Group Observation Essay

I chose to observe a sex offenders group at office of an association of licensed professional counselors in Hinesville, Georgia. The group consisted of 9 sex offenders and the counselor, who was a woman, and myself. The group meet in the evening and everyone was present and on time. We sat in a circle, and I was introduced. I had to sign a confidentiality agreement, and the guys signed something stating they didn’t mind my being there. There were no introductions, as everyone knew each other. Group therapy is seen as the most appropriate form of treatment in the United States. The rationale for this is the argument that sex offenders require group therapy because effective confrontation of manipulative behavior can only be done by other individuals who have been through the same dynamic. Groups are seen as necessary and appropriate for all sexual offenders, regardless of their individual personalities and the factors underlying their abusive behavior (Grossman, Martis, & Fichter, 1999). Psychological treatment of sex offenders showed little success until the advent of cognitive-behavioral techniques which have undergone rapid development over the past two decades. CBT was primarily developed through a merging of behavior therapy with cognitive therapy. While rooted in rather different theories, these two traditions found common ground in focusing on the â€Å"here and now†, and on alleviating symptoms. The goal of these treatments is to change sex offenders’ belief systems, eliminate inappropriate behavior, and increase appropriate behavior by modifying reinforcement contingencies so that offensive behavior is no longer reinforced (What is CBT, 2007). CT intervention methods include helping clients learns to identify the negative, automatic thoughts that occur in upsetting situations, to examine their validity, and to replace them with more useful, reality based thinking. The clients are helped to identify and change the elements of their belief system (world view, self-concept) and the cognitive distortions (errors in reasoning like catastrophic thinking) that lead to negative automatic thoughts. This empowers clients by teaching them to consider a variety of alternative explanations for the cause of an event, by helping them restate problems in behavioral terms that give a client some control over it and to create strategies for dealing with fearful possibilities. BT intervention methods include diversion techniques to diminish negative thinking and emotionality, activity scheduling to increase positive emotion and mastery, homework and graded task assignments, which entail incremental steps of increasing difficulty to reach goals, and role play and rehearsal to try out and practice new behaviors and roles to be used in the real world. lients how to use self-monitoring techniques, where the client records information about a target behavior, and stimulus control, the building, modification, or elimination of a stimulus-response connection so that a target response is increased or eliminated (Fraum, 2011). I observed the counselor using these interventions during the group. One of the goals of the group is prevent reoffenses. When the group started the first thing the counselor asked was if any members had and â€Å"Red Flags† during the week. The Red Flag indicates a form of a self- monitoring technique, when the member knows that he is danger situation and must stop the behavior or leave the area. A few members recounted what had happened to them and how they solved the problem. The group was in the working stage. Up for discussion was why a member had failed a mandatory polygragh test; the member disclosed a reaction to the words child pornography. Seven members gave feedback. According to Corey, Corey, &Corey (2010) during the working stage members trusted other members, goals were clear and specific, people feel free to bring themselves into the work of others, there is a willingness to risk disclosing threatening material, feedback is given freely and accepted without defensiveness, members feel hopeful, there is a an awareness of the group process, communication is clear and direct, and the focus is on the here and now. The group displayed these characteristics and more.

