Conflict Resolutions, Cultrual Differences Essay

The American way of dealing with conflict, according to the article, is arguing. This might not be the best way, and it’s definitely not the only way. The article serves the purpose of exploring the cultural differences in how others deal with conflict. It provides alternatives and different ideas in how to resolve conflicts, as oppose to arguing. Arguing is a method of dealing with conflict. In the argument culture â€Å"nearly everything is framed as a battle or game in which winning or losing is the main concern.† The pillars of argument rest on this win-lose idea. Argument is expressed through â€Å"polarized†, two sided, debates and battles. The result elicits a winner and a resolved conflict. This method is commonly used in the â€Å"Western culture in general, and in the United States in particular†. It is also used by â€Å"individuals of Eastern European background†, â€Å"Jewish tradition†, and in some Indian cultures. Joanna Repczynski, for example, had an experience in her visit to France. Her host kept initiating â€Å"a heated intellectual debate over dinner.† When Joanna agreed, another argument would be on its way. Another example is Andrea Talarico. When her â€Å"Italian-American family† argues, their â€Å"voices would raise and objects would be thrown in an intense discussion†. Another example is the Japanese woman who is married to a Frenchman. The Frenchman started arguments with his wife. Finally when she argued back, â€Å"he was overjoyed† rather than getting upset. The advantages of arguments are various. In the case of Joanna and her host, the host felt as if arguing would â€Å"keep things interesting†. Agreement was just to boring. â€Å"Andrea sees advantages to her Italian-American family’s style: â€Å"We always know how each other feels at all times.†Ã¢â‚¬  This is a sign of her family’s closeness. The Frenchman was overjoyed that his wife argued back because it was a sign of â€Å"showing interest† and showing respect for each other’s intelligence. To him â€Å"disagreement was a sign of a good relationship.† There are disadvantages of arguments. It can be upsetting and it can turn violent. The Japanese women â€Å"found it so upsetting† and Andrea’s family threw objects. For people who aren’t used to the argument culture,  arguing can come off to be a â€Å"surprise, confusion, or alarm† and be very offensive. The disadvantaged result of an argument or deb ate is that there is always a loser. Another method of resolving conflict is ritual vituperation. This method works by the means of screaming insults and song lashing. It was created by traditional societies; the rules are culturally agreed upon, which gives this method a ritual context. It is used by â€Å"Women in Gapun, Papua New Guinea† and in traditional Nigerian villages. â€Å"Women in Gapun Papua New Guinea, when angered by husbands, relatives, or fellow villagers, can erupt in a kros, shouting insults and obscenities loudly enough to be heard all around.† The shouter waits near or in her home and waits for her offender to go far enough away. The villagers, then, watch up close as the women shouts. In Nigeria, a very similar method is used, song lashing. It â€Å"consists of familiar proverbs or original verses† that implies insults. Like kros, onlookers also watch. It’s different in the way that the target is referred to indirectly. An advantage of this way of managing conflict is that it provides â€Å"outlets so aggression can be expressed†. It’s their way of relieving anger. The advantages stem from it’s ritualized, structured rules. The onlooker’s role is to prevent any physical violence. The onlooker’s provide the speaker with the satisfaction of listening. The speaker provides the onlookers with entertainment. â€Å"Effective song-lashers are admired for their verbal skill†. The target is relived of any direct abuse. There are two major disadvantages to this method. The conflict doesn’t get resolved and the children in the surrounding area are subjected to this inappropriate verbal aggression. An alternative to the idea of winning or losing is â€Å"victors without vanquished†. This method of dealing with conflict is to honor the winners as well as the losers. There is more emphasis on harmony â€Å"rather than winner take all.† This method is used in the Asian culture and has a historical  significance in Japan. An example of this method is the 1868 Asian revolution. The two sides of the conflict were the supporters of the Western government model and the old, Chinese model. â€Å"The people who had fought for the old regimen were not punished but invited to join the new government (and most did).† The Western supporters won, but the supporters of the traditional, Chinese model maintained their respect and dignity; they were â€Å"allowed to remain in existence.† The main advantage of this method is that the loser gets recognition, â€Å"retaining a large measure of respect.† According to Ben-Ami Shillony, an anthropologist, this method â€Å"helped Japan avoid disastrous internecine ethnic and religious strife.† The advantage of this method is that it resolves conflicts without disastrous escalation. The disadvantage of this method is that â€Å"social pressure to maintain harmony can actually cause conflict.† The actions of people on conflicting sides are altered by the interference of harmony. For example, a person in disagreement with another might want to take action, but the emphasis on harmony might yield that action, which can cause frustration or even anger. Another disadvantage is that in a society that emphasis harmonic competition, competition â€Å"tends to become more fiercer† than in a society where competition is normal. Another way of dealing with conflict is by the use of intermediaries, third parties. This method rests on the idea that â€Å"community pressure takes the place† of direct conflict.† â€Å"This reflects an emphasis on harmony and interdependence†. The conflicting sides are dependent on a mediator, or peacemakers to resolve a conflict. This method can be â€Å"formally ritualized†, or informal. This method is used in Asian societies and in many Pacific cultures. An informal example of this method is the use of â€Å"matchmakers or marriage brokers†. Another example is â€Å"when neighbors pressure a son or a daughter-in-law to stop neglecting a parent or parent-in-law.† There are no ritualized rules in these examples, only third parties that take the place  of direct confrontation. The use third parties can be ritualized or formal. For example, the use of â€Å"standard structures or rules† and â€Å"hierarchical relations to maintain harmony.† In the Solomon Islands, fa’amananata’anga is the way that conflicts can be resolved. The event is held over a family dinner, speaking is serious and formal, and the most senior person is the peacemaker, all making this ritualized. In Tannan, a South Pacific island, â€Å"Conflicts among villagers or between villages are discussed publicly by groups of adult men at special meetings that last all day.† The people present are the go-betweens and the most senior people hold hierarchy positions within the group. Rather than resolving the conflict, these meetings are a way of taking part in a â€Å"joint journey† that results in â€Å"consensus flowing from the interaction of all.† They accomplish harmony of the minds and general understanding out of group effort. Another example is the Fijian Indians. They set up committees, third parties, which interview the opponents before a formal meeting called pancayat. The Japanese use a similar method called nemawashi. It rests on the idea that â€Å"there are two wrongs and now it is right.† Neither opponent is blamed as being the only wrong and â€Å"seriously at fault.† An advantage of intermediaries is that they â€Å"offer the needed apology without the principal losing face and can absorb rejections without taking them personally.† In the case of the matchmaker, the groom avoids the risk of rejection from the potential bride. The groom is then saving face, keeping his dignity and pride. Another advantage of using intermediaries is that the third party offers motivation. The third parties also play a role in maintaining peace and help to avoid potential violence. The idea of pancayat and nemawashi â€Å"seems a much better way of gathering information than forcing people to speak in a high-pressure public event.† The committees take the pressure off of the opponents. A disadvantage of using intermediaries is that the third party is placed in potentially â€Å"unhealthy and inappropriate† circumstances. The third parties are subjected to others conflicts, anger and possible violence. The third parties have a chance to get hurt. The cultures that use intermediaries form a dependence on them to handle their disputes. â€Å"Even some psychologists tend to regard† handling your own conflicts is â€Å"a sign of maturity†. The use of third parties can be a sign of interdependence and immaturity. Another idea of resolving conflict is ritualized fighting. The fighting has specific rules and culturally inclinations. This method is the â€Å"expression of opposition.† The opponents do not gage in physical contact, only express it. It is used in Bali, Indonesia and in Tori, Ireland. In Bali, Indonesia ritualized cock fighting is a fundamental way of dealing with conflict. In Tori, Ireland neighborhood street fights are ritualized ways of dealing with conflict. The rules are not â€Å"in the sense that the players could recount them†. They are just normal and taken for granted. The fighters come out in public and threaten each other. â€Å"Everything about the fight was structured so that the two men could seem eager to exchange blows without ever landing one.† No one gets hurt because no physical contact is actually exchanged. Finally, the mothers, or a female relative, of the fighters would break it up. â€Å"She would implore the fighter to come home and stop fighting.† An advantage of this method is that no one gets hurt. â€Å"The fighters could rely on their kin to restrain them, preventing them from hurting each other.† The onlookers, especially the kin take the role of stopping any physical contact. Another advantage is that the fighters provide the audience with entertainment and â€Å"excitement for both participants and onlookers.† The fight also provides outlets for the fighters and a way they can show their manhood and get more respect. These ritualized customs â€Å"reinforce social bonds and alliances†. The interactive part and support of the society helps to bond them closer together. A disadvantage to this method is that if the kin of one, or both, fighters are not present during the fight, physical contact might occur and someone can get hurt. Another disadvantage is that some of the onlookers may be children. The children are then subjected to cursing and threatening. They might look up to the manly fighters and want to mimic them. A major disadvantage of this method is that the conflict does not get resolved. Comparing the argument culture to ritualized methods of dealing with conflict, it seems that arguing overemphasizes winning, loosing and â€Å"war and sports metaphors†. Too much concentration on polarized views and not enough  on harmony that â€Å"discourages confrontation†. The cultural, ritualized rules provide that culture with boundaries, values, and â€Å"controlled ways to manage† conflict. â€Å"We cannot simply adopt the rituals of another culture, but thinking about them can give us pause and perhaps even ideas for devising our new ways to mange conflict.† The article provides insight on many ideas how to manage conflict. These new ideas can influence an individual, perhaps myself, to manage conflict more constructively.

Mary Prince Biography

After reading Mary Prince autobiography a West Indian slave, I was inspired by her story that I knew for it would be great for my final assignment paper.My thesis is even though, Mary Prince life improved when she moved to England – she made money, got her book published, received better treatment from an employer not a slave owner – She never achieved her goal to be a free person in the eyes of the law after she left her slave owner Mr. Wood, she didn’t gained her freedom and die a slave. Mary Prince was born in Brackish Pond, Bermuda in 1788, her mother was enslaved in the household of Mr. Charles Myners and father was a sawyer. She was bought along with her mother by old captain Darrel and given to his grandchild, little Betsey. After the death of her master she was sold several masters who mistreated her to the point that she had enough and decided to leave her slave owner Mr. Wood to seek help to gain her freedom in London with the Anti-Slavery society. Prince had earlier sought the help of the Anti-Slavery Society, who had obtained a lawyer's opinion that, while she was free in Britain, this would not affect her legal status as a slave if she were to return to Antigua. While she wished to be reunited with her husband, she was naturally reluctant to risk a return to slavery, particularly as she had ample reason to fear the vindictiveness and ill will of the Woods. Repeated efforts were made by Pringle and the Anti†Slavery Society to persuade John Wood to agree to sell Prince her freedom, but he persisted in his refusals. In 1829 Pringle also organized the submission of a petition from Prince to the British Parliament in an attempt to have her declared free.

Stock Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Stock Analysis - Research Paper Example The earnings per share (EPS) of the company are 5.08 and the company’s internal growth rate is expected to be 14.994%. The company’s sales and revenues are expected to grow at 5.00% and 7.80% respectively. Target is the second largest retailer in United States following Walmart. For the year ending 2012, the company has reported a net profit of US$ 2.93 billion from total sales of US$ 69.865 billion. The company’s operating profit for the year ending 2012 was over US$ 4.56 billion. The total assets and equity of the company as on Jan 2013 are US$ 46.63 billion and US$ 15.82 billion respectively. The company’s stocks are currently trading at $69.59 as on June 13, 2013. For the previous fiscal, the company paid dividends at rate 0.36. The EPS of the company are 4.26 which is less than that of Walmart. The company’s sales and revenues are expected to grow at 4.90% and 2.40% respectively. Kroger is the second largest retailer of United States in terms o f revenues. For the year ending 2012, the company has reported a net profit of US$ 602 million from total sales of US$ 90.35 billion. The company’s operating profit for the year ending 2012 was over US$ 1.27 billion. The total assets and equity of the company as on Jan 2013 are US$ 23.47 billion and US$ 3.98 billion respectively. The company’s stocks are currently trading at $ 35.06 as on June 13, 2013. ... Liquidity Ratios          Current Ratio 0.89 0.88 0.83 Quick Ratio 0.21 0.2 0.2 B. Efficiency Ratios          Days Sales Outstanding 3.99 4.5 4.94 Days Inventory 40.22 41.95 43.76 Payables Period 37.05 38.21 38.67 Cash Conversion Cycle 7.16 8.24 10.03 Receivables Turnover 91.38 81.07 73.85 Inventory Turnover 9.08 8.7 8.34 Fixed Assets Turnover 4.01 4.06 4.1 C. Profitability Ratios          Tax Rate % 32.2 32.56 31.01 Net Margin % 3.89 3.51 3.62 Asset Turnover (Average) 2.4 2.39 2.37 Return on Assets % 9.33 8.39 8.57 Financial Leverage (Average) 2.64 2.71 2.66 Return on Equity % 23.53 22.45 23.02 Return on Invested Capital % 12.92 11.63 12.1 TARGET RATIOS 2011 2012 2013 A. Liquidity Ratios          Current Ratio 1.71 1.15 1.17 Quick Ratio 0.78 0.47 0.06 B. Efficiency Ratios          Days Sales Outstanding 35.53 31.56 14.76 Days Inventory 57.88 58.61 56.58 Payables Period 51.46 50.94 49.75 Cash Conversion Cycle 41.95 39.23 21.58 Receivables Turnover 10.27 11.57 24.73 Inventory Turnover 6.31 6.23 6.45 Fixed Assets Turnover 2.65 2.56 2.45 C. Profitability Ratios          Tax Rate % 35.04 34.27 34.93 Net Margin % 4.33 4.19 4.09 Asset Turnover (Average) 1.53 1.55 1.55 Return on Assets % 6.62 6.48 6.33 Financial Leverage (Average) 2.82 2.95 2.91 Return on Equity % 18.94 18.71 18.52 Return on Invested Capital % 7.66 7.42 7.53 KROGER RATIOS 2011 2012 2013 A. Liquidity Ratios          Current Ratio 0.94 0.8 0.72 Quick Ratio 0.21 0.21 0.2 B. Efficiency Ratios          Days Sales Outstanding 3.89 3.62 3.77 Days Inventory 28.17 25.73 24.36 Payables Period 23.17 21.84 21.02 Cash Conversion Cycle 8.89 7.51 7.11 Receivables Turnover 93.72 100.75 96.75 Inventory Turnover 12.96 14.19 14.98 Fixed Assets Turnover 5.85 6.32 6.6 C. Profitability Ratios   

Project Management Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Project Management Paper - Essay Example Project management possesses great importance in the business world because it is widely believed that the successful operations of every scale and type of business organization depend upon the successful accomplishment of its defined targets that can be met through proper project management (Means and Adams, 2005). The following discussion aims to provide a complete understanding of different phases of project management. Moreover, the essay also explains the importance of project management to attain the business tasks and the significance and contribution of proper project management for the success of an organization. The complexity and scope of each project depends upon the nature of the business and the industry and sector in which the business operates, however the management of a project is equally important for the businesses operating in each sector and scale. In order to ensure the proper management of project, it has been divided in different stages that are referred as the phases of project life cycle. These four phases are the logical sequence of the activities associated with the commencement of a project (Means and Adams, 2005). These phases are â€Å"initiation, planning, execution and closure†. Following is a brief description of each of these phases of project life cycle. The first phase of the project life cycle is called â€Å"Initiation† that is also known as the birth phase of the project. As the name tells itself, in the first phase, the management decides the scope of the project and makes the key decisions about the selection of the appropriate approaches that can help in attaining the desired output. The role of the project managers plays a crucial role because keeping in view the human resource requirements of the firms; he has to manage a team that possesses the skills and qualification required

Reducing the lifecycle cost of oil and gas facility by use of Essay

Reducing the lifecycle cost of oil and gas facility by use of simulation - Essay Example During operations, oil and gas industries incur lifecycle costs that affects their production capacity and cost of production. Lifecycle costs include recurring and other nonrecurring costs incurred by a company during a certain operational period. Oil and gas companies incur lifecycle cost through installation of new facilities, maintenance, and upgrading of the existing facilities. Facilities in the companies have definite life span and therefore the companies experience an additional when closing them down With these costs to consider, the companies are concerned with the possible alternatives to cut or reduce the effects of the lifespan cost. In order to eliminate or minimize lifecycle cost, oil companies rely on planning making simulations a useful tool. Simulations are models applied by the companies to determine the viability of a facility before its inception (Gorski, 2006). This paper therefore analyzes the benefits achieved from application of simulations in the reduction o f lifecycle cost in oil and gas companies. Some of the ways in which simulation is applied to reduce lifecycle cost Evaluation and comparison of different approaches for replacement Evaluation and comparison of alternative strategies for product use Evaluation and comparison of different designs Optimal allocation of available funds of activities in the process of product development During their lifespan, most companies are confronted with situations where they need to make important decisions on whether to close down a facility or to change a business strategy. In such situations, the companies experience lifecycle costs that affect their production. Such companies can apply simulation models to determine whether they need to close down the existing facility or they need to improve its efficiency. Using simulations the managers of the affected companies can determine whether they need to adopt a new business, strategy or to modify the existing strategy to fit their operations. Sec ondly oil and gas companies continuously retire old facilities as they install new facilities, these processes costs the company a lot of money and therefore the companies need to make appropriate decision. Simulations come in as the most appropriate tool that the companies need apply when making strategic management and operational decisions. Using simulation models strategic managers of a company are able to evaluate benefits from alternative decisions. With simulation models, managers can determine decisions and solutions that best fits their companies. Simulations therefore enable the companies to reduce uncertainty when making important decision that concerns their operation. Companies in the oil and gas industry always have new projects intended to improve their operations and facilities. The new facilities rely heavily on designs and therefore the companies are always on the lookout for the most appropriate design. The companies need to evaluate the suitability of these desig ns before choosing the most appropriate design (Petra, 2004). Using simulation models, companies can determine the most appropriate design from the possible choices. The companies also need to choose the most efficient design from the available possibilities; this requires data analysis and projections that cannot be achieved without the real facility. However, with simulations strategic managers of the companies are able to determine and evaluate the efficiency of such models through an analysis simulation models data (Lanner, 2008). Before launching a new product into the market or initiating a project, oil and gas companies need to evaluate their economic viability. In this process, simulation models stands out as the most appropriate tool for application. Using the models, companies are able to predict the market’s response towards a new product. Companies such as Shell Company use ADENT simulation techniques to evaluate the viability of its new products in potential mark ets. The tool is

The Process of Managing and Design of Projects in the Construction Essay

The Process of Managing and Design of Projects in the Construction Industry - Essay Example The building has large gently sloping roofs with open vaulted ceilings and steel truss systems. It has large walls roofs and magnificent floor panels. The straight walls prevent bowing and curve hence enabling installation of tall shelves and cabinets. The building envelope considers the heated and unheated general warehouses for the rack, bulk, and storage of bins, shipping space, creating and toilet space. The design focuses on functionality and efficiency, safety, comfort, display of aesthetics, landscaping, and work safety among others. The form of the retail warehouse considers storage space, office space, and dockyard for loading, space for light industry and centres for computers. Meanwhile, warehouses are designing based on future and current needs; maximize space with good and sufficient employee movement and material handling. Layout and configuration should be optimized for quick material handling and storage. Connect the exterior and interior for goods flow in the process . Aisle widths, the design of lighting, mezzanine space, fire guards and egress design is provided for alternative material handling methods. This consists of narrow two-story terraced bungalows sitting on large block s in the city suburbs. These flats are indeed increasing in numbers. The locality may constitute both detached and semi-detached houses. The choice of terraced forms is its prevalence in the inner city which came into existence before the establishments of car bazaars. Population growth has necessitated the growth of multi-unit apartments. This has also been provoked by pressure on the environment and economy to reduce family numbers.

