share by expansion into European e-commerce with already having 22% of sales from outside the United States.  By acquiring previously established global companies, Amazon’s expansion into international localities should be smooth.  Part of Amazon’s cooperative strategy is strategic alliances through acquiring businesses to expand into new product and market areas.  They differentiate themselves while at the same time achieving their strategic mission:  convenience, selection, service, and price.  This has also been Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos’ intent form the initial thought and continued to this day.

The general external environment for Amazon.com is large and complex.  Major geographical distribution is the United States where Amazon’s sales are 78% in 1997, although they are not limited to this with 3 million customers from 160 countries(Maranjian).  Age structure and population size are not of major concern with Amazon because their business is solely on the web and anyone with a computer can access their company.  The economic segment does have an impact on Amazon because people will spend less money on recreational activities such as reading if there is a recession or inflation rates go up, though many people will continue to purchase books for the passage of time and entertainment.

A recent trend in social-cultural values has helped Amazon with a swarm of potentially new and innovative people wanting to work for computer companies and getting the training to do so. Many people enjoy working at Amazon because of its laid-back style and the environment which Jeff Bezos sets out for his employees, even if most of them work from 8 am to 8 pm.  The most important segment of the external environment is the technological area.  This is the life of Amazon, and any other company that sells products strictly through the Internet.  They have many software engineers who are developing first of their kind technologies so the public can have the easiest and most enjoyable experience while on Amazon.com.

Jeff Bezos states, “There are lots of barriers to entry.”  These include start-up costs for software and its development, warehouses to store products, obtaining contracts with wholesalers and publishers, finding the right employees who can continue to evolve and expand with the company, etc.  The bargaining powers of suppliers are weak because they just want to sell the books they publish.  This means that if a bookstore, says Amazon.com, buys a pallet full of the same book but is unable to sell 25 % of them; the publishing company will buy them back.  This insures that all the risk is on the publisher with the 100% refund on all unsold books.  The bargaining power of suppliers is increasing as the amount of competition increases.  The more stores on the web, the deeper the discounts will become because everyone is seemingly trying to undercut the next in order to have the lowest prices and ultimately gaining market share.

Amazon recognized this when Barnes & Noble made their first presence on the internet and offered the same books as Amazon but at cheaper prices.  As long as people are willing to purchase books on the web, their power will be fairly large.  As for threats of substitute products, Amazon has little to worry about.  If people want to read a book, they are going to have to buy the book or check it out from a public library or some other media outlet.  The rivalry among competitors is getting increasing strong and shows no sign of slowing done.  As of August 1998, if you went to a search engine such as Yahoo! and looked up bookstores, you would find as many as 475 online bookstores offering similar services as Amazon(Bade).  This has created a large pool of possibilities for consumers which have increased their power and also their savings.

Being an online distributor, Amazon has many opportunities that lie before them.  One such opportunity is the expansion of products they offer incorporating other sections of various markets such as cellular phones, palm pilots, health products, etc.  This could be done in much the same way as selling books; purchase goods in mass quantities and sell them at discounted prices.  Another example of an opportunity for Amazon is to utilize the technological resources they have to continue to make online shopping easy and enjoyable for the mass public to come back time after time and purchase from them:  currently, Amazon estimates repeat buyers consist of 63% of their business (Maranjian).

A major threat for online booksellers is that, with the ease of distributing products online, book publishers could begin to allocate their books through their own websites, eliminating the middleman, and reaping greater profits at the same time.

Another threat for Amazon.com is the fact that through the four years they have been in business they have yet to turn a profit or even come close to turning a profit which has led them into debt with no signs of gaining a profit in the near future.

Amazon.com being a company who distributes products through the web, the capabilities is endless.  For Amazon, these capabilities include being able to produce easy to use websites, e-commerce products, electronic mailing services that are superior to those in existence, and other items that utilize the advanced knowledge of electronic engineers who work for the company.  In order to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage they must continue to use and expand on their core advantages and find new ways to implement changing trends and updated networks.

