Genetic and Non-genetic diseases of the liver Research Paper - 1

Genetic and Non-genetic diseases of the liver - Research Paper Example It is because of this that approximately 2 million Americans suffer from alcoholic liver disease (Bouneva et al 2003). Alcoholic liver disease is associated with a constellation of three conditions affecting the liver which include steatosis of the liver (which is commonly referred to as fatty liver), alcohol associated hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver. Steatosis of the liver is the initial stage which occurs with the formation of droplets of fat in the cells of the liver which leads to enlargement of the liver and gives it a yellow and oily appearance. At this point all the changes of the liver can be reversed and the liver can acquire its normal histological state if the alcohol consumption is stopped. This is followed by the next stage which is the hepatitis of the liver due to alcohol. This is mainly the inflammation of the liver cells. The cells of the liver become swollen followed by the loss of the normal function of the cells. This is accompanied with Mallory bodies as well as the influx of neutrophils in the liver cells and finally it leads to increased fibrosis. The inflammation of the liver can be resolved by stopping the alcohol consumption but it may take an extended period of time. If the disease progresses further it results in the final stage which is known as cirrhosis of the liver which is a condition that cannot be reversed (Walsh et al 1999, Kumar et al 2005, Bouneva et al 2003). There are many risk factors of this pathology which increase the susceptibility of developing this condition. There first risk factor is the amount of alcohol consumed. Increased consumption increases the risk of the disease. The kind of alcohol that a person drinks is also associated with the extent of damage and it is seen that beers are more dangerous for the liver than wine. Malnourished individuals, females, people with deficiency of vitamin E as well as African Americans and Hispanics are at increased risk of developing alcoholic liver

Commercial law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Commercial law - Coursework Example Apparently, the cleaner machine that is bought by The Royal Derbyshire Hotel from Walcott cleaners is seemingly suited for this category, and the laws that authorizes decline of sales and repudiation of contracts falling under this category will apply accordingly. 4 According to sec. 18(1), the title of specific goods passes when they are in a deliverable state and if the contract of sale is unconditional – this is with the exception of a contrary intention between the buyer and the seller. Whether the time of payment or delivery is postponed is of no importance in this case. This means that if all other requirement of the title of specific goods is met, the title of the cleaner would have passed to the buyer despite the delivery taking place after the date that was originally agreed. However, this assumption is contrasted with the fact that courts infer that parties to such a contract did not plan to pass the title in line with rule 1, but instead planed to pass it only when the goods are delivered or paid for.5 An â€Å"unconditional† contract means that the contract is free of any condition which may affect the passing of title. For example, a conditional sale agreement, under which the passing of title occurs only upon payment of the price, or a contract under which the seller must himself acquire the goods before he can honor his agreement to sell them to the buyer, would not be â€Å"unconditional† within the meaning of rule 1. Where the seller has undertaken to do something to the specific goods in order to put them into a deliverable state, title to the goods, according to rule 2 of sect. 18, is presumed to be intended to pass only when the seller does that thing and the buyer has actual notice of it.6 When purchasing the machine, Robin could not have doubted the rights of the seller because Section 12(1) stipulates that the seller has the right to

Peugeot Case Essay Example for Free

Peugeot Case Essay * Introduction Through this final assignment I will explain how the French company Peugeot, can introduce it hybrid car the 5008 hybrid HDI. I choose an hybrid car for different reasons. The first one is that I think that hybrid cars are going to know a better future than electric cars. In effect, this is a huge change for people in general and they are not used to that way of driving and consuming. Offering an electric car is too radical and making hybrid cars, combining fuel and electricity is a good way to make a transition. This is why I choose to makes it on hybrid car. Secondly, I choose the 5008 hybrid HDI because is one of the biggest car that Peugeot is offering, and as we know American people are more likely to use biggest vehicles than in France. Finally I choose Peugeot for the reasons explained bellow. The company is also known as the Group PSA. Actually PSA is the biggest car company if France and have for main competitor Renault the second biggest group in France. The company has extended and sells their products to different region in the world like in Asia and Latin America. With all the ecological issues within the car industry the car industry, companies have the obligation to find alternatives to the CO2 problems, but also because innovation is always recommended no matter the industry. This is why Peugeot presented in 2009, its new car the Peugeot 5008 HDI Hybrid. Nowadays, Peugeot is not very present in United States, and this new product could be an opportunity for them to enter this market. Through this assignment, I will answer the question of the case by explaining the reasons to export, but also by studying the competition present in the US market and all the potential risks that the company has to avoid. Finally I will end the final by making the marketing plan that Peugeot could adopt in order to enter the market. Why Peugeot should export the 5008 HDI hybrid? Many reasons make that Peugeot want to invest in the US market. But even if they already have an international experience due their presence in Latin America and Asia, they have to be careful because the US market has its own specificity. Their new hybrid cars could be a huge opportunity to enter this market. In effect, hybrid cars are becoming more and more appreciated in the US market and people like this kind of car. The American market is such important that it gives more or less the trend of sales for the coming years. Since 2001, the market never stops growing and the forecast for the next year seems to be good as it is show on the graph below: As we can see, the increase has been constant through the years and will don’t stop until 2015. Those forecasts seem to be excessive but in fact they are quite true. In August 2012, a study has been made by an American website â€Å"hybridcars† and it shows that the number of sales has increased looking at the previous year. In august 2012, 249,311 of cars have been sold which represent an increase of 63.2% looking at the number of sale at the same period. As we can see the increase is extremely important, and when we look at the total number of sales of all cars, it makes more important the increase. In effect, the increase of all the vehicles at the same period is â€Å"only† about 14.0%. I say only because there are 50% of gap between all the type of cars and hybrid cars. This enormous increase is also due to the fact that the US government is helping people who want to buy an hybrid car by creating incentives. This incentive is made by giving a tax credit. The  credit is not fixed and it is calculated in function of the State where the car is bought and also about the brand of the car. Those tax credits are quite important because it goes from $900 to $3500. Each state have its own program, like in New York, they have the â€Å"Clean Pass†. All those points show that Peugeot should enter in the US market. The forecast that we have seen are very encouraging, and other factors should help hybrid cars in general, like the environmental issues. Something that also shows that hybrid cars are â€Å"trendy† is that in many movies or tv shows we can see hybrid cars, and the most used one is the Toyota Prius which is like the muse of hybrid cars and that we have seen in the tv show â€Å"Desperate Housewife† or â€Å"South Park†. Peugeot should try to surf on that new wave, but everything is not going to be so easy and Peugeot is going to face several barriers. Economic and political barriers that impact the export. The car industry is an industry that is facing a lot of legal issues. In France for example, car that are polluting and that have an important CO2 emission are going to be taxed, but security law and regulations are also numerous. When you want to enter in the US market you have many things you have to be careful about. Concerning the product in itself for example the company has to obtain a certificate which is called the CBP clearance. If car companies want to obtain that CBP certificate that says that you are not bringing weapons or drugs, you have to be conformed to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of transportation. If you want to bring cars in the US, your cars have to answer to those norms as described by the official American website www.cbp.gov , â€Å"Imported motor vehicles are subject to safety standards under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, revised under the Imported Vehicle Safety Compliance Act of 1988; to bumper standards under the Motor V ehicle Information and Cost Savings Act of 1972, which became effective in 1978; and to air pollution control standards under the Clean Air Act of 1968, as amended in 1977, and 1990.† In general, cars that are manufactures outside the US have to be in good standing with the US safety regulation, bumper and emission standards. Still with the CBP website, taxes are also established for the importation of goods. For autos, the importation tax is about 2.5%, and duty rates are based on price paid.  All those elements, Peugeot have to take them into account and adjust their production and prices following those rules. But those laws specific to the US market are not the only problems that Peugeot can face. In effect, the international competition can be also a huge issue. Peugeot, a strong international competitiveness. To make a good study of the international position of Peugeot in comparison to its competitors I will first make a study of the macro environment, following by the study of the meso environment. To make the study of the macro environment it is advocated to use the Porter’s Diamond. * The factors conditions: Actually, this is one of the most important things for the company because they are not present in the United States and they don’t have any infrastructures and if they want to produce their car, they will have to invest a lot in that. Concerning the human resources, United States is a huge country with many people that are already trained to this kind of industry and they are very competent in that industry, so this would be a strong advantage for Peugeot. * Demand conditions: I think that the demand in the American market is quite important. As we have seen in the first part of the final the demand for hybrid cars is increasing, and we are talking about a huge increase of 63%. * Related and supporting industries: All companies are focused on what the consumer is expecting, it means making economies. A lot of companies were developing and making research on electric engines in aim to reduce the consumption of gas. The car industry has done the same and developed new cars with both engines with gas and electricity. Those industries working in the new raw materials and fuel are in the center of a lot of other industries because they want to reduce their cost. * Firm strategy, structure and rivalry: I will develop this part in the following parts and in the Porter’s 5 forces. * Government: In a general aspect the US government is making efforts to promote the Hybrid cars, by allowing the different states to make incentives and making a tax credit to people who are buying hybrid cars. But Peugeot is a foreign company, and as we have seen they are a lot of laws and standards that foreign companies have to respect if they want to integrate the US market. * Chances: Looking at a general aspect Peugeot have good chances, because of the global warming and the fact that people don’t want to spend so much money in gas and that they want to reduce their cost. This is a chance because if they can produce a good car it is going to be the future and people will buy it. They have to make huge efforts in Research and development in aim to be competitive, because they are not the first one that want to be present in USA. In effect, Toyota and its famous Prius are present in the US market for many years, so Peugeot have some delay looking at them. Now I will use the Porter’s 5 forces for Peugeot to make the study of the meso environment. * Threat of New Entrants: I clearly think that the industry won’t see another competitors coming. The market is actually saturated and it count really big companies that can develop their product development and can invest in research and development which cost a lot and that new entrants could not support. So for the moment Peugeot will have to face actual competitors. So we can say that the threat of seeing new entrants coming is very low. * Bargaining power of suppliers: Peugeot is one of the biggest companies in France and in Europe, and to be at the top of such region they need to have a very good relationship with their suppliers. But what makes the quality of the car is the quality of the raw materials, this is why it gives a huge power to their suppliers. * Bargaining power of customers: I think that the power of customer is very high. This is mainly due to the substitutes that are offered to those customers. Train, bus, plane all those alternatives are offered to the customer, this is why they have a lot of power, because if Peugeot want to keep them they have to listen to them and do what they want. More of that they have a lot of competitors, and the customer is looking for the best product at the lowest price and he is helped by the development of internet where he can have access to different companies staying at home, but also where they can post their comment on a product. This is why the power of customers is high. * The threats of substitute products: They are a lot of different substitutes, on a local way and on a more national and international way. When I say local I think about bicycles for example and when talked about national or international I talked about buses train and plane. But even if they are numerous that doesn’t mean that they are powerful, because even if environmental problems are present nowadays, people prefer use hybrid cars rather than carpooling for example. So we can say that the power of substitutes is quite low. * Rivalry among existing competitors: The car industry is a very hard industry with a lot of different competitors. Following the International crisis and the environmental issues all the companies have adopted the same strategy by developing hybrid cars to answer to the new demand. Some of the big competitors have disappeared like General Motors, but in Europe, Volkswagen is leading everything and they have a huge potential of growth because they can invest in research and development. So we can clearly say that the existing competition is very high. If we look at the whole 5 forces, the car industry is a very strong industry with strong actors which are closing the entry for new competitors and where actual ones have to be more and more innovative and invest a lot in R D. The influence of culture in the marketing strategy. To have a quick view of the culture of the USA, we can use the study of Hofsted. You can see below the difference between the USA and France: * Power distance: Comparing to France, the US score is low (40), and this is mainly due to the premise â€Å"liberty and justice for all†. This also involved the fact that superiors in a company are more attainable for employees than in France, the information easily shared and employees are more frequently consulted to take decisions. * Individualism: When we look at that score we can see that the American has one of the highest score possible (91). It means that everything is based on the personal performance but also that employees are self-reliant and promotion for example is made looking at your previous result. But this also means that we expect from American people to be very autonomous very young. * Masculinity: The American score of 62 is quite elevated regarding to the French score. Again it means that American people tend to display and talk freely about their â€Å"successes†. American people â€Å"live to work† in aim to earn money and rewards. This is an important point for Peugeot, because as we have seen in the diamond description they don’t have any building or employees, and this could be a very good opportunity. * Uncertainty avoidance: The score of 46 is also a very good news for Peugeot. This means that American people have a good acceptance for innovations and a strong willingness of testing new things and new products. American people tend to be more tolerant of ideas or opinions from anyone and allow the freedom of expression. * Long-term orientation: Both of the countries have a short term oriented culture. It means that companies perspectives are based on short term with profit and loss statement made on a quarterly basis. This is why we ask employees to have quick results. We can also use Hall’s communication context, to try to identify and define the American culture. I think I can say that USA is a  low context culture. In general American people prefer to communicate on situation and are more oriented on their daily life. They mostly communicate within their out-groups in a broad and diffuse way. In general they communicate only on what is necessary. This is one of the main difficulties for the company is to adapt their product to a culture unknown for them. They have to succeed in doing the cross-cultural management and create and make coordination from this cross-cultural management. Which market entry? They are many ways for Peugeot to enter in the US market, they are all different, they have all their advantages and drawbacks. But in those times, where everything needs to be done very quickly, some choices are more relevant than others. Importing could be a good solution quick but also complicated in a sense that it would be expensive because as we have seen there are taxes to make enter cars into the US, more of that they will have to find a distributor in the USA and they will lose some of their power in distributing their cars. I think the best, the easiest and the quickest way is to make and create a franchise system. They are many advantages of creating a franchise. First you will use workforces of the country where you want to be in, and those people already know how their market is working and are things are doing in their country, you don’t have to spend such time looking for information and local people are more aware of those cultural differences. Secondly, you don’t have to change your brand name, it will only cost you few trainings that you have to provide to the employees. It is also very benefic because you can make pay the people that want to make a franchise with your brand some royalties, but in return you will have to give them communication support, you have as I told it before to trained the employees and you will have to keep eyes and see if the franchisee is not doing things on its own. In general, companies like this kind of market entry because they can keep some control on the franchisee, and because they received royalties which are between 1 and 20%. They are other risk that Peugeot don’t have to forget also. It is the fact that the franchisee will pay with delay or won’t pay at all. Another recurrent issue of the franchise is that the franchisee can use the knowledge taken from the franchisor and  use it on its own after that. It is a problem of intellectual property. What about an acquisition? Making an acquisition could also be a good type of market entry, because of some advantages like: * Quick entry: it allows acquiring resources and competencies in a new market very quickly. * Market power: it also gives you more market share if you make an acquisition with a competitor, you will take its market share and it will help you to be bigger. * Market penetration: it also allows you as in this case to enter in a new country or market. * Gain of competencies and resources: you will also earn some knowledge and knowhow from the new company and you will improve your productivity. But it has also some disadvantages: * Cost of acquisition: acquiring another company could be very expensive and specifically if we talk about a hostile takeover. The price depends on the size of the company, their market shares, their resources and other many things. * Managerial issues: the company that you are acquiring may have different way to work, different business culture and it can create tensions between the two entities. * Unrelated diversification: a company can make different acquisition, an horizontal and a vertical one. The company has to be careful and see if the company that it acquire has relation with its industry to make the acquisition easier. * Management of workforces: when acquisition happened it is not unusual to see people fired and it can create tensions within the company or strikes like in France. The International Product Life Cycle: The international product life cycle has some particularities. The IPLC is divided in 4 phases. In general, during the first phase, it is the US exportation that dominates the global market. But when this phase is ending, the next 3 phases see the producers from other developed countries becoming more and more important. Those countries first established their production and sale their product only in their own market, but in a second phase they go to third country market and finally integrated the US market in the last phases. If the US market is very strong in the very first phase is for some  reasons we have seen previously. In effect, the important market size, the acceptance for innovation, the R D resources and the well-developed marketing information system, make of the US market a very good market to launch a new product. So if we looked and follow what we have seen just before we would be in the fourth part of the international product life cycle, but because we are talking about an innovation in a very well-known market and industry we can talk about a new product so we would have been in the first phase, but in this first phase we already have seen companies from countries different from the US like Toyota, exporting and developing the Hybrid market in the US. I think the Hybrid car market is not at the maturity phases and it will reach in the future more customers. Effects of the exchange rates and inflation: In effect, the exchange rate is an issue that Peugeot have to consider if they want to make business in another country. The device in the US is the USD (United States Dollar) while in France it is the â‚ ¬, which is good in fact, because it will cost less for the French company to invest in the US. We should have a quick look at the fluctuations of the exchange rate of the two devices since the beginning of the year: As we can see, the exchange rate has fluctuated a lot with a minimum of 1.21 and a maximum of 1.34. Even if it seems to be a small change, in reality it represents a huge amount of money due to the big quantities of possible product sold. Peugeot has to take into account those fluctuations, but the consequences are less important that if would have been in the other way passing from dollars to euros. They still have to be careful and to anticipate those changes in aim to invest at the right moment. This is also very important, because the whole euro zone knows some bad times due to the economic crisis, this is why it could be interesting for them to invest in a country in a more â€Å"stable† country. Personal selling: First of all, before adapting its way to communicate and sale its product, the French company has to define its target. Because it stills an innovative product, the final consumer should have an higher income’s average and should be from the high-middle and upper class. Also the majority of people  that are buying hybrid car are people about 55 years old and older. They are also people that are aware and that are concerned about environmental issues that the planet is facing and that what to contribute to its safety, but also that think that they are going to save money because the price of the fuel is going to increase. When you want to sell a product in United States, you have to take into account many factors. First that they see themselves as the best business men and having the biggest companies of the world and that foreign companies are inferior. But American people are also expert of cross-marketing which means that they like to promote their product on different support like blogs, website, banners, tv adverts†¦ The use of technology is also important and using them is very important when you want to sell your product to an American consumer. Finally, American people love to have humor on their advertising. But contrary to France, they prefer to make humor on situations of the everyday life and not on the people. More of that when you want to communicate in the US, you have to be careful with the fact that this country have a lot of different ethnics within it. They are people coming from South America that are latinos but they also have a strong black community which have a lot of power, so you have to communicate to each of them. Making communication and selling products in USA is very different from selling in France and Peugeot again has to adapt to that issue. But with the principal Idea of making a franchise in the US it will be easier to adapt their communication to their customer because they will have employees from the US and that understand the American culture. International marketing controls: I think that if Peugeot what to be successful in the US, they will have to constantly make marketing controls. The different points we have been through this final are part of the control that Peugeot have to make. Make studies about their competitors, use the Porter’s 5 forces and Porter’s diamond, making a SWOT analysis, making a PEST analysis, controlling their financial management with the money they have invested in R D for example, controlling the fluctuation of the exchange rate and studying the international product life cycle, all those elements are tools that all companies have to be careful about. A good marketing strategy is established in a long term vision by preventing changes or at least adapting their  strategy as soon as possible by finding the needs of the customers. * Conclusion: Exporting a new product to another country is something difficult for many reasons. The very first one is because of the cultural differences between the countries. But the cultural differences are not the only issues; there is also the way that the Peugeot want to enter the American market. But I think that the company should do it, because as we have seen through this final, USA is a good country for innovative product but also because it is a huge country with a lot of potential consumers. Being present on the American market could also be a good start for the company to be durably present on such powerful market where a lot of innovations came to. But if they are aware of that, it means that other companies from other countries are also aware of it, so if they want to be successful they have to take a quick decision and to take the risk to do it, because as many business men say, the biggest risk is not taking any risks. * Bibliography: * â€Å"Peugeot 5008, le monospace by Peugeot† , Forum-Peugeot.com, 2012, Web, http://www.forum-peugeot.com * â€Å"Policy Priorities for advancing the U.S. electric vehicle market†, Deborah Gordon, Daniel Sperling David Livingston, Carnegie Endowment, September 2012, Web, http://carnegieendowment.org * â€Å"Importing a Motor Vehicle†, CBP- Securing America’s Borers, August 2008, Web, http://www.cbp.gov * â€Å"Importing vehicles and engines into the U.S.†, EPA-United States Environmental Protection Agency, Web, http://www.epa/gov * â€Å"United States vs France† National culture, Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimension,2012, Web, http://geert-hofstede.com * â€Å"Top 10 tips for selling products in the United States†, Bill Decker, Denver Business Journal, June 2011, Web, http://www.bizjournals.com * â€Å"2012 Hybrid Cars†, Hybridcars, March 2012, Web, http://www.hybridcars.com * â€Å"July 2012 Dashboard†, Hybridcars, Augus t 2012, Web, http://www.hybridcars.com * â€Å"Hybrid market Forecasts†, Hybridcars, September 2006, Web, http://www.hybridcars.com * â€Å"Hybrid car tax credits: incentives fade into Memory†, Hybrids, February 2011, Web, http://www.hybridcars.com * â€Å"Hybrid and Plug-in Incentives and rebates – Region by Region† Hybridcars, March 2010, Web, http://www.hybridcars.com * â€Å"Profile of hybrid drivers†, Hybridcars, March 2006, Web, http://www.hybridcars.com * â€Å"Boursorama EUR/USD Spot†, Boursorama, December 2012, Web, http://www.boursorama.com

Solving Problems And Making Decisions

Solving Problems And Making Decisions SitesPower is a training institute specialized in providing Technical courses in IT and courses in Business Management fields. It is based in Dubai and with a branch in Sharjah. It has been approved by the UAE Ministry of Education and it is an approved and accredited institute from awarding bodies like ILM, Autodesk, and Microsoft etc. whose courses and trainings are delivered in the institute. As a trainer in SitesPower, I provide training courses in ICDL, Microsoft Office Applications (2007-2010), and a wide range of certified courses in Business Management to deliver specific skills that students need. Also, I accomplish a lot of tasks assigned to me by my manager, and that requires a lot of time, effort and preparation to complete those tasks on time. Trainers face many problems in training programs, but some of these problems are frequent and sometimes worrying, such as: problems of students failing in the ICDL Exams, and delay in receiving the certificate due to students repeating the course or not being able to complete the course. Before talking about this issue, I will explain through the following chart: the administrative and organizational structure of the training centre SitesPower Sharjah branch in which I work there Present situation (Analysis of the problem) The International Computer Driving License Course (ICDL) is the most important certificate for a large number of employees or job seekers, particularly in government jobs in the United Arab Emirates. For this reason, the demand for this certificate has increased over many years and has become a key requirement for employment in many companies. Because of its importance, the candidates enrol in our training centre programs and attend ICDL classes for the preparation for ICDL Exams so as not to be an obstacle to access to jobs or losing their current jobs. The main problem that we face with these courses is the failure of some students in the ICDL exams, and therefore they will not get the certificate or causing a delay to obtain the certificate due to repetition of the course or the exam, which leads to a major embarrassment and might lose job opportunities. First of all, I will explain the components of the ICDL sessions, rules and how to obtain the certificate in order to understand the causes of students failure in the exams. ICDL Course consists of the following Modules: IT (Information Technology) Using Computer and Managing Files (Operating System) Word Processor (Microsoft Word) Spread Sheets (Microsoft Excel) Database (Microsoft Access) Presentations (Microsoft PowerPoint) Web browsing and Communication (Internet Explorer Outlook Express) This course duration is seven weeks, i.e. average of 9 hours for each module. The candidate must pass the exam assessments for each module to obtain the certificate. Exams are provided on the web through a software program, and its files contains exercises shown on a computer screen and questions bar shown on the screen with a time calculator to calculate the time required to complete the test. The Exam timing prescribed for each subject is 45 minutes. Questions are categorized into groups according to the exam module, but the numbers of questions for each module are 36 questions. The Candidate should answer these questions within 45 minutes and has to get the rate of 75% or more to pass in the exam. Based on the above, the main problem I encounter during teaching and training students for the exam is some repetition in these certification exams and this will affect negatively on the students and also on the training centre and its employees. There are many reasons that I will clarify them later, some of these reasons are: Inefficient trainee using the computer Inability to concentrate during the lecture and thus no interaction with the instructor. Lack of opportunity to review the material and training tests on these exams. The student may not be able to answer all questions within the time allocated for the exam. Student may face a problem in understanding the wording of the question. There are reasons linked to the technical aspects of the ICDL Exams online, hardware and software used may affect the result of the exam and cause the failure of the student. We can classify the above mentioned problems into two categories: First: Expected problems Problems associated with weak efficiency trainee in using the computer, Exam system, and inability of the trainee to answer all questions within the limited time. These problems occur continuously, and we face them in every training session including: Number of students enrolled in the training course. Difference in the level of competencies and comprehension of the trainees in using the computer. Second: Unexpected problems The technical problems associated with the exam system, the computer used by the trainee during the exam or software used by trainee to answer questions. These problems occur few and only appear during the exam, but may cause either postpone the exam or failure of the trainee and thus give him a chance to repeat the exam again. The problems that I mentioned earlier, both expected and unexpected adversely affect everyone. First of all The candidate will be affected by these problems due to the failure and delay in receiving the certificate, which means losing job opportunities or may lead to termination of employment. Other candidates will also be affected by these problems because of their fear from making the same mistakes and problems that have occurred with their colleagues and thus will affect their self-confidence and possibly lead to failure as well. Secondly these problems might also affect the training centre, as it may lead to bad reputation of the training centre as it was unable to address the problems of the trainees and its inability to help the candidate solve these problems and ensure their success in the exam. Thirdly These problems will also affect the trainer in taking part of the responsibility for the failure of the trainee. One of the most important goals that I am trying to achieve through solving these problems mentioned above and in cooperation with the management is to help the trainees to achieve their objective to be certified by developing their computer skills to ensure getting that certificate. Through achieving the objective of the trainees, training centre will achieve its goal and gain a special position among the other accredited training centres in the region. The failure to take any actions to address these problems that I have mentioned above and solve them, will lead to increase the gap between the trainees and the training centre and unable to achieve the training centres goals and the trainees objectives. Investigation and identification of possible solutions to the problem When I started my job at the centre in 2006, as a trainer, I was assigned to give ICDL courses and train candidates on the ICDL practice exams. A lot of candidates joined our training centre programs at that time to get the ICDL certificate. Some of them faced many problems in the exams and failed to get the certificate. During that time, I didnt realize the reasons of those candidates who were failing in the exams. Gathering the information After a few months, the management asked me to start monitoring ICDL exams due to lack of exams testers. But I had to be qualified first in order to be authorized as a tester to monitor these exams. Therefore, I took a training course in the ICDL office in Dubai Internet City on how to monitor and solve problems that might occur during the exams. After taking this course, I had started to understand and analyse the reasons for why candidates were failing in these exams and also to know the nature of ICDL questions. And analyse historical records of exams and result reports. After knowing this, I decided to help candidates to overcome all problems of the exams plus for being an exam tester. In Summary, I gathered the information about the problem from the following sources: My evaluation of the candidates skills during the lectures. Monitoring the Exams Reports of the Exams Evaluation of Possible Solutions Fishbone is a way of analysing problems Super Series from ILM Based on the information gathered above, I have decided to use the Fishbone Tool to analyse this issue by identifying the main reasons and the subsets as shown in the diagram below: Problems in the Network system Difficult terms set out in some exam questions Lack of maintenance of devices before the exam by computer technicians Errors in the booking of exams for candidates Problems in the live exam system Problems in the hardware and software in the users computer The difference between the candidates in their skills The number of candidates in the ICDL course no interaction with the instructor during the lecture No preparation prior to exam Lack of practicing on mock exams Lack of computer skills Causes of student failure in ICDL Exams Candidates ICDL Course Equipment Employees Live Exam System By using the Fishbone analysis tool, I managed to collect all the reasons that might cause the students failure in the exams. After that, I conducted a survey among the candidates in a scale of impact and importance from (1-5), where (No.1 is very weak) and (No. 5 very strong): Identify the areas of improvement that can enrich the overall performance of the candidate in the exam. To know the level of impact on the students failure in the exams No. The Reason of student failure in the ICDL Exams 1 2 3 4 5 1 Weakness in skills, and incompetence and inability to use computer by trainee 31.58% 10.53% 21.05% 15.79% 21.05% 2 No enough time allocated for training on the practice exams at home or at office 15.79% 10.53% 15.79% 31.58% 26.32% 3 Less time of training on the sample exams in the classroom 47.37% 10.53% 36.84% 5.263% 4 The inability to interact with the instructor and the inability to understand his explanation of the modules 31.58% 31.58% 15.79% 21.05% 5 Uncertainty, and lack of understanding of examination program and not knowing how to use it during the exam by the student 26.32% 26.32% 31.58% 5.263% 10.53% 6 Lack of understanding of exam question because of the difficulty of the terms used in the exam 26.32% 21.05% 21.05% 21.05% 10.53% 7 Exam time is not enough 36.84% 15.79% 31.58% 5.263% 10.53% 8 Technical problems associated with the exam software 21.05% 15.79% 31.58% 26.32% 5.263% 9 Technical problems related with the computer user in the exam or technical problem in its software. 36.84% 26.32% 21.05% 10.53% 5.263% 10 Lack of the trainer experience and skills 89.47% 10.53% 11 ICDL Books and materials 47.37% 21.05% 5.263% 10.53% 15.79% Depend on the result shown in the table above I discovered that the most important reasons of student failure in the ICDL Exams were: Weakness in skills, and incompetence and inability to use computer by trainee No enough time allocated for training on the practice exams at home or at office Technical problems associated with the exam software Lack of understanding of exam question because of the difficulty of the terms used in the exam Recommended implementation plan to solve problem According to the results mentioned above, I have recommended to management the idea of taking the advantages of some features that we got form ICDL office, like booking for candidates ICDL exams at convenient and also provide them with practice exam cards. In addition, I have determined some other actions that would help solving these problems. These actions consist of the following points: Determine the number of candidates in each session with maximum number of 12 candidates. Increase the number of scheduled hours for each subject if necessary, and making more practices in the class. Provide each student with practice exam cards with 20 hours training to conduct the necessary training before the exam either in their offices, homes or even in the training centre. Explain the exam system for students at the beginning of each session, providing them with important advices and guidelines to ensure their success in the exam. Aware candidates of the importance of the exam timing, and the importance of answering the questions quickly. Getting help from the computer technician during candidate taking the ICDL exams, to resolve any technical problem that appears during the test. Update the computers and replacing the old one with new one. Making a routine and regular check on the computers, and especially before the ICDL exams. Print the result report of the student after taking the exam when necessary, in order to study the wrong answers with the student to avoid these mistakes next time. After applying these recommendations, and monitored its effectiveness and impact, we managed to: Increase the success rate of the ICDL exams. Reduce the percentage of the problems appearing in these exams to the minimum. Improve the performance of the candidates using of computers. Raise self-confidence of trainees in the exams. Following table show the different between ICDL Results through three years 2011 2012 -2013 2011 2012 2013 (January) Pass 42.85714% 70.58824% 71.42857% Fail 57.142857% 29.411765% 28.571429%

Bridge to Terabithia :: essays research papers

This takes place in a small town in the 1970's. It is based on a boy named Jesse Aarons but he is called Jess. He cannot wait until fifth grade starts because he will be the fastets runner, he even practiced all summer. He has two older sisters and two younger sisters. His older sisters never seem to do anything and are always ridiculing him. His younger sisters look up to him, mostly May Belle though. Jess's dad works in Washington ans so he is gone during the day a lot. It is up to Jess to milk their cow Miss Bessie everyday. His dad isn't affectionate to him and seems only to be nice to the girls, the same goes for his mom. They try to treat him too much like a man. One day, a new family moves into the old Perkin's farmhouse. There are usually families moving in and out of it all the time. There ends up being a girl named Leslie Burke who is the only child and Jess's age. She walks over to his house and says hi, but he ignores her. On the first day of school she is in his class. She hangs around him during recess and is the first girl to race and beat all the boys. This hurts Jess because he had practiced all summer. They end up becoming real good friends though and hang around each other everyday. They help May Belle get the school bully Janice Avery back after she stole May Belle's twinkie. They did it by writing Janice a fake love letter from Willard Hughes saying that he liked her and for her to walk home from school with him. So, Janice ended up walking all alone back home from school. Jess and Leslie create a secret place together in between their woods called Terabithia where Jess is the king and Leslie the queen. They built a small fort and try to talk like royalty does. In order to get to Terabithia they swing on a rope over a small creek. When Christmas comes around Leslie got Jess a new paint set since he loves to paint and his family is sort of poor. Leslie's family is rich but doesn't show it because she wears raggedy clothes and doesn't have a tv. Both her parents are authors trying to live the country lifestyle after moving from the scity.

Slave Acculturation Essay -- American History

Slave Acculturation The seasoning process, as applied to the treatment of plantation slaves, was designed to ensure not only that the slaves would become totally dependent upon the dictates of their owners but also to destroy the cultural links which the slaves had with their former homelands. In the West African kingdoms which provided one of the major source of slaves at the height of the triangle trade, slavery was part of the indigenous culture; however, the motivation behind African domestic slavery was for the main part political, and intricately bound up with the way in which the capture of those from neighbouring tribes would allocate bargaining power to the captors; it was not necessary to impose a process of acculturation on the slaves in order to ensure their total obedience. (Curtin p 63) However, once slavery was extended to Europe and the Americas, there was a perception amongst the white slave-owners that to allow black slaves to maintain their cultural heritage would result in the fomentation of rebellion and invalidate the psychological and physical domination which was essential if small groups of whites were to successfully control large groups of slaves.(Inikori p 22) Depriving slaves of their physical strength, except when seen as necessary to set an example, would have been counter-productive. It was the potential for labour which was highly valued on the plantations; slaves cost money and it was in the interests of the plantation owners to maintain the physical health and strength of their slaves, even when they had established a breeding program which made the slave community essentially self-perpetuating. Seasoning was therefor... ...African heritage but developed along different cultural lines and could not be said to have a direct connection with its cultural origins in the modern context of Black American society. Bibliography Curtin, Philip D. and Paul E. Lovejoy, ed. Africans in bondage: Studies in Slavery and the Slave Trade. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986. Burnard, T & Morgan, K. (2001) The dynamics of the slave market and slave purchasing patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788. William and Mary Quarterly 58; 1: npa. Inikori, Joseph E. and Stanley L. Engerman, eds. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies. Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1992. Africa in America: Slave Acculuturation and Resistance in the American South and the British Caribbean, 1736-1831., The William and Mary Quarterly.(JSTOR)

Culture and Imperialism, a Review of Edward Said Essay

Edward Said remains one of the best selling and well known of the social and literary theorists that deal with identity and nation in the post-colonial global setting. This field is saturated with work dealing with culture and identity formation, post-modern â€Å"epistemic communities,† and most importantly, the relationship between context (ethnic, religious or economic) relative to the formation of such communities. There can be no question that the reading of Said’s book must take place within the context of the American neo-conservative drive to dominate the planet in the name of a vaporous â€Å"democracy,† or even â€Å"free markets. † And for this reason, it is important for the author to establish his view on the United States as a â€Å"conqueror† power primarily, as her early history can be reduced to the â€Å"settler mentality. † Transplants from the imperial center to the imperial hinterlands, for Said is basically the same as the slave societies functioning in the Carribean Islands, as his understanding of Austin shows. America is a slave power and a conquering power in that her development cannot be separated from the systematic pillaging of native traditions and lands. What makes America more interesting is her ability to absorb many traditions, and, from that, to create an identity in a rather counter-intuitive sort of way. Even further, the claim is that such an imperial power has the ability to create unity out of disunity; of creating an identity out of cacophony. Austria, Russia and the Ottomans are just three other examples of predatory powers creating unity out of disunity, or, even more strangely, creating the imperial idea precisely from the materials of disunity, both ethnic and religious. This kind of dialectic, i. e. identity from opposing elements, is central to Said’s concept of identity formation in the context of domination and exploitation. The central argument here is that identity formation has been poorly treated in the historiographic tradition both of the west and of the post-colonial world. Authors have tended to target the functional, â€Å"static† aspects of identity and culture, without understanding, as a whole, the nature of the social context. In other words, social and economic exploitation is as much a part of post-colonial identity as the more static elements of language. In his own ethnic identity, that of the Palestinian, Said can competently say that his own identity exists not in a vacuum, but as intrinsically part of the cultural formation deriving from Turkish, British and Jewish forms of colonial rule. Hence, there is no â€Å"Palestine,† as a cultural formula outside of the multi-ethnic scope of domination and violent colonialization. There is a culture, but it is a culture of â€Å"resistance,† a culture whose very formation exists in a matrix of humiliation. Hence, Said creates a dialectic of his own, following the more common Hegelian logical notion of the conclusion being manufactured though opposition. Identity, as a thesis, is a dialogue deriving from resistance to power. But even more, the antithesis, this identity formation derives at least in part from the â€Å"literary† (speaking broadly) production of the post-colonial center. In other words, after the experience of colonialism, the former metropole continues to dominate the subject peoples from the point of view of literature itself, in fact, a form of identity formation often overlooked in the historical literature. Lastly, as a synthesis, Said holds that a post colonial idea of identity of a formerly subject people is a creation whose final end is indeterminate, and even in general strokes, is vulnerable to critique. The synthesis here is itself an extremely pessimistic concept of identity that leaves the formerly dominated to be forever controlled by the mass-language modes of communication. Communication itself is a form of political power and colonial domination. It is a common idea, driving in modern times from Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm, that the â€Å"nation† or â€Å"ethnos† is a contrived entity. This does not negate its use as a variable in analysis, but it does show some light on the nature of â€Å"tradition† considered very broadly. In short, Anderson has famously made the argument that the ethnos is a â€Å"imagined community† where the individual envisions himself part of a heritage and a history he had no part in making, and cannot ever hope to â€Å"experience† as a single entity. It is a series of mental images rather than as a set of incontrovertible facts. Hobsbawm, for his part, holds that the ethnos or nation is the synthetic creation not merely of a series of images, but that these images are the direct creation of elites who have a specific interest in development a sense of â€Å"unity† among a formerly disunified people. Mass media, standardized language and an industrial economy are all necessary for such basic cultural standardization to take place. Hence, the idea of a nation, while still useful to the social sciences, remains an entity without actual substance; a monstrous creation rather than a natural growth (cf. 15-18). Said holds to these views, but of course, provides the reader with the more general and inclusive category of international exploitation. While this is a broad category, it remains concrete, since, given the identity of any specific ethnic group, close analysis of its history shows not a â€Å"development† of an ethnic â€Å"idea,† but rather a life of domination, exploitation and manipulation that has forced a hasty and uncritical sense of self that is itself a distortion and the worst form of image manipulation. It is â€Å"unnatural† to the extreme, and hence the global context is highly alienated, since the bulk of the human population subscribe (passively, to be sure) to a sense of self that is a mere reaction of the ethnic immune system (210).