Operations Management - Material requirements planning & Just in Time Essay

Operations Management - Material requirements planning & Just in Time ( 2 CASE STUDY - ) HAVE TO ANSWER STUDYING THE CASES - Essay Example First the scrap is isolated by using scrap bins found in the place of production then the scrap is recorded from the bins daily. Replenishment: the best of this practice is the replacement by use of bar codes for scanning. The pull system is also used. Planners can order materials by use of min-max scanning system depending on the product complexity. Production reporting: bar code scanning can be used to put production to inventory. The rejected product is moved to a material review board. Reverse receiving is done for containers that need to be sorted. To get better flow is one of the philosophies of JIT. This can be applied in staircase cell running in order to avoid time loss. To get better flow meant identifying the various processes needed and as well organizing them. This avoids time wastage during the time of running the activity. Reducing the times and distances in the process which ensures every thing that is needed is in place. Achieving quicker throughput times, Dean can achieve this in staircase cell by providing every material that is needed. Cost benefit categories in this case are in different ways. For instance is the manufacturing cost benefit. In this category, in establishing the cell it should be ensured that the cost incurred in production is less the product sales. Another category is the production cost benefit where by the cost of production in relation to JIT Techniques should be rewarding. For instance it should not be less than the profits gained. Next is the time cost where by each duty is performed at its specific time period to avoid overlap of activities reducing the benefits as suggested by Pycraft (2000). JIT (Just-in-Time) techniques give a cost effective production of the cell and its delivery as well according to Cleland and Ireland (2006). It does this in the right place and time. In the same time benefits in term of minimum of facilities, material, equipments

Japanese Culture Essay Example for Free

Japanese Culture Essay social forces which influence the society and its values. Every culture has its own unique qualities not found in other cultures. Japan is no exception. It is culture is centered on the core values and traditions. They lead Japanese people to have different ways of looking at the world largely from differences in language and religion. Japanese culture determines specific way of living and social relations, cultural and religious views. History, Culture and Lifestyle Japanese history rises mistily out of the period known to archeologists as the Tomb or Tumulus period. During this important period Japan was unified under the imperial court of Yamato and became intimately involved with South Korea, pathway for many cultural elements of continental origin into Japan. Writing was one such element. Japan began to have historico-legendary records of its own and gradually moved from its protohistoric to the historic period. The main historical period were â€Å"Asoka period (522-710), Nara Period (710-784), Early Heian (784-897), Middle and Late Heian (897-1185), Kamacura period (1185-1336), Murimachi Period (1336-1393), Memoyama period (1573-1614), Edo Period (1615-1867), Meiji Restoration (1867-1911)† (Martines, 1998). During all historical period, Japanese lifestyle was influenced by political, economic and social changes, new perception of the world and religion. Japanese culture is based on unique traditions and values influenced by religion and life style. The Japanese learned to view the world from the perspective of traditional versus modern values after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 following the opening of Japans doors to the world. This attitudinal structure started to fall apart in 1978, and its disintegration became definite by 1988. For example, the conquering nature was an important value during the era of Japans modernization process, but it has since been replaced by the following nature. In the middle of the XX century, the traditional perspective of catching up with the West and categorizing what is Western and Japanese has become meaningless (Oxtoby 2001). While the industrialization process produced divergent values for Japan and the West, it also is responsible for the development of some homogeneous cultural values. Researchers found three levels of similarities: (1) frequency distribution of single variables, (2) similar impacts of age and gender on attitudes, and (3) similar structures in the way people categorize their experience (Oxtoby 2001). Modern Japanese lifestyle is influenced by industrialization and innovations coming from other countries. Thus, Japanese value their old traditions and rituals adapting them to new social environment. For instance, Japanese take off shoes inside the house, they pay 5% commission tax for purchases, they follow bath and toilette design according to norms and practices of century old traditions (Oxtoby 2001). In short, the Japanese self, characterized by its diffuse nature or collective orientation, represents a self who lost its space to be free of the omnipresence of the giri-ninja social network in Japanese society in return for being taken care of by its group. The strong sense of belonging to ones company and family assures one materially a comfortable life at the individual level and stability and safety at the social level, making Japan relatively free of violent crimes. Such a life is stifling and meaningless to Americans even if they must pay a high price of alienating from the rest of society (Shelley, 1992). Japan managed to keep a sense of alienation to a minimum as it industrialized and urbanized by maintaining its virtually village mentality and social network. However, the value the Japanese gain by observing the traditional code of conducts, the giri-ninjo, is material and psychological welfare, which is provided to members of Japanese society more or less equally and fairly at the individual level, and public safety, which is provided at the collective level in Japan today. Another pair of terms often used in discussing Japanese culture is tatemae and honne. The former refers to the proper role expectation as defined by society and the second to ones real inner feelings, however irrational they may be. Often, to act in accordance with giri is to act in conformity with the norm of a community (tatemae). The role language plays in culture cannot be underestimated, for it offers a way of organizing ones life experience in a particular way that is shared by its speakers but not necessarily by people in other cultures (Davies and Ikeno, 2002). Family is one of the most important social institutions which keep century old traditions and human relations. In response to the traditional call for harmony, the Japanese are expected to conform to group norms. This proclivity yields situational ethics based on flexible standards (Shelley, 1992). There are no absolute criteria by which one passes judgment. The Japanese spend a disproportionately large sum of money for socializing, as embodied in semiannual gift exchanges between friends, relatives, and colleagues and after-work drinking of working men and women among co-workers and friends. Religion In Japan, nearly 100 % of the population are Buddhists and in many cases Scientists. The Japanese are, of course, not religious in the sense that they believe in God. Christians constitute about I % of the total population. Most Japanese are not very concerned with religion. They celebrate the birth of children in accordance with the Shinto rituals and bury their dead with the help of Buddhist priests. Meanwhile, they may get married in civil ceremonies, Christian churches, or other facilities. That is perhaps what makes it possible for the Japanese to accept more than one religion at the same time, an unthinkable option for monotheistic people of the West and West Asia, accustomed as they are to dialecticism. The Japanese approach the world in a diffuse fashion or inclusively. The number of Japanese with a religious faith increases with age (Davies and Ikeno, 2002). Fewer than 10 % of the Japanese in their early twenties and about 50 % of Japanese senior citizens over sixty years of age are religious. The older one becomes, the more religious one becomes. Likewise, Japan never had any revolutions such as experienced by China, France, and the United States. Revolutions are carried out by those who believe in the total destruction of the old regime and the establishment of a radically different doctrine. The Japanese seem to be incapable of totally denying their past. They are always interested in improving (kaizen) their existing systembe it via fax machine, Buddhism, or television sets. The majority of the Japanese do not take religion very seriously from the Western perspective (Oxtoby 2001). Japanese mythology distinguishes two categories of deities, the heavenly gods and the native or territorial gods. Some myths represent the heavenly deities as descending to the land of Japan to conquer or rule its autochthonous deities. The myth of land transfer in Izumo is one instance. Two generals of the heavenly gods were dispatched to Izumo to demand of O-Kuninushi, chief of the native gods and master of the territory of Japan, that he hand over sovereignty to the heavenly gods (Oxtoby 2001).