A major strength that Amazon.com holds is that they were the first company to change the way people view book selling.  Amazon is a highly noticeable name and by noting that Internet usage was growing at 2300 percent per year, CEO Jeff Bezos saw an opportunity and jumped at the chance(Consumer Reports.org).  By doing so, his company has achieved a name that stands for low prices, great customer service, easy-to-use websites, great selection of titles, and the convenience of shopping at home, which is its biggest strength.    A weakness is that Amazon has very little in terms of concrete assets such as buildings and resources of its own which could become disastrous in the future if the market goes sour or people turn to other avenues to achieve their reading pleasures.  Another weakness is that they may be losing business to those who do not like to shop online and enjoy the personal interaction of shopping in stores.

As I have noted previously, there are many opportunities that Amazon has before them.  One idea that I have touched on and believe to be their best alternative is to increase the products they offer online.  They can do this by concentrating on their strengths; quick-moving, innovative, price leadership, and customer service.  By incorporating these into other product lines, I believe they could turn a profit in a shorter time than they could if they solely concentrated on books.  Another possibility that is before Amazon is to create their own physical bookstore.  They have the resources, name recognition in the book industry, and capabilities to do just that and this could also increase profits if done the right way.

The mounting competition has forced other smaller competitors such as Half.com to enter the price battle against amazon.com. Amazons large scale corporate strategies and mass sales has so far allowed it to become one  the largest and therefore through sheer quantity sales the cheapest source for your online shopping needs. So when you need a book, or even herbal supplements, amazon.com will probably be your cheapest and best alternative to conventional shopping.

 Airport

There is no doubt that it's hard to overestimate all the importance of proper functioning of a contemporary airport, no matter whether it is a local airport or an international one. Any person who has ever used the services of aircraft companies and had an opportunity to observe common procedures and processes that usually occur inside and outside the terminals while waiting for the flight will agree with this fact without hesitation. Taking into account the fact that every international airport usually has several hundred departure and arrival flights per day, it's possible to imagine what a high level of accuracy is needed in order to make this system function properly, without delays and mistakes, for a mistake in this situation can be a risk of human lives. Recent tragic events caused by terrorist attacks show that there is still a lot to be done to improve the system in order to make it perfect.

An airport can be viewed as a complex multi-level mechanism, proper functioning of which depends on correct work of its sub-mechanisms, which in their turn divide in their own mechanisms. As in any mechanism, malfunction of one detail can halt the work of the whole system, that’s why it is significantly important to dispatch and monitor all the processes that take place in an airport, keeping them under severe control. This is where an airport operator\'s skills and knowledge comes into concern. To be able to handle such a large aircraft flow day and night, it would be impossible to work without reliable computer software and huge databases which will ensure strict and precise delivery of information. Even more important is to have a perfectly functioning plane tracking system. It is clear that in order to be able to operate such complicated equipment special training with personnel must be conducted on a continuous basis.

It is natural that in order to maintain the needed level of safety and accuracy in operating an airport, it needs to be adequately financed. Recently it became normal that big international airports, having once been financed by government, now function as business enterprises. Still, assuming the safety of passengers and other citizens, governmental involvement into airport operations is a must.

While the airport operator naturally focuses on maintaining safe day to day operations it must be recognized that it is still possible for an aircraft accident to occur on or in the vicinity of an airport. Governmental institutions that are concerned with civil aviation regulations oblige the airport operator to prepare for such a possible occurrence, and for other emergencies including building fires, bomb scares or aircraft terrorist hijack, spillages of hazardous materials, and natural disasters. These plans must be prepared in conjunction with ambulance, police, fire service and other agencies expected to respond in case if such an emergency occurs. The airport operator must also plan to resume normal operations as soon practicable after the emergency has been dealt with.

Beside high level of safety, an appropriate level of service must be reached. Customer and passenger services having at its disposal mostly female staff are responsible for this matter to the utmost. In order to satisfy a passenger, he or she must be able to get full range of services, such as fair flights schedule information, pleasant lobbying and lounge services, food services, quick and accurate ticketing, polite boarding, enjoyable flight with a delicious flight kitchen. As shows the statistics, about 82% of positions mentioned above are occupied by women in the world’s busiest airports. This must be a proof of the fact that women have much better influence on the customer groups especially in these positions; therefore the number of conflict situations is decreased. It is very important that ground handling and processing of the passengers were conducted with the highest level of utilization, meaning that the transition of passengers between ground and air side must be made as safe and secure as possible, and within a shortest range of time. The terminal building, in its turn, may have additional outlets in order to increase the level of service which is available mainly to passengers, as well as to their friends and relatives.  

Besides different organizational problems, airport management constantly faces hostile resident groups, conflicting on the grounds of harmful influence of airport on their safety, environment and quality of life. In order to eliminate black publicity, the airport operators must be ready to conduct effective public relations campaigns, in order to show its readiness to meaningfully fix the matter. An airport itself really has a harmful influence on environment, that’s why the management of the airport must control far larger territory then the territory of the airport and its vicinity. Surrounding air space must be protected as well in order to avoid problems which may be caused by intersection of air vehicles that take off and those that land. Along with this the technical facilities of the airport must constantly be in perfect condition and must be a subject of frequent inspections. The inspections are needed because any small malfunction of a facility may lead to a large-scale calamity that in turn can cause an aircraft accident with a human losses and considerable damage.

Recent tragic events caused by terrorist attacks vividly show of what importance it is to maintain order and accuracy in the airport. All the rules and procedures set in the terminal must be executed implicitly. We can see that the boarding system in international airports is far not perfect. Not long ago a group of European journalists took an experiment in about 20 world’s biggest airports: they tried to carry through the security the same plastic knives that were used by terrorists on September 11 in New York; only in 7 cases out of more than 20 they were disclosed. These facts portray unpleasant situation, meaning that public aircraft is still a potential weapon of a terrorist. Having this in mind becomes clear that only through tight networking between airport subdivisions a high level of safety can be reached.

AIDS

The issue of HIV/AIDS has been a developing concern since the early 1980’s. It is an issue that has sparked fear in everyone, but “society” has narrowed it down to certain people who can contract the AIDS virus. The typical “AIDS” victim is not an IV drug user or a practicing homosexual; they are African Americans, and minority women. AIDS is spread in many ways, such as having unprotected sex, sharing needles, from mothers to infants during pregnancy, and getting tattoos with dirty needles. Some of the most common questions is “How is HIV/AIDS passed from one person to another? How effective are latex condoms in preventing HIV/AIDS?” Although these are questions of concern, the real and most controversial question is “Is the United States doing an effective job in educating people, especially African Americans and minority women, about HIV/AIDS?” This is a question with many opposing viewpoints. While some people, believe that the United States is doing an effective job in educating people on HIV/AIDS; there are others who believe that they are not doing an effective job. I believe that the United States is doing a good job, but at the same time they are not doing a well enough job. Whether people are being educated or not depends more on if they are taking the time to actually research and get information on the HIV/AIDS virus, rather than people coming to give them information. There are many ways to get information, such as online websites, magazine articles, the library, health clinics, hospitals etc. Everything one would need to know is out there, but it is up to that person on how important it is to obtain this knowledge. As people seek to be educated on AIDS, the United States should take those same steps to get more information to more people within its fifty states.

First, I believe that the United States is doing an effective job in educating African Americans and minorities about the HIV/AIDS virus. As previously stated, whether people are being educated or not depends more on if they are taking the time to actually research and get information on the HIV/AIDS virus rather than expect people to come and give them information. I think that the national campaign on AIDS awareness is pretty good right now. I believe that America is trying different strategies to give information about protection. There are many programs out there that are ready and willing to give information about the HIV/AIDS virus. One program that has proven to be effective is the American Red Cross (AMC). The American Red Cross teaches young people, as well as adults, facts about AIDS. Their basic HIV/AIDS Program helps people take steps to prevent the spread of HIV. They also provide the opportunity to openly discuss the facts about HIV and AIDS and personalize the facts so they become more meaningful. It's a good way to encourage people to adopt prevention behaviors to protect themselves and others from HIV. They help people develop and practice skills that they can use in real life situations to protect themselves and others from HIV. Red Cross-trained instructors can conduct sessions of the Basic HIV/AIDS Program in different communities. They also have blood drives to donate blood to those in need, whether they have AIDS or any other health disability.  The HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service offers toll free phone lines that provide the latest research and treatment information. The CDC (Center of Disease Control) targets prevention efforts for young people through its public information education campaigns. These programs include a number of activities designed to educate all members of the public, including adolescents, about how HIV is transmitted, who is at risk for acquiring the infection, and how the infection can be prevented. The programs include a national public information campaign, the CDC National AIDS Hotline, and the AIDS Clearinghouse. CDC funds HIV prevention activities by more than 500 community-based organizations. These efforts include street outreach; clinic-based education; counseling, testing, and referral programs; and programs that address the specific needs of runaway, incarcerated, migrant, homeless, and other youth in high-risk situations. Recent data indicates that street outreach activities are useful in providing HIV prevention messages and interventions to populations at high risk of infection, including youth. The FCA (Foundation for Children with AIDS) provides an outreach program for prevention education, case finding, and family support services.  Services include day care for HIV-infected infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers and their siblings, or the uninfected children of HIV-infected parents; support groups; case management; early intervention services; and transportation to and from day care.

Black Entertainment Television (BET) advertises a national campaign called Rap-it-up. Their hotline, 1-888-rapitup, offers information about AIDS, counseling, different programs in communities, free HIV testing centers, and ways of protection and prevention. BET has a television show called Teen Summit, which talks about everyday situations, and diseases such as AIDS. This show reaches many teens throughout the United States. All of these programs have been proven to be effective in the fight against AIDS and getting the information about AIDS out and in the open. Some citizens are not taking advantage of all of the sources and programs that the United States has to offer.  People have to want to receive the information. No one will just give them the information; they must go out and get it.

On the other hand, I believe that the United States is not doing an effective job in educating African Americans and minorities about the HIV/AIDS virus. Although the national AIDS campaign in the United States reaches many people, there are still millions of people who are not receiving the information. Not everyone owns a computer or has Internet access to research the disease.  Not everyone has a library or free clinic to receive the information in his/her community. I believe that the campaigns are not reaching the people who need the information the most. It seems that in the states up north, such as Minnesota, New York, or Indiana, the information on AIDS is seen on a daily basis. Periodically, you may see a billboard or hear the two commercials (the one were the couple are saying goodnight to everyone they ever slept with as well as the ignorant Black boy who curses and brags that AIDS doesn't have anything on him b/c he is so good sexually and dies) promoting AIDS awareness in the south.  I think America may do a better job promoting AIDS awareness if they begin distributing literature and condoms in predominantly Black and minority neighborhoods; if they began sex education classes in the public schools; and, established local/community programs promoting abstinence and safe sex through the effective use of other birth control methods.  I believe all individuals receiving government assistance (WIC, food stamps etc.) should be mandated to attend AIDS awareness classes to help promote abstinence and safe sex, as well as alleviate unwanted pregnancies. All of the programs nationwide need to improve on effectively giving information to citizens in the United States. I believe that the American Red Cross (AMC), Center of Disease Control (CDC), Foundation for Children with AIDS (FCA), and Black Entertainment Television (BET) all need to improve some way or another. Ways that these programs can improve is by opening more free clinics; create more commercials that advertise ways for people to protect themselves from AIDS. I believe that each program should hold counseling sessions and outreach programs every weekend. Every month, the American Red Cross, Center of Disease Control, and the Foundation for Children with AIDS, should go to Black and minority neighborhoods to pass out pamphlets giving information on AIDS. As for Black Entertainment Television, they should show more commercials advertising the Rap-It-Up campaign and its hotlines.  When they air the show Teen Summit, they should have more guests who come to talk about the importance of knowing about the HIV/AIDS virus.

As previously stated, I believe that the United States is doing an effective job in educating African Americans and minorities about the HIV/AIDS virus, but at the same time, they are not doing a well enough job. This is a controversial issue. The United States is getting the information to upper and middle class people, but they are neglecting those with low income and poor living conditions.  I truly acknowledge the fact that there is an abundant amount of information, clinics, commercials, and pamphlets about the HIV/AIDS virus, but if one is unable to receive that information, then there is not enough. It is time for everyone to step up to the plate and take responsibility for themselves; for parents to take responsibility for their children; and for people to help each other. It is also time for pastors to speak up and let the members of their churches hear about AIDS. Its time for the president to speak to the people of the country and explain the importance of this deadly disease. If you know someone who is unable to receive information on AIDS, and you have information, get that information to that person. We need to empower our young mothers to raise conscious daughters that won't let themselves fall into the trap of self-exploitation. Then we need make our men stand up and respect women on a level that would make us all proud. We all are responsible for the sexual issues of today. We must unite as a nation and work together so that “we” can slow down and prevent the spread of this deadly killer.