International Financial Theory on the basis of Empirical Evidence Essay

International Financial Theory on the basis of Empirical Evidence - Essay Example The PPP theory states that there will be price equalization of goods internationally once they are measured in the same currency due to arbitrage forces (Pilbeam, 2006). This theory is based on the law of one price, which states that identical products when sold in different markets will sell at the same price when expressed in common currency. The main assumptions for this law to hold good are the presence of a competitive market structure, absence of transport costs and other barriers to trade (Sarno and Taylor, 2002).There are two types of purchasing power parity; the absolute and relative power parity. The absolute power parity theory states that a rise in the home price level relative to the foreign price level will result in an equivalent depreciation of the home currency against the foreign currency. Relative power parity states that there will be adjustments for the exchange rate by the amount of inflation differential between two countries (Pilbeam, 2006). The main problem w ith the PPP theory is that it does not distinguish between traded and non-traded goods. Many studies have shown that this distinction is important for testing PPP since traded goods are determined mainly by international competition while non-traded goods are influenced by domestic supply and demand conditions (Officer, 1976, 1986). At the same time, some other authors have showed distinction between traded and non-traded goods as unclear (Sarno and Taylor, 2002).The other limitations are the assumptions underlying the PPP theory like perfect competition, absence of transport costs and barriers to trade which are questionable. Further, it is very difficult to find identical products to be compared for testing PPP in different countries (Rogoff, 1996). Thus PPP is theoretically ambiguous and remains and empirical question. Three types of empirical evidence for PPP have been done .They are based on graphical representations, simplistic data analysis and

Learning English on internet compared with leaning English in class Essay

Learning English on internet compared with leaning English in class - Essay Example Several researches have also been conducted to find out the efficacy of internet in helping these students learn. It is found that internet is a way through which the students begin to enjoy learning as a process as they get to choose the exercise that they want to practice. Internet provides the students with a platform where they can engage in activities and use their web page accordingly so that they can be able to deliver accordingly. The research points out that even the students who were unwilling to study in the class, were able to concentrate when given the platform of internet. Moreover this not only helped the students get engaged with the activities but it also improved their pronunciation and kept them motivated. In other words internet is providing a platform through which students can be motivated and in such a manner these students can be able to learn better (Pawlak, Bielak & Wiertelak 2014). A survey by the teachers also shows that the students prefer having online c ourse material when it comes to learning English (Ting 2007). Another advantage of internet learning can be seen in terms of the different types of software that have been developed. This software allows the student to understand English with the help of translation into their home language which they are more comfortable with. This can clearly help the English Second Language learners when compared to the ones who are trying to grasp the language in the classroom (Wilkinson & Shatz 2010). On the other hand the problems with internet can also not be undermined. Internet provides a lot of data to the learners and the students are at will to choose as to which exercise would they like to complete. This brings a problem to the teachers as many students prefer to choose exercises that they are comfortable with. Moreover it also becomes necessary for the teachers to keep a check on the students as

A REPORT ON RELEVANT ASPECTS OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ON A PROPOSED Essay

A REPORT ON RELEVANT ASPECTS OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT ON A PROPOSED RESTAURANT AT NOSTOVIA AIRPORT - Essay Example 3). Hence, supply chain management is the strategic, systemic coordination of the traditional business functions alongside the tactics across these business functions for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies as well as the supply chain as a whole (Hugos 2006, p. 3). Supply chain involves the networks of companies working together and coordinating their actions in order to deliver a product to a market. It acknowledges and applies traditional logistics and includes activities such as new product development, marketing, finance, and customer service. Supply chain management views the supply chain in an organisation as a single entity, and brings the system approach in managing the diverse activities needed to coordinate the flow of services and products in order to serve the customers (Hugos 2006, p. 4). The proposed restaurant needs to structure a plan. This refers to all the operations needed in planning and organising the operations. Three operations in this category are demand forecasting, product pricing, and inventory management. As the proposed restaurant needs planning, it also needs sourcing. Source includes the necessary activities in acquiring the inputs to create products or services. Two operations are involved here, particularly (1) procurement and (2) operation, credit, and collection. Procurement is the acquisition of materials and services, while operation, credit, and collection can be literally thought of as the acquisition of cash (Hugos 2006, p. 45). "Making" as a category includes the operations required in developing and building the products and services provided by a supply chain. Operations in this category involve product design, production management, and facility of management (Hugos 2006, p. 45). On the other hand, "Delivering" as a supply chain category encompasses the activities that include receiving customer orders and delivering products to customers. The operations that constitute the core connections between companies in a supply chain are management, product delivery, and return processing (Hugos 2006, p. 45). The illustration below best describes the coordination among Planning, Sourcing, Making, and Delivering (Hugos 2006, p. 45), which will be applied to the proposed restaurant at the New Nostovia Airport: Supplier Strategy Supplier strategy is one aspect of the establishment of the new restaurant business that needs immediate attention. This involves decisions on how suppliers are selected and how relationships with them are developed (Galloway, et al. 2000, p. 46). It is also concerned with how the operation monitors suppliers' performance as well as improvement of these performances. Recommendations in Respect of Perishable Foodstuffs With Short Shelf Life A guaranteed supply of fresh high quality food is crucial to maintain a chain's reputation in the restaurant business (Galloway, et al. 2000, p. 46). The freshness and quality of perishable foodstuffs with short shelf life is affected by the manner they were handled during the harvests,

Effects of drug cartels on U.S. border states Research Paper

Effects of drug cartels on U.S. border states - Research Paper Example With the infiltration of the drug cartel into the United States there comes some serious issues. There are several different cartels in Mexico and these organizations will often get into violent battles over drug trafficking routes, leading to violence within the United States border states, (http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/04/mexican-cartels-migrate-to-usa.html). Obviously, the drug cartel brings more drugs into the border states and cities. More illegal drugs in any area is never a good thing. Drugs become more accessible to people, leading to a variety of issues. Lastly, there are economic concerns that arise in these border states due to the presence of the drug cartel. The interesting part is that these economic concerns are not all negative. There can be positive impacts related to the influx of money into the cities and border states. There are two ways in which drug cartel members participate in the economic climate of the city in which they live. Some members of drug cartels operate their own business, disguised as a legal company, but actually serving as a front for their drug business. These businesses can launder drug money and be a store front of sorts for the distribution of illegal drugs. These businesses are also a way to purchase necessary supplies legally, (Freedman, 2011). An example of this happened in San Antonio, Texas. There was a real estate developer named Marin â€Å"Gordo† Herrera. Even in the recent difficult economic times, Herrera was able to develop two successful real estate development companies and manage to avoid the foreclosure crisis. During this time, he was able to earn more than $4 million in profits. This money and the purchase of 77 properties contributed positively to the San Antonio economy, (Freedman, 2011). However, Marin â€Å"Gordo† Herrera was actually a primary member of a Mexican drug

Principles Of Teaching And Learning In Teaching Math Essay Example for Free

Principles Of Teaching And Learning In Teaching Math Essay Students learn mathematics through the experiences that teachers provide. Teachers must know and understand deeply the mathematics they are teaching and understand and be committed to their students as learners of mathematics and as human beings. There is no one right way to teach. Nevertheless, much is known about effective mathematics teaching. Selecting and using suitable curricular materials, using appropriate instructional tools and techniques to support learning, and pursuing continuous self-improvement are actions good teachers take every day. The teacher is responsible for creating an intellectual environment in the classroom where serious engagement in mathematical thinking is the norm. Effective teaching requires deciding what aspects of a task to highlight, how to organize and orchestrate the work of students, what questions to ask students having varied levels of expertise, and how to support students without taking over the process of thinking for them. Effective teaching requires continuing efforts to learn and improve. Teachers need to increase their knowledge about mathematics and pedagogy, learn from their students and colleagues, and engage in professional development and self-reflection. Collaborating with otherspairing an experienced teacher with a new teacher or forming a community of teachersto observe, analyze, and discuss teaching and students thinking is a powerful, yet neglected, form of professional development. Teachers need ample opportunities to engage in this kind of continual learning. The working lives of teachers must be structured to allow and support different models of professional development that benefit them and their students. Mathematics Principles and practice What can learning in mathematics enable children and young people to achieve? Mathematics is important in our everyday life, allowing us to make sense of the world around us and to manage our lives. Using mathematics enables us to model real-life situations and make connections and informed predictions. It equips us with the skills we need to interpret and analyse information,  simplify and solve problems, assess risk and make informed decisions. Mathematics plays an important role in areas such as science or technologies, and is vital to research and development in fields such as engineering, computing science, medicine and finance. Learning mathematics gives children and young people access to the wider curriculum and the opportunity to pursue further studies and interests. Because mathematics is rich and stimulating, it engages and fascinates learners of all ages, interests and abilities. Learning mathematics develops logical reasoning, analysis, problem-solving skills, creativity and the ability to think in abstract ways. It uses a universal language of numbers and symbols which allows us to communicate ideas in a concise, unambiguous and rigorous way. To face the challenges of the 21st century, each young person needs to have confidence in using mathematical skills, and Scotland needs both specialist mathematicians and a highly numerate population. Building the Curriculum 1 Mathematics equips us with many of the skills required for life, learning and work. Understanding the part that mathematics plays in almost all aspects of life is crucial. This reinforces the need for mathematics to play an integral part in lifelong learning and be appreciated for the richness it brings. How is the mathematics framework structured? Within the mathematics framework, some statements of experiences and outcomes are also identified as statements of experiences and outcomes in numeracy. These form an important part of the mathematics education of all children and young people as they include many of the numerical and analytical skills required by each of us to function effectively and successfully in everyday life. All teachers with a responsibility for the development of mathematics will be familiar with the role of numeracy within mathematics and with the means by which numeracy is developed across the range of learning  experiences. The numeracy subset of the mathematics experiences and outcomes is also published separately; further information can be found in the numeracy principles and practice paper. The mathematics experiences and outcomes are structured within three main organisers, each of which contains a number of subdivisions: Number, money and measure Estimation and rounding Number and number processes Multiples, factors and primes Powers and roots Fractions, decimal fractions and percentages Money Time Measurement Mathematics – its impact on the world, past, present and future Patterns and relationships Expressions and equations. Shape, position and movement Properties of 2D shapes and 3D objects Angle, symmetry and transformation. Information handling Data and analysis Ideas of chance and uncertainty. The mathematics framework as a whole includes a strong emphasis on the important part mathematics has played, and will continue to play, in the advancement of society, and the relevance it has for daily life. A key feature of the mathematics framework is the development of algebraic thinking from an early stage. Research shows that the earlier algebraic thinking is introduced, the deeper the mathematical understanding will be  and the greater the confidence in using mathematics. Teachers will use the statements of experiences and outcomes in information handling to emphasise the interpretation of statistical information in the world around us and to emphasise the knowledge and skills required to take account of chance and uncertainty when making decisions. The level of achievement at the fourth level has been designed to approximate to that associated with SCQF level 4. What are the features of effective learning and teaching in mathematics? From the early stages onwards, children and young people should experience success in mathematics and develop the confidence to take risks, ask questions and explore alternative solutions without fear of being wrong. They will enjoy exploring and applying mathematical concepts to understand and solve problems, explaining their thinking and presenting their solutions to others in a variety of ways. At all stages, an emphasis on collaborative learning will encourage children to reason logically and creatively through discussion of mathematical ideas and concepts. Through their use of effective questioning and discussion, teachers will use misconceptions and wrong answers as opportunities to improve and deepen children’s understanding of mathematical concepts. The experiences and outcomes encourage learning and teaching approaches that challenge and stimulate children and young people and promote their enjoyment of mathematics. To achieve this, teachers will use a skilful mix of approaches, including:  planned active learning which provides opportunities to observe, explore, investigate, experiment, play, discuss and reflect modelling and scaffolding the development of mathematical thinking skills learning collaboratively and independently  opportunities for discussion, communication and explanation of thinking developing mental agility  using relevant contexts and experiences, familiar to young people making links across the curriculum to show how mathematical concepts are applied in a wide range of contexts, such as those provided by science and social studies using technology in appropriate and effective ways  building on the principles of Assessment is for Learning, ensuring that young people understand the purpose and relevanc e of what they are learning developing problem-solving capabilities and critical thinking skills. Mathematics is at its most powerful when the knowledge and understanding that have been developed are used to solve problems. Problem solving will be at the heart of all our learning and teaching. We should regularly encourage children and young people to explore different options: ‘what would happen if?’ is the fundamental question for teachers and learners to ask as mathematical thinking develops. How will we ensure progression within and through levels? As children and young people develop concepts within mathematics, these will need continual reinforcement and revisiting in order to maintain progression. Teachers can plan this development and progression through providing children and young people with more challenging contexts in which to use their skills. When the experience or outcome spans two levels within a line of development, this will be all the more important. One case in point would be the third level outcome on displaying information. The expectation is that young people will continue to use and refine the skills developed at second level to display charts, graphs and diagrams. The contexts should ensure progression and there are clear opportunities to use other curriculum areas when extending young people’s understanding. What are broad features of assessment in mathematics? (This section should be read alongside the advice for numeracy.) Assessment in mathematics will focus on children and young people’s abilities to work increasingly skilfully with numbers, data and mathematical concepts and processes and use them in a range of contexts. Teachers can gather evidence of progress as part of day-to-day learning about number, money and measurement, shape, position and movement and information handling. The use of specific assessment tasks will be important in assessing progress at key points of learning including transitions. From the early years through to the senior stages, children and young people will demonstrate progress in their skills in interpreting and analysing information, simplifying and solving problems, assessing risk and making informed choices. They will also show evidence of progress through their skills in collaborating and working independently as they observe, explore, experiment with and investigate mathematical problems. Approaches to assessment should identify the extent to which children and young people can apply their skills in their learning, in their daily lives and in preparing for the world of work. Progress will be seen as children and young people demonstrate their competence and confidence in applying mathematical concepts and skills. For example: Do they relish the challenge of number puzzles, patterns and relationships? Can they explain increasingly more abstract ideas of algebraic thinking? Can they successfully carry out mathematical processes and use their developing range of skills and attributes as set out in the experiences and outcomes? As they apply these to problems, can they draw on skills and concepts learned previously? As they tackle problems in unfamiliar contexts, can they confidently identify which skills and concepts are relevant to the problem? Can they then apply their skills accurately and then evaluate their solutions? Can they explain their thinking and demonstrate their understanding of 2D shapes and 3D objects? Can they evaluate data to make informed decisions? Are they developing the capacity to engage with and complete tasks and  assignments? Assessment should also link with other areas of the curriculum, within and outside the classroom, offering children and young people opportunities to develop and demonstrate their understanding of mathematics through social studies, technologies and science, and cultural and enterprise activities. How can I make connections within and beyond mathematics? Within mathematics there are rich opportunities for links among different concepts: a ready example is provided by investigations into area and perimeter which can involve estimation, patterns and relationships and a variety of numbers. When children and young people investigate number processes, there will be regular opportunities to develop mental strategies and mental agility. Teachers will make use of opportunities to develop algebraic thinking and introduce symbols, such as those opportunities afforded at early stages when reinforcing number bonds or later when investigating the sum of the angles in a triangle. There are many opportunities to develop mathematical concepts in all other areas of the curriculum. Patterns and symmetry are fundamental to art and music; time, money and measure regularly occur in modern languages, home economics, design technology and various aspects of health and wellbeing; graphs and charts are regularly used in science and social studies; scale and proportion can be developed within social studies; formulae are used in areas including health and wellbeing, technologies and sciences; while shape, position and movement can be developed in all areas of the curriculum. The Teaching Principle Effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well. Students learn mathematics through the experiences that teachers provide. Thus, students understanding of mathematics, their ability to  » use it to solve problems, and their confidence in, and disposition toward, mathematics are all shaped by the teaching they encounter in school. The improvement of  mathematics education for all students requires effective mathematics teaching in all classrooms. Teaching mathematics well is a complex endeavor, and there are no easy recipes for helping all students learn or for helping all teachers become effective. Nevertheless, much is known about effective mathematics teaching, and this knowledge should guide professional judgment and activity. To be effective, teachers must know and understand deeply the mathematics they are teaching and be able to draw on that knowledge with flexibility in the ir teaching tasks. They need to understand and be committed to their students as learners of mathematics and as human beings and be skillful in choosing from and using a variety of pedagogical and assessment strategies (National Commission on Teaching and Americas Future 1996). In addition, effective teaching requires reflection and continual efforts to seek improvement. Teachers must have frequent and ample opportunities and resources to enhance and refresh their knowledge. Effective teaching requires knowing and understanding mathematics, students as learners, and pedagogical strategies. Teachers need several different kinds of mathematical knowledge—knowledge about the whole domain; deep, flexible knowledge about curriculum goals and about the important ideas that are central to their grade level; knowledge about the challenges students are likely to encounter in learning these ideas; knowledge about how the ideas can be represented to teach them effectively; and knowledge about how students understanding can be assessed. This knowledge helps teachers make curricular judgments, respond to students questions, and look ahead to where concepts are leading and plan accordingly. Pedagogical knowledge, much of which is acquired and shaped through the practice of teaching, helps teachers understand how students learn mathematics, become facile with a range of different teaching techniques and instructional materials, and organize and manage the classroom. Teachers need to understand the big ideas of mathematics and be able to represent mathematics as a coherent and connected enterprise (Schifter 1999; Ma 1999). Their decisions and their actions in the classroom—all of which affect how well their students learn mathematics—should be based on this knowledge. This kind of knowledge is beyond what most teachers experience in standard preservice mathematics courses in the United States. For example, that fractions can be understood as parts of a whole, the quotient of two integers, or a number on a line is  important for mathematics teachers (Ball and Bass forthcoming). Such understanding might be characterized as profound understanding of fundamental mathematics (Ma 1999). Teachers also need to understand the different representations of an idea, the relative strengths and weaknesses of each, and how they are related to one another (Wilson, Shulman, and Richert 1987). They need to know the ideas with which students often have difficulty and ways to help bridge common misunderstandings.  » Effective mathematics teaching requires a serious commitment to the development of students understanding of mathematics. Because students learn by connecting new ideas to prior knowledge, teachers must understand what their students already know. Effective teachers know how to ask questions and plan lessons that reveal students prior knowledge; they can then design experiences and lessons that respond to, and build on, this knowledge. Teachers have different styles and strategies for helping students learn particular mathematical ideas, and there is no one right way to teach. However, effective teachers recognize that the decisions they make shape students mathematical dispositions and can create rich settings for learning. Selecting and using suitable curricular materials, using appropriate instructional tools and techniques, and engaging in reflective practice and continuous self-improvement are actions good teachers take every day. One of the complexities of mathematics teaching is that it must balance purposeful, planned classroom lessons with the ongoing decision making that inevitably occurs as teachers and students encounter unanticipated discoveries or difficulties that lead them into uncharted territory. Teaching mathematics well involves creating, enriching, maintaining, and adapting instruction to move toward mathematical goals, capture and sustain interest, and engage students in building mathematical understanding. Effective teaching requires a challenging and supportive classroom learning environment. Teachers make many choices each day about how the learning environment will be structured and what mathematics will be emphasized. These decisions determine, to a large extent, what students learn. Effective teaching conveys a belief that each student can and is expected to understand mathematics and that each will be supported in his or her efforts to accomplish this goal. Teachers establish and nurture an environment conducive to learning mathematics through the decisions they make, the conversations they orchestrate, and the  physical setting they create. Teachers actions are what encourage students to think, question, solve problems, and discuss their ideas, strategies, and solutions. The teacher is responsible for creating an intellectual environment where serious mathematical thinking is the norm. More than just a physical setting with desks, bulletin boards, and posters, the classroom en vironment communicates subtle messages about what is valued in learning and doing mathematics. Are students discussion and collaboration encouraged? Are students expected to justify their thinking? If students are to learn to make conjectures, experiment with various approaches to solving problems, construct mathematical arguments and respond to others arguments, then creating an environment that fosters these kinds of activities is essential. In effective teaching, worthwhile mathematical tasks are used to introduce important mathematical ideas and to engage and challenge students intellectually. Well-chosen tasks can pique students curiosity and draw them into mathematics. The tasks may be connected to the  » real-world experiences of students, or they may arise in contexts that are purely mathematical. Regardless of the context, worthwhile tasks should be intriguing, with a level of challenge that invites speculation and hard work. Such tasks often can be approached in more than one way, such as using an arithmetic counting approach, drawing a geometric diagram and enumerating possibilities, or using algebraic equations, which makes the tasks accessible to students with varied prior knowledge and experience. Worthwhile tasks alone are not sufficient for effective teaching. Teachers must also decide what aspects of a task to highlight, how to organize and orchestrate the work of the students, what questions to ask to challenge those with varied levels of expertise, and how to support students without taking over the process of thinking for them and thus eliminating the challenge. Opportunities to reflect on and refine instructional practice—during class and outside class, alone and with others—are crucial in the vision of school mathematics outlined in Principles and Standards. To improve their mathematics instruction, teachers must be able to analyze what they and their students are doing and consider how those actions are affecting students learning. Using a variety of strategies, teachers should monitor students capacity and inclination to analyze situations, frame and solve problems, and make sense of mathematical concepts and procedures. They  can use this information to assess their students progress and to appraise how well the mathematical tasks, student discourse, and classroom environment are interacting to foster students learning. They then use these appraisals to adapt their instruction. Reflection and analysis are often individual activities, but they can be greatly enhanced by teaming with an experienced and respected colleague, a new teacher, or a community of teachers. Collaborating with colleagues regularly to observe, analyze, and discuss teaching and students thinking or to do lesson study is a powerful, yet neglected, form of professional development in American schools (Stigler and Hiebert 1999). The work and time of teachers must be structured to allow and support professional development that will benefit them and their students.

Column and Thin Layer Chromatography Essay Example for Free

Column and Thin Layer Chromatography Essay Abstract Spinach extract was separated into fractions containing compounds of similar polarity by column chromatography. Based on solid-liquid phase partitioning, this separation technique exploited the different polarity of the compounds in the spinach extract. Three fractions with different colors were obtained. The extract and its fractions were analyzed using thin layer chromatography (TLC). The TLC results showed that there was one compound (Rf=0. 979) in the first fraction; there were three compounds (Rf1=0.839, Rf2= 0.691, Rf3=0.149) in the second fraction; there was one compound (Rf=0.017) in the third fraction. The separations of compounds which went to the first and third fraction were relatively satisfying, while the second fraction had several kinds of compounds. Introduction Chromatography is the separation of compounds or ions by distribution between two phases—a mobile phase and a stationary phase. The technique is based on the differential absorptivities of the constituents between these two phases, due to different properties of the compounds to be separated and the nature of the two phases involved. If one constituent adheres more to the stationary phase than the mobile one, separation will be achieved. There are several different types of chromatography, such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography (GC) and column chromatography. All the chromatographic methods are based on partitioning of molecules between a stationary phase and a mobile phase. In order to measure the amount of partitioning between the two phases, each compound has an unique Partition Coefficient (Kp), which is defined as the ratio of concentrations of the compound between the stationary phase and the mobile phase: Kp=[x]sp/[x]mp. Therefore, if Kp is greater than 1, the substance adheres more to the stationary phase; if Kp is smaller than 1, the substance adheres more to the mobile phase; if the Kp is equal to 1, the probabilities of the substance to adhere to the two phases are roughly the same. The Kp value is depended on a multitude of factors: â€Å"polarity, solubility in the solvent, hydrogen bonding, volatility in the case of gas chromatography.† After the injection, the sample molecules will either stay in the mobile phase or adhere to the stationary phase. When the mobile phase is pushed through the stationary phase by the eluent, the mobile phase, the molecules will move through the column at a rate that depends on their different Kp value. For example, if one constituent is more polar than other and adheres more to the stationary phase when the stationary phase is more polar than the mobile phase, this constituent will lag behind; while the constituent that is less polar and adheres less to the stationary phase will move ahead. In this way, the sample can be separated into fractions containing compounds of similar polarity. The differences among the various types of chromatography are mostly depended on the nature of the two phases involved. Column and thin layer chromatography use solid stationary phase and liquid mobile phase; while GC uses a gas as mobile phase and a liquid as stationary phase. Compared with TLC and column chromatography, GC is a more sophisticated method. Discussion The intent of this experiment was to successfully separate the constituents of spinach extract using column chromatography. The results of the separation were analyzed by TLC to reveal in which fraction the compounds of the mixture were. Since both of the samples of the first fraction and the third had only one developed spot on the TLC plate, the separation of the compounds in the first and third fractions were relatively satisfying. However, there were 3 different compounds reveled for the second fraction. Since the color of the first fraction was yellow and the color of the second and third fractions were green, the major compound in the first fraction should be Carotenes, the yellow-orange pigment; while the major compounds in the second fraction and the third fraction should be Chlorophyll. During the process of column chromatography, the first band gained in the column was very clear and the color was yellow. The second band gained in the column was green and the thickness of t he second band was greater than the first. Also, the green color of the second band varied, and colorless area was observed in the second band. Compared with the first band, the second band showed an unsatisfying separation result. Since there was colorless area and various green colors in the second band, the second fraction must contained several constituents, which was examined by the TLC results—there were 3 developed spots of the second fraction sample on the TLC plate. As for the third fraction, there was no clear band in the column while adding the last eluent. The concentration of the compound in third fraction was relatively small, resulting in a very small Rf value, 0.017. Compared with the spots of the second fraction sample, which had a much clearer spot with similar Rf value, 0.839, the compound in the third fraction must existed in a large amount in the second fraction. In addition, these 2 spots had the same light green color, which can also examine this conclusion. The lower concentration can also due to the unsatisfying spotting. The diameter of the undeveloped spot in the third fraction was larger than the first and second one, because too much solvent was used. Also, multiple times of spotting was needed. Observing the spots color, the clearest spot in the second fraction had a more intense green color, which showed that the compound in this fraction should be Chlorophyll a. While the major compound in the third fraction should be Chlorophyll a, with a lighter color and lower Rf value. The ideal solvent system should result in Rf values ranging from 0.24 to 0.54. However, in this experiment, none of the Rf value was in this range. Therefore, the polarity gradient of the eluents should be narrowed, which can result in more spots in the ideal range. Since there were 3 spots in the second fraction sample, over 4 eluents are needed to give a better separation, assuming the spot with lowest Rf value in the second fraction had the same compound as the spot in the third fraction sample.

Analysis of Attribution Selection Techniques

Analysis of Attribution Selection Techniques ABSTRACT: From a large amount of data, the significant knowledge is discovered by means of applying the techniques and those techniques in the knowledge management process is known as Data mining techniques. For a specific domain, a form of knowledge discovery called data mining is necessary for solving the problems. The classes of unknown data are detected by the technique called classification. Neural networks, rule based, decision trees, Bayesian are the some of the existing methods used for the classification. It is necessary to filter the irrelevant attributes before applying any mining techniques. Embedded, Wrapper and filter techniques are various feature selection techniques used for the filtering. In this paper, we have discussed the attribute selection techniques like Fuzzy Rough SubSets Evaluation and Information Gain Subset Evaluation for selecting the attributes from the large number of attributes and for search methods like BestFirst Search is used for fuzzy rough subset evaluati on and Ranker method is applied for the Information gain evaluation. The decision tree classification techniques like ID3 and J48 algorithm are used for the classification. From this paper, the above techniques are analysed by the Heart Disease Dataset and generate the result and from the result we can conclude which technique will be best for the attribute selection. 1. INTRODUCTION: As the world grows in complexity, overwhelming us with the data it generates, data mining becomes the only hope for elucidating the patterns that underlie it. The manual process of data analysis becomes tedious as size of data grows and the number of dimensions increases, so the process of data analysis needs to be computerised. The term Knowledge Discovery from data (KDD) refers to the automated process of knowledge discovery from databases. The process of KDD is comprised of many steps namely data cleaning, data integration, data selection, data transformation, data mining, pattern evaluation and knowledge representation. Data mining is a step in the whole process of knowledge discovery which can be explained as a process of extracting or mining knowledge from large amounts of data. Data mining is a form of knowledge discovery essential for solving problems in a specific domain. Data mining can also be explained as the non trivial process that automatically collects the useful hidd en information from the data and is taken on as forms of rule, concept, pattern and so on. The knowledge extracted from data mining, allows the user to find interesting patterns and regularities deeply buried in the data to help in the process of decision making. The data mining tasks can be broadly classified in two categories: descriptive and predictive. Descriptive mining tasks characterize the general properties of the data in the database. Predictive mining tasks perform inference on the current data in order to make predictions. According to different goals, the mining task can be mainly divided into four types: class/concept description, association analysis, classification or prediction and clustering analysis. 2. LITERATURE SURVEY: Data available for mining is raw data. Data may be in different formats as it comes from different sources, it may consist of noisy data, irrelevant attributes, missing data etc. Data needs to be pre processed before applying any kind of data mining algorithm which is done using following steps: Data Integration – If the data to be mined comes from several different sources data needs to be integrated which involves removing inconsistencies in names of attributes or attribute value names between data sets of different sources . Data Cleaning –This step may involve detecting and correcting errors in the data, filling in missing values, etc. Discretization –When the data mining algorithm cannot cope with continuous attributes, discretization needs to be applied. This step consists of transforming a continuous attribute into a categorical attribute, taking only a few discrete values. Discretization often improves the comprehensibility of the discovered knowledge. Attribute Selection – not all attributes are relevant so for selecting a subset of attributes relevant for mining, among all original attributes, attribute selection is required. A Decision Tree Classifier consists of a decision tree generated on the basis of instances. The decision tree has two types of nodes: a) the root and the internal nodes, b) the leaf nodes. The root and the internal nodes are associated with attributes, leaf nodes are associated with classes. Basically, each non-leaf node has an outgoing branch for each possible value of the attribute associated with the node. To determine the class for a new instance using a decision tree, beginning with the root, successive internal nodes are visited until a leaf node is reached. At the root node and at each internal node, a test is applied. The outcome of the test determines the branch traversed, and the next node visited. The class for the instance is the class of the final leaf node. 3. FEATURE SELECTION: Many irrelevant attributes may be present in data to be mined. So they need to be removed. Also many mining algorithms don’t perform well with large amounts of features or attributes. Therefore feature selection techniques needs to be applied before any kind of mining algorithm is applied. The main objectives of feature selection are to avoid overfitting and improve model performance and to provide faster and more cost-effective models. The selection of optimal features adds an extra layer of complexity in the modelling as instead of just finding optimal parameters for full set of features, first optimal feature subset is to be found and the model parameters are to be optimised. Attribute selection methods can be broadly divided into filter and wrapper approaches. In the filter approach the attribute selection method is independent of the data mining algorithm to be applied to the selected attributes and assess the relevance of features by looking only at the intrinsic propert ies of the data. In most cases a feature relevance score is calculated, and lowscoring features are removed. The subset of features left after feature removal is presented as input to the classification algorithm. Advantages of filter techniques are that they easily scale to highdimensional datasets are computationally simple and fast, and as the filter approach is independent of the mining algorithm so feature selection needs to be performed only once, and then different classifiers can be evaluated. 4. ROUGH SETS Any set of all indiscernible (similar) objects is called an elementary set. Any union of some elementary sets is referred to as a crisp or precise set otherwise the set is rough (imprecise, vague). Each rough set has boundary-line cases, i.e., objects which cannot be with certainty classified, by employing the available knowledge, as members of the set or its complement. Obviously rough sets, in contrast to precise sets, cannot be characterized in terms of information about their elements. With any rough set a pair of precise sets called the lower and the upper approximation of the rough set is associated. The lower approximation consists of all objects which surely belong to the set and the upper approximation contains all objects which possible belong to the set. The difference between the upper and the lower approximation constitutes the boundary region of the rough set. Rough set approach to data analysis has many important advantages like provides efficient algorithms for find ing hidden patterns in data, identifies relationships that would not be found using statistical methods, allows both qualitative and quantitative data, finds minimal sets of data (data reduction), evaluates significance of data, easy to understand. 5. ID3 DECISION TREE ALGORITHM: From the available data, using the different attribute values gives the dependent variable (target value) of a new sample by the predictive machine-learning called a decision tree. The attributes are denoted by the internal nodes of a decision tree; in the observed samples, the possible values of these attributes is shown by the branches between the nodes, the classification value (final) of the dependent variable is given by the terminal nodes. Here we are using this type of decision tree for large dataset of telecommunication industry. In the data set, the dependent variable is the attribute that have to be predicted, the values of all other attributes decides the dependent variable value and it is depends on it. The independent variable is the attribute, which predicts the values of the dependent variables. The simple algorithm is followed by this J48 Decision tree classifier. In the available data set using the attribute value, the decision tree is constructed for assort a new item. It describes the attribute that separates the various instances most clearly, whenever it finds a set of items (training set). The highest information gain is given by classifying the instances and the information about the data instances are represent by this feature. We can allot or predict the target value of the new instance by assuring all the respective attributes and their values. 6. J48 DECISION TREE TECHNIQUE: J48 is an open source Java implementation of the C4.5 algorithm in the Weka data mining tool. C4.5 is a program that creates a decision tree based on a set of labeled input data. This algorithm was developed by Ross Quinlan. The decision trees generated by C4.5 can be used for classification, and for this reason, C4.5 is often referred to as a statistical classifier (†C4.5 (J48)†. 7. IMPLEMENTATION MODEL: WEKA is a collection of machine learning algorithms for Data Mining tasks. It contains tools for data preprocessing, classification, regression, clustering, association rules, and visualization. For our purpose the classification tools were used. There was no preprocessing of the data. WEKA has four different modes to work in. Simple CLI; provides a simple command-line interface that allows direct execution of WEKA commands. Explorer; an environment for exploring data with WEKA. Experimenter; an environment for performing experiments and conduction of statistical tests between learning schemes. Knowledge Flow; presents a â€Å"data-flow† inspired interface to WEKA. The user can select WEKA components from a tool bar, place them on a layout canvas and connect them together in order to form a â€Å"knowledge flow† for processing and analyzing data. For most of the tests, which will be explained in more detail later, the explorer mode of WEKA is used. But because of the size of some data sets, there was not enough memory to run all the tests this way. Therefore the tests for the larger data sets were executed in the simple CLI mode to save working memory. 8. IMPLEMENTATION RESULT: The attributes that are selected by the Fuzzy Rough Subset Evaluation using Best First Search method and Information Gain Subset Evaluation using Ranker Method is as follows: 8.1 Fuzzy Rough Subset Using Best First Search Method === Attribute Selection on all input data === Search Method: Best first. Start set: no attributes Search direction: forward Stale search after 5 node expansions Total number of subsets evaluated: 90 Merit of best subset found: 1 Attribute Subset Evaluator (supervised, Class (nominal): 14 class): Fuzzy rough feature selection Method: Weak gamma Similarity measure: max(min( (a(y)-(a(x)-sigma_a)) / (a(x)-(a(x)-sigma_a)),((a(x)+sigma_a)-a(y)) / ((a(x)+sigma_a)-a(x)) , 0). Decision similarity: Equivalence Implicator: Lukasiewicz T-Norm: Lukasiewicz Relation composition: Lukasiewicz (S-Norm: Lukasiewicz) Dataset consistency: 1.0 Selected attributes: 1,3,4,5,8,10,12 : 7 0 2 3 4 7 9 11 8.2 Info Gain Subset Evaluation Using Ranker Search Method: === Attribute Selection on all input data === Search Method: Attribute ranking. Attribute Evaluator (supervised, Class (nominal): 14 class): Information Gain Ranking Filter Ranked attributes: 0.208556 13 12 0.192202 3 2 0.175278 12 11 0.129915 9 8 0.12028 8 7 0.119648 10 9 0.111153 11 10 0.066896 2 1 0.056726 1 0 0.024152 7 6 0.000193 6 5 0 4 3 0 5 4 Selected attributes: 13,3,12,9,8,10,11,2,1,7,6,4,5 : 13 8.2 ID3 Classification Result for 14 Attributes: Correctly Classified Instances 266 98.5185 % Incorrectly Classified Instances 4 1.4815 % Kappa statistic 0.9699 Mean absolute error 0.0183 Root mean squared error 0.0956 Relative absolute error 3.6997 % Root relative squared error 19.2354 % Coverage of cases (0.95 level) 100 % Mean rel. region size (0.95 level) 52.2222 % Total Number of Instances 270 8.3 J48 Classification Result for 14 Attributes: Correctly Classified Instances 239 88.5185 % Incorrectly Classified Instances 31 11.4815 % Kappa statistic 0.7653 Mean absolute error 0.1908 Root mean squared error 0.3088 Relative absolute error 38.6242 % Root relative squared error 62.1512 % Coverage of cases (0.95 level) 100 % Mean rel. region size (0.95 level) 92.2222 % Total Number of Instances 270 8.4 ID3 Classification Result for selected Attributes using Fuzzy Rough Subset Evaluation: Correctly Classified Instances 270 100 % Incorrectly Classified Instances 0 0 % Kappa statistic 1 Mean absolute error 0 Root mean squared error 0 Relative absolute error 0 % Root relative squared error 0 % Coverage of cases (0.95 level) 100 % Mean rel. region size (0.95 level) 25 % Total Number of Instances 270 8.5 J48 Classification Result for selected Attributes using Fuzzy Rough Subset Evaluation: Correctly Classified Instances 160 59.2593 % Incorrectly Classified Instances 110 40.7407 % Kappa statistic 0 Mean absolute error 0.2914 Root mean squared error 0.3817 Relative absolute error 99.5829 % Root relative squared error 99.9969 % Coverage of cases (0.95 level) 100 % Mean rel. region size (0.95 level) 100 % Total Number of Instances 270 8.6 ID3 Classification Result for Information Gain Subset Evaluation Using Ranker Method: Correctly Classified Instances 270 100 % Incorrectly Classified Instances 0 0 % Kappa statistic 1 Mean absolute error 0 Root mean squared error 0 Relative absolute error 0 % Root relative squared error 0 % Coverage of cases (0.95 level) 100 % Mean rel. region size (0.95 level) 33.3333 % Total Number of Instances 270 8.7 J48 Classification Result for Information Gain Subset Evaluation Using Ranker Method: Correctly Classified Instances 165 61.1111 % Incorrectly Classified Instances 105 38.8889 % Kappa statistic 0.3025 Mean absolute error 0.31 Root mean squared error 0.3937 Relative absolute error 87.1586 % Root relative squared error 93.4871 % Coverage of cases (0.95 level) 100 % Mean rel. region size (0.95 level) 89.2593 % Total Number of Instances 270 CONCLUSION: In this paper, from the above implementation result the Fuzzy Rough Subsets Evaluation is gives the selected attributes in less amount than the Info Gain Subset Evaluation and J48 decision tree classification techniques gives the approximate error rate using Fuzzy Rough Subsets Evaluation for the given data set than the ID3 decision tree techniques for both evaluation techniques. So finally for selecting the attributes fuzzy techniques gives the better result using Best First Search method and J48 classification method.

The Legend of Ed Gein and His Filmic Rebirth Essays -- Creative Writin

The Legend of Ed Gein and His Filmic Rebirth So you want to hear a legend hmm? Well, I'll give you what you want, but taint nothin' ‘bout it fiction. Now, you one of them scholarly types ain't ya–college and libraries and all that crap, right? Well, college kiddy you may think you know it all, but I know a thing or two about a thing or two. You haven't seen nothin'. You don't know a damn thing until you step right into the path of a cold-blooded killer. ‘Til you look that crazy sumabitch right in his red eyes and send him back to hell! My name is Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden. I'm old now. When I was young, I was the Deputy Sheriff of this here great town of Plainfield, Wisconsin. I know whatcha thinkin'. I ain't no drunk and ain't crazy. Crazy is man who massacres dozens of women–alive and dead. Crazy is a man who eats human hearts for dinner. Crazy is the way your generation made that bastard one of the most famous movie characters in the world. Crazy...is Edward Gein! Ed...well, he was born and raised in Plainfield. His daddy ran a farm just a few miles outside town. It wasn't long before his daddy up and died–left Ed and his brother alone with that crazy ass momma of their's. That woman was nuts. She went around tellin' them boys that all women was evil. She'd beat'em if they even thought ‘bout courting. When his momma died Ed was near on to thirty years old and still living in his momma's house. He finally took a liking to some gals in town. I guess it was finally safe to talk to ‘em. I don't think no one thought much of Ed. He was real quite like. You know? Kinda kept to himself. I didn't pay much attention to him until that day. I guess it was round ‘bout November of ‘57. Early one morning I thou... ...ual narrative makes the legend more appealing and provides a means for experiencing pleasure in film. Still, however bland the oral legend may have become the horror genre owes its popularity to Ed Gein. His legend is the basis for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Halloween, When a Stranger Calls, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and just about every other psychopathic character ever to have graced the silver screen. Works Cited Mulvey, Laura."Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." The Sexual Subject: A Screen Reader in Sexuality/Screen. London: Routledge, 1992. Rebello, Stephen. Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. New York: Red Dembner Enterprises Corporation, 1990. Rothman, William. Hitchcock–The Murderous Gaze. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982. Wood, Robin. Hitchcock's Films Revisited. New York: Paperback Library, 1970.

Viscocity of Alkanes Essay examples -- Papers

Viscocity of Alkanes Introduction When dealing with fluid/mechanical systems, it is important to know what affects the rate of descent of an object through a liquid. There are many factors that affect the descent of an object through a liquid such as: 1) Temperature of the liquid 2) Mass* of object 3) Size/surface area of object 4 Viscosity of liquid 5) Angle of descent Temperature I would like to investigate the correlation between temperature and time of descent. Reading suggests that the colder the liquid the longer it will take for the object to reach the bottom. Mass*& Surface area/size Gravity accelerates at 9.81 ms-1 independent of mass. Hence increasing the mass will not affect the experiment of surface area. Thus using an object of various sizes it would be possible to investigate the proportionately of size on the descent of the object. Viscosity I feel it is important to investigate the affects of how a more viscous liquid would impede the progress of an object descending through a liquid. Therefore I have included this factor into my investigation. Angle of descent I would like to observe the affects of the object descending at an angle. Such at sediment in a bottle is there a way in which bottles should be stored that may hasten descent? Aim To investigate the rate of decent of an object falling through a liquid (simulated by a ball bearing) and investigate some of the factors that will affect this. Summary I have completed this investigation by using many simple experiments to reach a firm conclusion on the rate of decent of a ball beari... ...ment 2 this was also 40-60. Therefore I would be able to conclude with a third liquid that it may be possible that the liquid does not effect the point in which a ball bearing reaches its terminal velocity. However I can conclude that the size of the ball bearing and also the mass does not effect where it reaches its terminal velocity. As you already know, if two objects of the same size but with different masses are dropped from the same height they will descend and hit the ground at the same time. It is only air resistance that will affect the descent if the objects size is slightly different. I can relate this to my experiments in finding the terminal velocity of the ball bearings through the liquid, and therefore explain why the occurance happened with only a slight varience with the very large ball bearings.

Charles Dickens Bio :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was a nineteenth century English writer who wrote such classics as: A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, A Tale Of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and many others. He was born into a middle class family, but when he came home from boarding school at the age of ten he found his family living in poverty. He was unable to return to school in order to help out at home. When he was twelve, his father was sent to prison for his debts. While the rest of the family lived in Marshalsea prison Charles was forced to work long hours in order to support himself. This left a powerful lifelong wound, social humiliation, and defeat. This was an extremely formative experience in young Charles's life. Charles' father, John, was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. John Married Elizabeth Barrows in 1809. Elizabeth Barrows' father Charles Barrows was the chief Conductor in the Navy Pay Office. Charles Dickens grandfather was also employed by the Navy Pay Office and was accused of embezzling  £6,000 and fled England. His father John was the basis for the character Mr. Micawber while his mother Elizabeth was the basis of Mrs. Nickleby. His first novel, the Pickwick Papers, was written as a serial from 1936-1937. Early in his career he taught people to expect the unexpected for he may have had them laughing in the Pickwick Papers but he soon showed a more serious side in Oliver Twist. He was labeled a social reformer because of the attack the Poor Law received as a result of his novel Oliver Twist. Charles took pride in his role of social reformer. Towards the end, Charles was not a happy man despite his literary success. His marriage had not been a love match, and in the end they lived separate lives. Restless, he released his non-literary energies in travel - to the US, Switzerland, and Italy.

High maintenance intensive gardens Essay

Located primarily in the southern region of the United States, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, ColorTech is a privately held company that grows and supplies annual and perennial flowers to big-box stores. Some of its clients include Walmart and Home Depot. They rented greenhouse space in other US cities to be able to handle special orders, with greenhouses in the North which helped them provide region specific and seasonal plants. ColorTech profits had been consistently dropping due to a change in the market and industry. A saturated market and a shift away from water and high maintenance intensive gardens, along with increased price competition are the major reasons why we have seen a loss in profits for ColorTech. Demands for lowering prices and very costly customizations from the big-box stores made ColorTech even more exposed than other competitors. As part of its growth strategy and an effort to generate additional revenue, ColorTech recently acquired a Colombian company specialized in cut flowers, and quickly became one of the largest growers in North and South America. Character profiles- Melissa Richardson- She is the main character in this case study. Melissa was the top sales performer in Chicago before her recent promotion to sales manager of the Phoenix office. Melissa is excited and eager to step into this position, hoping that her previous experience and success will be able to help the struggling Phoenix office become successful. She has no previous manager experience, but has taken management training courses which helped her learn about some of her duties. Beth Campbell- She is the Regional Sales manager for ColorTech. Beth is very absent from this story and does not provide the support to Melissa that she needs. Campbell appears to be very busy and does not communicate expectations with Melissa well. Alex Hoffman- He is an account representative, and has been with the company for 8 years. He is the top salesperson in the entire company. He is very dismissive in his attitude towards Melissa. He does not appear to accept her as his manager. He might be having some feelings of jealousy born out of the fact that he may have considered himself qualified for the manager position. Alex has no interest in selling the cut flowers portion of the business and will only work on his own terms. Gregorio Torres- Torres, also an account representative, has been with the company the longest, 12 years. His sales numbers are below average. During his first encounter with Melissa, he was more interested in discussing his idea for a new website to manage customer service. When further pushed about why his sales numbers were so low, Gregorio responded with â€Å"I guess I’m just not a hard-sell kind of guy.† From an outside perspective it seems as if Gregorio is just not cut out for sales and might be more interested in customer service or operations. Sarah Vega- Sarah is the third account representative on the team. Even though she has been with the company for 3 years, still does not appear to have it all together. Sarah was either tardy or absent from meetings. Even when she eventually made it for a meeting, she seemed distracted, restless and unorganized. This attitude to work reflected on her erratic sales numbers, though she appeared knowledgeable in some areas of the company’s product line, she was totally clueless in others. . Chelsea Peterson- Chelsea is a store merchandiser and has been with the company for 2years. This is a position that provides support for the sales team. Chelsea from the start was openly hostile with Melissa. Chelsea feels that Melissa is not giving her a chance to become a sales rep even though she has never expressed that desire to anyone. She eventually expresses her interest to Melissa who told her to put a resume together for consideration. Chelsea still feels slighted and has hires an attorney to approach ColorTech about gender diversity records. Nick Ruiz- Nick is fresh out of college and has been with ColorTech for 1 year. He is the most enthusiastic of all the employees on the team. He is currently a store merchandiser, but will do whatever it takes to get into an account rep position. His product knowledge is very strong, he has active discussions with customers, and since there is a greenhouse on site he has strong knowledge of operations as well. He even forgoes his breaks to go into the greenhouse just to talk to workers about the jobs that they do. The Situation- From the very start Melissa Richardson has received no support or respect as a manager. In addition, Melissa has never had any managerial experience and has stepped into an office where she is way over her head with problems that she has never faced before. Her first day on the job gave a glimpse of what she was in store for. Her regional sales manager did not show up to introduce Melissa and to get Melissa acclimated to the team. The top sales rep in the company did not respect her and showed up to the first meeting late even though he knew about it. Along with that Sarah Vega showed up late to the meeting and also disrespected Melissa. Very quickly things spiraled out of control for Melissa. She was disrespected in the first meeting by Alex and Sarah, and she did not do anything to address the situation. Melissa coming from Chicago was not accustomed to the culture of the Phoenix office. The greenhouse workers and a lot of the sales team are Hispanic by nature and Spanish was their first language. Melissa has tried to learn Spanish by tape, but could not keep up with the speed that everyone else spoke it at. On multiple occasions the sales reps would speak Spanish in front of her, but Melissa could not follow what they said because they spoke in Spanish. This would upset Melissa and make her feel even more distant from her team. The Phoenix sales office was not meeting sales expectations, and to makes things even worse there was a fungus in the Columbia Greenhouse cut facility. The only way to remedy this problem was to destroy the stock inside, disinfect the entire facility, and then finally start regrowing all of the cut flowers. This problem caused delays of weeks in orders from new customers, and the potential loss of many clients. Due to low self efficacy, a lack of support from upper management, not fitting into the culture of the office, and lack of experience as a manager; Melissa failed to successfully transition from team member to team leader. In the end, everything spiraled out of control, with Sarah missing work at least once a week, Gregorio consistently putting up poor numbers, Chelsea filing a gender discrimination lawsuit against the company, and Alex providing no respect and support for his manager. Diagnosis Melissa Richardson is having difficulty transitioning from Team Member to Team Manager for a variety of reasons including her own behaviors and situational challenges she encounters and they contribute to a dysfunctional team environment. Melissa is in trouble even before she begins her new job as Sales Manager because of her low self-efficacy beliefs concerning her management training (Kinicki, 2008, p. 39-41). She has taken management training courses offered by her company but has little confidence in her understanding of the Managerial and Human Resources responsibilities of her new position. She finds it hard to imagine how she might apply the specific advice and experiences that her management trainers relate to situations she will encounter. Self-efficacy beliefs are often self-fulfilling prophecies; low self-efficacy beliefs lead to low expectations of success and can result in destructive behavior patterns, such as putting off difficult tasks, which contribute to failure (Kinicki, 2008, p. 40-41). Melissa’s problems transitioning to a management position are partly because; whether she recognizes it or not, she is not confident that she has the necessary skills and abilities. As she meets her new team and interacts with her new supervisor it becomes clear that she is not communicating well with any of them. The members of her team are mostly distant or distracted–not focused on the job at hand–and she allows herself to be distracted from making a strong first impression by other aspects of her job such as touring the greenhouses, phone meetings, and paperwork. Melissa is a low self-monitor, not particularly good at observing her own self-expressive behavior and adapting it to the demands of the situation (Kinicki, 2008, pg 42). She learns from her manager, too late to complete a quarterly sales report, that the data she is using was falsified by her predecessor. She is also confronted by an angry employee wrongly convinced of being passed over for a promotion. Melissa, however, does not respond to the environmental cues and change her behavior as she would if she were engaged in self-management (Kinicki, 2008, p. 43). She isn’t helped by the lack of leadership from her own manager, Beth Campbell, who ought to be coaching her and providing feedback as she transitions to her new role and gets to know her new team members (Kinicki, 2008, p. 42). They meet only once before Melissa starts her new job and when Melissa does start, Beth fails to properly introduce her or give her any background information on her new team and position. She assigns work but does not give Melissa the necessary support and training to make sure she succeeds at new and unfamiliar tasks. Beth is not providing the leadership that she needs and Melissa is not comfortable asking for help. One more situational factor working against Melissa’s transition to Team Leader is her difficulty adapting to a new environment in Phoenix, where speaking Spanish is a big part of everyday interactions with her co-workers. Several times she feels isolated from her team because she is not fluent in Spanish, even though she has tried to learn the language. Melissa’s sales team is dysfunctional and she immediately has problems in her interpersonal relationships with several team members. Alex Hoffman is dismissive, Chelsea Peterson is hostile and Sarah Vega is absent. By the time of her July meeting with Beth Campbell, Melissa’s group has not progressed beyond the second stage of Bruce Tuckman’s Five-Stage Theory of Group Development (Kinicki, 2008, p. 88). She encounters problems in the first stage, Forming, when she fails to make a strong first impression on her team. This is followed by the second stage of group development, Storming, as demonstrated by challenges to her authority from Alex who dismisses her goal of selling cut flowers, Chelsea who accuses her of gender discrimination, and Vega who is persistently absent. The group never reaches the third stage, Norming, because nobody challenges the team to move forward and really take on the problem solving necessary to overcome the challenges presented when sales are jeopardized by production issues in the greenhouses. They lack the common commitment necessary to qualify as a real team (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). Melissa does not effectively set goals or provide incentives and feedback to motivate her team members. She also fails to develop teamwork competencies by helping them understand their problem solving situation so they can arrive at a common understanding of what challenges are facing them and how to go about resolving them (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). Prescription While the ColorTech team in Phoenix has encountered numerous problems, including lagging sales, production errors, and an infectious fungus, the team’s main issues stem from Melissa’s difficulty transitioning from team member to team manager, team dysfunction, and Melissa’s difficulty managing diversity and the new culture in Phoenix. There are solutions available to help mitigate the team’s problems, including improving Melissa’s management skills, developing teamwork competencies, and implementing diversity initiatives. However, there is no single solution or quick fix. In fact, under the Contingency Approach, the ideal solution may be a combination of multiple techniques, instead of relying on one solution (Kinicki, 2008, p. 11). The first potential solution provides Melissa with steps she can follow to improve her skills as a manager. Clark Wilson developed eleven skills managers should have: 1. Clarify goals and objectives; 2. Encourage participation, suggestions, and upward communication; 3. Plan and organize work flow; 4. Obtain technical and administrative expertise; 5. Facilitate work through training, team building, coaching, and support; 6. Provide honest and constructive feedback; 7. Keep things moving with schedules, reminders, and deadlines; 8. Control details without being overbearing; 9. Apply reasonable pressure to achieve goals; 10. Empower employees and delegate key duties; and 11. Recognize good performance with positive reinforcement and rewards (Kinicki, 2008, p. 2-3). By clarifying goals and objectives, Melissa would have given Gregorio, and the rest of her team, a target to shoot for, which may help him reverse the negative trend in his sales numbers. A clear sales target may also help Sarah become more consistent with her sales figures. Goal-setting research indicates that performance is higher when challenging goals are set, and feedback helps employees stay on track and motivated (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). In addition, by encouraging employees to participate in goal-setting, empowering team members, and recognizing good performance with rewards, employees become more committed to team objectives, and performance improves (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). Lastly, organizing workflow, facilitating work, providing reminders, and motivating the team with reasonable pressure allows Melissa to ensure the team is working efficiently and productively (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). Learning these management skills will not only improve her team’s performance, they will also help improve Melissa’s communications with her manager, Beth Campbell. By clarifying her goals and objectives with Campbell, Melissa will have a better idea of what it will take to succeed as a manager. By improving Melissa’s technical and administrative expertise, she will avoid mistakes and late submissions with her sales reports. Lastly, by providing honest and constructive feedback to Campbell about Melissa’s frustration and difficulties, Campbell may be able to provide guidance and advice. Thus, refining her management skills will improve not just Melissa’s relationship with her team, but Melissa’s relationship with her manager as well. To address team dysfunction, Melissa and her team need to develop teamwork competencies. Urging employees to be good team players is not enough (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). Managers need to model and teach the following competencies: the team must understand its problem-solving situation; the team must get organized and measure its performance; a positive team environment should be promoted; conflict must be handled properly; and team members should promote their points-of-view appropriately (Kinicki, 2008, p. 93). By understanding their problem-solving situation, Melissa’s team can take ownership of their challenges, and help find solutions. Getting organized and measuring their performance allows the Phoenix team to understand their goals and what they need to do to achieve them. Lastly, promoting a positive team environment, handling conflict properly, and expressing one’s views appropriately will foster trust, cooperation, and team synergy. The next solution requires Melissa to implement diversity initiatives. Based on Morrison’s study of diversity initiatives, organizations that successfully manage diversity focus on three main areas: 1. Accountability—treating diverse employees fairly; 2. Development—preparing diverse employees for greater responsibility and advancement; and 3. Recruitment—attracting diverse applicants who are willing to accept challenging work assignments (Kinicki, 2008, p. 36). Under the Equity Theory, motivation is a function of fairness, and employees are more likely to commit if the changes are fair (Kinicki, 2008, p. 58). In addition, because of Fundamental Attribution Bias, managers tend to attribute employee behavior to internal causes, but may be ignoring environmental factors (Kinicki, 2008, p. 28). By treating everyone fairly, implementing development programs, and communicating better, Chelsea would have understood Melissa’s thought process, and would be less likely to think that Melissa was being discriminatory. In addition, Spanish was the predominant language at the Phoenix greenhouse, because of the large number of workers from Mexico and Central America. Thus, Melissa would have to significantly improve her Spanish if she wants to be able to communicate more effectively with the majority of workers at the site. Also, the workers in Phoenix like to keep a friendly atmosphere, and even cook outdoor lunches and share lunch with the sales staff, so it would be a good idea for Melissa to get to know them and to learn more about the culture in Phoenix, in order to maintain positive and productive relationships with her co-workers. Organizations operate in a global economy, and the workplace is becoming more and more diverse (Kinicki, 2008, p. 5-6). In the past, managers were monocultural and monolingual; however, the 21st century manager must evolve to become multicultural and multilingual to remain competitive in such a diverse and fast-paced environment (Kinicki, 2008, p. 7). In addition, â€Å"managing diversity enables all the organization’s people to perform up to their maximum potential by changing the organization’s culture and infrastructure† (Kinicki, 2008, p. 32). By learning the culture and getting to know the people Melissa is going to be working with, she will be better able to communicate with and manage her team. After all, â€Å"management† is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in an efficient and ethical manner† (Kinicki, 2008, p. 2). Melissa and her team are facing numerous challenges, including team dysfunction in part due to Melissa’s lack of management skills, and because Melissa has found it difficult to transition from being a successful team member to successful manager. Melissa also has difficulty managing diversity and adjusting to the new environment and culture. Fortunately, there are solutions available to help solve her team’s difficulties, including improving Melissa’s management skills, developing teamwork competencies, and implementing diversity initiatives. While there is no easy or single solution, using these techniques in combination will help Melissa and her team become more productive, and help them reach their personal and organizational goals. Action Plan There are four key steps that need to be implemented in order to improve Melissa Richardson’s ability to manage successfully. And we have prioritized each solutions based on different challenges and its influence on how well she can lead. First of all, Richardson needs to voice her concerns to her boss, Beth Campbell. Then, she needs to talk to HR about some of the employee’s conduct. Also, she needs to meet with the team and talk about her expectations. Finally, Richardson needs to discuss performance of each individual on one-on-one basis. As discussed before, Richardson was hoping to be guided and mentored in her new role as a sales manager. She did not have prior management experience so it was normal for her to expect some â€Å"hand holding† initially. However, she didn’t receive any support from her boss, Campbell. Not only that, she was in charge of leading a team that require clear direction and discipline. To make the matters worse, the organization was facing its own set of problems related to customer demand and operation limitations. Furthermore, Richardson wasn’t an effective communicator since she wasn’t able to address the team issues and set clear expectations. All of these challenges are very difficult for someone new to manage. So she needs to cultivate a mentor figure, whether it is Campbell or someone else. Because mentoring will provide Richardson the career and psychosocial functions, identified by Kram (Kinicki, 2008, pg. 194), that will help her perform well in her new role. The second challenge Richardson was facing was related to the HR issues. Team members often arrived late to work or were absent. Also, an issue of gender discrimination was brought up by Chelsea Peterson. She felt that she should be receiving a preferential treatment over others because she was a woman. So it is necessary for Richardson to bring up these issues with the HR department and take appropriate actions to stay out of legal trouble and to ensure that the team adheres to organization’s code of conduct. Next order of business requires Richardson to bring synergy and tackle the dysfunctional team. For example, Alex Hoffman is a top sales person but doesn’t open up much. He could be a great asset if she can get him more engaged and involved in the team. And Sarah Vega is not focused and is often distracted by non-work related events. So Richardson needs to understand what holds each member back from being at their maximum potential. And she can increase their performance by applying some of Clark Wilson’s recommended management skills (Kinicki, 2008, pg. 2-3). Finally, Richardson needs to recognize the human capital in her team (Kinicki, 2008, p.12). She already made a list of skills each team members has or lacks. She needs to use that knowledge and focus on increasing productivity potential of each member. She can also increase their motivations through job redesign (Kinicki, 2008, p. 64). For example, Hoffman is focused more on selling to bigger clients while Gregorio Torres is not. So it may be helpful for her to adjust their sales quotas to reflect their customer preference. Also, Nick Ruiz is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about being in the sales team. Richardson can look into opening up an associate sales rep position for him to see how he does in the new role. She can have him work with Hoffman or mentor Ruiz herself on becoming a successful salesperson as she was. We believe that the four steps mentioned above will allow Richardson to improve her management success. Therefore, she needs to tackle each action plan by setting up meetings to address the challenges. First meeting with Campbell seem appropriate due to many questions and concerns Richardson has about her new role. A second meeting with the HR department would help her address the ethics problem with Peterson and other issues. Finally, she needs to meet with the team members again to try to make a strong first impression and re-establish her leadership. References Kinicki, A. (2008). Organizational Behavior. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin