Saturday, August 31, 2019

Humman Cloning

* INTRODUCTION: The world of science and the public at large were both shocked and fascinated by the announcement in the journal Nature by Ian Wilmut and his colleagues that they had successfully cloned a sheep from a single cell of an adult sheep (Wilmut 1997). Scientists were in part surprised, because many had believed that after the very early stage of embryo development at which differentiation of cell function begins to take place, it would not be possible to achieve cloning of an adult mammal by nuclear transfer.In this process, the nucleus from the cell of an adult mammal is inserted into an ennucleated ovum, and the resulting embryo develops following the complete genetic code of the mammal from which the inserted nucleus was obtained. But some scientists and much of the public were troubled or apparently even horrified at the prospect that if adult mammals such as sheep could be cloned, then cloning of adult humans by the sameprocess would likely be possible as well.Of cour se, the process is far from perfected even with sheep— it took 276 failures by Wilmut and his colleagues to produce Dolly, their one success. Whether the process can be successfully replicated in other mammals, much less in humans, is not now known. But those who were horrified at the prospect of human cloning were not assuaged by the fact that the science with humans is not yet there, for it looked to them now perilously close. The response of most scientific and political leaders to the prospect of human cloning, indeed of Dr. Wilmut as well, was of immediate and strong condemnation.In the United States, President Clinton immediately banned federal financing of human cloning research and asked privately funded scientists to halt such work until the newly formed National Bioethics Advisory Commission could review the â€Å"troubling† ethical and legal implications. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized human cloning as â€Å"ethica lly unacceptable as it would violate some of the basic principles which govern medically assisted reproduction. These include respect for the dignity of the human being and the protection of the security of human genetic material† (WHO 1997).Around the world similar immediate condemnation was heard, as human cloning was called a violation of human rights and human dignity. Even before Wilmut’s announcement, human cloning had been made illegal in nearly all countries in Europe and had been condemned by the Council of Europe (Council of Europe 1986). A few more cautious voices were heard, both suggesting some possible benefits from the use of human cloning in limited circumstances and questioning its too quick prohibition, but they were a clear minority.In the popular media, nightmare scenarios of laboratory mistakes resulting in monsters, the cloning of armies of Hitlers, the exploitative use of cloning for totalitarian ends as in Huxley’s Brave New World, and the murderous replicas of the film Blade Runner, all fed the public controversy and uneasiness. A striking feature of these early responses was that their strength and intensity seemed to far outrun the arguments and reasons offered in support of them— they seemed often to be â€Å"gut level† emotional reactions rather than considered reflections on the issues.Such reactions should not be simply dismissed, both because they may point us to important considerations otherwise missed and not easily articulated, and because they often have a major impact on public policy. But the formation of public policy should not ignore the moral reasons and arguments that bear on the practice of human cloning— these must be articulated inE-4 order to understand and inform people’s more immediate emotional responses. This paper is an effort to articulate, and to evaluate critically, the main moral considerations and arguments for and against human cloning.Though many peopleà ¢â‚¬â„¢s religious beliefs inform their views on human cloning, and it is often difficult to separate religious from secular positions, I shall restrict myself to arguments and reasons that can be given a clear secular formulation and will ignore explicitly religious positions and arguments pro or con. I shall also be concerned principally with cloning by nuclear transfer, which permits cloning of an adult, not cloning by embryo splitting, although some of the issues apply to both (Cohen and Tomkin 1994).I begin by noting that on each side of the issue there are two distinct kinds of moral arguments brought forward. On the one hand, some opponents claim that human cloning would violate fundamental moral or human rights, while some proponents argue that its prohibition would violate such rights. On the other hand, both opponents and proponents also cite the likely harms and benefits, both to individuals and to society, of the practice. While moral and even human rights need not be un derstood as bsolute, that is, as morally requiring people to respect them no matter how great the costs or bad consequences of doing so, they do place moralrestrictions on permissible actions that appeal to a mere balance of benefits over harms. For example, the rights of human subjects in research must be respected even if the result is that some potentially beneficial research is made more difficult or cannot be done, and the right of free expression prohibits the silencing of unpopular or even abhorrent views; in Ronald Dworkin’s striking formulation, rights trump utility (Dworkin 1978).I shall take up both the moral rights implicated in human cloning, as well as its more likely significant benefits and harms, because none of the rights as applied to human cloning is sufficiently uncontroversial and strong to settle decisively the morality of the practice one way or the other. But because of their strong moral force, the assessment of the moral rights putatively at stake i s especially important. A further complexity here is that it is sometimes controversial whether a particular consideration is merely a matter of benefits and harms, or is instead a matter of moral or human rights.I shall begin with the arguments in support of permitting human cloning, although with no implication that it is the stronger or weaker position * The possibility of human cloning, raised when Scottish scientists at Roslin Institute created the much-celebrated sheep â€Å"Dolly† (Nature  385,  810-13, 1997), aroused worldwide interest and concern because of its scientific and ethical implications. The feat, cited by  Science  magazine as the breakthrough of 1997, also generated uncertainty over the meaning of â€Å"cloning† –an umbrella term traditionally used by scientists to describe different processes for duplicating biological material. Historical Background: The history of human cloning human cloning is undoubtedly one of the most fascinat ing chapters of our lives. Essential question to be discussed to understand the ramifications of human cloning is when human life begins? C. Ward Kischer, a famous American embryologists, wrote in a recent article: â€Å"Since 1973 when Roe vs. Wade was won there were many socio-legal issues related to human embryo. Abortion, fertilization in vitro research on human embryos, research on stem cells, cloning and genetic engineering are substantive issues of human embryology†.The answer is clear embryology that life begins at fertilization of the egg by a sperm (sexual reproduction) or if the SCNT cloning, implantation and activation when the donor somatic cell nucleus into an egg recipient (asexual reproduction). (6) Although non-mammalian cloning was achieved in 1952, mankind had to wait another 44 years until he was finally cloned the first mammal. The first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep was born on July 5, 1996. In this fascinating history of cloning, there has been a major setback in 2003 when Dolly died at the age of 6 years.Death of the first cloned mammal, was followed by a lively debate related issues / ethical aspects of cloning, debate that continues today. Besides the successful attempts to clone the different species of animals, XX century was marked by several important moments in the development of the genealogy. Deciphering the success of DNA code in 1968 came as an enormous progress around much desired human clone. With nearly 20 years later, by 1988 the human genome, that genome Homosapiens stored in 23 pairs of chromosomes has been released.As things were headed becoming better by the appearance of a human clone, a major problem has become â€Å"human cloning prohibition act† in 2009, which has labeled as cloning illegal, immoral, not unethical activity. Since 2009, human cloning is illegal in 23 countries. So far, experiments were undertaken with five species of animals and the high rate of failure has given rise to many questio ns about human cloning success. Only 1% of animal cloning made so far have had a positive result, but most of them have suffered serious disorders. The conclusion of experts is that the current level of technology, human cloning is very dangerous.I discussed two types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an adult for medicinal use and is an active research area, while reproductive cloning would involve the creation of human clones. Therapeutic cloning could provide unique ways to cure diseases until now considered incurable: diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart disease. (1) The third type of cloning called replacement cloning is a possibility in theory and would be a combination of therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning.Higher probability of achieving a therapeutic cloning is more accessible in terms of technique, but also less morally problematic. * Statement Of The Problem: * What is cloning? Are there different types of cloning * How can cloning technologies be used? * What Animal Haved Been Cloned ? * Can organs be cloned for use in transplants? * What are the risks of cloning? * Should humans be cloned? * How Human Cloning Will Work Cause And Effect: Ethics Ethical issues of human cloning have become an important issue in recent years. Many ethical arguments against human cloning are based on misconceptions.Many people think that these clones will have the same characteristics / personalities as the person cloned. Although clone and cloned individual have the same genes, traits and personalities are different. People think that a clone is physically identical to the donor and her behavior, but this is not true because although there is a physical identity, living environment shapes an individual's ongoing behavior and psychology. Many people believe that cloning will lead to loss of individuality eventually, but people have their own personality cloned which personality is similar to those in which they were created.Lawrence Nelson, associate professor of philosophy at UCS, said that embryos can be used for research if: – the purpose of research can not be achieved by other methods;   Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the embryos have reached more than 14-18 days of development;   Ã¢â‚¬â€œ those who use forbid you to consider or treat as personal property. One of the most serious problems of cloning of human embryos for therapeutic purposes, is that with harvesting stem cells, the embryo is formed by cloning practical killed. We can not reduce the existence of a human embryo to â€Å"a cell† as long as after both science and teaching of the Church, the human embryo is a carrier of life. 8) For a few years, the legalization of human cloning is in the center of global debate, which was also attended not only scientists but also politicians, philosophers, theologians, psychologists. For example, American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologist s (AAPLOG) has spoken out against cloning, drawing attention that some business people might think of trading a human life. (4) What is harder is that it could reach the reproduction of living people without them knowing, to be involved in this process or to give consent.Questions appeared on the social status of any clone. What will be their status in society? In the U. S. House of Representatives issued a ruling that human cloning is illegal, but the Senate has yet to rule on the matter. The opinions are still leaning toward accepting only therapeutic cloning. Legalization of therapeutic cloning has been proposed as the only way to investigate, the chances of success, the basic criterion for funding such programs as the primary objective should be finding cures for incurable diseases.A coalition of states, including Spain, Italy, Philippines, USA, Costa Rica and the â€Å"Holy Land† have tried to expand the debate on all forms of human cloning, noting that in their view, th erapeutic cloning violates human dignity. Costa Rica proposed the adoption of an international convention to combat any form of cloning. Australia has banned human cloning in December 2006, but therapeutic cloning is now legal in some parts of Australia. European Union – European Convention on Human Rights prohibits human cloning in an additional protocol, but the protocol has been ratified only by Greece, Spain and Portugal.England – The British government introduced legislation to allow therapeutic cloning in a debate on January 14, 2001. Hope that parliament will pass the law was prohibitive. Roman Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the practice of human cloning, saying it represents â€Å"a grave offense against human dignity and equality among the people. † Human cloning is prohibited in Islam at the Tenth Conference in Jeddah. Saudi Arabia has decided on June 28, 1997-July 3, 1997 as the beginning of human cloning is â€Å"haraam† (forbidden by the faith-sin).Jesse Rainbow explain why there is an aversion to human cloning – a clone would not be a â€Å"real person† – cloning is â€Å"playing the God† – cloning is not â€Å"natural† mention in closing some of the conditions proposed in a provisional list yet, so research on therapeutic human cloning (reproductive one is illegal) to proceed lawfully: it is necessary for embryos to be used only in the early stages of their development, without being allowed to grow further, all programs research must be supervised by government organizations dealing with fertilization and genetic techniques, various research programs will receive funding and approval only if it is scientifically demonstrated that there is no other way of obtaining the same results conventional, will not be permitted to research on human genetic material can be combined with that of animals, there must be a permanent state of public information on resear ch undertaken and to be postulated that the limitations may be required to report the experiences and suffering of animals used for human benefit. (5)