Bachelor of Arts Essay

1.1 FedEx Corporation Overview FedEx Corporation provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenue of US$ 27 billion, the company offers integrated business application through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world’s most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 250,000 employees and contractors to remain â€Å"absolutely, positively† focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. 1.2 Strategic Initiatives Currently, with its exposure to volatile fuel prices, high capital expenditures, and thin margins, FedEx can not stand up to the rigorous rule maker quantitative criteria, but its brand power is a perfect example of a sustainable competitive advantage. FedEx ships over 3 million packages a day. Along the route, those packages, the planes that carry them, the trucks that deliver them, and the people that handle them leave impressions on customers. FedEx recognizes that with every box it delivers and every person that delivers it, a brand impression is made. Brand equity is certainly significant to FedEx since its products and services are less differentiated in this fast changing dynamic competitive market. To remake the corporate image in order to extend and enhance its brand equity is one of the key strategic initiatives that has initiated by the management of FedEx Corporation recently. Other strategic initiatives are to focus on the growth of core package business and supply chain capabilities, and growth through e-commerce and technology, and new services and alliances. 2. DESIGN OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 2.1 HRMS of FedEx FedEx Human Resources develop policies, programs and procedures that not only attract, but also retain the most qualified, talented and diverse employees. To this end, Human Resources have implemented successful recruitment, development and Employee relation programs. The Corporate HR function consists of 45 employees who provide human resources support for the entire FedEx Organization. The overall headcount for this team has not changed in over four years even though the employee base has grown by greater than 30%. Most key programs are linked to the company’s diversity strategy to build value and manage a diverse workforce that reflects the rich mix of persons available in the Communities. The HR team regularly attends diversity recruiting career fairs and supports both local and national organizations committed to the development of women and minorities. HR has sought to automate and introduce electronic processes, in order to streamline its various staff function. These include the introduction of an electronic company wide web based Internal Career Opportunities Program (ICOP), that provides employees anytime/anywhere access to available opportunities within the company. Employees can search, apply and be notified of open positions within the organization by logging on to the site. Managers, can also initiate the employment process and receive approval electronically via an on-line employment requisitioning process. The major obstacle that needed to be addressed in the alignment of these two major programs was accessibility, communication and education. Employees were encouraged to submit their personal profiles so that they could receive automatic notifications from the system when positions for which they qualified became available. FedEx has developed a proactive staffing model for its facilities. This program allows the Field organization to add management staffing before the need exists. Recruiting, sourcing and training are done 20 weeks before the individual is expected to begin their career as a service manager. By accessing the HR website, both employees and Managers can obtain a wide variety of information geared to keep their employment information current, provide easy access to employment information (employee handbook) as well as provide access to benefits information and employee centered programs. Online access to the HR Web is available from home and work to all employees. 2.2 VRIO Framework Analysis Value FedEx managers stress that they are a â€Å"people-first† organization. The corporate philosophy statement sums up their view of the source of competitive advantage: â€Å"People-Service-Profit. FedEx discovered a long time ago that customer satisfaction really begins with employee satisfaction. In other words, the FedEx philosophy is that people are the primary link in the value chain, and thus, value is created by focusing on employees first. Rareness FedEx value and capitalize on the differences of their employees with diversity education programs such as Gender Speak, Delivering Diversity, Introducing Diversity, and Valuing Differences. One of its most successful programs RESPECT provides a process where employees can work together to resolve their differences. Therefore, it would exercise tremendous potential to exploit the rare characteristics of its employees for competitive advantage. Imitability FedEx worked closely with the University of Memphis, established the FedEx Institute of Technology, a unique public-private collaboration designed to advance world-class interdisciplinary research and introduce a new generation of highly skilled graduates to the workforce. The company has more than 219,000 employees globally and expects the alliance will help develop a highly skilled recruitment pool. Organization FedEx is committed to fostering an employee focused culture. It has a well-developed and thoroughly deployed management evaluation system, which involves a survey of employees, analysis of each work group’s results by the work group’s manager, and a discussion between the manager and the work group to develop written action plans for the manager to improve and become more effective. Data processed are aggregated at all levels of the organization for use in policymaking. Employees are free to share their opinions with management and in turn, work towards the resolution of internal issues within their department by participating on their action planning teams. 3. EMPLOYEE SKILL, MOTIVATION, JOB DESIGN & WORK STRUCTURES FedEx has a clear goal to have people who are committed, motivated and well trained. Here are some of the tools and techniques that they have developed: 3.1 Selection FedEx Corp is proactive targeting of candidate sources leads to a richer pool of applicants and enables company to reach better candidates faster. They worked closely with the University of Memphis, established the FedEx Institute of Technology, a unique public-private collaboration designed to advance world-class interdisciplinary research and introduce a new generation of highly skilled graduates to the workforce. FedEx had created a multi-national, multi-lingual recruitment assessment system in identifying candidates most suited to the jobs on offer and capable of operating to the company’s global standards and values. 3.2 FedEx Compensation & Rewarding System FedEx’s bonus program is driven by goal sharing. This program encourages employees to achieve strategic goals by basing individual bonus levels on corporate and business unit goals, up to 10% of an employee’s total compensation. FedEx’s formula for calculating bonuses includes corporate variables such as contributed operating margin, corporate ROE, net sales, customer returns, shipped kilometers and total unit cost. Putting people first means that FedEx is dynamic in both reward and recognition. For hourly paid staff the pay is geared to individual performance. However, to encourage good team working, there is also a team based ‘Best Practice Pays’ element. The pay for performance of salaried staff is based upon measures relating to the company’s key philosophy. 3.3 Performance Reviews FedEx is a very performance-based company. Every person knows upfront what his performance objectives are and he also knows upfront what he can earn. So the crux of People Service People is a fairly laborious performance management and compensation system. If a person fails in his performance, then the person does not get disciplined, but he gets pulled into a constructive action plan. Employees are encouraged to identify their weaknesses through a personal development programme (PDP). These could be general things like communication skills or dealing with conflicts in the workplace. FedEx has an online training library with 600 courses on things like leadership, project management skills, even something as basic as presentation skills. Employees can log in and take any course, but need to pass. 3.4 Staff Survey The annual staff survey is considered to be one of FedEx’s biggest business improvement tools. A total of 32 questions are answered electronically in business time over a period of two weeks and participation has increased from 97% to 98%. 4. PRODUCTIVITY, CREATIVITY & DISCRETIONARY EFFORT By competing collectively under the FedEx banner, FedEx in service companies benefit from one of the world’s most documented brands. FedEx is one of the most trusted and a respected brand in the world and its brand name is a powerful sales and marketing tool. Among the many reputation awards FedEx conventional during 2004, FedEx ranked seventh in â€Å"corporate reputation† on The Wall Street Journal’s Harris Interactive/Reputation Institute RQ Gold Survey, and for the third consecutive year, FedEx ranked in the top ten of FORTUNE magazine’s â€Å"America’s Most Admired Companies† and â€Å"World’s Most Admired Companies† lists. FedEx is the only transportation company and one of the very few companies overall to rank this highly in all three reputation surveys. FedEx ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the University of Michigan Business School National Quality Research Center’s American Customer Satisfaction Index in the parcel delivery category. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world’s largest retailer, also selected FedEx as the recipient of its â€Å"Carrier of the Year† award. BusinessWeek recognized FedEx Kinko’s in the magazine’s â€Å"Web Smart 50† report for the company’s innovative use of Internet technology to transform business processes and reduce costs. FedEx is well recognized as a leader, not only in the transportation industry and technological innovation, but also in social and environmental responsibility and corporate governance. Along with a strong reputation among customers and the general public, FedEx is widely acknowledged as a great place to work. In 2004, FedEx was listed among FORTUNE’s â€Å"100 Best Companies to Work for in America,† a list that FedEx have made every year it has been published. It is FedEx people-FedEx greatest asset-that give FedEx it strong reputation. In addition to superior physical and information networks, FedEx has an exemplary human network, with more than 240,000 employees and contractors who are â€Å"absolutely, positively† focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. Through FedEx internal Purple Promise and Humanitarian Award programs, FedEx recognize and reward employees who enhance customer service and promote human welfare. 5. IMPROVED OPERATING PERFORMANCE As discussed previously, new strategic role for HRM is very significant for the organization’s advancement. System thinking among the line and HR manger is the first step. The performance management and incentive compensation system must define desire employee behavior and reward those behaviors in meaningful way when goals are achieved. Almost 50% of all FedEx spending goes to employee pay and benefits. Many Special Awards to recognize employees’ performance: i) Bravo Zulu – award for outstanding performance beyond normal job expectations. ii) Golden Falcon – award for exceptional customer service. iii) Humanitarian Award – recognition for human welfare above and beyond work or community standards. iv) Star/Superstar Award – a lump sum merit based award for top performers. v) Five Star Awards – the highest award for enhancing service, profitability and the spirit of teamwork. Deadly combination and powerful connection are terms to describe the effects of an organization policy of promotion from within on firm performance. But probably not be present in every firm or even most of firms. So the only way that the organization can hope to identify the HR system properly is to adopt system perspective, which means business priorities drive the development of the HRM system. 6. PROFITS AND GROWTH Base on the FedEx second quarter’s Fiscal 2005 financial report (six months ended November 2004), it shows that FedEx has adapted an effective and efficient HRM system, which has brought up the corporation’s profit and growth. This is evidential by the following financial analysis:- i) Revenue There is a 23% Revenue growth compare to the last 2nd quarter fiscal year 2004. The revenue has increased from US$11,607 billion to US$14,309 billions in this 2nd quarter fiscal year 2005. FedEx announced that they would expect to have Group Revenue of US$ 27 billions this fiscal year 2005, which is a 9.5% growth. ii) Salary & Employee benefits Cost However, in term of Human Resources cost, we can see from the report that it is only an increase of 14%. Compare to 23% increase in revenue. The increase is justifiable. iii) Net Profit FedEx has shown a 212% increase in the Net Income this fiscal year compare with last 2nd quarter, from US$219 millions to US$684 millions, despite the roaring up of oil price, which is also one of the major operating cost, in this year. Their profit result is definitely considered outstanding. iv) Diluted Earning Per Share Obviously, with the high increase of the net income, the diluted earning per share is automatically increase by 210% compare to last 2nd quarter. It is definitely a kind of the positive effect of the HR- Stakeholders value relationship. v) Revenue generated per Employee Based on the US$27 billions Group Revenue generated by the total 250,000 number of employees in FedEx, we will be able to see that the revenue per employee generated is nearly US$108,000. Which is much higher than the world largest package delivery company – UPS, who has an annual turnover of US$30 billions and 370,000 employees worldwide, and the revenue generated per employee is only US$81,081. The productivity is much better. This has shown the efficiency and effectiveness of the HRM system. 7. MARKET VALUE From the study of FedEx Corp’s HRM system, it is undoubtedly that its HRM has strategically adopted high performance work system that creates real shareholder value. Such system has strengthened FedEx HR to become a strategic core competency and have an economically significant effect on firm performance. This also generates the transformation from HRM to human capital management and hence becomes to be a competitive advantage. The consistent increased profits and growth as shown in the company’s financial reports has also proved that FedEx HRM has created value and played an important role in the company’s achievement and success. FedEx shareholder market value has increased continuously as shown clearly in its financial statements. However, company’s HR market value has never been officially computed and shown in the financial statements. Based on the company productivity, FedEx’s each employee generates revenue of approximately US$108,000 quarterly, which is much higher than the world largest package delivery company – UPS, whose per employee generates revenue of only about US$81,081 quarterly. 8. CONCLUSION For FedEx, timing is everything. Delivery on time is essential, and within FedEx, ensuring this performance every time, has meant the transition to systems that provide online, real-time connectivity, bringing improved business processes and increased productivity. With unrivalled logistics solutions, FedEx turned to its Human Resources function, to leverage its competitive advantage. In such a geographically diverse and disparate region, FedEx strives to manage its human capital by minimizing administrative burden and creating a culture of effective self-management. With employees spread across the Region, and in line with its organization’s move to an Internet-centric company, FedEx was continuously looking for ways to empower its employees, and allow them to take control of some of their HR functions. Leveraging on PeopleSoft HRMS solution to effectively manage their human capital, it provided FedEx with the scalability and functionality they needed, to enable FedEx to move towards becoming a Real-Time Enterprise. FedEx employees were fully utilizing their self-service functions, and their HR staffs are now free to deliver a more strategic output to the business. They have increased the visibility of HR information to more effectively manage the enterprise’s most valuable resource – human capital. APPENDIX A: BIBLIOGRAPHY Relevant Reference Sites: * www.fedex.com * www.fedex.com/us/investorrelations/2003annualreport/ * www.fedex.com/us/investorrelations/downloads/ * www.fool.com/portfolios/rulemaker/2001/rulemaker010502.htm * www.incomesdata.co.uk/studies/hrmansystems.htm * www.stevieawards.com/pubs/awards/70_1438_8395.cfm * www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb001/is_200309/ai_hibm1G1107999043 * healthproject.stanford.edu/koop/Federal%20Express/description.html * www.hoovers.com/fedex-corporation/–ID__10552–/free-co-factsheet.xhtml * online.wsj.com/ad/fedex/ * moneycentral.msn.com/investor/research/profile.asp?Symbol=fdx * www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/19/0C029319.asp?Type=60&Category=1162 * www.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2004/08/09/daily3.html * www.quality.nist.gov/FederalExpress_90.htm Evaluation of the Stakeholder Value Relationship Model Assignment BA361 – Human Resource Management Page 2 of 12

Mgt wk2 group assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Data Analysis Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Data Analysis Report - Essay Example The personal beliefs of the person, balanced by the significance that he or she attributes to the influence of others, help determine behavioural intentions. Finally, behavioural intentions are the integration of one’s attitudes toward certain behaviour along with the subjective norms associated with such behaviour; behavioural intentions have also been shown to influence actual behaviour (Miller, 2005). The theory of reasoned action has been frequently used for determining the purchase intentions of consumers. For example, the study of Korzaan (2003) applied the theory on examining college student’s online purchasing intentions. Findings showed that attitudes toward online purchasing had a significant influence on behavioural intentions to become involved in conducting purchases online. The study of Kim and Cheung (2011) also showed how personal values and beliefs strongly influenced consumer attitudes toward purchasing a particular product; moreover, previous experien ces also helped predict purchase intentions while perceived behavioural control acted as a mediator in the relationship between attitudes and purchase intentions. ... ce Quality It has been asserted by Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1993) that the quality of services can be measured by examining the gap that exists between customers’ expectations and the actual services delivered by employees. Their SERVQUAL model was developed in order to measure such gap, thereby allowing organisations and researchers alike to determine possible service areas that can be further enhanced. Service quality can be evaluated through the perceptions of customers regarding a specific service and its level of quality, hence the following dimensions: reliability to identify whether employees were able to provide an accurate and dependable delivery of services; assurance which is characterized by the ability of employees to create a sense of trust and favourable expectations among customers; responsiveness which refers to the ability of employees in attending to their customers in a prompt manner; empathy that is demonstrated through care and concern for custome rs’ specific needs; and tangibles that are evident through physical appearances and materials. Service quality has been constantly linked to a number of concepts such as customer satisfaction and loyalty. According to Kondou (1999), customer satisfaction is a positive affective response that is brought about by the person’s evaluation of a certain situation. The theory and practice of service marketing heavily relies on the satisfaction of customer needs due as this can ultimately result to increased profitability. Companies that deliver services which customers often perceive as satisfying can not only increase satisfaction but also increase positive behavioural intentions through customer loyalty. Kang, Okamoto, and Donovan (2004) showed that tangibles showed that tangibles were the most

Sources of Tort law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sources of Tort law - Essay Example Judicial acknowledgment of spontaneous standards brings about a declaratory (more willingly than constitutive) function that cares for custom as a legal reality. The legal system finds the law by being acquainted with social standards, but does not "create" the law (Fisheries, 1951, International Court of Justice, Kontou, 1994). The most distinguished demonstration is the organization of tort law, where, devoid of a central legislative power, custom positions adjacent to treaties as a principal source of law. (Statute of the International Court of Justice, Article 38 section 1). At any time they are provided with legitimate position in a legal system, customary rules are frequently provided with the similar impact as other key sources of law. Even though frequently secondary to formal legislation, customary rules obtain their power from the agreement of a standardized practice and an individual conviction that obedience to them is mandatory (opinio iuris), devoid of essentially being officially integrated into any written body of law (Malanczuk, 1997, NorthSea Continental Shelf, Roht-Arriaza, 1995, Sands, 2003, Scott, 2000). Consequently, they are more often than not characterized as irrelevant sources of law (Brownlie, 1990, The Corfu Channel, 1949, Trendtex Trading Corporation, 1977, Vierdag, 1982, Weber, 1978, Baxter, 1970, Brownnlie, 1987, De Vattel, 1960, Goldsmith and Posner, 1999). This conception entails that the custom continues to be the definite source of law notwithstanding following its judicial recognition. In this context, the judicial assess ments that are on familiar terms with a custom present merely persuasive evidence of its subsistence and do not themselves turn out to be foundations of law. Sequentially, this puts off the doctrine of stare decisis from shaping up customary law. Contemporary legal systems commonly distinguish customary rules that have materialized either within the boundaries of positive legislation (consuetudo secundum legem) or in fields that are not regimented by positive law (consuetudo praeter legem). Where custom is in open disagreement with legislation (custom contra legem) the latter more often than not wins through. In some cases in point, nonetheless, a custom supplants previous legislation (abrogative custom), and a number of arguments have been completed in favor of the up-and-coming practices that run counter to outdated stipulations of public tort law (desuetudo) (Kontou, 1994, International Law Commission, 1962. Internatinal Law Commission, 1966, Mendelson, 1998, Tunkin, 1974). The perception of opinio iuris initiates a difference involving mere behavioural regularities and internalized responsibilities. This difference may possibly be associated to the parties' responsiveness of the anticipated collective payoffs from the game, a difference that is significantly vital in the normative context (Weber, 1978). A couple of groupings of social rules are commonly recognized. These include those that reveal simple behavioural arrangements that are not indispensable to the legal order. Another is those that reveal an internalized conviction that the implementation is essential or publicly sought-after. A simple behavioural regularity, missing the qualitative component of opinio iuris, does not produce a customary rule. In legal terminology, such behaviour is a sheer usage; in economic contexts it merely stands for an

Reading journal APOC Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading journal APOC - Assignment Example At the hospital, they stayed with me and consoled me even as I writhed in pain. My parents arrived later on and thanked my colleagues for standing with me. Indeed the hospital route turned out to be the best remedy to the writer’s problem. She finally withdrew and got the necessary counseling thereafter. It surprises, however, why the writer’s caretakers had not thought of this alternative ever since the problem manifested itself. The delay has made the writer lose much in terms of personal development. The writer was worried how she would put to a halt the whole issue of drinking and using. She seemed quite concerned about the past, recalling how frequent she drank and used. Venita urges her to focus on one day at a time as that is an easier way to adjust. That means the writer should close her eyes to the past and future and instead focus on today. The quote portrays Venita as informative, encouraging, and determined. She wants to see the writer at her best. Challenges and mysteries are part of life. I once realized that no one is born perfect. People fail, but the failures serve as steps towards improvement. I once recorded poor academic performances during my middle classes in primary school. This was caused by my affiliation to jokers. When my parents and teachers counseled me, I turned a blind eye to all that had happened and my results became impressive then onwards. Venita was quite instrumental to the changes that occurred in the writer’s life. From withdrawal from drinking and using to graduating from the university with a special award, the writer has recorded a massive change in life that no one would ever imagine from the start of the novel. It all sounds miraculous, but wherever God is involved, miracles are bound to

Development of Scratch Radio to the Station Manager Essay

Development of Scratch Radio to the Station Manager - Essay Example The main objective of the study is to recognize and determine current involvement in Radio Listening amongst BCU undergraduate scholars in the City North campus. It is mainly because there are various competitors for the Scratch Radio as well as it is also very much necessary to identify the thoughts of BCU undergraduate students towards Scratch Radio and its selected competitors. The study includes the questioners’ analysis which will help to identify the current involvement and future development of Scratch Radio. Thirst for knowledge is the fundamental human condition. Research methodology is the systematic process of exploring knowledge. The research can be conducted in many ways. The methodology of the research is decided in relation to the nature of the study and the type of sample and the data collection. In this study the researcher tries to explore the information about the current involvement in Radio Listening between BCU undergraduate students and also to evaluate the attitudes of BCU undergraduate students towards Scratch Radio. â€Å"Methodology is the pathway or an approach to get the needed information by locating the data from different sources which are primary & secondary†. In this research paper, the data gathering was done using various research instruments. The research instruments have helped to carry out the interview process and data gathering more easily. The study will be a pilot survey, to test the questionnaire and the survey methods and to generate some exploratory data which may be useful to decision makers of marketing division. Sample size taken to conduct the survey is 20. All the students that took part in the survey are students of BCU undergraduate course in the City North campus. And also this sample survey includes male and female students of each study year. Personal interviews are carried out to collect most significant information from the target audience. The sample size selected was quite enough and usef ul for this research. The survey was conducted in the same method, but the people interviewed were different. The tools used in this research are really working and useful to carry out a detail study. Questionnaires are one of the ways used to collect information from the target customers to acquire the relevant information. The questionnaires are well planned. Both open ended and closed ended questionnaires are used to collect information. Open ended questionnaires are carried out to acquire the information in the deliberate style. Closed ended questionnaires are used to acquire the information in the single words such as the questionnaires comprises of the YES or NO type questions. â€Å"A Questionnaire can be quite inexpensive to administer. Time is also an important resource that questionnaires can maximize† (Stasko & O’Brien n.d.). 4) Summary of the Key Findings: This pilot survey we have conducted has helped to find out the opinions and recommendations of the stu dent listeners of Scratch radio of BCU. The sample size of

Comparison between KFC (uk) and Nando's chickenland Ltd huddersfield Essay

Comparison between KFC (uk) and Nando's chickenland Ltd huddersfield - Essay Example is the highest in the hierarchy and it is very important for a company to be consistent with its strategies so that it can have competitive advantage in the market. Competitive advantage in a company grows when the company is able to provide its clients with quality products and services at the appropriate time and place. Nandos chicken land has used information technology for them to grow at the intended time and send new products and services. The supply system in Nandos chicken land has used information technology in maintaining competitive advantage. A product has competitive value when it provides more value to the users than a competitive product or services. This value can be in symbolic terms of attributor or both. In the past century, Nandos chicken land has been using information technology for operational and management of the company. It is until recently that the company is using information technology to get significant competitive advantage (Khosrowpour, 2002, p. 15). For instance, it was the first to establish online order entry in restaurants and now they dominate the hotel delivering business. Nandos chicken land has set up ways to make reservations through a computer application, which has made it impossible for other companies to overcome them. The importance of products and services offered through the computer by Nando’s chicken land system does not lie on how the information technology is sophisticated or the reports it delivers. But, they are established by examining how they play in the company’s need for competitive advantage (Khosrowpour, 2002, p. 35). These are known as strategic information systems that help in shaping and supporting the competitive advantage of the restaurant. They are plans that help in gaining and maintaining the competitive advantage. KFC (UK) uses commercial advertisement in advertising their products. The commercial advertisement features a live band where the singer swallows fire. The company has a logo

International Business Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business - Term Paper Example 54). Factor conditions discuss country’s consideration about production factors (e.g. skilled HR required in a certain industrial area) (Johnson, 2003, p. 54). Demand conditions evaluate country’s national market demand for the good/service to be produced. Related and supporting industries discuss the existence of internationally competitive industries in the home market. Firm strategy, structure and competition are issues defining principles of organizations’ creation, development and management in the home market. 3. Three common characteristics of Multi National Enterprise Multinational Enterprise has three general features: a large corporation with central office and many other branches worldwide. MNE make direct investments in local firms and considers peculiarities of product adaptation to the needs to every particular market (Johnson, 2003, p. 14). 4. Five basic steps in the strategic management process Strategic management is based on five basic steps. Fi rst of all, strategy, vision and mission must be developed (Kline, 2005, p. 67). This initial stage is crucial for any company because it sets the main principles of further company’s development. The next step is analysis of internal and external factors. In other words, on this stage company analyzes structural peculiarities of their company and discusses external factors influencing their business. The third step concerns ‘distillation’ of the best choices and possible steps. The fourth step is strategic plan development, which step-by-step describes strategic measures taken by a company. The fifth step is implementation and evaluation of steps considered above. 5. Foreign Direct Investment reasons Foreign direct investment implies company’s physical investment from one country into building a factory/creating some kind of a project etc in another country. Currently, there are several reasons for FDI (Johnson, 2003, p. 71). A desire to be global and to be a successful competitive participant in the international arena, reach potential clients overseas and access a new market are wide spread features of potential FDI. It is also important to note that once export of goods or services produced becomes critically increased then it is more efficient and cost effective to make FDI. 6. As political system change, economic system follows. Statement explanation. A change of political system is a natural process happening in every country. A constantly changing nature of mankind is explained by mankind development and thus countries’ development. When certain political processes take place, then internal income of the country, wealth and occupation of people is gradually changing. Economic development exerts influence on income equality. At this point linearity theory may be applied. In accordance with this theory economic development is a direct way to urbanization leading to communication and higher level of education and finally, to Democracy. Thus we can see a perfect interdependence between political and economic systems. 7. Privatization benefits Privatization is a kind of structural reform occurring in both developed and developing countries. The main goal of privatization is to reach more profound microeconomic efficiency and foster economic growth (Kline, 2005, p. 77). Abundance of inefficient

Race in America since the 1960s Essay Example for Free

Race in America since the 1960s Essay America has come a long way since the dark days when slavery marred the continent. The journey to equality was not always a smooth one, and only in the last half-century have African-Americans been granted their complete rights and freedoms. Now that they have these equal rights, they are taking their place to take advantage of their equal opportunities, but there still seems to be a glass ceiling preventing their further progress. White Americans still cite racial progress in many areas, while the reality remains that much of this progress is illusion. With the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States, it seems safe to say that racial relations in the country have certainly improved in the past fifty years. In the 1950s, many African-Americans could not even vote in many parts of the country, with racist leaders and citizens doing everything in their power to deny this most basic of rights. Once desegregation took effect and was enforced by the federal government, it seemed that African-Americans had finally achieved equality. However, this was largely a myth based on the horrible conditions they once faced, and the current conditions still often view them as a marginalized race. Couple this with the massive influx of Latin Americans into the U. S. , and race relations are just as explosive as they were in the 1960s. One program designed to aid racial equality is affirmative action, which has been both a blessing and a curse for minorities. Originally conceived as a means to redress discrimination, affirmative action has created racial preferences that have instead promoted discrimination. And rather than fostering harmony and integration, these preferences have divided many businesses and college campuses across the country. In no other area of public life is there a greater disparity between the rhetoric of preferences and the reality than with affirmative action. Many have cited lesser qualified applicants hired or accepted to colleges based on race, not qualifications or need. If preferences were truly meant to remedy disadvantage, they would be given on the basis of disadvantage, not on the basis of race, so that a poor, qualified white student would stand a better chance of being admitted than the under-qualified son of a black doctor. This illustrates a problem with the idealism of affirmative action and how remedying some racial issues have merely created unfairness in other areas. Instead of a remedy for disadvantage, many supporters now claim that preferences promote diversity. This same push for diversity also has led colleges like Stanford University to create racially segregated dormitories, racially segregated freshman orientation programs, racially segregated graduation ceremonies and curricular requirements in race theory and gender studies (Sacks Thiel, 1996). But if diversity was really the goal, then preferences would be given on the basis of unusual characteristics, not on the basis of race. The underlying assumption—that only minorities can add certain ideas or perspectives—is offensive not merely because it is untrue but also because it implies that all minorities think a certain way. While affirmative action is a noble effort, it is perhaps antiquated. Today, while African-Americans enjoy greater freedom and equality, Latinos have come to represent the current racial crisis. Many conservative Americans demand that they learn English, adopt American culture, and assimilate or leave. Additionally, Middle Eastern Americans are finding life equally difficult and face often violent retributions for crimes that they did not commit. This xenophobic behavior may be largely from the scares encouraged by global terrorism, but may also be representative of the fact that not much has really changed except the language used to discuss race. The only way to truly understand the state of race in America and make a balanced assessment is to measure the equality of each race. The sad state is that many of the minorities in America are still marginalized, make less money, and have far less influence politically than the dominant white culture. Progressive and liberal legislation may continue to chip away at long held racial prejudices, but Americans cannot achieve complete equality unless it is an endeavor equally valued by all. Unfortunately, as history has shown, those in power will be reticent to relinquish that power, and those in power in America are still largely male, largely white, and largely though subtly fearful of difference. With a president with parent that are black and white, much of the racial future of America rests with a man that represents better than anyone the progress made in the past fifty years, as well as the distance left to travel until true racial harmony is achieved.

Using Thin Layer Chromatography To Monitor Reactions Environmental Sciences Essay

Using Thin Layer Chromatography To Monitor Reactions Environmental Sciences Essay Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a very useful technique for monitoring reactions. It can also be used to determine the proper solvent system for performing separations using column chromatography. TLC stationary phases are usually alumina or silica. They are polar for standard experiments or non-polar for reverse phase chromatography. The mobile phase is a solvent whose polarity is chosen by the person conducting the experiment. In most laboratory work standard phase silica plates are used. Different compounds will travel different distances up the plate depending on the polarity of the components of the mixture. The more polar compounds will be more attracted to the polar silica gel and travel shorter distances on the plate. Mon-polar substances will spend more time in the mobile phase and as a result will travel larger distances on the plate. The measure of the distance a compound travels is called the retention factor (Rf ) value. The retention factor, or Rf, is defined as the distance traveled by the compound divided by the distance traveled by the solvent. For example, if a compound travels 2.1 cm and the solvent front travels 2.8 cm, the Rf is 0.75: The Rf for a compound is a constant from one experiment to the next only if the chromatography conditions below are also constant: solvent system adsorbent thickness of the adsorbent amount of material spotted temperature Since these factors are difficult to keep constant from experiment to experiment, relative Rf values are generally considered. Relative Rf means that the values are reported relative to a standard, or it means that you compare the Rf values of compounds run on the same plate at the same time. 1.1 Thin Layer Chromatography There have been a numbered of important milestones in the evolution of chromatography in the last 100 years. Each of these milestones has signalled the start of an important branch of chromatography. Some examples of these are; partition chromatography (1941), gas chromatography (1951-1952), high performance liquid chromatography (mid- 1960s), capillary electrophoresis (1980) and capillary electrochromatography (past decade). In all the chromatographic techniques mentioned, separation is carried out in a column. However, it is also possible to carry out separations on a planar surface. Two examples of this are paper chromatography (1944) and thin-layer chromatography (1937-1938). Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) replaced paper chromatography as the most popular, routine chromatographic technique. TLC was first used in 1937 to 1938 by Nikolai A. Izmailov and Maria S. Shraiber at the Institute of Experimental Pharmacy of the State University of Kharkov. At the time Izmailov was the head of the institute and Shraiber was his graduate student. They were searching for a method for the rapid analysis of galenic pharmaceutical preparations (plant extracts). As classical column chromatography would have taken too much time they felt that if the absorbent would be prepared in the form of a thin-layer on a glass plate. They believed that it would behave like a column but the characterization time would be much shorter. They coated microscope slides with a suspension of various adsorbents (calcium, magnesium and aluminium oxides). They deposited one drop of the sample solution on this layer and added one drop of the same solvent used in a column to develop separation. The test was a success as the separated sample components appeared as concentric rings that fluoresced in various colour s under a UV lamp. They showed that the sequence of the concentric multicoloured rings on the plate would have been identical to the sequence of coloured rings obtained on a normal chromatographic column. They called this technique spot chromatography and the result on the microscope slides ultrachromatograms. The paper on this experiment was published in a Russian pharmaceutical journal that was practically unknown outside the then Soviet Union. Its abstract was included in a Russian review journal and through it in chemical Abstracts. It was then read by M. OL. Crowe of the New York State Department of Health. He then adapted the technique for his own use. Crowe prepared the adsorbent layer in a Petri dish, added a drop of the sample solution in the centre and then added the developing solvent dropwise until sufficient separation was obtained. In 1947 T.I. Williams described a further improvement of the method of Izmailov and Shraiber in his textbook on chromatography. He prepared the adsorbent-coated glass plates in the form of a sandwich. The adsorbent layer was covered by 2 glass plates and had a small hole which the sample drops could be applied through. Meinhard and Hall made the next major step in the development of TLC at the University of Wisconsin. They used corn starch, which acted as a binder, to hold the coating on the glass plate and added a small amount of Celite powder to the adsorbent particles to improve the consistency of the layer. They called this surface chromatography. They used it to separate inorganic ions. Modern TLC started 50 years ago with the work Department of Agriculture Fruit and Vegetable laboratory in Southern California. He investigated the flavour components of the juices of citrus fruits. However, he stated that very large volumes had to be processed because the amount of flavour material was extremely small. Another problem was in finding an analytical method for the investigation of the juice concentrate composition. He followed the method of Meinhard and Hall that he read in Chemical Abstracts. However, instead of adding just a drop of the developing solvent he developed the plates as in paper chromatography. The plates were developed in a closed chamber and one side was dipped into the solvent. The solvent then ascended through the plate by capillary action. It carried with it the sample components and they were separated as a result. The experiments carried out were published and are considered the start of modern TLC. Egon Stahl was responsible for TLC becoming a universally accepted technique. He was also the first to use the term thin-layer chromatography to characterize the technique. This choice of name was almost immediately accepted. Stahl investigated various essential oils and obtained good results using adsorbent-coated glass plates. However, neither the method nor the adsorbent to be used had been optimized. Also, the adsorbents had to be modified and treated before they could be used for the coating of plates. Stahl started investigating the operational parameters and the adsorbent preparations. In the spring of 1958 his efforts were fulfilled as the necessary basic instrumentation, made by Desaga and silica gel G according to Stahl for TLC, made by E. Merck were both introduced at the international Achema exhibition of chemical equipment in Frankfurt. Stahl also published an article outlining the use of the system and a wide range of applications. Because of this standardized method TLC became a widely used laboratory technique. He also went on to publish a TLC handbook in 1962. Although TLC had a wide application it was still thought to be a qualitative technique for the analysis of simple mixtures. As a result advances were directed toward improving the technique. Instrumentation which permitted more precise spotting of the sample onto the plates and the quantitative evaluation of the separated spots was developed. Faster analysis and higher separation power was also achieved. As a result of the higher performance ability the name was change to high-performance TLC (HPTLC) by R.E. Kaiser, who was instrumental in its development. The particle size and range of the adsorbent was the main difference between TLC and HPTLC. The silica gel for TLC had broad particle sizes of 10-60 µm with an average of 20 µm whereas HPTLC has an average of only 5 µm. the HPTLC plates were also smaller in comparison with TLC plates, 10 x 10cm and 20 x 20cm respectively. The improved method and design allowed reduction in the diameter of the starting spots. These improvements lowered the analysis time and increased the efficiency. Problems arose with flow rate which Kaiser overcame by applying pressure to the TLC plate. This in turn led to forced-flow TLC. Due to the constant condensation-evaporation process associated with developing TLC plates in developing chambers problems can be encountered because of the changing velocity of the mobile phase. To overcome this forced-flow TLC (FFTLC) was developed by Tyihà ¡k, Mincsovics and Kalà ¡sz. In this method the spotted plates (dry) are placed into a pressurized development chamber. The stationary-phase layer is tightly covered and sealed on its side by an elastic membrane and pressurized by an inert gas or water filling up the cushion above the layer. The mobile phase is delivered via a pump at a constant velocity through a slit in the membrane to the stationary phase. There are various configurations which can be handled using this method. TLC is a very simple technique. As a result very little instrumentation is needed. Application of samples to the stationary-phase is carried out using a micropipette or syringe. The developing chambers are simple glass structures. Detection is carried out by visual inspection or made visible by spraying the plate with reagent. Also, a wide variety of precoated plates are available so coating equipment isnt needed. In more advanced systems the samples may be spotted by automated loading devices (dosimeters). This allows the application of small and uniform sample spots. More sophisticated developing chambers are also available (FFTLC). The plates can be scanned by densitometers and quantitatively analysed using absorbance or fluorescence measurements. Chromatograms with peaks of the individual separated spots recorded against the length of the plate are produced with such analyses. Their area is also a proportion to the amount present. More complex systems can also be created by combining TLC systems with other systems such as mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared. 1.2 Ink Analysis Ink analysis is a very important forensic procedure. It can reveal useful information about questioned document. Modern inks contain many substances which are aimed at improving the ink. The most important component of the ink is the colouring material. It comes in the form of a dye, pigment or a combination of both. Dyes are soluble in the liquid body of the ink, also known as the vehicle. Pigments are finely ground multi-molecular granules that are insoluble in the vehicle. The vehicles composition affects the flowing and drying characteristics of the ink and can consist of oils, solvents and resins. 1.3 Chromatography Studies Djozan et al developed a new and fast method for the differentiation of inks on a questioned document. They designed specific image analysis software for evaluating thin layer chromatograms. They sampled forty-one blue ballpoint pens which were purchased from their local markets in Iran (Table 1). They first wrote a circle of diameter 5 mm uniformly by pen on a paper. One fourth of this was then punched out for extraction. They carried out extraction in 1 ml glass tubes and added 0.1 ml of methanol. This was then vigorously shaken for 1 min. the ink component was then fully dissolved in methanol. The supernatant methanoic solutions were then used to spot the TLC plates. A blank sample of paper with equal dimensions was also treated in the same way. Table 1. List of blue ballpoint pens studied List of blue ballpoint pens studied 1 Cello pyramid 0.7 mm fine TC ball 2 OBA 3 AIHAO 4 Bic 01 5 Cenator 6 PARKER 7 A.T.CROSS FINE 8 Pelikan STICK 918 9 Marvy SB-10 1.0 mm 10 Bic 02 11 PIANO crystal 12 My pen 2001 PENS High Quality Bluce CE 13 AIBA 14 STAEDTLER Stick 430M A IRAN 15 Reynolds Medium 048 France 16 EIFEL Elegance 17 CASPIAN STICK 2001 M 18 STABILO liner 308 19 FABER-CASTELL 1.0 mm Medium (transparent) 20 BIC 08 21 Bocheng A-100 22 SCHNEIDER TOPS 505 M Germany 23 FIBER-CASTELL 1.0 mm Medium 24 MILAN PI 1 mm 25 Reform 26 PAPER = MATE FLEXGRIP ultra MED 27 PARKER UK 28 CANDID-DINI 2853 29 STABILO-galaxy 818 M 30 No name 31 No name 32 Zebra Rubber 101 33 SANFORD SAGA 34 Bensia 35 Girls 36 EUROPEN 37 PARS swiss Refill 606 38 STAEDTLER stick 430 M TBRITAIN 39 Lus HF 500 40 No name 41 STABILO bill 508 TLC analysis was carried out on Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) 20 cm x 20 cm silica gel 60 TLC plates without fluorescent indicator. The plates were activated at 60  °C for 20 min and immediately spotted after cooling in a desiccator. The plates were developed in a developing chamber. The mobile phase used was: ethyl acetate/ absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v). Chromatographic development of the plates was carried out at room temperature for 40 min. All mobile phases were prepared daily with analytical grade chemicals. Enough was prepared to supply the tank for each run. The plates were air-dried after development. The separated compounds were visible on the plate by their natural colour and the plates were scanned into a computer using an office scanner. An IBM compatible PC (Pentium IV) with a 2.6 GHz microprocessor, 256 MB random access memory (RAM) and a hard disk with 40 GB capacity for external storage was used for processing the colour images. The computer was equipped with an on-board graphic card (NviDiA Geforce 7300LE) and a scanner (CanoScan 4200F) was connected to the computer for scanning (300 dpi) TLC plates as digital images. The images were saved as bmp files. Matlab (Version 6.5, The Math Works, Inc.) was used to write a new program to process the previously saved images. Previous studies indicated that Pyridine is the solvent used with ballpoint pen inks. Djozan et al preformed extraction with different solvents using various extraction modes. These modes were immersion of paper into solvent and simple agitation for 1 min, ultra-sound assisted extraction and micro-wave assistance extraction. The results showed that the immersion of paper into methanol or pyridine and simple agitation resulted in complete extraction of the inks from paper (Table 2). Table 2. List of solvents used for extraction of ink components from paper Solvent Solubility of ink colours Ethyl acetate Ethanol Acetic acid Acetone Butanol 1,2-Dichloroethane Butyl acetate Tetrachloroethane Acetyl acetate Cyclohexane Methanol Pyridine Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Slightly Soluble Soluble No improvement was found using ultra-sound or micro-wave assisted extraction. Methanol was chosen as the extraction solvent due to the safety of the solvent. The selection of the plate was down to the fact that silica gel plates provided the best resolution of dye spots. They selected five mobile phases (Table 3) and found that ethyl acetate/ absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v) was effective in separating nearly all the dye mixtures. The spot capacity obtained was more than 15. Table 3. Different solvent systems used to develop plate Solvent System Ratio Spot capacity Butanol:ethanol:H2O Ethyl acetate:cyclohexane:methanol:NH3 Ethyl acetate:Butanol:NH3 Ethyl acetate:ethanol:H2O Toluene:acetone:ethanol:NH3 50:15:10 70:15:10:5 60:35:5 70:35:30 30:60:7:2 9 5 10 15 5 Fig. 1. Typical TLC results of 10 different ink samples (Djozan et al, 2008) Fig. 1. shows a typical chromatogram that they achieved in their experiment. To confirm complete separation of all components in the studied sample, two-dimensional (2D) TLC was carried out using various solvent systems. The results proved that the one-dimensional (1D) TLC is able to provide sufficient separation. The first stage carried out was colour image normalization. A function of the input images was computed that is invariant to confounding scene properties but was discriminative with respect to desired scene information. The calculation is as follows: Stage 2 is to compute a colour image profile. The intensity profile of an image is the set intensity values taken from regularly spaced points along a line segment in an image the intensity values are interpolated for points that dont fall on the centre pixel they computed an intensity profile for r, g and b images along the line passing through the centre of the image on the chromatographic development straight of each ink spot. Fig. 2. RGB characteristic of an ink after TLC (Djozan et al, 2008) In stage 3 the colour image profiles were correlated. The intensity profiles were considered as sequences and the normalized cross-correlation of sequences were computed. Cross-correlation is a measure of similarity of two signals. It is used to find features in an unknown signal and compared to a known signal. It is calculated as follows for discrete functions: Eq. (1) For image-processing applications in which the brightness of the images can be due to lighting and exposure conditions, the images can be first normalized. It is calculated as follows: Eq. (2) Stage 4 involved computing image similarity. The weighted mean of and were computed as follows: Eq. (3) The ability of the method to differentiate between various blue ballpoint pens was evaluated by comparing the similarity of different inks according to Eq. (3). Fig. 3. Screen shot of Matlab software running (Djozan et al, 2008) Fig. 4. All possible combination of comparing inks with TLC-IA (Djozan et al, 2008) In 2006 Liu et al published a paper on the classification of black gel pen inks by ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatography. They stated that black gel inks usually contain several dye components. These components all have different colours and are mixed together proportionally to give the black colour. They used reverse-phase ion-pairing high performance chromatography (RP-IP-HPLC). It was done in such a manner as the dyes couldnt be reversed on the C18 column due to their high polarities. The maximum UV absorption bands of the black gel pen inks obtained were between 500 and 700 nm. The wavelength of the detector was set to 580 nm as most of the dyes had a maximum UV adsorption near 580 nm. They investigated the influence of both volatile and non-volatile ion-pairing reagents on the HPLC analysis of black gel pen ink dyes. All the reagents had different alkyl chain, ammonium acetate, triethylamine (TEA), tributylamine (TBA), dihexylamine (DHA) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBABr). The results revealed that the dyes were nearly not retained using ammonium acetate or TEA as the ion-pairing reagent. Using TBABr, TBA and DHA as the ion-pairing reagent, individually, the dyes were separated. TBABr was selected as the ion-pairing reagent as the retention times were shorter than the others and sharper peaks were obtained. They also investigated the buffer solution concentrations and the effect of pH on the separation. The optimum result was: 40 mmol/L TBABr buffer solution (pH 7) with acetonitrile as the organic modifier for IP-HPLC analysis and an identical proportion of the buffer and acetonitrile (v/v = 40:60) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. these optimum conditions were used to separate 50 dye-based black gel pen inks by IP-HPLC. Liu et al carried out another study on ion-pairing HPLC in 2006. This time, however, they studied the degradation of blue gel pen dyes and also used electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. They used ion-pairing reversed phase liquid chromatography as the inorganic compounds they were analysing have weak retention on the ordinary reversed stationary phases when separating on HPLC. This is due to their high polarities. The UV detector was set at 580 nm for the analysis as most dyes have a normal maximum absorption near 580 nm. The UV absorptions of the fluorescence whitening reagents in paper are usually below 500 nm and they had no interference for the detection of the gel pen dyes at 580 nm. Fig. 5. Chromatograms of blue gel pen inks using different ion pairing reagents (Liu et al, 2006) The tested various mobile phases: eluent A: eluent B (acetonitrile) = 50:50 (v/v); eluent A was the buffer of ion pairing reagent with concentration of 40 mmol Là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1 (pH 7.0), and the ion pairing reagent was (a) ammonium acetate, (b) TEA acetate, (d) TBA acetate, (e) DHA acetate and (f) TBABr, respectively. (c) Ammonium carbonate as eluent A (40 mmol Là ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1, pH 9.5) and eluent A:eluent B (acetonitrile) = 50:50 (v/v). they found that 10 mmol-1 TBA acetate (pH 7.0) was suitable ion-pairing agent for the purpose and ink samples stored in different conditions were analyzed by IP-HPLC. Significant changes of ink composition were observed. The noticed that the natural aged inks had the similar but weaker degradation trend than the light aged inks. They used HPLC-MS/MS with ammonium carbonate as ion-pairing reagent to obtain the information of the light aged inks and their photodegradation mechanism. In 1994, Varshney et al analysed ink from typed script of electronic typewriters by HPTLC. They used script from seven electronic typewriters. They used the resultant Rf values and in-situ visible spectra of each resolved band of all the chromatograms indicated that the same chemical composition is being used in six typewriter ribbon inks. However, the seventh one is completely different. Fig. 6. Wavelength maxima values of in-situ visible spectrum bands of electronic typewriter scripts (Varshney et al, 1994) Fig. 6. shows the densitograms obtained after scanning and integration of the chromatograms of tracks of individual typewriters and blank paper. The seven electronic typewriter inks could be categorised into two groups after analysis. The first group resolved the sample to four bands including the base. The second group did not resolve the samples at all with the solvent systems used. Several varieties of blue ballpoint pen inks were analysed by HPLC and IR spectroscopy by Kher et al in 2006. The chromatographic data extracted at four wavelengths (254, 279, 370 and 400 nm) was analyzed individually and at a combination of these wavelengths by the soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) technique. They used principal components analysis (PCA) to estimate the separation between the pen samples. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) measured the probability with which an observation could be assigned to a pen class. The best resolution was obtained by HPLC using data from all four wavelengths together, differentiating 96.4% pen pairs successfully using PCA and 97.9% pen samples by LDA. PCA separated 60.7% of the pen pairs and LDA provided a correct classification of 62.5% of the pens analyzed by IR. They stated that HPLC coupled with chemometrics provided a better discrimination of ballpoint pen inks compared to IR. Kher et al effectively combined LDA and PCA to classify the HPLC and IR data. PCA gives a general idea of how different a given pair of pens is, whereas LDA can quantify the predictive ability of a generated classification model. The two techniques of PCA and LDA were shown to be complimentary to each other. The PCA and LDA results indicated that although IR cannot differentiate between all classes of pen inks, it can still provide a reasonable discrimination, which can be enhanced further by improving the quality of the spectra. The analysis of such an enhanced IR data with chemometric analyses would provide a valuable non-destructive tool for forensic analyses. Raman Spectroscopy Studies Mazzella and Buzini used Raman spectroscopy to analyse blue gel pen inks in 2004. They sampled 55 blue gel pens. They first separated them into two groups using a preliminary solubility test in methanol. They discovered that 36 were pigmented inks, which arent soluble in methanol, and 19 were dye-based inks, which are soluble in methanol. They applied Raman spectroscopy to the 36 pigmented blue gel inks. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique. Spectra were first obtained using the 514.5 nm argon ion laser which proved the observation of 4 different groups. They then used the 830 nm NIR diode laser and divided the inks into three groups. They then combined the two lasers and a separation into 5 groups was obtained. They then attempted to identify the pigments contained in the gel by comparison to standard pigments. Two main pigments were detected in the analysed samples: PB15 and PV23. PB 15 is pigment blue 15 and belongs to the class of phthalocyanines. PV23 is the pigment violet 23 and belongs to the class oxazines. The argon laser allowed the detection of a mixture of PB 15 and PV 23. This was a better result than using the NIR diode laser. The results showed that the same gel pen ink (same model and brand) from different geographical locations showed the same Raman spectra. However, it was stated that the Raman technique obtained low discriminating values. 2. Materials and Method 2.1 Materials: Blue ballpoint pens Merck silica gel 60 TLC plates (20 cm x 20 cm) Methanol Ethyl acetate Ethanol (absolute) Paper Dessicator Developing chamber Puncher Glass tubes (0.1 ml) Capillary tubes 2.2 Experimental 13 blue ball-point pens (Table 1) were bought from a number of different shops in the town. A circle with a diameter of 5mm was written by the pen on paper. One fourth of it was punched out for extraction. The samples are placed in 1 ml glass tubes. 0.1ml of methanol was added and vigorously shaken for 1 min. The ink component was fully dissolved in methanol. The supernatant methanoic solutions were used for spot application on TLC plate. A blank of paper only is also treated as was a control which was a permanent marker. TLC analyses were preformed using Alugram 20 cm x 10 cm silica gel/UV plates (Macherey-Nagel). The plates were activated at 60 °C for 20 min and immediately after, cooled in a desiccator, and spotted. The plates were developed in a horizontal developing chamber. The solvent system included: ethyl acetate/absolute ethanol/ distilled water (70:35:30, v/v/v). Development was preformed at room temperature for 40 min. All mobile phases were prepared daily. After develo pment the plates were air-dried. All 13 different pens were tested in triplicate. Retention factors were calculated using the results from the plates and photographs taken using a digital camera were loaded onto the computer and analysed using image analysis software. Table 1: List of pens analysed Number Description 1 No Brand (blue) 2 Pilot G-207 3 BIC ReAction 4 BIC Medium (Bought in Tesco) 5 BIC Medium (Bought in Dunnes) 6 No Brand (Purple) 7 Staedtler Stick 430M 8 Roller Pen 9 Papermate 1.2M 10 Scripto Stick Pen 11 Papermate Write Bros. 12 Comfort Touch 13 No Brand (Tesco Click Pen) 3. Results and Discussion Before carrying out the experiment it needed to be researched. This research pointed out the importance of the correct solvent to remove the ink from the document. Djozan et al used methanol as their choice of solvent after considering other solvents (Table 2). They stated that Pyridine was the reported solvent used with ball-point pen inks. However, they carried out extractions with different solvents using various extraction modes. They realised that immersion of the paper into methanol with agitation resulted in complete extraction of the inks from the paper. Methanol was also chosen because of its safety. Table 2: List of solvents used for the extraction of ink components from paper Solvent Solubility of ink colours Ethyl acetate Slightly Ethanol Slightly Acetic Acid Slightly Acetone Slightly Butanol Slightly 1,2-Dichloroethane Slightly Butyl acetate Slightly Tetrachloroethane Slightly Acethyl acetate Slightly Cyclohexan Slightly Methanol Soluble Oyridine Soluble Different concentrations of the solvent system (Table 3) were analysed to see which gave the greater separation. It was found that the concentration given by Djozan et al, (ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water (70:35:30, v/v/v)) gave the best results. The Alugram silica Gell/UV plates were also found to work better than the suggested, Merck silica gel 60, plates without fluorescent indicator. Table 3: Concentrations of solvent system investigated Number Solvent system 1 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:35:30, v/v/v) 2 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:30:35, v/v/v) 3 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:25:40, v/v/v) 4 ethyl acetate, ethanol, water (70:40:25, v/v/v) Table 4: Retention factors for all separated components pen spot 1 spot 2 spot 3 spot 4 spot 5 Solvent RF1 RF2 RF3 RF4 RF5 1.1 70 73 0.958904 1.2 70 73 0.958904 1.2 70 73 0.958904 2.1 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 2.2 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 2.3 62 69 73 0.849315 81.24194 3.1 57 60 62 70 0.814286

Marijuana Should Be Legalized for Medicinal Purposes Essay -- Argument

Marijuana Should Be Legalized for Medicinal Purposes How would most Americans react if the law allowed the use of heroin, LSD, or amphetamines for medical purposes? Many of us would react in disbelief mainly because of the effects of these powerful and addictive drugs. However, in Arizona the law permits the use of heroin, LSD, and amphetamines for medicinal purposes, yet the medicinal use of marijuana remains illegal in the United States ("Facts"). Because marijuana is categorized as a Schedule 1 drug under the federal Controlled Substance Act ("Issues"), physicians cannot legally prescribe it. The national debate on the effectiveness of marijuana as medicine is divided between those who advocate marijuana's medicinal value and those who dismiss the claim that marijuana poses any medicinal value. Although many regard the use of medicinal marijuana as a hoax, there is evidence to the contrary that helps to create a substantial argument as to marijuana's ability to provide effective relief from certain symptoms of disease. Patients of t erminal or critical illnesses should be allowed, under the care and supervision of a physician, the option of using marijuana for medicinal purposes. First and foremost, the medical value of marijuana is primarily a means of relief from the symptoms associated with diseases themselves and their treatments, not a cure. Therefore, its therapeutic values are not based on a particular disease, but rather the symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and anorexia caused by loss of appetite and chronic pain. The exact reason why marijuana relieves such symptoms is not known but most likely lies in its organic composition and ingredients. Marijuana is made up of over 400 organic chemicals, 60 of which are... ...arijuana: the struggle for legalization." CNN Interactive. 1 Dec. 2013. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9702/weed.wars/issues/background/index.html. * "What is the treatment cost of medical marijuana vs. the cost of Merinol?" 2 Dec. 2013. http://medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/bin/procon/procon.cgi?database. * "Clinical Pharmacology of Marijuana." Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana. 1 Dec. 2013. http://www.nih.gov/news/medmarijuana/MedicalMarijuana.htm#clinical. * "Medical Value and Use: Do many physicians support medical marijuana?" Medical Marijuana procon. 1 Dec. 2013. http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/bin/procon/procon.cgi?database=5-B-Subs-1.db&co * "Medical Value and Use: What are the benefits and risks of Merinol vs. marijuana?" Medical Marijuana procon. 2 Dec. 2013. http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/bin/procon/procon.cgi?database

Comparing Women in Raisin In the Sun, House On Mango Street, and Yellow

Roles of Women in A Raisin In the Sun, The House On Mango Street, and A Yellow Raft In Blue Water      Ã‚  Ã‚   A Raisin In the Sun, The House On Mango Street, and A Yellow Raft In Blue Water all contain strong, defined images of women. These women control and are controlled. They are oppressed and liberated. Standing tall, they are confident and independent. Hunched low, they are vulnerable and insecure. They are grandmothers, aunts, mothers, wives, lovers, friends, sisters and children. Although they span a wide range of years and roles, a common thread is woven through all of their lives, a thread which confronts them day in and day out. This thread is the challenge they face as minority women in America to find liberation and freedom from lives loaded down with bondage. These women fight to live and in their living they display their strengths and their weaknesses. They demonstrate the opposition many women face being viewed as the inferior sex as well as discrimination against their ethnicity. In this struggle Hansberry, Dorris and Cisneros depict women attempting to find con fidence and security in the society around them. Comparing and contrasting the novels A Raisin In the Sun, The House On Mango Street, and A Yellow Raft In Blue Water, three principal images of women emerge: their strength, bondage and liberation. These images combine to depict the struggle of many minority women, regardless of their ethnic background, and shapes the character they draw from society.    "Now--you say after me, in my mother's house there is still God...There are some ideas we ain't going to have in this house. Not long as I am at the head of this family" (Hansberry 51). From Mama's ardent statement in A Raisin In the Sun, addressed to ... ... in the past has held them down. Finding strength in this new liberation they will be released to assist others in gaining their freedom and becoming whole individuals. We take courage and inspiration from the lives of Beneatha, Esperanza, Mama, Evelyn, Rayona and others as they display the struggle toward true womanhood and the strength to "come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily as you" (Cisneros 105).    Works Cited: Blicksilver, Edith. The Ethnic American Woman. Kenall/Hunt Publishing; Iowa, 1978. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. Dorris, Michael. Yellow Raft on Blue Water. New York: H. Holt, 1987. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Eds. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 1829-96.

Bruce Dawe Essay

The Second World War changed many things: the face of Europe, the balance of world power, and, perhaps less notably, the perception of the common Australian. From Federation day to the 1940s, most poets wrote about the ideal ‘aussie’; the strong, silent outback-dweller; the Man from Snowy River or the Man who went to Ironbark. The 1950s were a time of change, and Australian Literature changed too, from aggrandizing the increasingly rare ‘Dundee’s, to noting the average Australian living in suburbia with the other four-fifths of the population. This essay will cite specific examples of poems of a man commonly regarded as Australia’s greatest living poet from 1950 to 1990. Through Bruce Dawe’s poetry the true Australian persona has arisen to global knowledge. One of Bruce Dawes most famous poems, written in the 1950s, is Enter Without So Much As Knocking. In this poem he highlights the plight of a ‘modern’ man who slowly comes to realize and embrace the faà §ade surrounding suburban life and its incessant consumerism. â€Å"Well-equipped, smoothly-run, economy-size† These terms give the feeling of mass production – just as well-equipped, smoothly-run, economy-size cars; these sorts of households must have been very common. Again the fact that these people lack individuality is being focused on and it is disputed whether this is correct. The rest of the family are presented as stereotypes. Whereas in the days of The Man From Snowy River, where individuality, rebelliousness and going against the grain are commonplace and celebrated as courageous, in this world, it would seem ‘inefficient’. The poem itself is discussing a man’s journey from birth to death and how all around him life is interpreted by material possessions. A famous quote from this poem shows the change that mechanized and money hungry living brings to man. â€Å"Anyway, pretty soon he was old enough to be realistic like every other godless money-hungry back-stabbing miserable so-and-so†. This is a dramatic transformation from the poems of war and outback mateship, of jumping on a grenade to save your friends in the foxhole. Now, â€Å"It’s Number One every time for this chicken, hit wherever you see a head and kick whoever’s down†. Clearly, Dawe is conscious of the changes affecting Australian persona. Bruce Dawe often uses humour to devastating effect. In Pigeons also are a way of life, a city councilor is mocked for his petty-mindedness, highlighting the utter bureaucracy that society and everyday life has become. â€Å"The problem was, he brooded overmuch, and took things personally that were not meant, so that each juvenile delinquency of nature seemed an outrage aimed at him† This quote encapsulates the trivial nature of the councilor, that he considered nature juvenile, and that he was too puffed-up in his self importance to respect habits that have and will outlast him, his city and certainly his civilization. This is done to bring to light the incredible conceit of man in relation to the environment. Whereas the bushman lived off the land, respecting it, modern man destroys it contemptuously to make room for suburbs and cities, and it’s men like this who are responsible. Homo Suburbiensis is a poem about a man, a regular man, with a garden that represents his escape from the demands of his existence. â€Å"Homo Suburbiensis† uses one man’s escape from his life to represent our universal need to contemplate and resolve our own uncertainties in life in our own special place. This poem speaks about suburbia, and escaping from it into nature, Bruce Dawe illuminates the plight of this man and how the tolls of modern life are affecting him. â€Å"One constant in a world of variables† represents how this small garden in is his only avenue for escaping into order, his order. Whereas the outback is constantly described as freedom, this man’s only freedom is a small vegetable patch. A little known poem from the 1980s era of Bruce’s writings, Looking Down from Bridges, takes a look back at the world of his childhood, from the perspective of nostalgia. â€Å"Looking down we see an earlier world living on in the interstices of the present, like green wheat in the gutters of the bulk feed store or the odd shy weatherboard holding out between factories† This citation details the vision of the past through the mind’s eye to childhood, showing the simplicities of an earlier time where there were fewer factories, where â€Å"troops of tiny children tentatively skipping† played in the street. This is Bruce where he is his most grandfatherly, regaling tales  of how life used to be, and how it has changed, from small wooden houses with bush on either side to sprawling conurbation without room to breathe or, in the children’s case, to play in the streets. ‘Life-cycle’, is one of his well-known poems that dramatises how the common ‘Aussie bloke’ is influenced by football. It ridicules the fact that football for people has become like a religion. Not speaking of a specific event, this poem describes the general cycle of life of a resident of suburban Australia. From birth people are encouraged to barrack for their teams, and build a life around football. This ‘religion’ is implied on the ‘innocent monsters’ by their parents and surroundings. â€Å"they are wrapped in the club-colours, laid in beribboned cots, having already begun a lifetime’s barracking† Dawe is showing that this will be the purpose of the child’s life. He will grow up living and breathing football, and worshipping it without giving a second thought to the true purpose of life. Using simple structure and simple language, he is able to best convey his morals to the common people that it affects. Gently mocking people with his vibrant expression of the game, with Christian symbolism he compares it to the bible – highlighting that it is, but shouldn’t be regarded of the same importance as Christianity. â€Å"They will forswear the Demons, cling to the saints and behold their team going up the ladder into Heaven† Dawe describes the actual important things in life – marriage, proposals, as just a sidetrack to football, done quickly in between games. Football is the focus of these people’s lives – anything else is merely a diversion to football and should be taken care of quickly so that they can get back to the game. â€Å"- the reckless proposal after the one-point win, the wedding and the honeymoon after the grand-final†¦Ã¢â‚¬  We almost begin to pity these poor people, to whom living their lives has taken second place in importance to football. By using triumphant words such as ‘behold’ ‘passion’ and ’empyrean’ Dawe is showing great sarcasm, as he did with the Christian symbolism. It is like he is asking the readers why football is now as important to the Australians as their religion, and highlighting the fact that it is not supposed to be like this. From this  quote: â€Å"having seen in the six-foot recruit from Eaglehawk their hope of salvation† Bruce Dawe purposefully makes the last word of the poem salvation, this word, generally associated with heaven, and the fact that living a good, Christian life will supposedly lead to our salvation and we will go to heaven, not hell. But it is not from God that these people gain their salvation – they see salvation in the recruit, the strong football player who has come to play for their team and could bri ng the team victory. With that Dawe makes obvious the skewed priorities of these people, and how futile and pointless their existence is. ‘Carn, carn’ they cry, from birth unto death, never knowing anything else, never living. As is evident, Bruce Dawe truly has highlighted the changes in Australian literature. Changes brought about by himself, for he is truly the most influential Australian Poet of this century. By departing from the common norm of Outback mythology to discuss the curve of a man’s life, his passion for sport and the ways in which suburbia has taken over Australian lives, he earns his title of the ‘People’s Poet’. Bruce Dawe has changed the perception of the average Australian worldwide.

Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

Fee Penn Interview Report Campus design is an art consisting of multiple and overlapping designs like determining the locations of teaching buildings, residence halls and so on. As a landscape architecture student, I am interested in this topic. I interviewed professor David Michael Barbarism, who is an assistant professor of landscape architecture in Purdue University. Proof. Barbarism earned a bachelor's of landscape architecture from Virginia Tech and a master of science from the department of landscape architecture at State University of New York Environmental School ofForestry. Before he came to Purdue, he worked in design firms from NYC and Washington D. C where he did a lot of different types of landscape designs including campus design. The day I interviewed Proof. Barbarism was a nice day with warm sunshine and blooming flowers everywhere, Purdue campus seemed to wake up from the dead winter. Nice weather leads to a nice mood, as does a nice campus design. When I asked Proof . Barbarism how Virginia Tech campus influenced his study life, he smiled and shared his story with me happily.He said the first time he walked around in Virginia Tech, he just fell in love with it and noticed that this place was the very place he wanted to go without even learning about the programs. He thought the campus Just felt right to him. It had a consistent style, a great level of public students' space from big wide open areas to little shelter private gathering areas. These were all what he thought a college should be like. From his point of view, campus landscape really has an unimaginable effect on students' lives. Proof. Barbarism did some campus design project when he was working for design firms.When I asked the key points when designing a campus, he thought a few seconds and figured out two main points which were a sense of scale and a sense of place. He explained that a sense of scale should bring comforts to people, for example, a sense of enclosure enough to feel like you are not standing in the middle a big field. The designer should leave enough space to let tons of students to walk between teaching buildings during the ten-minute break. When talking about a sense of place, he used a very effective example which I easily understood.He said to me:† k, meet me at the bell tower, you know where we meet? † The answer was obviously positive. In fact, that's the sense of place, the bell tower has its own location and it's very different from the other places. Both a sense of place and a sense of scale were the two key points he mentioned for campus design. After asking some questions about his experience being a student and a landscape architect, we shared some different opinions on Purdue campus design. We reached agreements on some issues. For example, we both thought State Street was kind of annoying because it cut the campus into two pieces.I remember the first time I arrived in Purdue in August, I let this campus was Just the n orth side of State Street. Proof. Barbarism nodded his head when I was talking and added his comments that there should be a special entry sign on State Street to let people know they were arriving in Purdue campus. We both thought State Street should be a good connection between the north and the south parts instead of being an awkward cut line of the whole campus. When talking about the locations of residence halls, we held different opinions.From my perspectives, Purdue should place the residence halls around teaching alluding so that students can have only a 5-minute walk to class Just like Hawkins Hall. However, Proof. Barbarism didn't agree with me. He shifted his chair, thought a few seconds and put some important points which I hadn't thought of before. He said the reason why many campus put academic areas separated from living areas was because their different functions. Purdue clustered most of the residence halls because they shared some facilities like dining courts, lau ndry systems and open space for fun.On the other hand, academic areas need a quite academic atmosphere tit libraries and laboratories. Considering these two different functions, it was better to separate residence halls and teaching buildings Just like what Purdue had done. Though we had different ideas of where to place residence halls, we had the same idea with respect to making the campus more pedestrian-oriented especially the way from residence halls to teaching buildings. Proof. Barbarism told me his first impression of Purdue campus was that it's an automobile-oriented campus. In fact, I couldn't agree more. There are not any interesting views along the street.I Just walk own the street and the only thing could stop me is the crossing. We both think the next step Purdue should consider is the design of State Street corridor. State Street is very important not only because it's a very busy street but also because driving though gives a quick view of Purdue campus especially fo r drivers who Just pass by. This street might be driver's first impression of Purdue campus. The discussion was so involving that I almost lost track of time. Finally, Proof. Barbarism told me the good news was that most of the improvements we talked about will show up in the future master plans.Purdue amp's designers are trying their best to improve the whole environment. He said what we should do was Just to wait and see. Thanks to Proof. Barbarism for his time to let me think about campus design with him together. I learned a lot about not only some specific terms of campus design but also some logical thinking methods to judge things like where to put residence halls. I need to take all factors into consideration and think it not only as a student but also as one of the other people who work or play on campus. We critique Purdue because we love Purdue. I am so proud to witness the growth of our Purdue campus.

Managing Individual Performance Essay

Abstract This paper will discuss how managing individual performance have affected my personal and professional development. It will also briefly identify and discuss several written works on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as well as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Also this paper will discuss my experience through the Managing Individual Performance simulation and results improvement. Managing Individual Performance A good manager can motivate employees and equally to go the extra mile, and complete the unachievable, despite their limitations. As a leader and manager of people, it pays to understand what is important to each team member. Understanding motivation helps me to put my emotions and actions in perspective. Contemporary motivational theories recommend that managers should realize individual differences, evaluating needs correctly and addressing these through the right interventions. Criteria a team leader use when selecting members of a team Team leaders or managers must ensure that the teams and their projects have the ability to survive. To maintain the team’s viability, I included the following elements: proper membership, interpersonal skills, each member should be a contributor, a clear charter or purpose, achievable, noticeable results, understand and agreed-upon ground rules, and intensive teambuilding up front. The changes needed to improve team effectiveness across the organization do not involve individual teams, but rather the systems that support them. These systems include the following: organizational structure,  motivation, promotion and performance appraisal criteria, and compensation. In addition, Jeff Cowell and Jerry Michaelson (2000), recommend â€Å"in selecting team members, and prepare a draft charter† (p11). It is very important to prepare a draft charter where you can briefly describe the team’s purpose, and you can see candidates interest. Team selection in the simulation I selected the team in the following order: first, Michelle Levy for the build case files position, because she is a natural problem solver with good communication skills, and an investigative nature of collecting facts. My second selection was Lisa Srafford holding the moderate self-help groups. She has conflict management skills, ability to facilitate groups meeting and very patient in stressful situations. My third selection was Tony Wu to perform follow-ups. Tony has capability to interpret reported data, good observation skills, and his bachelors in business make him more capable in accounting for external factors. My last team member, Daniel Nichols, trainer with knowledge and domineering attitude, was selected to supervise confrontation sessions. His Master in Business Administration (MBA), prepared him to have good communication skills, excellent conflict management, and with his strong personality made him capable of build mutual respect, discipline, and motivation to victims while handling sensitive personal issues. Factors I need to consider in order manage my team effectively There are many factors in order to manage a team effectively. McShane-Von Glinow (2002) gives us six of the important elements â€Å"reward systems, communication systems, physical space, organizational environment, organizational structure, and leadership† (p232). Reward systems indicate that people tend to work more effectively when they are partly rewarded for their performance. Communication systems, maintain valuable information and feedback between team members. Physical space, with a good layout will improve communication between team members. Organizational environment and structure, where team members have secure resources for their performance. Last but not least, the most important factor is leadership to maintain the ongoing support from all executives to provide the right coaching,  motivation, and all elements mentioned. Individual’s personality play a role in the team’s success Kreitner (2003) describe personality as â€Å"the relatively stable pattern of behaviors and consistent internal states that explain a person’s behavioral tendencies† (p84). Personality has both internal which represent the thoughts, values, and genetic characteristics, and external elements are the observable behaviors. Also personality has recover credibility in organizations in the last years, the reason is that some personality habits predict some work-related behaviors and emotions under certain conditions, and stress reactions. Besides individual personality play a role in the team’s success because this help people find the jobs that best suit them and their company’s needs. Personality preference in the MBTI assessment and how this may affect the way an employee carries his or her tasks. Depending on the job description, you can find personality preference in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). We have 16 distinct types. Some job description prefer ISFJs people with a high sense of duty, others prefer ENTJs because they are considered natural leaders. For example, corporate executives tend to be ESTJs, meaning that they are more extroverted, sensing, thinking and judging types, and so on. These types indicate a person’s preference. All of this may affect the way an employee carries his or her tasks because these types do not indicate the way he or she behaves all the time. I think that these indicators can limit the creativity and decision making besides limiting good people to perform a specific job in determinate area. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, how it affects motivation and my team choice. McShane-Von Glinow (2002), described Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as â€Å"a content motivation theory of five instinctive needs arranged in a hierarchy, whereby people are motivated to fulfill a higher need as a lower one becomes gratified†(p133). From the bottom those are physiological, safety, belongingness, self-esteem, and the top is self-actualization. People have different levels of motivation, and they may fit one of those levels. As a leader you have to measure the needs of each member of your team, because  when you have to motivate or reward them, you can select the wrong level. According to Maslow the lowest needs are initially most important, but higher need become more important as the lower ones are satisfied. Maslow’s model may not predict employee needs as well as scholars initially expected. Team selection and how that falls on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs During the simulation, I selected the best people for the different positions. It was an 8 months project. I had my first situation during the second month. I failed at motivating one of my team members, giving me the wrong results. The same situation was present in month 4 with other team members. After I repeated the simulation and learn more about my team members needs, I overcame those situations successfully. Team selection performance, expectations and  factors in selecting strategies to motivate my team Money and other financial rewards are a fundamental part of the employment relationship. Also public recognition, awards, and membership will help employees to have better performance. It is important to know the different levels of needs mentioned before. You have to know what kind of an employee need have in that moment. Some of the factors include task performance, competencies, job status and seniority. Results improvement after running the simulation again I repeat the simulation three times, and definitely each time my results improved significantly. My weakness was motivating my team members with the inappropriate reward, giving as a result to the decrease in the team performance. Application of the lesson learned at my workplace Job design involves assigning task to a job and distributing work throughout the organization. Job specialization, which subdivides work into separate jobs for different people, increase work efficiency because employees achieve the tasks quickly, less training, and matching more closely with the jobs best suited to their skills. Although, reduce stress, problems, increase product or service quality, and decrease costs. Leadership is the process of influencing oneself to establish the right direction and  motivation needed to perform a task. Also I have to include personal goal setting, constructive thought, design the right rewards, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement. Better knowledge of the needs of each team members will help leaders to make the right decisions without affecting the individual performance. Leaders require a process of observation, reflection, and evaluation. It necessitates that we take time periodically to think about what has happened. Were there conflicts? How were they handled? What has gone well and why has it? What has not gone well and why? Could we have done better? Most importantly, we must develop the skill of asking ourselves what steps we can take to be more effective either in our current team or as a member of future teams. As I said in the beginning, a good manager motivates people to achieve the impossible without limitations. This become possible only with a clear understanding of each individual needs with the help of all motivational theories recommended. This understanding is implemented though optimal intervention. Also evaluating needs correctly and addressing these though are the right interventions. References Bagraim, J. (2001). Organizational psychology and workplace control: the instrumentality of Corporate culture. South African Journal of Psychology; Sep2001, Vol.31, Issue 3 p43. Bower, M. (2003). Company philosophy:† the way we do things around here† McKinsey Quarterly; 2003 Issue 2, p110, 8p.3c. [University of Phoenix Special Edition Series]. Cowell, J., Michaelson, J. (2000). Flawless Teams. Executive Excellence, 17(3), 11.[University of Phoenix Special Edition Series] Kreitner, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior, Sixth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill McShane-Von, G. (2003). Organizational Behavior, Second Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill