My Leadership Qualities Were Developed Through Working...

It was the first day of class when my professor asked whether we would prefer an unconventional approach towards learning about critical thinking throughout the semester? And as you have guessed, almost all the students said yes in regards to the approval of the notion. As a result, instead of reading multiple chapters from the book and taking multiple-choice questions exam, we took part in volunteer programs. A program which was substituted as a class project along with another simple task. This paper will analyze on the following aspects of the class project. Firstly, how my leadership qualities were developed through working with the disabled students? Secondly, the conflicts I faced through the semester and their resolutions. And†¦show more content†¦Through such communications, we were able to conduct the project in a smooth and uninterrupted manner. Hence, my communication aspect of my leadership skills enhanced further. Let’s move on to the next topic, which is the conflict resolution strategy. Conflicts can be resolved in many different ways, but according to the University of Notre Dame, one of the best way to do so is through compromising. Compromising is a big step toward conflict resolution. Both courage and consideration are used when both parties look for common ground. You agree to negotiate larger points and let go of the smaller points; this style expedites the resolution process. Throughout the semester, I had the experience of dealing with 4 different schedules. Everyone was not available at a certain time together. Some of them do not come to school on certain days, the reason being that they live in New Jersey. As a result, being the leader of the group, I had to cancel some of my personal agendas to make time for the group project. An example of such incidence will be the day of the presentation, on which our group shared information about the various leadership opportunities a round campus to our clients. That was one of the days, when I had to reschedule my braces tightening appointment till the following week. Hence, one of the conflicts between our schedules were resolved through the process of compromising. Transformational volunteering is notShow MoreRelatedServant Leadership Essay1630 Words   |  7 PagesServant Leadership is a leadership style that leads by example, does not take credit for deeds done, and makes themselves as humble as possible to serve others. Servant leadership is focusing on serving the highest needs of others to help another individual achieve their personal goals. Servant leadership has to be developed by the person in the leadership role. The leader has got to be aware of themselves as a person before they can be aware of someone else’s needs. 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The targetRead MoreGood Habits of Character are Necessary for Teachers and Their Administators2924 Words   |  12 Pages I feel it is important for educators and administrators to develop good habits of character, such as self-respect, generosity, good temper, and sincerity to name a few. Since good habits of character are developed in our youth, adults are responsible for instilling values in the young. It is important that teachers and administrators promote and maintain a high level of competence and integrity in practicing their profession. Without good habits of character, it would be impossible to teachRead Mo reTheory to Practice Literature Review3533 Words   |  15 Pagesexplaining how that particular theory can be used in my own nursing administrative practice. The Last stage is summarizing the paper and listing the references in alphabetical order. Pressure sore and skin tear prevention and treatment during a 10-month program Brillhart (2005) article reports the effectiveness of a 10-month skin care program conducted in residential Alzheimer’s disease unit. In this study 30 clients were selected, in which 26 were free of skin tear and 4 clients had stage I pressureRead MoreEffective Instruction for Inclusive Education Essay1933 Words   |  8 PagesIn recent years, several events have contributed to the increased participation of students with disabilities in regular classroom setting. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) stipulated that no more than 2% of the population be excluded from federal or state mandated testing. This means that all but the most severely disabled students will be held responsible for the material on yearly achievement tests and high stakes tests at the high school level. NCLB also requires that the teacherRead MoreThe Intersection Of Inclusion, School Culture, And Social Jus Tice Leadership7770 Words   |  32 PagesTHE INTERSECTION OF INCLUSION, SCHOOL CULTURE , AND SOCIAL JUS-TICE LEADERSHIP Educating students with disabilities has evolved immensely throughout history. Initially, students with disabilities were isolated and institutionalized. Society s perception was that it was not necessary or beneficial to invest time or resources into this group of people (Spaulding Pratt, 2015; Dybwad, 1990; Winzer, 1998). Direct advocacy and litigations caused changes in federal legislation (Griffith, 2015; LloydRead MoreSample Resume : My Service Learning Practicum3636 Words   |  15 Pages 2 Introduction My service-learning practicum takes place in the community setting at Connaught Elementary School in St. Catharines. At Connaught, I am doing a one-on-one mentorship with a grade eight student to help her with her transition into high school. I am at the school twice a week for a half hour; however this position requires a lot of pre planning outside of the school, in order to effectively help her with her transition. My tasks include preparing different activitiesRead MoreMy Service Learning Practicum At Connaught Elementary School3632 Words   |  15 PagesMy service-learning practicum takes place in the community setting at Connaught Elementary School in St. Catharines. At Connaught, I am doing a one-on-one mentorship with a grade eight student to help her with her transition into high school. I am at the school twice a week for a half hour; however this position requires a lot of pre planning outside of the school, in order to effectively help her with her transition. My tasks include preparing different activities for each time I go into placement

Discuss the View That Roles of Men and Women in the Family are Becoming More Equal Free Essays

The aim of this essay is to attempt to come to a conclusion as to whether the gender roles within the modern-day family are equal, whether they are becoming more equal, and whether they shall ever be equal. In doing this, we shall have to study the views and opinions of many schools of thought, the results of different studies, and recognise and fully appreciate the arguments of different people and groups. The title question itself raises many debateable points, as it makes assumptions that ignore the diversity of the family. We will write a custom essay sample on Discuss the View That Roles of Men and Women in the Family are Becoming More Equal or any similar topic only for you Order Now Firstly, and most obviously, the question assumes we shall only deal with heterosexually based families, not same-sex relationships. While same-sex families most definitely exist, they are a minority and do not really come into the issue of gender, therefore I shall ignore them for the course of this essay. Secondly, no two families are exactly the same. Families in different countries will no doubt have different attitudes on the subject of equality, and there will be noticeable differences across race, class and culture divisions, as well as between two different families with (superficially at least) a lot in common. This type of diversity would require its own set of studies and essays, and so for the sake of this essay I shall limit my studies to families from this country, and to statistical evidence; rather than individual families. There are many different views concerning the equality between men and women in the family. The traditional nuclear family as we consider it today would be a married man and woman with children, with the man going out to paid employment and the woman staying at home to do housework and look after the childrenWillmott and Young’s views are similar to those of Postmodernists, a sociological school of thought that developed in the 1980s. Postmodernists believe that we live in a postmodern world, where differences in gender, race, class etc are now obsolete. As a result, they see gender roles in the family to be equal and egalitarian, and claim that any inequality or dissimilarity between gender roles in individual families is due to the choice of the members within the family. Many people have attacked Willmott and Young’s study, claiming insignificant evidence and inaccurate methodology to back up their conclusions. Edgell’s Middle Class Couples (1980) claims that while the division of housework is more equal than in the past, the vast majority of families are far from being egalitarian. Edgell also puts emphasis on the fact that the division power within the family also still seems unequal, with men making the majority of decisions for the family. Many feminists also claimed that the statistics show that men still do a disproportionately small amount of work at home. While some more liberal feminists believe we are on a steady path to gender equality within the family, many more hard-line and radical feminists argue that gender roles are far from equal. Ann Oakley’s The Sociology of Housework (1974) and Housewife (1976) argue that modern women work a ‘double-shift’, juggling full-time employment and housework. Oakley claims that â€Å"One occupation in particular, that of housewife, is exclusively feminine. In Britain, 76% of all employed women are housewives and so are 93% of non-employed women†¦Ã¢â‚¬  – Housewife (1976). She argues that while feminism has forced change in waged employment, social attitudes in the home remain the same. According to Oakley, men do very little in the home, with dishwashing being the only housework men do more than women. She also argues that men see doing housework as a favour to their wives, rather than a duty; and that childcare for most men is merely a spasmodic activity of recreation. Many other sociologists attack Oakley’s views, accusing her of hypocrisy as she attacked Willmott and Young’s methodology, while her own studies into housework completely ignore the more traditional male jobs, such as DIY, operating machinery, gardening, simple household repairs and so on. A. Warde’s Domestic Divisions of Labour (1990) offers a more well rounded view: * Male Partner Female Partner Shared Plastering 32 4 2 Tidying Up 2 67 23 Cooking 4 77 17 Checking Car Oil 79 9 2 Bathing Children 22 44 33 It may also be important that the female-dominated jobs (Tidying up, Cooking, Bathing children) are much more often ‘shared’ than the male-dominated ones (Checking Car Oil, Plastering) Burghes (1997) argues against Oakley’s dismissal of male childcare, stating that more fathers are taking an active role in the emotional development and support of their children. Marxists argue that the traditional nuclear family was merely a way for the capitalist class to control and exploit the proletariat through ideology. Therefore, Marxist-Feminists believe in a ‘patriarchal ideology’, in which girls are socialised into a male-led world to accept their role as housewives, and make marriage and family their main goal. In turn, this will benefit the capitalist society by keeping the status quo, and creating a new generation of similarly socialised male workers and female housewives. Marxist-Feminists believe this patriarchy occurs at all levels of society, from making girls wear skirts to advertising dolls on television, and that to truly achieve gender equality we must dispense with socialising our children into gender roles. People often dismiss this view, claiming that gaining equality should not mean compromising identity, and many other feminists believe that retaining their femininity is as important a part of the struggle for equality as gaining equal rights. The New Right believe that the nuclear family is the ideal family structure, and that Britain went through a ‘Golden Age’ during the 1950s. Since then, they claim that feminism and equal rights have caused women to demand jobs, and thus be absent from home. As a result, the New Right argue that this puts stress on the nuclear family, often tearing it apart, and that absent parents cause deviance and social problems amongst their children. They claim that this has caused a decline in the family, and an increase in what they consider social problems (egg divorce, single-parent families). They believe that the current equal rights movement is wrong, and that people should return to the traditional nuclear family, which gives everyone an equal but separate, individual role. These views are similar to those of functionalists. Functionalists also believe that the nuclear family is the perfect and desired family type, as each member is supported within the family unit, and each person agrees on their role within the family to keep it working. Robin Fox (1969) argued that roles in the family were based on biological rules, while Talcott Parsons (1955) took a similar view, claiming that naturally women are best at ‘expressive’ roles, such as caring, empathising and socialising, while men are best at ‘instrumental’ roles, such as working for money. Therefore, functionalists believe that biological factors determine gender roles within the family, and the traditional roles within the nuclear family are the perfect representation of these roles. What is more, functionalist claim there is a consensus within the family, whereby all members of the family agree to these roles. These functionalist and new right views are viciously attacked by Marxists, feminists and postmodernists, all of whom agree that gender roles are culturally, not biologically, determined. Marxist-feminists claim that the consensus is an illusion, as women only accept their roles in the traditional family as they have been socialised to do so by patriarchal ideologies. All feminists also disagree with the New Right idea of the ‘perfect’ nuclear family and the ‘Golden Age’, claiming that all these things did were control and manipulate women, and that roles within such families were never equal. As this essay has shown us, views on gender roles in the family are fiercely contested, and opinions differ drastically. Functionalists and the New Right insist that gender roles in the family are biologically intended to be different, and were most equal in the traditional, nuclear family. Postmodernists and followers of Willmott and Young claim we have moved into an era of egalitarianism, where gender roles are shared and equal. Feminists argue that while there has been a small amount of progress, gender roles are far from equal, and females still have a much worse ‘deal’ than males. I have attempted to fully understand all these points of view, and come to a fair conclusion. In truth, it seems to me that the real nature of gender roles within the family is somewhere between all these points of view. I believe that as we currently stand, gender roles are equal, but not egalitarian. More males share more of the housework and childcare than ever, while more females are pursuing careers and learning what were traditionally ‘male’ skills (eg DIY, repair, vehicle maintenance etc). People tend to still do jobs that were traditionally considered ‘right’ for their sex, and there are most definitely still differences between the genders, but these boundaries are being pushed every day, and more and more families are sharing more jobs and decisions. I think we must remember that social attitudes take more time to change than social actions, and we must recognise that change is occurring. Since the 1970s, when Ann Oakley wrote her books on housework, we have seen the rise of the ‘new man’ and ‘house-husbands’. Meanwhile, more and more women are proving Fox’s and Parsons’ theories of biologically determined roles to be wrong. Not all families will follow the statistics; there will always be a few male-dominated households, just as there are now ‘role-reversal’ families. And families will always differ slightly from each other. But within a few generations, I believe that Willmott and Young’s vision of an egalitarian family will become our view of the majority of families, as we’re halfway there already. How to cite Discuss the View That Roles of Men and Women in the Family are Becoming More Equal, Essays