Causes of Stress Among School Teachers

Causes of Stress Among School Teachers The effects of stress upon a persons life can be profound. Different studies have shown that job related stress affects work satisfaction and over all happiness. Increasing stress is becoming recognized occupational hazard in the educational profession. In a country like Pakistan we cannot ignore the situation in educational setting. Teachers` agitations and class boycotts are common practice that shows their dissatisfaction. Both quantity and quality of education are not good. There may be many causes of stress in teachers. To investigate the causes and the nature of stress is of vital importance for improving the quality of education. The present study will be an effort to investigate the causes of stress and to get an orientation of how to explore it on a larger scale. Statement of the problem: The proposed study will investigate the causes of stress among school teachers. Significance of the study: Receiving little practical attention from governmental side education department especially school situation is very bad. Working staff in school is very much frustrated and every one from principal to lowest rank servant complains about his status and neglected condition. It is clear that every one face some kind of stress which is evident in his lake of interest in job. This disinterestedness leads to poor teaching environment and also creates administrative problems for the head of the institution. To improve the situation in school it is must to create stress free environment. But nothing can be improved without knowing the factors involved in creating stress among the staff especially the teachers who are responsible for the better running of the system. So this study will be very important for those who are concerned with the education system; e.g. the following can take help of this study: Heads of educational institutions Education planners Education department Society stakeholders who thinks teachers accountable Delimitations of the study: The research will follow the conceptual theoretical framework developed on the basis of review of related literature. However, the study will restrict itself to primary investigation of government high schools only in district Peshawar only. Hypotheses of the study: The following hypotheses will be tested: there is significant difference between salary of teachers and the level of stress there is significant difference between level of stress and traveling to reach  their place of duty. there is significant difference between personal conflict among teachers and stress in teachers there is significant difference between class size and stress in teachers there is significant difference between level of stress in teachers and lengthy courses there is significant difference between level of stress in teachers and Heavy work load on them there is significant difference between level of stress in teachers and Authoritarian behavior of the principal there is significant difference between level of stress in teachers and lake of rule and discipline in school there is significant difference between level of stress in teachers and lake of community support Sample of the study: Since the research will be restricted to schools of one district only, therefore to see the meaningful effect the sample will comprise 60% of the whole population of teachers in the district. Brief Review of related literature Definition of stress It is not easy to define the concept of stress. Usually it is associated with the less pleasant aspect of life (Sharp, 1977).Hans selye(1956)defined stress as the non specific response of the body to any demand. it was used as a substitute for anxiety conflict and emotional distress. To Bower(1984) it is any force that brings some change in an organism for better or worse. There are many more definitions but their description equates stress with distress. However the literature about stress do not conform this meaning. It refers to a wide range of physiological changes and environment pressures in the health illness literature. It becomes clear when Selye further distinguishes in his definition of stress between eustress, that is an exciting and pleasant kind of demand and distress that is threatening ,unpleasant or even harmful demand. This distinction between eustress and distress lies in the perception of the person. The above discussion leads us to general definition as Sharp has given.Aaccording to him stress is an individual perception and assessment. This definition is broad and means that every thing which we feel with our five senses is a source of stress. The definition also makes it clear that the perception and assessment of the environment is not the same by each individual. For example for a person, moving to a new town might be a source of distress because of some painful loss. The above definition illustrates that stress is the fact of life. We cannot escape from it anywhere. Without stress life means death. So for living a better life we should understand it. Theoretical perspective Stress theory begins with the experiments of Hans Selye (1956) who described stress as biological syndrome; Experiments on rates show that if the organism is severely damaged  by acute non specific cocoas agents such as an exposure to cold, surgical  injury, production of spinal shocka typical syndrome appears, the symptoms  of which are independent of the nature of the damaging agent and represent  rather the nature of damaging agent as such. The apparent state of this syndrome is called stress, which brings biological changes in the organism. Selyes observation was that stress reaction was general and occurred in response to any number of different stimuli. He saw this reaction as an adoptive syndrome of this organism in response to external stress. The form this syndrome takes place is called general adaptation syndrome (GAS). GAS consists of three phases,(i) alarm reaction (ii) resistance (iii) exhaustion. In the first stage the system assesses the situation and prepare for fight or flight but the overall resistance is to a stressor initially decreases. During the resistance the body becomes adapted to the presence of the stressor and begins to resist its impact. It may mean fighting or controlling ones self trying. The exhaustion starts if the stressor continues and the body reaches the end of its capacity for resistance, the result may be a collapse, illness, mental disorder or even death. In general the current rese arch suggests that the stress response is not a simple biological response to no specific stressors but rather a complex, interrelated process including the occurrence of stressor, how it is seen physiologically by the organism, under what circumstances the stressor occurs, how the organism characteristically reacts and what the resources are that the organism has, available for dealing with the stressors. The concept of a general stress reaction may be viable but only if we assume that it represents the sum of a great many psychological and physiological factors rather than a specific all or non response to the occurrence of a stressing event Empirical perspective Stressful life events:- Halms and Rahi (1967) developed the Social Readjustment Scale for measuring the intensity of 43 life events. Newman (1983) found that the intensity of stress depends on the persons impression of the life event and his coping strategies. Two different interpretations have been offered about why life events may be tied to physical or psychological disturbance. One view suggests that all change is stressful and the source is not important. The total amount of life change in a given period should predict subsequent stress responses. The second view focuses on undesirable or negative changes as the primary stressors. In a number of studies, this factor i.e. the undesirable change was more closely related to disturbance than was total change. Apparently there is not a direct relationship between occurrence of crises events and the observed physical and psychological disturbance of crises state. It is difficult to know when a crises event is about to occur. Many of t he important life events occur by change. Two factors will influence the extent to which crises event s lead to crises states. One is persons interpretation of the event. The second is the effectiveness of the persons coping strategies. The hassles of daily life: there are countless minor stress events that have low intensity but greater frequency. According to Lazarus ,et al (1985) these daily life hassles are important sources of stress. They have developed hassles scale on which individual indicates the extent to which he has been hassled by common event during the past month. The list of these hassles includes household, time pressure, inner concern, financial and work. The effects of these hassles also apply to health. Work as a source of stress:- work can also be a source of stress. The factors that make work stressful are work overload, work under load, employees role and change in the work environment. Stress in teachers:- work stress has been recognized as occupational hazard of teaching and its causes have been fairly well established(Smith and Milstein, 1984). According to Kyriacou(1987) teachers experience more work stress than most other occupational groups and according to Pankhurst(1982) they are more distressed than the general population. Nagy and Davis (1985) have found that junior and secondary school teachers in one place are about as stressed as their colleagues elsewhere. At organizational level there are many factors that contribute to teachers stress. Students discipline: managing disruptive students is invariably among the top ranked items in teacher stress. Among various manifestations of school discipline problem i.e. disruptive students, threats of personal injury, verbal abuse, and assault on colleagues are represented three or four times, in the list of top ten stressors. This is evident from the various surveys of teaching stress (Goodlad 1984). Bloch (1978) studied the effects of violence on teachers and compared their symptoms to those of combat neurosis. These teachers suffered from anxiety, insecurity, nightmare, fatigue, irritability, headaches, ulcers and number of other emotional and physical symptoms. Lazarus (1966) pointed out that anticipation of a threat may be as stressful as an actual stress. According to Lortie(1975) teachers who fail to keep control over students soon find that teachers are intolerable work. A related issue is that of students lack of interest. According to Goodlad when teachers were asked, what is this schools biggest problem? they answered, Lack of students interest. Teachers do feel enormously frustrated and deprived of crucial sense of gratification when working with students who are uncaring and unconcerned about learning. These students are not only personally frustrated but they also contribute to a class tone often leading to further discipline problem, that make it more difficult for a teacher to do effectively in the class room. Administrative insensitivity: The complaint is usually linked to the issues of students violence and school discipline. Many teachers think administrators are neither supportive nor sensitive to students violence and do little about enforcing rules or promoting a secure learning environment. Teachers feel that administrators are too content with their proper work in offices and avoid dealing with problem students. Stress has been found to be significantly related to principals participation in problem solving and not supporting the teachers (Jackson, S.E. et.al 1986) Involuntary Transfers This source of stress is much related to teachers. Being a principal my self I witness this phenomenon in teachers community in everyday life. Many teachers are not satisfied with their place of duty and a large number of them complain this when they are prompted and transferred to other station which is not their choice. Such transfer notices demoralize teachers and they think about retirement. Large class size Classrooms generally require structure children attention and the most effective classrooms are generally those in which teachers can individualize lessons to meet the needs of each child. The task becomes difficult with the increase in size of the class. Because large class size provides fewer opportunities to interact individually with each student, the teacher feel less involved and less effective. Moreover with the increase in class size classroom management becomes more difficult. Overcrowded classrooms then are seen weakening the likelihood of effective teaching. Inadequate Salaries Teachers also complain of their low salaries. They compare their salaries with other professional groups and their work at school level with that of the teachers at college level. This situation becomes stressful for teachers. To meet their expenditure they search for other ways. They do private tuition, which is also a blame for teachers to earn from their own school students. Parents and society at large expect from teachers and invest them with an enormous degree of responsibility. Politicians continually declare that our children are our nations future. In response to such statement teachers ask, where are the financial rewards that equate with such important task? This situation shows that inadequate salary is a source of stress for teachers. Role ambiguity, Role conflict and Role overload Role ambiguity is associated with a lack of clarity regarding workers rights, rsponsibilities, methods, goals, status and accountability. Although in some ways teachers role is defined quite explicitly, that is to teach children well, in other ways with regard to school discipline and accountability ambiguity arises. Role conflict occurs when inconsistent, incompatible or inappropriate demands are placed upon an individual. Sutton (1984) pointed to common sources of role conflict for teachers. They are expected to provide quality education to their students, yet they are not allowed to use the best instructional methods or curriculum materials available. They are responsible for maintaining discipline but do not have the authority for doing so. Teachers may also experience role conflict when they are told to perform task that is outside the domain of their professional work. Role overload is one of the common complaints of those who, with their own needs, interest, motivation and achievement level are a big number, for any one person to handle. Role overload may also occur from the efforts necessary to work effectively with children who are seemingly unprepared or unmotivated to attend school. Sutton has pointed out two distinct, though equally dysfunctional responses to work overload. In the first case teachers feel forced either to do low quality work or to not finish the work at all which is psychologically as well as physiological problem. Stress results from either response. This is a general list of work related stressors for teachers. In any given school a number of idiosyncratic stressors impinge upon teachers, their existence is a junction of the type of individuals who have taught and who have learned in that particular setting. Societal Factors Unconcerned parents; parents beliefs, an integral part of the educational process and parental support of childrens work, strongly influence school success. The teachers generally welcome parental involvement in schools but majority parents are not supportive to teachers. Unsupportive parents come under two major varieties; not involved and too involved. In the first group are those parents who are not available.Incapable, uninterested in their childrens education and those who put whole responsibility of educating of their children on teachers. In the second group are those parents who have decided that the real education is only possible if parents constantly monitor what occurs in the school. These parents feel that their child is being overlooked by the teacher and that only constant pressure on their part will rectify the situation. Although all parents are not of such kind but generally parents are perceived by teachers as either unhelpful or unavailable or intrusive. Public criticism; the typical comments about teachers from public include: they have much offs, get much for the little they cannot do anything else etc. charged with the educating and socializing so many children teachers are reminded of their failures and rarely praised for their successes. This evaluation of teachers by the public in such a way make them stressful. Public demand for accountability; apparently it is reasonable to say that public should hold teachers accountable for the success of their work. The public pay taxis ad pay teacher salaries and have right to expect some performance levels. However from the prospective of teachers the demand for accountability is too often the means by which teachers autonomy and sense of professionalism are trampled upon by those who know little about education and educational evaluation. Most troubling to teachers is their feeling that society expects them to educate, socialize every student who comes to school regardless of the social, economic and psychological difficulties some of these students bring with them. If parents, psychologists social workers have failed why teachers should be accountable for all the problems. This demand of accountability is also a source of stress for teachers. Procedure of the study Based upon the objective of the study an occupational stress inventory will be developed regarding job related stress events. In developing the items in the inventory discussion with the local teachers and study of the related literature will be focused. Teachers opinion about stress inducing problems will be given more importance. Like previous researchers Likert Scale will be used for obtaining data about job related stress. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bloch, A.M. (1978). Conflict Neurosis in inner city schools, American journal of Psychiatry, 135, 189-192. Bowers. (1984).n being unconsciously influenced and Informed. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 1 Goodlad.J.I. (1984). A place called school, New York ,McGraw-hill. Holms, TH Rahi (1967). The Social Readjustment Scale. Journal Psychosomatic Research, 11, 213-218. Jackson, S.E, et al. (1986). Towards an understanding of the burnout phenomenon Journal of applied psychology, 19 (4) 630-640. Kyriaco, C. (1987). Teacher stress and burnout: An international review of Education and Research 29(20) 146-152 Lazarus, R.(1978). A strategy for Research on Psychological and Social factors of hypertension. Journal of Human Stress, 4, 35-40. Lortie, D. (1975).school teacher. Chicago: university of Chicago press Nagy, D. Davis (1982). The relationship of Type A and B personalities in Farber B.A (1991) Crises in Education, California Jossy-Bass inc. Newman, J, E. Beehr, T.A (1979). Personal and organizational strategies for handling job stress: a review of research and opinion, Personal Psychology, 32, 1-43. Pankhurst, F. (19820 Stress, health and absenteeism in teaching, National Education, 19 (1) 39-51 Selye, H. (1956). The stress of life. New York. McGraw Hill Sharp, R.F. (1977) Thrives on stress. London Souvenir Press Smith, D.Milstein, M.(1984) Old wine in new bottles. Urban Education, 39-51