Friday, August 30, 2019

A Comparison Of A Clockwork Orange And 1984 Essay

A Comparison of A Clockwork Orange and 1984 In futuristic literature one often encounters political systems that dominate and oppress. In George Orwell’s 1984 and Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, government control uses various methods to force the citizens to conform. Brain washing was used for a common purpose in both stories, to forget and change the characters past actions. In A Clockwork Orange, brain washing was used after Alex had committed all his crimes, as a method of treatment for his violent tendencies. When Alex would cry for them to stop the horrible films, that he was forced to watch, Br. Brodsky said â€Å"We have to be hard on you, you have to be cured.† (Burgess,86) This experimental treatment was being used full force, Alex being the gini pig. The Charlie warned Alex before singing him up that â€Å"It’s only in the experimental stage at the moment. It’s very simple but very drastic.†(Burgess, 67) Alex’s treatment turned out to be â€Å"successful† in the doctors eye’s. He was cured of all his violence, left to the brutality of society that he could no longer deal with. In 1984 brain washing was a non-stop method of control used 24 hours everywhere Winston would go. He and Alex were lead to a similar fate. Although the constant attempt by Big Brother to have total control over all citizens of Ociania by propaganda and telescreens did not work on Winston, the torture and room 101 let him understand â€Å"double think† and learn to love Big Brother. Big Brother could make him believe anything, â€Å"Then almost without a pause he wrote: two and two make five.†(Orwell,239) A the end of 1984 Winston believed â€Å"He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.†(Orwell,256) Propaganda and brain washing can have positive and negative results on a society, both are presented in these novels. No matter what the result on society, the outcome on the person is always harmful. In 1984 Winston became compliant to the government and the rest of society. Any rebellion or self-control that Winston had was forced out of him by the brain washing and propaganda. Winston and Julia always said, â€Å"What you say or do doesn’t matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you- that would be real betrayal.† (Orwell, 136) They went in to room 101 knowing they would confess  but saying they would never stop loving each other, â€Å"They can’t get inside you.† (Orwell, 136) They were wrong. After the government was done with them they had no love for anything but Big Brother. By the government achieving this, they eliminated any chance of Winston or Julia rebelling against them. This therefore diminished the hope that any rebellion would occur to save the disciplined society. The opposite was true in A Clockworks Orange Alex had love like he had never experienced before. Alex had become so desensitized as a child that he could commit horrible crimes with no remorse what so ever. â€Å"That was disgusting so we have him the boot, one go each, and then it was blood, not song nor vomit, that came out of his filthy old rot. Then we went on our way.† (Burgess,15) In fact Alex found enjoyment in others pain caused by himself. His treatment therefore made him fit societies standards in a positive way, whereas Winston fit society in a negative way because they took something away that could have helped society. In both books drugs were used by the government to control people and patients. The citizens of Ociania were drugged constantly. Every thing they put in their mouth was controlled by the government. To eat anything else was against the law. Each social class had their own food and drink they could consume. Winston was not an important person in the governments eyes so he did not get high quality possessions. â€Å"He took a cigarette form a crumpled packet marked VICTORY CIGARETTES and incautiously held it upright, whereupon the tobacco fell out on to the floor.†(Orwell,10) The important government officials not only had the power to turn off their telescreens, which were a constant source of brainwashing, but they could also eat and drink high quality, normal food. â€Å"It’s Inner Party coffee. It’s all Inner Party stuff. There’s nothing those swine don’t have, nothing.†(Orwell,125) Once arrested Winston was drugged by O’Brien so as to be more susceptible to ideas. â€Å"Winston could not remember whether it was in drugged sleep, or in normal sleep a voice murmured in his ear: Don’t worry I shall save you, I shall make you perfect.†(Orwell, 210) Drugs were used in the same manner in A Clockwork Orange before being taken  to watch the horrible films he would be shot with drugs so that the film would affect him faster. â€Å"After every meal we shall be giving you a shot in the arm.†(Burgess,78) â€Å"Now all the time I was watching this I was beginning to get very aware of a like not feeling all that well, and this I put down to the under-nourishment and my stomach not quite ready for the rich pishcha and vitamins I was getting here.†(Burgess,82) Drugs caused both these cha racters to be manipulated at the hands of their oppressors to mold them to fit their totalitarian ways. These two pieces of literature are perfect examples of political systems that dominate and oppress. Both use various forms of brain washing to create a certain type of person that will conform to the society they have created. The novels also show the impact that brain washing and propaganda have on the society and what it takes away from the individual. Although these stories are not mirror images of our civilization in this day and time, it is not difficult to associate some of the ideas presented in these two book to what we have, and to what is to come.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Final project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Final project - Essay Example The document body is written in Times New Romans and font size 12. Also paragraphs are written  ½Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ from the margin. Canada Health Info way. Pan-Canadian Drug Messaging Standard (CeRx and MR2009). Available via: https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/index.php/programs-services/standards-collaborative/pan-canadian-standards/drug-standard Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. Health-Care Requirements for Strong Encryption, July 16, 2010. Available at http://www.ipc.on.ca/English/Resources/Educational-Material/Educational-Material-Summary/?id=969 Practice management system (PMS) is a member of the wider family of medical practice management software packages which are developed to aid in the management operations in the health sector. This software is capable of keeping records of patients treated in the hospital, monitoring the transactions made in the procurement department, monitoring the monetary activities of the financial department and management of the public relation activities. Practice management System (PMS) is integrated with an electronic record management system and an electronic database to organize the data and this completes the loop of customer care within the health care system. The practice management system (PMS) is composed of three main subcomponents which are a central database, central server and departmental interfaces. The central database holds all the records from all departments. This database is linked to the various departments via the central server. The server stores all the files of the software and links the database to each department. This software requirement document for Practice management system (PMS) will be submitted alongside a user guide manual, Installation guide, and user license and warranty documentation. Online user help links will also be availed with this report. The financial interface, procurement interfaces,

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Research Methods - Essay Example e of the best methods should be made with special seriousness otherwise incorrect and irrelevant research techniques may bring the study to invalid and erroneous findings (Freeman, Robinson & Woodley 2004). In its widest meaning, the word â€Å"method† can be interpreted as a way to something and represents more an artificial than existed in nature the system of rules and operations (Kothari 2006). Basically, research methods are implemented to gather the full data base with the help of which a researcher is able to make appropriate conclusions and elaborate further recommendations on how to benefit from favorable consequences or eliminate the negative influence. According to Walliman (2011, p. 7), research methods are all â€Å"about advancing the frontiers of knowledge†. The usage of various research methods for one study increases the accuracy of the findings and helps to view the problem from the different aspects. The bright example of research combination is the study of Luthans and Sommer, who based their results on both qualitative and quantitative methods. The article emphasizes how seriously the market conditions have been changed compared to previous periods of production relationships. Hence, the favorable results of each company’s performance are influenced by management’s policy aimed at the improvement of product characteristics, raise of product quality, decrease of total costs, increase of productivity and superiority over competitors (Luthans & Sommer 2005). It is important to persuade the target consumers that offered brand is better than the rest of analogues and it is considered that such scheme can be achieved only with the help of strong knowledge base of the company’s personnel, effective training programs, professional skills of senior managers and attractive motivational factors. The study provides extensive demonstration on how relevant management of human resources correlates with company’s financial results. The main purpose of

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Infatuation versus love Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Infatuation versus love - Essay Example It is believed that infatuation is a feeling that is not long lasting and keeps on decreasing with time whereas love on the other hand keeps on increasing with time and the emotional bond keeps on strengthening with the passage of time (Wheat et al 1980). Love and infatuation are both characterized by the want to engage with your loved one but they have possess different aspects. It is analyzed by sociologists that infatuation is basically a path that leads to love. It is considered to be the first step towards falling in love. Infatuation is an emotion where a person becomes occupied with the thoughts of the person that he admires. It is believed that infatuation is determined more from the physical outlook of the admired person rather than the character and the personality of the person. It is considered to be a constellation of emotions for the person being loved with respect to extreme intimate desire and obsession. It is argued that infatuation is basically an immature feeling a nd aspect of love. It tends to be away from the real world and a person stays in a different preoccupied world neglecting many realities. It is believed that infatuation is directed more towards all the good aspects of the person who is liked and it does not tend to see the person as a whole with all his negativities (Cox 2005).

Monday, August 26, 2019

Criminal procedure 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal procedure 1 - Assignment Example e certain aspects of life, such as the abolition of segregation and definition of sexual harassment, which was brought before the supreme court for a final, legal decision. Since the courts cannot issue a legal opinion until it is officially requested, it is understandable why they did not implement the Bill of Rights until the 1960s, when it officially came into play for political and judicial changes ( â€Å"The Bill of Rights: A Brief History†). Source: American Civil Liberties Union. (n.d.). The bill of rights: A brief history. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice_prisoners-rights_drug-law-reform_immigrants- rights/bill-rights-brief-history 2. In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the issue of American citizenship came into question for African- Americans. The issue was that African-Americans, whether in slavery or free were not to be considered American citizens and therefore, had not right to sue in the federal courts and that the federal government had no right to regulate slavery. The suit was brought forth by Dred Scott whose owners had brought him across territories where he was considered a free man in some states and tried to sue in order to gain his freedom. The supreme court protected the rights of the slave owners, deciding that Scott did not have the right to sue for his freedom. This landmark case is remembered for being only the second time that the courts did not uphold an Act of Congress. 3. The 14th amendement guaranteed citizenship to the United States for any person who was born or naturalized in the United States. Had this law been passed prior to Dredd v. Scott, Dredd would have seen his citizenship as an American recognized by the courts, which would then have ensure his rights as an American citizen, quite possibly gaining him his freedom in the process. It is important to remember that the courts can only act upon legal issues regarding constitutional matters once it is brought to their attention. The Dredd v. Scott case no doubt

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Privatization of State Owned Enterprises Research Proposal

Privatization of State Owned Enterprises - Research Proposal Example Governments in developed countries (e.g. Britain and Japan) started privatizing SOEs in the early 1980s; by the late 1980s it had become apparent that a privatization revolution would sweep the world (Young, 1987). While the bulk of privatizations during the past decade occurred in developed countries, in recent years the emphasis has shifted to developing countries (The Economist, 1993). In these countries, capital markets can hardly absorb the large amounts of privatized equity, and governments are offering to sell SOEs to western multinationals as strategic owners (The Economist, 1993; Ramamurti, 1992). In addition, these countries look to western multinational enterprises for managerial and technical know-how. This trend creates possibilities for growth and entry into countries whose economies are currently expanding faster than most developed economies. While privatization in the 1980s created opportunities for portfolio investments, the 1990s also promise the control of privati zed firms through mergers and acquisitions (Freudenberg and Bird, 1991; Nankani, 1990; Ramamurti, 1992). For these reasons, privatization is considered here to be an international management concern. Empirical research and theory on direct investment into former SOEs, unfortunately, is scant. Economists generally agree that reducing government ownership of companies improves the macro-performance of an economy, and they also expect that a competitive environment and market discipline should increase the efficiency of the privatized firm (Donahue, 1989; Hutchinson, 1991; Ramamurti, 1992; Vickers and Yarrow, 1988). Empirical research on this latter point, however, has yielded conflicting results (Cook and Kirkpatrick, 1988; Hutchinson, 1991; Parker and Hartley, 1991). Strategic management research considering the performance of the SOE after it is acquired by a private firm is missing entirely. No mergers and acquisitions work has yet considered the purchase of SOEs, nor have researchers examined the conceptual relationship between traditional mergers and the acquisition of an enterprise from the government. On the one hand, the public/private shift inherent in privatization might imply that acquisition processes work differently for privately and publicly owned firms. The strategy, structure, and culture of the public organization can be expected to differ significantly from those of private firms because of the often special missions of SOEs and distinct environments in which they may be operating (Aharoni, 1986). Since post-acquisition integration processes are determined by the historic conditions of the merging firms (Nahavandi and Malekzadeh, 1988; Shrivastava, 1986), these differences may crucially influence the success of a merger between a private firm and a newly privatized SOE. The pre-acquisition conditions of the target also influence performance (Datta et al., 1992), and thus the distinctive contingencies of the SOE can be expected to affect post-acquisition performance as well. Furthermore, the objectives of a government selling an SOE are as much political -- that is, cat ering to specific stakeholder groups, for instance current employees of the SOE -- as economic, a fact that should significantly affect the negotiations and may also determine the post-privatization performance of the former SOE. Only recently has the strategic management literature begun to examine the implications of government policy for

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Organizational behavior Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Organizational behavior - Term Paper Example There are many factors that negatively affect the solidarity of the organizational behavior and most important of those factors are discussed in this paper while taking into consideration a Wal-Mart supercentre located in Ontario, Canada. The reasons of the success of the worldwide conglomerate like Wal-Mart are also illuminated. The factors that contribute to pandemonium in an organizational setup and that tarnish the organizational behavior and culture are identified and discussed in the paper. High absenteeism and poor motivation are distinguished as the most lethal factors that weaken the strength of organizational behavior. Various strategies are also presented that can play a major role in culmination of the poisonous factors like discrimination and reduced teamwork in an organization. This is the general consensus among employing organizations that motivating racial and gender diversity in workplaces has always been the ultimate need of the time. The more chances of diversity of cultures, races and religions in a workplace, the higher would be the rate of healthy competition among the employees. Promoting diversity is the key to improve the overall productivity owing to the positive aura built through zero discrimination. 2. Introduction: Organizational behavior involves the study of all the people working together at different levels in an organization for achieving common goals. It focuses on the individual behaviors of the members of an organization and analyzes how each of them perceives the concept of organizational culture and whether they share a common thinking approach for achieving any important target. It is an unambiguous fact that even healthy conflicts in an organizational context, which are not fraught with any ill intentions, can swiftly take a negative turn if those working in an organization start taking any critical comment as personal offence. Rotten biases and ill prejudices that are among the basic factors for polluting an organizat ion’s environment, originate from negative organizational behavior and for this purpose, deep analysis of the organizational behavior by some reputable organizational consultant from time to time is highly important. Economic crisis can result if the behaviors and creativities of the members working in an organization are channeled into individual modes rather than being channeled into a mode of common welfare for that organization. This paper lays stress on the deep understanding of organizational behavior and supports this fact by taking example of Wal-Mart discount superstores in Canada. Different aspects of Wal-Mart supercentres are discussed in this paper including their structure, culture, mission, and objectives. Conflicts in any organization can create immediate chaos if mixed with discrimination and bias, and such negative emotions demand the attention of organizational consultant, who assess the reasons of conflicts and negative organizational behavior. 3. Why Wal-M art is so successful all over the globe? Wal-Mart is basically an American multinational corporation that successfully runs hains of large departmental stores all over the globe. Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart and it was under his remarkable ruling that this small corporation changed into a worldwide conglomerate in the span of a few years. The unparallel success of Wal-Mart can be judged from the fact that it was considered to be the world’

New 3 Questions on Politics and Administration Essay

New 3 Questions on Politics and Administration - Essay Example It has however been showcasing itself as one that checks over separation of powers. An issue that seemed to bring some controversy to this issue was the court’s rejection of Bush’s administration to detail prisoners of war. This led to the argument that the court would have been arguing in such a case due to lack of competency in the issues apprehended. According to Harriger (2011) and the concept of separation of powers, the court has acted in a manner to indicate that it is really enforcing for the power separation. Looking at these trends, in accordance to Harriger (2011), this separation of powers and the push by the Supreme Court trends to some judicial activism in the cases of power separation. He as well contended to the fact that he court seemed more oriented towards separation of powers than judicial supremacy. There is a bit of ignorance on the fact that judicial supremacy and defending its supremacy would be a better explanation of the activism of the court H arriger (2011). According to this author, the power war is between the congress and the federal government as well as the state governments. Harriger (2011) terms the behaviour of the courts in this case as a model of judicial activism in the sense that they do so against some constitutional values. Separation of powers is then argued to be more centralised towards public affairs in the recent past than it was thirty years ago. The issue of federalism and separation of powers comes in if the party controlling the houses differ from the President’s party. Divided governments have historically been used to show the various historical attributes that determine the struggle between the executive branches of the government. In the argument of the federalism about this struggle, there is an argument that all the government arms should be in such a manner that they can defend their own rights against invasion from the other arms. In this regard, they argue of the issues within the c onstitution that should better be served politically than in the courts Harriger (2011). Arguing on a federalist view, the constructions found in the constitution are not permanent and can be constitutionally solved. Looking at these arguments, it is evident that issues of separation of powers are directly connected to political battles in various arenas. Such issues are what led to the executive power showcased Bush as the Congress backed him up for the war on terror, considering that the houses were both controlled by republicans Harriger (2011). 2. Presidential powers According to Neustadt (1960) presidential powers are about the influence of the president to the country. The current American Presidency is a vital organ in the country’s progress and elections are taken very seriously. The current modern US President faces aid and service demands from quite some sources; the executive, congress, partisans, citizens and other countries. All these five organs are distinguishe d by what hey require of the president making this a role of the president Neustadt (1960). The obligations of the president are cut out for him alone. The President has such an importance status in the government such that there is always being demanded of his services. In his article, Neustadt (1960) states that these powers are in most cases behind the knowledge of the common man and thus will always remain at the mercy of the President. If compared to historical Presidents, the modern Presidency cannot much as the erstwhile

Friday, August 23, 2019

National Air Sapce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

National Air Sapce - Essay Example Such a responsibility is likely to generate competitive advantage. In addition, Greenberg, McKone-Sweet, & Wilson (150) explain that premium customers are likely to offset social cost of service delivery and this will manage cost implications of the orders on the airline companies. The identified fuel efficiency will also reduce cost in the long term and increase long-term profitability. Legal obligations and consequences of breach of contract will also motivate the airline companies to uphold the orders and two possible remedies to breach of contract explain this. The companies will still be forced to make the purchases under the doctrine of specific performance and this will mean wasted time and money in judicial processes. Cancelling the contracts will also lead to monetary expenses in damages should the companies be allowed to cancel the contracts but this would still be costly (Schaffer, Agusti, & Dhooge 108). Upholding contracts for the new aircrafts offers advantages such as competitive advantage due to social responsibility, increased profitability due to fuel efficiency, and ability to raise prices among premium customers without reducing utility. Cancelling the contracts would however have legal implications into unnecessary financial losses. The companies will therefore go ahead with the contracts because of the many advantages of the move and disadvantages of cancelling the contracts. These motivate purchase of the new fuel-efficient aircrafts. Greenberg, Danna, McKone-Sweet, Kate, & Wilson, James. The new entrepreneurial leader: Ddeveloping leaders who shape social and economic opportunity. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Collective empowerment Essay Example for Free

Collective empowerment Essay â€Å"To find out about my life. The truth. In the end. That’s all. † Nadine Gordimer’s 11th novel heroine, Vera Stark, takes over the hearts of literary critiques as she goes through the course of transition taking place in post-apartheid South Africa and in herself. â€Å"None to accompany me† is yet another Nadine Gordimer literary masterpiece that explores the dramatic effect of a country to an individual’s change on a personal level. The novel opens with Vera’s infidelity to her first husband; and as the story advances and she ages, she assesses her life and gains a new perspective on her relationship with her second husband, Bennett. Meanwhile, she tries to understand her daughter’s case on being a lesbian and why her husband pretends not to notice. Here, we see her struggle with her private feelings while engaged in civic issues where she had difficulty dealing with â€Å"relationships for which there was no preexisting formula of hostility or friendship, suspicion or trust. Note that the novel takes place in post-apartheid South Africa there’s been a radical change in social boundaries therefore, making it difficult to contend black interests. As Gordimer says, â€Å"When a railway line is abandoned, the tracks arent taken up. ; the railway referring to prejudiced white South Africans. Put in simpler terms, changing the law is one thing but changing the people’s attitude is another. Being a wife and a mother, a political activist and a lover, Stark’s sensible and sensual character reflects the author’s to some degree. Even her course of life takes resemblance to Gordimer’s: Vera Stark, a graduate of legal studies, becomes head of a Legal Institution established as a â€Å"reaction against the blackness of the black community, fights back the system with its own tricks. She will become the living example of how the collapse of an old regime allows us perhaps to abandon our old self. Maybe abandon an old personal life, too. Indeed, she will gradually see everything around her changing radically, and as consequences provoke other consequences, she will almost lose her life, after a murder attempt against her which will bring her face to face with the face of death, she will experience the fall of the frenzied racism monster as well as the transition towards a new regime with new supporters, ready like the others before them to be corrupted, the unjustified violence and the extreme poverty, she will revaluate her own existence, as a mother, as a companion and as a woman, she will watch her friends changing, she will be fascinated by the leader of the Black People and she will endure all these hardships with the stoicism of wisdom† (Nadine Gordimer on Vera Stark, â€Å"None to accompany me†); Likewise, Gordimer holds record for being a political activist throughout her lifetime and joined, as well as led, several organizations both legal and illegal that expressed her concerns on moral and r acial issues, especially the apartheid in South Africa. Meanwhile, the novel’s secondary characters put an intriguing twist to the story, somehow blending in whilst telling a story of their own: Veras second husband Bennet, a supposed sculptor downgraded to selling prestige luggage to provide for her; their son Ivan, a London banker, and their lesbian daughter, Annie, a South African doctor; Didymus and his wife Sibongile (Sally) Maqoma, Vera’s black friends who returned from exile after the apartheid; their lovely daughter Mpho, half-Zulu, half-Xhosa, whose been raised in London; Veras co-worker Oupa, former prisoner on Robber Island, who has big hopes and plans for South Africa; and Zeph Rapulana, one of the new black men with the skills and personal power to help makes such dreams come true. Gordimer’s portrayal of each minor character’s image was brief but delightfully vivid. Also, despite being the lead character in the novel, two lives are actually examined throughout besides Stark’s, thereâ€℠¢s Sally Maqona. After returning to South Africa from exile, she and her husband were received as heroes, for being part of the principal revolutionaries during the apartheid. However, an unexpected exchange in roles between the couple happened: Didymus, the male, was set aside the big picture for being a traditionalist whereas Sibongile, his wife, was selected to join high-profile politicians as she was regarded as one of the intellects and the most suitable to represent the new South Africa. Gordimer smoothly showed how these separate lives worked out how both women and their husbands are involved in taking down the apartheid system, and at the same time, how they handled more personal issues: a teen daughter’s pregnancy, the death of a co-worker, a son’s divorce, their own marital commitment, new employment and shifting friendships. All these are set in a growing complex political entity wherein each individual must somehow fit or adjust their identity. â€Å"Is there ever a really fair division of labour, as you call it, between couples? Vera’s daughter, Annie, asks her. Perhaps the answer to this question lies in the novel itself but then again, it’s uncertain will it be a yes or a no? Traditionally, so to speak, men take over positions dominating women. In this case however, one might find it amusing that it is the females holding the so-called ‘superior’ position instead of her husband, Sally is voted to preside over the board and even Vera has taken a seat amongst high-ranking officials. Moreover, I find it noteworthy to mention Vera’s alacritous acceptance of her daughter’s homosexuality at one part, she defends the merits of the male genitalia to her newly announced lesbian daughter. With such circumstances at hand, one wonders whether this novel was written to be intentionally inclined to feministic views or it’s just how it was meant to go. Nonetheless, this has nothing to do with Gordimer; in point of fact, she’s against sexism, racism, and the like as evident from her reactions in real life encounters. As to the novel’s setting, Gordimer’s ardent description of the South African post-apartheid is written in such a way as if meant to bring the reader inside the story itself. She highlights South Africa’s torment from racial discrimination and social division a glimpse of its ‘heterotopia’. Through Gordimer, one can not only see the narrative illustration presented but feel it, too, through the characters. It’s even more intense than reading a newspaper headliner, so to say. There’s no wonder Gordimer was able to come up with an excellent novel: she has ever since been a political activist in South Africa, expressing her thoughts through outstanding literary pieces concerning relevant issues facing the locals, and even being active in the anti-apartheid movement she joined the African National Congress during the days when it was still illegal. Her works dealt greatly with political issues, especially those of her own country, and love entwined with the lives of ordinary people. She’s won various awards through the decades including the 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature because her contribution is, in the words of Alfred Nobel, â€Å"of very great benefit to humanity†. All of her works are based from her own personal record, being one articulate witness of the contemporary world her country’s in, with a hinge of imagination reality and fiction combined. With â€Å"None to accompany me†, Nadine Gordimer certainly outdid herself this time a recollection of her previous notable works combined with a near-perfect replica of her own private life and personal beliefs on the inadequate development of her country: analphabetism and semi-alphabetism, poverty, racism, and the transition from the racist regime to the democratic state among others. Further additional concepts she used cover spatial control as a mark of repression and as an emphasis of political resistance, and a vague reference on South African urbanization. This particular flair of hers is quite remarkable, Gordimer is one of the few capable of delivering a composition where realpolitik meets the inner self it’s complex, intense, intriguing, and definitely fascinating. Regardless of recent reviews saying that her style of unfolding the narrative is more urgent compared to her earlier pieces, they commend her for keeping the ‘magic’ still. Her narrative form is unique to her she does it with sophistication and boldness; she writes what is there and she writes it with utmost comprehension and solemnity. Down to the last word, this read will leave you in awe. â€Å"It is not enough for someone to say that he is a writer. He must do what he can! †, so she says. The new South Africa that is evolving right now is coming to terms with the various repressions and discriminations it did in the past. South Africa is now freeing itself from the vestiges of apartheid and at the same time unmasking apartheid as it takes in different forms not only in society but in the hearts of its citizens. While apartheid is now officially denounced, there are still traces of it in many of its structures and apartheid still exists in the internal structures of culture and individual consciousness. One must be able to weed out apartheid inside one’s own heart even if the mind says you have already rid of it conceptually. There are practices and bad habits that are hard to break. Apartheid still exists in subliminal forms. The true affirmation and sense of self worth still needs to be developed. Collective empowerment still needs to be done on the structural level. This means poverty eradication, women empowerment, literacy programs, and economic programs that would provide labor and a genuine sense of self worth. In the area of economics, there should be access to opportunity and privilege not only for the white and the rich but also for the majority poor and the black. In the political level, the voice of the majority still needs to be heard and well represented. In the area of culture, there still needs to be a radical break from the past and a birth of a totally new culture that would define South Africa on a new level of its accomplishments and not its sins from the past.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Importance of Natural Product Synthesis

Importance of Natural Product Synthesis History of medicine dates back practically to the existence of human civilization. Historically, the majority of new drugs have been generated from natural products and from compounds derived from natural products. Natural products, including plants, animals and minerals have always been a source of therapeutic agents for many years. Natural products sometimes exhibit pharmacological or biological property that can be of therapeutic benefit in treating diseases. As such, natural products are the active components not only of most  traditional medicines  but also of many newer medications. Furthermore, synthetic analogs of natural products with improved potency and safety can be prepared and therefore natural products are often used as Lead Copmpounds for  drug discovery. In fact, natural products are the inspiration for approximately one half of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs. The birth of the natural product synthesis dates back to 1828 when Friedrich Wà ¶hler synthesized urea, a naturally occurring substance from ammonium cyanate. This event as trivial as it may seem by today’s standards not only gave birth to a boundless science called organic synthesis but also contributed to a demystification of mother Nature by burying the fact that synthesis of nature’s molecules is her exclusive domain. The second major achievement in the field of organic synthesis is the synthesis of acetic acid from elemental carbon by Kolbe3 in 1845. It is historically significant because Kolbe coined the word Synthesis for the first time to describe the process of assembling a chemical compound from other substances. The total synthesis of naturally occurring pigments alizarin in 1869 by Graebe and Liebermann and indigo in 1878 by Baeyer represent landmark accomplishments in the field. Probably, after urea, the most spectacular total synthesis of the nineteenth c entury was that of Emil Fischer’s (†¡)-glucose not only for the complexity of the target but also for the considerable stereochemical control that accompanied it. Figure 1: Although the precedent was set in the nineteenth century, it was only in the twentieth century the field of total synthesis started to flourish when Robert Burns Woodward synthesized Quinine. This event ushered in the modern era of total synthesis and Woodward who received the 1965 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for several brilliant examples of total synthesis such as his 1954 synthesis of strychnine, cholesterol5 is regarded as the father of modern organic synthesis. Figure 2: Today the art of organic synthesis has improved to astoundingly high levels of sophistication. Through its practice, chemists are able to synthesize organic molecules of all types of structural motifs and for all intents and purposes. Some modern classical examples of total synthesis include the synthesis of prostaglandin PG2ÃŽ ± and Ginkgolide by E. J Corey, Ingenol by Wood, Brevetoxin by Nicolaou, Vancomycin by Evans, Taxol by Holton6, Nicolaou7, Wender and Danishefsky8 groups independently. The discipline of natural product synthesis today, is an important field of investigation whose dividends stretch from new scientific knowledge to practical applications. Considered by many as the flagship of organic synthesis, natural product synthesis symbolizes the power of chemical synthesis at any given time and defines its scope and limitations. It also serves to improve chemical synthesis by attempting to push its frontiers into higher molecular complexity, diversity, and efficiency. they can synthesize not only the molecules of nature and their analogues, but also myriad other organic molecules for potential applications in many areas of science, technology and everyday life Introduction to THF-containing natural products Tetrahydrofuran (THF)-containing natural products widely occur in several important families of biologically active compounds, such as the annonaceous acetogenins [1] and polyether antibiotics isolated from Streptomyces organisms (ionomycin, lonomycins A–C, or monensin) [2]. It’s worthwhile at this juncture to discuss few THF ring containing natural products such as which have been of paramount importance to the mankind and also to the researchers who have been actively involved in the synthesis and isolation of these natural products. Acetogenins Acetogenins abbreviated as AAGs are a group of THF-Containing natural products isolated from Annonacae species which are vastly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. They exhibit different biological activities such as antitumor, ant-imalarial, anti microbial, anti protozoal, pesticidal activities2. The common structural features of acetogenins include several free hydroxy groups with various stereo centers, differently located oxygenated functional groups and tetrahydrofuran (THF) ring(s) along the long hydrocarbon chain with an ÃŽ ±, ÃŽ ²-unsaturated ÃŽ ´-lactone moiety at the end. Uvaricin, a bis THF acetogenin was the first of the AAGs isolated from Uvaria acuminata in 1982. It exhibited potent anti-cancer activity by inhibiting NADH cells in the mitochondrion. The total synthesis of Hexepi-Uvaricin was published by Hoye in 1994 and subsequently first total synthesis was achieved by Keinan in 1998. Montanacin D is a non classical acetogenin isolated from the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Annona Montana16 by Qin group in 1999, possessing a 4,8-cis THP ring along with a 16,19-trans THF ring. Ionomycin Amphidinolides Amphidinolides constitute a series of unique cytotoxic polyketide macrolides obtained from marine symbiotic dinoflagellates of the genus Amphidinium, which are symbionts of Okinawan marine flatworms Amphiscolops spp.1 They exhibit potent cytotoxic activity against murine lymphoma L1210 cells and human epidermoid carcinoma KB cells. Given below are some important Amphidinolides that incorporate a THF-ring in their structure Pectenotoxins Pectenotoxin (PTX)-group toxins are a group of polyether macrolide compounds found in microalgae and bivalve molluscs of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and some parts of Europe. Their presence in shellfish was discovered due to their high acute toxicity in the mouse bioassay after intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of lipophilic extracts of shellfish. Pectinotoxins are exclusively produced by Dinophysis species. In shellfish they are always accompanied by closely related okadaic acid (OA)-group toxins. The common structural features of (PTX)-group toxins include a spiroketal group, three THF-rings, a bicyclic ketal and a six-membered cyclic hemiketal (Allingham et al., 2007). PTX2 is beleived to be the main precursor, from which many PTX-group toxins are derived through biotransformation during metabolism in the gut of bivalves. It is suggested that an oxidation of PTX2 occurs, leading to the formation of other PTX-group toxins, including PTX1, PTX3, and PTX6 PTX-group toxins have been shown to cause cell cycle arrest, cell death and apoptosis. The wide range (10-9 and 10-6 M) of effective concentrations of PTX-group toxins as well as the apparent resistance of some cell lines to the cytotoxic effect of PTX-group toxins indicate the existence of cell-specific factors affecting the sensitivity of biological systems to this group of natural compounds. Studies have confirmed that PTX2 induces apoptosis in several cell lines through multiple mechanisms, involving the perturbation of the cell cycle machinery, inhibition of mitotic separation and cytokinesis through the depolymerization of actin filaments. Oscillariolide and Phormidolide Oscillariolide is a halogenated macrolide isolated from a marine blue-green alga Oscillatoria sp. from Gokashowan-Bay, Mie Prefecture. It exhibits significant cytotoxic activity in the echinoderm egg assay. Phormidolide, a closely related macrolide was isolated from the extract of a laboratory culture of an Indonesian isolate of the cyanobacterium Phormidium sp. It displayed cytotoxicity towards drine shrimp with a LC50 of 1.5  µM. The characteristic features of both oscillariolide and phormidolide include a trisubstituted bridged THF macrolactone with a long polyhydroxy chain containing a unique terminal bromo diene. Structural elucidation revealed that the polyhydroxy side as well as THF ring of both compounds have same stereochemistry Chagosensine Chagosensine is a sixteen-membered chlorinated macrolide isolated from the methanolic chloroform extract of a bright yellow sponge Leucetta chagosensis usually found in the coral reefs of Red Sea, Aqaba Gulf (Israel). the extract of the Leucetta sp. sponge exhibited potent ability to inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor signaling pathway. A new mechanism for the action of naamidine A and inhibition of tumor cells was shown.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Developing Speaking Skills in School

Developing Speaking Skills in School The ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowing that language because speaking is the most basic ways of human communication. Bailey and Savage (1994) said that speaking in second language has often been viewed as that most demanding of the four skills. Speaking skill is the second skill: (1) listening (2) speaking (3) reading (4) writing. Speaking conveys thought, understanding and feeling to listeners. Moreover, it can help listener understands objectives of speaker. Thus, speaking skill is important for communication in every day life. Second language learning, speaking skill is necessary because a person who can speak able to understand other. Also, it helps reading and writing skill to be easy. However, this skill is the complicate skill that speaker has to practice for long time. It does not occur to understanding or remembrance. So, Roger Scott (1981) purposes the steps of teaching and activities as below: Informing objectives teacher should tell learners what do we learn. Presentation teacher should present contents with context. Teacher does not present without context because some contexts are different in another context. Practising and conveying learners will practice suddenly after teacher present contents. Teacher should provide a variety of expressions and native speaker accent. Teacher also encourages learner to learn freely and similar real situations. Moreover, Mary Finocchiaro and Christopher Brumfit (1983) explained that there are many activities for speaking teaching that teachers can choose appropriately an activity for students in each level as below: Answering questions that teachers or friends ask. Telling friends to act with order. Letting students ask or answer friends questions related to classroom or outside experiences. Telling characters of objects from the pictures. Telling experiences by providing key words. Reporting stories from assigned topics. Setting classroom as scenes of some situations like restaurant, bank, and grocery. Debating, discussing, and expressing your ideas. Playing language games. Practising to telephone. Reading Thai newspapers and reporting in English Role playing. Speaking is divided into two main areas which are monologue and dialogue. Monologue is a person who speaks without interaction with other people (one person show) such as speech. Another one is dialogue that has at least 2 people talking together such as conversation. Moreover, people have to know some important means (managing interaction) to speak such as openings and closings, responding appropriately in fixed routine, taking turns, and topic management. There are several activities for developing speaking skills. Discussion Discussion is probably the most used activity in the oral skill class. Learners are assigned to discuss about provided topic. This activity usually does in a group because discussion is an activity for sharing information and knowledge to each other. Furthermore, learners are necessary to take the prior knowledge for discussion. For example, the topic is Living together before marriage. The learners should find some evidences to support your ideas. The evidence is maybe findings of research, statistic, or real experience. Besides, learners have to realize the managing interaction as above. The first step is teacher have to do a warm-up activity to introduce in the topic by discussing in the similar topic. This activity will add some ideas for students. The discussion does not have right or wrong, but it is sharing your own thoughts and feeling to each other. There are how to succeed with discussion: Give students topical information and language forms in order that they have something to say with other people. Let student purpose discussion topic or choose from some options. The topic of discussion is not necessary to be serious topic. Students would like to be motivated if the topic is interesting. Set objectives before discussion, and learners should achieve the goals. Use small group instead of whole class discussion because a small group is easy to participant in. Let students discuss for 8 -10 minutes. Teacher should stop them if they have nothing to say. Give feedback after finishing discussion. Students will know your ability by teachers feedback. For example: Pair work. Look at these rules for dating. Which statements do you agree with? Why? The man should always pay for the date. Some things should never change. A woman should never approach a man first. She should always be the one whos invited. It is inadvisable to talk about your problems at the beginning of a relationship. Do not say things like Can I see you again tomorrow? Play it cool. Do not make it appear that you are desperate. To avoid awkward situations, let your family know where you are going and when you will be back. It is better to go out with groups of friends in the beginning. Most blind dates tend to be disastrous, so it is best to avoid them. It is indiscreet to ask personal questions until you get to know each other. B. Group work. What are the most important dating rules in your culture? Agree on five important rules, and then tell the class. It is best for young people to go out in groups. Two people should never go out on their own unless they are planning to get married. Role play It is an activity for developing speaking skill, and students can show your ability about performance. Students usually are assigned some roles and fit into some situations that students maybe face outside classroom. Role play activity is advantage for practicing and developing sociolinguistic competence that they have to speak English with appropriateness according to situations and characters. Students always enjoy playing, but some are not because they are lack of self confidence. To succeed role play should do: Introduce activity by explaining the situation and make sure that students understand their own character. Set objectives before discussion, and learners should achieve the goals. Give a card that explains the person or role to students. The card maybe composes of words, expressions, or sentences. Have students brainstorm in their group for planning. Use small group instead of whole class discussion because a small group is easy to participant in. Let students work at their own ability level because students have different individual language skill. Teacher does not expect that everybody has to produce equally to discussion. Give feedback after finishing discussion. Students will know your ability by teachers feedback. For example: Choose the situation 1 or 2 to make up a dialogue and demonstrate the play in the classroom. Situation 1 Students A : You are going to join the live concert of your favorite singer or band, but you do not want to go alone. So, you need to invite your friend and tell his or her what do/does he/she/they look(s) like? Students B: You do not know his or her favorite singer or band for making decision. Situation 2 Students A: You are robbed the golden necklace. However, you are so lucky, you can remember his character. You need to describe him to a police. Students B: You are a police man. You need to ask his/her what is happening and what is the robber looks like? Information Gap The information gap activity involves each learner in a pair or group possessing information which the other learners do not have. The information of learners has to be shared with other in order to reach the objectives and outcomes. Doughty and Pica (1986) suggest that if students work in pairs with an activity that to be required exchanging information, students would engage in more negotiation of meaning that with activity. The information gap activities have their own advantages and limitations. They help language acquisition, but they do not involve students in conversational strategies in the same way like role play and discussion. For example: There are many different activities for developing speaking skills. The most important thing to realize is communicative competence including linguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse, and strategic competence. Moreover, speakers need to speak with fluency and accuracy. As you can see that speaking need more abilities to be mixed together. Recently, there are many foreigners wives at Udon Thaini province. Speaking is mostly used to communicate with other people. While a good speaker needs those things as above, some are not. For example, a foreigners wife at the department store says Honey, it the same at house. with pointing to a bag of detergent which is namely Breeze. This sentence is not correctly, but her husband can understand what she means. She speaks with some competence which is strategic competence that she speaks and point to something she means. Although she produces a sentence with any knowledge, she is able to communicate. Furthermore, there are not only utterances but also body language and eye contacts that you should act while you are speaking. The important activity for developing speaking skill in terms of body language and eye contacts is presentation, especially public speaking. For instance, when I was a fourth year student at Khon Kaen University, I usually practice presentation skill. Every subject need to oral presentation. I think that I was given many opportunities for practice until I can present confidently in front of classroom or anywhere. I also realize that dressing can help me to be a believable person. Although sometimes I am not sure for information that I have to present, I try to produce with confidence and good looking. After I finish presentation, my friend told me that You speak with reliability Then I answered that But I have no substances, ha ha. It makes me aware that speaking is the most important skill in every day life. Also, body language or gestures and eye contacts are choices to convey meaning to the audiences. If you are a good speaker, you should always practice anytime. For the second language learners, you cannot to be a perfect speaker because second language is not mother tongue, but you can speak with a few mistakes. Besides, you can speak English similar to native speakers by more practicing. For another example, I have a speech examination in terms of introduction of guest speaker which is the promptu speech. The teacher assigned since at the beginning of December. I have many times for preparation, but I still speak with some incorrect point. I also think that I cannot speak every word I prepared, but I can convey meaning to audience that it still has the same meaning. After that, it is the time for impromptu speech. Everyone has to pick a piece of paper that wrote a topic, and I was let a minute to prepare. Suddenly, I produce about the topic I selected. Luckily, I got a quite easy topic which is What custom in your country is different from customs in other countries? That top ic is in the Thai context while some are not related to Thai people. I realize that a speaker is needed to have omniscience for any topics. Person who has wider knowledge will get more advantages in speaking. In addition, experiences are considered to be necessity, especially direct experiences. As I mentioned as above, there are several activities for developing speaking skill in different ways. Teacher should select the appropriate activities for your students. Recently, communicative approach is taught widely in second language learning. This approach focuses on the ability to communicate in the real situation or authentic events, but the teacher should not ignore to teach grammar for them that is a heart of English learning. Moreover, I believe that vocabularies are necessary in speaking skill. Also, teacher should encourage developing vocabulary skill at the same time.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Economics of Marriage :: essays research papers

Economics of Marriage Nowadays, marriage is hardly a new subject of discussion and is found in every human society. Any marriage involves two individuals each of whom has their own experience of that marriage. Nowadays, the roles and expectations that the families have to fulfill are distributed evenly among the members of the family. What this means is that mothers, who were identified in the past as household wives (since they were responsible with cleaning, cooking and raising children) are granted with more rights such as the right to participate in a voting process or the right to get a job. As oppose to mothers, fathers have always been mainly responsible with working hard to support their families because in most of the situations, they were the main financial providers. As a result, they had to bring money to their families by any means even if that meant getting more than one job. This situation became much more problematic when children appeared in the families. As we all know, children had and will always play an extremely important role and raising them is a big responsibility for thei r parents. Having children and only one member of the family (for instance the father) working is a familiar situation for most families. In this case, the father has to be more realistic than ever that his family relies on his financial support. He has to make sure that his family has the necessary supplies to survive. If this situation is not being resolved due to various reasons such as the husband does not earn enough money or just simply refuses to contribute financially, conflicts and issues may arise which often lead to family separations, and thus, poor living conditions and even death from malnutrition. This is exactly the situation that parents have to avoid. They have to be more responsible and realistic of their own actions, and take the decisions that are in the best interest of the family, the right decisions. These types of marriages are called emotional and financial support marriages. Another type of marriages that are very common nowadays and very numerous on a wide scale are the economic marriages. Economic marriages are essentially those kind of marriages in which money play a tremendous role in the lives of one or more couples. This is often a situation in which one or even both individuals involved in marriage have an unconditional desire and hunger for money.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Women in Ancient Civilizations Essays -- essays research papers

The role of women in different civilizations, even though on different spectrums of the world, had many similarities and only a few differences. Women in these four civilizations: Greece, Egypt, China, and India faced many of the same hardships, struggles, and prejudices. Some of this treatment of women didn’t even end until present day (1920’s). In some of these civilizations women were able to rise up somewhat in their communities but it didn’t come without some kind of interference. When it came to the rights of these women, they really didn’t have any at all. In Greece women were considered to be second class citizens at best. All women were forbidden to own property, inherit their own name, vote, or attend political debate. Men viewed them as nothing of real importance. To them they were irrational, fearful, and only to be used for their physical desires. They were considered to be the ward of a man (Sacks 263). Women in Egypt were treated fairly well compared to the others. They shared the same legal and economic rights as men they were capable of owning land, slaves, and could acquire possessions for themselves in many ways. Elite women did have more rights and opportunities than the nonelite but they were both very fortunate. Regardless of class though, all women had only a few main concerns and expectations. They were all expected to get married and raise a family, maintain the management of the household, and bearing and rearing children (Harrison 510). The rights of women in China and India were similar as well. In India the rights of women have barley changed since ancient times. Women in this country are not allowed to own property, show their faces in public, and are the complete property of a man (www.geocities.com/hinduism/hindu_women.html). The women of china were also inferior to men. For around two thousand years they lived under the rules and laws set by Confucius. The Confucius doctrine said that women weren’t equal to men because they were unworthy and incapable of an education. These women were the property of men from birth till death (Andrea and Overfield 82-90). Their rights were not only limited to their families though in some cases there were actual laws passed that limited the rights of women. In ancient times The Code of Hammurabi for example had several laws that restricted women when it had to do with marriage and what a hus... ...ng their own property, they were encouraged to join athletics such as gymnastics, and some rose to be estate managers. They were even capable of participating in religion and could leave the house during holy days. During the Hellenistic age the treatment of women started to lighten up. Many started to realize that they have a greater value including their intelligence (Sacks 264). Chinese women didn’t start to rise up until the 20th century when communism began. Communists believed that women were equal to men; they felt that it would help the population of china to thrive (Dillion 346). The women of Egypt were treated well and did have a say in many of the things that involved them so they didn’t rise up too much more. Unfortunately for the women in India they have never truly risen up. They are still victims of being very subservient to men. In conclusion, women in all of these cultures have faced many hard times. Either from their community, husbands, fathers, or any man they were put down and restricted but though it all many women found a way to rise up through it all. There is still a long way for women of other culture to go but times are changing and anything is possible.

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams :: A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, has been called the best play written by an American. The setting of the play, New Orleans, creates a blended mood of decadence, nostalgia, and sensuality. The plot of the play comes about through the conflict between a man and his sister-in-law who comes to live at his house with he and his wife. Stanley and Blanche immediately capture the attention of the audience through Williams' portrayal of the intensely strong willed characters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Play takes place in a two-story apartment in the heart of New Orleans. Eunice lives on the top apartment and Stella and Stanley live on the bottom apartment. The set has a classic Creole ambiance. The props in the play as with the rest of the costumes, and set are based on pieces from the 1940à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. The props were very realistic, and very durable due to the fact that they had to stand up to Stanleyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s outburst. The props were very ordinary to show the humble life of Stanley and Stella in 1940à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s New Orleans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The costumes in the play reflected the plot of the play and gave insight into the characters that wore them. Stella and Stanley had simple costumes to reflect their simple impoverished life. Blanche outfits reflected her southern bell attitude, and set her apart from the rest of the characters so you could focus in on her. It showed that she like the best and would do anything for it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The lighting set the mood for the play. In key scenes the lighting added another dimension to show the conflict and hardship in the story.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Daniel hade

Shaina Gilbert Prof. Conway English 101 November 26, 2013 It is an obligation since elementary for children to learn about the U. S. history.However, some historical books feed our children and society inaccurate stories to cover some lies that our prideful country, the United States of America is hiding from To paraphrase, Hade talks about The American Girl Collections how the stories in those books are so inaccurate that the United States tends to hide the issues, or to focus less on the consequences of some issues as a result for our children to grow up ith the belief that the United Sates is this perfect and progressing country, where the United States always have a happy ending (563-572).Related to Hade's approach of inaccurate stories, the conspiracy of Martin Luther Kings death falls into the same category. Our history book always taught us that Martin's assassination was done by a lone gunman called James Earl Ray. However along the line, cases and investigations have proven that Martin Luther's death was all a conspiracy involving the FBI, military, CIA plotting against civil rights leaders. The government and media anage to cover up by providing the public misinformation to protect the pride of the United States, that the U.S. would never have such corrupted agencies, that USA should always be the best, the example of many (Halyard). We all knew that it was never about a racist gunman, there was more to the situation but again the government partially revealed the information, for the purpose of how people will look at the United States and it is the same point as Hade said about his article that our children are taught lies and even adults had to grow up with those lies for the protection of the US's reputation.He argues that â€Å"the books are too busy telling the students how great the United States was and still is to give them much real history'(Hade 568). It is true, we all know that books will never admit that we were wrong for some part, on the contrary books will brush off the real issues or the real story of the issue to present the United States as being on the right side and doing the best of all. Martin Luther's death until this day is still not fully revealed to the public and will never for the sake of the prideful fgure that United States have. Quoted by Hade, â€Å"These books†¦ ems to connect with the ultimate American goal† (572), and he is right we have given stuff that only they decided we should know to protect the American goal.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Markowitz Portfolio Optimization Essay

Introduction Markowitz (1952, 1956) pioneered the development of a quantitative method that takes the diversification benefits of portfolio allocation into account. Modern portfolio theory is the result of his work on portfolio optimization. Ideally, in a mean-variance optimization model, the complete investment opportunity set, i.e. all assets, should be considered simultaneously. However, in practice, most investors distinguish between different asset classes within their portfolio-allocation frameworks. In our analysis, we view the process of asset allocation as a four-step exercise like Bodie, Kane and Marcus (2005). It consists of choosing the asset classes under consideration, moving forward to establishing capital market expectations, followed by deriving the efficient frontier until finding the optimal asset mix. We take the perspective of an asset-only investor in search of the optimal portfolio. An asset-only investor does not take liabilities into account. The investment horizon is 5 – 10 years and the opportunity set consists of twelve asset classes. The investor pursues wealth maximization and no other particular investment goals are considered. We solve the asset-allocation problem using a mean-variance optimization based on excess returns. The goal is to maximize the Sharpe ratio (risk-adjusted return) of the portfolio, bounded by the restriction that the exposure to any risky asset class is greater than or equal to zero and that the sum of the weights adds up to one. The focus is on the relative allocation to risky assets in the optimal portfolio. In the mean-variance analysis, we use arithmetic excess returns. Geometric returns are not suitable in a mean-variance framework. The weighted average of geometric returns does not equal the geometric return of a simulated portfolio with the same composition. The observed difference can be explained by the diversification benefits of the portfolio allocation. We derive the arithmetic returns from the geometric returns and the volatility. a) The CIO has sent some of the results you have done above to the IPC. After the members of the IPC perused the results, some of them asked the CIO to explain why the equal-weighted portfolio underperformed the mean-variance optimal portfolio for the periods studied. Explain to the CIO using only the whole period results. First, let’s quickly look at some of the values of the fields that are used to draw the capital allocation line. As an example to my explanation let’s go through 2 possible capital allocation lines from the risk-free rate (rf = 3.5%). The first possible CAL is drawn for naively diversified portfolio for the whole period with rf = 3.5%. The expected return for this portfolio is 0.006224053, and its standard deviation is 0.025002148, the reward-to-volatility ratio, which is the slope of the CAL is 0.132284095. The second CAL is drawn for the Optimal portfolio for the whole period with rf = 3.5%. The expected return for this portfolio is 0.009508282, and its standard deviation is 0.00734826, the re- reward-to-volatility ratio is 0.897030832. We can see from the numbers that the optimal portfolio does better than the naively diversified portfolio because the RTV is higher for the optimal portfolio. The reason for that is that we’ve identified the optimal portfolio of risky assets by finding the portfolio weights that result in steepest CAL. The CAL that is supported by the optimal portfolio is tangent to the efficient frontier. The bottom line is that we have chosen the optimal portfolio that has the portfolio weights that lie on the capital allocation line that is tangent to the efficient frontier. Which means a portfolio of risky assets that provides the lowest risk for the expected return and thus this selected portfolio is bound to outperform the naively diversified. b) The IPC has noticed that the optimal allocations of sub-period 1 and sub-period 2 are very different (based on different scenarios of target returns and investment limits). They asked why. Would you please explain (using the set of results for 3.5% risk free rate)? This entails an analysis of the economic conditions for different periods. The most important insight we get is that in a diversified portfolio, the contribution to portfolio risk of a particular security will depend on the covariance of that security’s return with those of other securities. If you see the correlation matrix for the 2 sub periods, we can see that the economic-wide risk factors have imparted positive correlations among the stock returns for Sub Period 2 (03 – 10). This was the time of economic crisis (08-10) and since most of the risk was economic, the optimal portfolio incorporates less risky assets. While the sub period 1 (95 – 03) went through a healthy growth period, had mostly firm specific risk and lesser economic risk. c) The CIO wants to propose investment limits on certain asset classes to the IPC for consideration, but the CIO may not be aware of the likely impact on the performance of the Fund. Since you have run some analysis above based on the proposed limits, present your analysis and make a recommendation regarding investment limits for the historical arithmetic average (target) return and the 6% p.a. target return. The fundamental concept behind MPT is that the assets in an investment portfolio should not be selected individually, each on their own merits. Rather, it is important to consider how each asset changes in price relative to how every other asset in the portfolio changes in price. The optimal portfolios derived from the analysis are tangency portfolios and represents the combination offering the best possible expected return for given risk level. If we change the investment limits it could result in sub-optimal portfolios. This can be easily from the tables from (comparing naà ¯ve allocation to optimal allocation): Optimal Portfolio: When we draw the CAL and the efficient frontier using the above values, we see that the weights in the optimal portfolio result in the highest slope of the CAL. We can see this with the improved reward-to-volatility ratio of the portfolios. We also saw from the analysis where we constrained the portfolio return to 6% pa, the weights of the optimal portfolio changed and the RTV was lower than the un constrained optimal portfolio. Constrained:Unconstrained: d) The CIO would like to test the sensitivity of the mean-variance optimization to a change in the portfolio target return. Since you have done some runs using the historical arithmetic average return and 6% p.a. target return, present what you’ve learned from your analysis to the CIO using your results. We have tested the sensitivity of the mean-variance analysis to the input parameters. Table below shows the impact on the optimal portfolio of an increase and a decrease in the expected volatility of an asset, all other things being equal. Note that a change in volatility affects both the arithmetic return and the covariance matrix. Again, this table demonstrates the sensitivity of a mean-variance analysis to the input parameters. An increase in expected volatility leads to a lower allocation to that asset class. High yield even vanishes completely from the optimal portfolio. It is noteworthy that commodities are hardly affected by a higher standard deviation. A decrease in volatility mostly leads to a higher allocation. Government bonds, despite their expected zero risk premium, add value due to the strong diversification benefit. In this analysis, they appear to be insensitive to a change in their expected volatility. Credits and bonds are quite similar asset classes and, in a mean-variance context, the optimal portfolio tends to incline towards one or the other. In short, the mean-variance analysis suggests that adding real estate, stocks and high yield to the traditional asset mix of stocks and bonds creates most value for investors. Assets| Optimal Portfolio| Optimal Portfolio (6%)| SPTR Index| 0| 0| RTY Index| 0| 0| MXEA Index| 0| 0.747626014| MXEU Index| 0| 0| MXEF Index| 0| 0| SPGSCITR Index| 0| 0| FNCOTR Index| 0.862665445| 0.179140105| H15T3M Index| 0| 0.05| WOG1| 0| 0| C0A0| 0| 0| H0A0| 0| 0| G0Q0| 0.137334555| 0.023233881| e) Could we use the optimal weights from a previous period, say sub-period 1 or sub-period 2 or the whole period, as the recommended asset allocation for the next 5 or 10 years? Explain your answer with the out-of-sample test results you have done. No, we cannot recommend asset allocation based on the out-of-sample test results. The in-sample MV efficient frontiers overestimate the return associated with portfolio optimization not only with respect to resampled efficiency but importantly with respect to out-of-sample investment performance. Even with good inputs, MV efficiency error maximizes the risk and returns inputs, creates upward biased estimates of future performance, and substantially underperforms resampled efficiency. f) Based on the above analyses, what lessons and implications can be learned from your analysis on the mean-variance portfolio optimization? Key lessons: The fundamental goal of portfolio theory is to optimally allocate your investments between different assets. Mean variance optimization (MVO) is a quantitative tool which allows you to make this allocation by considering the trade-off between risk and return. Markowitz Portfolio Optimization The single period Markowitz algorithm solves the following problem: Single Period Problem * Inputs: * The expected return for each asset * The standard deviation of each asset (a measure of risk) * The correlation matrix between these assets * Output: * The efficient frontier, i.e. the set of portfolios with expected return greater than any other with the same or lesser risk, and lesser risk than any other with the same or greater return. The Markowitz algorithm is intended as a single period analysis tool in which the inputs provided by the user represent his/her probability beliefs about the upcoming period. The expected return, standard deviation, and correlation matrix are computed using standard statistical formulae. The expected return represents the simple (probability weighted) average of the possible returns for each asset, and the standard deviation represents the uncertainty about the outcome. The correlation matrix is a symmetric matrix, with unity on the diagonal, and all other elements between -1 and +1. A positive correlation between two assets A and B indicates that when the return of asset A turns out to be above (below) its expected value, then the return of asset B is likely also to be above (below) its expected value. A negative correlation suggests that when A’s return is above its expected value, and then B’s will be below its expected value, and vice versa. Input Data Issues A major issue for the methodology is the selection of input data. The use of historical data provides a very convenient means of providing the inputs to the MVO algorithm, but there are a number of reasons why this may not be the optimal way to proceed. All these reasons have to do with the question of whether this method really provides a valid statistical picture of the upcoming period. The most serious problem concerns the expected returns, because these control the actual return which is assigned to each portfolio. Failure of underlying hypothesis When you use historical data to provide the MVO inputs, you are implicitly assuming that * The returns in the different periods are independent. * The returns in the different periods are drawn from the same statistical distribution. * The N periods of available data provide a sample of this distribution. These hypotheses may simply not be true. The most serious inaccuracies arise from a phenomenon called mean reversion, in which a period, or periods, of superior (inferior) performance of a particular asset tend to be followed by a period, or periods, of inferior (superior) performance. Suppose, for example, you have used 5 years of historical data as MVO inputs for the upcoming year. The outputs of the algorithm will favor those assets with high expected return, which are those which have performed well over the past 5 years. Yet if mean reversion is in effect, these assets may well turn out to be those that perform most poorly in the upcoming year. Error in the estimated mean Even if you believe that the returns in the different periods are independent and identically distributed, you are of necessity using the available data to estimate the properties of this statistical distribution. In particular, you will take the expected return for a given asset to be the simple average R of the N historical values, and the standard deviation to be the root mean square deviation from this average value. Then elementary statistics tells us that the one standard deviation error in the value R as an estimate of the mean is the standard deviation divided by the square root of N. If N is not very large, then this error can distort the results of the MVO analysis considerably. Summary The above discussion does not mean to imply that the Markowitz algorithm is incorrect, but simply to point out the dangers of using historical data as inputs to a optimization strategy. If you make your own estimates of the MVO inputs, based on your own beliefs about the upcoming period, single period MVO can be an entirely appropriate means of balancing the risk and return in your portfolio.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Leadership and Management Paper Essay

Ursula M. Burns is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Xerox. She has held this position for the last five years. She started out as a summer intern in 1980, and signed on in 1981. From then until she became CEO she has led several business teams and positions within Xerox, all along growing within the company. According to Fortune, she is the 22nd most powerful woman in the world. In addition to the Xerox board, she is a board director of the American Express Corporation and Exxon Mobil Corporation. Burns also provides leadership counsel to community, educational and non-profit organizations including FIRST – (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), National Academy Foundation, MIT, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, among others. She is a founding board director of Change the Equation, and President Barack Obama appointed Burns vice chair of the President’s Export Council (â€Å"Xerox: Ursula Burns, CEO†, 2014). Leadership and Management Holding a management title does not necessarily equate to holding leadership skills. Leadership is defined in many ways, and depending on who you ask can simply be â€Å"coordinating the work of others†. However that is taking a very limited view on leadership. Leadership is a combination of rationale, inspiration, science, and art. It is said, â€Å"Leaders are thought to do the right thing, while managers do things right† (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2009). Not all leaders are managers, look at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is argumentatively the most important Civil Rights leader, however many would not look to him as a manager. According to Forbes, Ursula has made Xerox a profitable and viable company, this past year, Burns helped Xerox generate adjusted earnings per share of $1.09, up from $1.02 in 2012, and  post $21.4 billion in full-year revenue (Forbes, 2014). Her skills as a manager aided in building Xerox to the power-house they are today. Burns is responsible for the largest acquisition in Xerox history, and has allowed them to invest in business services, which is a $600 billion industry. Making these decisions requires hard decisions, including outsourcing, closing offices that are not performing well, and adopting a work from home culture. Because of this Burns has found herself on the 2014 Worst CEO list put together by 24/7 Wall Street and Glassdoor. Burns received a positive review from fewer that the 140,000 employees Xerox gained in the business services acquisition. Only 30% approved of her performance (Brown, 2014). Also something that does not help Burns gain leadership approval is the fact that she was paid on average $13 million dollars for 2010 – 2012, while over 500 people were laid off. While Burns has made moves in hopes of ensuring the stability of Xerox there are some that are calling for her to be fired. Burns’ recent letter to shareholders showed just how badly the transaction had go ne. Over the course of 2010 to 2013, revenue, net income and operating margins are flat to down. In particular, revenue fell 1% to $21.4 billion in 2013. In the fourth quarter, revenue dropped 3% to $5.7 billion. Net income was down 1% to $1.2 billion last year. In the fourth quarter, the drop was 4% to $311 million (McIntyre, 2014). When measuring success of a leader, there are many ways to do that and depending on which way is chosen could render different results. Using unit performance indices, Burns appears to be very successful as a leader. Unit performance indices can be used to examine what impact leaders have on the â€Å"bottom lines† of their organizations. Since she has taken over as CEO, Xerox shares have gone up 50% and the S & P is higher by nearly 100% (Brown, 2014). Based on this information and her average salary the board must be happy with how she is performing. However, another way to measure success is by subordinates ratings of effectiveness. Subordinates may be relatively satisfied or dissatisfied, may be motivated or unmotivated, may feel relatively committed or uncommitted to the organization, or may believe their leader is relatively effective or ineffective. Because Burns has found herself on the worst CEO’s list of 2014 it can be said that she has been unsuccessful as a leader (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2009). Conclusion Overall it is important to remember that there are many dynamics to measuring leadership and management. Leadership and management can have many different meanings. Burns is a prime example of this. I believe she is an effective manager, because businesses are in the business of making money and her shareholders are happy. She also sits on the board of several inspirational companies like FIRST and Change the Equation, which could have many people looking at her leadership abilities. However, when it comes to Xerox her primary focus is making the shareholders happy, when could indicate she is not being a true leader in a way that motivates, inspires, encourages, or simply speaks to their employees. Refrences Hughes, R.L., Ginnett, R.C., &e Curphy, G.J. (2009). Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hills. Xerox: Ursula Burns, CEO. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.xerox.com/about-xerox/executive-leadership/ceo/enus.html McIntyre, D.A. (2014). Time for Xerox Board to Fire CEO Burns. Retrieved from http://247wallst.com/investing/2014/03/20/time-for-xerox-board-to-fire-ceo-burns/ Brown, A. (2014). Xerox’s Ursula Burns Named One of Worst CEO’s in Corporate America. Retrieved from http://madamenoire.com/418058/xeroxs-ursula-burns-named-one-worst-ceos-corporate-america/ Forbes: #22 Ursula Burns. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/profile/ursula-burns/