Business Culture in Japan-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: You are to prepare a formal analytical essay on Japanese Business Etiquette and steps that Emily can use to make a favourable first impression when she visits Japan to meet with Mr. Hamasaki. Answer: Introduction Communication and understanding the ways to build a cross-cultural communication is an important weapon that benefits an individual or a business (Kinloch Metge, 2014). This is very important at workplace as well as at the socially gathered places. Nevertheless, communication is very important to make other understand the personal or the business requirement. In the given case study, Emily is a passionate businessperson who has string beliefs in food business. Her family had long connection to the various food preparation related works. This is why Emily has some interesting recipes as well using which she had already earned a good reputation in Australia. However, Emily wanted to move to Japan for expanding her existing business. Emily is very sure that her plan would work. However, it is very necessary that Emily have adequate information on the cultural beliefs of the Japanese people. Additionally, Emily needs to impress Mr. Hamasaki on her first meeting as this would build up a good rapport between them and would open up ways for future relations. The main purpose of this assignment is to recommend some ways to Emily, which she could use to impress Mr. Hamasaki and could, establish a desired business. Business culture in Japan It is necessary to first understand the culture of Japan, as Japanese people are very specific to their cultural beliefs. Emily on the other hand has decided to have talks with Mr. Hamasaki for her proposed business. It is necessary for Emily that she takes care of all the cultural beliefs, which is common to Japanese people. Japanese are very specific to their dressing attires. They used to be in full formal when they are in office. They do not respect wearing casual attires at the workplaces. However, it does not mean that they do not allow wearing casuals; however, this indeed means that they have high respect to formals at the workplace. Emily needs to be in complete formal before her meeting with Mr. Hamasaki (Sugimoto Swain, 2016). This would help Emily reach easily to Mr. Hamasaki and start up her meeting. Another important matter is to bow the heads down while meeting with Mr. Hamasaki as it is the cultural style of meeting of the Japanese people (Cavusgil et al., 2014). Add itionally, Emily should give high respect to Mr. Hamasaki while going close to seats. In Japan, the headperson used to seat at the centre position while its subordinates at both sides of the table (MacWilliams, 2014). Emily should proactively ask Mr. Hamasaki to seat at the centre position. This would reflect her respect to the man, which is very important to initiate and successfully carry out the business meeting. Hofstedes cultural Dimension Apart from all the basic information that has been provided on the business culture of Japanese people, it is necessary as well, that Emily makes a note of few adjustments that are important for a successful meeting. Those important notes are on the cultural differences that exist in between the Australian and the Japanese people. Hofstedes Cultural Dimension in this regard is very helpful as this provide a comparative study of cultures in both the countries based on the scores of different cultural factors in Hofstedes model. Hofstede has given six dimensions to compare the cultural differences in two countries or more. Those six dimensions are Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation and Indulgence (Taras, Steel Kirkman, 2012). All the dimensions are checked based on High vs. Low factors in which high factor would define different meaning whereas the low factor would define the otherwise meaning (Obeidat et al., 2012). Hofstedes cult ural dimension is extremely important for conducting a cross-cultural business. Emily has decided to expand her food business to Japan, which is why it is necessary that Emily take care of the cultural beliefs of Japan. Nevertheless, Hofstedes model is a good way to understand the cross-cultural differences in between two countries. This is very necessary because it helps to connect with people having different cultural beliefs. It also teaches on the cultural adjustments that one needs to implement while moving to a culturally different country. Cultural adjustments for Emily to fetch success in Japan The facts on Hofstedes Cultural Dimension on Australia and Japan illustrate that organizational structure in Australia is more flat than Japan, which means that employees and supervisors would have equal values at the workplace. Japan is close to Australia but considerably below to the country. Therefore, Emily should prepare herself for a fact that supervisors in Japan have higher values to their employees at the workplace. Emily should adjust on the gaps and try to behave more politely with Mr. Hamasaki to establish a good business relationship. Emily can offer some gifts to Mr. Hamasaki in her first meeting with the person. This would help her leave a good impression on Mr. Hamasaki (Shively, 2015). Australia scores high on individualism whereas Japan scores low. This means that Australians have high values to their individual goals. They have high respect to privacy of others. On contrary to this, Japanese have partial feeling towards common goal. They work more for their benefit s. In such circumstances, it is necessary for Emily that she takes advantage of such cultural beliefs of Japanese people. Emily needs to show the benefits of the proposed business to Mr. Hamasaki (Shively, 2015). This would help her get good support of Mr. Hamasaki on her proposed food business. The masculinity rate is very high in Japan than to Australia. It simply means that Japanese have high egos and such culture would give birth to gender biasness at the workplace. In such circumstances, it is necessary that Emily prepare herself for precise targets (Shively, 2015). This is because Japanese work for targets and are keen to get rewards benefits. Emily needs to show the benefits of business to Mr. Hamasaki in order to get a better assistance. Japan scores high on uncertainty avoidance, which means that they have rigid and conservative mind. They are very expressive as well. They are allowed express their emotions as well. They are highly energetic as well. Emily should use a clear and concise approach to make Mr. Hamasaki understand the goal of the proposed business relationships (Mathews White, 2012). This would also help Emily get required assistance from Mr. Hamasaki. Japan scores high in long-term orientation, which means that they believe in long-term goal. They see any business from the perspectives of long-term goal. It is necessary for Emily that she makes Mr. Hamasaki understand the long-term benefits of the proposed business (Sugimoto, 2014). This would help Mr. Hamasaki relate his interest with the proposed business of Emily. Japan scores comparatively lower to Australia in terms of indulgence, which means that they have less inclination to enjoyment while working. They have comparatively less passion for work life balance. It is then necessary for Emily to adapt the working behaviour of Japanese people (Dore Sako, 2012). Moreover, this would help Emily adjust with the working beliefs of the Japanese people. It is indeed difficult for someone who is from Australia and willing to work with Japanese people. Adapting the work nature is indeed difficult because it requires a scuffling from one culture to another. In case of Emily, it is indeed challenging because the work culture of Japan is largely different to Australia. Conclusion The above discussion on Hofstedes Cultural Dimension have made this clear that Emily had to adjust on some cultural beliefs, which she had while working in Australia. There are notable differences in the cultural beliefs of the Australian and the Japanese people. Emily is required to adjust on her working nature. She needs to adapt to the working nature of Japanese people. She is from Australia and she loves to enjoy her work, which means that she has high values to work life balance. However, Japanese do not have high passion for work life balance. They rather adore a highly energetic commitment to their works, which means Emily would need to adjust on her attitude for work life balance and try to adapt the working nature of the country. This is indeed difficult for Emily to work according to the working culture of Japan. Japanese people have less passion for work life balance whereas Australian people are highly addicted to work life balance. Emily is required to work energetically without showing any sign of tiredness, as she would be operating in such an environment where people prefer hard works without any sign of needs for entertaining job nature. They understand success and they try to achieve so for any cost whereas Australians adore work life balance more. Emily needs to avoid making jokes while being in any session as Japanese people are very specific to their work and does not like any kind of interferences. Emily needs to be highly job oriented, which means she would get less time to make fun. She cannot go for entertaining means while being at the workplace. Emily indeed needs to follow the cultural beliefs of Japanese people, as they are hugely strict with their culture References Bergiel, E. B., Bergiel, B. J., Upson, J. W. (2012). Revisiting Hofstede's Dimensions: Examining the Cultural Convergence of the United States and Japan.American Journal of Management,12(1), 69. Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J. R., Rammal, H. G., Rose, E. L. (2014).International business. Pearson Australia. Chhokar, J. S., Brodbeck, F. C., House, R. J. (Eds.). (2013).Culture and leadership across the world: The GLOBE book of in-depth studies of 25 societies. Routledge. Dore, R. P., Sako, M. (2012).How the Japanese learn to work. Routledge. Kinloch, P., Metge, J. (2014).Talking past each other: problems of cross cultural communication. Victoria University Press. MacWilliams, M. W. (2014).Japanese visual culture: explorations in the world of manga and anime. Routledge. Mathews, G., White, B. (Eds.). (2012).Japan's changing generations: are young people creating a new society?. Routledge. Obeidat, B., Shannak, R., Masadeh, R. E. M. D. T., Al-Jarrah, I. (2012). Toward better understanding for Arabian culture: Implications based on Hofstedes cultural model.European Journal of Social Sciences,28(4), 512-522. Shively, D. H. (Ed.). (2015).Tradition and modernization in Japanese culture. Princeton University Press. Sugimoto, M., Swain, D. L. (2016).Science and culture in traditional Japan. Tuttle Publishing. Sugimoto, Y. (2014).An introduction to Japanese society. Cambridge University Press. Taras, V., Steel, P., Kirkman, B. L. (2012). Improving national cultural indices using a longitudinal meta-analysis of Hofstede's dimensions.Journal of World Business,47(3), 329-341.

Women in Military Essay Example For Students

Women in Military Essay Throughout the history of the United States of America, Civil Rights have expanded to include everyone. Many activists have fought for rights, setting precedents to be followed. In 1920, the 19th Amendment granted suffrage to women. Since then, women have been gradually stepping up on the ladder of success. Everyday more and more opportunities are opening themselves up for women. Because of these changes, we have had to add unheard of words such as congresswoman, policewoman, etc. to the dictionary to keep up with their advancement. The United States military is even inviting women into their ranks. Military Women rising up in status and prestige is a great thing, but there are some things which they cannot do. Women should never be allowed in combat during a war. We will write a custom essay on Women in Military specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Women, physically, are not as capable as men to handle the duties of combat. To enter the United States Military, women are required to do physically less than men. As a man is required 20 pull-ups, a woman is demanded 5 for this very reason. Carrying gear upwards of 100 pounds, soldiers must hike for miles, sometimes at grueling speeds. Most women would be exhausted from this, but the more muscular bodies of men are more resilient and can put up with this treatment. On a hike or in other situations, bathroom breaks are needed. Most men need much less time than women to use the washroom, which could save them the crucial moments they need to avoid an ambush. In combat, hand-to-hand fighting is almost inevitable. Women in a fistfight have the major disadvantages of more frigid bones, less muscle mass, and weaker joints. Emotionally and mentally, women are less fit for combat. Women share their feelings more than men, and are effected by many different things. Seeing a friend shot and killed would devastate both a man and a woman, but a man is more likely to stay with his platoon and get the job done. Women, for the most part, are more independent thinkers when it comes to military; men are better at taking orders. What would seem like a suicide mission could be the turning point in a battle. Men would most likely follow the orders, while the women would think about it and be hesitant. Men also take more risks than women, this is proved by car insurance rates. A man is much better mentally and emotionally fit for combat Women should never be let into the military because America is not ready to see their mothers and daughters go to war. During wartime, when the men get drafted to go to war, the women are the backbone of the economy and the major suppliers of the labor in factories. Young children, wi th their mothers and fathers drafted, would have no place to go. A husband whos wife gets drafted would eagerly take her place. Sixty year old fathers would also do the same for their daughters. Women nurture our society and do a great job at it. Half of the motivation of the soldiers on the front lines is the women that they left behind. Women should never be allowed to fight in combat during wartime. Although they are capable of exceeding men in some situations, military battles are a mans job. The fight for equal rights is a fight that must be fought, but there are obvious differences between the two sexes, which need to be taken into account. Men might have their niche in the combat of a war, but women have proved to be the dominant successors of the planning part. Since both sexes have qualities that make them more successful at different things, and many things they are both capable of performing, it is safe to say that men and women are both equal and different.

6 Tips to Boost Your Energy Levels While Writing a Paper

6 Tips to Boost Your Energy Levels While Writing a Paper 6 Tips to Boost Your Energy Levels While Writing a Paper One nationwide study found almost 40% of respondents admitting that workplace fatigue impacts negatively on their productivity. This is just as much a problem for college students as elsewhere, so it’s important to keep your energy levels high when writing a paper. There are lots of ways you can do this, including both quick-fixes and longer-term solutions. 1. Fuel Up Make sure to give your body the fuel it needs. While writing, this might include having snacks and a drink to hand as well as stopping to eat regular meals. More generally, eating a healthy, balanced diet can improve your overall energy levels. It’s also important to drink plenty of water during the day, not just coffee! 2. Have a Plan As well as planning your essay to ensure efficiency, having a regular work routine and taking a structured approach to the day can boost productivity in the long run. 3. Soak Up Some Sunshine Spending too much time indoors can leave you drained, partly due to a lack of vitamin D. Exposure to natural sunlight boosts your body’s vitamin D production, so getting outside regularly can help if you’re feeling run down. If youre not sure how to sunbathe, just copy this lemur. 4. Get Active Even in the short-term, getting up and going for a walk is a great way of refreshing if you’re struggling for energy while writing a paper. In the long-term, regular exercise has been shown to increase energy levels and reduce vulnerability to fatigue, so staying active will ensure you’re always at your best. 5. De-Stress Another common reason we feel run down is stress, which can lead to physical and mental exhaustion. It’s therefore important to know the symptoms of stress, as then you can take action before it affects your productivity. 6. Rest Easy (And Well) The amount of sleep you get also influences your energy levels and you may struggle to concentrate on your work if you don’t get enough. Eating healthily and exercising regularly will help, as will foregoing caffeine and electronic products (TV, computers, phones, etc.) immediately before bed. On another note, napping has been shown to enhance energy levels and concentration among students. So, if all else fails, a quick snooze may be just what the doctor ordered!

How to Register for the ACT

How to Register for the ACT Registering for the ACT isnt difficult, but you do want to make sure you plan ahead and have the information youll need at hand. Before you begin registering, make sure you know the registration deadlines for the exam you plan to take. They tend to be about five weeks before the actual exam. It will also be useful to have a copy of your high school transcript when you register so that you have the school information youll need for the form. Step 1: Visit  the ACT Website and Create an Account Go to the ACT student website. Once youre there, click the Sign In button at the upper right of the page, then click on the create account option. Next, set up an online account so you can do things like check your scores online, print your admission ticket to get into the testing center, make changes to your registration if you have to miss a test day, request more score reports, and more. Youll need two pieces of information  before you create your account:  your social security number and your high school code. The website will walk you through the steps of the process. Note: Be sure to fill in your name just as it appears on your passport, drivers license, or another approved ID that youll be bringing to the testing center. If the name with which you register does not match your ID, you will not be able to take the test on your scheduled test day.   Step 2: Register Once youve created your student account, you need to click the Register button and proceed through the next several pages. Youll answer questions about the following: Personal information like left-hand vs. right-hand (so you get placed in an appropriate testing desk), religious affiliations, parental educational background, and disabilities. Remember, this is all voluntary information.A high school summary like the type of school you attended and courses youve taken. Youll also see questions about extracurricular involvement in high school.  Your college plans such as preferences regarding school size, whether or not you plan to enroll full time or not, and college interests.Your specific testing date and location.  Where youd like your score reports to be sent. You can choose up to four colleges with the basic fee, so youll save money if youve decided where youd like them to go before you register.  Intended future college major and career choices.  Youll also be asked during this process to upload a current headshot. Make sure to follow the parameters exactly, or you could be banned from taking the ACT on test day. Both the photograph a nd the name on your identification are important pieces of information that ACT uses to make it difficult for anyone to cheat by having someone else take the exam for them. If youre wondering why ACT wants some of this information when it has nothing to do with the actual test, realize that college admissions is a big business of trying to get students matched up with schools where they will succeed. ACT (and SAT) provide names to colleges of students who might be an appropriate match for those schools. The more information they have about your grades, courses, and interests, the better than can align your credentials with potential colleges. This is why after you take a standardized test, youre likely to start receiving lots of mail from colleges. Step 3: Pay Check out the current ACT fees before you test, and fill in your waiver or voucher number if youve received one. At the bottom of the page, click Submit just once, and youre done. Youre then free to print your admission ticket. A confirmation will be sent to your email address. Step 4: Prepare Youre in. Now, all you need to do is prep for the ACT just a little bit. Start by going though the ACT basics, and then running through these 21 ACT test strategies to help you perform as well as possible when test day rolls around. Then, try your hand at an ACT English quiz or Math quiz to see how you might respond to the real ACT questions. Finally, pick up an ACT prep book or two to help see you through the end. Good luck! Updated and edited by Allen Grove

E-marketing plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E-marketing plan - Essay Example Likewise, Internet has opened diverse range of avenues for businesses to conduct their activities and the best opportunity given to companies is of E-marketing (Rossi et al., 2007). Hence, the strategy of reaching customers and enhancing the customer loyalty starts with a strong e-marketing plan. The brands whether old or new ones, all need to design an effective e-marketing plan for reaching the customers so that the company’s expansion plan is successful and the business can earn revenues as well (Krishnamurthy and Singh, 2005). E-marketing is the latest marketing strategy for all organisations these days and it offers ample advantages to the companies as it allows easy and direct access to the customers, makes tracking easier, saves a lot of time and cost and most importantly marketing efforts can be measured with utmost ease. Hence, E-marketing can be defined as the means of getting the company’s product or service or brand to the entire world in a glimpse via the u se of effective electronic mediums such as Internet and World Wide Web (El-Gohary et al., 2008 and Grimes, 2010). In other words, E-marketing is the marketing of goods, services and information via various electronic mediums. For decades, researchers have used Internet Marketing, E-marketing, E-commerce and E-business interchangeably; however, there are differences between each terminology which can be expressed by the figure developed by El-Gohary (2010) as follows: In today’s market, it is vital for companies to do more than telling a story of innovative technology; they need to take advantage of technological advancements and attract customer flow to develop a good market share. Hence, companies need to develop effective e-marketing plans and strategies that have quantifiable goals and provide measurable impact to monitor the successful implementation of an e-marketing plan (Petrovic, 2009). According to Carmen et al. (2004), the conceptual framework of E-marketing is: The performance levels of the company can be measured with the co-alignment of the strategy with the firm’s internal and external context. The web strategy is made by taking account of 4 W’s as shown in the figure above to ensure that the marketing functions are effticient. The long-term performance of the company’s website is heavily dependent on the relationship with the customers and it will be the most important factor for measuring the company’s performance. Hence, the e-marketing plan of Blackberry’s computer will be designed following the conceptual framework as highlighted by Carmen et al. (2004). BlackBerry profile BlackBerry is among the top-rated and popular brands in the smart phone industry and the devices under the brand name are designed and developed by Research in Motion (RIM). The pioneer in the smart phone industry has introduced numerous products in the market taking advantage of the technological breakthroughs happening in the wor ld. Almost all

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

Dementia - Research Paper Example Dementia is a condition that affects the nervous system of the individual. It is mainly labeled to be a disease of the old people but it may occur in the younger age groups as well. Dementia mainly presents with loss of memory and the condition deteriorates with time. The functioning of the cerebral hemisphere is affected in this condition and thus the day to day performance of the individual greatly suffers as a result of dementia. Dementia can result owing to many underlying pathologies which include Alzheimer's disease, Huntington’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. There is no definitive cure for this disease but early diagnosis can make a difference. Dementia Dementia is a degenerative neurological disorder. Previously dementia was considered to be a normal part of aging but researches and studies have proved that it is a pathological condition that results from varying illnesses or disorders present in the body.As a number of disorders or factors can be responsible for causing dementia,it is better known as a syndrome rather than a disease.It can also present as a clinical sign or symptom of an underlying disorder.Dementia is sudden or spontaneous in onset and progresses with time and age.The risk of onset of dementia is most likely at the age of 60 and it is seldom seen before this age.The risk of onset increases with the advancement in age. Dementia seriously affects the emotional behavior and social attitude of the victims of this disorder and sometimes it can also be associated with life threatening consequences. It is a pathological condition of the brain which causes impairment of normal mental activity and deterioration of cerebral functions with difficulties in carrying out the routine chores due to regression of certain areas of brain that maintain and regulate the normal functions of life. The individual suffering from dementia faces memory loss and the magnitude of loss is directly related to the severity of the disease. The disease affects the patient's personality and alters the emotional and social behavior. (Cox, 2007; Jacques & Jackson, 2000) Dementia involves gradual deteriorating changes in the brain of an individual which results in the decline of cerebral functions with time. The patient undergoes these changes for quite a long time before presenting with some solid differences in his or her personality. The patient can present with complaints which include deterioration of memory, decreased rate of performance at any type of work, compromised skills, mismanagement of personal or business affairs, uncertain and unreliable attitude, the decline in social activities, varying moods and delirium. The dementia is divided into two types depending on the time of its onset. These two types are pre-senile and senile dementia. The two groups differ as the pre-senile dementia is seen in mostly young patients while senile is in much older individuals. Both the disease processes however, follow the same course of development with very little differences in the signs and symptoms shown by the patients suffering from pre-senile or senile dementia (Boon & Davidson, 2006; Jacques & Jackson, 2000). The causes of dementia vary according to the type. Dementia may either be resulting from vascular pathologies which include disease of the small blood vessels, numerous emboli in the vessels or inflammation of the vessels in the brain. Degenerative or the inherited type of dementia results due to pathologies which include Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Wilson's disease, cortical Lewy body disease and mitochondrial encephalopathies. Dementia may also be associated with cancerous conditions. The tumors may spread from distant sites and lead to dementia or there may be tumors originating with the brain itself for example the primary cerebral tumor. Sarcoidosis and Multiple Sclerosis lead to inflammation and thus they are classified as inflammatory causes of dementia. Trauma can a lso be an underlying cause of dementia and it may be due to

Mersey Side Case Essay Example for Free

Mersey Side Case Essay Background Problem Statement Diamond chemicals is a leading propylene producer and a major player in the chemicals industry worldwide. However the share of the company had fallen from  £60 at the end of 1999 to  £30 in 2000 on account of worldwide economic slowdown and poor financial performance. Given the prevalent scenario, it was time to obtain funds from corporate headquarters for a modernization program for Merseyside project. This project will not only renovate and rationalize a production line but also make up for deferred maintenance and increase production efficiency. Lucy Morris is the Plant Manager at Merseyside and by nature she is a high achiever and a Notre dame MBA. Frank Greystock is the Controller, President of Diamond Chemicals. To make a compelling case, Frank and Lucy try to make a financial model to calculate the NPV, IRR and Payback period for this project but are challenged on several aspects. To pursue their endeavor, they need to correct the model as per the feedback from the shareholders and management. Thus the problem statement is to suggest corrections to the existing model and thus calculate the NPV, IRR and payback period which would not be challenged further and the project could be approved. Methodology and Results In addition to the baseline model presented in Exhibit 2 of the case study, four cash flow models were built considering the following criteria: * Cannibalization: This model was directly taken from the case study and was used as a starting point for reference. This model presents the information that Greystock included on the analysis that was submitted to Morris. Cannibalization of demand: This model reflects a reduced output at Rotterdam. The cannibalization aspect is obtained by shifting the added volume from the plant in Holland (Rotterdam) to the plant England (Merseyside) regardless of the fact that both plants operate under the same company. * Excess transport needed: This model accounts for a  £2 million  for the purchase of rolling stock to support the anticipated growth of the firm. The funds would be used to purchase tank cars to be used at Merseyside. * Including EPC project: This model includes the recommendation provided by Griffin Tewitt, assistant plant manager at Merseyside. This model reflects the detrimental effects of including a project that adds no value, to the original model. By itself, the EPC project does not stand a chance of approval, thus the only effect that it has, by bundling with the polypropylene project, is to increase the paylack period, lower NPV and reduce the IRR of the overall project. * Recommended model which consists all the right variables’ values: This model contains all the adjusted variable with the recommendations that our team would follow, if placed in the position of Morris. This accounts for The Results from these were as follows: | Baseline| Cannibalized| Excess Transport| EPC| Recommended| IRR| 25.9%| 21%| 22%| 21.43%| 31.47%| NPV (MM)|  £ 8.95 |  £ 5.75 |  £ 6.16 |  £ 5.00 |  £ 13.37 | PBP (Yrs)| 3.61| 4.09| 3.95| 4.08| 3.20| Thus we can see for the recommended model as the NPV is  £ 13.4 Million and the investment required it  £ 9 Million, it is a lucrative project. The recommended model above considers a 3% inflation which varies from 1.2 – 5.1% in UK. Considering this variation the following graph shows how the NPV and IRR would change with inflation The company charges a 3.5% for overhead investments. However, as the project is expected to reduce overhead costs, increase efficiency, output and reduce the power consumption, this overhead investment fee should be waived. If this waiver is implemented, the NPV increases to  £15.0 Million. The Purchase Cost of Rolling Stock is currently considered as  £ 2 Million. This would be used for transportation needs arising due to the anticipated excessive demand. However this investment would be made regardless of the project and hence only a part of the investment should be considered for the modeling purposes. What proportion of the investment would be used  specifically for this project will determine the value of the Purchase Cost of Rolling Stock that would be definitely lesser than  £2 Million. Currently, the model is based on the assumption that the production will run on full capacity and the sales team will be able to sell all of the throughput. This assumption should be tested and, if not valid, the variation should be accounted in the model. Conclusions and Recommendations * Using the recommended model as a basis for comparison, against the original model, Merseyside is a promising project because the NPV is  £ 13.4 Million and the investment cost is  £ 9 Million with a payback period of 3.2 years and IRR of 31.47%. . * Greystock’s model did not account for inflation. The inflation rate of 3% should be considered in the final analysis. This changes the NPV from  £9.7 Million to  £13.4 Million, a  £3.7 Million difference. * The sunk costs  £0.5 Million should not be considered * In case the overhead investment cost can be waived as the project itself aims at reducing overhead investments; the NPV would be  £ 15.0 Million * The Purchase Cost of Rolling Stock is considered  £ 2 Million which can be lowered considering the actual increase in transportation * The Customer retention can vary and depending on the anticipated demand the NPV, IRR and Payback period might change References: i. Darden Business Publishing: Diamond Chemicals PLC (A): The Merseyside Project ii. http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/inflationreport/infrep.aspx iii. Class 1 2 Presentations from Operations Cost and Risk Management

Clash with the Hurricane- Personal Narrative Essay examples -- Papers

Clash with the Hurricane- Personal Narrative The sky darkened from the blue light sky, it turned suddenly to a dark black gloomy sky hovering with a mist cloud. I walked back into the car, seemingly it was going to pour down. Heavily, the wind blew. I turned to shut the windows, but, as I looked closer out of the window, huge clouds started fusing together which then created a huge immense hurricane. I could not believe my eyes, a hurricane was coming our way. I could not believe it, even though this was so dangerous and could have many damaging effects to the environment and to the people, but from a distance it was such a magnificent phenomenon. Heavily rain poured, hitting the ground like bullets from a gun. Luckily for me, I was in my car. ====================================================================== I tried to start the car but it wouldn’t work. I turned my head again towards the window, the death trap was seemingly getting even more closer. After many efforts of trying to start the car, the car would still now move. ============================================================================ ‘What a time for the car not to work I thought to myself’. I got out of the car and looked ahead. The treacherous whirlwind was closer than ever, people now started to notice and started fearing. At this point I was thinking only one thing, ‘Those damn weather reporters never told us that a hurricane was coming our way!’ ======================================... ... ‘The trees wavered like a stand full of supporters at a football match’ here he uses a metaphor/similes . Here he compares the trees to supporters at a football match. He does this probably sarcastically. â€Å"Heavily, rained poured, hitting the ground like bullets from a gun†. Here again he uses metaphor/similes. He describes the rain falling to bullets from a gun he does this so he can show how fast a painful the rain is falling on to the people and to the environment. He also again uses the word ‘heavily’ first. He does this so he can get his message through quickly and also so he can show the importance of the weather. Clash with the Hurricane- Personal Narrative Essay examples -- Papers Clash with the Hurricane- Personal Narrative The sky darkened from the blue light sky, it turned suddenly to a dark black gloomy sky hovering with a mist cloud. I walked back into the car, seemingly it was going to pour down. Heavily, the wind blew. I turned to shut the windows, but, as I looked closer out of the window, huge clouds started fusing together which then created a huge immense hurricane. I could not believe my eyes, a hurricane was coming our way. I could not believe it, even though this was so dangerous and could have many damaging effects to the environment and to the people, but from a distance it was such a magnificent phenomenon. Heavily rain poured, hitting the ground like bullets from a gun. Luckily for me, I was in my car. ====================================================================== I tried to start the car but it wouldn’t work. I turned my head again towards the window, the death trap was seemingly getting even more closer. After many efforts of trying to start the car, the car would still now move. ============================================================================ ‘What a time for the car not to work I thought to myself’. I got out of the car and looked ahead. The treacherous whirlwind was closer than ever, people now started to notice and started fearing. At this point I was thinking only one thing, ‘Those damn weather reporters never told us that a hurricane was coming our way!’ ======================================... ... ‘The trees wavered like a stand full of supporters at a football match’ here he uses a metaphor/similes . Here he compares the trees to supporters at a football match. He does this probably sarcastically. â€Å"Heavily, rained poured, hitting the ground like bullets from a gun†. Here again he uses metaphor/similes. He describes the rain falling to bullets from a gun he does this so he can show how fast a painful the rain is falling on to the people and to the environment. He also again uses the word ‘heavily’ first. He does this so he can get his message through quickly and also so he can show the importance of the weather.

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley Essay

The novel Frankenstein is about a man named Victor Frankenstein who wanted to tamper with life and death by â€Å"exploring unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation† (Shelley, pg.44). The novel Frankenstein has had continuing popularity ever since its publication in 1818 for many reasons. The main reason is that Frankenstein is a book that teaches lessons and morals that readers of all ages can appreciate and learn from for years to come. Frankenstein is a book that has been read and enjoyed by successive generations. In other words Frankenstein can be considered a classic novel. Frankenstein is a novel that shows the reader there is a way to achieve immortality, but also reveals many important things about human nature and emotions. Frankenstein is a novel about how to defy death. Ever since Egyptians and their beliefs of a life after death, people have found overcoming death to be fascinating. Death is something that is not understood completely by humans, it is frightening as well as scary. This is portrayed in Frankenstein when the creature is looked down upon by society because he looked different from them and they did not understand him. People are scared of what they do not understand, which is why they were frightened by Victor’s monster. The novel fascinates people because death has been overcome. Being able to create life from something that is non-living is just like cheating death. People like to have control over it, which is what people want in the first place. Frankenstein is a novel that shows the reader there is a way to defy death, which is why the novel has enjoyed continuing popularity ever since publication in 1818. Frankenstein reveals many things about humanity. The creature has the same feelings that all humans do including love, anger, sadness, happiness, confusion and so on. When talking of the family that the creature lived beside in the woods he says, â€Å"†¦when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys† (96). Just because the creature is able to distinguish between these emotions and have feelings for other forms of life is enough to say that he is human. The only thing that makes him different from human beings is the way he looks and the way he was brought into the world. Just because a baby is born with a deformity that  makes them look different from other people does not mean they are not human, they are just different. Since the creature is considered human, Frankenstein shows the reader what can happen to the human nature when it is abandoned of all forms of communication and love from others. The author is trying to show that the creature had the ability to be a kind and decent being, but because it is denied the basic human needs of communication and love from others, it resorts to an evil attitude. The unfortunate creature was abandoned and everything it knows about life and values was completely self-taught. The creature resorts to evil doings because no one has taught him right from wrong or how to deal with the emotions that he is feeling. Victor’s creature feels abandoned by his creator and does not know how to deal with these feelings. He does not even know why he was created in the first place after the cottagers that he has grown to love turned their backs on him. The creature curses his creator and questioned his existence by saying, â€Å"Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?†(98) These feelings towards abandonment are similar to the emotions that humans feel when people that are supposed to love them abandon them. The novel reveals many things about humanity that are not often discussed or thought about by humans. In conclusion, Frankenstein has experienced such continued success for several reasons. In one aspect it is a simple novel about defying death and achieving what many people have been fascinated with for centuries, which is immortality. On the other hand, it is an emotional story about a tragic creature that is forced to live in society that rejects him. It offers a close up into the creature’s emotions and shows a side of humanity that people do not normally have the chance to see. Because Frankenstein fascinated the simple concept of death as well as the idea of the power of humanity to affect human emotions and reactions, it has become a novel that has been and will continue to be read for ages. Frankenstein is clearly a classic novel.

Cheat Sheet Finance

* Sole proprietorships and partnership are subject to less regulations, easy and less expensive, no corporate inc tax. * Corporation easy to raise capital, transfer of ownership,limited liability ,unlimited life. * The conflicts between bondholders and stockholders can be reduced with the use of restrictive bond covenants. * Stockholders are more likely to prefer riskier projects, because they receive more of the upside if the project succeeds. * By contrast, bondholders receiving fixed payments are more interested in limiting risk. Bondholders are particularly concerned about the use of additional debt * Bondholders attempt to protect themselves by including covenants in bond agreements that limit the use of additional debt and constrain manager. * new shares of stock are being issued, this is a primary market transaction. * no new shares are created, this is a secondary market transaction * An initial public offering (IPO) is where a company issues stock in the public market for ? the first time. Its primary market. * Highly Inefficient:Small companies not followed by many analysts.Not much contact with investors. * Highly Efficient:large companies followed by many analysts. Good communications with investors. * Hedge funds have traditionally been unregulated. * derivatives can be used either to reduce risks or to speculate. * a larger bid-ask spread means the dealer will realize a higher profit. * Compensating managers with stock options can help reduce conflicts of interest between stockholders and managers, but if the options are all exercisable on a specific date in the near future, this can motivate managers to deceive stockholders. A stock is considered overvalued if its intrinsic value is smaller than its market value. * The income statement shows us the firm’s financial situation over a period of time. * Last year, Blanda Brothers had positive cash flow from operation; however, cash on its balance sheet decreased. which explain this? Answ:The c ompany purchased a lot of new fixed assets. * Company A and Company B have the same total assets, Return on Assets (ROA), and profit margin. However, Company A has higher debt ratio and interest expense than Company B. Which of the following statements is most correct?Company A has a higher ROE than Company B. * Double taxation refers to the fact that corporate income is subject to an income tax, and then stockholders are subject to a further personal tax on dividends received. Ace Industries has $2. 0 million in current assets and $0. 75 million in current liabilities. Ace decides to raise funds as additional notes payable and use them to increase inventory. How much can Ace’s note payable increase without pushing its current ratio below 1. 8? $0. 8125 million. A new firm is developing its business plan.It will require $600,000 of assets, and it projects $435,000 of sales and $350,000 of operating costs for the first year. The firm is quite sure of these numbers because of c ontracts with its customers and suppliers. It can borrow at a rate of 7. 5%, but the bank requires it to have a TIE of at least 5. 0, and if the TIE falls below this level the bank will call in the loan and the firm will go bankrupt. What is the maximum debt ratio the firm can use? 37. 8% Last year, Candle Corp had $200,000 of assets, $300,000 of sales, $20,000 of net income, and a debt-to-total-assets ratio of 40%.The new CFO believes a new computer program will enable it to reduce costs and thus raise net income to $30,800. Assets, sales, and the debt ratio would not be affected. By how much would the cost reduction improve the ROE 9. 00%? You want to buy a condo 5 years from now, and you can save $3,000 per year, beginning immediately. You will make 5 deposits in an account that pays 6% interest. Under these assumptions, how much will you have 5 years from today? $17,925. 9 You want to borrow $40,000 to buy a new car. You can afford to make monthly payments of $850, but no more.A ssuming monthly compounding, what is the highest rate you can afford on a 60-month APR loan? 10% You want to buy a new sports car from City Toyota for $62,000. The contract is in the form of a 48-month annuity due at a 9% APR. What will your monthly payment be? $1531. 39 Can the Effective Rate ever be equal to the nominal rate? a) Â  Yes, but only if annual compounding is used, i. e. , if M = 1. Why is it important to consider effective rates of return? a) Â  Investments with different compounding intervals provide different effective returns.A bank is offering you a credit card with an APR of 16%, compounded monthly. What is the Effective Annual Rate (EAR)? 17. 23% One year ago, you took out a 10-year, $15,000, interest-only loan. The APR on the loan is 7% and payments are to be made annually. What is the mount of the loan payment that is due today? $1050 A local charity receives annual income of $30,000 from a trust fund established by a generous donor several years ago. The tru st fund earns a fixed annual return of 6%. How much did the donor contribute to establish this fund? $500,000

6 steps to set yourself up for career success

6 steps to set yourself up for career success Do you want to set yourself up for success? Of course, you do- we all want that- most of us strive for happy, successful lives. However, what success means to each of us is a unique and individual thing, based on our specific desires and goals. It also changes over time for each of us- your professional goals and metrics for success when you’re at the beginning of your career path will probably look different than when you’re older and further along in your journey. Forbes recently published an article that highlights some helpful actions that you can take to achieve career success. According to the article, â€Å"no matter what your professional goals and visions are, there are six core actions that will support you to achieve greater success and fulfillment over the long arch of your professional life.†Consider taking advantage of these strategies to set yourself up for a successful future.Make a solid plan.If you want to achieve some measure of career success in your life, you first have to have a clearly discernible and measurable goal to pursue. There’s nothing more dispiriting and unmotivating than a directionless future. Defining a clear goal for yourself- one that will potentially deliver happiness and fulfillment when reached- will help you gain a healthy measure of clarity and allow you to carve out the steps necessary to achieve it.Don’t be afraid to set a specific goal out of fear that you’ll be handcuffed to it forever. Remember, your goals will likely change over time and across the span of your career. Also, don’t be afraid to fail- a life well lived often contains a series of successes and failures. The goal is to learn from both and take these valuable lessons to help guide you towards future success.Transform your depression.Depression can stop all forward progress in your life dead in its tracks. The Forbes article discusses making the effort to turn your depression into inspiration in order to get yourself back on the path to success: â€Å"This is a vitally important endeavor- to move away from feeling desperate, victimized and out of control in the face of your professional challenges.  The key is to learn how to be more accountable, responsible and capable- viewing what’s happening as a way for you to learn and grow.†There is never a time when things will always go your way. You are going to face setbacks and failures throughout your life, and despite your best efforts they can drag you down into a funk. Fight against it the best you can. Assess why you’re down, what went wrong, and how to avoid the same situation in the future. Make a plan about how you’ll climb out of your sadness and self-doubt. Action gives you control, which can make the skies seem a little clearer.Enforce boundaries.Once you have set a clear path towards success for yourself, it’s up to you to set and enforce boundaries that will allow you to keep on track. K eep away habits, people, and behaviors that will only drag you down. Depending on your goals, these boundaries will comprise your personal â€Å"mission statement†- capturing the priorities and steps needed for you to learn, grow, and move forward toward career success. It will also clarify things to avoid along the way- those unhealthy and negative things that only serve to derail your progress. In all areas of life, boundaries help us stay on track and reach our desired destination- use them to your full advantage and don’t be shy about sticking up for yourself and what you need.Commit yourself fully.Achieving your professional goals can be a real challenge- in addition to intense competition and hard work, there are a variety of unforeseen setbacks and obstacles that can potentially throw you off track along the way. Even the luckiest and most successful among us face these challenges- the key difference between those who eventually achieve success and those who giv e up before they reach their goals is often commitment. Put in those extra hours. When you fail, try again. When you get rejected, apply somewhere else. Keep your plan and goal in mind and don’t stop when you veer off course- and you  will veer off course, so plan on it.Learn how to communicate with power.Your voice can be a powerful tool as you advocate for yourself in the professional world. Successful individuals in all walks of like make sure they are clearly and confidently articulating their ideas, thoughts, visions, and goals to the world around them, and are constantly their own best advocates, striving to create positive outcomes whenever possible. As you travel along your path to success, make sure you follow the same mindset.Maintain strong connections.Although we each strive to be the architect of our own successful future, we must admit that none of us operate in isolation- we are all part of a collective of individuals whom we support and draw support from, an d nurturing these relationships is often a crucial step towards achieving success. According to the Forbes article, â€Å"†¦highly successful professionals understand that they cannot achieve their visions alone or in a vacuum.  They invest time and energy in building mutually-beneficial relationships, and solid bonds and energizing partnerships that last over time.† On your journey to success, be sure to recognize, value, and take care of these important relationships- and build new ones along the way.If you’re relatively new to the world of work and are in the early stages of your career path, consider following these helpful guidelines to help you either define what a successful future looks like for you, or to help you achieve the goals you have set for yourself and find success. Good luck!

A Great American Dream

Big American dream in The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby and Babylon Revisited, both by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are stories about the emptiness and recklessness of the 1920s. Each story has its distinctions, but Fitzgeralds condemnation of the decade reverberates through both. Fitzgerald explores and displays insufficiencies of the vacuous period, and does so with sharp clarity and depth, leaving no crude, barbarous habit to imagination. Fitzgerald had a deep and personal affliction with the 1920s (most notably in the Eastern United States), and in both The Great Gatsby and Babylon Revisited, he hones his conflicts into a furious condemnation. The 1920s were a period of sloth, habitual sin, exhausted illustriousness, and moral despondency; the black mark of a society and world usually tilted more toward attempted civility. Fitzgerald conveys this theme through the use of character, symbolism, and wasteland imagery. First, Fitzgerald uses characters to personify the vast recklessness of the generation. The characters in both are incomprehensibly selfish and carefree, though more noticeably in The Great Gatsby. Tom Buchanan, for instance, is almost flippant in acknowledging his affair with Jordan Baker, a local miscreant golf pro. Tom leaves Nick, Daisy, and Jordan at the dinner table to take a call from her. An exchange between Nick Carraway and Jordan while Tom is gone illuminates the situation. Is something happening (Fitzgerald, Gatsby 19), says Nick. To which Jordan Baker replies, I thought everybody knew. Why- Toms got some woman in New York' (Fitzgerald, Gatsby 19). Tom Buchanan has an acknowledged mistress in New York, and he politely and confidently leaves the dinner table to speak with her. He is the absolute personification of the reckless actions and attitudes that characterize the era. Duncan Shchaeffer and Lorraine Qualles, appearing briefly in Babylon Revisited, also represent reck less and selfish behavior. They burst in to a private meeting at the Peters residence just as Charlie is coercing Lincoln and Marion in to granting him custody of his child. Fitzgerald describes their behavior: They were gay, they were hilarious, they were roaring with laughter. They slid down another cascade of laughter (Fitzgerald, Babylon 385). This after bursting in to the house of a stranger. They are drunk, juvenile, reprehensible in behavior, and acting more like children than adults. Fitzgerald asserts, however, that their actions characterize the generation of lost souls, and these characters are only used to articulate his condemnation of it. Secondly, Fitzgerald uses symbolism to convey a feeling of futility and hopelessness throughout the novel and short story. Doctor T.J. Eckleburg, especially, symbolizes the distorted perceptions and priorities of the decade. Eckleburg watches over the gray ash-heap near Mr. Wilsons garage with what Wilson thinks an all-knowing eye. Wilson has an unusual reverence to Dr. Eckleburg: he considers him God. In a conversation between Wilson and Michaelis, Wilson discusses a conversation he had previously with Mrs. Wilson just before she died: I spoke to her [about her affair with Tom Buchanan]. I told her she might fool me but she couldnt fool God. I took her to the window With and effort he got up and walked the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it, and I said God knows what youve been doing, everything youve been doing. You may fool me but you cant fool God. Standing behind him Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at they eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. (Fitzgerald, Gatsby 167)Wilson is hopeless and disillusioned, and his connection to Dr. Eckleburg exemplifies the widespread futility of the era. Lastly, Fitzgerald uses wasteland imagery to show how society circa 1920 was dysfunctional and reckless. The apartment of Myrtle Wilsons relation, where Tom and Myrtle usually conduct their affair, is the perfect example of this. Fitzgerald describes the scene at the apartment: The apartment was on the top floora small living room, a small diningroom, a small bedroom and a bath. The living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it so that to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the gardens of Versailles. Several old copies of Town Tattle lay on the table together with a copy of Simon Called Peter and some of the small scandal magazines of Broadway. (Fitzgerald, Gatsby 33)The apartments amenities are showy and overdone, and somehow seem more representative of conformity than affluence. The whole generation is caught up in the times, an unthinking, unknowing mob of followers, riding the unenviable wave of recklessness2E The apartment is empty, devoid of any substance at all, a perfect example of the wasteland image. It is where forbidden lovers meet to flirt and cackle, and where people get drunk for only the second time in their life, where people smoke, drink, and live reckl essly together, and the only place where none of it matters: the wasteland. The 1920s were an era of lost personality. The people were caught up in the teaming exuberance, riding the inertia or recklessness further in to itself. Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby and Babylon Revisited are fitting and definitive condemnations of the irrational time, and critics are right in deeming them so. Fitzgerald, too, is right: The 1920s were wasted years, and fit for condemnation.

Public and Private Partnership Barnhill school, Hillingdon Essay

Public and Private Partnership Barnhill school, Hillingdon - Essay Example The popularity of the PPPs has been likely to increase over the years as there are a greater number of such partnerships between the private and the public sector, where the public sector’s limited budgets persist the adoption of such a partnership and the private sector envisages opportunities of making profits through such partnerships. However, this partnership demands a close scrutiny in order to have a complete analysis of the outcomes that are required. The possibilities of the partnership between the two sectors is illustrated with the (Figure 1)As the figure illustrates at one extreme the public sector can fully take charge and responsibility of all the aspects of the service delivery including the infrastructure, whereas the private sector can also take up these responsibilities. However, there is a variation relative to a number of responsibilities taken up by both the sectors. In the ideal situation the PPPs help in capitalizing the strengths of the parties from bot h the sectors, so as to make the partnership mutually beneficial.A new school needed to be established in the Borough of Hillingdon by the Hillingdon Borough Council in order to provide additional space within the borough for educating 1450 school children, between the ages of 11 and 18 years (Ryan, 2004). The school required facilities that included assembly hall, dining area, catering facility, library, IT suite, sports hall a stimulating indoor environment, hence a complete construction of the building on the existing site. For this to take place Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was used as the route of procurement in order to make use of the public money in a better and effective way. The government policies were taken into consideration for the project that also required it to be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable (Garwood, Logan, Mills, & Willoughby). The Stakeholders to the project The PFI project (Broadbent & Laughlin, 1998) has two fundamental requiremen ts that it must demonstrate the value for money and also there should be transfer of risk from the public sector to the private sector. As for the value of money, it can be

Electronic Buisness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Electronic Buisness - Essay Example While e-business is concerned with the micro-environment of a firm, e-commerce deals with organization macro-environment (Bontis 2004). One aspect that comes with e-business is the need for effective risk management through proper identification, assessment and mitigation to satisfactory level. Nastase and Nastase (2007) define risk as a function of the possibility that some sources of threats will cause vulnerability leading to adverse effects on the organization. Unlike traditional boardroom risk management, today the business mainstream has become part of risk management to ensure that the organization achieves optimum profitability in a business environment characterized by elevating regulatory demands (Accenture 2011). This paper discuses risk management for e-business sustainability. Importance of sustainable risk management For all companies engaging in e-business, it is essential to align profit goals to the organizational policies on the environment through the process of su stainable risk management (Rouse 2010). ... In addition, risks in electronic business do not reduce but increase owing to changing management circumstances and operation modes (Jia and Zhou 2005).The core focus of sustainability in e-business risk management is through detection of emerging issues that would affect production, supply chain and operations (Napier, Rivers and Wagner 2006). The most crucial emerging issues in business nowadays are changing government regulations (Grefen 2010). Through the IT departments in organizations, data on emergent issues is managed based on its association with the sustainability goals of the organization (Kalakota and Robinson 2001) while ensuring the providence of automated auditing and reporting capabilities (Gasos and Thoben 2003). Brock and Azim-Khan (2008) argue that the realization of e-business risks administration determines the future state of the business. For most start-ups and established companies, investment in e-business is often wrong with less promising future (Yilmz and Flouris 2009). Failed e-business is a revelation that affected businesses failed to fully integrate into their strategy, both sustainability and risk management (Dylick and Hockerts 2002). Through proper integration of strategy and risk and sustainability management, businesses are sure of making money to remain afloat in a competitive environment (Holbrook 2010). The risks associated to business originate either internally or externally (Wilson 2003; Australian Government 2009) and this means that business executives are obliged to distinguish, weigh and limit risks (Hamel and Sampler 1998; Bontis 2004). According to Globe-net (2012), it is impossible to have stable financial systems

Two of years studying a foreign language should be required in high Essay - 2

Two of years studying a foreign language should be required in high school - Essay Example I took advantage of the subject of English in the school. It was fun. Studying foreign Languages is of extreme importance in the contemporary age. â€Å"Primarily, learning a second language provides countless opportunities† (â€Å"Is Learning†). Firstly, learning a new language is similar to discovering it which is adventurous. I found it the most terrific experience in the world. Young people should learn another language. The government should make this decision easy for the students. For example, the schools can start over with the lessons of music in a foreign language. Students would face difficulty in the start. Another way to make learning a foreign language easy is to use the language in playing. For example, the teacher can set competition between the students and offer a gift to the winner. The students would really like it. In addition, there are other benefits of doing that. This is how to deal with other people. Secondly, dealing with other people using English language is such a good thing. Many countries use English as one of the most commonly used languages especially in learning institutions. For instance, Saudi Arabia students use English as the instructional language. I had a personal experience on benefits of learning English when I traveled to France. I was scared of being lost because I do not speak French. However, I used English language to speak to people at the airport. Therefore, I am encouraging people use English as professional Language especially considering that English is the most widely used language in the world. Thirdly, studying English improves learning skills. "In general, competitive colleges require at least two years of foreign language classes in high school" (Grove). Students should practice and do their homework in English. This is important considering that reading is the most important learning skill. Students should read a lot stories and journals to improve their

Digital Intellectual Property Law Essay: Big Data Patents

Digital Intellectual Property Law Essay: Big Data Patents By Sandro Sandri   1- BIG DATA Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data  processing applications are inadequate to deal with them. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating  and information privacy. The term big data often refers simply to the use of predictive  analytics, user behaviour analytics, or certain other advanced data analytics methods that  extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set.1 There is little doubt  that the quantities of data now available are indeed large, but thats not the most relevant  characteristic of this new data ecosystem. In another way Big Data is an evolving term that describes any voluminous amount  structured, semistructured and unstructured data that has the potential to be mined for  information. It is often characterized by 3Vs: the extreme Volume of data, the wide Variety  of data types and the Velocity at which the data must be processed. Although big data  doesnt equate to any specific volume of data, the term is often used to  describe terabytes, petabytes and even exabytes of data captured over time.  The need for big data velocity imposes unique demands on the underlying compute  infrastructure. The computing power required to quickly process huge volumes and  varieties of data can overwhelm a single server or server cluster. Organizations must apply  adequate compute power to big data tasks to achieve the desired velocity. This can  potentially demand hundreds or thousands of servers that can distribute the work and  operate collaboratively. Achieving such velocity in a cost-effective manner is also a  headache. Many enterprise leaders are reticent to invest in an extensive server and storage  infrastructure that might only be used occasionally to complete big data tasks. As a  result, public cloud computing has emerged as a primary vehicle for hosting big data  analytics projects. A public cloud provider can store petabytes of data and scale up  thousands of servers just long enough to accomplish the big data project. The business  only pays for the storage and compute time actually used, and the cloud instances can be  turned off until theyre needed again. To improve service levels even further, some public  cloud providers offer big data capabilities, such as highly distributed Hadoop compute  instances, data warehouses, databases and other related cloud services. Amazon Web  Services Elastic MapReduce is one example of big data services in a public cloud. Ultimately, the value and effectiveness of big data depends on the human operators  tasked with understanding the data and formulating the proper queries to direct big data  projects. Some big data tools meet specialized niches and allow less technical users to make  various predictions from everyday business data. Still, other tools are appearing, such as  Hadoop appliances, to help businesses implement a suitable compute infrastructure to  tackle big data projects, while minimizing the need for hardware and distributed compute  software know-how. a) BIG DATA AND THE GDPR The General Data Protection Regulation, which is due to come into force in May  2018, establishes a few areas that have been either drafted with a view to encompass Big  Data-related issues or carry additional weight in the context of Big Data, lets analyse just  two aspects. Data processing impact assessment According to the GDPR, where a type of processing in particular using new  technologies, and taking into account the nature, scope, context and purposes of the  processing, is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, the  controller shall, prior to the processing, carry out an assessment of the impact of the  envisaged processing operations on the protection of personal data. This criterion is most  likely going to be met in cases of Big Data analytics, IoT or Cloud operations, where the  processing carries high privacy risks due to the properties of either technology or datasets  employed. For example, linking geolocation data to the persons name, surname, photo and  transactions and making it available to an unspecified circle of data users can expose the  individual to a higher than usual personal safety risk. Involving data from connected IoT  home appliances or using a Cloud service to store and process such data is likel y to contribute  to this risk. Pseudonymisation According to the GDPR, pseudonymisation means the processing of personal data  in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject  without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept  separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal  data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person. At least two aspects link  pseudonymisation to Big Data. First, if implemented properly, it may be a way to avoid the  need to obtain individual consent for Big Data operations not foreseen at the time of data  collection. Second, paradoxically, Big Data operations combining potentially unlimited  number of datasets also makes pseudonymisation more difficult to be an effective tool to  safeguard privacy. b) BIG DATA APPLICATIONS Big data has increased the demand of information management specialists so much  so that Software AG, Oracle Corporation, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, EMC, HP and Dell have  spent more than $15 billion on software firms specializing in data management and  analytics. In 2010, this industry was worth more than $100 billion and was growing at  almost 10 percent a year: about twice as fast as the software business as a whole. Developed economies increasingly use data-intensive technologies. There are  4.6 billion mobile-phone subscriptions worldwide, and between 1 billion and 2 billion  people accessing the internet. Between 1990 and 2005, more than 1 billion people  worldwide entered the middle class, which means more people became more literate, which  in turn lead to information growth. The worlds effective capacity to exchange information  through telecommunication networks was 281 petabytes in 1986, 471 petabytes in 1993, 2.2  exabytes in 2000, 65 exabytes in 20073 and predictions put the amount of internet traffic at  667 exabytes annually by 2014. According to one estimate, one third of the globally stored  information is in the form of alphanumeric text and still image data, which is the format  most useful for most big data applications. This also shows the potential of yet unused data  (i.e. in the form of video and audio content). 2 Data, data everywhere. The Economist. 25 February 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2012.   3 Hilbert, Martin; Là ³pez, Priscila (2011). The Worlds Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and  Compute Information. Science. 332 (6025): 60-65. doi:10.1126/science.1200970. PMID 21310967.   While many vendors offer off-the-shelf solutions for big data, experts recommend  the development of in-house solutions custom-tailored to solve the companys problem at  hand if the company has sufficient technical capabilities. 2- PATENTS A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or  assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of  an invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem and is a  product or a process. Being so, Patents are a form of intellectual property. A patent does not give a right to make or use or sell an invention.5 Rather, a patent  provides, from a legal standpoint, the right to exclude others from making, using, selling,  offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, which is  usually 20 years from the filing date6 subject to the payment of maintenance fees. From an  economic and practical standpoint however, a patent is better and perhaps more precisely  regarded as conferring upon its proprietor a right to try to exclude by asserting the patent  in court, for many granted patents turn out to be invalid once their proprietors attempt to  assert them in court.7 A patent is a limited property right the government gives inventors in  exchange for their agreement to share details of their inventions with the public. Like any  other property right, it may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned or transferred, given  away, or simply abandoned. The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the  extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and  international agreements. Typically, however, a granted patent application must include one  or more claims that define the invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which  defines a specific property right. 4 WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use. Chapter 2: Fields of Intellectual Property  Protection WIPO 2008 A patent is not the grant of a right to make or use or sell. It does not, directly or indirectly, imply any such  right. It grants only the right to exclude others. The supposition that a right to make is created by the patent  grant is obviously inconsistent with the established distinctions between generic and specific patents, and with  the well-known fact that a very considerable portion of the patents granted are in a field covered by a former  relatively generic or basic patent, are tributary to such earlier patent, and cannot be practiced unless by license   thereunder. Herman v. Youngstown Car Mfg. Co., 191 F. 579, 584-85, 112 CCA 185 (6th Cir. 1911)   6 Article 33 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).   7 Lemley, Mark A.; Shapiro, Carl (2005). Probabilistic Patents. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Stanford Law and   Economics Olin Working Paper No. 288. 19: 75. relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty, usefulness, and non-obviousness. The  exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others, or at  least to try to prevent others, from commercially making, using, selling, importing, or  distributing a patented invention without permission. Under the World Trade Organizations (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related  Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be available in WTO member states  for any invention, in all fields of technology,9 and the term of protection available should  be a minimum of twenty years.10 Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable  subject matter from country to country.   a) EUROPEAN PATENT LAW   European patent law covers a wide range of legislations including national patent  laws, the Strasbourg Convention of 1963, the European Patent Convention of 1973, and a  number of European Union directives and regulations in countries which are party to the  European Patent Convention. For certain states in Eastern Europe, the Eurasian Patent  Convention applies.   Patents having effect in most European states may be obtained either nationally, via  national patent offices, or via a centralised patent prosecution process at the European  Patent Office (EPO). The EPO is a public international organisation established by the  European Patent Convention. The EPO is not a European Union or a Council of  Europe institution.[1] A patent granted by the EPO does not lead to a single European  patent enforceable before one single court, but rather to a bundle of essentially  independent national European patents enforceable before national courts according to  different national legislations and procedures.[2] Similarly, Eurasian patents are granted by  the Eurasian Patent Office and become after grant independent national Eurasian patents  enforceable before national courts. 8 Lemley, Mark A.; Shapiro, Carl (2005). Probabilistic Patents. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Stanford Law and  Economics Olin Working Paper No. 288. 19: 75. doi:10.2139/ssrn.567883. 9 Article 27.1. of the TRIPs Agreement. 10 Article 33 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). European patent law is also shaped by international agreements such as the World  Trade Organizations Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property  Rights (TRIPs Agreement), the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and the London Agreement.   3- BIG DATA PATENTS 11 Patent Analytics Solutions That Help Inventors Invent, Outsell Inc, June 3 2016   Patent data is uniquely suited for big data tools and techniques, because of the high  volume, high variety (including related information) and high velocity of changes. In fact,  patents are leading the way with big data and analytics in many ways. The patent space  offers a fascinating insight into the potential of big data analytics, rich visualization tools,  predictive and prescriptive analytics, and artificial intelligence.11 Especially recently, big  data tools and technologies are being used in several ways in the patent world to transform  and improve patent analysis. Patents and Intellectual Property are gradually gaining significance around the  world. This is leading to a bottleneck-large databases and ever growing information. A new  way around the innovation problem is to acquire patents. With examples such as Nokia,  Motorola, Twitter, the patent purchases seem rather straightforward. Nokia sold a large  chunk of its company to Microsoft, but held on to the crucial patents by signing a licensing  deal. They can now earn a revenue using patents licensed to Microsoft. Google bought  Motorola and its patents and later sold the company to Lenovo while holding on to the  patents. There are ample such examples in the industry.   Transactions of Intellectual Property (IP) are rather complex. Per example, a basic  component to be verified before a patent is granted, is novelty. In other words, if a priorart  describing the invention is found, the application stands to be rejected. A prior-art  could be in the form of a publication, a blog post, a lecture, a video, or a book. With a  massive amount of information generated, that doubles every 18 months, it is extremely  difficult to found prior-art. One way, some organizations follow, is crowdsourcing the  prior art search. Details about the patent are published on a website asking IP professionals  from around the world to find a prior-art. The emergence of Big Data analytics, on the other hand, has provided a clear solution. In addition, the outcomes through this method  get better and precise with each operation. Since Big Data analytics is still not commonly used by most government authorities,  prior-art gets overlooked and many false patents are granted. This comes out when-in  litigation-the opposing parties put all their efforts in looking for a prior-art to invalidate  each others patents. More often than not, a prior-art is found or there is an out of court  settlement. Hence, a concept called patent wall has gained traction. It is very common for  companies to file as well as acquire a number of patents around the technology they are  working on. This serves as a defence against litigators and allows the companies to market  and sell their products/services without any fear of litigation. The core value of patents is that the invention must be publicly disclosed in  exchange for a time-limited monopoly on the invention. Patents are not only a legal asset  that can block competitors, they are potentially a business and financial asset. For market  participants, patents can provide direct insight into where competitors are headed  strategically. Big Data is the key to unlocking this inherent value. Patent information is  comprised of vast data sets of textual data structures involving terabytes of information.  When unlocked through Big Data techniques and analysis, the insights are compelling,  revealing the direction a technology is headed and even uncovering the roadmap for a  specific companys product plans. But, deriving these insights from the proliferation of  information requires truly sophisticated Big Data analysis.   While Big Data is quickly growing as a trend, whats delivering more value these  days are Big Data services that optimize specific data sets and create specialized analysis  tools for that data. Technology teams that are dedicated to certain data sets will curate and  improve the data, learn the specifics of that data and how best to analyze it, and create selfservice  tools that are far more useful than generic Big Data technologies.   A key part of the Big Data service is a specialized analysis engine tailored to  particular data. For example, a patent analysis engine must understand the dozens of  metadata items on each patent in order to group patents correctly and traverse the  references. To be most effective, Big Data services need to automatically keep up with the  data updates, as patents are living documents that change over time. Even after the patent  Big Data Patents  is finalized and issued, it can be reclassified, assigned to a new owner, reexamined and  updated, attached to a patent family or abandoned. Most importantly, Big Data services are only as good as the insights they deliver a  Big Data service should provide a specialized user interface that allows real-time, userdriven  analysis with search, correlations and groupings, visualizations, drill down and  zooms. The patent data analysis must be presented in a manner that is compelling and  consistent. There are more than 22,000 published patent applications between 2004 and 2013  relating to big data and efficient computing technologies, resulting in almost 10,000 patent  families. Patenting activity in this field has grown steadily over the last decade and has seen  its highest increases in annual patenting over the last two years (2011-2012 and 2012-2013)  of the present data set. The growth has continually been above the general worldwide  increase in patenting, showing a small increase of 0.4% over worldwide patenting for the  2005-2006 period and showing a maximum increase of 39% for 2012-13.~ Using a patent effectively means suing a competitor to have them blocked access  to market, or charge them a license for allowing them to sell. When a patent holder wishes  to enforce a patent, the defendant often can invoke that the patent should not have been  granted, because there was prior art at the time the patent was granted. And, while patent  offices do not seem to have a clear incentive to take into account actual reality, including  the exponentially available information created by Big Data, when reviewing the  application, the situation is very different for a defendant in a patent lawsuit. They will have  every incentive to establish that the patent should never have been granted, because there  was pre-existing prior art, and the information in the patent was not new at the time of  application. And one important consequence of Big Data will be that the information  available to defendants in this respect, will also grow exponentially. This means t hat, the  probability of being able to defend against a patent claim on the basis of prior art, will grow  significantly. Because of the lag of time between patent applications and their use in court,  the effect of the recent explosion of information as a result of Big Data is not very visible  in the patent courts yet. A patent is, of itself, an algorithm. It describes the process of a technical invention   how it works (at least, thats what a patent is theoretically supposed to be doing). It is  therefore quite possible that a lot of algorithms around analysis of Big Data will become  patented themselves. It could be argued that this will act as a counterweight against the  declining value and potential of patents. Many of these algorithms are, in fact, not technical inventions. They are theoretical  structures or methods, and could therefore easily fall into the area of non-patentable  matter. Algorithmic patents are particularly vulnerable to the ability by others to innovate  around them. It is quite unlikely that a data analysis algorithm would be unique, or even  necessary from a technical point of view. Most data analysis algorithms are a particular way  of doing similar things, such as search, clever search, and pattern recognition. There is, in actual fact, a commoditization process going on in respect of search and analytical  algorithms. Patents are frozen algorithms. The elements of the algorithm described in a  patent are fixed. In order to have a new version of the algorithm also protected, the patent  will either have to be written very vague (which seriously increases the risk of rejection or  invalidity) or will have to be followed up by a new patent, every tim e the algorithm is  adapted. And the key observation around Big Data algorithms is that, in order to have  continued business value, they must be adapted continuously. This is because the data,  their volume, sources and behaviour, change continuously. The consequence is that, even if a business manages to successfully patent Big Data  analytical algorithms, such patent will lose its value very quickly. The reason is simple: the  actual algorithms used in the product or service will quickly evolve away from the ones  described in the patent. Again, the only potential answer to this is writing very broad, vague  claims an approach that does not work very well at all.   80% of all big data and efficient computing patent families (inventions) are filed by  US and Chinese applicants, with UK applicants accounting for just 1.2% of the dataset and  filing slightly fewer big data and efficient computing patents than expected given the  overall level of patenting activity from UK applicants across all areas of technology.   Against this, however, it should be borne in mind that many of the potential improvements  in data processing, particularly with regard to pure business methods and computer  software routines, are not necessarily protectable by patents and therefore will not be  captured by this report. UK patenting activity in big data and efficient computing has, on the whole, increased over recent years and the year-on-year changes are comparable to the  growth seen in Germany, France and Japan.12 12 Intellectual Property Office, Eight Great Technologies Big Data A patent overview   BIBLIOGRAPHY à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Herman v. Youngstown Car Mfg. Co., 191 F. 579, 112 CCA 185 (6th Cir. 1911) à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Hilbert, Martin; Là ³pez, Priscila (2011). The Worlds Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information. Science. (6025). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Lemley, Mark A.; Shapiro, Carl (2005). Probabilistic Patents. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 288. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Springer, New Horizons for a Data-Driven Economy à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Data, data everywhere. The Economist. 25 February 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2012. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Eight Great Technologies Big Data A patent overview, Intellectual Property Office, à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Patent Analytics Solutions That Help Inventors Invent, Outsell Inc, June 3 2016 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Article 33 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · 75. doi:10.2139/ssrn.567883. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · TRIPs Agreement. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use. Chapter 2: Fields of Intellectual Property Protection WIPO 2008 Google Chrome: A Freeware Web Browser Google Chrome: A Freeware Web Browser Google Chrome is a freeware web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and as a stable public release on December 11, 2008. As of September 2012, according to StatCounter, Google Chrome had 34% worldwide usage share of web browsers making it the most widely used web browser. (wikipedia) An Internet browser developed by Google, that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer and easier. The Google Chrome browser offers features including access to favourite pages instantly with thumbnails, desktop shortcuts to launch Web applications, and independently run tabs within the browser to prevent browser crashing. Chrome is known for is simplicity and speed, and people use it because it gets the job down, fast. But it doesnt end there, while being simple it is also very customizable allowing users to make it their own, some people get rather sceptical due to that, as they think, if its highly customizable, how can it be simple? Chromes UI is flawless; its simple yet effective that your mind just knows where to go without having to think. This is one of the main goals for any browser, to achieve this, the design and icons that the browser uses have to be recognisable straight away, for instance, the button to get back to chromes homepage is shaped as a house, this way our brain quickly realises it. Pros. 1. It wont crash. Perhaps Chromes largest feature is its multiprocess design, which helps the user a lot, protects you from having a bad Web page or application take your browser down. Every tab, window, and plug-in runs in its own environment, so one faulty/broken site wont affect anything else that you have opened. This approach also adds another layer of security by isolating each site and application within a limited environment. 2. Its really fast. Again because of the multiprocess design, one slow site wont drag down the rest of your browsing. Instead, you can effortlessly click to another tab or window. With plug-ins, the arrangement works similarly: If you open a site that has a slow-loading Java ad, for example, the Java itself will be isolated and the rest of the page wont be affected. The program itself opens within seconds of when you click the icon, tooa distinct advantage over some slower-loading alternatives. This gives users great control over their browsers and also developers of websites, as they can isolate problems quicker and easier. 3. You barely notice its there. Calling the design of Chromes interface efficient is an understatement. The program barely looks like a program, and the vast majority of your screen space is devoted to the site youre visitingwith no buttons or logos hogging space. Chromes designers say that they wanted people to forget they were even using a browser, and it comes pretty close to achieving that goal. 4. It makes searching simpler. One of Chromes signature features is its Omnibox, an integrated all-purpose bar at the top of the browser. You can type in a URL or a search termor bothand Chrome takes you to the right place without asking any questions. Omnibox can learn what you like, tooa talent that goes beyond the obvious automatic completion function. Say that you want to use the PCWorld.com search function, for example. Once youve visited the site once, Chrome will remember that PCWorld.com has its own search box and will give you the option of using it right from Omnibox. The function thus automates keyword searches. 5. It gives you more control over tabs. Chrome gives the idea of tabbed browsing new power. You can grab a tab and drag it out into its own individual window. Or you can drag and drop tabs into existing windows to combine them. Chrome also gives you the option of starting up in any tab configuration you wantwhether a custom setup or the set of tabs you had open in your previous session. Other browsers require third-party add-ons to provide this capability. 6. It opens new doors on your home page. Chrome comes with a default dynamic home page. As you use it, the program remembers the sites that you visit most often. The top nine of those appear in snapshots on your home page, along with your most commonly used search engines and bookmarks. Theres no force-feeding here, though: You can override the dynamic home page with any home page you want, just as you can set the default search engine to any service you prefer. 7. It lets you stay incognito. Like  Internet Explorer 8s recent beta release, Chrome offers a private browsing optionone it calls Incognito. You can open a special type of new window and rest easy knowing nothing you do in it will be logged or saved on your computer. And unlike Internet Explorers, Chromes Incognito window is isolated from the rest of your browsing experience, so you can have your private window open alongside your regular windows, and each will operate independently. http://www.neowin.net/forum/uploads/monthly_12_2010/post-261952-12913175021568.png RockMelt RockMelt is a proprietary social media web browser developed by Tim Howes and Eric Vishria. The project is backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. RockMelt integrates a technique for surfing the web that focuses on Google Search and social media, in particular Facebook and Twitter. (wikipedia) RockMelt is Very Similar to Chrome, it uses an older engine than what chrome uses but otherwise the same, the only thing that is different is the UI, RockMelts UI is built for the people who use online social sites a lot, like Facebook and Twitter. The Left and Right sides of the browser are where the main social features are, it displays your friends that are online on the right (Facebook) and links displaying how many messages you have on Facebook, Twitter etc. on the left. Other social features can be found in the title bar and the menu dropdown. Pros The Facebook chat integration. The pop-out instant messaging windows enable you chat without needing to keep Facebook open. Plus, by adding friends the favourites list, you can easily see if the people you chat with the most are online. Another feature is the drag and drop ability. If you are on a website that I want to share with friends, simply grab the link and drag it over their photo on the left side bar. Then you have the option to share it with them via Facebook Chat, Facebook Message, or by posting it on their Facebook Wall. Additionally, you can easily share it with all of my Facebook friends or Twitter followers by dragging to the Share button next to the address bar. Cons There are a lot of Distractions! With everything from Facebook to the favourite blog feeds integrated right into the browser, theres almost too much going on. This is definitely not a browser to be used in the office. While its a really useful tool for social media integration, it definitely lowers peoples productivity Social Entrepreneurs: Traits And Limitations Social Entrepreneurs: Traits And Limitations This article is oriented to through a light and argues that social entrepreneurs do not give adequate consideration to gender and emphasise that there was a lack of research on womens contribution as social entrepreneurs; this article suggests other possible areas of study to advance this field of research. It brings out the extensive literature on social entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs, while also drawing on the gender/diversity literature. This article creates interest to researchers who wish to examine aspects related to women as social entrepreneurs. It is also relevant to government agencies and social enterprise organisations those are looking to gain a more understanding of social entrepreneurs, their characteristics and the issues they face. It provides key avenues of further work to better understand the way in which sex and gender interact with the practices of social entrepreneurs. Though there is a tremendous increase in research on social entrepreneurs in recent years, a little consideration has been given to the womens contribution make as social entrepreneurs. Some work in academic research has started to profile social entrepreneurs, describe why they choose to become social entrepreneurs, the hurdles they face and the strategies they adopt. Although the research on the topic of social entrepreneurs is increasing, it is still largely based on an idealised vision of which the social entrepreneur is, often restricting the concept to a narrow pool of individuals and not taking into account the actual diversity within this category. Teasdale et al., 2011 says one such category which has been largely ignored in the literature consists of the contribution that women make as social entrepreneur. For the purpose of this paper, we will discuss the concept of social entrepreneurs independently of social entrepreneurship. This will avoid difficulties linked to the fact that not all social enterprises may be entrepreneurial or that not all social entrepreneurship comprises social enterprises. The premise of this paper is that much of the literature on social entrepreneurs is heavily influenced by mainstream literature on management and entrepreneurship, and as such the work on female social entrepreneurs may follow the same trend. Much of the work in the field of sex/gender and management/entrepreneurship has changed focus over the past two to three decades, moving from a largely descriptive field of research to a much more analytical one. One of the key characteristics has been the progressive move from sex to gender, going from looking at if sex makes a difference, to how gender makes a difference (see Carter and Shaw, 2006 for a fuller account). The literature on women entrepr eneurs has adopted an increasingly critical stance, denouncing the implicit maleness of the entrepreneur as a construct. One of its main criticisms is the androcentricity inherent in much of the entrepreneurship literature, which often relies on very gendered and stereotypical assumptions as to the role of men and women. The mainstream literature has given much attention to the topic of traits, looking for the actual social or psychological attributes possessed by successful entrepreneurs. However, the gendered nature of these very traits has been heavily criticised by scholars in the field of gender and entrepreneurs (Ahl, 2006; Marlow et al., 2009). In opposition to trait theory, which relies on a social-psychological approach, a more sociological approach has been proposed to look at identity construction rather than traits. This gives a voice to alternative groups (e.g. women), for example in the male-dominated Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) incubators (McAdam and Marlow, 2010) or among ethnic female entrepreneurs (Essers and Benschop, 2007; Humbert and Essers, 2012). This paper builds upon this body of work to provide a critical view of existing work on (female) social entrepreneurs and to shape a future research agenda. In particular, it aims to provide a brief account of current res earch on social entrepreneurs, followed by some of the findings directly related to the contribution of women. Because of the limited amount of material on women as social entrepreneurs, the paper also draws on literature on women within the social entrepreneurship, with applications to the case of social entrepreneurs where feasible. This review is informed by a focus group organised in June 2009 in London that brought together key informants such as policy makers, female social entrepreneurs and academics. Finally, the paper aims to provide a reflective gendered account of how these bodies of literature can be combined to inform further research on women as social entrepreneurs, before suggesting some possible avenues for research on the topic in the future. Social entrepreneurs: traits and limitations Some of the traits attached to social entrepreneurs are starting to be well documented. Some studies like Prabhu, 1999 suggest that social entrepreneurs are younger, possibly due to a higher risk propensity related to lower levels of family responsibilities. Ramsay and Danton, 2010 found that evidence from the UK suggests however those very young individuals are not very well represented among social entrepreneurs. It is important to consider the effect of age as there may also be potential links with the type of social enterprise being set up: younger social entrepreneurs may work on transformational actions while older social entrepreneurs may tend to focus more on charitable organisations. It might also be alternative forms of organisations that are adopted by younger social entrepreneurs. Leadbeater, 1997 focused on the development of social capital which is seen as important in the creation and subsequent development of social enterprises. Research into the potential importance of social capital among social entrepreneurs shows some evidence that personal/family history of (social) entrepreneurship may have a positive influence on the creation of social ventures but overall remains inconclusive. In the entrepreneurship literature, women are portrayed as being particularly influenced by this personal/family history (Marlow et al., 2009). This raises the question of to what extent this is also a factor among women social entrepreneurs. Shaw and Carter, 2007 stated that social entrepreneurs are able to show drive, determination, ambition, charisma, leadership, the ability to communicate vision and inspire others and their maximum use of resources. In order to do so, as Alvord et al. (2004) suggest, a characteristic associated with successful social entrepreneurs is that of a bridging capacity. This capacity is shaped by a social entrepreneurs background and experience which in turn is shaped by gender relations. Some authors have focused on developing a universal definition of social entrepreneurs, one which is heavily linked to, and directly derived from, the definition of an entrepreneur. One of the definitions adopted by Nicholls (2006:224) draws on Dees (2001) and bears some similarities with Chell (2008). It is worded in the following terms: Social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector, by: à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value); à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · recognising and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation and learning; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created. This definition assumes that there are fundamental differences between mainstream entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Chell (2007:18) has worked on reconciling the two definitions and concludes that the differences can be eliminated by adopting the following: (social) entrepreneurship is the process of recognizing and pursuing opportunities with regard to the alienable and inalienable resources currently controlled with a view to value creation. This definition, while providing a platform for renegotiating theoretical differences between entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs is still proving to be a very polarised stringent definition. This problem is in part resolved by adopting an alternative viewpoint where the ideal social entrepreneur should not necessarily fulfil all criteria in the above definition fully, but that there are different degrees of fulfilment for each and that a social entrepreneur does not necessarily need to meet all of them (Dees, 2001). If there are many commonalities between mainstream and social entrepreneurs, academic discourse bestows social entrepreneurs with extra, special, traits which underline the importance of their commitment and dedication to social aims. Not only are social entrepreneurs largely described as different in the literature, they are also often described as extraordinary individuals. Dees (2001:2) for instance describes entrepreneurs in the following terms: their reach exceeds their grasp. Entrepreneurs mobilize the resources of others to achieve their entrepreneurial objectives. Chell (2007:5) portrays a similar vision of the entrepreneur as a household name with a personality that is larger than life'. These quotes present a view of the entrepreneur as both metaphorically and literally uncontainable. Further research needs to explore how this discourse relates differently to men and women. It is also important to examine the role of women in the governance of social enterprises, The Social Enterprise Coalitions State of Social Enterprise Survey (Social Enterprise Coalition, 2009) show that the social enterprise sector provides a more egalitarian environment for women, as can be seen in terms of presence on boards; 41% of social enterprise board members in the SEC Survey 2009 are women (Humbert, 2011). However, this differs considerably between sectors. There is a strong need to recognise diversity among social entrepreneurs. Indeed mainstream entrepreneurship studies have often been criticised for failing to address heterogeneity (Ahl, 2006; Essers and Benschop, 2007) and it appears that these issues are at least as pronounced with regards to social entrepreneurship. An emphasis on entrepreneurial traits can therefore be criticised as being overly reductionist in that it discursively creates a hegemonic model of the social entrepreneur as s/he ought to be. Furthermore, it embeds the characteristics of social entrepreneurs into individualistic and economic settings, while disregarding the impact of the socially interactive and emotional settings (Goss, 2005). Social entrepreneurs: motivations, obstacles and strategies In addition to work focusing on who social entrepreneurs are, other studies analysed why they choose to become social entrepreneurs, the obstacles they face in doing so, as well as some of the strategies they employ to overcome these. This approach departs from attempting to describe successful social entrepreneurs in that it does not solely rely on natural characteristics but also recognises the importance of the environment, for instance through cultural or social influences. As such, social entrepreneurial awakening can be seen as a multiplicity of trigger factors in individual, personal, familial and professional backgrounds. Becoming a social entrepreneur can be seen as the end result of a more or less long maturing journey, characterised by a range of positive and negative inputs which are interpreted in a time-dependent cultural, societal and personal context. Amin (2009) talks about two main routes that lead to becoming a social entrepreneur. One is about being nurtured with the social economy and using the skills and resources acquired within that setting. The other is to come from the public or private sector and apply skills gathered there in the context of the social entrepreneurship. Motivations for social entrepreneurs are extremely complex, with evidence that rational choice theories are inappropriate due to the complexity and range of different inputs and their interpretations (Spear, 2006). Most studies find that there are usually many similarities between the motivations of mainstream and social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs may not rate independence and income security highly, but give a lot of importance to their social objectives (Shaw and Carter, 2007). These social objectives are often portrayed as additional factors (Prabhu, 1999; Spear, 2006; Hudson, 2009) and include factors such as altruism, ethical/social concerns or ideological aims. While there is a significant degree of overlap among these categories, all of these extra motivations rely heavily on an individualistic identity construction, without considering the collective identitys role. Furthermore, social entrepreneurs motivations remain conceptualised using the entrepreneurs model, albeit with some added elements. This approach of adding extra elements is replicated when looking at the obstacles faced by social entrepreneurs. These are presented as being quite similar to those faced by mainstream entrepreneurs (Thompson, 2002). Future research will need to consider how some factors such as ethnicity and gender affect the magnitude of the obstacles encountered. Very little work has looked at issues of diversity among social entrepreneurs. The UK Government Equalities Office (2008) examined the motivations and obstacles associated with women social entrepreneurs within BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) communities. This work identifies a tendency to get involved with ones community as a motivating factor while at the same time experiencing multi-disadvantage and discrimination. Multiple, and interacting, layers of identity can therefore be seen both positively and negatively. Generally social entrepreneurs report experiencing difficulties in accessing finance, as do mainstream entrepreneurs. Alternate sources of funding are used with little reliance on the three Fs (family, friends and fools), but instead finance is sought from charitable trusts or the public sector (regional, national, and European) (Shaw and Carter, 2007). This differs from the situation among mainstream entrepreneurs, who are more likely to rely on bootstrapping methods of financing their business (relying on internal funds rather than raising money externally). Women entrepreneurs are themselves more likely to rely on bootstrapping, raising the question of whether this is also the case among women social entrepreneurs. Another characteristic of social entrepreneurs is that they tend to operate in locations and sectors where they have experience (Shaw and Carter, 2007). Although this could be presented as caused by lack of experience, it could also be explained by the fact that they use available resources in a way that maximises their experiential capital. Alternatively, it could also be a strategy to minimise risk. As Shaw and Carter (2007) stress, in the context of social entrepreneurship, social and personal risk are more prevalent as opposed to financial risk. No discussion of the concept and experience of risk among women social entrepreneurs exist in the literature to the authors knowledge. Women in the Social Entrepreneurship To understand the area of female social entrepreneurs, and given the paucity of material available, this paper will therefore take a broader view by examining research on gender more broadly defined before discussing how the findings in those fields may apply to social entrepreneurs. Labour can be subdivided into at least three categories: self-employed, domestic and community work. While the experiences of women in both self-employment and domestic work have been well documented, less work has been undertaken on their community work and volunteering. This section aims to present some of the key findings in the literature on womens paid and voluntary labour. Mailloux et al., 2012 says women have had a positive impact on society through their involvement in the social entrepreneurship, by putting some topics such as children, family, womens health, violence and discrimination towards certain groups of population on the social agenda. Research also suggests that women may use the voluntary sector to counteract negative attributes such as re-entry to the labour force or building up skills. Generally, the involvement of marginalised groups is they women, ethnic-minority groups, are associated with greater levels of change. This can be seen through the involvement of women in supporting womens issues, sometimes within particular communities which may otherwise not benefit from the services or products provided. Caputo (1997) for example finds a link in the US between black women volunteering and changing social conditions. Research on women in the social entrepreneurship, whether in paid work or volunteering, attempts to generate a profile of these women and what they do. The proportion of women involved in the social entrepreneurship is greater than other parts of the labour market, as shown by example by Mailloux et al. (2002) and Teasdale et al. (2011) in Canada and the UK respectively. Their activities are contrasted to that of men and studies show that there are differences apparent in the type of work performed by women, the type of organisations they are involved with, as well as the nature of their involvement within these organisations. Women perform extra volunteer work on a regular basis (e.g. care work) without recognising it as such in the formal voluntary sector (Mailloux et al., 2002). In addition, the link between lower earnings and women seems to also apply in the social entrepreneurship, with lower salaries and benefits than in the private sector in a Canadian context (Mailloux et al., 2002). The popular misconception that involvement in volunteering is a way of occupying free or leisure time, particularly among privileged groups, needs to be challenged given that, in fact, much (less formalised) volunteer work is being undertaken by members of marginalised groups in order to counteract negative circumstances (Neysmith and Reitsma-Street, 2000). The motivations of women in the social entrepreneurship do not appear to be specific to women. They can consist of wanting to make a difference, to act, to help; belong to a group; build links with the community (Mailloux et al., 2002), thereby suggesting that there is a strong community embeddedness in the voluntary sector. Neysmith and Reitsma-Street (2000:336) emphasise that what they call the participatory component should not be underplayed and that volunteers attach importance to being part of something that [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] is ours, not mine or theirs'. The motivations for volunteering are therefore seen as wanting to build relationships with others, developing life and work skills, getting ownership of the fruit of ones labour and combating negative social stereotypes. However, volunteer work is devalued in contrast to paid work. One aspect of this devaluation is through the invisibility of volunteer work. Volunteering has been theorized as an extension of womens family work, reinforcing separate spheres of ideology where mens work is defined and rewarded, as a public contribution but womens work, even though done in the community, is defined essentially as an extension of their private responsibilities to family (Neysmith and Reitsma-Street, 2000: 342). Further research should examine the extent to which expectations of such gendered roles are present in the social entrepreneurship. In terms of paid work, Gibelmans (2000) research suggests that the glass ceiling is still prevalent in the US nonprofit sector, along with evidence of a gender pay gap. An analysis of HR policies revealed a set of anti-discrimination affirmations with usually no plans for implementation. Furthermore, policies related to facilitating access to management for women (i.e. flexitime or help with caring arrangements) were seldom addressed. The study however fails to examine the role these policies play in (dis)advantaging (wo)men. Indeed, Moore and Whitts (2000) findings indicate that men are disproportionately more present on voluntary organisations boards, more likely to occupy multiple seats and to be involved in a various number of sectors compared with their female counterparts. As they state, nonprofit boards in the United States remain bastions of white, male privilege (2000: 324). Overall, the authors conclude that attention needs to be given to the lack of access to boards to pro mote greater gender equality rather than on how individuals fare within the boards once they get in. The notion of conflict for women between traditional and modern gender roles is an important one to draw upon. Very little work has been done on this topic, but some US and Canadian evidence suggests that even though women hold a desire to break away from traditional gender roles, there are advantages in using these along with punishment for moving to a more modern structure (Mailloux et al., 2002). However, this move to more modern gender roles may have a detrimental effect, particularly on volunteering, with lower participation from women (Caputo, 1997). The extent to which these patterns of inequality are found amongst social entrepreneurs is largely under-researched. In addition, since many of the sources quoted above are based in North America, the degree to which these findings could be extrapolated to Europe, or the rest of the world, remains a serious concern. Current European studies (e.g. Teasdale et al., 2011; Humbert, 2011) infer that there are many similarities, but their number and scope remains limited. In their study, Teasdale et al. (2011), support many of the findings highlighted in this section, and are not able to examine social entrepreneurs operating in either the public or private sector. While there is a dearth of research into gender effects in the social entrepreneurship, patterns of inequities present in the private sector may be largely replicated in the social entrepreneurship, albeit on a smaller scale. The extent to which these patterns are similar, or different, remain critically under-researched. Furthermore, none of this work to date has been applied to social entrepreneurs. In the next section, a gendered reflection on these areas of research is provided, along with some possible topics of research into this field. Conclusion Research on social entrepreneurs remains largely dependent on the assumption that a common set of characteristics inherent to social entrepreneurs exists. In effect, this has led to attempts to produce a universal definition of the social entrepreneur. This approach, which replicates the development of research on entrepreneurs, is problematic in the context of female social entrepreneurs since it relies on individual characteristics and may ignore the collective nature of entrepreneurship and may not address the real diversity of social entrepreneurs. This tendency towards the reification of the social entrepreneur requires further research particularly in terms of how it affects men and women differently and whether it excludes particular groups. This tension replicates the long-running argument in mainstream entrepreneurship as to the degree of inclusiveness that should be bestowed to the definition of an entrepreneur. Indeed, this area of research remains highly centred on previous research on entrepreneurs, and merely adds in extra elements, such as the social or the female, often ignoring the contribution of the intersection of these two concepts. It is the lack of attention given to the interaction between these two concepts, coupled with a lack of questioning of their stereotypical underpinning, that constitute one of the major drawbacks of this field of research. The stereotypical position is often evident through studies undertaken on women in the social entrepreneurship. Women are portrayed as doing different types of jobs, in different types of organisations, at a lower level and for less money. The rhetoric of difference (with men?) prevails. Moreover, women are portrayed as not motivated by pecuniary reasons but more by a desire to act as what can only be described as mothers of the community: women are there to help, to build, for others but never for themselves, and are seldom valued or rewarded for their work. Research undertaken on social entrepreneurs has often consisted of examining them in contrast with mainstream entrepreneurs (Nicholls, 2006). There is a lurking danger in any comparative stance in that it can easily position one party as the deviant other, often implying an inferior position. This is certainly the case with female entrepreneurs (Ogbor, 2000; Bruni et al., 2004; Hytti, 2005; Ahl, 2006). Indeed, previous research has shown that in the case of female entrepreneurs, it might be inadequate to use theories derived from an essentially male experience to describe women entrepreneurs (Stevenson, 1990; Greene et al., 2003). This argument has much deeper implications in that it shows that existing models of entrepreneurs based on the so-called mainstream entrepreneur are models based on what Ogbor (2000) terms the white male hero. These models assume that the entrepreneur does not have caring and/or domestic responsibilities (Ahl, 2006). The challenge resides in creating new models or adapting these to the area of the social and the female simultaneously. Adapting models in entrepreneurship research such as the family embeddedness perspective advocated by Aldrich and Cliff (2003) or the socio-economic context presented by Brush et al (2009) would be beneficial. The difficulty in conducting research on women as social entrepreneurs lies in paying attention to the discourses briefly outlined in this paper. It is important to depart from these discourses, as discourse and perspectives about, and for, the nature of entrepreneurialism are fundamental to both theory (how we think about, conceptualize and define terms) and practice (what capabilities and behaviours we believe apply to people whom we refer to as entrepreneurs) and moreover, to how the terms are used in a wider socio-political arena to serve particular ends (Chell, 2007:7).