suicide Essay -- essays research papers

Suicide Suicide is a significant cause of death in many western countries. Attempts at suicide, and suicidal thoughts or feelings are usually a sign indicating that a person is not coping, often as a result of some event or series of events that they personally find prostrating traumatic or distressing. Most people who attempt suicide are confused about whether or not they want to die. They usually are desperate to find a way to remove or stop emotional pain. A suicide attempt is often a cry for help that ends in a tragedy. In eight out to ten suicides the person has spoken about their intent before killing themselves. In many cases, their impact can be mitigated, or their prostrating mind will gradually decrease if the person is able to make constructive choices about dealing with the crisis when it is at its worst. In some cases exceeding deaths by motor vehicle accidents annually. Many countries spend limitless amounts of money on safer roads, but very little on suic! ide awareness and prevention, or on educating people about how to make good life choices. They need someone to take them and their emotional pain and discouragement seriously. What is usually most helpful is to encourage them to express them-selves without telling them how they should feel or think. In the vast majority of cases a suicide attemptor would choose differently if they were not in great distress and were able to evaluate their options objectively. Most suicidal people give warning signs in the hope that they will be rescued, because they are intent on stopping their emotional pain, not on dying. Suicidal people need friends who will listen patiently and show they care, and referral to a professional if possible. Since this can be extremely difficult, so we may be better able to recognize and help other people in crisis, and also to find how to seek help or make better choices ourselves. People usually attempt suicide to block unbearable emotional pain, which is caused by a wide variety of problems. A person attempting suicide is often so distressed that they are unable to see that they have other options. We can help prevent a tragedy by trying to understand how they feel and helping them to look for better choices that they could make. Suicidal people often feel terribly isolated because of their distress, they may not think of anyone they can turn to, fu... ... taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone. God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The church prays for persons who have taken their own lives. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Page 608) Suicide is an issue which should be examined at by all angles. Not just from the angle that it is â€Å"wrong". End of debate. Rather it should be looked at from the point of view that â€Å"yes" for some people, they should be allowed to die in peace. Attempted suicide is also relatively rare in children under the age of 12. After that the rates increase constantly with age especially among girls, who are far more at risk of making attempts than boys. A considerable amount is known about the characteristics of adolescent suicide attempters, especially the disturbed care and family problems and the factors that reckless their suicide attempts. Prevention of child, adolescent and adult suicidal behavior is an urgent task. Doctors, other health professionals and teachers play an important role in identifying those most at risk, but this is often difficult because their characteristics are shared by many more individuals who will not carry out suicidal arts.

Foreign aid vs. International trade Essay

Foreign aid vs. international trade is a long lasting debate as to which strategy leads to the greatest level of economic development. Foreign Aid is defined as any assistance that is given to a country not provided through normal market forces. There are numerous forms of aid, from humanitarian emergency assistance, to food aid, military assistance, etc. Development aid has long been recognized as crucial to help poor developing nations grow out of poverty. International trade is the exchange of goods or services across international borders. Economic development as defined by AmartyaSen, 1998 Nobel prize laureate, â€Å"requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation.† (1) In 1970, the world’s affluent countries agreed to give 0.7% of their GNI (Gross National Income) as official international development aid, annually. Since then, these rich nations have rarely met their actual promised targets. â€Å"The US is often the largest donor in dollar terms, but ranks amongst the lowest in terms of meeting the stated 0.7% target.† The two charts below, reproduced from the OECD publications (2012) shows aid granted in constant dollars and as a percentage of GNI. Both support the conclusion regarding the failure to meet agreed upon aid commitments and the level of decreasing donations. (2)Billions have been donated, but it appears that Africa which has received the most aid remains a continent impoverished. As Dambisa Moyo in the Wall Street Journal writes â€Å"money from rich countries has trapped many African nations in a cycle of corruption, slower economic growth and poverty. Cutting off the flow would be far more beneficial†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.the insidious aid culture has left African countries more debt-laden, more inflation-prone, more vulnerable to the vagaries of the currency markets and more unattractive to higher-quality investment. It’s increased the risk of civil conflict and unrest †¦.. Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster†. (3) Wall Street Journal, March 21st, 2009 Over the past 60 years at least $1 trillion of development aid has been granted to Africa. And unfortunately real per-capita income in 2014 is less than it was in the 1970s. â€Å"More than 50% of the population — over 350  million people — live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades† (4) Wall Street Journal, March 21st, 2009 In 2005, the International Monetary Fund’s report â€Å"Aid Will Not Lift Growth in Africa.† concluded that governments, donors and campaigners should be more modest in their claims that increased aid will solve Africa’s problems. (5) Historically Asia was underdeveloped too. Yet various policies by governments to enhance international trade have resulted in many Asian countries i.e. Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore achieving spectacular economic growth and along with it, higher standard of living for its citizens. Dato Kim Tan, the co-founder and trustee for the Transformational Business Network (TBN) wrote â€Å"growing up din Asia, I saw the Asian tiger economies that 30-40 years ago had a lower GDP than Uganda or Kenya, transform themselves through enterprise, not through aid and philanthropy.† (3)Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and that country’s first democratically elected president wrote: â€Å"There is bad aid and there is good aid. The bad aid is that one which creates dependencies, as we’ve known for a long time now. But good aid is that which is targeted to create capacities in people so that they are able to live on their own activities.†¦ In the long-term they have to depend on themselves rather than depend on aid.†(4) Poverty Cure The issue to be addressed is whetherforeign aid achieveslong-term growth and development – is it a positive or negative catalyst to economic well being. And the corollary to this statement is whether international trade is a better alternative to economic achievement. Trade Theory: The historical basis for concluding that there is gain from trade originates from David Ricardo’s work: Principals in Political Economy and Taxation. The historical context of the time was the protectionist English corn laws, restricting wheat imports. Ricardo’s conclusion, arrived at by his theory of comparative advantage, showed that countries could benefit if they  specialized and promoted free trade. Figure 1: Comparative Advantage Country A has an absolute production advantage of both goods A and B because it can produce more of these goods. Since the PPC is not parallel we can presume that the opportunity cost are both different. As a consequence specialization and mutually beneficial trade can occur. Country A has a comparative advantage in the production of good B and Country B has a comparative advantage in the production of good A. Country B PPF curve has a lower slope therefore its comparative advantage of production is the good on the horizontal axis. To establish a policy of international trade, governments need to develop programmes that require important changes in the society. For example, states must develop competitive market economies based on environmental sustainability, infrastructure, establish a stable currency, a transparent political framework and legal system, security, and educated populace as prerequisites. Good A= Capital Goods Good B= Consumer Goods Figure 2: PPF curve with improved production via exports Country A allocates its resources to mostly consumption. Country C allocates its resources towards investment/capital goods. Countries that allocate their resources mainly in investment/capital goods are greater to have long-term growth than those countries who are more focused on consumption who are using up more current resources. With respect to Aid, money that is allocated to current consumption will not improve future conditions where as aid money allocated for such production of infrastructure, health, etc. will in the long run exhibit economic growth. Interestingly,South Korea’s economic growth from the early 1960s to the late 1990s was one of the world’s fastest, and South Korea remains one of the fastest growing developed countries in the 2000s.This experience is known as the Miracle on the Han River. Like many underdeveloped society’s, S. Korea  possessesno natural resources and suffers from overpopulation.In addition, the Korean War destroyed much of its infrastructure. The solution was South Korea adapting an export-oriented economic strategy.Remarkably in 1980, the South Korean GDP per capita was $2,300, about one-third of nearby developed Asian economies such as Singapore and Japan. In 2010 South Korean GDP per capita advanced to $30,000 – almost thirteen times since 1980. (See two charts below on Korean Economic Growth and South Korean Economic Recovery after 1997.) It is acknowledged that the Korean GDP per capita in 1960 was lower than some sub-Saharan African countries. The growth of the Koreanindustrial sector was the principal stimulus to economic development. It is true that initially some foreign aid was granted by the U.S. given the contentious communist threat, nevertheless, it was from strong domestic government support and a move toward competitive markets and international trade that resulted in the investment of modern technology and newly built facilities at a rapid pace. The export to foreign markets and the plowing of the foreign currency back into further industrial expansion was the strategy for growth. In addition, this economic strategy suited South Korea given its poor natural resource endowment, low savings rate, and small domestic market. Labour-intensive manufactured exports, permitted South Korea to develop a competitive advantage. No doubt government initiatives were essential to this process. â€Å"The inflow of foreign capital was greatly encouraged to supplement the shortage of domestic savings. These efforts enabled South Korea to achieve rapid growth in exports and subsequent increases in income.†(5) Finally, the later development of a unique multinational firm known as the chaebol – family-controlled firms owning numerous international enterprises,enhanced Korean economic growth. There is strong cooperation with government receiving financial support and guidance i.e. innovation and research. Today of these multinationals are Samsung, Hyundai, and LG. Thus, it is evident that South Korean expansion and wealth for its citizenry has derived from the adoption of a competitive market manufacturing economy, and the development of a high-tech commercethat emphasizes international trade. Foreign loans, supportive government policies, and not aid have been the critical catalyst to such a Han miracle. Aid Theory: Aid assists, mostly economic which is normally provided to distressed communities or underdeveloped countries for the enhancement of their socioeconomic condition. Aid is linked to need, is often not linked to the ability to enhance trade. Trade can result in inefficient distribution of income while if aid is mishandled the distribution of aid will be unfair, with people being deprived of the benefits of aid and effect economic growth of the country. Does Aid lead to the establishment of good infrastructure? Development aid is given by governments, i.e. the US being the largest aid donor in the world (As of 2010) and other organizations such as the World Bank. â€Å"Aid to all countries in the world declined† (2007, World Bank) An overview of a number of African countries that have been recipients of aid will consider the use and allocation of the foreign aid, and assess the outcome of these donations upon the populace of the continent. One would note initially that there is a need for humanitarian aid to assist in emergencies and alleviate suffering but long term growth and development requires a different approach. Besides charity aid is a minimal portion of the over-all aid from governments. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a report by Transparency International, the Zairian president Mobutu Sese Seko (1965-1977) is listed as having embezzled at least $5 billion form the nation. (6) Transparency International In 2009, the former president of Malawi – Bakili Muluzi was prosecuted for stealing $12 million allocated for aid. And Zambia’s former president, Frederick Chiluba is under investigation for taking millions from money that was set aside for health, infrastructure, and education. Thus, these examples of corruption pervert the opportunity for aid to assist the average African improve their conditions. Economic theory will emphasize that inefficiency will result from government intervention and in particular ‘free’ funds. Bad government worsens the situation as they are often bureaucratic in addition to corrupt. The civil service is inefficient and vulnerable to cronyism which has consequence for responsible governance. Economic incentives are nullified and governments need not respond to citizen needs. Investors require transparency in government and business but such a prerequisite is not  required when donations are the source of funds. Policies such as taxation can be deferred since donations flow in to the country. The priority is to remain in power. Africa continues to be the most unstable region. There are numerous examples of civil strife as exemplified by the current war in Southern Sudan and The Congo. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Africa had a greater number of wars than elsewhere in the world. Obviously, such strife has immense impact upon daily life and thwarts any possibility of private investment. Aid thus fills the vacuum. As stated in his book, Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa, by D. Moyo, â€Å"†¦aid-financed efforts to force-feed democracy to economies facing poverty and difficult economic prospects remain, at best, precariously vulnerable.† (7) Further evidence of endemic problems is observed in Nigeria. This government is one of the most mismanaged in Africa. For example, during the World Economic Forum of 2005 in Davos Switzerland, four state governors were being investigated in the U.K. for money laundering. Large amounts of aid are looted. â€Å"Speaking at the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in December 2003, the former British secretary of state for international development, Lynda Chalker, noted that 40 percent of the wealth created in Africa is invested outside the continent.† (8) Advantages and Disadvantages to Trade: Trade provides development countries with an important base for their own improvement. Countries can develop their own strategies and outcomes to achieve their development objectives i.e. focusing on agriculture of manufacturing services. Countries are the determinants of their own economic destiny. One difficulty of trade is the international economic system imposes impediments i.e. trade barriers. The global market is not an international free trade market i.e. tariffs, taxes and subsidies, regulations and such restrictions operate to the disadvantage of the developing countries. The donor country puts restrictions on the recipient country i.e. the requirement for government transparency, human rights, political support at the UN or Ideological support. Japan gains support from small countries on whale killing/harvesting using trade. Developing countries have weak economic power to challenge economic injustices i.e. EU and USA  have large program of subsidies and economical protectionism.One argument states that trade is a foundation for international cooperationi.e. one country is the resources base and the other importing country is the manufacturing base. Trade would benefits those countries who are engaged in trade (based on the market). Trade relationships would result in a more equitable partnership and thus might be a catalyst for investment and growth. Developing country could receive direct foreign investments and the benefits that would sue from that, technology, employment etc. The result of this would lead to lower prices, greater choice, more efficient allocation of resources, foreign exchange and idea flowing between countries. Once getting passed trade impediments it can seen as long-term development strategy for a developing country. A summary of the advantages and disadvantages: Advantages A country may import things which it cannot produce Maximum utilization of resources Benefit to consumer Reduces trade fluctuations Utilization of surplus produce Fosters international trade Disadvantages Import of harmful goods It may exhaust resources Over specialization Danger of starvation One country may gain at the expensive of another It may lead to war Advantages and Disadvantages to Aid: Aid has been said to decrease the development for countries with their own improvement. Aid has many advantages but as it can be seen using examples such as African countries it can be seen that aid has decreased the development for countries. Countries can be giving aid for ethical reasons,  if there was a natural disaster and were in need of assistance. Aid is based on need, aid permits to countries to retain their dignity because aid if often perceived as condescending. There are different types of aid, tied and untied. Tied aid is foreign aid that must be spent in the country providing the aid or in a group of selected countries. Untied aid is assistance given to developing countries, which can be used to purchase goods, and services in virtually all countries. Jeffery Sachs (UN advisor) argued that aid is important, it is essential to break the poverty cycle and a determinant of long term growth. His argument stated that poor countries are not wealthy because of diseases such as malaria, they need to remove problems such as disease because the free market will not due this. Giving of aid is perceived as an inducement to behave or support certain policies. Aid can be used as blackmailing or getting the upper hand on another country in order to gain their vote in the UN. William Easterly (Professor of economics, NY university), aid does more harm than good, its often wasted, it inhibits peoples inventiveness, devising their old solutions. Aid is corrupt because its given to corrupt officials and often its fragmented that there is many donors and misallocations of the funds. Aid often comes with a lot of preconditions. Furthermore, aid has often come with a price of its own for the developing nations. Aid is often wasted on conditions that the recipient must use overpriced goods and services from donor countries. Most aid does not actually go to the poorest who would need it the most. Aid amounts are dwarfed by rich country protectionism that denies market access for poor country products, while rich nations use aid as a lever to open poor country markets to their products. Large projects or massive grand strategies often fail to help the vulnerable as money can often be embezzled away. Conclusion: In conclusion, it appears that generally trade is more beneficial to  long-term growth and development than aid. African examples discussed are proof that aid is counterproductive and the road to economic failure. The opposite appears true. Those countries able to divorce themselves from aid dependency are more likely to succeed as evidenced by China, India, and even South Africa. A strategy of transparent government, efficient civil service to meet social needs i.e. education, incentives, entrepreneurship, the rule of law, patent protection, institutions to attract foreign direct investment by creating attractive tax structures and reducing the red tape and complex regulations for businesses. Private capital investment into sustainable companies, with aid directly to community based non-profitable organizations is recommended. African nations should also focus on increasing trade, but there have been cases where rapid growth in international trade has led to bottlenecks and impediments to growth and development. There appears to be no panacea but one does conclude that in order to achieve economic, social, and political progress there are essential non-economic and economic prerequisites – cultural (i.e. individualism, attitudes of personal achievement, hard work, etc.) political (i.e. transparent governments, stability, the rule of law,) and economic (i.e. infrastructure, communications network, merit goods i.e. education and health etc.). Each nation is unique with regard to trade and aid. The answer is not either or – aid or trade .but accountable and transparent aid in conjunction with sustainable trade and honest and efficient government. Bibliography: (Complete bibliography after check by Ms. Kerr) 1. Amartya Sen. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford university press 2. http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance 3. wall street journal 4. wall street journal 5. http://www.povertycure.org/voices/kim-tan/ 6. http://www.povertycure.org/voices/president-paul-kagame/ 7. http://books.google.ca/books?id=_adMWevoEq0C&pg=PA137&dq=The+inflow+of+foreig n+capital+was+greatly+encouraged+to+supplement+the+shortage+of+domestic+savings.+These+efforts+enabled+South+Korea+to+achieve+rapid+growth+in+exports+and+subsequent+increases+in+income.%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iZ7NUq7AIMTd2QWmyIHABw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20inflow%20of%20foreign%20capital%20was%20greatly%20encouraged%20to%20supplement%20the%20shortage%20of%20domestic%20savings.%20These%20efforts%20enabled%20South%20Korea%20to%20achieve%20rapid%20growth%20in%20exports%20and%20subsequent%20increases%20in%20income.%E2%80%9D&f=false 8. OECD Development Statistics Online, last accessed April 7, 2012 9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20405140 10. http://www.guesspapers.net/1593/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-international-trade/ 11. http://www.moeasmea.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=72&CtNode=263&mp=2 12. http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance 13. http://www.ryanallis.com/sustainable-capitalism-and-the-role-of-aid-vs-trade-in-prosperity-creation/ 14. http://www.cato.org/publications/economic-development-bulletin/african-perspectives-aid-foreign-assistance-will-not-pull-africa-out-poverty

Child Molestation essays

Child Molestation essays About seven years ago, my sister, at the mere age of twelve, was raped. After a horrible hurricane in Florida destroyed hundreds of homes and caused millions of dollars worth of damage, my sister volunteered to travel with some other members of her church to assist with the reconstruction of some of these buildings. While there, a man whose house they were working on took my sister into a back shed and sexually molested her. She never spoke of it to anyone for almost five years. Sexual harassment has touched the lives of many children across the nation. For example, a close friend of mine was molested at the age of three by one of the employees at the day care center he stayed at every day while his single mother went to work. Furthermore, another dear friend of mine was touched and spoken to in a sexual manner on numerous occasions by his middle-aged boss at a local fast food restaurant. These children and teenagers are only a spec in the enormous number of kids that get sexually molested and abused every day. Yet, our government hides its eyes. It is a known statistic that sexual abuse is by far the least reported abuse of any kind because it is the most degrading and embarrassing for the victim. It is often called the silent crime for this reason. (Dolan 80) Too many victims of sexual harassment live their lives thinking poorly of themselves, too afraid to tell anyone. The people of this nation need to speak up for our children. We, as citizens of the United States, must organize, support and help the growth of associations that exist with the sole purpose of educating kids and parents both on the facts and myths of sexual molestation as well as how to prevent it. Child sexual abuse is defined as the rape, and in cases of caretaker or interfamilial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children as well as &q...

Bumblebees, Genus Bombus

Bumblebees, Genus Bombus Bumblebees are familiar insects in our gardens and backyards. Still, you might be surprised by how much you dont know about these important pollinators. The genus name, Bombus, comes from the Latin for booming. Description Most people recognize the large, furry bees that visit backyard flowers as bumblebees. Fewer probably know that they are social bees, with a caste system of the queen, workers, and reproductives cooperating to meet the needs of the colony. Bumblebees range in size from about half an inch to a full inch in length. Patterns in their bands of yellow and black, along with the occasional red or orange, help indicate their species. However, bumblebees of the same species can vary quite a bit. Entomologists rely on other features, such as genitalia, to confirm a bumblebees identity. Cuckoo bumblebees, genus Psithyrus, resemble other bumblebees but lack the ability to gather pollen. Instead, these parasites invade Bombus nests and kill the queen. The Psithyrus bees then lay their eggs in the collected pollen in the conquered nest. This group is sometimes included as a subgenus of Bombus. Classification Kingdom - AnimaliaPhylum - ArthropodaClass - InsectaOrder - HymenopteraFamily - ApidaeGenus - Bombus Diet Bumblebees feed on pollen and nectar. These efficient pollinators forage on both wildflowers and crops. Adult females use modified hind legs equipped with corbicula to carry pollen to their offspring. Nectar is stored in the honey stomach, or crop, in the digestive system. Larvae receive meals of regurgitated nectar and pollen until they pupate. Life Cycle Like other bees, bumblebees undergo a complete metamorphosis with four stages to the life cycle: Egg – The queen lays eggs in a pollen clump. Then she or a worker bee incubates the eggs for four days.Larva – The larvae feed on pollen stores, or on regurgitated nectar and pollen provided by the worker bees. In 10-14 days, they pupate.Pupa – For two weeks, the pupae remain inside their silk cocoons. The queen incubates the pupae as she did her eggs.Adult – Adults assume their roles as workers, male reproductives, or new queens. Special Adaptations and Defenses Before flying, a bumblebees flight muscles must be warmed to around 86 Â °F. Since most bumblebees live in climates where cool temperatures may occur, they cannot rely on the ambient warmth of the sun to achieve this. Instead, bumblebees shiver, vibrating the flight muscles at a high speed but keeping the wings still. The familiar buzz of the bumblebee comes not from the wings themselves, but from these vibrating muscles. The bumblebee queen must also generate heat when she incubates her eggs. She shivers muscles in the thorax, then transfers the heat to her abdomen by contracting muscles down her body. The warmed abdomen stays in contact with the developing young as she sits on her nest. Female bumblebees come equipped with stingers and will defend themselves if threatened. Unlike their cousins the honey bees, bumblebees can sting and live to tell about it. The bumblebees sting lacks barbs, so she can easily retrieve it from the flesh of her victim and attack again if she chooses. Habitat Good bumblebee habitat supplies adequate flowers for foraging, especially early in the season when the queen emerges and prepares her nest. Meadows, fields, parks, and gardens all provide food and shelter for bumblebees. Range Members of the genus Bombus live mostly in temperate areas of the globe. Range maps show Bombus spp. throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Arctic. Some introduced species are also found in Australia and New Zealand. Sources Bumble bees - The Great Sunflower Project (article no longer available online)Bombus BiologyBumblebees: Their Behavior and Ecology, by Dave Goulson

Paramount vs. Tantamount

Paramount vs. Tantamount Paramount vs. Tantamount Paramount vs. Tantamount By Mark Nichol What’s the difference between paramount and tantamount? The distinction is of paramount importance; it’s tantamount to being right or wrong. Paramount, from the Anglo-French word paramont, derived from the Latin phrase per ad montem, literally translated as â€Å"up the mountain,† means â€Å"supreme.† It’s also used (rarely) as a noun to refer to a supreme ruler. Tantamount was originally a noun, translated into English from the Anglo-French phrase tant amunter, meaning â€Å"to amount to as much,† and means â€Å"equivalent.† It is seldom used more’s the pity, because it is such a grand word in such phrases as â€Å"tantamount to treason.† This grandiloquence, and the word’s resemblance to paramount, may mislead writers into assuming it has a lofty sense like its counterpart. As you might have guessed, the noun amount, meaning â€Å"sum,† also derives from the Latin word for mountain. Another word with the element -amount is catamount, a nearly obsolete synonym for cougar or lynx that is a compression of the term cat-a-mountain. Closed-compound verbs with the root word mount include dismount (â€Å"remove oneself from a high position, as a horse or a piece of gymnastic equipment,† or â€Å"take apart†) demount is a rarely used variant remount (â€Å"get up on again,† or â€Å"revert†), and surmount (â€Å"climb,† â€Å"excel,† or â€Å"overcome,† or â€Å"be at the top of†). Seamount is a noun referring to an underwater mountain whose summit does not reach sea level. (If it did, it would be called an island.) Dismount and remount also have noun forms; the former refers to the concluding movement in a gymnastics routine, and the latter denotes a horse that replaces a rider’s previous one. An interesting side note: In archery, â€Å"lord paramount† and â€Å"lady paramount† are terms for an official in charge of an archery tournament, or for a ceremonial leader of such an event, equivalent to a parade grand marshal. The terms originated in the feudal era, when a lord paramount, one not subordinate to a member of the nobility of greater rank, was required to provide trained longbowmen in the event of war, and officiated at archery tournaments. (The title â€Å"lord paramount† is known to fans of the television series A Game of Thrones and the series of novels on which it is based.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with Heart"Replacement for" and "replacement of"Wood vs. Wooden

750 word editorial to submit to USA today for possible publication on Article

750 word editorial to submit to USA today for possible publication on why I think the Mental Health Access ACT OF 2012 needs to be passed so it can help the nations veterans - Article Example Delivering mental healthcare to this segment is a unique challenge that requires specialized training. Combat stress has become the inescapable part of life of a war veteran that results in psychological stress. The Post-Deployment Health Assessment for soldiers has revealed the alarming results of mental disorders for those who are engaged in violent war-fronts where they have to witness killings and bloodshed. The Mental Health Access Act of 2012 aims to improve and enhance programs and activities of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve the levels of resilience of the veterans. Establishment of such a system to provide accurate and reliable measures for mental health services to the veterans is the need of the hour. The bill sponsored by Senator Murray (Democrat) and introduced on June 25, 2012 is the right step in achieving the desired goal. The bill broadly has the twin objectives. Pre-deployment training, wherein the soldiers will be counseled about what to expect in the front to enable them to be mentally tough and let them know how to handle it when confronted and the options available to them. Soldiers killing themselves and committing suicide is distressing news as compared to their dying in warfronts for a cause. According to the figures reported by the Department of Veterans Affairs the nation’s veterans who live through the conditions, post-traumatic disorders coupled with substance abuse have turned out to be serious ailments. Many ancillary problems like emotional numbing, sleeplessness, irritability, hyper vigilance, depression, anxiety and poor concentration makes their life tortuous. The authorities need to take decisive steps to prevent, inform and treat. The brave, faithful men and women who have sacrificed much and have dedicated their lives to serve the nation deserve more and their grievances need to be comprehensively addressed, treated and alleviated. The Mental

Management and Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Management and Organizational Behavior - Essay Example As a large organization that has been in business for over thirty years, they have a set of mission and core values in place. These include having high level of professionalism and service standards. All these are made possible with the correct recruitment process and retention of professionals that make up the key teams in the business. Being a cost-conscious organization, individual employees are required to account for their time spent at work. This allows the management to ensure that the efficient and effective recoverability of charges turn into profits. The managers are required to provide explanations if these are not met. However, the uneven distribution of jobs result in inaccurate recording of time charges due to the low level of work. Moreover, employees are also questioned and given demerit points if their total charge time is less than 50% on a monthly basis as the management perceive this as being unproductive. Performance appraisal occurs at individual level. These has resulted in low levels of communication, cohesion and poor performance. Different working patterns and different motivational needs exist among the teams. Although there are currently sets of guidelines and checklists available to ensure consistencies in the jobs carried out, there are still occasions when these are ignored. In addition, members of a team are required to act as a backup for one another in case any staffs go on study, maternity or holiday leave. There are also staffs that take on night classes or moonlight due to the competitive remuneration package the organization offers. To minimize the disruption or drop in the standard of work, the management must relook into job distributions that would provide optimal benefits and meet the needs of the staff at the individual and team level. Continuous training and educating the employees are essential in meeting the level of service that is expected of them, and making sure the employees are kept motivated and relevant. Task 2.1: Impact of Problems on Attitudes and Perceptions The problems that are evident in the organization are commonly shared and are influenced by the failure of management to further improve the situation. An attitude is an inclination of a person to positively or negatively react to someone or something in one's environment. On the other hand, a perception is "a process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment" (Robbins et al. 2004 p. 45). Perceptions are influenced by a person's traits and background, environment and how a person looks at a situation. The uneven distribution of work creates job dissatisfaction amongst the employees and causes negative attitudes. The lack of job involvement results in low commitment to the organization that may eventually experience problems in retaining professionals. The competitive remuneration package compels low-level employees to seek alternative jobs outside of work to satisfy their needs. Thus, they are unable to give 100% of their performance at work due to fatigue, dissatisfaction and low commitment. Because these negative attitudes arise together with the inaccuracy of accounting for their time due to low volume of work, the

Advertising plan for BMW 3-Series Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advertising plan for BMW 3-Series - Essay Example BMW Group, one of the 10 largest automotive companies in the world today, started as a manufacturer of aircraft engines in World War I and began building a reputation for reliability and excellence on that undertaking. Initially known as Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke in 1916,the firm changed its name to Bavarian Motor Works in 1917 as it grew rapidly during the war years. In 1923, BMW put together its first motor vehicle, a motorcycle, followed by its first car in 1928, a version of Austin 7, which was built and commercially sold under license. There was no stopping the company since then. Today, the Group operates in 150 countries through 26 production-assembly plants, 35 subsidiary markets and 12 R&D networks. Its flagship products consist of three automotive brands - BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce. All three vehicles share the same configuration, which suggest luxury, premium class, top-of-the-line quality. This is precisely the corporate culture that animates BMW, which is expressed in it s mission statement: "to be the most successful premium manufacturer in the industry." BMW built a solid reputation on this operational strategy.With this kind of philosophy underpinning all BMW's activities, the company produces nothing but premium-class vehicles, which are limited to exclusive sedans and luxury limousines. The side objectives are to set the industry standards for technology, environmental protection and safety, and providing outstanding customer services in the pre- and after-sale phases. These are enshrined in the firm's operations in its 10 R&D facilities worldwide (4 in Munich, 3 in the US and 1 each in Austria, Tokyo and Beijing), 15 production plants (1 in Berlin, 1 in Munich, 4 in UK, and 1 each in China, South Africa, US, Austria and Brazil), 5 assembly plants with local participation (1 each in Indonesia, Russia, Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand), and sales and marketing subsidiaries in 35 countries. In 2005, the company invested 2,597 million euros to boost its property, plant, equipment and other tangible assets, with emphasis on further expanding its production and sales networks. The amount was 81 percent higher than the 1,396 million euros sunk in the firm in 2004 as capital expenditures. A lion's share of this investment went to the company's R&D network, which has been tasked to come up with the BMW "cars of the future." This is part of an expansion plan that has preoccupied management from the start. In 1994, BMW acquired the Rover Group from British Aerospace in the hope that it could duplicate its earlier success with MINI, which used to be a British-owned firm too. For at least six years, some 1 million Rover vehicles were produced in UK yearly until the company suffered losses reaching $2 million per day as a result of the perceived lack of consumer confidence in the brand and the strengthening of the pound. BMW was then forced to sell Rover to the Ford group in 200 0. As for the MINI, BMW hang on to the more successful brand, which is manufactured in its Oxford plant. Market demand for the MINI has never let up, such that at the time BMW was selling Rover, it was pouring in another 50 million euros to increase MINI production. BMW fosters the core values of technology, quality, performance and exclusivity, such that its activities from R&D to sales are committed to achieving the highest quality for products and services. The overall strategy of the company is first, identify areas with growth potential, understand what they represent, recognize where its strength lies, then make the best of every opportunity by pursuing a clear strategy. These considerations guide BMW's structure and how decisions are made, and from the evidence it works like a charm.

Design Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Design Thinking - Essay Example rtaking an active uptake of the design-thinking concept in order to instill these skills among the students so that by the time they graduate from school, they are already qualified experts and professionals in the field (Cox and Rigby, 2013). Design thinking incorporates a high level of creativity and innovation in an effort to bring solutions to modern day problems, or come up with new products and services that bring about a transformative change to the world. A company that employs design thinking in its products and services ends up gaining a competitive edge over other industry players as it produces products designed to meet the tastes and preferences of its target customers. On the other hand, it also instills into the product an element of surprise thereby taking the market by storm once launched or introduced into the market sphere. A good example of a company that incorporates design thinking in the development of its products and services is the Apple Technologies. Design thinking is the key driver of success behind the massive profitability and success recorded by the apple corporation. Other cases of successful application of design thinking is the reason for the reduction of the rates of malnourishment among the children in Vietnam, which reduced by half after application of the concept in the management of children’s health and nutrition. The process of design thinking incorporates a number of steps and procedures. The first step is immersion, which is the process of gaining a clearer understanding of the aspect at hand that requires intervention. The second step is the ideation stage, which incorporates creation of a credible solution to suit a given situation or to solve a given problem. The third stage of prototyping, a procedure that entails testing the designed solution, product or service to the targeted problem, audience, market, or consumers to see whether it works or not, such as bringing about the solution for the problem. The fourth

Research Methods Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Methods - Coursework Example Organizations have therefore continued to struggle with the challenges that impact on the performance of managers and employees, which contributes greatly to dealing with competition within the various industries. Managers and employee performance is a theory of management within organizations that takes on various perspectives and purposes with the traditional purposes being the organization having good planning systems which serve as a means of meeting up the work expectations for managers and employees. An organization should have effective ways in which they are able to monitor performance and have ways in which an organization is able to develop the capacity of employees in performance and putting in place appropriate reward systems which motivate employees, thus resulting to good performance (Baldwin, 2008). Research question My project answers and reviews the extent to which performance of employers and employees in an organization is limited by relevant factors. Aim The proje ct seeks at ascertaining the factors that limit employees and employers within an organization’s environment. Research paradigm The paper will make use of realistic research paradigm especially because of its ability to take in the aspects of positivism and constructivism. Through the realistic research paradigm, it will be possible for me to hold on the notion that real structures exist and bring in knowledge and consciousness as aspects that look at human knowledge differently. According to the realistic paradigm, social and natural science are differentiated, while social reality is reinterpreted. Use of the realistic research paradigm was chosen because of its ability to take on a wider perspective, by bringing together the assumptions of positivism paradigm and the constructivism paradigm (John, 2005). Methodology/Research strategy My project will make use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. First-hand information method will include the use of persona l interviews and well structured questionnaires with well-organized questions, which will be administered to employers and employees within organizations in different industries. I will use secondary data sources such as books and journals that look at the limitations of employees and employers performance in organizations, through analysis of theories and previous research on performance. Literature Review Basically, organizational performance takes into account actual results of a particular organization as measured against the intended goals and expectations within a specified period of time. Performance is therefore the end result of an organization while organizational performance at large refers to the accumulated results of an organization’s work processes and activities. Organizational aspects therefore take in activities within an organization that are concerned with the activities, goals and their monitoring and adjustment, to ensure they contribute effectively towa rds an organization (Kirkpatrick, 2010). Employers and employees have been appreciated and recognized as the major aspects of organizational performance in any industry. Good managers and employees’ performance contributes to the ability of an organization to fulfill its mission and visions, which is complemented by sound management, strong governance and persistence towards the results. Employee performance also takes in perspective employee performance

Human resource policies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human resource policies - Case Study Example Our argument is that, in order to play a strategic role in the organization, the HR policies and practices that make up an organization's people strategy should reflect, reinforce, and support the organization's business aims and objectives. A strong linkage is needed between the overall vision of the organization that is held in the minds of the senior executives and the aims, objectives, and underlying philosophy of the organization's approach to managing people. This linkage will ensure that HR interventions can become a creator, and not an inhibitor, of sustained competitive advantage. This link between people strategy and business-unit strategy we term vertical alignment. Note, however that alignment suggests a much more fluid dynamic that allows for variation and flexibility. It is not a mechanistic "matching" exercise between business strategic objectives and people strategies; often, such matching is simply not feasible and, in any case, will act as a constraint. Instead, the process is evolving, based on an understanding of what the business's goals are, their people implications, and the translation of these into an overarching people strategy that can be used as a basis for detailed HR policies. Some core policy-setting, majority of decision-making and service provision is at the divisional and local level. There is limited shared services or automation, resulting in duplication across the business. Strategic goals: Cost control; divisional growth; market penetration. What this means for HR: HR services are closely aligned to divisional/local requirements resulting in variation in service offering across divisions. Challenges for HR - Evolution is driven by a 'powerful few'; - HQ has grown by adding management layers; - Corporate centre's role is to check what is proposed by divisions; - Centre not seen to add value. HR impact in a nutshell: Requires strong local HR capabilities. HR's response: Matthew Brearley, HR director, Vodafone says: "This definition is partly correct, but I feel HR's ability to influence is a blend of the organizational model and environment and personalities of people. We have a global framework but freedom to work in our territories. Do I have the ability to influence and make change - absolutely." Recruitment and Orientation At the global level, Corporate Responsibility (CR) is integrated into induction training for all new employees, through workshops that talk about the company's CR policies. All employees also receive the booklet on 'Passion for the World Around Us' that identifies the company's values and its commitment to the goals of CR. Vodafone conducts an annual employee survey that includes questions about whether the company is generating trust and adequately managing its environmental

Design Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Design Thinking - Essay Example rtaking an active uptake of the design-thinking concept in order to instill these skills among the students so that by the time they graduate from school, they are already qualified experts and professionals in the field (Cox and Rigby, 2013). Design thinking incorporates a high level of creativity and innovation in an effort to bring solutions to modern day problems, or come up with new products and services that bring about a transformative change to the world. A company that employs design thinking in its products and services ends up gaining a competitive edge over other industry players as it produces products designed to meet the tastes and preferences of its target customers. On the other hand, it also instills into the product an element of surprise thereby taking the market by storm once launched or introduced into the market sphere. A good example of a company that incorporates design thinking in the development of its products and services is the Apple Technologies. Design thinking is the key driver of success behind the massive profitability and success recorded by the apple corporation. Other cases of successful application of design thinking is the reason for the reduction of the rates of malnourishment among the children in Vietnam, which reduced by half after application of the concept in the management of children’s health and nutrition. The process of design thinking incorporates a number of steps and procedures. The first step is immersion, which is the process of gaining a clearer understanding of the aspect at hand that requires intervention. The second step is the ideation stage, which incorporates creation of a credible solution to suit a given situation or to solve a given problem. The third stage of prototyping, a procedure that entails testing the designed solution, product or service to the targeted problem, audience, market, or consumers to see whether it works or not, such as bringing about the solution for the problem. The fourth

Human resource policies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human resource policies - Case Study Example Our argument is that, in order to play a strategic role in the organization, the HR policies and practices that make up an organization's people strategy should reflect, reinforce, and support the organization's business aims and objectives. A strong linkage is needed between the overall vision of the organization that is held in the minds of the senior executives and the aims, objectives, and underlying philosophy of the organization's approach to managing people. This linkage will ensure that HR interventions can become a creator, and not an inhibitor, of sustained competitive advantage. This link between people strategy and business-unit strategy we term vertical alignment. Note, however that alignment suggests a much more fluid dynamic that allows for variation and flexibility. It is not a mechanistic "matching" exercise between business strategic objectives and people strategies; often, such matching is simply not feasible and, in any case, will act as a constraint. Instead, the process is evolving, based on an understanding of what the business's goals are, their people implications, and the translation of these into an overarching people strategy that can be used as a basis for detailed HR policies. Some core policy-setting, majority of decision-making and service provision is at the divisional and local level. There is limited shared services or automation, resulting in duplication across the business. Strategic goals: Cost control; divisional growth; market penetration. What this means for HR: HR services are closely aligned to divisional/local requirements resulting in variation in service offering across divisions. Challenges for HR - Evolution is driven by a 'powerful few'; - HQ has grown by adding management layers; - Corporate centre's role is to check what is proposed by divisions; - Centre not seen to add value. HR impact in a nutshell: Requires strong local HR capabilities. HR's response: Matthew Brearley, HR director, Vodafone says: "This definition is partly correct, but I feel HR's ability to influence is a blend of the organizational model and environment and personalities of people. We have a global framework but freedom to work in our territories. Do I have the ability to influence and make change - absolutely." Recruitment and Orientation At the global level, Corporate Responsibility (CR) is integrated into induction training for all new employees, through workshops that talk about the company's CR policies. All employees also receive the booklet on 'Passion for the World Around Us' that identifies the company's values and its commitment to the goals of CR. Vodafone conducts an annual employee survey that includes questions about whether the company is generating trust and adequately managing its environmental

The Importance of Performing Close Out Activities Before Essay Example for Free

The Importance of Performing Close Out Activities Before Essay The importance of performing close out activities before closing the project and the business risks associated with skipping these activities John Constance MSc in Project Management, University of Liverpool Week 5 Discussion Question Abstract Most projects are initiated, planned, executed and monitored and controlled with the full cognizant of executives and clients. However, once the project has been considered an overall success, a part from preparing and conducting opening event with ribbon cutting and extensive speeches, little attention is paid to formal close out documentation. This often leads to incomplete information for use by facility operations and maintenance team or the next project team to implement a similar project. According to Ed Naughton, Director General, Institute of Project Management Ireland (www. projectmanagement. e, 2011) â€Å"without a project close out plan it will is difficult to know if the project was completed as planned, and how this information can assist the team in the next project as there will be no information on lessons learned therefore providing no assurance that past mistakes will not be repeated in another future project†. Introduction In my nine years of project management I have learned that to start a project is difficult; but to close a project is both difficult and at times seemingly impossible. In order to close a project smoothly without undergoing stress even at celebration ceremonies, it is very important a plan is initiated during the planning phase. The key activities, processes and procedures, and acceptance conditions and documentation must be agreed and documented and this plan tracked and updated during execution and executed during closure, meeting not only the project team expectation but also the acceptance of the client. If this does not happen the project runs the risk of not being completed on schedule, within budget and targeted quality, also making future operations and maintenance difficult. Experts View Robert K. Wysocki (Wysocki: pp 283-288) explained how â€Å"an effective project close out plan gets client to accept or reject deliverables through several applied approaches; it records all changes made in the life of the project; it keeps project records that can assist in estimating duration and cost of future projects; the lessons learned and best practices from past projects can be used to provide training for new project managers and project team; and the performance evaluation reports from functional managers can also be used as a guide for the next project†. Wysocki also explained how â€Å"end of project impact or post-implementation audit helps the team and client determine if project goals and activity were achieved as planned, budgeted, scheduled and according to quality targets, specifications and client satisfaction† (Wysocki: pp 289). Other experts that support the importance of preparing close out plan before the project closure include, Robert P. Walsh (2004, pp. 1) who wrote that â€Å"the close-out phase includes final testing and cleaning, occupancy approval from local authorities, punch list walk through, staff training, turnover of final documents, and move-in of furniture, fixtures, and equipment; thereby making planning ahead and outlining the close-out requirements at the onset of the project certain of a smooth start to occupying the new workplace†. Dimitrios Litsikakis (The Importance of Project Closeout and Review in Project Management, 2007) said â€Å"projects managed with no close out plan continue to fail on new projects because management forgets to records past actions as they did not have the time to think and conduct a post implementation review to determine what went wrong and what should be fixed next time†. Conclusion The risk of skipping planned project activities as listed by Robert Wysocki (2009, pp. 83-288) is a big threat for the likelihood of future problems. This is the case with 2 projects in South Sudan. The first had close out problems because client condition of satisfaction for deliverables was not documented at the start of the project, nor was it tracked, updated, discussed and agreed. During close out, senior management from the client and contractor blamed each other for not having a plan making close out a war of words to be settled by an Arbitrator. Also, another project, although with a documented close out plan that was reviewed and updated on a monthly basis, did not include an agreement as to who would be the receptor of project asset. This brought chaos during closure when government claimed all assets should be turn over to them and the donor refused, simply because there was no indication of this in the close out document.

Construction of Recombinant DNA in E Coli

Construction of Recombinant DNA in E Coli In 1973 Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer pioneered the use of recombinant DNA technology for cloning and expression of genes in foreign organisms. They cloned DNA from the Salmonella typhimurium streptomycin resistance plasmid RSF1010 into the Escherichia coli plasmid pSC101 and observed tolerance to streptomycin among the transformants (Cohen et al., 1973). The first reported production of a human recombinant protein took place a few years later when the then newly started biotech company Genentech announced that they had managed to express the gene encoding human somatostatin in E. coli (Itakura et al., 1977). The value of the resulting bioactive substance was similar to that of somatostatin extracted from the brains of 500.000 sheep. In 1982 Genentech followed up this success with the product humulin, a recombinant insulin produced in E.coli and the first recombinant biotech drug to be accepted for market by the Food and Drug Administration. Today the production of recombinant prot eins has become a huge global industry with an annual market volume exceeding $50 billion (Schmidt, 2004). At the start of the recombinant protein expression era the bacteria Escherichia coli and Bacillus spp. dominated as hosts for recombinant expression, but the realization that a protein may require a specific host physiology and biochemistry for optimal production stimulated a search for new hosts, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic. Parallel to this quest, recombinant DNA technology advanced tremendously thereby opening up possibilities for the use of novel organisms. As a consequence, many different expression systems for use in many different hosts are now available, including systems for use in yeasts (Gellissen et al., 2005), filamentous fungi (Nevalainen et al., 2005), insect and animal cell cultures (Wurm, 2004; Kost et al., 2005), gram-positive bacteria like Bacillus (Westers et al., 2004) and Streptomyces (Binnie et al., 1997), and gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia c oli Bacterial expression systems are the preferred choice for production of many prokaryotic and eukaryotic proteins. The reasons for this lie in the cost-effectiveness of bacteria, their well-characterized genetics, and the availability of many different bacterial expression systems. Among the hosts available for recombinant expression, Escherichia coli is in an exceptional position. This stems from the many decades of intense researchon its genetics as well as the broad scope of biotechnological tools available for genetic engineering of this organism. As a host for recombinant expression, E.coli is especially valued because of its rapid growth rate, capacity for continuous fermentation, low media costs and achievable high expression levels (Yin et al., 2007). One consequence of this popularity is that about 80% of all proteins used to solve three-dimensional structures submitted to the protein data bank (PDB) in 2003 were prepared in E.coli (SÃ ¸rensen and Mortensen, 2005) and during 2003 and 2006, nine out of 31 approved therapeutic proteins were produced in E.coli (Walsh, 2006), among them important growth factors, insulins and interferons (Schmidt, 2004). Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) was isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea aequorea in 1962 (Shimomura et al., 1962) where it was found as a companion protein to aequorin, the well-known chemiluminescent protein of the same species. It was noticed that living A. aequorea tissue had an emission spectrum peaking at 508nm and looking green but pure aequorin peaked in the blue range, at 470nm (Tsien, 1998). This then led Shimomuras group to discover GFP and suggest radiation-less energy transfer as the mechanism for exciting the protein. Its structure has been determined to consist of an 11 stranded ÃŽÂ ²-barrel containing the chromophore made up of a single ÃŽÂ ± helix as shown in Figure1. Its use as a tool in molecular biology was not realised until 1992 when Prasher reported the cloning and sequence of GFP (Prasher et al., 1992). Since 1994 GFP has been used as a reporter protein (Chalfie et al., 1994) flagging its own presence and therefore also proteins under the same control, by emitting green light (ÃŽÂ »em = 508 nm) upon excitation with near ultraviolet light (around 395 nm) or blue light (around 470 nm) (Ito et al, 1999). Since then many mutations have been developed looking to improve the emission or to focus it to a single wavelength (Heim et al., 1995) or to change the color of the emitted light itself. Recombinant DNA molecules usually contain a DNA fragment inserted into a bacterial vector. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a specific gene or DNA region of interest is isolated and amplified by DNA polymerase extracted from a heat-tolerant bacteria. PCR finds the DNA region of interest (called the target DNA) by the complementary binding of specific short primers to the ends of that sequence. The long chromosome-size DNA molecules of genomic DNA must be cut into fragments of a much smaller size before they can be inserted into a vector. Most cutting is done with the use of bacterial restriction enzymes. These enzymes cut at specific DNA sequences, called restriction sites, and this property is one of the key features that make restriction enzymes suitable for DNA manipulation. These enzymes are examples of endonucleases that cleave a phosphodiester bond (Anthony, 2012). The key property of some restriction enzymes is that they make sticky ends. The restriction enzyme EcoRI (from E.coli) recognizes the following sequence of six nucleotide pairs in the DNA of any organism: 5-GAATTC-3 3-CTTAAG-5 The enzyme EcoRI makes cuts only between the G and the A nucleotides on each strand of the palindrome (Figure.2). The recombinant DNA molecules are transferred into bacterial cells, and, generally, only one recombinant molecule is taken up by each cell. The recombinant molecule is amplified along with the vector during the division of the bacterial cell. This process results in a clone of identical cells, each containing the recombinant DNA molecule, and so this technique of amplification is called DNA cloning. The next stage is to find the rare clone containing the DNA of interest. Bacterial plasmids (vectors) are small circular DNA molecules that replicate their DNA independent of the bacterial chromosome. The plasmids routinely used as vectors carry a gene for drug resistance and a gene to distinguish plasmids with and without DNA inserts. These drug-resistance genes provide a convenient way to select for bacterial cells transformed by plasmids: those cells still alive after exposure to the drug must carry the plasmid vectors. However, not all the plasmids in these transformed cells will contain DNA inserts. For this reason, it is desirable to be able to identify bacterial colonies with plasmids containing DNA inserts. Such a feature is part of the pUC18 (or pUC19) plasmid vector shown in Figure 2; DNA inserts disrupt a gene (lacZ) in the plasmid that encodes an enzyme (-galactosidase) necessary to cleave a compound added to the agar (X-gal) so that it produces a blue pigment. Thus, the colonies that contain the plasmids with the DNA insert will be white rath er than blue (they cannot cleave X-gal because they do not produce -galactosidase). The following experiment outlines the construction of recombinant protein production in E.coli strain BL21 by using a bacterial plasmid vector pUC18/19 expressing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) to act as a recombinant protein product with the benefits of being easy to visualise and measure. Materials and Methods Materials: The experiment was carried out using the following materials and Equipments: 2Â µl EcoRI/HindIII cut and cleaned PUC19 vector, 5Â µl EcoRI/HindIII cut and cleaned GFP insert, 2Â µl 10xT4 ligase buffer, 2Â µl T4 ligase(0.5 U ml-1) , and 9Â µl sterile water (H2O) ]to make up to 20Â µl volume[ . 100Â µl of competent BL21 E.coli cells on ice, 42Â °C water bath, Ice bucket with ice, selective media plates (1.5% Luria broth (LB) Agar, 40Â µg mL-1 X-gal, .1 mM IPTG, 50Â µg mL-1 ampicillin), sterile tubes, shaking incubator, Spectrophotometer or similar device to measure optical density of the bacterial cultures, flasks, Microcentrifuge. Methods: It can be divided into three stages: Ligation Reaction stage: in this stage 2Â µl EcoRI/HindIII cut and cleaned PUC19 vector, 5Â µl EcoRI/HindIII cut and cleaned GFP insert, 2Â µl 10xT4 ligase buffer, 2Â µl T4 ligase (0.5 U ml-1) , and 9Â µl sterile water (H2O) are mixed and kept at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Transformation of ligation into cloning host stage: this stage conducted by deforesting 100Â µl of competent BL21 E.coli cells on ice (with caution do not allow to warm to room temperature), then adding 10Â µl of the ligation reaction from the first stage to BL21 E.coli cells. They are then incubated for up to 30 minutes on ice. Next step, is done by taking out the transformation mixture out of the ice and heated in water bath at 42 Â °C for almost 75 seconds, then followed by return immediately into ice for a minimum of 2 mins. Then the cells were plated out on selective media plates (1.5% Luria broth (LB) Agar, 40Â µg mL-1 X-gal, .1 mM IPTG, 50Â µg mL-1 ampicillin). Lastly, the transformation mixture is incubated at 37 Â °C for 12-18 hours afterdriedd. Picking of colonies for the protein expression stage: 2x5ml LB +50Â µg ml-1 ampicillin in 30ml sterile tubes were prepared, then 1xBlue individual colony and 1x white individual colony selected and inoculated in separate tubes. Then the tubes were incubated with shaking incubator throughout the night at 37Â °C , speed: 220rpm. Subculture and Growth of Recombinant E.coli for Protein expression: At the beginning, 2x60ml sterile Luria-Bertani (LB), in 250ml conical flask were warmed , (1 per inoculums ) at 37 Â °C, Then aseptically the ampicillin was added to a last concentration of 50Â µg ml-1 ampicillin. Next 1 ml of media was removed and was put in a cuvette to act as blank (one blank is enough for both ouh), followed by addition of 600Â µl overnight to calture of each individual colony to separate flask (1:100 inoculum), the flasks were put back to the shaking incubator and incubated at 37Â °C, speed: 200rpm , after that blank spectrophotometer was placed against media at 600nm , after 45 minutes the samples were removed aseptically from flasks, then from every flask 1x 1mL was removed and added to a fresh clean cuvette (take to next step 8) and 1x1ml was added to clean Eppendrof (take to step 9) . The OD600nm of culture in cuvette was Measured and the result of growth curve was recorded (once the cul ture has reached an OD 600nm of 0.5, IPTG was added to final concentration 1Mm stock solution. Then samples were spun down in the Eeppendrof tube at max speed in Microcentrifuge for 5 minutes , ensure centrifuge is balanced before spinning , the supernatant was removed and pellet ,then the pellet was suspended in 200Â µl Cell lysis buffer (10mMl Tris PH8.0, 300Mm Nacl , 10mg ml-1 Lysozyme). Resuspended cells were frozen at -20 c to the next day. Lastly, sampling was continued until OD600nm is no longer rising for two successive samples or until 16:30 pm. Results and discussion Although it is supposed to harvest between 30-300 colonies per plate (210- 2100 colonies for all groups), just three blue colonies were observed in plates between all groups, which mean that protein of interest (GFP protein ) was not expressed (inefficient) in BL21 E.coli cells due to some factors influenced the expression level or to some technical problems during the experiment which will be discussed. The most popular strain, BL21 and its derivatives, which are good producing protein, are descended from E.coli B and thus is deficient in the Lon protease. Additionally, the BL21 background lacks the OmpT outer membrane protease. For expression work, BL21 cells should be taken from stock cultures that performed from fresh transforms. This step is crucial to insure that the clone does not change and that each expression run gives optimal performance. Transformation frequency is affected by the purity of the DNA, how the cells are handled, and how the transformation was actually performed. In the impurities in the DNA usually spin columns can be used to purify DNA from PCR reactions, ligations, endonuclease digestions, or other treatments. In addition, the most common mistake when transforming E.coli is to put a lot of ligation mixture in the transformation. Other factors that effect transformation with BL21 are the handling and the storage of the competent cells. Competent cells need to be reserved at -70Â °C to keep them at the peak .It is worthy of noting that 5-10-fold of efficiency usually lost if tube put back in the box and place in the freezer. Moreover, Cells must be thawed on ice, and the transformation should be started immediately after the cells are thawed. Incubating on ice is necessary for chemically competent cells. If you heat shock right away, the efficiencies will be down 10-fold. If incubate for only 15 minutes, it will be down 3-fold. In addition, time of heat shock (75 second) could be not enough , thus, affect the efficiency enough to transformation of E.coli. Moreover, water bath temperature may be not equilibrated (less than 42Â °C or a higher which decrease in transformation efficiency ( Smith, et al, 1992). Also, the concentration of DNA has significant effect on the transformation efficiency , usually less amount of DNA is used. If using more, the result is fewer colonies because the impurities in the DNA will inhibit some of the cells from being transformed. There are main factors to consider during induction conditions: Vector, Host Strain, and Growth Conditions. These three factors have the biggest impact on the expression of the protein of interest. First on the list of considerations is the vector that is used to express GFP protein. The first thing should be considered after cloning, the protein of interest is still in frame. It is recommended that before any experiment is carried out the first thing is should be done is cloned plasmid (or a few different clones) sequenced. This will show if the sequence you inserted into the expression vector is still correct and is still in frame. This is especially important if the construct contains any PCR fragments. If there are any point mutations or the sequence gets out of frame by even a few bases it can have dramatic effects on the protein that expressed. Another thing to check before expressing is if the GFP protein sequence contains long stretches of rare codons. This can cause the prot ein that is expressed to be truncated or non-functional. A few rare cordons spread around the protein are OK in most cases, but if there are a number of rare codons in a row, then it can have a big effect. The third sequence related step to optimize the protein production is to make sure there is not a high GC concentration at the 5 end of GFP protein. This could potentially cause problems with the mRNAs stability, and could prevent it from being translated correctly, which would also lead to truncated or non-functional proteins. If your sequence is GC heavy at this end, you can try to make a few silent mutations to break up long stretches to try and help stability. After the plasmid is sequence verified, the next factor is the bacterial host that is used. There are almost as may hosts as there are expression vectors, with certain hosts excelling in producing different types of proteins. For example if you have a toxic protein, or a protein that could potentially cause genomic rearrangement, you will want a vector that gives you very tight control over the induction of your protein. There can be leaky expression (i.e. expression of your protein without the addition of your inducer) that can potentially have adverse effects on the cells growth or even prevent your cells from over-expressing your protein in the first place. If youre utilizing the T7 polymerase system, then look for a host containing the pLysS plasmid, as this will code for T7 lysozyme, which will suppress the T7 polymerase and can greatly reduce the level of background expression. If as stated before you have a protein that contains a large number of rare codons, then look for a h ost with the genes for the necessary tRNAs already present, which should allow your protein to express correctly. Sometimes simply changing hosts can have a dramatic effect on the amount of protein produced and the stability of the protein that is made, so if one host isnt giving you the results you need, then feel free to switch your host up. The third and final factor to consider when expressing a protein is growth conditions. When first starting out with the protein induction it is very important to run an expression time course, where you take a fresh colony from a streaked plate, and grow the culture to stationary phase. Next, dilute the overnight culture 1/100 and grow to mid log phase, then add the inducer and induce your protein for a number of hours, taking 1mL samples every hour or so. Once these samples are lysed, you can run an SDS-PAGE gel to determine your protein production levels. You might get great induction the first time, or you may have to tweak your conditions in order to get really good expression levels. Other factors that may need to be controlled for are the bacterial growth rate (determined by taking OD measurements during the induction process), and the temperature during induction. Some constructs will express perfectly fine at 37Â °C, while others need to be bumped down to 30Â °C to induce c orrectly. The concentration of the inducer too will have an effect, as many inducers (IPTG) can be toxic to the cells that they are inducing. Using freshly made inducer is good step to making sure you always have consistent results. Only through experimentation can you determine what will be best for your construct, and give you the most robust expression levels. Transformation efficiency: Transformation efficiency is a measure of the ability of cells to be transformed. Transformation efficiency is expressed as the number of transforms per microgram of pUC19. By using the following formula: Colonies on plate / ng of control DNA X 1000ng/Â µg = (transformation (T) / Â µg plasmid DNA) 100 ÃŽÂ ¼L equivalent to 0.01 ng DNA in the plate. Growth curve In general growth curve shows the S- shaped when plotted in log linear format as shown in figure 4, that separated into four phases: Lag phase; the initial period when no increase in cell number is seen. Log phase; when cells are growing at the maximumm rate. Stationary phase; growth decreases as a nutrient are depleted and waste products accumulate. Death phase; this is the result of prolonged starvation and toxicity. Conclusion The main goal for the experiment was to express the protein of interest (GFP). However, factors influencing transformation efficiency include technique errors, the temperature and length of the incubation period, the growth stage of the cells, and using the correct mass of plasmid DNA. Escherichia coli is one of the most important hosts in modern day recombinant protein production. Throughout academia and industry its uses are widespread and with sequence data available for some of the most common strains of the bacteria it has been a favourite organism for many metabolic engineering and metabolic modelling projects in the past (Berry, 1996; Koffas et al., 1999).