Management innovation in the South African dairy industry Essay

The case focuses on management innovation in the South African dairy industry, describing how an innovative new yoghurt product, Danimal, was created specifically for the market at the base of the pyramid. It explains how management of the product line embodied the various innovation opportunities and challenges presented. The concept was initially introduced in order to assess the feasibility of profitably servicing this market. However, the project was not simply about introducing a cheap brand to poor people but was more about creating brand awareness in the market at the base of the pyramid. It was an investment for the future. The new product took into consideration the nutritional shortcomings in the diet of children in this market and also allowed for the lack of available infrastructure – electricity and refrigeration. The case illustrates the importance of a product being affordable, relevant and available for this market. Innovation went further than product design and also took into account the necessity of a lean distribution channel. This took the form of micro-distributers, referred to as Danimamas, who comprised township residents, unemployed or part-time employed individuals. The case offers insights into the complexity of doing business in developing countries. The company admits that it has not been a sustainable business model in terms of current profitability but the value that has been gained from social marketing and long-term brand development has been great. The case concludes with the challenge of how to ensure that the project continues on its upward trajectory. The objectives of the case are to encourage students to have a better understanding of the strategies required to successfully impact on low-income markets in developing countries, the different metrics that one could consider when assessing the impact of interventions on the base of the pyramid market, and the importance of harnessing opportunities and overcoming the challenges of management innovation. Questions to answer: How does the Danimal project shed light on and challenge the principals suggested to manage the base of the pyramid? How would you measure the success of the Danimal project? How does the approach taken by Maria Pretorius in managing the Danimal product line factor in management innovation opportunities and challenges?

How to Make Oreo Truffles

How to Make Oreo Truffles Are Oreo Cookies one of your favorite snacks, if so, Oreo Truffles are definitely something you need to try? This recipe is fast and super easy to make, and it is also a crowd pleaser. This recipe is one way to really indulge into the Oreo fun. After making this delicious dessert it would turn your favorite cookie into an amazingly delicious truffle. First, you will need to get the equipment and ingredients you will need to make the Oreo Truffles. There are several pieces of equipment that are necessary: a Ziploc bag, baking rolling pin, blender, a bowl, 2 spoons, microwave, baking pan, and a cookie sheet.The most vital part of this recipe is the ingredients. The ingredients that you will need are 1 package of Oreo cookies; you can get the regular or double-stuffed cookies, 1 package of 8 ounce Philadelphia cream cheese; however you should avoid fat- free because it can alter the texture or taste of the truffles, and 1 lb of semi-sweet chocolate or white cho colate chips. Now that you have the equipment and ingredients needed to make the truffles, it is time to prepare the recipe. Pre-crumbling the cookies is something you must do when you are preparing your ingredients.Open the bag of cookies and put them all inside the Ziploc bag. Once all the cookies are in the bag, seal tightly and lay bag on a flat surface. Take the baking rolling pin and start rolling the pin over the bag until all cookies are crumbled. When you are finish with this process you may notice that some of the cookies are not crumble as finely as you want them to be, so then you must use the blender. Pour the cookies crumb inside the blender and cut four ounces of cream cheese. After cutting the cream cheese put it inside the blender also.Once you have the cookies crumb and cream cheese inside the blender, mix together until you get a consistent color and texture. Then you will take a spoon and pour mixture inside a bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. While the mixture is being refrigerate you can clean up the mess and wash the equipment that you used. Now that the mixture have refrigerated, it is time to shape the balls. Take a spoon full of the mixture and try to make it as even and round as you possibly can.Roll mixture in the palm of your hands until it turns into a 1 inch circular ball. Place the ball inside a baking pan on a cookie sheet. Repeat this process until all the mixture is used up and you should have about 40-45 balls for each recipe. Refrigerate the balls for 15 minutes. As the balls refrigerate you can now open the bag of chocolate chips, pour into a bowl, and microwave until all chips have melt. When the 15 minutes is up take the balls out of the refrigerator and dip each one in the chocolate by using 2 spoons.Place each ball back on the cookie sheet and let them set until all the chocolate have hardened. Once the chocolate is hardened; you are now finish with the recipe. If you want to add a little decorations to the truffles you can use what is left of the chocolate to make zigzags patterns. After you are finish with the recipe it is now time to serve, eat, and enjoy these amazingly Oreo truffles. While eating these truffles you can really enjoy them with a cold glass of milk, but it is optional. † Dig in,† and hope you enjoy such a delicious dessert.

Biblical HERMENEUTICS ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Biblical HERMENEUTICS ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example This focus leads into the fact that followers must recognize that Jesus is a divine messenger or intermediary between people and God, and not God himself; this emphasis is particularly strong in the Gospel of John, in which John continues to assert that Jesus is the dutiful son of the father, and not the father himself. Finally, reading the Gospels requires an understanding of salvation and the kingdom of heaven which, through Jesus’ sacrifice, is granted to all those followers who live in faith and love of Jesus’ words, as embodied through the Gospels.4 Recognizing these strategies for reading the Gospels will enable the follower to fully internalize the truthful words of Jesus in a fashion that Jesus intended, rather than through a skewed understanding of his message. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact date when the Gospels were written, New Testament scholars argue that the literature in the Book were written at the end of the first and the beginning of t he second century, during the Hellinistic period, when the Christian church was under persecution.5 At this time, three central events affected the writing and compilation of the New Testament, which included the following: the spread of Christianity, the effect of the fall of Jerusalem on Christianity, and the obsessive focus on the destruction of the world (that never came).6 Therefore, this period was characterized by brutal conquests and social turmoil, which is evident in the apocalyptic tone of the writing in the books in the New Testament. In addition, speaking authoritatively on the authorship of the works is particularly difficult because these contributions were not written by eyewitnesses in Jesus’ ministry; â€Å"it has to be understood that in the ancient world it was quite common to attach important names to anonymous works, or to write in the name of some teacher or famous person from the past†.7 However, there is a higher level of certainty that these w riters were, in fact, known by Jesus directly, or known by men who were close to Jesus; for example, Peter, Matthew, and John were recognized as being among the original group of Jesus’ followers. Although the apostles were in close proximity to Jesus, there is a great range of diversity between the synoptic Gospels and the fourth Gospel, as well as between the Acts and letters because the Book â€Å"contains a variety of books, written in a variety of lengths and styles, and attributed to a variety of authors†¦ [coming] from diverse times and places.†8 In this regard, the vast majority of the literature spoke of and about Jesus Christ, but did so in a varied fashion that reflects different circumstances, concerns and purposes, and

The Oxbow and View of Toledo paintings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Oxbow and View of Toledo paintings - Essay Example On the other hand, the â€Å"View of Toledo† is a landscape painting that was done by El Greco back in the late 15th to early 16th century – specifically around 1540/41 to 1614. When compared to the one by Cole â€Å"The Oxbow†, both can be concluded to be landscape paintings. The painting was then executed in 1570 together with other paintings that he had done. When compared to â€Å"The Oxbow† landscape painting by Cole, it can be revealed that they had different dates of execution as â€Å"The Oxbow† was executed in 1830 a few centuries later on. The artistic style that was used by El Greco in his painting was majorly baroque which represents the use of motion, tension, enthusiasm and clarity. When compared to â€Å"The Oxbow† there was a difference since it was a renaissance realism painting while the one by El Greco was a baroque painting. When it comes to the medium of usage, both paintings used oil on canvas. The sizes of both painting s differed since â€Å"The Oxbow† was slightly bigger than the â€Å"View of Toledo† which was 47 3/4 by 42 3/4 inches. The artistic techniques in both paintings were the same – that is baroque which was common in France and Spain. The presentation work of both paintings was done on canvas material and lastly the title of the painting - â€Å"View of Toledo† adequately helps an audience interpret what they are viewing. The subject matter that has been projected by both paintings is landscaping. In addition to that, when an individual views both paintings, they can be in a position to feel as if they are part.

Media Ethics (Philosophy) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media Ethics (Philosophy) - Essay Example And with this haunting one’s mind, there is basically nowhere to better start looking for the answer but in the very institution that is created for these dynamic exchanges – media. Recognizing the vast influence and the major role that mass media plays in he lives of people, Noam Chomsky’s definition of mass media strikes at the very heart of what it is all about. He claims that â€Å"the mass media serve as the system for communicating messages and symbols to the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society.†1 If the very nature of mass media is what Chomsky describes it to be, it is but fitting for us to reevaluate the value of mass media, as we now know it. Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in their book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media claim that mass media is never really objective and fair in its account of what is happening around us, around the world. Rather, mass media since the start of the late modern period and made more significant after the end of World War II has been an institution that caters to the demands and whims of the capitalists owners and major stock holders in the field. Thus, tainting the noble start of media – to inform people. Chomsky is in fact claiming that media is in effect a tool that is being used for propaganda by the superstructure that dominates the society. And this is made possible because the â€Å"raw material of news must pass through successive filters, leaving only the cleansed residue fit to print. They fix the premises of discourse and interpretation, and the definition of what is newsworthy in the first place, and they explain the basis and operations of what amount to propaganda campaign.†2 And one of these filters is â€Å"anticommunism† as

Racial Harassment Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Racial Harassment - Article Example   According to the Giuffre and Williams study (1994), one of the four contexts in which the respondents identified actions as being examples of sexual harassment reinforces the idea of dominance as it refers to the exploitation of a powerful position for personal gain. In a situation in which the majority race controls many of the lucrative and influential social positions, racial harassment might be seen as being used to reinforce that dominant position. It highlights the fact that the harasser is in a position to get away with actions that are unfair because of his membership of the majority and powerful race. The psychological effect of this on the victim is great. Researchers have been examining the connection between post-traumatic stress disorder and the effects of racial harassment on the victim. Racial harassment has been considered by some of these psychologists as an injury that behaves like a disorder (Carter, 2003). When reinforcing words by a member of the powerful maj ority are used in a situation in which the subordinate position of the victim is already evident, the harassment has the violating effect of legitimizing the victim’s subordination and making him or she feel that the unjust relationship between the races is the correct one. In this way, racial harassment certainly exposes its usefulness in keeping the subordinate group in mental and physical subjection to the oppression of the dominant race. Another of the four contexts in the Giuffre and Williams study (1994) depicted racial harassment in which a member of a minority racial group harassed a member of the majority group. This offers a new perspective on the topic, because it seems to demonstrate a situation in which racial harassment occurs not as an attempt by the dominant race to keep the subordinate one submissive, but rather as a (possible) reaction by a member of the subordinate race to the oppressive nature of the race relations in his or her environment. This can be seen in the case of a minority man’s harassing a white woman.

Nuclear generators Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nuclear generators - Term Paper Example According to the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: â€Å"Fusion is a nuclear process in which two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier nucleus. An example of a fusion reaction important in thermonuclear weapons and in future nuclear reactors is the reaction between two different hydrogen isotopes to form an isotope of helium: Fission is a nuclear process in which a heavy nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei. An example of a fission reaction that was used in the first atomic bomb and is still used in nuclear reactors is: The products shown in the above equation are only one set of many possible product nuclei. Fission reactions can produce any combination of lighter nuclei so long as the number of protons and neutrons in the products sum up to those in the initial fissioning nucleus.† (LBNL, 2011) Because of the nature of the source materials involved in the fusion reaction, mainly Helium and Hydrogen, the danger of radioactivity is n on-existent compared to the fission processes involving Uranium and Plutonium, elements with long half-lives and radiation emissions. Fission reactions run on fuel rods of Uranium, yet the â€Å"spent† fuel rods which are no longer concentrated enough to maintain reactions at critical mass will have to be maintained and stored for thousands of years despite emitting radioactivity as part of the decay cycle. Because of this, nuclear fusion is still viewed as a possibility to provide unlimited, â€Å"clean† energy based on nuclear reactions similar to those occurring in the sun, while nuclear fission reactions based on Uranium and Plutonium fuel power plants across the world in practical application, but long term concerns exist about the safety of the radioactive waste materials over time as the elements continue to decay and emit harmful radiation into the environment. â€Å"Plutonium-239 is one of the two fissile materials used for the production of nuclear weapons a nd in some nuclear reactors as a source of energy. The other fissile material is uranium-235. Plutonium-239 is virtually nonexistent in nature. It is made by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons in a nuclear reactor. Uranium-238 is present in quantity in most reactor fuel; hence plutonium-239 is continuously made in these reactors. Since plutonium-239 can itself be split by neutrons to release energy, plutonium-239 provides a portion of the energy generation in a nuclear reactor. Plutonium belongs to the class of elements called transuranic elements whose atomic number is higher than 92, the atomic number of uranium. Essentially all transuranic materials in existence are manmade. The atomic number of plutonium is 94. Plutonium has 15 isotopes with mass numbers ranging from 232 to 246. Isotopes of the same element have the same number of protons in their nuclei but differ by the number of neutrons. Since the chemical characteristics of an element are governed by the number of protons in the nucleus, which equals the number of electrons when the atom is electrically neutral (the usual elemental form at room temperature), all isotopes have nearly the same chemical characteristics. This means that in most cases it is very difficult to separate isotopes from each other by chemical techniques. Only two plutonium isotopes have commercial and military applications. Plutonium-238, which is made in nuclear reactors from neptunium-237, is used to make compact

Chemistry Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Chemistry - Lab Report Example These values also imply that the reaction is pseudo first order reaction. (iv) A plot of rate of reaction (J) vs. concentration of AsO33- i.e.[A] was made (figure 2, below). A linear trendline was drawn using MS excel. Slope of this plot gives the rate constant. The value of the rate constant is 5.3x10-3s. d) From data given in table (2) a plot of lnkR' vs. 1/T was made (figure 3, below). Slope of this curve equals -E/R, where E is activation energy of the reaction and R is the Universal gas constant, which equals 8.38 Jmol-1K-1. Therefore, -E/R = 8122.6 K Or, E = 8122.6*8.38 Jmol-1= 68067.4 Jmol-168.7 k Jmol-1 Q3. a) The mechanism in this case is SN1 i.e. Nucleophilic Substitution of First Order. In this mechanism the carbonium ion forms first, to which the nucleofile OH- gets attached in no time. Because formation of carbocation is the slow or rate controlling step therefore this is a first order reaction. Therefore, rate of this reaction is proportional to concentration of hexan-3-ol. Because, carbocation is planer therefore, the nucleofile (OH-) has equal probability of attaching to it from both sides (above as well as below) of the plane. Thus, a mixture of both the optical isomers (R-isomer and S-isomer) forms in equal proportions. The mechanism is shown below: b) (i) In this case S-isomer will form. (ii) The mechanism in this case is SN2 i.e. Nucleophilic Substitution of Second Order. In this case both molecules R-3-bromohexane and NaOH are involved in the reaction mechanism. The nucleofile OH- attacks the positively polarized carbon atom from the other side of the leaving group i.e. from other side of the C-Br bond, because of steric hindrance. This backside attack by the nucleofile...1/T was made (figure 3, below). Slope of this curve equals -E/R, where E is activation energy of the reaction and R is the Universal gas constant, which equals 8.38 Jmol-1K-1. Q3. a) The mechanism in this case is SN1 i.e. Nucleophilic Substitution of First Order. In this mechanism the carbonium ion forms first, to which the nucleofile OH- gets attached in no time. Because formation of carbocation is the slow or rate controlling step therefore this is a first order reaction. Therefore, rate of this reaction is proportional to concentration of hexan-3-ol. Because, carbocation is planer therefore, the nucleofile (OH-) has equal probability of attaching to it from both sides (above as well as below) of the plane. Thus, a mixture of both the optical isomers (R-isomer and S-isomer) forms in equal proportions. The mechanism is shown below: (ii) The mechanism in this case is SN2 i.e. Nucleophilic Substitution of Second Order. In this case both molecules R-3-bromohexane and NaOH are involved in the reaction mechanism. The nucleofile OH- attacks the positively polarized carbon atom from the other side of the leaving group i.e. from other side of the C-Br bond, because of steric hindrance. This backside attack by the nucleofile leads to inversion of the stereo configuration of the molecule. The reaction mechanism is shown below: c) This is because, in the beginning, when the reaction is being carried out in pure water, the

DOUBLE REPLACEMENT AND REACTION Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DOUBLE REPLACEMENT AND REACTION - Assignment Example The balanced equation for the reaction is: Ba(OH)2+2HNO3→Ba(NO3)2+2HOH (c)No. The reaction between Copper (II) Sulphate and Zinc Bromide would not complete. This is because Zinc ions in the solution will react with the Sulphate ions to form Zinc Sulphate which is insoluble in nature .The formation of this precipitate then indicates that the whole reaction is not complete. (d)Yes. The reaction between Sodium Carbonate and Hydrochloric acid will complete because the acid in the reaction is a strong acid meaning that it will react to dissociate completely into hydroxyl ions. This then indicates that the reaction is complete. The equation for this reaction is given as: Na2CO3+2HCI→2NaCl+H2CO3 (e)Yes. The reaction between Barium Chloride and Sulphuric acid will complete because the sulphuric acid is a strong acid and hence it will dissociate completely in the solution to form hydroxyl ions. Due to the completeness of this dissociation, the whole reaction is said to be complete. The equation for the reaction is given as:

ELL Instructor Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ELL Instructor Interview - Essay Example In order for students to implement these strategies, it is crucial that they get exposed to real-life scenarios in which they can be able to compare and contrast their acquired skills set. For instance, increasing their proficiency would mean sitting down them individually or in small groups and explaining the concepts to them through real-life methodology. Collaborating is undoubtedly essential in order to thrive in any profession as the thoughts of ideas, knowledge, and practices are exchanged. Trimis, E (2009) Through my personal experience, I have felt that English should be taught in the simplest manner by implementing methodologies that are acquired in school initiates from giving students real life example. In order for students to implement these strategies, it is crucial that they get exposed to real-life scenarios in which they can be able to compare and contrast their acquired skills set. Collaborating is undoubtedly essential in order to thrive in any profession as the thoughts of ideas, knowledge, and practices are exchanged. Quite often, students struggle to socialize in a pre-dominant learning environment. Parents and teachers should play a symbiotic role and support while ensuring that everyone is in sync with the progress. Furthermore, collaboration is a key for the success of students, parents and teachers. The main proposition is to ensure that a learning environment offers multiple platforms, bridges the gap between teachers, parents and students and secure and confidentiality is of the highest quality. Parents can give feedback or allow children to ask questions. Underachievement can consist of many factors such as not being challenged enough, lack of motivation or interest. Students maybe bright but may not feel challenged enough. Ideally, every teacher wants their students to be independent thinkers for various reasons. First and foremost, independent thinking is needed to harness the society and express innovation. Secondly,

Sexual Economics Essay Example for Free

Sexual Economics Essay Abstract A heterosexual community can be analyzed as a marketplace in which men seek to acquire sex from women by offering other resources in exchange. Societies will therefore define gender roles as if women are sellers and men buyers of sex. Societies will endow female sexuality, but not male sexuality, with value (as in virginity, fidelity, chastity). The sexual activities of different couples are loosely interrelated by a marketplace, instead of being fully separate or private, and each couples decisions may be influenced by market conditions. Economic principles suggest that the price of sex will depend on supply and demand, competition among sellers, variations in product, collusion among sellers, and other factors. Research findings show gender asymmetries (reflecting the complementary economic roles) in prostitution, courtship, infidelity and divorce, female competition, the sexual revolution and changing norms, unequal status between partners, cultural suppression of female sexuality, abusive relationships, rape, and sexual attitudes. Sexual activity is often regarded as among the most private of activities, negotiated by two individuals on the basis of their own individual desires and values. Idealistic treatments describe the two individuals as potentially equal and interchangeable. In this manuscript, we place sexual negotiations in the context of a cultural system in which men and women play different roles resembling buyer and seller — in a marketplace that is ineluctably affected by the exchanges between other buyers and sellers. In recent decades, two main theoretical approaches have dominated the field of sexuality. One of these emphasizes biological determinants, especially as shaped by evolutionary pressures. The other emphasizes social construction, especially as shaped by political forces. Both have proposed to explain differences between men and women. The evolutionary approach stresses the different reproductive strategies of men and women and the difference as to what pattern of sexual respon se would have led to the highest quality and number of successful offspring. The social constructionist approach, generally based on feminist theory, has emphasized male subjugation of women and how women respond to their oppressed position in society. Thus, the disciplines of biology and politics have been most prominent in guiding how psychologists think about sex. This article turns to a different discipline, namely economics, in order to elucidate a theory of sexual interactions. An economic approach to human behavior was defined by (subsequent) Nobel laureate Gary Becker (1976) as having four main assumptions. First, the behavior of individuals is interconnected in market systems in which individual choices are shaped by costs and benefits in the context of stable preferences. Second, scarce but desirable resources are allocated by price shifts and other market influences. Third, sellers of goods or services compete with each other (as buyers also sometimes do, but not as much). Fourth, people seek to maximize their outcomes. Although initially economists focused on material goods and material needs, many have begun to look at nonmaterial goods (such as services) and nonmonetary media of exchange (such as time or emotion). In adopting such an approach, our theory will therefore be primarily cultural in the sense that it looks at how individual behavior is shaped by the market and other aspects of the collective network, but just as economic exchange is based on what nature has shaped people to want and need, natural motivations and tendencies will provide a foundation for the sexual economy. Although applying economic principles to sex may seem novel, psychology has invoked economic theories in other contexts. Social exchange theory has been used to analyze a broad range of social interactions (e.g., Blau, 1964; Homans, 1950, 1961; Sprecher, 1998), based on the assumption that each party in an interaction gives something and gets something in return. Analyzing the costs and benefits of various interpersonal behavior furnishes a useful basis for making predictions about how people will think, feel, and choose to act. In our view, previous attempts to apply social exchange theory to sex have neglected one crucial aspect, which will be featured in this manuscript. Specifically, sex is a female resource. Put another way, cultural systems will tend to endow female sexuality with value, whereas male sexuality is treated by society as relatively worthless. As a result, sexual intercourse by itself is not an equal exchange, but rather an instance of the man getting something of value from the woman. To make the exchange equal, the man must give her something else in return, and his own sexual participation does not have enough value to constitute this. How much he gives her in terms of nonsexual resources will depend on the price (so to speak) set by the local culture and on her relative standing on valued sexual characteristics (see Table 1). When sex happens, therefore, it will often be in a context in which the man gives the woman material gifts, consideration and respect, commitment to a relationship as desired by her, or other goods. There are two main parts to this manuscript. The first will consist of an extended exposition of the theory. We shall attempt to develop and elaborate the economic analysis of sex from an exchange perspective as thoroughly as we can, even extending to aspects and predictions that are not fully testable against extant data. The second section will then review published empirical findings about many patterns of sexual behavior, as a way of evaluating the exchange theory’s capacity to account for what is known. Social Exchange and Female Resource Theory Social exchange theory analyzes interactions between two parties by examining the costs and benefits to each. Interactions are only likely to continue if each party gains more than it loses. Crucially, the exchange analysis assumes that in each social interaction each person gives something to the other and gains something from the other (hence the exchange). The value of what is gained and exchanged depends in part on the preferences of the individuals and in part on the broader market. By applying economic principles to social rewards, one can make predictions about how social behavior will proceed. How much someone pays for a banana, for example, depends partly on that person’s hunger and liking for bananas, but also partly on the shifting balance between the local community’s supply of bananas and its demand for them. The central point to our social exchange analysis of sex is that sex is essentially a female resource. When a man and a woman have sex, therefore, the woman is giving something of value to the man. In that sense, the interaction is one-sided — unless the man gives the woman something else of comparable value. Although the social exchange analysis will invoke a social system to explain sex and is therefore essentially a cultural theory, ironically its most famous advocate came from evolutionary theory (although Cott, 1977, developed a similar line of analysis in a feminist historical context). Symons (1979) observed that â€Å"Everywhere sex is understood to be something females have that males want† (p. 253). By â€Å"everywhere† he meant in all cultures and historical eras, although to be sure he only presented observations from a handful of these. Indeed, he offered relatively little in the way of empirical evidence for his theory, a deficiency that the present article seeks to remedy (aided by the substantial amount of empirical data on sex that have been produced in the decades since Symons’ book was published). Symons also did not find it useful to consider how economic theory might elaborate his basic observation. Nonetheless, his work deserves recognition for h aving put forth the observation that sex is essentially something that women provide and men desire. Although not many others have explicitly discussed sex as a female resource, we believe that that view is implicit, though often unstated, in many writings. For example, James Q. Wilson (2001) has recently published a widely influential sociological analysis of the decline of marriage in Western cultures, in the course of which he found it necessary to invoke unsupported assumptions such as â€Å"If the culture offers sexual access and does not require in exchange personal commitment, a lot of men will take the sex every time† (p. 15; although no sources or evidence were cited to back up this assertion). Later he speculated that if the government wanted to make marriages more durable, the most effective policy intervention would be to require that fathers retain custody of children after divorce, because this would reduce the men’s ability to attract new sex partners — the implicit assumption being that divorces are caused because husbands but not wives leave their spouses in order to gain access to new, more exciting sex partners. In effect, this policy would reduce what the divorcing husband could offer another woman in exchange for sex. Thus, again, the view of sex as a female resource was implicit in his reasoning, but he did not have any scholarly basis for evaluating that view. Our hope is that an open statement and appraisal of the female resource theory of sexual economy can enable such analyses to have a strong, explicit basis in research findings, including frank recognition of its limitations — and we think that would be preferable to relying on impres sions and stereotypes, as many writers currently must. Sex as Female Resource A consideration of the cultural economy of sex goes beyond the simple recognition that men want sex from women. Insofar as that is generally true, the social network will recognize it and organize the behavior of individuals and couples on that basis. Treating sex as a female resource means that each culture (we define culture as an informationbased social system) will endow female sexuality with value, unlike male sexuality. Women will receive other valued goods in return for their sexual favors. Male sexuality, in contrast, cannot be exchanged for other goods. Put another way, women become the suppliers of sex, whereas men constitute the demand for it and play the role of purchasers and consumers. Even though in one sense a man and a woman who are having sexual intercourse are both doing similar things, socially they are doing quite different things. Thus, the first prediction based on the social exchange theory of sex is that interpersonal processes associated with sexual behavior will reveal a fundamental difference in gender roles. Men will offer women other resources in exchange for sex, but women will not give men resources for sex (except perhaps in highly unusual circumstances). In any event, the bottom line is that sexual activity by females has exchange value, whereas male sexuality does not. Female virginity, chastity, fidelity, virtuous reputation, and similar indicators will have positive values that will be mostly absent in the male (see Table 1). Put another way, it will matter more to the formation and continuation of a relationship whether the woman is a virgin than whether the man is; whether the woman engages in sex with another partner than whether the man does; and so forth. Why a Female Resource? Why would sex be a female resource? Symons’s (1979) original answer focused on reproductive strategies shaped by evolution as the ultimate cause. In his account, the minimal male investment in parenthood is almost zero, whereas for a woman it is substantial. Therefore, he proposed, sex for a man is all benefit with little or no cost, whereas for a woman the potential cost (possible pregnancy, with pain and possibly death attending childbirth) is substantial even if the pleasure is quite high. The risk of high cost will be an incentive for the woman to hold back, and so the man must offer her some benefits to offset this. However, Symons also acknowledged (p. 261) that human beings do not necessarily care about these ultimate causes, and so the immediate psychological factors that lead people to treat sex as a medium of exchange require further explanation. A somewhat different explanation for why sex is a female resource can be deduced from motivational differences. Social exchange theory has featured the â€Å"principle of least interest† (Waller Hill, 1951). According to that principle, a party gains power by virtue of wanting a connection less than the other wants it. For example, Waller and Hill proposed that the person who is less in love has more power to shape and influence the relationship, because the one who is more in love will be more willing to make compromises and offer other inducements in order to keep the relationship going. If men want sex more than women, therefore, men would have to offer other benefits to persuade women to have sex, even if women desire and enjoy sex too. Is it plausible that men desire sex more than women? A literature review recently examined the question of gender differences in sex drive by comparing men and women on behavioral indices of sex drive (Baumeister, Catanese, Vohs, 2001). On every measure, men were found to display greater sexual motivation than women. Specifically, men think about sex more often, have more frequent fantasies, are more frequently aroused, desire sex more often (both early and late in relationships, and outside of relationships), desire a higher number of sex partners, masturbate more frequently, are less willing to forego sex and are less successful at celibacy (even when celibacy is supported by personal religious commitments), enjoy a greater variety of sexual practices, take more risks and expend more resources to obtain sex, initiate more goal directed behavior to get sex, refuse sex less often, commence sexual activity sooner after puberty, have more permissive and positive attitudes toward most sexual behaviors, are less prone to report a lack of sexual desire, and rate their sex drives as stronger than women. No findings indicated that women had a stronger sex drive than men on any measure. Although certainly there are some women with high sex drives and some men with relatively low ones, these are exceptions, and moreover these exceptional types do not appear to form mismatched couples very often. Byers and Lewis (1988) found that half the couples in their large sample disagreed about sex at least once a month, and without exception all of the disagreements involved the man wanting sexual activity while the woman did not. Likewise, a large sample of couples studied by McCabe (1987) found that the category of partnered individuals who wanted sex but were not having it (â€Å"reluctant virgins†) consisted almost entirely of men. Thus, the sexual negotiations of couples appear to center around the men’s efforts to induce the women to have sex, and not the reverse. The gender difference in sex drive applies both to new and established relationships. Therefore the principle of least interest might predict that men would continue to give resources for sex throughout the relationship. Within established relationships, however, the rules of exchange may be blurred by several factors. In modern marriage, for example, resources are generally jointly owned by both couples, and so the woman already technically has claim to all her husband’s resources. This limits what more he can offer her, thereby removing the basis for exchange or negotiation. Possibly her role is simply to give him enough sex to sustain the marriage. The exchange may also be concealed or complicated by other aspects of long-term marriage, such as declining sex appeal with aging, and the reduced freedom of both spouses to seek other partners and thereby ensure that they get full market value. A last perspective on why sex is a female resource would invoke the economic subjugation of women in society. In hunter-gatherer and subsistence farming societies, men and women already had separate roles and spheres of activity, both of which made vital contributions to survival. The development of a broader sphere of economic and political activity occurred mainly from the male sphere, however, and so as wealth and power were created in society, they were created by and owned by men, leaving women at a disadvantage (see Wood Eagly, 2002). Sex was one of the few resources women had with which to barter for access to these new, social resources (and the material resources that often depended on the social resources). The social exchange surrounding sex may therefore be especially associated with cultures and periods in which women lack avenues other than being a supplier of sex for obtaining material and social resources. The Local Sexual Marketplace Most theories of sex have acknowledged that local norms exist to guide behavior, and even that people are curious to learn about the sex acts of others as a way of learning what those norms are. The exchange theory endows those norms with much greater power and importance, however. One crucial feature of the social exchange analysis is that all the sexual activities within a community are loosely interconnected as part of a sexual marketplace. Sex is therefore not entirely a private matter between two consenting adults. Rather, sex becomes part of an economic system, just as the sale of a house is not purely a transaction between two parties but is tied in to the local economy and housing market. Stated this way, our analysis is compatible with recent dynamical systems approaches to gender differences in mate selection. A comprehensive paper emphasizing emergent social norms during mate selection (Kenrick, Li, Butner, 2003) noted that male and female mate selection does not occur in a vacuum but rather that men and women influence each other’s sexual choices. This reciprocal-influences approach is similar to our perspective, in which the local cultural marketplace influences the behavior of individuals, which in turn changes local norms and expectations, which cycle around again to influence individuals’ behavior. Hence in our model, the local culture and the individuals therein affect one another in a recursive fashion. The social exchange analysis emphasizes that sex is a female resource, so that men must offer women other resources in exchange for it. But how much? The price of sex (so to speak) may vary widely. In order to commence a sexual relationship with a particular woman, a man may have to offer her a fancy dinner, or a long series of compliments, or a month of respectful attention, or a lifetime promise to share all his wealth and earnings with her exclusively. This price is negotiated between the two individuals in the context of the prices that other, similar couples set. Sexual norms thus constitute a kind of local going rate as to the appropriate price for sex. Across cultures and across different historical periods, the going rate may vary widely. Within a given community, however, it probably varies much less. Market forces will tend to stabilize this rate within a community (but not necessarily across communities). To illustrate, suppose a particular woman demands too high a price for sex, such as if she refuses to have sex until the man has promised to marry her and has given her an engagement ring. Her suitor may abandon her and turn his attention to another woman – but only if other women in the community will offer sex at a significantly lower price. If all the woman in her community demand an engagement ring before giving sex, however, the man will be more likely to agree. A related prediction is that a low price of sex favors men, whereas a high price favors women. Therefore men will tend to support initiatives that lower the price of sex, whereas women will generally try to support a higher price. Ideologies of â€Å"free love† (that is, sex unaccompanied by any other obligations or exchanges) will appeal to men more than women. The price of sex is not restricted to money, of course. Our broad conceptualization of resources (as money, material gifts, respect, love, time, affection, or commitment) is consistent with arguments that women do not select their sex partners on the basis of material goods alone. A recent analysis (Miller, Putcha, Pederson, 2002) noted that during much of humans’ evolutionary history, people lived in small groups. Typically, a group of men brought back meat for the group and all the meat was shared. Miller et al. argued that this arrangement obscured individual hunting ability, and therefore women could not easily use gifts of material resources as a sign of long-term mate potential. With a broader conceptualization of resources, however, it would still be possible for a woman to detect the desirability of individual men within her community because she could see how much attention, affection, or time each gave to her. In short, we may regard a local sexual marketplace as a loose community in which men and women act as individual agents seeking to find an advantageous deal. Men will act like buyers who want to get good sex or plenty of sex without spending too much (in terms of time, effort, money, or commitment). Women will act like sellers who want to get a high price for their sexual favors. Each couple may negotiate its own price, but whether this price is a better deal for the man or for the woman depends on how it compares to the going rate within their community. Because much sexual activity is conducted in secret, there is likely to be considerable ambiguity about what the actual norms are. Another prediction is therefore that men and women will seek to convey different impressions. Men would be likely to try to create the impression that many couples are having sex at a low price. Women are more likely to emphasize that sex is unusual outside of serious, committed relationships. Male conversation may feature and exaggerate sexual activity, whereas female conversation should conceal and understate sex. Supply and Demand The laws of supply and demand can be substantiated in all sorts of marketplaces, and there is no reason that sex should be an exception. With sex, the female resource hypothesis depicts that women constitute the supply and men constitute the demand. Patterns of sexual activity should change drastically with the balance between supply and demand, such as the sex ratio. When the pool of eligible women (that is, young, unattached female adults) is much larger than the pool of eligible men, supply can be said to exceed demand. The price will therefore drop, which means that men will be able to obtain sex without giving or promising much in return. In contrast, a shortage of eligible women relative to men means that demand outstrips supply, and so the price is likely to be high. Thus, contrary to any simple view that power in the marketplace depends on having a majority, the price of sex will tend to favor the minority gender. More precisely, men will give women more resources for sex when men outnumber women than when women outnumber men. Another common result of shortages of desired goods is that low-cost substitutes become available. Prostitution and pornography may be regarded as low-cost substitutes for the preferred alternative of having sexual relations with a special, desired partner (e.g., Cott, 1977). The economics of the sexual marketplace would suggest that such low-cost alternatives will be targeted for men and to varying degrees will be welcomed by men. In contrast, women should generally oppose them as if they represent a threat to women generally — which they do, in an important sense. Put another way, why should a woman care whether men in her community purchase pornographic materials and masturbate? But if pornography satisfies some of the male demand for sex, then it may reduce the total demand for her own sexual favors, and as a result the price she can obtain will be lower. Assuming that most men would prefer to have sex with affectionate female partners (as opposed to prostitutes or by masturbating while watching pornography), the women in a community would potentially have a monopoly if they could band together to reduce competition among themselves. A rational economic strategy that many monopolies or cartels have pursued is to try to increase the price of their assets by artificially restricting the supply. With sex, this would entail having the women put pressure on each other to exercise sexual restraint and hold out for a high price (such as a commitment to marriage) before engaging in sex. Economic history suggests that such efforts, as in the case of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) are only intermittently successful and may often be undermined as individuals seek to underbid each other. Still, monopolies are sometimes sufficiently successful that most developed nations have found it necessary to enact laws against them. It would therefore not be surprising that economic self-interest would occasionally drive women to work together to restrain the availability of sex.

The Impact of Leadership on Business

The Impact of Leadership on Business This essay will discuss the impact of leadership on businesses. Leadership concepts can be categorised into three main theories. Transactional leadership which is mainly applied in a relatively stable situation, Transformational leadership which can be well used in an atmosphere where big changes have happened and contextual leadership which is used in a constantly changing and chaotic situation. Therefore the main difference is the environment within they function. Good and effective leadership has many details which are going to be described trough appropriate academic theories. Leadership has many aspects such as attitude towards objectives and operations or representation of the company. All of these aspects link together in order to achieve competitive advantage. Probably the most important factor is the influence of leadership on other members of the business, particularly on the followers. The main body of the essay will investigate how leaders behaviour and attitude navigates the company trough controlling employees. There are many opinions about which extent leadership describes a pattern of behaviour, a bundle of personal characteristics or its role fulfilled in a group. This part of the essay will give a better understanding of these criteria, however it must be pointed out that there is not a perfect answer for that, because of the waste number of academic arguments on this topic. In its essence, leadership in an organizational role involves (1) establishing a clear vision, (2) sharing (communicating) that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, (3) providing the information, knowledge, and methods to realize that vision, and (4) coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members or stakeholders. A leader comes to the forefront in case of crisis, and is able to think and act in creative ways in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership flows from the core of a personality and cannot be taught, although it may be learnt and may be enhanced through coac hing or mentoring. (www.businessdictionary.com) The popular view is that it does matter who is in charge, leadership quality determines the performance of the group and poor group performance can be overcome by leadership. A group of people is capable of working on their on, but only in a limited extent. Sooner or later one or more individuals will arise from the team because they think differently or imagine the solution in other ways. External factors will also cause the team to change in structure, for example someone has to represent the group and it is also necessary to monitor the tasks, consequently a member has to take responsibility. Without an appointed leader the management would be extremely difficult in an organisation. Living examples are all around us, the parliament, educational institutions, and successful businesses all with appointed leaders. There are some; however who believe in contrary view and argue that it does not matter who is in charge because there is n o real power (Chester Bernard) and that there are few differences between leaders and followers. (Skogdill 1949, Mann 1961) The contingency theory explains that the effectiveness of leadership depends on situation and Pfeffer (1978) argues that the group performance is determined by factors beyond the power of the leader. However the belief in the importance of leadership gives us comforting illusion of control. The theory further explains that there is not a best way to lead and in certain new situations the well developed leadership style may not be successful. This may result in certain very successful leaders become ineffective when they are transplanted into another situation or when the factors around them change. (www.snc.edu) This statement refers to how great leaders who were very successful made wrong decision when the business changed. A good example is Jurgen Schrempp and Robert Eaton, the CEOs of the Daimler-Chrysler merger. Both of them were very effective leaders in t heir own companies. These organisations are famous worldwide so naturally the leaders enjoy a prestigious position which assumes that they are people who really are the best and do not make mistakes. However, when the merger began and the cultural differences occurred, the lack of adaptation of leaders led to failure. Contingency theory does not differ much from situational theory because both assume that there are more options about the right way to do things. Situational leadership assumes that the best action of the leader depends on a range of situational factors. Contingency theory involves a wider view which includes contingent factors about the individuals capability and situational theory focuses on the behaviour of the leader in different situations. (www.changingminds.org) For example in a given situation the good leader will not act in a single style i.e. transactional method but will be able to adjust his behavioural pattern so he makes the most out of the situation. A c lear example is the army where leadership is highly situational complemented by transformational effects. Soldiers without motivation are performing totally differently and just a little lack of performance can lead to total failure, meanwhile the general or whoever is in command needs to adapt to the current situation quickly and reasonably as possible. There are many aspects which will influence the decisions such as the capability and motivation of followers and their relationship with the leader. External factors such as stress and mood will also affect the leaders behaviour. Yukl (1989) distinguishes between six main variables: Subordinate effort: the motivation and actual effort expended. Subordinate ability and role clarity: followers knowing what to do and how to do it. Organization of the work: the structure of the work and utilization of resources. Cooperation and cohesiveness: of the group in working together. Resources and support: the availability of tools, materials, p eople, etc. External coordination: the need to collaborate with other groups. (www.changingmins.org) According to Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1958) there are three main forces which influence the leaders decisions and actions. These forces are present in both the leader, followers and in the situations which causes the leaders behaviour variable. Liputt and Whites (1943) research on after school club shows that leaders adopted one of three leadership styles which affects the performance of the members of the group. These are: Autocratic, whereas followers are just told what to do and good performance is only achieved when the leader is present. This style involves low morale. Laissez faire style can be described with the phrase just let people get on with it, meaning there are no strict instructions. In this case there is a moderate moral and the performance is generally low and only rises when the leader is absent. The Democratic style provides the best results -high morale and perform ance and it is achieved by involving people in the decisions and encouraging discussions. There are radical examples for these styles out there. One of the simplest is politics. Parliaments in most of the countries operate in a democratic style. People work together and they are equal but a formal leader is present. Whereas in autocratic societies it is inevitable to notice low moral in certain groups and opposition towards autocratic parties. Zaccaro, Fotit and Kenny carried out a research questioning what kinds of people occupy leadership positions: (Four Tasks Model) Do the same people emerge as leaders irrespective of the task, or does it depend on the task? (This leads back to contingency theory.) Participants completed Snyders self monitoring scale and the results show that only individuals who are able to be flexible can emerge as leaders across different tasks. Lord and Alligers meta analysis shows, (1986) (A meta analysis treats all evidence as if it came from a single study using statistical techniques) that same people will not always make good leaders and they will not be always preferred in different groups, same kinds of people will not become leaders in real organisations -but it depends on situation and factors influence perception of leadership. (Contingency theory) Leadership is positively associated with quality of speech, quality of ideas and friendliness (Malloy and Ianowsky 1992) Leaders acquire their positions in different ways. It could happen by seizing power by force, which is called usurpation or it can be inherited. Other ways are election/popular acclaim or appointment. It is essential to investigate how leaders emerge and what kinds of people become successful in this position. One of the theories discussing this topic is the Great Man Theory. It assumes that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Leaders are born and not made and great leaders will arise when there is a great need. (www.changingminds.org) Studies on leadership in the past examined individuals who were already great leaders. There were almost always from aristocracy because it was difficult for lower class people to emerge amongst the ranks of society. However there are exceptions such as Robin Hood. He represented a very appealing organisational vision and he gained a waste number of followers via communicating the right policies. He created a very successful organisation by advertising his company values, so successful that even the present formal authority which represents for example a big competitor company had troubles gaining market share. This suggests that the quality of leadership is indeed what wins in business. The notion that great men would arise in the time of need often bare mystical aspects and it was easy to justify by mentioning historical characters such us Churchill or Jesus. Many studies discuss which kind of personalities are the best suited for leadership positions. Leaders are generally good in handling people but this does not necessary mean being friendly over the top. Keeping a bit of distance can keep up the respect and authority. While leaders, especially transformational ones tend to care a lot about the feelings of their followers, it does not mean that they would not be task oriented. They are indeed achievement focused but they realise the importance of filling up followers with enthusiasm in order work together towards the vision. The work of Hua Gu ofeng represents (leader of China for a perioid after of Maos death) real transformational leadership. He himself did not take credit for his work that caused fundamental changes in the governance of the nation but instead aimed to influence many others to work towards his vision. The Trait Theory assumes that People are born with inherited traits. Some traits are particularly suited to leadership. People who make good leaders have the right (or sufficient) combination of traits. (www.12manage.com) There are several researches about these traits, usually studying great and successful leaders. According to McCall and Lombardo (1983), there are four main traits and Stogdill (1974) summarised the typical traits and skills a good leader probably possesses. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Emotional stability and composure People with these characteristics are able to handle stress, they are self confident, organised and cooperative. A leader should be adaptable to situations, learn from their mistakes instead of covering them up. Good interpersonal skills are a requirement; the leaders manner of speech has to be diplomatic, fluent, intelligent and able to persuade others. It is essential to have knowledge about many areas, to be assertive and reactive to social situations and be a ble to take responsibility. It is undeniable that leadership skills can be coached and an individual can learn to become a better leader and some argue that situational factors are much more important then inherited characteristics. An interesting study about twins who were separated at birth however reveals that there are far more genetically inherited traits then previously supposed. Another interesting fact that many historical leaders lived with some handicap that they had to overcome. It could be traumatic childhood or reading problems or just being relatively short compared to others. There are very well known examples such as Hitler or Napoleon. According to Bales (1950) leadership has two key roles and one individual can not occupy both. Task specialist persons offer opinions and give directions in task oriented aspects of group life, and socio emotional persons respond and pay attention to feelings of other group members. According to the Contingency theory leadership effectiveness depends on situation. Fiedler (1965) differentiates between three contingencies: The first is about the quality of leader-member relation, the second is task clarity and the last one speaks about the amount of power the leader has. Combinations of these contingencies determine which side is most effective. According to Tetlock (1979) the behaviour of the leader is critical does the leader encourage open discussion or not? Group decision making involves two main aspects: The risky shift: groups tend to recommend risky alternative rather then the individuals. Polarization: tendency for groups to make decision that are more extreme than the indivi dual members initial decision in the direction favoured by the mean. Polarization has four aspects: social comparison, persuasive arguments, self categorisation and repeated attitude expression. Sanders and Barens Social comparison model: Comparing behaviour and opinions with thoughts of others in order to establish correct (socially approved) way of thinking. People are influenced by information that supports their decision and thus become more extreme in their view. This is called persuasive arguments. (Burnstein and Vinokur) When talking about Transformational leadership, various theories overlap both operationally and conceptually. Bass Transformational Leadership Theory assumes that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Awareness of task importance motivates people and a focus on the team or organization produces better work. Others like Burns argues that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Association with a higher moral position is motivating and will result in people following a leader who promotes this. Working collaboratively is better than working individually. (www.changingminds.org) He describes transformational leadership as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾a process where leaders and followers engage in a mutual process of raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.' In general transformational leadership assumes that individuals will follow inspiring people. Someone with a vision and passion can reach goals and it is possible to achieve great things with enthusiasm. A good example is Mahatma Gandhi. He satisfied the needs of his fo llowers, while remaining loyal to a higher purpose instead of using his position to seize power. His visions about a greater good and not about himself were passed on to many of his followers. To work under a transformational leader may be a very good experience because such leaders are interested in success of others and they carry out their job utilising a great deal of energy. The first thing transformational leaders begin with is to develop a clear vision and plan the future which will motivate potential followers. Selling the vision is the second most important factor. This takes commitment and some people need more time to join but many individuals follow radical visions quickly. Therefore a transformational leader will use every opportunity to convince others to follow and these aspects all contribute towards winning in business. The leader has to be very careful who he trusts and in creating trust and personal integrity is critical because they are not only representing the vision but selling themselves as well. Looking forward on the way may be differ, some leaders already know the right path and simple needs others to follow, some do not have a developed plan but are willing to explore possibilities towards success. The important fact is to make progress and to accept occasional failures. The transformational leader who has a developed vision knows the direction and will be satisfied as long as progress is being made. Transformational leaders will want to represent their group and are always visible. This is the last stage during the development of the vision. They are acting as a role model by their actions, showing how their followers should behave. They also put constant effort into delegating and motivating their inferiors and listening to their opinions. According to Bass charisma is important but not sufficient. Leaders with such attribute will influence the followers emotions and cause identification with the leader. Bass also notes that authentic transformational leadership has moral aspects. These are Idealized influence, Inspirational motivation, Intellectual stimulation, Individualized consideration, moreover The moral character of the leader, The ethical values embedded in the leaders vision, articulation, and program (which followers either embrace or reject), The morality of the processes of social ethical choice and action that leaders and followers engage in and collectively pursue. Their commitment encourages their followers to go on even when questions arise about the possibility of the fulfilment of the vision. If people are demoralised their efforts will eventually decrease causing the business to loose or to give advantage to its competitors. Methods of sustaining motivation include several techniques such as use of cultural symbolism of the company or ceremonies. According to Burns the usage of these motivational tools (social and spiritual values) is very useful because it gives people the feeling of being connected to the higher purpose giving their work a meaning and identity to themselves. Little changes and acknowledgement of peoples performance give them the feeling of significance and enha nce their progress. The transitional leader has to keep a good balance between his attentions to actions which contribute towards progress and to constantly cultivate the mental state of their followers. They believe that success is being achieved trough commitment and they are naturally people oriented. Burns opinion is that transactional leadership is less effective because it involves selfish concerns. By appealing to social values people are encouraged to work together. Burns also clearly differentiates between transformational and transactional approach. The characteristics of transactional leadership will be explained in the next paragraph in more detail. Transformational leaders aim to constantly transform the organisation and this transformation naturally has an effect on the people in it. They might be transformed in a way as well, maybe to be like the leader himself. Bass emphasizes the way leaders transform their followers: Increases the followers task importance and valu es, influence them that instead of their own interest keep the organisational goal in front of them and activating their higher-order needs. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Transformational Leaders are often charismatic, but are not as narcissistic as pure Charismatic Leaders, who succeed through a belief in themselves rather than a belief in others. (www.changingminds.org) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾In contrast to Burns, who sees transformational leadership as being inextricably linked with higher order values, Bass sees it as amoral, and attributed transformational skills to people such as Adolf Hitler and Jim Jones. This paragraph aims to give an insight into transactional Leadership. The transactional style assumes that followers are encouraged by reward and motivated by punishment. It also argues that if clear commands are present then it will enchance the operation on social systems. When speaking about employees doing their job their also have to accept their managers as authority and that they role and purpose is to carry out the tasks their supervisors betrust them. This already starts when the potential employees sign their contracts whereby they are provided salary in return for their subordination. The typical transactional leader gives clear instructions to their subordinates whereas hes expressing what is expected to do in order to to fullfill their role and thus acquiring their rewards. Naturally it leads to disciplinary action in case of unsatisfying performance. These punisment measures are not always mentioned but employees usually know these formal systems. When the subordinate r ecevies his task, he is considered fully responsible of it and expected to be able to do it. In a sitation when things are not going according to plan, it is going to be the subordinates responsibility and fault. This will attract punishment measurements. Transactional leaders often do not pay attention when something operates as defined even if subordinates exceed their normal performance. However these situtations require extra appreciation to keep the moral of the subordinates up, to reward their extra effort in their work, because in the opposite case they will not feel that they should work with extra enthausism in the future. Transactional leadership does have many limitations but, however being a working method it is often used. When differentiating between management and leadership it is undoubtedly closer to management. There are several limitations in this approach as it only takes into account the rational follower who is driven by money and reward with a predictable beha viour. However it is not as simple to describe peoples behaviour because there are emotional and social factors. Behaviourism is what supports this leadership style but it has to be emphasized that in an economic situation where there is a need for skill and demand for employees this leadership styles would be often insufficient. It is essential that we differentiate between Leadership and Management. Often people use these notions interchangeably however there are major differences which need to be adressed. The main difference is how leaders and managers motivate people. Managers become leaders as well if there is a need to follow a path which is different form usual or something new. People who are inferior to a manager are called subordinates and there is a formal authority present. Naturally there are levels of power which is called seniority. On the other hand, leaders have followers who may be subordinates in case they are managers but following is a voluntary behaviour and thus formal authorial control needs to be given up. To win in business there has to be cooperation between management and leadership. It is truth that the aspects are different but both are essential. Leadership vision and strategy becomes the real achievement if it is managed effectively (Mullins) If within an organisation there is good leadership present it still requires an effective management team to carry out the objectives. It servers as a pillar and without it the result will be inefficient. On the other hand a good management team can not get proper feedback and directions without effective leadership. These aspects of the business need to work cooperatively and to achieve competitive gain a combination between skilled leadership and competent management is required. (Kotter 1990) We have discussed transactional and transnational style already and generally we can apply these theories when distinguishing between managers and leaders. As described, managers bear with authority and their subordinates carry out task as ordered and in return expect an agreed reward. Managers work for a company and usually do not make fundamental decisions. They are getting payed to work within à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾tight constraints of time and money so it is natural that they expect the same working style from their subordinate s. Thus this is a transactional approach. However when leading people something more is needed than financial credit because followers have to want to follow you and perhaps go into certain situations they would not risk otherwise. Leaders have to inspire followers and appeal to them enough to make them believe in the goal. The power of this can be tremendous. A good example is Alexander the Great who was able to convince his warlords to be loyal for decades in his campaigns. This may happen trough a charismatic, transformaional style only when enough appreciation and attention is given. Leaders who have strong charisma often find that people will follow them and their ambitions because it does not only give them financial benefit but also has a positve effect on their lifes and personalities. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾They are always good with people, and quiet styles that give credit to others (and take blame on themselves) are very effective at creating the loyalty that great leaders engend er. A different aspect is the attitude towards risky decisions and and new methods. Leaders generally investigate these ways in order to improve the business and constantly look out for opportunities. They consider it part of their job to encounter problems and come up with new and better solutions. In contrast managers are risk aware and they stick to well working procedures and rules. In the always competitive world of businesses organisations need to constantly focus on improvement and change. Given the challenges which occur because of the competing companies over the market, the factor of leadership is very important. To complete the estimated mission and to make out the most of employee abilities trough the companys vision, effective leadership is necessary. Leadership is a force which manages organisational procedures and coordinates the employees to achieve the companys objectives. The actions of the leadership represent the organisation itself, motivate followers and encourage them to work in accordance of various ethics and values. To win in business coordination of the followers is fundamental because they are the core of the operation functions. Therefore a good relationship between leaders and followers is essential to achieve a good performance.

Review And History Of CDMA Computer Science Essay

Review And History Of CDMA Computer Science Essay CDMA technology was used many times ago at the time of world war-II by the English soldiers to stop German attempts at jamming transmissions. English soldiers decided to transmit signals over several frequencies, instead of one, making it difficult for the Germans to pick up the complete signal. CDMA has been used in many military applications, such as anti-jamming (because of the spread signal, it is difficult to jam or interfere with a CDMA signal), ranging (measuring the distance of the transmission to know when it will be received), and secure communications (the spread spectrum signal is very hard to detect). In 1949, Claude Shannon and Robert Pierce develop basic ideas of CDMA. In March 1992, the TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) established the TR-45.5 subcommittee to develop a spread spectrum digital cellular standard. In July of 1993, the TIA gave its approval for the CDMA Technology standard. In September 1998, there were 16 million subscribers on CDMA systems worldwide. Now, 22 countries support CDMA. Verizon, used to be the largest carrier, is now second behind ATT, is using CDMA. Other Famous companies using CDMA are Sprint, Alltel in abroad, Tata indicom and Reliance InfoComm in India. 2. What is CDMA? Generally a fixed amount of frequency spectrum is allocated to a cellular system by the national regulator (e.g. in the United States, the Federal communication commission). Multiple-access techniques are then deployed so that many users can share the available spectrum in an efficient manner. Multiple access systems specify how signals from different sources can be combined efficiently for transmission over a given radio frequency band and then separated at the destination without mutual interference. The three basic multiple access methods currently in use in cellular systems are: A. Frequency division multiple access (FDMA) B. Time division multiple access (TDMA) C. Code division multiple access (CDMA) A. Frequency division multiple access (FDMA) The available bandwidth is splits into non-overlapping frequencies and these disjoint sub bands are dedicated to the different users on a continuous time basis. Channel bands behave as buffer zones to minimize interference between different users. B. Time division multiple access (TDMA) Each user has given the full spectral occupancy to the channel, but only for less time interval. Buffers zones are used as guard times inserted between the assigned time slots. This is done to decrease interference between users by permitting for time uncertainty that arises due to system inadequacies. C. Code division multiple access (CDMA) The main Drawback of FDMA and TDMA is that only one subscriber at a time is assigned to a channel. No other conversation can access this channel until the subscriber s call is finished or until that original call is handed off to a different channel by the system. The above drawback is overcome in this third technique. CDMA systems utilize the spread spectrum technique, whereby a spreading code (called a pseudo-random noise or PN code) is used to allow multiple users to share a block of frequency spectrum. Detailed Description of How CDMA work is explained below. 3. How CDMA works? With CDMA, unique digital codes, rather than separate radio frequencies or channels, are used to distinguish subscribers. The codes are used by both the mobile company and the base station, that codes are called pseudo-Random Code Sequences. CDMA is a spread spectrum technology, which means that it spreads the information contained in a particular signal of interest over a much greater bandwidth than the original signal. CDMA uses Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) technology. In DSSS technology, Signal is transmitted by adding random data-bits called chip. This addition is done by the direct sequence transmitters. Now signal contains both, a useful signal and a signal that appears to be interference (the chips) is transmitted. The receiver easily identifies the chips and subtracts them, leaving only the useful signal. This means that original signal is spread over several frequencies simultaneously. This can deliver secure communication such that the transmitted signal can not be detected or recognized easily by unwanted listeners. It can discard interference whether it is the unintentional interference by another user simultaneously trying to transmit through the channel, or the intentional interference trying to j am the transmission. In TDMA, the original call is transmitted at 9600 bps (9.6 kbps) but when put on the CDMA, the call is spread over a 1.23 Mbps bandwidth, so it can be transmitted at a higher speed. Unique codes are applied to the data bits that make up the telephone call for a particular user. The cellular telephone receiving the call takes off the data codes and the call is converted back to its original 9600 bps. The use of these data codes enables CDMA systems to differentiate data bits from many different calls in the cell. CDMA networks use a scheme called soft handoff, which minimizes signal breakup as a handset passes from one cell to another. The combination of digital and spread-spectrum modes supports several times as many signals per unit bandwidth as analog modes. CDMA is compatible with other cellular technologies, this allows for nationwide roaming. 4. Factors affecting CDMA functionality Although CDMA does not have some capacity limitation, no maximum number of calls per single, wide band-width channel is established. The number of calls that a channel can accommodate is based on 3 factors. A. Total bandwidth B. Geographical coverage C. Quality of sound ? The available bandwidth can be increased by decreasing the quality of sound or the area covered by network. ? Channels that primarily carry voice conversation do not use the extra capacity required to deliver CD-quality sound. So, more bandwidth is available to provide longer transmission distance or to accommodate more cellular calls. ? Suppose there are 2N users that only talk half of the time then they can be accommodated with the same average bandwidth as N users that talk all of the time. 5. Types of CDMA Some of the types of CDMA transmission are as under A. Composite CDMA/TDMA B. CDMA C. cdmaOne D. cdma2000 A. Composite CDMA/TDMA It is Wireless technology that uses both CDMA and TDMA. It is used for large-cell licensed band and small-cell unlicensed band applications. It uses CDMA between cells and TDMA within cells. B. CDMA CDMA is characterized by high capacity and small cell radius, employing spread-spectrum technology and a special coding scheme. C. cdmaOne cdmaOne is the first generation narrowband CDMA. It is also called IS-95. D. Cdma2000 This includes 1XRTT CDMA standard. That is designed to double current voice capacity and support always-on data transmission speeds 10 times faster than typically available today. 6. Advantages of CDMA A. Capacity: The capacity of CDMA currently is 8 to 10 times greater than AMPS which uses FDMA transmission (and predicted to be 20 to 40 times greater in future) and 4 to 5 times greater than GSM which uses TDMA transmission (with prediction of being up to 13 times greater). B. Best for in built system and micro-cell. As in CDMA transmission, we do not need SIM card it is best for in-built system and micro-cell. C. Improves the voice quality. CDMA systems use precise power control that is, the base station sends commands to every mobile phone currently involved in a call, turning down the power on the nearby ones, and increasing the power of those further away. The result is a nice; even noise level across the carrier, with lower overall power levels and no spiky interference. D. Improves the telephone traffic capacity. E. It also provides Call privacy. F. Easily planned and maintained in comparison with FDMA TDMA 7. Disadvantage of CDMA The only disadvantage of installing CDMA system is the cost of the base station with its complex communication equipments. A CDMA base station costs approximately $150,000, while a similar station for TDMA costs approximately $50,000. 8. Referenced Books A. Business Data Communication Fourth edition By Shelly Cashman Serwatka B. COMPUTER NETWORKS, 3rd Edition By Andrew S. Tanenbaum 9. Referenced websites A. www.scsite.com B. www.wikipedia.com C. www.wisegeek.com D. www.palowireless.com E. www.indiastudychannel.com

The Internet And The Future Of Tv Essay -- Television TV

Imagine a day when you would be in total control of creating your own TV channel lineup. Instead of subscribing to a service from a cable, satellite or phone company that might offer you hundreds of channels you'll never watch, you would be able to select what you want and watch it on your own schedule. That day might not be so far away. Slowly but surely, content that's broadcast over cable networks and through satellite providers is being distributed through the public Internet. News.context What's new: A lot of the technology is in place to deliver TV content via the Internet, where content providers could bypass cable and satellite services and deliver programming directly to viewers. Bottom line: While content providers have no intention of giving up on traditional TV service, they are watching Internet TV developments carefully. Most are moving gingerly into the market, making sure digital rights issues are properly addressed, that they can maintain control over content once it's on the Web, and that there is adequate demand for the service. More stories on this topic In terms of the technology, all the elements are falling into place to deliver high-quality video from the Net directly to viewers in their living rooms. Software has been developed to ensure the quality of video distributed over the Net. And companies such as Microsoft and Cisco Systems' Linksys home division are developing products that enable Internet video to be viewed on TV sets instead of only on PC screens. Apple Computer, which has changed the music industry with its iPod music players and iTunes music store, is trying to do the same thing in the video market. Earlier this month it introduced an iPod that plays videos, and launch... ... Previous Next Comcast, the largest cable company in the United States, already provides an extensive library of on-demand movies. On Wednesday it announced it would provide an additional 250 movies every month to its digital cable customers at no extra charge. In total, Comcast customers will be able to select from about 800 movies each month. Comcast says that its video-on-demand programming is extremely popular. The company has already surpassed one billion total on-demand program views for the year, eclipsing last year's total of 567 million views. "The traditional TV market is not dead," said Kontiki's Sahadi. "Multiple models will evolve. Broadband penetration and improvements in digital rights management are helping push content providers to look toward the Web. But there will always be people who want to subscribe to a traditional television service."

Case-Based Environmental Ethics :: Philosophy Essays

Case-Based Environmental Ethics Cases have been widely used in medical ethics and law. In both fields, numerous books and articles about cases have appeared, including book-length catalogs of cases. I argue that pluralistic casuistry provides an adequate approach to environmental ethics. It retains the strengths while avoiding the weaknesses of the other approaches. Importantly, it resolves some broader theoretical issues and provides a clear, explicit methodology for education and praxis. Cases have been widely used in medical ethics and law. In both fields, numerous books and articles about cases have appeared, including book-length catalogs of cases. What I propose to do in this paper is to discuss whether environmental ethics should be case-based as in law and medicine. The relationship of cases to theory has received intense scholarly debate. At issue is which takes priority. A similar situation exists in the sciences, as well as in most other disciplines. There are the so-called "pure" or "research" scientists, and also the "applied" or "practical" scientist. Field biologists, conservation biologists, restoration ecologists, landscape engineers, sylvantologists, and so on, are applied scientists. Which takes priority: theory or application? What I want to discuss is whether environmental ethics, like medicine and law, would benefit from case-based methodology. The long-term aim is to develop an approach to ethics that will help resolve contemporary issues regarding animals and the environment. In their classical formulations and as recently revised by animal and environmental ethicists, mainstream Kantian, utilitarian, and virtue theories have failed adequately to include either animals or the environment, or both. The result has been theoretical fragmentation and intractability, which in turn have contributed, at the practical level, to both public and private indecision, disagreement, and conflict. Immensely important are the practical issues; for instance, at the public level: the biologically unacceptable and perhaps cataclysmic current rate of species extinctions, the development or preservation of the few remaining wilderness areas, the global limitations on the sustainable distribution of the current standard of living in the developed nations, and the nonsustainability and abusiveness of today's technologically intense crop and ani mal farming. For individuals in their private lives, the choices include, for example: what foods to eat, what clothing to wear, modes of transportation, labor-intensive work and housing, controlling reproduction, and the distribution of basic and luxury goods. What is needed is an ethical approach that will peacefully resolve these and other quandaries, either by producing consensus or by explaining the rational and moral basis for the continuing disagreement.

Examining for Aphasia Essay -- Language

Introduction Examining For Aphasia was created in 1954 by John Eisenson in New York (Eisenson, 1954). It was one of the first tests for assessing language impairment (Benson & Ardila, 1996) and provides a guided approach for evaluating language disturbances and other disturbances closely related to language function (Eisenson, 1954). The materials and procedures were developed originally for use with a group of patients in an army hospital who had aphasia and related disturbances (Eisenson, 1954, p. 32). Continued use of the original inventory resulted in refinements and improvement and testing of civilian patients has ‘shown the applicability of various parts of the test as well as of the examination as a whole’ (Eisenson, 1954, p. 32) Purpose The purpose of Examining for Aphasia (EFA) is to examine adolescents and adults whose language abilities have become impaired after normal language functioning had been established, with its main purpose being to ascertain the type and level of the language dysfunction (Eisenson, 1954). It aims to help the clinician discover what abilities remain, and to form the basis of a program of retraining. Eisenson (1954) states that results of the examination 'enable the clinician to obtain an overall view of the patient's strengths and weaknesses, as well as determine the 'level of ability within a given area of language function' (Browndyke, 2002). Construction The examination is divided into two main parts. The first includes items to test abilities and to reveal disturbances in the patient’s capacity to deal with concrete materials, visual representation, and symbols which are presented to the patient for simple recognition or for evaluations (Benson & Ardila, 1996); that is their ability ... ...yke, J. (2002). Aphasia Assessment Retrieved 9 May 2012, from http://www.neuropsychologycentral.com/interface/content/resources/page_material/resources_general_materials_pages/resources_document_pages/aphasia_assessment.pdf Eisenson, J. (1954). Examining for aphasia : a manual for the examination of aphasia and related disturbances. New York: Psychological Corporation. Kagan, A., Simmons-Mackie, N., Victor, J. C., & Aphasia Institute. (2010). Assessment for living with aphasia (pp. 1 instructional manual (26 p.), 25 record booklets (24 p.), 21 pictographic booklet (43 p. on easel), 21 rating scale card, 21 probe question card, 25 score sheets, and 21 instructional DVD). Toronto: Aphasia Institute. Skenes, L. L., & McCauley, R. J. (1985). Psychometric review of nine aphasia tests. Journal of Communication Disorders, 18(6), 461-474. doi: 10.1016/0021-9924(85)90033-4

Gender Roles in European Culture

Throughout history, women have made up a sort of â€Å"minority† in the world’s many societies. They have been looked upon as property to husbands and fathers. Their place was deemed the male’s home. Women were to provide services to men, ranging from carrying an heir (hopefully a male) to providing a clean home and cooked meals. Women in high-income nations still continue to face challenges because of their gender, and those in low-income nations often remain thought of as property.From a symbolic interactionist perspective, gender is an issue that is based on many underlying historical concepts, and it continues to contribute to world-wide poverty. As symbolic interactionists view social problems using a microlevel perspective, they see that gender roles are learned behaviors taught by individual socializing agents in each society. Parents immediately begin teaching their children what it is to be a male or female in how they treat their sons and daughters. For example, parents are more likely to play rough with their sons, who are often dressed in clothes pertaining to superheroes.This teaches the young male that strength, athletic ability, and courage are â€Å"desirable. † He might then try to epitomize this throughout his lifetime. On the other side, a daughter is often dressed in frilly outfits depicting maidens in distress (Cinderella, for example), and they are usually kept inside from getting dirty to learn homemaking skills. Throughout their lifetime, then, they will remember what it is to be a female according to their parents. Thus, from birth, children are subjected to differing gender roles within a society.Symbolic interactionists also see that gender roles could be taught with something as seemingly insignificant as communication. Linguistic sexism, which is patterns of communication that degrade a particular sex (usually female), is often cited as employing the dominance of one gender to perpetuate traditional gende r roles. For example, the English word â€Å"mankind† includes every human being on Earth, whether male or female, even though it conjures up the idea of a group of males. Also, if a female enters a medical profession, she is often referred to as a â€Å"female doctor† to avoid confusion in this traditionally male-dominated job.Even nonverbal communication can perpetuate dominance. A female that always touches a male at her prerogative in public is easily viewed as the dominant figure within the relationship. Eye contact can be used to stress the dominance of one over another (as in animals, when a â€Å"stare down† has been won, the winner has taken dominance). As communication is passed from parent to child in every generation, until it changes, it will perpetuate inequality. Though women’s roles in the world are changing rapidly in high-income nations, many still face problems regarding poverty through all sociological perspectives.Not all women will g row up to become doctors and lawyers, as these fields are still dominated by males. According to the glass ceiling idea, women can only go so far in their dominated jobs. However, the glass elevator idea lifts men to reach even higher than women in female-dominated jobs, such as nursing. Men are typically paid more and regarded as being able to handle more complicated problems (so they are well-suited to move up in companies and manage others). Therefore, women without husbands to help them may not be able to provide the usual income it would take for her to live above the poverty level.This is restrictive to single mothers who are trying to provide for themselves as well as their children. If they cannot move up in their job, they will not be able to provide money for food, housing, child care during her work hours, and other basic necessities (such as clothes for her children). She may get help from the government, but as soon as she gets above a certain income level (which is sti ll on the poverty line), she is cut off of federal aid. It will then take her months to get back into the system, even though she has already been in it before.This creates a cycle of poverty for the woman and her children, who, growing up in poverty, will be more likely to be stuck in poverty throughout their lifetimes. Therefore, the inequality of women in the economy and government as compared to men burdens them in different ways. Since the government does not bother to consider these differences when coming up with plans of action, poverty is still perpetuated. However, the government has tried to cut back on poverty by giving states incentives (additional funds) for having less poverty. This legislation is known as B. O. B. nd encourages states to solve the poverty problem from its roots to wipe it out. Resolutions have also been introduced to reinforce less discrimination against women. These macrolevel answers have little to do with the problem on the microlevel, which has y et to be solved. Language and gestures are hard to change, even over generations and generations. Traditions ebb and flow on their own with regards to advancing technology, ideas, and beliefs. Therefore, from a symbolic interactionist perspective, there is not yet a true solution to the problems of gender inequality and resulting poverty.

DTLLS Applying theories and principles Essay

1. Over the years extensive research has been conducted by many by Psychologists and Scientists who sought to identify the ways in which we learn. As a result several theories have become documented each with different perspectives the main ones being behaviourism, neo-behaviourism, constructivism and humanism but there are some who have a different view on these theories. Minton (2002) identified that â€Å"the history of education is littered with failed theories even those that were the result of years and years of research† (pg213). What is common among all the theories presented is that learning takes place in stages, in different pace and time and in different ways. The aim of this paper is to analyse some of the factors which can affect learning and achievement and how these theories can be applied to inclusive learning. 1.1 Analyse the factors that can affect learning and achievement. There are many factors that affect the learning and achievements of students. These factors may be considered a barrier to some individuals but the same factors can also be a source of inspiration and motivation. Motivation and inspiration may come from anyone within the environment in which they hence factors affecting learning and achievement can either be personal or external. Parents influence children’s careers choices both intentionally and unintentionally. Similarly students may be just as inspired by role models and peers outside of the home. External factors affecting learning and achievement can be look at from many different angles. If students live in an area where there is a high rate of crime or are issues of gangs and anti social behaviour then this can cause emotional and psychological disturbance and unsettlement which can affect students’ ability to focus on learning and achievement. External factors can also be extended to include poverty and deprivation as this can limit individuals to learning opportunities. Depending on the postcodes in which student lives this again can also be a significant factor as to whether the level of learning and achievement can be achieved especially in some cases where the educational establishments may not have the level of resources or facilities, or having suitably trained teachers to teach students. The family environment and background are also key factors which can affect  learning and achievement which can be seen from different angles. First of all the family structure and support of one or both parents of a student at home can be hugely influential factor. According to the Office of National Statistics publication released on October 31, 2013 there are nearly 1.9 million lone parents with dependent. The single parent charity Gingerbread, report this figure to be as high as 3 million children living in a single parent household and 43 percent of single parents are social housing tenants (gingerbread.org.uk). There can be very little doubt that there is a relationship between the household and family structure and its influence on learning and achievements for students but as previously mentioned for some this may be a barrier to some but for others it can be a source of motivation and inspiration. Research suggests â€Å"children intact families tend to have a greater academic achievement and educational attainment and are less likely to exhibit behavioural problems at school. Their parents tend to be more involved in their school activities and have higher expectation for them. It was further stated that individuals from intact families completed on average more years of schooling and were more likely to graduate from High School, attend College and complete college compared to peers raised in blended or single parent families.† (Family Facts.Org). Other factors also include those children who are under the care of the local in foster care or foster homes or those who have been taken away from their birth parents. A high percentage of these children may have suffered from abuse and neglect which can affect their social and psychological well being as well as their perception and esteem. The relevance and importance of this cannot not be over emphasised. It has been well documented that how one perceives themselves, their confidence and esteem can have a direct influence on their education success as is their abilities to effectively communicate with others. Personal factors may include a disability or learning difficulties such as dyslexia or generic inheritance. Learning difficulties could be a specific difficulty in one or more areas of development particularly if needs are not assessed and being provisions made to cater for. Students with dyslexia may exhibit some tendencies like slow reading or writing speed, tendency to misread or possessing a short concentration span and more. Student’s reaction to dyslexia may be varied as they may become frustrated and irritated by the effects however may be  minimised if the problem is identified quickly in the initial assessment stage so that it is included in the planning of lessons. It is essential for Teachers to be able to identify the signs of dyslexia as sometimes the students themselves may not always be aware of this issue. Although it may be a barrier for some many students have benefitted from some good support from both Teachers and Institutions. The effect of dyslexia causes barriers to students learning and development not just from an educational standpoint but can also affect their social well being as they may have difficulties organising work and other aspects of their lives. This may be particularly true for mature students, some of whom will have had very negative experiences of education earlier in life and may experience more negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and low self esteem. They may have difficulties in multitasking, difficulties in carting out instruction or may get lost easily, or may mix up dates for important appointments or meetings. Other personal factors also include issues pertaining to physical and psychological health. For example students who are hyperactive tend to find concentration difficult which may also be a barrier not just to their own learning and developme nt but also that of other learners. 1.2 Explain how theories and principles of learning and communication can be applied to enable inclusive learning and teaching. As teaching professionals it is critical that a flexible and open minded approach to teaching be embraced and adopted for learning to be achieved. Not only do we need to be flexible with our teaching styles but also need to apply the same principle in delivering lessons and creating a suitable environment for achievements to be obtained. This is necessary because students learn in different ways and forms. The vark learning styles theory was based on research which was undertaken by Neil Flemming in 1987 and is one of the more popular tools used to identify how students learn and are characterised as being either audio, visual or kinaesthetic learner. Auditory learners learn best by hearing information and are normally good at remembering what was said which an extremely useful component in the communication process is. Visual learners learn best through the written word and absorb information by reading information by reading books or taking notes. Some lessons may require students to work in groups where they can interact with  their peers and express themselves and some activities may also require them to work on their own. This has been theorised by Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. The principle of this theory is based on the belief that what students learn with the help of others exceeds what they can learn on their own and highlights the parallels between these important factors of group work and its benefits in students learning from each other where the strong supports the weak. One could argue that this would create a suitable learning environment where all students develop new skills as through this inclusion and interaction of peers it was possible to educate those who are so called uneducable. Conversely there may be some who could then argue that the theory may not be as beneficial to some students and may in fact be holding back their development. In contrast the Piaget theory suggest that development comes before learning and hence since we were all born with the ability to learn, learning could be more difficult later unless if there is little or no exposure to the suitable learning environment from a young age. Piaget further suggests that learning must wait until students are ready. Vygotsky argued, â€Å"Learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organised, specifically human psychological function, In other words, social learning tends to precede development† (SS). I interpret this statement mean that Vygotsky was of the view that education is an individual process and everyone learns at their own rate, when they are ready to learn, regardless of age. 3.1 Analyse ways in which minimum core elements can be demonstrated in applying theories and principles for planning and enabling inclusive learning and teaching The minimum core elements are considered as one of the basic skills and knowledge required in being able to deliver effective lessons as a Teacher irrespective of the area of specialism. Possessing the knowledge, understanding and personal skills in English, Numeracy and ICT provides us with the platform to be able show and demonstrate theories and principles to facilitate their learning. â€Å"Improving these skills will enable you to effectively fulfil your role as a professional teacher, it’s about being able to develop these skills in your students† (Ann Gravels). For some Teachers it may be necessary to attend classes to get their core elements up to the required standard through refresher courses or some may need to sit Exams. As an Employability and Business subject tutor to adult learners I  often use several different ways to integrate the minimum core elements into lessons. As an example in delivering lessons on team stage development I put learners in groups to under pin the concept of teamwork. I also use this to reinforce their understanding of the objectives and also to differentiate learners based on their abilities. For the particular task I provide each member of the group with a hand out of the instruction and ask random individuals to read portions of the instruction and the task that is required. I also ask random individuals to count the number of full stops at various sections which provides the opportunity to practice numeracy. I may chose to set the groups an objective to build a particular structure using the resources provided in 45minutes. The objective also gives them the opportunity to count the number of resources needed to construct the tower. This activity also includes the opportunity for them to practice speaking and communicating with others and to be able to use numeracy in working out how much time is needed in each section to complete the task. 4.1 Analyse how own application of theories and principles of learning and communication impact on inclusive learning and teaching Recognising how our students learn is a vital part of a teacher’s role. Assessment therefore is an essential part of the teaching and learning process. It helps us as teacher/ trainers to plan and provide support for learners used with the individual learning plan and the lesson plans. It is integral to managers for monitoring of performance, curriculum planning and evaluation our own teaching. Most importantly, assessments help to track progression, measure achievement and provide feedback to learners. In doing so, learners can make changes to their learning and improve the quality of their work. As Wilson (2009) .p 266 states â€Å"it is the process of checking that learning has occurred. It is the way teachers know whether or not they have been effective in their sessions†. Assessments can be categorised as part of the key stages of learning, the assessments I use in my teaching includes Initial assessments which is used before the start or at the beginning of the course, and is one of the most important assessment method. Ineffective initial assessment can affect the entire learner journey if not correctly assessed. Formative assessments are classed as ongoing or continuing assessment, and used throughout the course at set intervals. These  assessments are both formal and informal and utilised to check if learning has taken place as a result of my teaching and to evidence learner progression. Summative assessment takes place at the end of a course or learning programme. It checks that learning has taken place and is a formal method of assessment. Learners are tested for evidence of skills and knowledge the end result if successful is a certificate. Assessments I use include observations, worksheets, exams, tests and directed questioning. . Self assessment is the evaluation and reflection of own performance, differentiation is evident as each assessment is individual and specific to the learner. The learner takes ownership and is responsibility for own learning. Assessments are conducted during tutorials or at the end of a topic or class session. This is done through written records, questionnaires, action plans and ILPs. Advantages of self assessment; information from is used to record details of progression and helps reflection. Learners develop the habit of recording details of their own progress. During peer assessment learners gather ideas and information from each other. It is inclusive learning; individuals work together to formulate feedback which aids reflection. 4.2 Evaluate strengths and areas for improvement in own application of theories and principles of inclusive learning and teaching Possessing over 20 years experience in commercial business before I started Teaching Business related subject as well as my abilities to engage learners in stimulating discussions has been my stronger areas as a Teacher. I am able to apply and use real life examples and or experiences and relate them to lessons and use this means as an inclusive tool for learning. I am also able to adapt my lessons and teaching styles to different levels, am a good communicator and possess good classroom management skills. I was recently observed and strengths were highlighted as very experienced and knowledgeable it was suggested that my recap and lesson summary needed to be more effective and was introduced to a technique call the flipped classroom model. The Flipped Classroom model basically involves encouraging students to prepare for the next lesson by stating what will be taught. Thus the class becomes a dynamic environment in which students elaborate on what they  have already studied. Another area where development was suggested was that there has to be more ‘Teacher intervention’, set tasks and then go round to individually student ensuring that there are achieving their personal targets and complement the learners on their progress using ‘Directed questions the develop the learning process and using a feedback sheet at the end of lessons. 4.3 Engage in professional development opportunities to improve own application of theories and principles of learning and communication to inclusive learning and teaching Bibliograpmahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13682820601053977 ,