Single Fathers Raising Daughters Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Single Fathers Raising Daughters - Term Paper Example The problem arises on how to balance housework with, to name one, office or field work. Fathers may opt for child care. However, child care poses a redefinition of the father concept. This paper explores the issues and concerns confronted by single fathers in raising their children. Sanders (1998) wondered when women from college accused him and the male sex of having owned all the pleasures of this world. Such finger pointing, however, is in conflict with what he knows about men. Sanders (1998) perceived men either as warriors or toilers. He even contrasted men against women by saying that men â€Å"wore out sooner.† On the other hand, Sanders (1998) stated that women lived longer. The reason for this sharp contrast is that the nature of men’s work or profession is stiff and life-threatening. Sanders (1998) described this sex as men who labor â€Å"with their bodies.† On the other side of the scale, Brownmiller (1998) said that men are seen, by and large, to have the â€Å"tough mental fiber, the intellectual muscle, to stay in control.† Here, Kriegel (1998) was able to quickly see the paradox. He analyzed that if to be a man is to be tough, smart, and â€Å"capable,† then men must always strive and struggle to prove their manhood. In his autobiographical essay, Kriegel (1998) showed how hard it is for men to fulfill the pressures of gender expectations. Furthermore, to escape in these social pressures is colossal. Sanders and Kriegel are few of the men (and fathers) who encounter gender stereotyping. Kite (2001) defined stereotype, generally, as an oversimplified opinion, perception, and image, serving as a component of prejudice. Specifically, Kite (2001) classified gender stereotype as a systematic or consensual opinions about the nature of men and women and the supposed qualities of masculinity and femininity. There has been a significant increase, for several decades past, of families headed by single

Kamias Soap Essay Example for Free

Kamias Soap Essay The researcher asked 10 respondents; 8 teachers, 1 laboratory technician and 1 housewife to test and evaluate the product. The respondents were asked to used the product and observe its effect on their skin. After enough days, they were asked to answer survey questionnaire which pertains to the product. They were asked to evaluate the product based on certain criteria which aim to answer the problem of the researcher. Through the data provided by the respondents, the researcher was able to interpret the results and draw conclusions. The researcher found out the abundance of Kamias fruit at home and nearby places. She then thought of what else to do with the fruit aside from its published uses. She decided to make the fruit extract as an ingredient in making dish washing liquid and presented it to her adviser. After several attempts, the researcher failed, but fortunately and accidentally observed the bleaching effect of the extract. She had decided to research about the contents of the fruit and found out that it contains oxalic acid. The researcher decided to switch the study on making a bleaching soap out of the extract. The researcher worked on the laboratory and made samples of soap using the raw materials (kamias extract and decoction of lemon grass and calamansi leaves). The researcher distributed samples of soap and let the respondents try the soap. The respondents answered certain questions that pertain to the product. After gathering the data from the respondents, the researcher interprets the data, made tables and draw conclusion.

The Pre-Raphaelites Essay -- Europe European History Essays

Pre-Raphaelites, a group made up of 19th-century English painters, poets, and critics who's work responded towards the practice of Victorian and neoclassical subject mater by developing bright imitations of religious work. More specifically, "and of the most beautiful are the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their followers, bright and clear colours, fair women and themes from myths and legends."(Darkamber 1). The groups source of inspiration came from early Renaissance painters and medieval times. This was up until the time of the famous, well known, Raphael. Raphael was an Italian painter who imitated his teachers work so carefully that it was very difficult to decipher the two. His work also entailed architecture as did the Pre-Raphaelites. Another group that influenced the Pre-Raphaelites was the Nazarenes. They were young German artists who attempted to incorporate ideas from medieval Christian religion. "The Nazarene's principles were accuracy, a new look at the medieval past and intensity of feeling, both human literary and religious"(Darkamber 1). They formed a brotherhood in Rome which resembled and helped lead to part of the foundation that the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was built on. The PRB was started by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1848. William Michael Rossetti, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, Frederick George Stephens, James Collinson, and Thomas Woolner were also part of the brotherhood. The group was composed of painters, sculpters, critics and poets. During their time the PRB started to copy significant styles of painting. Art sometimes is looked at being difficult to understand. The Royal Academy, which was founded in 1768, was the identity of British art which used dark melanc... ...e PRB, was still acclaimed for his work as a portrait artist in the years to follow and was made president of the Royal Academy in 1896, the last year of his life (McMullins, "PRB", 8). The Pre-Raphaelites took two forms of art, verbal and visual, used the two together and expressed the beauty in their art more efficiently. The PRB rebelled against the standards set by the contemporaries of the time period. They faced criticism from the Royal Academy, the Public eye, and influential men like Charles Dickens. On the other hand well known art critic John Ruskin defended the PRB’s positive ideas. As for the people of the time, they are today looked back upon as being stuck up and snobbish. Still today the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites live on. "Thus the Pre-Raphaelites have left few lasting traces on modern thought, literature, art or social organization"(Gaunt 287).

The Blast of War :: Dialogue Essays Creative Writing

The Blast of War "Boxer, this is flight control. The pattern is full; maintain current heading and set throttle to one-niner-zero." "Copy that Lincoln, one-niner-zero." Lieutenant Erica "Boxer" Swanson reached out to the cockpit console and pressed the button which would lock in her heading. Sitting back in her seat, she slid the throttle lever on her left slowly back until the display on the console counted down to read 190 MPS. With the flick of a switch above her head she turned off her electron shielding, noting the flicker of a greenish light outside her cockpit as the shielding dispersed. The Lieutenant then twisted in her seat to look over her shoulder at the hulk of a space cruiser behind her, the Abraham Lincoln. Slowly the larger ship moved towards her small fighter, swallowing it whole in the gaping hanger bay in its belly. Swanson heard a slight thump as flight crews pulled the fighter down into its docking bay via guidewires. She reached over and disengaged her thrusters and keyed the code to power down her engines and inertial dampener. "Boxer is down, I’m locked in. Over and out." The lieutenant reached over and flipped off the comm system even as the docking bay gave a slight lurch sideways, pulling her fighter through the airlock and into her fighter’s docking station. Automatically, the cockpit began to open and the fighter’s computer powered down as the flight crew took control of the plane. Lieutenant Swanson unbuckled her harness and slipped out of the cockpit, unstrapping and removing her helmet as she climbed down the eight foot ladder to the flight deck. With a nod to the crew chief, Erica slipped her helmet under her arm and began to weave her way through the crowd of deck crews rushing around securing the fighters. She stepped into the lift on the far side of the flight deck, nodding silently to the other pilot already there. The lift doors slid shut silently and the lift began to move through the cruiser. Erica looked over at the other pilot. "Well Spinner, welcome to war." Lieutenant Don "Spinner" Collins turned and studied her for a moment. "I think I liked boredom better." The Colonel stepped up to the podium and gazed around at the assembled pilots. In a booming voice not needing the assistance from the podium microphone, he began to speak. The Blast of War :: Dialogue Essays Creative Writing The Blast of War "Boxer, this is flight control. The pattern is full; maintain current heading and set throttle to one-niner-zero." "Copy that Lincoln, one-niner-zero." Lieutenant Erica "Boxer" Swanson reached out to the cockpit console and pressed the button which would lock in her heading. Sitting back in her seat, she slid the throttle lever on her left slowly back until the display on the console counted down to read 190 MPS. With the flick of a switch above her head she turned off her electron shielding, noting the flicker of a greenish light outside her cockpit as the shielding dispersed. The Lieutenant then twisted in her seat to look over her shoulder at the hulk of a space cruiser behind her, the Abraham Lincoln. Slowly the larger ship moved towards her small fighter, swallowing it whole in the gaping hanger bay in its belly. Swanson heard a slight thump as flight crews pulled the fighter down into its docking bay via guidewires. She reached over and disengaged her thrusters and keyed the code to power down her engines and inertial dampener. "Boxer is down, I’m locked in. Over and out." The lieutenant reached over and flipped off the comm system even as the docking bay gave a slight lurch sideways, pulling her fighter through the airlock and into her fighter’s docking station. Automatically, the cockpit began to open and the fighter’s computer powered down as the flight crew took control of the plane. Lieutenant Swanson unbuckled her harness and slipped out of the cockpit, unstrapping and removing her helmet as she climbed down the eight foot ladder to the flight deck. With a nod to the crew chief, Erica slipped her helmet under her arm and began to weave her way through the crowd of deck crews rushing around securing the fighters. She stepped into the lift on the far side of the flight deck, nodding silently to the other pilot already there. The lift doors slid shut silently and the lift began to move through the cruiser. Erica looked over at the other pilot. "Well Spinner, welcome to war." Lieutenant Don "Spinner" Collins turned and studied her for a moment. "I think I liked boredom better." The Colonel stepped up to the podium and gazed around at the assembled pilots. In a booming voice not needing the assistance from the podium microphone, he began to speak.

Soron Case

1. In this case, it is estimated that there are 9 million residential pools in the U. S. The average length of pool usage is 5 months, from May to September, with less people swimming in cold weather from October to April. The majority of chemicals are used during these warm months, but only 25% of these people use chemicals and clarifiers regularly. That being said there are only around 2,250,000 pools that use clarifiers regularly (9,000,000*. 25). From this number, it can be concluded that the maximum reasonable marketing revenue for residential pools is roughly $52,309,152 (39. 06*2,250,000*. 25*14. 8/25) based on the manufacturer price of Coracle. Coracle's main competitors, Keystone Chemical, Jackson Laboratories, and Kymera each possess 15%-20% of the market share, leaving 40%-55% of the market share to Coracle and other smaller competitors. If you factor in Coracle's three main competitors along with the many other smaller-scale suppliers, it can be suggested that roughly 15% of the market share is what Coracle needs to address. It can then be concluded that the addressable market size for Coracle is around $7,846,373 (. 15*52,309,152). I would conclude from the above analysis that the first year goal of $1. million in sales is reasonable for Coracle. If you divide the addressable market size of $7,846,373 by 5 (5 months of average pool usage), it comes to around $1. 57 million, only slightly higher than the target $1. 5 million. 2. One of the reasons Soren Chemical is struggling to sell Coracle is because it is new to developing a brand and relatively inexperienced with marketing to wholesalers, retailers, pool services and consumers. This inexperience has led to miscommunication in its marketing channels, causing only 30% of consumers who inquired about Coracle to actually receive the information regarding the product.Also 70% of consumers stated that Coracle was not even offered by their distributers. These issues clearly point to the fact that Soren Chemical's inexperience is affecting sales and preventing it from communicating the benefits of Coracle to the consumer. Also the distribution channel structure Soren has to go through might also have a negative effect on sales. The distributor and retailer demand a 30% and 15% gross margin, increasing Soren's price from $14. 88 per unit to $25 per unit. Consumers find this inconvenient and expensive. 3.In order to determine the highest price Soren can set for Coracle along with how Coracle can be priced relative to consumers, the actual worth to end-users must be considered. One way to estimate the worth to end-users would be to calculate the annual EVC of Coracle. This can be done by using the annual cost of a substitute as the reference value and adding it to the differentiation value of the two products. One substitute, ClearBlu, has an annual cost of $56. 25, the reference value. Coracle reduces the need for chlorine, treatments, and enzymes, and for pool owners and reduces th eir annual chemical cost by 20%-30%, for an average of 25%.ClearBlu reduces the annual cost of chemicals for pool owners by 15%, making the increase in savings by using Coracle 10%. The annual chemical cost excluding clarifiers is $300. Thus the annual EVC of Coracle is $56. 25+. 1*300=$86. 25. 4. Coracle should initially adopt a push strategy because it is a new brand and possesses low brand loyalty and awareness. A push strategy would create awareness among consumers and expose the product to them. A push strategy would also encourage distributors to stock their shelves with the product.According to the study, only 25% of consumers use clarifiers regularly and understand their benefits. This displays a low involvement in the purchasing decision of consumers and further proves that push strategy would be more beneficial for Coracle. Conversely, Coracle could also adopt a pull strategy and focus more time and money on communicating the value of the product to the consumer. This woul d be done through advertisements and raising brand awareness. However, such an expenditure would be costly and time consuming, making a push strategy appear to be more efficient.

Scare Quotes and Sneer Words

Scare Quotes and Sneer Words Scare Quotes and Sneer Words Scare Quotes and Sneer Words By Mark Nichol When a writer wishes to call attention to a dubious or specious claim or to a person of questionable honesty, two forms of shorthand are available: scare quotes and sneer words. Scare quotes are quotation marks framing a word or phrase to call attention to it and point out that the writer does not accept the word or phrase as valid or that the writer is casting aspersions. For example, one might write, â€Å"Several ‘experts’ were unable to provide a convincing explanation.† (This sentence mocks the supposed experts for their failure to demonstrate their expertise.) Another use of scare quotes is to point out someone’s disingenuous behavior, as in â€Å"She conveniently ‘forgot’ to send an invitation to her sister-in-law.† (These quotation marks indicate that the forgetfulness was feigned.) An alternate method, one that is necessary in speaking to make one’s point, is to use â€Å"quote-unquote.† In writing, of course, this is redundant to the actual use of scare quotes, but it’s used occasionally in an attempt to be droll, as in â€Å"I walked in to find him quote-unquote indisposed† to refer to someone who is clearly inebriated. The second technique, the name of which seems to have been coined by the late language maven William Safire, is to precede a word or phrase with an adjective that indicates the writer’s disdain. One of those sneer words, supposed, appears above to describe an unimpressive demonstrate of expertise. A synonym is purported, meaning â€Å"claimed†; would-be, when it modifies a title or description of a person, suggests that that person is merely an aspirant to that achievement, as in â€Å"We were unimpressed by the performance of the would-be pop star.† Terms with the same connotation include self-anointed, self-appointed, self-proclaimed, and self-styled. Various other combinations can provide judgmental commentary. For example, to say that somebody is hand-picked can neutrally indicate that the person has been chosen as another person’s successor, assistant, or confidant, but with carefully crafted context, it can also suggest that the hand-picked person is not necessarily qualified or suitable for the job. Once-powerful, meanwhile, suggests that someone has fallen in status; again, context can make clear that the term is deprecatory. Writers should take care when using scare quotes and sneer words; they are at best merely informative, possibly humorous, and at worst malicious. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should AvoidHow to Pronounce MobileShore It Up

Naked Killer essays

Naked Killer essays Category III films are those that are realeased in Hong Kong and are not permitted to be viewed by anyone under the age of 18. Because of this label the films carry an expectation of showing what is normally not seen. Be it violence, sex, or language if a film has dubbed Category III then it will contain plenty of these elemtents. However, there are still guidlines to follow in this class. For instance, sex scenes are not merely hardcore sex sequences and must not cross into the realm of pornography. There are also clauses put out by the Film Censorship Ordinance which can be used to censor a film if it portrays certain taboo topics too harshly. It is this closeness to the boundary of forbidden that draws most viewers to see these films. In fact, Category III films have at one point made up almost 50% of all films produced in Hong Kong. These are not underground cult films, but rather highly stylized and artistically edited depictions of all genres. Jing's Naked Killer falls under the category of detective thriller/femme fatale (even though the film has less to do with detectives as it does with lesbian love affairs). The film is full of bright and broad primary colors, from Kitty's numerous outfits to Sister Cindys interesting house. This certainly gives the film a novel look and a good deal more individuality than the sleazier and more formulaic movies. Although it features brutal killings and intense sex scenes, they never quite show anything that is too bloody/gory and the love scenes have absolutely no chemistry, romance, or eroticism. For example, after slicing apart another ruthless man in a swimming pool Princess and her lover Baby are shown groping one another on the pool stairs. The shot starts off with the camera level with the water and it slowly begins to rise up and angle down. Just when the camera begins to reach an angle from which Baby's naked body would be visible, t ...

Wildow Wilson essays

Wildow Wilson essays The strength of the liberal forces desired a stronger treaty and conservative isolationists and opposed the treaty on all grounds combined. This was done to help defeat the Treaty of Versailles. The final blame for the defeat of the treaty lies with Woodrow Wilsons stubborn resistance to compromise. Woodrow Wilson was the son of a Presbyterian Minister. He carried his own personal religious and academic beliefs over into his political career. Wilson promised a war to make the world safe for democracy. Wilson incorporated fourteen points into the Treat of Versailles that would supposedly achieve his aforementioned goal-among these an end to protective trade barriers, self-determination for people of all nations, and the very controversial world organization, The League of Nations (Article X). Article X stipulated that all league members would come to the aid of any member nation faced with naked aggression. Article X is nothing but the inevitable, logical center of the whole system, argued Wilson who believed that his methods were right and all others were wrong (Document C). In preparing the original treaty at a Conference in Paris with Britains Lloyd-George, Frances Clemenceau, and Italys Vittorio Orlando, he blundered right and left in an attempt to salvage the league. Whi le a majority Republican senate had to approve the treaty by two-thirds vote, Wilson took no Republican and no Senators to Versailles; instead, he surrounded himself with his open cronies such as Colonel House. Thus, during the course of the negotiation, France and Britain were permitted to demand reparations, carve up Germans colonies and violate many of Wilsons fourteen points in order to maintain the European Powers support for the league. Leftists also challenged the Versailles Treaty on both the grounds that Wilson had sold out a majority of his fourteen points and that th ...

Diversity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diversity - Research Paper Example Managing diversity properly leads to healthy organization of these differences which results in a dynamic milieu where every individual is appreciated and cherished which makes him employ his abilities successfully to accomplish the societal objectives in general and organizational goals in particular. On the other hand, mismanagement of diversity may lead to violence, aggression and revulsion among people. On individual level, diversity helps one to come out of challenging situations by being flexible to troubles. If we talk about business world in United States which is a diverse nation, people of different races and ethnic background are working actively because of the involvement of more women and immigrants. This diversity is necessary for staying in competition with the outer world and ensuring higher productivity. Characteristics that come under the umbrella term of diversity, also sometimes called dimensions of diversity, include age, race, ethnicity, gender, culture, heritage, cognitive approach, beliefs, mental or physical abnormality, socio-economic and educational background, customs and traditions, norms and values, geographical status, religion, art, language, nuptial and family status, political following, sexual orientation, food habits, and etcetera. Every individual is unique but belongs to an identity group at the same time that identifies him. Some of the characteristics are chosen by the individual himself (such as religious beliefs, political affiliation and marital status) while some are given to him by nature or society (such as language, race and ethnicity). Sweetman (2004, p. 2) asserts that diversity can be understood in two dimensions, that is, primary and secondary diversity. He states that primary diversity comprises of those characteristics that an individual cannot alter for himself, such as, â€Å"sex, race or ethnicity, age, physical abilities and qualities, and

Social Work Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Work - Research Paper Example History and Milestones of Social Work Charitable Organizational Societies and Settlement Houses The profession and practice of social work in North America began before the turn of the century, with the Charitable Organizational Societies and Settlement Houses from the United Kingdom (Baylis, 2004). Both of them were based on the principle of voluntary philanthropy and of improving conditions for less fortunate members of society. At that time, the term â€Å"social work† was coined and applied to volunteers of these movements (Id.). This is an important milestone because it gave the foundation of social work’s motives and purpose. Social work had altruistic motives and a concern for misplaced values of individuals and societies, social justice and reform mostly focused on poverty and other societal problems and how they affected individuals. The purpose of social work was to help those who were in need in any way possible, mostly by providing tangible resources such as food, clothing, housing and money (Holosko, 2003). Volunteers’ method of intervention was to help socialize people so that they could function better in society (Id.). Individual vs. Societal Problems The next important milestone in the profession of social work came at the turn of the 20th century. At that time, voluntary philanthropy gave rise to scientific philanthropy as social reform changed from a religious to educational based auspice (Id.). This began the 14-year debate, from 1909-1923, between thinking of problems as societal problems to individual problems. At the same time, this milestone reaffirmed the social conscience value of social work; defined casework methods with individuals, small groups, or families; acknowledged the role of empirical research in intervention methods; and, created the split between the dependency problems of individuals and problems of societies (Ramsay, 2001). The Flexner Conference of 1915 At the National Conference on Charities and C orrection in 1915, Flexner presented his analysis of the profession of social work which was that it was an intellectual activity and not actually a profession because it did not have the core sociological traits of a profession (Holosko, 2003). Flexner believed that a profession had to have a communication technique through a highly specialized educational discipline; however, this was not possible given the diverse nature of social work (Id.). The Milford Conference of 1929 This was an important milestone in the social work profession for a number of reasons. One reason the Milford Conference was important is that it unified the social work profession through the casework approach (Howe, 1998). Some other important results of the Conference were that the future casework was contingent on using the community and its resources; more research helps to make better casework decisions; and, the role of the community agency itself as an influence on social work practice (Id.). The Hollis -Taylor Report (1951) This report defined both the professional and nonprofessional activities related to the social work profession. The report was also important because it made a significant impact on curriculum development in undergraduate and graduate social work programs in the United States (Baylis, 1998). Another result of the report was that it brought

Week3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Week3 - Assignment Example Attempt to use laps between foreign tax law and U.S to effectively duplicate tax benefits. The treasury should address this lop holes by use of existing laws and by legislation of bylaws to cub this practice. (Albrecht, Albrecht, 2008). A U.S citizen can reduce or minimize U.S. tax obligations by claiming tax credit on foreign taxes on income. This is subjected to the following condition; the maximum tax credit payable must not exceed the amount of tax that would be payable if this income tax was taxed using domestic income tax rate. Any excess tax paid to a foreign county is not claimable. For example if a U.S citizen X earns $9,000 foreign annual income and this is the only of taxable income for X. And x had paid 800 as tax on this income. His domestic tax liability will be 900 less 800 tax credit. For example if a U.S citizen X earns $9,000 foreign annual income and this is the only of taxable income for X. And x had paid 800 as tax on this income. His domestic tax liability will be 900 less 800 tax credit. However, is this tax credit is eliminated; the government will earn an additional

Production and Market behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Production and Market behaviour - Essay Example se classical scholars continue to influence contemporary scholars as they attempt to discern the major factors influencing productions and market patterns to enhance efficiency and best economic systems. Our study of production and market behavior will therefore be based principally on neoclassical and institutionalism models that have existed since the last century and will explore the new-institutionalism impact on the theme as well as the recent trends in fair trade and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Neoclassical theories supported by Keynesian economics are the dominant approaches prevalent in mainstream economic theories from the mid twentieth century (Clark, 1998). The theory however can be traced to 19th century after the Industrial Revolution as capitalism ignited intellectual ideas among all disciplines. One prominent neoclassical analyst was William Stanley Jevons and his marginal utility theory of value in 1862. Neoclassical theories are mainly based on individual or microeconomics by exploiting utility as explained in the rational choice theory (Ehrenberg, 1997). Neoclassical economist Marshall’s treatise Principles of Economics (1890) described price disparities in terms of the intersection of supply and demand curves. He also introduced diverse ‘market periods’ as follows: Short period – business faculty is specified, the level of yield, service, assets, and value oscillate to link marginal cost and marginal revenue, where returns are maximized. Economic rents only survive for short duration for unchanging aspects, and the velocity of earnings is not contrasted across segments. The neoclassical model has also engendered the First Theorem of Welfare Economics that emphasis that indirect marginal utility for all the market players is similar. This also depicted in a Pareto-efficient condition that states any enhancement in the utility of one user might jeopardize another’s value. The organizations operating in such a scenario do

The CIO'S In Public Service Sector And Private Service Sector Assignment

The CIO'S In Public Service Sector And Private Service Sector - Assignment Example The role of the CIO in regards to public sector is at formative level but well developed in the private sector. It is through this fact, that challenges and opportunities ought to be identified in the public service sector. Despite the fact that government is viewed as the entire enterprise, some other departments in a government operate with their own mission, goals and visions with the CIO being a position. The CIO being an official government role, it has been present in most government enterprises for the last have a centaury. The organizations during this period were undergoing revolutions as far as Information technology is concern. More resources are being invested in the IT with the top executive officers being well aware of their business competitors by use of the information technology to have the upper hand in globally growing market place. On the other hand, the private sector being aware of the importance has experienced the gains of an officer who manages the informatio n technology and the assets of the organization for the last two decades. During the time the private sector were experiencing the gains of the implementation of the CIO in their structures, the public sector was still recognizing the new position of the executive. The interesting thing to note is that when the organizations in the private sector implemented the CIO’s as early as early 80’s, the government appointed the CIO as late as 2003. This therefore translate that public sector is two decades behind the counterparts in the private sector in the appointment of an executive in charge of the information (Portela, Carvalho, Varajao & Magalhaes, 2010). The recognition of the significance of the appointment of CIO is affected by the high rates of labor turnover in both public and private sectors. Particularly in the public sector, instability acquired as a result of high rate of turnover lead to the assumption that the crucial role at the infancy development stage has never been implemented sufficiently and aligned together with policies and the strategies of the government. Recognition of the role of the CIO is what has been considered to be a reticence in terms of the significances as it may be plagued by huge turnover rates both in the public and private service sectors. Specifically in the public service sector, there are severe rates of turnover which has caused instability can be assumed that the role in the publi c sector which is seen to be still at the infancy stage in terms of its development has not been fully implemented as I is suppose to be so that it can match with the policies and strategies laid by the government. In this paper, the role of the CIO will be discussed, in a further note; a comparison will be made on how the private and public service sectors grant authorities to their CIO and the roles they play in their organization. A future expectations of the CIO will also be give in the paper concerning their roles and responsibilities of the public service sectors as they are experienced by the private service sector. The paper will finally conclude by giving useful CIO roles that are emerging in the public sector (Schubert, 2004). Role of the CIO Early in the 80s, the CIO was considered to be responsible for the senior execution of corporate information policies standards and controlling of management in the information resources. In this case the CIO was considered not only a s a technical expert but also a manager. The attributes of a CIO at the time was management, information technology specialist, management, political, communication skills, and organizational skills in order to have an understanding of how to go about in

Production and Market behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Production and Market behaviour - Essay Example se classical scholars continue to influence contemporary scholars as they attempt to discern the major factors influencing productions and market patterns to enhance efficiency and best economic systems. Our study of production and market behavior will therefore be based principally on neoclassical and institutionalism models that have existed since the last century and will explore the new-institutionalism impact on the theme as well as the recent trends in fair trade and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Neoclassical theories supported by Keynesian economics are the dominant approaches prevalent in mainstream economic theories from the mid twentieth century (Clark, 1998). The theory however can be traced to 19th century after the Industrial Revolution as capitalism ignited intellectual ideas among all disciplines. One prominent neoclassical analyst was William Stanley Jevons and his marginal utility theory of value in 1862. Neoclassical theories are mainly based on individual or microeconomics by exploiting utility as explained in the rational choice theory (Ehrenberg, 1997). Neoclassical economist Marshall’s treatise Principles of Economics (1890) described price disparities in terms of the intersection of supply and demand curves. He also introduced diverse ‘market periods’ as follows: Short period – business faculty is specified, the level of yield, service, assets, and value oscillate to link marginal cost and marginal revenue, where returns are maximized. Economic rents only survive for short duration for unchanging aspects, and the velocity of earnings is not contrasted across segments. The neoclassical model has also engendered the First Theorem of Welfare Economics that emphasis that indirect marginal utility for all the market players is similar. This also depicted in a Pareto-efficient condition that states any enhancement in the utility of one user might jeopardize another’s value. The organizations operating in such a scenario do

Interpersonal Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Interpersonal Communication - Research Paper Example The communication process differs from person to person. Each person, group or organization has a different approach and technique of communicating ideas, views and messages. The communication process in use depends on the availability of resources, skills and understanding of the members. This paper aims to analyze the fundamental elements of communication, the effect of self-concept, perceptions, listening habits, language differences and non-verbal elements on communication. Furthermore this paper ends up creating a discussion on personal methods to resolve the communication barriers and strategies to promote healthy interpersonal communication and relationships. II. Main Points A. Elements of Communication Process and their Importance 1. A brief intro to the elements and their relevant importance in the communication process 2. Factors affecting Communication Process B. Role of Self-Concept and Perception in Communication 1. Self-Concept and Perception with definition 2. The posi tive and negative impacts on communication C. Non-Verbal elements 1. The effects of non-verbal elements on Communication 2. The evaluation of environment, noise and other distractions on Communication D. Language Differences & Listening Skills 1. The effects of language differences and listening skills on communication patterns 2. Impacts of these elements on communication effectiveness E. Resolving Communication Barriers 1. Personal Methods to resolve barriers 2. Strategies to promote Healthy interpersonal communication III. Summary 1. The main points covered in the paper and the strategies proposed IV. Conclusion 1. An insight on the effects of factors which influence the communication barriers 2. A list of recommendations to avoid those barriers 3. Strategies to adopt in order to promote effective interpersonal communication Student Name Ramona L. Mata CA104 Interpersonal Communication 20 July 2007 Interpersonal Communication Report Introduction Communication is the tool to trans fer and share thoughts, ideas and views. It helps in expressing the emotions, sentiments and feelings of a person. There are many factors that affect the communication process between people and groups. These factors involve the attentiveness of people, cultural diversity among them, age differences, gender distribution, personal skills including listening and comprehension skills, personal feelings and point of views etc. The communication process differs from person to person. Each person, group or organization has a different approach and technique of communicating ideas, views and messages. The communication process in use depends on the availability of resources, skills and understanding of the members. This paper aims to analyze the fundamental elements of communication, the effect of self-concept, perceptions, listening habits, language differences and non-verbal elements on communication. Furthermore this paper ends up creating a discussion on personal methods to resolve the communication barriers and strategies to promote healthy interpersonal communication and relationships. Elements and Factors Affecting Communication Process Communication is an important part of our daily life. All dealings of our life varying from the smaller ones to the larger ones involve different aspects of communication pro

Effects of Industrialization on Artist Essay Example for Free

Effects of Industrialization on Artist Essay The countries of the world have largely embraced the goal of industrialization which explains the reason why there is the label of developing and developed countries. The implications of the 19TH century has put the developed western world as the model of industrialization on the planet (Masten, 2008). The face of industrialization affected a number of fields in the scientific attempt to improve the economies and subsequently, raise the overall standards of living . Art was one of the disciplines that benefited from the effects of industrialization, and it came as a hope for many artists around the world (Locker, 1999). This paper therefore attempts to compare and contrast whether the rise changed the modern world leaving the natural world as the sole object of fascination to artists. Industrialization as a process sought to promote social and economic changes with the human societies transforming from pre industrial to industrial(Davis,2000). It saw the wider apart of modernization leading to overall social changes and economic developments mostly related to technological advancement. More cities were development following the rise modernity, as a result of large scale metallurgy and energy production (Basye and Holt, 2000). Philosophical changes also marked the emergence of industrialization leaving people in the western world with a more yearning to obtain different attitudes towards nature and artistic orientation (Novello, 2000). Accordingly, there is substantial research on the prevailing effects of industrialization on modernization and enterprise development . Artists have got an opportunity of expanding their careers following the expansion of commerce and the prevalence of skills that helps them in the exploitation of the abundant natural resources (Shields, 2006). This somehow happens at a relatively low cost, adaptability of labor and continual supply of their products to a wide range of market (Plaura, 2001). The radical changes in the 19th century involve the production of the electric power: an element that is succinctly fundamental to the continuous growth of economy as well as advancing the skills required for a particular job (Basye and Holt, 2000). In a survey done in some countries in Africa, middle East and Latin America, it was found out that there is relative open trading systems that can stimulate industrial innovation and cost efficiency across the board, leading to the readily available markets and free and flexible labor (Novello, 2000). As a result, positive work ethics mixed with skills, effectively used scientific discoveries and technological in boosting the production and subsequent increase in income levels. It is true that a number of major cities in the western world were widely modernized bringing about the effects of urbanization. To serve this house working populations, urbanization facilitated the concentration of labor (Davis, 2000). Artists therefore found themselves without splendid natural resources for them to exploit because of the population upsurge in cities. Consequently, they resorted to the natural worlds which had hitherto not felt the effects of industrialization for their resources (Masten, 2008). Another impact that followed industrialization was change in family structures and effects on the environment. Environmental stressors such as noise, water pollution, impersonal lifestyles and a myriad of health problems set into play (Locker, 1999). Many artists in the present world continue to grow in terms of their careers simply because, they have been able to advance all their artistic orientations (Shields, 2006). Prior to the 19th century, many paintings in America often dealt with the serene landscapes, idealized craftspeople and a host of other people. However, after the effects of industrialization had taken place, the whole scope of photographs and painting changed. Art was basically the reaction to the social and industrial conditions that prevailed (Masten, 2008). Later on, artists was obliged to create art for two audiences. Generally, artists of this important period in the history of mankind avoided painting many scenes portraying the new outfit of modernization and as such, this did not imply that they failed to create an art about the industry. Moreover, the deep enjoyment of art became the pastime for both the upper and middle class people (Davis, 2000). These were the people who essentially, preferred not to clutch over the hard work that may have been done by the lower class, let alone hanging any artistic socials commentary on their walls. Instead there was mere need for a picturesque that portrayed a neutral political landscape (Plaura, 2001). According to (Basye and Holt, 2000), several literatures enabled artists to access a medium where many of their engravings were published but the controversy that followed saw many middle class people opposing the view of the artists and eventually disapproving their works. Irrespective of the upper and middle class reaction against the artistic package of social commentary, many artists continued experiencing the strong urge for expressing themselves through art (Locker, 2000). They then resorted to the natural world where they found a lot of fascination for their works because of two major reasons. Depending on the specific needs of a particular artist, the natural word provided an avenue for artists to explore a host of untapped resources or aptly, got a ready and uncritical audience for their art (Masten, 2008). This basically strengthened their ambitions leading to affair ground for art. For instance, majority of the artistic collections portrayed the hard work of ordinary rural folks giving hem the urge to continue doing even better in their pursuit for economic survival. With this regard, several portraits were painted. They involved persons sewing a dress or a blacksmith hammering a horseshoe. particulrtly, such portraits depicted a blacksmith as possibly the man in charge of an enterprise. It showed a young man in the back, presumably an apprentice or the blacksmith’s assistant. Both were posed with their tools, with drops of sweat other cheeks seemingly proud of their trade. A factor like this one often encourage the general population because, despite the conditions for working being harsh, the portrait depicts clean, bearable and inviting scenario that give the people enthusiasm and pride altogether (Novello, 2000). In addition, the views of American urban life as well as industrialization were manifested through the channel of photography. Using a succinct comparison of the rural life, city life was pictured using sky crappers mushrooming everywhere (Shields, 2006). In this scenario, a chaotic combination of people and carriages filled the city street eliciting a feeling that city life is eventually becoming more foreboding for life and work hence, underscoring the importance of rich environmental conditions found in the rural life. Overly, the dawn of industrialization saw a marked reduction of human working conditions to unacceptable level. Active artists and photographers aligned to politics used art to comment on the industrial progress to their audience. However, there was stiff competition that forced some artists not to make enough fortune or just find a satisfactory audience for their works. They were therefore attracted to move to the rural world, where they got audience and commercial benefits for their activities. Somehow, they used the modern mechanized age to obtain a source of creativity which is paramount to the work of art. Without a creatively compelling work, their will be audience to stand all sorts of unattractive, and redundancy even if your work has the very best of the message (Plaura, 2001). There is a general history of artist getting more fascinated to the natural world. With the advent of industrialization, many artistic movements sprang up each with a unique reaction to the feeling of the movement it took after and time (Davis, 2000). Neoclassic which had taken lead form the Greek and Roman art, paved way for a more parallel period called romanticism. At this level, many artists became more imaginative with the rise of individualism, emotional intensity, and freedom describing the underlying the perceptual shift from the modern life to getting oriented to the natural world (Masten, 2008). Realism which followed brought about the realist artists who created artistic works that captured objectives and figures as they appear in real life. Artists found the natural world more ideal in portraying truthful visions of everyday life; an idea tat was much welcome to rural folks that the modern ones (Novello, 2006). Many artists felt the need to explore their relationship with nature by traveling through a wilderness. But because urban life had less or no fascinating wilderness, artists resorted for the rural world and found it more fascinating in delivering the exploration objective through a natural world (Plaura, 2001). For example, Mark Catesby, as English artist moved to the rural Northern America and found that it was the most true immersion into the American seaboard and other areas still unexploited and unknown to many Americans. He began photographing and drawing natural and social sceneries that had not suffered any natural disintegration, and hence, his works attracted a large scale audience (Shields, 2006). Another artist and explorer, Karl Bodmer, is a testament to the reason moving to natural world. he says that the most fascinating factor in the so regarded lost world is the boundless enthusiasm that artists get when they venture into worlds unknown to many, because there seem to be abundant opportunity and astonishment in those lands (Locker, 1999). The overall benefit is the reminder these places give in acknowledging that at some point, they had stopped at the crossroad of horrible, natural and sacred phenomena. They somewhat develop a relationship with the earth, facilitated by the nature, culture and their sense of fulfillment (Davis, 2000). Furthermore, the natural world is more attracting to artists because; it provides the ground that satisfy the curiosity and creativity of many artists. At the heart of every artistic symbol lies the expression of meaning. Artists tend to search for lager meaning in small aspects of life (Basye and Holt, 2000). According to the documentations in archives, the significance of artistic history is logged in the fissure between wilderness and civilization and this point out the primary focus of artists on rural worlds. Notwithstanding, rural world represents culture and nature and how it is reconciled with the modernization. Therefore, the imaginative role of art pulls out the existing radiance in capturing double meaning encased in the metaphors. When they finally take their products to urban setups, they somehow manage to prompt the city residents into the world of imagination embedded in the images formed in their minds as a resulted art (Masten, 2008). Moreover, artists use the natural worlds to find sources that subsequently define the unique artistic identities. This is clearly captured in the sentiments of a German poet, Rainer Maria. He believes that as a primary condition for writing a captivating verse, it is imperative that they see a myriad of cities, nature, men and several other things. Accordingly it is perquisite that one should know different flights of birds, animals, not forgetting gestures that flowers make especially when they open and close. The fundamental role of all this condition is to portray the accounts as creative as possible with the unique ability to come up with the work of art that suits in the context of everyday life. The only available source of the adventure is the natural world that is least affected by industrialization (Novello, 2000). Similarly, there is more attraction to the natural world. Artists think that by going there they provide a link between city life and rural life. All the opportunities of industrialization are made open to village folks giving them a chance to keep a breast with what is happening across the world (Plaura, 2001). For example, there was a painting in rural Indiana which showed an angel looking as though he is about to walk away from something he is acutely contemplating. It depicted the angel staring with his mouth wide open and the wings flung spread. This is the way artists presents issues in varying worlds and the serenity found in natural world promotes the efficient delivery of the message (Shields, 2006). The painting reinforces the religious teaching that God watches over us and somehow, strengthens the spirituality; an aspect that is under the threat of industrialization. Conclusion From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that the dawn of industrialization in the 19th century was accompanied by the sharp shift in the economical, social and ideological differences that paved way for new lifestyles. Individualism, which became rife as a result of urbanization, left artist with a host of intellectual orientation in terms of creativity. It is evident that the market for their art products got strained obliging them to get attracted to the rural world that had hitherto not adversely suffered from the effects of industrialization. Bibliography Basye, E and Holt, G 2000. Art and Architecture: The Advent of Industrialization, Yales, Yales University Press. Davis, A. 2000. A Social History of Graphic Art and Works Industry. New York, McGill-Queens Press. Locker, N. 1999. Science and Nature: An International Journal of Science. Vol. 23 Issues 56, London, Macmillan Publishers. Masten, A. 2008. Artwork in the Nineteenth Century. Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania University Press Novello, A. 2000. The Face of Art in the Nineteenth Century. London, Prentice Plaura, N. 2001. Art and Nature: Interelationship, Oxford, Oxford University Press Shields, S. 2006. Artists at the Continents End: The Peninsula Art Colony. Michigan, Routledge

Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides in Humans

Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides in Humans Antimicrobial peptides Introduction Cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are gene-encoded peptides of the host defence system made up of 12-50 amino acids, with at least 2 positive charges conferred by lysine and arginine residues and about 50% hydrophobic amino acids (Hancock and Scott 2000). They are produced from gene transcription and ribosomal translation and often, further proteolytically processed (Zhoa 2003). The peptides are folded so that non-polar amino acid side-chains form a hydrophobic face and polar, positively charged residues form a hydrophilic face (Robert and Hancock 1997). Expression of antimicrobial peptides can be constitutive or inducible by infectious or inflammatory stimuli like cytokines, bacteria and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) (Cunliffe and Mahida 2004). They have diverse structures to effectively kill a wide range of microbes at prone sites e. g the skin and lungs, and in secretions such as sweat and saliva (Yeaman and Yount 2004; Santamaria 2005). Many mammalian antimicrobial peptides rous e the hosts innate immune system (Jenssen et al 2006) instead of directly killing the host. Peptides which are found in living organisms from bacteria to plants, insects, fish, amphibians to mammals including humans (Kamysz 2005) are recorded in numerous existing databases e. g. AMSDb (Eukaryotic peptides) (Tossi and Sandri 2002), BAPDb (bacterial peptides), ANTIMIC (natural antimicrobial peptides) (Brahmachary et al 2004) and APPDb. Currently, 1831 peptides are hosted by the Antimicrobial peptide database with 99 antiviral, 453 antifungal, 100 anticancer and 1179 antibacterial peptides (The Antimicrobial Peptide database 2010). In humans, antimicrobial peptides are produced by granulocytes, macrophages and most epithelial and endothelial cells. They boost the immune system, have anti-neoplastic properties and help in regulating cell signalling and multiplication. Amphibian AMPs have been discovered from the skin of frogs from families ranging from Iomedusa, Pipidae, Hyperoliidae, Ranidae, Hylidae, Discoglossidae, Agalychnis and Litoria. The structure of these peptides as unravelled by CD spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling (Suh et al 1996) have been found to be generally 10-46 amino acid residues long (Rollins-Smith et al 2005), mostly linear and simple-structured, (Conlon et al 2004) the majority being hydrophobic, cationic and possessing an amphipathic a-helix in nature. Following production, they are stored in the granular glands (poison glands) of skin dermal layer to be secreted in response to injury (Bovbjerg 1963), or as defence against pathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. Biologically active molecules including antimicrobial peptides are produced as large proteins harbouring a signal and an acidic propiece which get cut off to give an active peptide prior to or at secretion from the poison glands (Amich e et al 1999). Cationic peptides are also expressed in the gastric mucosa cells and in the intestinal tract (Kamysz 2005). The best-known peptides isolated from frogs are caeruleins, tachykinins, bradykinins, thyrotropin- releasing hormone (Barra and Simmaco 1995), brevinins, esculentins, magainins, ranatuerins and temporins (Conlon et al 2004). In the past, peptides were extracted using solvents like methanol or acid from the skins of amphibians after sun-drying but with concomitant dwindling of many frog species, other alternative techniques have emerged, one of which comprises stimulating the frog using mild electricity and collecting the skin secretion; 2-4 weeks after, the secretion can be re-collected after replenishment of the glands (Barra and Simmaco 1995). Large amounts of small peptides and their analogues which are resistant to protease cleavage and contain D-amino acids can be chemically synthesised while larger peptides can be expressed in a prokaryotic host from cloned cDNAs coding for a fusion protein (Piers et al 1993). An efficient means of producing therapeutic peptides in transgenic mice red blood cells has been explained by Sharma et al (1994) whereby the required peptide is collected from proteolytic cleavage from the fusion protein where the peptide is at the C-terminal end of human a-globin. Structure of antimicrobials In spite of sharing similar features, sequence homology between antimicrobial peptides is low and secondary structure diversity is wide (Jenssen 2006). Secondary structures based on sequence homologies, 3-dimensional structures and functions can be grouped into 5 classes: Linear, mostly a-helical peptides lacking cysteine, with or without a hinge region (cecropins, magainins). Antimicrobial peptides with one disulphide bond that form a loop structure with a tail (bactenecins, esculentins). Antimicrobial peptides with at least two disulfide bonds yielding primarily or solely a Î’-sheet structure (defensins, protegrins). Linear peptides comprising an unusual composition of regular amino acids with the absence of cysteine (histatins, indolicidin, temporins). Antimicrobial peptides derived from larger peptides or proteins with other known functions (lactoferricins, MUC7, Casocidin1). Mode of action of peptides Unlike numerous antibiotics or secondary metabolites that halt microorganisms over a number of days by hindering the action of key enzymes, most of the vertebrate antimicrobial peptides neutralise microbes quickly by disrupting the membrane or permeating it and targeting anabolic reactions (Barra and Simmaco 1995). The antimicrobial properties of most peptides rely on the formation of a-helical (Oren et al 2002) or Î’-sheet-like tubular (Fernandez-Lopez 2001) structures when interacting with negative charges on cell surfaces or when forming a-helical bundles following self-association in solution (Avrahami and Shai 2002). The mechanism of action of antibacterial peptides is thus twofold: membrane acting (membrane permeabilisation) or non-membrane acting (affect vital intracellular processes) as depicted in Figure 3. Different models of membrane permeabilisation exist; in one model, peptides reorient to cross the phospholipid bilayer of the membrane as a cluster without assuming any particular direction, resulting in a micelle-like complex of peptides and lipids. The toroidal pore model suggests that peptides enter the bilayer at 90 degrees to it, the hydrophilic regions interacting with phospholipid head groups and the hydrophobic regions interacting with the lipid core. Additionally, the membrane curves inward so that the bilayer lines the pore too. The barrel-stave model involves insertion of peptides perpendicularly to the bilayer, forming the staves in a barrel-shaped cluster, such that hydrophilic regions of the peptides project into the pore lumen and the hydrophobic regions contact the lipid po rtion of the bilayer membrane. According to the carpet model, peptides group together parallel to the lipid bilayer and local areas are coated like a carpet (Lai and Gallo 2003). Buforin II in frogs crosses the bacterial membrane without causing permeabilisation and binds DNA and RNA in the cytoplasm of E. coli (Park et al 1998). Antifungal peptides have been found to function in different ways one of which is fungal cell lysis e. g. frog Magainin targeting C. albicans (Tytler et al 1995; Zasloff et al 1987) and frog Brevinin-1 acting on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis as described by Rollins-Smith et al (2002). Defensin from mammals permeabilises the membrane of C. albicans (Lehrer et al 1985; Patterson-Delafield 1980); bovine Indolicidin has been found to act similarly on T. beigelii (Lee et al 2003). Another strategy of antifungal peptides is the disruption of synthesis of fungal cell wall (De Lucca and Walsh 1999). Cecropin from insects as studied by De Lucca et al (1998) binds to membrane cholesterol or ergosterol and affects the fungus Aspergillus fumigates. Bovine lactoferricin and the hybrid peptide of Helicobacter pylori ribosomal protein L1 and magainin-2, HP(2-9)-MA(1-12), have been shown by Bellamy et al (1993) to cause extensive damage to the ultra structure of the cell wall of C. albicans . Yet a nother mode of action has been documented which involves depolymerisation of the actin cytoskeleton illustrated by Pn-AMP 1 from plants which attacks S. Cerevisiae and C. albicans actin. In contrast, as reported by Helmerhorst et al (1999) and Kavanagh and Dowd (2004), Histatin from human primates acts on mitochondria in C. albicans. Rollins-Smith et al (2002b) found that the peptides magainin I and II, PGLa, and X. Laevis CPF, Phyllomedusa sauvagii dermaseptin and R. catesbeiana ranalexin were more potent at the zoospore transmission period of the chytrid fungus life cycle than against mature stages. It has been found that peptides with primarily antifungal activity particularly abound in polar and neutral amino acids, pointing to a structure-activity link (Lustig et al 1996). Numerous studies point to different modes of action of antiviral peptides which interfere with adsorption, entry of the virus into the cell (Belaid et al 2002) or act on the viral envelope (Robinson et al 1998). Targeted viruses are notably enveloped RNA and DNA viruses except non-enveloped adenoviruses (Bastian and Schafer 2001), echovirus 6 (Pietrantoni et al 2006) and feline. Sinha et al (2003) found that rabbit a-defensin NP-1 acts by inhibiting HSV movement from cell to cell. By interacting with the CXCR4 chemokine receptor functional as a coreceptor for HIV-1 entry into T cells (Murakami et al 1991), a polyphemusin analogue, T22 reportedly inhibits the HIV strains using that chemokine receptor (Tamamura et al 1999). Antivirals can also hamper viral entry through interaction with viral glycoproteins as in the case of ?-Defensin (retrocyclin 2) claimed by Yasin et al (2004) to protect cells from HSV-2 infection by acting on HSV-2 glycoprotein B. Viral antimicrobial peptides can a ct in the cell as well, stimulating genes or proteins, thereby affecting host cell antiviral mechanisms (Bowdish et al 2004);viral gene and protein expression (Wachinger et al 1998) can be hampered too. Antimicrobial activity of peptides Features of antimicrobial peptides The emergence of resistant bacterial strains worldwide necessitates (Bonomo 2000) development of new families of antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides have properties which render them attractive for development of new antimicrobial therapies. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are often vulnerable to antimicrobial peptides (Jacob and Zasloff 1994; Tencza et al 1997); minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 1-8 Â µg/mL competitive with the most powerful antibiotics against resistant organisms have been recorded with peptides (Isogai et al 2009). Lui et al (2009) observed strong effectiveness of peptide nanoparticles against bacteria, Streptococcus haemolyticus (gram-positive bacteria), Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis and also against drug-resistant bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, yeast tropicalis and fungi, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Stachybotrys chartarum. Antimicrobial pe ptides not only eradicate bacteria rapidly and neutralize endotoxins but are synergistic with antibiotics and active in animal models (Hancock and Scott 2000). Furthermore, they exhibit a broad spectrum of activity by virtue of their relatively non-specific mode of action. In addition, mutations leading to classical antibiotic resistance do not affect them and they do not easily select antibiotic resistant variants (Shai 2002; Huang 2000). However, peptides have drawbacks limiting their use e. g. they are cleaved by proteases notably trypsin-like proteases and researchers still need to probe further into uptake mechanisms into different tissues (Boman 1995). Activity of Frog peptides Numerous studies aimed at understanding further antimicrobial expression of antimicrobial peptides have been conducted. In line with a first line of defence to the frog, release of antimicrobial peptides are stimulated in response to an environment conducive to microbial proliferation; it has been observed that while the freeze-tolerant wood frog, Rana sylvatica, shows no signs of any antimicrobial peptide activity in winter, it produces and secretes an active peptide upon exposure to warmer conditions (Matutte et al 2000). Rollins-Smith et al (2002a) found that effectiveness is enhanced when mixtures of peptides rather than single ones are released; magainin II and PGLa, synergistically hamper growth of B. dendrobatidis and B. ranarum on the skin of X. Laevis. Frog peptides are seen as interesting and potentially useful molecules that could be effective against a range of human pathogens (VanCompernolle et al 2005), viral, bacterial or fungal. In the 1960s, a 24 amino acids long antibiotic peptide bombinin secreted from the skin of the frog Bombina variegata was isolated but discouraging high haemolytic activity restricted applicability (Csordas and Michl 1970). Since then, large numbers of various peptides have been discovered with antimicrobial potential; Gaegurin, for instance, from a Korean frog is described as having a considerable spectrum of activity with mild haemolytic activity, rendering it a potential antibiotic (Suh et al 1996). Recently, high amounts of peptides were discovered in Litoria chloris, the Australian red-eyed tree frog which blocked HIV without harming T cells; the peptides appeared to target the HIV virus probably by insertion into its outer membrane envelope and punching holes in it (VanCompernolle et al 2005). S ome frog peptides have aroused interest as potential agents for treatment of Type 2 diabetes as exemplified by a peptide isolated from the skin secretions from the leaf frog, Hylomantis lemur with the ability to release insulin from the rat BRIN-BD11 clonal B cell line; A synthetic version of the peptide, phylloseptin-L2 was remarkably good at that. Other peptides from phyllomedusid frogs are a 13 amino-acid-residue peptide from Agalychnis calcarifer (Abdel-Wahab et al 2005) and peptides from Agalychnis litodryas (Marenah et al 2004a) and Phyllomedusa trinatis (Marenah et al 2004b) with a structure similar to dermaseptins. Therapeutic applications Antimicrobial peptides are appealing for therapeutics since they are rapidly produced at low metabolic expenses, stored easily in abundance and readily available shortly following an infection, to rapidly counteract a wide range of microbes (Zhoa 2003). The 20 existing amino acids confer tremendous diversity in sequence and structure of peptides, presenting opportunities in creating a whole range of novel drugs (Hancock and Scott 2000) Peptides can be used for battling antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections or septic shock (Finlay and Hancock 2004). Other potential applications include topical applications for preventing sexually transmitted diseases (Rana et al 2006) including HIV/HSV (Reddy et al 2004), Meningococcal meningitis, diabetic wounds e. g. foot ulcers, gastric helicobacter infections, impetigo (Gunaratna et al 2002; Reddy et al 2004), treating eye infections (Migenix 1998). Creams with snails mucin containing antimicrobial peptides are currently marketed for topical applications treating skin infections and acne inflammation (Cottage 2007). Efforts have also been directed at developing magainin analogs into anticancer drugs (Boman 1995). Furthermore, as attempts persevere to alter the immune system of the vectors or their symbionts to confer to the vectors the ability to eradicate the parasites (Ham et al 1994; Gwadz et al 1989), peptide antibiotics are seen as a potential weapon in fighting insect- borne diseases like malaria, trypanosomiasis, and filariasis. Besides using AMP as proteins, genes encoding AMP can be delivered as gene therapy. Genetically altered bacteria making the antimicrobial in situ can be used for targeting pathogens, which is particularly relevant to the treatment of dental caries, Crohn disease, and other disorders in which disturbances in natural microflora play a role and host-microbe balance must be preserved (Palffy 2009). Peptides are also used for food preservation as exemplified by Nisin, produced by certain strains of Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis (Joerger 2003). Engineering peptides for enhanced activity Natural peptides do not always possess all the features required to make them suitable therapeutics, validating the need to engineer their primary structure to confer those properties to them (Sarah et al 1999) e. g. stability, reduced toxicity (Won and Ianoul 2009); existing desirable properties e. g. potency, selectivity or specificity of antimicrobial activity can also be strengthened. In cationic AMPs, antimicrobial activity has been ascribed to the net positive charge since the outermost portion of bacterial membranes is negatively charged by virtue of the negatively charged phospholipids (Brogden 2005). Substitution of acidic residues with basic ones, reportedly boosted the potency of LLP1 against S. aureus from the increase in net charge of the peptide (Robert and Hancock 1997). Hydrophobicity (aiding in membrane insertion) and flexibility, driving the peptides change in conformation to allow interaction with the membrane, have also been identified as important (Jenssen 2006). Antibacterial activity of peptides can be enhanced by altering their flexible secondary structures; altering the membrane-associated conformation of indolicidin to bring the N and C termini closer together increased activity against gram-negative bacteria (Ianoul 2010). Oren and Shai (2000) claim that a successful designing strategy in the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides is the incorp oration of non-natural amino acids (such as Ornithine) and the utilization of D-Amino acids with the aim to sustain natural activity and confer resistance against proteases. It has been found that, often, modest alterations to ineffective antimicrobial peptides successfully confer antifungal properties as evidenced by the resulting potent action of magainin analogues coupled with undecanoic acid or palmitic acid in contrast to the native peptide, against yeast and opportunistic fungal infections (Avrahami and Shai 2003) However, often, one roadblock in peptide production is that expression of antibacterial proteins in bacteria may be suicidal to the cells; this could be circumvented by making a fusion protein which is made to accumulate in inclusion bodies at a later stage in growth (Boman 1995). A report of this technique applied on four fusion proteins was recently published (Piers et al 1993). Use of expression vectors in hosts that are insensitive to the peptide antibiotic is also proposed as a solution that has met with success in producing an insect defensin in yeast (Reichchart et al 1992). There are reports of the baculovirus system being used to express a fusion protein cecropin A although with rather low yields, in an insect cell line (Andersons et al 1991). Using the same virus vector in live insects, expression of cecropin about 60 times higher was recorded in the hemolymph. Pseudin antimicrobial peptides Introduction Pseudin-1, Pseudin-2, Pseudin-3 and Pseudin-4 are antimicrobial peptides with structural similarity, which are secreted from the skin of the bright green and pink paradoxical frog from the Pseudidae family, Pseudis paradoxa, inhabiting Trinidad and the Amazon basin (Olson et al 2001). Pseudins, a subfamily of the Frog Secreted Active Peptides (FSAP) are cationic, amphipathic and helical (Olson et al 2001). Pseudin-2, the most abundant and powerful 2685. 4 Da peptide comprises 24 residues (GLNALKKVFQGIHEAIKLINNHVQ). In aqueous solutions pseudin-2 coils randomly while in those emulating the hydrophobicity of the cell membrane e. g. 50% trifluoroethanol/water, it assumes an a-helical conformation (Yasser et al 2008). Antimicrobial activity of Pseudin-2 As testified by Olson et al (2001), Pseudin-2 effective against Escherichia coli (MIC=2. 5 Â µM), Staphylococcus aureus (80 Â µM) and Candida albicans (130 Â µM) and has very weak haemolytic activity against human erythrocytes in contrast to other frog antimicrobial peptides (Colon 2004). Another study by Pal et al (2005) showed that strains of several pathogenic bacteria Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus were also effectively acted upon by multi-l-lysine-substituted analogues. They also demonstrated that gradually raising the cationicity of pseudin-2 by replacement of several residues with l-lysine in the hydrophilic part of the peptide enhanced the antimicrobial property. An analogue [D-Lys3, D-Lys10, D-Lys14]pseudin-2 in particular, in contrast to others had a significantly increased antimicrobial effect against E. coli and S. aureus and, low haemolytic and cytolytic activity against human erythrocy tes. Replacing Asn with Lys at codon 3 was found to double the antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus from a reduction in destabilisation of the a-helix besides greater positive charge (Pal et al 2005). Kim et al (2007), in a study attempting to link structure to mechanical action of pseudin-2 in microorganisms and liposomes, suggested that the antimicrobial activity of Pseudin-2 is ascribed to the punching of holes in the target cell membrane through its oligomerisation according to the toroidal pore model in zwitterionic liposomes and the barrel-stave model in anionic liposomes. Pseudin-2 as an anti-diabetic peptide Besides antimicrobial features, Pseudin is seen as promising, prospective insulinotropic agent for treating type 2 diabetes as an incretin mimetic (Abdel-Wahab et al 2008). Yasser et al (2008) demonstrated that Pseudin-2 and derivatives, particularly a [Lys18]-pseudin-2 derivative, enhanced release of insulin from a clonal B-cell line, BRIN-BD11 via Ca2+ independent pathways. The insulin- releasing features of [Lys18]-pseudin-2 are very similar to the gut hormones GLP-1(7-36) amide and GIP (McClenaghan and Flatt 1999) Mutagenesis Site-directed mutagenesis Initially, DNA mutation was based on generation of random mutations in chromosomal DNA using X-rays and chemicals or error-prone PCR which suffered from the major drawback of not targeting the mutation to a specific gene, leading to the emergence of site-directed mutagenesis. This technique has become instrumental for altering DNA sequences in molecular biology and genetic engineering, and for investigating how protein structure relates to function (Zheng et al 2004). In vitro approaches to site-directed mutagenesis can be generally grouped into three categories (Botstein and Shortle 1985):(i) localized random mutagenesis (ii) oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis (Cosby and Lesley 1997) and (ii) techniques restructuring DNA fragments e. g cassette mutagenesis (Lo et al 1984). Single amino acid substitutions in proteins can be produced by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. One or more amino acids at specific desired locations in the polypeptide chain can be substituted with no length change. Any residue, chemically reactive or inert, buried or exposed can be targeted, and size can be replaced without altering polarity, or polarity without altering size (e. g. aspartate to asparagine). Often, different multiple substitutions are introduced at one specific position or at several locations to study their effect on protein function (Kegler et al 1994). Saturation mutagenesis Using saturation mutagenesis, which often involves oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis (Zoller and Smith 1982), a library of mutants with all possible mutations at one or more pre-determined key positions in a gene can be created. In conjunction with high-throughput screening, saturation mutagenesis has numerous applications. For example, it has been used in enhancing the stability of the Rhizopus oryzae prolipase enzyme towards lipid oxidation products such as aldehydes (Lorenzo et al 2007) and to increase enantioselectivity of Pseudomonas fluorescens esterase (Park et al 2005). The ligand-binding specificity of the human oestrogen receptor for a resveratrol-like synthetic compound has also been successfully enhanced by saturation mutagenesis (Islam et al 2009). Randomised gene libraries are usually created by replacing part of the parental gene with a synthetic DNA cassette with specific randomised codons (Hine et al 2003). Cassette Mutagenesis is a means of creating a library by targeting a specific site or sites of any length or sequence and replacing them with new sequences; degenerate oligonucleotides are used for inserting the predetermined degeneracy into the peptide. Cassette Mutagenesis involves cutting the original gene contained in a plasmid with two endonucleases at identified, appropriate restriction sites to remove a small section from the plasmid. To make the sequence more amenable to mutations at any region along it, unique restriction sites around 40 nucleotides apart can be inserted into the plasmid (Stryer 2002). The gap is subsequently replaced with a synthetic double-stranded oligonucleotide (the cassette) with sticky ends which is then ligated to the plasmid which now has the required mutation. The new mutated insert allows protein structures or nucleic acid sequences to be studied. Bakir et al (1993) found cassette mutagenesis to be useful for mutating nine single amino acids in the active site of Aspergillus awamori glucoamylase to modify pH dependence of the enzyme and investigate the functions of the mutated residues. Xiang and Sampson (2004) used cassette mutagenesis to screen libraries for establishing specificity of the substrate in a cholesterol oxidase-catalyzed reaction. Oligonucleotide synthesis or screening can be costly for cassette mutagenesis, especially if several parts of a gene are targeted for saturation mutagenesis, since for each region to be mutated, a different batch of oligonucleotide cassettes containing the mutated codon must be produced (Kegler-Ebo et al 1994). Codon randomisation High throughput substitution can be accomplished through randomisation of codons, resulting in a randomised gene library including all possible amino acid substitutions for the target amino acid residue. Conventional codon randomization uses oligonucleotides containing NNN-, NNB-, NNK- or NNS (N: A/C/G/T; B: C/G/T; K: G/T; S: G/C) since each of these combinations code for all 20 amino acids (Patrick and Firth 2003). Creating NNN libraries from oligonucleotides by employing an equimolar mixture of the four nucleotides at each position represents the easiest approach to codon randomisation (Bosley et al 2005) but a sizeable portion of the library contains premature stop codons especially in the event of multiple codon-randomisations. Additionally, the most common protein mutants with Arg, Leu and Ser (with six degenerate codons) are immensely over-represented in contrast to the rarest mutant with Met or Trp at each randomized position (Patrick and Firth 2003). By employing reduced codon sets, the quality and diversity of the protein library can be enhanced. NNB codons have the lowest likelihood of 1 in 48 of coding for stop codon. NNK and NNS codons reduce the over-representation of the commonly-occurring variants (Patrick and Firth 2003). Although NNK and NNS give rise to a similar distribution of amino acids, NNK is preferred for libraries hosted by E. coli and S. cerevisiae by virtue of their favourite codon use but the NNK codon distributes the 20 amino acids unequally and generates 3% termination codons. Neuner et al (1998) mutated codons with dinucleotide phosphoramidite which has the advantage of requiring only seven dinucleotide building blocks to code for all 20 amino acids. Besides being flexible, the technique can be used applied to various hosts with different codon usage patterns. Virnekas et al (1994) have reported use of trinucleotide phosphoramidites as well in random mutagenesis involving chemical DNA synthesis with a yield above 98%. MAX randomisation The MAX codon randomisation method designed and tested on three residues on a synthetic zing finger protein recently by Hine et al (2005) is a superior technique using simple primers efficiently to curtail library size. Using this technique specific synthetic oligonucleotides anneal to a template containing the codons targeted for mutagenesis which are each fully randomised conventionally (NNN)-to select the particular set of desired codons for E. coli. 20 oligonucleotides, each made up of a complementary region and a MAX codon encoding an amino acid, base-pair at each randomised codon. Specific selection primers are designed to cover the 5 region of each target codon and terminate with each specific codon whose presence in the library is necessary; a set of primers is synthesised for each targeted codon. These are hybridised to the template and ligated to give a single strand. 2 extra unique oligonucleotides are needed for serving as primer-binding and restriction sites at the cassette extremities, also ensuring that PCR amplification of only the selection strand occurs. The resulting double-stranded DNA can be subjected to restriction digestion, dephosphorylation followed by ligation into an expression construct or extended to regenerate the complete gene. One advantage of the MAX technique is that, despite the requirement for a large number of primers, their maximum number does not exceed 20 times the randomized codon-number, resulting in a library comprising 8000 mutants with the absence of codon bias and premature termination codons. While randomising NNN and NNG/T codons generates exponentially-rising redundant gene libraries with increasing randomised codons, MAX randomisation generates non-redundant libraries in essence. Amplification bias likely to arise from using PCR to generate the complementary strand can be minimised by synthesising a second strand instead of using PCR. MAX also allows circumvention of the use of a DNA synthesizer and is helpful when medium to large (103-106 variants) libraries have to be screened efficiently (Neylon 2004). Drawbacks MAX is not practical if only one codon needs to be randomized and cannot be used if the number of adjacent codons to be randomized exceeds two. Furthermore, it is a complicated technique (Hine et al 2003). References Abdel-Wahab, L. M. , et al. (2005) Isolation and structural characterisation of a novel 13-amino acid insulin-releasing peptide from the skin secretion of Agalychnis calcarifer. Biol Che. 386: 581-587. Amann and Brosius. (1985) ATG vectors for regulated high-level expression of cloned genes in Escherichia coli. Gene [Online]. 40: 83-190. Available from: http://www. sciencedirect. com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6T39-47PH4H8-BJ_user=153063_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1985_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1259545403_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000012698_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=153063md5=af56ff2270eff863a3062bdd46bc9a70 Amiche, M. , et al. (1999) The dermaseptin precursors: A protein family with a common preproregion and a variable C-terminal antimicrobial domain. FEBS Lett [Online]. 456: 352-356. Available from: http://apps. isiknowledge. com/InboundService. do?Func=Frameproduct=WOSaction=retrieveSrcApp=HighwireUT=000082079500002SID=Q2coKoP%40dF7jNOjpLkgInit=YesSrcAuth=Highwiremode=FullRecordcustomersID=HighwireDestFail=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. isiknowledge. com%3FDestApp%3DCEL%26DestParams%3D%253Faction%253Dretrieve%2526mode%253DFullRecord%2526product%253DCEL%2526UT%253D000082079500002%2526customersID%253DHighwire%26e%3DCkCYpwhLs4N6PGgAE_lYJ503Re6_mdcbI8LWGd6UH07UznpX03dChP3eV4e0frXM%26SrcApp%3DHighwire%26SrcAuth%3DHighwiresmartRedirect=yes[Accessed 25th Feb 2010] Andersons et al. (1991) Biologically a

Free Essay - Good Vs. Evil in The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Free Essay - Good Vs. Evil in The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On important theme within The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn is the struggle between good and evil as experienced when Huck's personal sense of truth and justice come in conflict with the values of society around him.   These occurrences happen often within the novel, and usually Huck chooses the truly moral deed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One such instance occurs when Huckleberry realizes that he is helping a runaway slave.   His moral dilemma is such that he is uncertain whether he should or should not turn this slave, named Jim, over to the authorities.   Society tells him that he is aided a criminal, and that is against the law.   However, he has grown quite attached to Jim, and is beginning to realize that Jim is a really good person.   He would also never hurt him.   This illustrates the concept and symbolism of Jim's freedom and societies influence on Huck.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At one point, Huck convinces himself that the nest opportunity he receives, he will turn Jim in, and clear his conscience.   The opportunity became available when slave hunters meet them on the river.   Huck had an absolutely perfect chance to turn him over.   However, he made up a story that his father was sick and needed help and asked the slave hunters for help.   They immediately assumed that his father had smallpox, and he wanted nothing to do with Huck or his father.   Thus, he had saved Jim, and actually felt good about it.   Further along in the book, Jim becomes a slave again.   Huckleberry, with the aid of Tom Sawyer, free's Jim.   Once again, Jim's escape and freedom are more important to Huck than societies viewpoint.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The river is also important.   The river is symbolic of freedom.   It is also symbolic of good.   When Jim and Huck are rafting down the river, they are free of society.   They have no laws.   This is not to say that they are lawless, however, the laws they obey are there own.   This is in direct contrast to being on land, where society reigns supreme.   Land is evil.   This contrast also seems

Anne Hutchinson :: essays research papers fc

Anne Hutchinson challenged the traditional role of women in the Puritan society through her opposing religious beliefs. Anne Hutchinson was most likely not the first woman to have her own thoughts. She was simply the first to act on them. Anne Hutchinson was born on or about July17, 1591 in Alford, Licolnshire, England. She was the daughter of Reverend Francis Marbury. Rev. Marbury spoke out that many of the ordained ministers in the Church of England were unfit to guide people's souls. For this act of defiance, he was put in jail for one year. Anne read many of her father's books on theology and religion. Much of Anne's independence and willingness to speak out was due to her father's example. Anne admired her father for his defiance of traditional church principles. Then in 1612 she married William Hutchinson. Together they had 15 children. In 1634 she and her husband moved to Boston. Here Anne began holding informal church meetings in her home discussing the pastor's services and also preaching her beliefs to her followers. Threatened by meetings she held in her Boston home, the clergy charged Hutchinson with hersey. An outspoken female in a male hierarchy, Hutchinson had little hope that many would speak in her defense, and she was being tried by the General Court. In 1636 she was charged with hersey and banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Several years later when she moved to New York she was killed in an Indian attack. Anne challenged the Puritan clergy. She believed that: "1.One can feel one's salvation and is filled with the spirit of God after conversion. 2.One needn't be learned in the Bible or in the Puritan writers in order to be saved. 3.The ministers are all under the covenant of works, except John Cotton, who is under the covenant of grace.4. Inner light is the guarantee of salvation.5. All responsibility for salvation is placed on Christ. 6.Every person has the ear of God if only he or she would ask for it, and listen to the answer. 7. Indian slavery is wrong - people of all skin colors are of one blood. 8.Sunday shouldn't be set aside as the Lord's Day because every day is the Lord's day. 9.Christians will have new bodies when they get to heaven.10.Predestination is unfounded.11.Prayers should not be memorized, but inspired by love for God, waiting on Him.12.Holy Spirit dwells within each Christian like a personal union.

Efficiency Ratios

Efficiency Ratios The efficiency ratio is an indicator of how well Johnson and Johnson (J&J) is run on an organizational wide basis. Efficiency ratios are also defined as asset turnover ratios (Finkler, Kovner & Jones, 2007). The asset turnover ratio measures how productive J&J is in managing all of its assets to generate Sales. This efficiency ratio is calculated by dividing sales by total assets by total revenue. For year 2010, J&J had an asset turnover of 0. 6. Comparing J&J’s asset ratio to the industry, it is the same (Key Financial Ratios: Financial Results – Johnson & Johnson,  2011). Thus J&J is as efficient in the use of its assets as its healthcare competitors in the industry. Revenue to assets = Total revenueTotal assets Total revenue $61,587. 0= 0. 598 or 0. 6 Asset turnover Total assets $102,908. 0| The days' receivables ratio is calculated by dividing the accounts receivable by the revenue per day. The days' receivables will indicate how long, on average, it takes for J&J to collect on its sales to customers on credit. This ratio is also known as the average collection period (ACP). The shorter the collection period, the sooner the organization can pay bills or invest to earn interest (Finkler, Kovner & Jones, 2007). A short ACP is more efficient for the organization. J&J had an ACP of 58 days in 2010. This is a slight increase from previous year’s ACP of 57 days. Revenue per day = Total revenue 365$61,857. 0 = $168. 731 365 days Day’s receivable = Accounts receivable Revenue per day AR $9774. 0 = 57. 92 days DR $168. 731/day| Reference Key financial ratios: financial results – johnson & johnson . (2011). Retrieved from http://moneycentral. msn. com/investor/invsub/results/compare. asp? Page=ManagementEfficiency&symbol=JNJ

Job Motivation Essay

What is motivation? Motivation defined as the internal force that drives a worker to action as well as the external factors that encourage that action (Locke & Latham, 2002). This report aims to analyze the interviewee’s work motivation by using the job motivation theory. In this report, I interviewed a job incumbent. I will analyze the interviewee’s work motivation by applying the job characteristics model, expectancy theory and reinforcement theory. In this case, my interviewee was a secondary school teacher in Hong Kong called Miss Tse. She had been a teacher for twenty years. She teaches Chinese and Chinese history. Besides teaching, she needs to prepare notes for the students and solving problems from the students. Why Miss Tse choose teacher as her vocation? She mentioned that she loves get along with the children. Also she adores the duties of a teacher. So being a teacher had become her ideal. Hackman and Oldham proposed the job characteristics model, which states that five core job characteristics influence (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) three critical psychological states that in turn lead motivation (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). The first core characteristic is skill variety. It refers to the need of different skills for the success of job tasks. In the case of Miss Tse, her work had a high variety. She mentioned that after the education reform and the changing of the society, the workload for the teacher had become greater than the past. Besides the high workload of the education, Miss Tse needed to communicate with the student and their parents more. She said that nowadays people are more individualism especially the parents, they concern on the academic result more than the personal growth. So Miss Tse needed to put more time on it. As a result the job variety had become higher.

Jay Greenberg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Jay Greenberg - Essay Example The musical prodigy was discovered in 2004 during a CBS 60 minute news segment and from there he grew into a professional and sought after composer. His first CD was released in 2006 by Sony Classical which featured the Symphony #5 and Quintet for Strings performed by the London Symphony Orchestra as well as the Juilliard String Quartet with Darrett Adkins respectively (â€Å"Jay Greenberg†). Some of Jay’s most famous works have been the Violin Concerto produced in 2007, the Four Scenes in 2008 with a double string quartet, and Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra. His beautiful works have been publicly performed both nationally and internationally by such renowned orchestras as the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's (â€Å"Jay Greenberg†). In 2009 Jay’s work was even commissioned and premiered at Carnegie Hall for the youth orchestras, Skyline Dances (â€Å"Jay Greenberg†) . Jay produces most of his brilliant work on a computer using notation programs and feels that he hears the music taking shape inside his head. There is no doubt that this young and gifted composer will go a long way. Works Cited â€Å"Jay Greenberg.† schirmer.com. G. Schirmer Inc., Mach, 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2011

Marketing Planning as an Essential Foundation for Marketing Success Essay

Marketing Planning as an Essential Foundation for Marketing Success - Essay Example As the report declares prior to formulating an effective marketing program, it is incumbent upon management to consider the company’s current position within the market, the competitive landscape it faces, the unique aspects of the organization and its product, as well as how to position the organization for future profitability; all of which are a natural part of marketing planning. At its simplest expression, marketing planning is focused on two major sequential components, â€Å"establishing the corporate planning perspective and...developing marketing programs†. This paper stresses that effective marketing cannot be implemented as a series of random events; it should be viewed as a sequence that takes in the corporate condition and then tailors a marketing program to maximize opportunities. There are three vital aspects to this process that provide foundational support for success. The first is that marketing planning is, itself, a linear sequence. The value of such a scheme is that execution follows the form. In sequential management processes, it is relatively easy to identify where you are, and deduce where you should go. Marketing planning is more than just a linear process that defines a sequence of events. It is also a mechanism by which leadership is compelled to analyze its current market environment and proactively engage in sound business practices. ... At its simplest expression, marketing planning is focused on two major sequential components, "establishing the corporate planning perspective and...developing marketing programs" (Lazer 1971: 87). Effective marketing cannot be implemented as a series of random events; it should be viewed as a sequence that takes in the corporate condition and then tailors a marketing program to maximize opportunities. There are three vital aspects to this process that provide foundational support for success. The first is that marketing planning is, itself, a linear sequence. The value of such a scheme is that execution follows the form. In sequential management processes, it is relatively easy to identify where you are, and deduce where you should go. For the purposes of marketing planning, the fact that the first step in the sequence-and the second vital aspect of the process-is a corporate planning perspective that allows management the opportunity to analyze the organization's position and evalu ate its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This "first stop" on the map creates the necessary understanding to take the next step in the sequence, which is the third vital aspect of the linear process, and actually formulate a marketing program that meets the needs of customers, aligns with corporate philosophy, and stands a good chance at defeating competitive pressure. These goals would never be achieved, however, if a sequential process were not in place. Marketing planning is more than just a linear process that defines a sequence of events. It is also a mechanism by which leadership is compelled to analyze its current market environment and proactively engage in sound business practices. Marketing Planning Facilitates Good

Leadership Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership Theory - Essay Example This means that Schultz had a preconceived idea that in the nature of his business, those people with the opportunity to lead others in their organization should have got people skills in order to become effective leaders. In its broader sense, Schultz was combining the basic principles of leadership from the point of view of trait and behavioral theories. The very proof is the thought that this can also be explained using the contingency point of view of leadership particularly the Fiedler model which particularly highlights the match between the leader’s style of interacting with subordinates on certain situation in order to achieve high group performance (Arrmandi, Oppedisano & Sherman 2003). This may also fall on implicit theories of leadership where there is emphasis on mental models that substantially includes the combined idea of traits and behaviors of a person (Schyns 2006). Starbucks’s nature of business requires effective group performance, which can only be obtained if there is a leader who according to Schultz has the potential for people skills. At Starbucks, it is about combination of different talents or skills in order to come up with product or service offerings that would place high value for customers. It requires manager in this case who is a leader that at some point could influence the people to maximize their creativity or potential to do well in performing their respective role in the organization. This must be achieved not because of the power of that manager to hire or fire people, but because of his or her people skills that would influence the subordinates. A strong will and loud voice may be integral parts of a boss, but an effective leader requires people skills (Williams & Denney 2010). Modern organizations applied the concept of team-based principle, where leaders’ leadership is assumed to be assigned (Appelbaum, Audet & Miller 2003). In fact, this is another reality at Starbucks. Leadership is assigned to those with