Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Golden Apple Snail, Pomacea Canaliculata

ABSTRACT Genetics is a trend these days especially that, DNA barcoding has been developed. DNA barcoding is an important tool in categorizing the taxa of different species and it tells so much about the species’ traits, including genetic diversity. The Pomacea canaliculata was introduced in different parts of Asia and had been an invasive species and a pest in different ecosystems ever since the introduction. In understanding this species of snails, samples were collected, DNA’s were extracted, undergone PCR and electrophoresis, and was sequenced and analyzed.The analysis was qualitative In the Philippines while quantitative in China. In the Philippines, the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) genes was used and compared among the species collected and when it was sequenced, it showed differences due to localized gap, mismatch and non-correspondence of bases. And in China, the diversity was analyzed by means of Nei’s gene diversity, Shannon’s information in dex, percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) an AMOVA anlysis. Both the quantitative and qualitative showed that there was diversification within and among the populations of these snails.INTRODUCTION Genetics is the study of the genes, and the heredity and variation of individuals. Understanding the genome, which is the complete set of chromosomes or the entire genotype of an individual, is important because it helps in the taxonomy of species, especially nowadays wherein advancements in science needs more specific information, and that basing on morphological features is not enough. Life is specified by genomes which contain all the biological information which is encoded in its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and divided into units or the genes.The genes are the blueprint for life because it is the particulate determiner of hereditary traits. Hence, DNA barcoding became a trend for scientists and researchers for the understanding of the different variations in the traits of different o rganisms. The golden apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata) originated from the South America, Central America, the West Indies and the Southern USA (Pain 1972) and was spread in the past decades to the different parts of Southeast Asia, namely Philippines, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan.The introduction of the P. canaliculata without prior studies caused damages to the different plants and it became an invasive species which resulted to becoming pests to humans and competitors to other local snails, example of which are those from the genus Pili. The P. canaliculata was observed to have different growth and reproduction in different parts of Asia, together with their external characteristics due to the different habitats and environmental conditions (Keawjam, 1986 and 1987), therefore there is the possibility to misidentify two sympatric species as one.On the other hand allopatric populations inhabiting different habitats may show ecomorphological variations and questionable species status and it was also suggested that the golden apple snails had high adaptability hence it was easier for them to form new populations (Dong et al. 2011). The understanding of the genomes of different species is a trend for scientists these days but the information about the different mollusks is still limited. The basic information on the number of species and/or population is of help for conservation programs (Carvalho and Hauser, 1994) and for building appropriate management schemes.In contribution, the studies aims are to evaluate the genetic diversity of the golden apple snail population in Asia, namely, Philippines and China via molecularly characterizing the P. canaliculata and to find different ways of analyzing the gathered data from the sequenced DNA of the said species. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Genetic diversity (Reed 2005) The significance of genetic diversity arose from two necessities: genetic diversity is required for populations to evo lve in response to environmental changes and heterozygosity levels are linked directly to reduce population fitness via inbreeding depression.The amount of genetic variation a population contains is predicted to correlate with current fitness and, in the case of heritabilities (which can remain high or even increase despite severe reductions in population size) with evolutionary potential. This correlation between fitness and levels of genetic variation, however, may be weak or nonexistent due to the neutrality of molecular markers used in estimating heterozygosity, nonadditive genetic variation and the purging of deleterious alleles because of increased selection against homozygotes.There is a body of literature that suggests that allozyme heterozygosity is a good measure of population fitness and adaptive potential. Others caution though that such molecular genetic data generally reflect only a small portion of genome and thus may not be indicator of adaptive genetic differences. But molecular markers may be useful for assessing the extent of genetic drift. Moreover, deleterious alleles, in mutation-selection balance, are responsible for at least half of the genetic variation in fitness.Selection has the tendency to purge the population of the deleterious recessive alleles which in theory creates inbred populations with a higher fitness than their outbreed progenitor. In other words, inbred populations with less genetic diversity would have higher fitness if the population is not kept small enough for a long enough to allow the fixation of deleterious alleles to occur. Fitness and future adaptability are reduced in smaller populations of plants and animals due to drift and inbreeding depression.Commonly used surrogates for fitness such as heritabilities, heterozygosity, and population size, significantly correlate with fitness and explain 15-20 % of the variation in fitness. Correlations suggest that many populations have reduced fitness as a result of inbre eding depression and genetic drift. There is much fuss and concern thus, over genetic variation because of the fact that endangered species typically have lower levels of heterozygosity and the loss of adaptive genetic variation and inbreeding depression puts wildlife populations at an increased risk of extinction.Finally, this increase occurs as a result of the reduction of productive fitness because of inbreeding depression or due to the failure of tracking the change in abiotic and biotic environment of the population as a result of the loss of genetic variation through drift. DNA barcoding (Moritz & Cicero 2004) At the very core, the purpose of DNA barcoding is for large scale screening of one or a few reference genes in order to assign unknown individuals to species and enhance discovery of new species.In the hope of developing a comprehensive database of sequences that will serve as a comparison tool to sequences from sampled individuals, proponents used DNA barcoding. There i s, however, nothing new with DNA barcoding as it is an offshoot of the use molecular markers for the very same purpose except, in DNA barcoding, there is an increased scale and proposed standardization. The selection of one or more reference genes characterizes standardization, with regards to microbial community and in stimulating large scale phylogenetic analyses if of proven value, though whether or not one gene fits all remain to be a question.Presently, most methods of DNA barcoding are tree-based and can fall into two broadly defined classes. One class is the distance-based, wherein it is based on the degree of DNA sequence variation within and between species. This kind of approach converts DNA sequences into genetic distances and then uses these distances to establish identification schemes. It further defines a similarity threshold below which a DNA barcode is assigned to a known or a new species. There is also the mention by several authors of a â€Å"barcoding gap† , a distance-gap between intra- and interspecific sequences, for species identification.However, the distance-based approach seems to be ill suited as a general means for species identification and the discovery of new species. One reason is that substitution rates of mitochondrion DNA vary between and within species and between different groups of species. The varied substitution rates can result in broad overlaps of intra- and interspecific distances, and hinder the accurate assignment of query sequences. Another class which is the monophyly-based requires the recovery of species as discrete clades (monophyly) on a phylogenetic tree and is used to assign unknown taxa to a known or new species.Similarly, some issues complicate the use of monophyly in a barcoding framework. For example, the long-recognized problem of incomplete lineage sorting will yield gene genealogies that may differ in topology from locus to locus. The recently divergent taxa may not be reciprocally monophyletic due to lack of time needed to coalesce. In addition, the gene trees are not necessarily congruent with species trees, and the monophyly, while a discrete criterion is arbitrary with respect to taxonomic level.Moreover, there is a recently applied new technique that has been proposed as an alternative to tree-based approaches for DNA barcoding, the so called character-based DNA barcode method, which is based on the fundamental concept that members of a given taxonomic group share attributes that are absent from comparable groups. It is the kind of method that characterizes species through a unique combination of diagnostic characters rather than genetic distances. The four standard nucleotides (A,T,C,G) if found in fixed states in one species can be used as diagnostics for identifying that species.This way, species boundaries can be defined by a diagnostic set of characters which can be increased to any level of resolution by applying multiple genes. Presently, character-based DNA b arcode method has been proved useful for species identification and discovery of several taxa. In the view that single-gene sequence should be the primary identifier of species, a contention arises that if that is the case then there’ll be a real need to connect different life history stages and increase the precision and efficiency of field studies involving diverse and difficult-to-identify taxa.Although the DNA barcoding community has put emphasis on the importance of large-scale sequence database within the existing framework and practice of systematics, it should be bore in mind that DNA barcoding is not the primary answer in resolving the tree of life. Furthermore, as much as the term â€Å"DNA barcoding† appealing, it implies, however, that each species has a fixed and invariant characteristic. But this kind of implication renders unrest to the minds of evolutionary biologists.In evaluating thus, the promise and pitfall of DNA barcoding, two areas of application should be distinguished: the molecular diagnostics of individuals relative to described taxa and DNA-led discovery of new species. And although there is little doubt that large-scale and standardized sequencing, when integrated with existing taxonomic practice, can contribute significantly to the challenges of identifying individuals and increasing the rate of discovering biological diversity as presented by this study, the general utility of DNA barcoding still requires further scrutiny.PCR (Moore 2005) In rapidly copying a selected template sequence from a DNA mixture in vitro, PCR offers a wide range of applications such as sequence detection and isolation for research, forensics and species identification through the PCR itself and in combination with other techniques. PCR's new technique uses flourescent probes to monitor the amounted product at end of every cycle and PCR machines look for the cycle at which the can readily detect flourescence.PCR is also being used to monitor RNA through the addition of reverse transcriptase enzyme at the beginning to generate DNA template. In addition, there are now new applications of PCR like single nucleotide polymorphism detection and screening. Cytochrome Oxydase subunit 1 (COI) (Buhay 2009) COI plays a significant role in documenting biodiversity and remains to be the choice for phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies. COI is a mitochondrial protein-coding gene which is a widely accepted marker for molecular identification across diverse taxa.Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have a relatively fast mutation rate, thus they result in significant differences between species. With respect to this, the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene with ~700bp was proposed to be a potential barcode or marker for molecular identification across various taxa. Furthermore, COI is a protein coding gene that has an open reading frame and in thecase of barcoding, COI can be highly divergent from the actual COI sequences which may cause major problems because species identification is based on sequence similarity.Pomacea canaliculata (Cowie 2002) The Pomacea canaliculata belongs to the family Ampullariidae. Its structure appears to have a slight dimorphism in shape of aperture and operculum. Females have broader mouth and concave operculum while convex in male. In terms of reproduction, oviposition often takes place at night or at early morning or evening about 24 hrs after copulation up to two weeks after mating (occurs three times per week) which occurs anytime of the day or night although there may be some diurnal rhythm.On each oviposition occasion a single clutch is laid of highly variable egg number. Moreover, the interval among successive ovipositions for p. canaliculata has been reported to be about five days and hatching generally takes place about two weeks after oviposition. The P. canaliculata breeds only during summer and grows into maturity in less than two months. P. canaliculata is s aid to be prolific and hence has rapid succession of generations which leads to rapid population expansion.They relatively inhabit still water and in water temperatures above 32 degree Celsius, it has been observed that the mortality of p. canaliculata is high. Whereas in low temperature p. canaliculata can survive 15-20 days at 0 degree Celsius, 2 days at -3 degree Celsius but only 6 hrs at -6 degree Celsius. And it is sufficiently tolerant of sea water to survive long enough to be carried by currents from one stream mouth to another, thereby expanding its distribution. P. canaliculata shows preferences among food plants.Its rate of growth has a direct correlation with its feeding on the preferred plant. Moreover, it is able to detect its food plants from some distance using chemical cues in the water. P. canaliculata, however, appears to be relatively generalist and indiscriminate that it is viewed to be particularly voracious compared to other Ampullariids. METHODOLOGY Sampling S nail samples were identified and collected from 2 countries in Asia, specifically in the Philippines and in China, where the P. canaliculata was introduced. In the Philippines; Los Banos (Dong et al. 011, p. 1778), 2 barangays in Tarlac (Brgy. Cabayaoasan, Paniqui and Brgy. Pance, Ramos) and Iloilo (Chichoco & Patdu 2012, p13), 44 snail samples were collected. And in China, specifically from Yuyao and Taizhou in Zhejiang province, Fuzhou in Fujian province, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Nanning in Guangxi province, Kunming in Yunnan province, wherein a total of 120 samples were identified with the conserved sequence by Matsukura et al. (2008) and Pan et al. (2009) and then was collected (Dong et al. 2011, p. 1778).The snails were then stored, either by wrapping in paper, freezing or preserving it in ethanol, and brought into the respective labs in each country for the next steps; DNA extraction, PCR, electrophoresis and sequencing. DNA extraction The two studies used the phenol-c hloroform method (Bergallo et al. 2006) with an alternative of the Qiagen’s Dneasy extraction kit for China. The DNA concentration was determined spectrophotometrically and adjusted by a mini-gel method (Maniatis et al. , 1982) when the extracted DNA was enough, it was stored at 4oC to -20oC until needed. PCR and ElectrophoresisThe PCR method was basically done by choosing the right primers that will yield clearly reproduced bands and they tested the proper amounts and amplification effects of the components of PCR, which were the Mg2+, dNTP’s, DNA templates and polymerase, and the primers. After the mixture of the components and the DNA extracted, it was carried out in the thermocycler programmed for pre-denaturing at 94 °C for 3 min, followed by 26 cycles of 94 °C for 10-30s, 36-52 °C for 30-45s, extension of 65-72 °C for 60-90s, and the final extension for 5-7mins at 72 °C for final extension with 38-48 cycles.After which, the amplified products together w ith negative controls were run in electrophoresis to be separated and tested for contaminations, respectively. The products were then purified later on with the respective kits present in each lab. In the Philippines, the reaction was done with 2? L MgCl2, 5? L PCR buffer, 1? L dNTP, 2. 5 ? L of the primers, which were the LCO1490 and HCO2198, distilled H2O with 22. 75 ? L, 0. 25 Taq, and 10 ? L Q-buffer. The electrophoresis was done after the ethidium bromide staining (Maniatis et al. , 1982), analyzed through 1. % agarose gels and visualized under a transilluminator. In China, they made use of the ISSR-PCR analysis where they got four primers, which produced clearly reproduced bands, out of the 90 that was screened from the University of British Columbia’s primer set and the reactions were done with a volume of 20 ? l, containing 0. 2 mM of each dNTP, 1. 5 mM MgCl2, 0. 5 ? M primers, 1 U Taq polymerase and 10 ng DNA template, and also with the determination of the optimal r eaction system of ISSR for P. canaliculata (Dong et al. 2011, p. 1779).The products’ sizes after the amplification was estimated using DNA marker DL2000 and then was run in electrophoresis, which was done on 6% polyacrylamide gels, visualized by silver staining and then photographed (Li et al. , 2009). Sequencing/ Data analysis Chichioco and Patdu (2012) sent the DNA samples to the First Base Laboratory in Singapore for sequencing and the results were sent back to the DNA barcoding Laboratory after a week. The COI sequences were aligned in the BLAST, specifically the STADEN package version 1. 5. 3 and Bioedit Sequence Alignment Editor version 7. 0. 9. 0.Aside from the sequences sampled, other sequences and their haplotypes from the GenBank were also compared and matched. In Dong’s (2011) research, he made use of the RAPD fragments by labeling them into binary matrices, used them to get the similarity index, Sxy = 2nxy / nx+ ny, where nx and ny represent the number of R APD bands in individuals x and y, and nxy represents the number of shared bands between individuals, as stated by Nei and Li (1979), then averaging it across all the possible comparisons between individuals within a geographic sample to get the within samples similarity (Si).Between sample similarity corrected by within sample similarity Si and Sj of geographic samples i and j, respectively) is also calculated between pairs of individuals across samples i and j using the equation; S’ij = 1 + Sij – (Si and Sj)/2. Genetic distance between paired samples was then calculated as D’ij = 1- S’ij (Lynch, 1990). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In the Philippines (Chichioco & Patdu 2012, p. 18-31) The collected samples from Brgy. Cabayaoasan were found in the elevated parts of a rice paddy, specifically, it was a muddy substrate with decaying leaves from the rice plants and surrounding trees while those that was found in Brgy.Pance was in the muddy bottom of the shallow fis h pond in the roots of water lilies and grasses. The samples from the two barangays in Tarlac and Iloilo had relatively different colors and sizes. Those that were collected from Brgy. Cabayaoasan had the largest size and they are colored black while those in Brgy. Pance had brown in color and still, those in Iloilo had very small sized specimens and some of the specimens can be mistaken as Pila conica snails if not examined properly. Primers affect the amplification success greatly, since according to Hajibabaei (2005) a 95% success is necessary for barcoding.The primers LCO1490 (SENSE) and HCO2198 are generally used for the amplification of forward and reverse fragments from COI genes. The DNA samples were subjected to the PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE), and they produced single discrete bands that suggest that the fragments were homogenous and start and end at the same point (Reece 2004). The bands that were brighter and distinct are more appropriate for sequencing bec ause it means that the DNA fragments were well amplified. The best DNA’s were chosen and forwarded to the First Base Laboratory in Singapore for sequencing.At the return of the results, other sequenced DNA barcodes were also collected and was aligned and compared with the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) database. Fig 1. Alignment of the COI gene sequences of the Pomacea canaliculata (CPT1-5 from Brgy. Cabayaoasan, PRT 7,9,10 from Brgy. Pance, IICK & IIPC1,3 from Iloilo) from the Philippines using Bioedit Sequence Alignment and ClustalW multiple Alignment (Chichioco & Patdu 2012, p. 26) By aligning the sequenced data, it can be seen that there are both similarities and differences among the genetic make-up of the samples.The differences are due to localized gap, mismatch and non-correspondence of bases along the COI fragments as pointed out in fig. 2 Fig 2. Comparisons of the COI sequences of the P. canaliculata samples from 35bp- 120bp (Chichioco & Patdu 2012, p. 28 ) As emphasized in fig. 2, on the 55bp-58bp, a sequence from CPT1 was observed having (5’-AATT-3’) while all the others have (5’-GGTA-3’). Even though this is a noticeable difference and could have been caused by mutation or variation, the difference is still low enough and less that 1% difference to be considered significant.But on the other hand, the PCa1 sample had 36 different base pairs compared with the others, which was 5. 5% difference and is high enough and can be considered significant since it is ;4% divergent(Meyer and Paulay 2005). Then with a ~98% confidence, it could be said that PCa1 is from an independent evolutionary lineage and might indicate a divergence within or outside its population or might have occurred due to relationships and interactions among the other species.The introduction of the P. canaliculata to different places may have an effect on its intra- and interpopulation and might be why it has various genetic sequences altho ugh it goes against the theory that introduced species becomes a founding population in a new habitat thus they have a limited gene pool and as a consequence genetic drift, which removes variability since it affects all genes, and bottleneck might occur, which reduces the new species to have a reduced genetic diversity.To observe the genetic variability, the sequences collected were compared with those from GenBank with the use of the BLAST software. As a result from 81 COI barcodes and 55 haplotypes, the samples collected showed 99% and 100% similarities with the different haplotypes thus it showed that the species has a high diversity within the populations. The phylogeography within and among the species does not apply on the P. analiculata since intra- and interpopulation diversity was observed which was shown by the multiple introduction throughout the Philippines, hence the different times of the introduction contributed more to its diversity and it coincides with the migrant pool model that says that the introduced population acquires more genetic variability because of the multiple sources of genetically divergent populations as compared to that of the local species (Slatkin 1997, Sakal et al 2001). In China (Dong et al 2010) The chosen primers an average of 124. bands, since they generated a total of 498 bands, which ranged from 150-2500bp and qualifies them for barcoding, as seen in table 1. Among the 140 individuals, 435 bands were polymorphic which was different for each primer. In table 2, Nei’s gene diversity (H) varied between 0. 2612 and 0. 3340, with an average of 0. 3044, and arranged in a descending order the populations, LB ; KM ; NN ; FZ ; TZ ; GZ ; YY while the Shannon’s information index (I) ranged from 0. 3910 to 0. 4856, with an average of 0. 4499.At the species level, the values of Nei’s and Shannon’s showed the same trend as that of PPB. AMOVA analysis showed that there are highly significant (P ; 0. 001) genetic differences among the seven populations of P. canaliculata. The genetic diversity was mostly due to the differences within the population (92. 76%) while the rest was due to among populations. The analysis tells the same as that of the Nei’s and Shannon’s information, which says that there was a relatively high level of genetic differentiation among populations. CONCLUSIONGenetics of different species are studied by means of DNA barcoding, mostly of the COI gene in the mitochondria, to know the taxon of a species and to understand their trends and characteristics not only morphologically but also genetically. The diversity of a species can also be tested by means of DNA barcoding as seen in the study of the Pomacea canaliculata. The P. canaliculata was introduced in Asia for agricultural purposes and was seen for its benefits but not its drawbacks, which later on resulted to it being invasive and a pest for both humans and other species.To understand the P. can aliculata further, its diversity was studied by means of DNA barcoding and was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively in the Philippines and China, respectively. Both the analysis showed the same outcome, wherein the results showed high levels of genetic diversity among populations. Because invasive species tends to give a negative feedback to those species in the local area, it is important to understand these alien species and to know how diverse they are so that proper management of these species could be done. REFERENCES Barker, G.M. 2002. Molluscs as Crop Pests. UK: CABI Publishing. (pp. 147-182) Buhay, Jennifer E. 2009. ‘‘COI-like’’ Sequences are Becoming Problematic in Molecular Systematic and DNA Barcoding Studies. Journal of Crustacean Biology 29(1): 96–110 Burns, George W. , Bottino, Paul J. 1989. The science of genetics 6th ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Chichioco, Monique Faye & Patdu, Edel Marie. 2012. DNA barcoding of Pomacea canaliculata and Pila conica using cytochrome c oxidase 1 (CO1) and small subunit (ssu) ribosomal (r) RNA barcodes (Undergraduate thesis).Main Library, University of the Philippines Baguio, Baguio City. Cowie, R. H. 2002. Apple snails (Ampullariidae) as agricultural pests: their biology, impacts and management. In: Molluscs as Crop Pests (ed. G. M. Barker), p. 145-192. CABI Publishing, Wallingford. Dodson, Edward O. 1956. Genetics: The Modern Science of Heredity. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company. Dong, S. , Shentu, X. , Pan, Y. , Yu, X. , Wang, H. 2011. Evaluation of genetic diversity in the golden apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck), from different geographical populations in China by inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR).African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 10(10), 1777-1783. Mendoza, Monica P & Serra, Karen Mae S. 2011. Mitochondrial DNA barcoding of Pomacea canaliculata and Pila conica (Undergraduate thesis). Main Library, University of the Philippines Bagu io, Baguio City. Moore, Pete. 2005. PCR: Replicating Success. Nature 435, 235-238. Moritz, C. , and Cicero,C.. 2004. DNA barcoding: promise and pitfalls. PLoS Biology 2(10), e354, 1529-1531. Reed, D. H. , Frankham, R. 2005. Correlation between Fitness and Genetic Diversity.Conservation Biology. Conservation Biology 17(1), 230-237. Wang, Xu-Mei. 2010. Optimization of DNA isolation, ISSR-PCR system and primers screening of genuine species of rhubarb, an important herbal medicine in China. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research 4(10), 904-908. Zou, S. , Li, Q. , Kong, L. , Yu, H. , Zheng, X. 2011. Comparing the Usefulness of Distance, Monophyly and Character-Based DNA Barcoding Methods in Species Identification: A Case Study of Neogastropoda. PLoS ONE 4(10), e26619.

Consequences of Successful Business Essay

Consequences of successful business vs unsuccessful business: Linking business success to management The success of a business is based on the quality, the education and the experience of management. Experience is necessary in order to make the right decisions and education leads to higher quality of performance. Quality decisions and performances contribute to the achievement of the business objectives and goals. All these success factors enhance the strengths of the business, which makes it more competitive in the marketplace. Let’s have a look at two similar businesses, a successful one, KFC, and an unsuccessful one, Mochachos’ Chicken Villages and we can see how applying quality relates to some business functions. 1. Business Image or Public Relations Function The main objective of the PR function is to present a good impression of the business because customers associate the business image with the product. So the KFC chicken with the secret recipe is what the customers see as the company. If they are happy with the chicken they are happy with the company, KFC as a whole. KFC is a large business with lots of money to spend on the appearance of the stores, advertising, presentation of meals like the boxes etc and even dressing their staff is nice eye catching uniforms. Another good PR method is direct contact where staff members come into contact with orphanages, hospitals and schools. KFC makes sure that the media are informed so that they receive publicity about their good deeds. Mochachos’ Chicken Villages on the other hand didn’t have a lot of money at their disposal for image which put them at a disadvantage. Because Mochachos Chicken Villages didn’t have the look of a well established company with large corporate offices, big expensive advertising, and the customers associated that with their ability to provide good food. They did nothing in the community and got bad publicity when things started to go wrong at the stores. 2. Product Quality and Operations Function Improvement in quality is achieved with the advancing in manufacturing technology. The company has to keep up with the times and do constant reassess of future production requirements KFC are always bringing out new kinds of chicken for us to eat. There are strips, pops, burgers and even boneless chicken. They are improving their technology all the time. An example is the grilled KFC chicken you get today. They have realized that customers are also trying to eat a little healthier and they have developed new technology to grill the chicken instead of frying it but always keeping the quality high. Mochachos’ Chicken Villages have stuck to one or a few products. Not bringing in anything new or keeping up with the latest on the market. And this could lead to a lack of interest from the public and eventually bad quality of the food. 3. Quality Human Resources Function Appoint employees that have the abilities and experience to obtain results. KFC have the resources to spend time and money on training the staff as well as training the managers. They have the money to pay the employees what they are worth. Happy workers equal more productive workers. They hire the correct people for the job and outsource certain required services such as IT specialists to keep their till systems working properly. Organisation and leadership are also a successful part of the KFC staff. Mochachos’ Chicken Villages have perhaps cut costs and employed inexperienced staff that don’t have the abilities to provide a good service to the customers therefore making it more difficult to get the results they wanted. The management haven’t been trained properly and that reflects on the company as a whole. 4. Quality Administration Function Administration is spread throughout the entire company and this need s to be  of the highest quality for all systems to work and eventually for the management to make the correct decisions. KFC have the correct systems in place from their production lines to the delivery of good to the systems in the stores. All documentation is done correctly and all systems are in place and check. Policies and procedures are followed to the last detail such as the cleaners noting down the time they have cleaned. Stock control is an ongoing process. All the information collected is used for research and development, planning, projecting and budgeting ahead and also steps are taken to make sure the right decisions are made for the goals of KFC to be achieved. Mochachos’ Chicken Villages didn’t have all the policies and procedures in place. They made incorrect decisions regarding renting new space to operate in. They didn’t analyse their customer’s needs, they didn’t project future sales or work out the financial position of the business. The most important thing is that Mochachos’ Chicken Villages didn’t remain sustainable in today’s competitive business world. 5. Quality and Healthy Financial Function This function is concern with raising enough capital to finance the business’s assets, resources and services to operate properly. The financial manager must make sure that the business can make enough money to cover the cost of raising the capital. KFC have done budgeting which is the most important mechanism for financial control. KFC have many stores and many investors, properties and equipment which all forms part of making the business financially stable. Mochachos’ Chicken Villages didn’t have enough investors buying into the franchising concept and then the expenses eventually became more than the income, this showing a lack of financial planning, budgeting and control. They had no investors and that meant no security that the business would remain sustainable or too much of the owners capital was required. In conclusion: Good managers will ensure successful business results because it will ensure that customer needs are satisfied. As the saying goes â€Å"Good managers are trained, not born.† Hardly anyone is born a good manager. Almost all of them have learnt it. And the good thing is that it can be learnt. Plenty have done it. And so can you. Learning to be an excellent manager requires education, training and experience. You can’t skimp on any one of them†¦..it takes all three.

Moral Dilemmas Essay

Moral Dilemmas, Moral Strategies, and the Transformation of Gender Lessons from Two Generations of Work and Family Change Women seek personal development by caring for others and men care for others by sharing the rewards of independent achievement are the traditional social norm in the 20th century. In the 21st century, people started to question whether women and men should really be separated into two distinct, opposed and unchanging moral categories. Women and men now have conflicts and tensions between family and work, public and private, autonomy and commitment, for these, gender dichotomy cannot be used to solve as in the past. Undoubtedly, gender dichotomy in moral orientation can resolve the universal tension to certain extent, but it is only prescriptive rather than descriptive. Gender is a social institution rather than an inherent trait and it is now transforming. Women now seek self-sufficiency economically and socially, they seek personal and social commitment outside the home, while men’s breadwinning role and obligation to support women and children diminish. Women and men are now facing socially structured moral dilemma. Investigating how the new generation thinks, the interview reveals that the young generation believes that it is difficult to keep a relationship with balanced autonomy and commitment. They believed that it is not morally wrong to end the relationship if the two do not get along well. Ending the relationship would be better than keeping a bad relationship, not only to the couple, but also to their children. Also, they appreciated their mothers if they work and think that both women and men should care for the family both financially and emotionally. As it seems difficult to apportion moral labor by gender-neutral strategies, women and men diverge in their opinion in gender role. Men prefer the Neotraditionalism, that is, the couple share the breadwinning but the women have to place family first, but this collide with what the women long for, autonomy before commitment, and they want to be economically independent. In my opinion, this gender transformation has significant importance to people in the 21st century, especially to women. In the past, because of the gender dichotomy, women are restrained from work and are expected to stay at home to manage the household, e. g. look after the children, do the household chores, they have to devote all their time to the family and have to give up their dreams, even if they are talented or have potential in some fields, they do not have the opportunity to explore into their careers. Also, they have to be tolerant to the household violence just because they are economically dependent and they rely on their husbands for living. They do not have the working ability because they have spent most of their time in the family and they have already been detached from the outside work society. It is also difficult for them to find jobs because of the social and cultural environment that do not encourage women working. As a result, women are trapped in the marriage for their whole life. On the other hand, the traditional gender dichotomy does not only give disadvantages to the women, men also suffer from that. Men are the sole breadwinner in the family and they have to bear the pressure to earn the living for the whole family. Because they have to work hard to support the family financially, always with long working hours, they may not have time to care for their children. They have less time and opportunity to communicate with the children and build good relationships with them. Men have no choice but to sacrifice the time with their family. Now, we are lucky that the gender difference is getting smaller and the moral obligation for men and women are not so obviously divided. Though there are still structural and cultural contradictions in the society nowadays, women and men now enjoy more freedom to choose what they want to do to attain a balance between family and work, autonomy and commitment. To help with the transformation, more family-friendly elements should be added to the society and in the workplace to help women and men to strive for their success in both their careers and their families.

Health Care Fair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health Care Fair - Essay Example People are either self-motivated or needs external motivation in every job / career. Therefore, it is important to ask individuals for what is going to be their source of motivation (Carpenito-Moyet, 2006). What are the reasons for choosing this career, and are these reasons extrinsic or extrinsic? It  will help clear many things regarding the personality and nature of that individual. The field of healthcare is undergoing some difficulties and challenges. In this regard what role can you play, and how can you contribute towards the betterment of the quality of the services in the healthcare industry? In any profession, a person might come across various issues / incidents / scenarios in which he or she has to act in a vigilant manner (Nursing Careers, 2014). For this reason every person who thinks of adopting nursing as a career should be prepared so that they can efficiently respond to them. Furthermore every person has his / her perspective and adopts some specific approach towards life and how he deals his everyday routine. It is obvious that nurses have a key function of taking care of the patients however it is important to know in what they are looking after them and what strategies they are adopting (Carpenito-Moyet, 2006). Furthermore it is also important to know their approach as sometimes they might also panic and that can endanger and risk the lives of their patients. It is understood that nurses are meant to be caring and helping. These individuals are self-driven towards humanity and public care. It is important to know that there is no forceful element behind their decision and that they are happy with their decision. It should be noted that sometimes most of the individuals are not happy with their careers and are simply doing for money or because of unemployment. This reason contributed towards the increase in patient care and its overall quality (Carpenito-Moyet, 2006). In order to figure out whether the individuals are

Article Review and Reflection TopicHuman resouce Literature

Article and Reflection TopicHuman resouce - Literature review Example Research Questions or Hypotheses The research question holds a central position in a research paper. It addresses the idea, in brief, that the researcher explains in the course of his paper. Generally, the research question is stated specifically although sometimes, to address complex issues, multiple questions have to be mentioned. A common phenomenon observed among the Chinese enterprises is described by the phrase ‘lasting briefly, and growing with difficulty’. With the passage of time, the mindset of people has undergone changes along with economic development of the country. In the later part of the 1980s, the term ‘Private Economy’ emerged in China. The economic entities which are invested into by a non-government body or a private enterprise or individual and run by them are known as privately operated economy. They are based on private resources and do not embody the state capital. There are several small and medium enterprises that are emerging in t he country based on private investment. Such firms, although faring well in the initial phase, sometimes cannot grow further later on. It is quite difficult for any enterprise to hold on to its existence if it becomes stagnant. The hypothesis made in this paper is: whether the difficulties faced by the private enterprises is owing to the problem arising in the management of their human resources. Literature Review The literature review of a research paper provides guidance in the formation of a theoretical and conceptual framework required for the study. This builds the base on which the entire research work is founded. The literature review provides the backdrop for research work and shows further avenues for conducting research. In this current paper, the theory of small and medium private enterprises in China and their basis of management have been well established. Consequently, the authors have discussed the hurdles that these firms face, and the links between these problems an d their improper management structure. Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework pertaining to a research work is inclusive of three broad things: the problem to be addressed, the literature review and the purpose of research. Foreign companies operating in China had brought in the term ‘Human Resources’ into China. In simple words, the term refers to the workers that work in a certain organization and their capability to do productive work. They are an integral part of an enterprise since the development of a firm, both economically and socially, depends to a great extent on the human resources of the firm. The workers’ efforts can be categorized into two divisions: physical work and intellectual work. Not only does the quantity of production made by the workers put an upward thrust on the performance of the company in the market but is also largely dependent on the efficient management of the resources that would lead to a good quality of their performance. Human resources management, thus, plays a crucial role in any organization’s administration for it to remain healthy over time. By ‘effective human resources management’ one emphasizes the management of human resources in a reasonable and scientific way. A reasonable utilization of human resource

Final Exam Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Final Exam - Coursework Example The fruits are the safest with reference to this outbreak to consume since its risk ratio is the lowest, that is, 0.8. Q15. Answer: The first correlation is very close to 0 and there is no causation at all and the coefficient of determination is 0.049, that is, only 0.5% can be predicted using the independent variable whereas the second correlation is -0.6 and the coefficient of determination is 0.36, that is, about 36% of the dependent variable is explained through the independent variable. Interpretation: From the above table it is observed that the number of respondents with depression status 0 is 434 (43.4%.) and the number of respondents with depression status 1 is 517 (51.7%). 49 respondents (4.9%) did not respond which clearly indicates that depression is prevalent in almost half of the population under study. From the above table it is found that the mean age is 36.64 with SD 6.2 and the coefficient of variation is 16.92% which is moderate. The minimum age is 19.38 and maximum is 49.43 which indicates almost all the age groups are having depression. The mean of the mental health status is 46.83 with SD 10.81 and the coefficient of mental health score is 23.08% which indicates that there is a wide range in the mental health score. (iii) there is a highly significant association between current employment (worknow) and depression status as the chi square value is 25.2 for 1 d.f with probability of significance being 0.000 (

Ctva fi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ctva fi - Essay Example Essentially, the company has lived up to the trend of creating such message as to entice more followers and determine how further reception by new generation of drinkers would fare. In the similar manner, ‘The Vampire Diaries’ of the CW Network manages to be conveyed out of compelling twists and creativity patterned after Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga. As one of the TV series aiming to be bought into by the common market of Goth vampire dramas just like Coke among its contemporaries, the series developers and producers have opted to function around the concept of youth empowerment by designating strong characters to the cast that are made to portray ordinary students of a university who are bound to discover their unique individual powers and destined fates in the process after Stefan and Damon initiated certain changes. The program appears to catch chief attention through the irresistible charms among Elena and the two male vampire counterparts in a love triang le as intense as the scenes that mean to exhibit possibilities of fusion between classic tales and urban legends.

The 2002 failure of Enron corporation and Arthur Anderson Co, their Essay

The 2002 failure of Enron corporation and Arthur Anderson Co, their auditors - Essay Example This study discusses what happened with Enron, defines the problems that plague the high profile corporation, present solutions and alternatives, as well as give a sweeping opinion on how the problems could have been solved or avoided in the first place from this researcher's perspective alone.Enron Corporation was an American energy company and considered as one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications group of companies. It claimed $111 billion revenues in 2000 and Fortune magazine accorded it "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years, employing around 21,000 people. Enron started out as Northern Natural Gas Company in the early 1930s at Omaha, Nebraska. It became an organized holding company Internorth in 1980s, and then it purchased Houston Natural Gas in 1985 of which Kenneth Lay became the chief executive officer. The merged company was named Enron and was involved in transmission and distribution of electricity and gas throughout the United States. It also engaged in the development, construction and operation of power plants, pipelines, and other infrastructure worldwide. It later market and promoted communication bandwidth commodities and other "derivatives" and grew in opulence behind inflated, fraudulent and non-existent financial reports. Enron declared bankruptcy in late 2001. By 1995 accountants at Arthur Andersen knew Enron was a high-risk client who pushed them to do things they were not comfortable doing. Critics have identified the complicated management approach as one of the culprits that caused Enron's collapse. Initially, the company performed extensive diversification to expand its product and service lines. Because of the strategy, the company experienced robust growth and gained reputation as a multi-dimensional firm. In addition, the firm continued to evolve its business model. Considering the unpredictable circumstances and calculated risks, Enron was successful on paper. This was reflected in the financial reports suggesting the extent of growth in the financial capability of the company. Specifically, the level of stocks reported by the company has skyrocketed. The information provided by the Enron 10-K annual report suggests that it was only in 1997 that the company experienced a decline. According to James Hecker, one of the investors of Enron, Andersen had knowledge on the nature of Enron's operations. The company even branded Enron as a high risked firm that is willing to do all means required to achieve its goals. Moreover, Hecker described the relationship of the Andersen employees to Enron. In the exact words, Hecker said: "Managers in the doorway, thinking out of the box. And I was thinking to myself, I'll bust by butt and then I'll bust my rocks (Schepp, 2002)." This satire showed how generously the employees of Andersen working for Enron were compensated and provided with great incentives. Moreover, Hecker described Enron as a lovely face and a fragile place. Basically, Hecker has knowledge on the true status of the company. Hecker even mentioned in the satire that the managers will soon bring their alibis to court. Precisely, Hecker highlighted the events that will happen years later

Gangs and the Music industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gangs and the Music industry - Essay Example Today’s youths are like sponges soaking anything up which is given to them. The music industry has the greatest impact to today’s youth which gives it the most influential power, but sad to say the message being put out is not uplifting or promoting growth so that young people can better themselves. Instead, it puts out a message that it is okay to have multiple sex partners, to be part of a gang, and even use drugs every now and then. Music for a long time has been used to relay messages regarding sex and it is important to note that with time the sexual content and extent of explicitness has been getting worse decade after another. In the early to mid 20th century and before, music was quite conservative and sexual contents were rather to be deduced rather than explicitly expressed as the case is today. Today’s music is apparently changing the fundamental nature of sex to something that is causal and a form of expressing someone’s freedom rather than something with commitment for a relationship that is monogamous by nature. Today’s music and in this case rap and hip hop is bringing to the fore the idea that society is now liberal and all are free to act as they please. This kind of music has lyrics as well as videos that are clearly showing sex as an act of freedom and maturity. Martino, et al. (2006) says that there is increasing explicit use of sex on the songs’ lyrics and their mus ic videos as an expression of pleasure, empowerment, and freedom. The youth with their peer pressure attitudes take these messages as literally as possible ending up having sexual relations quite early in their life. â€Å"Fifty-one percent of teens who listened to music laced with sexual debauchery ended up engaging in sexual activity, compared to just 29 percent of those who listened to little or none of the same types of music† (Wallace, 2010, p. 2). A study reveals that 15% of music videos illustrate or feature violent

To determine the relative composition Essay Example for Free

To determine the relative composition Essay To determine the relative composition of a mixture solution containing sodium ethane-1, 2-dioate and ethane-1, 2-dioic acid. INTRODUCTION Potassium permanganate KMn is a strong oxidizing agent which reacts with reducing agent ethanedioate ion to give and C + 2 Mn+ 16 2+8+10 Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) reacts with acid to give water . the reaction is shown with the following equation + To investigate the relative composition of the mixture solution, it has to be titrated with NaOH first with phenolphthalein as indicator and then with acidify KMn as Mn react with both compound. KMnhas to be acidified first, otherwise brown ppt of Mn is formed instead of 2 H2O + MnO4- + 3 e- i Mn+ 4 In addition to that, the reaction solution has to be warmed to about 70 as the reaction rate is very slow. MATERIALS AND APPARATUS beaker measuring cylinder. Safety spectacles beaker conical flask pipette ,25 burette ,50, and stand wash bottle white file electrical heater sulphuric acid Potassium permanganate KMn solution Mixture solution PROCEDURE 1. 25. 00of the mixture solution was transferred into a 250conical flask using a pipette rinsed by distilled water and the mixture solution 2. The burette rinsed by distilled water and NaOH is filled with NaOH 3. Titrate the mixture solution with 0. 1M NaOH solotuion using phenolphthalein as indicactor 4. Until the solution turns pink, result is recorded in table 1 5. About 25. 00of 1M sulphuric acid (using measuring cylinder) is added to the conical flask . 6. The mixture is then heated by electrical heater to at least 70. 7. The heated mixture is then titrated with 0. 02M Potassium permanganate KMn until a permanent pink colour is observed 8. Record the result in Table2 RESULT Table 1 Titration result of mixture solution against NaOH Trial 1 2 3 Final burette reading 15. 4 27. 3 39. 0 12. 8 Initial burette Reading 3. 1 15. 4 27. 3 1. 0 Volume of NaOH Added 12. 3 11. 9 11. 7 11. 8 Mean Volume of NaOH added ( 11. 7+11. 8+11. 9) /3 =11. 8 Table 2 Titration result of mixture solution against KMn Trial 1 2 3 Final burette reading 35. 0 26. 4 45. 5 40. 6 Initial burette Reading 16. 3 7. 1 26. 4 21. 4 Volume of NaOH Added 18. 7 19. 3 19. 1 19. 2 Mean Volume of NaOH added ( 19. 3+19. 1+19. 2) /3 =19. 2 CALCUALTION Equation involved in the reaction between NaOH and mixture solution: + +Na(aq) Mole ratio of NaOH:=2:1 = =11. 8/10000. 1/2 =5. 9xmol Molarity of = 5. 9X/(25/1000) =2. 36 x M + 2 Mn+ 16 2+8+10 Mole ratio of : Mn=5:2 = =519. 2/10000. 02/2 =9. 610^-4 mol Mole of sodium ethane-1,2-dioate = 9. 6x-5. 91 l = 3. 7 x mol Molarity of sodium ethane-1,2-dioate in mixture = 3. 7 x/(25/1000) =1. 48xM DISCUSSIONS CHOICE OF INDICATORS Phenolphthalein is used as indicator in the reaction between Sodium hydroxide and ethane-1, 2-dioic acid because the reaction involves a weak acid titrated against a strong alkali. REASON FOR HEATING THE MIXTURE SOLUTION The rate reaction between and Mn is very slow as there is repulsion between anion. REASON FOR HEATING MIXTURE SOLUTION IN THE CONICAL FLASK INSTEAD OF MN IN THE BURETTE. Aqueous solution of Potassium permanganate KMn is unstable and can easily be decomposed. The decomposition is accelerated by heat. If it is put in the conical flask and heated, it will easily oxidize water to oxygen and the amount of KMn is therefore decreased. 4Mn 4Mn +3 In addition, if hot Potassium permanganate solution is added to the burette, it may cause expansion of burette, causing inaccurate measurement. END POINT The end-point is not very permanent because if the Mn ion is in large excess, the following reaction occur: 2 Mn+3+ 2 +4 DECOPOSITION OF POTASSIUM PERMANGANATE. Potassium permanganate is easily decomposed and the decomposition is speed up by light, heat, acids, base, reducing agent in air such as hydrogen sulphide gas, , , and even by the end-product Therefore, it should be stored in brown bottle and should be standardized before use. ABSORPTION OF WATER BY SODIUM HYDROXIDE sodium hydroxide absorb water from air. The volume of solution increase, and hence cause a decrease in concentration, causing inaccurate calculation. CONCLUSION The concentration of sodium ethane-1,2-dioate is 1. 48xM while ethane-1, 2-dioic acids is 2. 36 x M REFERFERNCE Wikipedia Chan ting hin 6b 11 ? 1.

Government Strategies to Control Inflation

Government Strategies to Control Inflation With reference to the UK, examine and discuss the methods open to a government to control the rate of inflation within an economy. Introduction Inflation refers to an increase in the price level of goods and services in a given economy. Since inflation is concerned with increases in the cost of living rather than increases in the cost of a particular good, it is measured using a price index which monitors the price of a weighted ‘basket’ of goods. In the UK, the main price indices are the Retail Price Index (RPI), the Retail Price Index excluding Mortgage Interest Payments (RPIX) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Responsibility for the control of inflation was handed from the Treasury to the Bank of England in 1997 at which time the RPIX was used to measure inflation and the inflation target was set at 2.5%. Since December 2003, the CPI has replaced the RPIX as the main inflation measure and the target has been set at 2%. Diagram 1 (below) depicts annual inflation rates in the UK from 1997 to 2007 as measured by both the RPIX and the CPI. This essay will first outline the main theories put forward to explain the causes of inflation and the methods that each theory suggests would control inflation. The next section considers inflation in the UK from 1997 to date, and then evaluates the measures employed by the Bank of England in order to try to control inflation in that period. Causes of inflation and methods of inflation control There are two main schools of thought on the causes of inflation. The Keynesian school posits that changes in the real supply of or demand for goods and services are the key causes of inflation. Thus in order to reduce inflation, an expansion in supply or a contraction in demand is necessary to reduce the price level. This can be achieved through fiscal or monetary policy or a combination of the two. Fiscal policy such as an increase in income tax rates, has the effect of reducing effective demand for goods and services and thus can be used to lower inflation. Furthermore, a reduction in sales taxes (VAT in the UK) can reduce inflation to the extent that that inflation is caused by an increase in consumer prices. Monetary policy, through an increase in interest rates, can reduce aggregate demand through discouraging borrowing, increasing saving and reducing the disposable income of homeowners as the cost of mortgage repayments increases. The monetarists, on the other hand, argue that inflation is caused primarily by changes in the supply of and demand for money. In this view, then, inflation can be reduced either by reducing the supply of, or increasing the demand for, money. Given that either the government or the central bank (as in the case of the UK where the Bank of England has had independence on monetary policy since 1997) sets the price of money (i.e. the interest rate), they are able to control the supply of and demand for money. This suggests that fiscal policy can be used to affect aggregate supply and aggregate demand while monetary policy can be used to affect aggregate demand (particular in an economy with a high level of mortgaged home-ownership) and the supply of and demand for money. Inflation in the UK and Bank of England control measures from 1997 to 2008 The diagram above shows UK inflation (as measured by RPIX and CPI) from 1997 to 2008 together with the inflation targets set for the Bank of England by the government. This shows that from 1997 to 2003, inflation was held within 0.5% of its target. In 2004, inflation as measured by its (then new) CPI target was on the low side but from 2005 to 2007, it was within a healthy 0.5% range of target. In recent months, however, inflation has been climbing and is predicted to go over 3% at some point before the end of 2008. In order to understand inflation and inflation control in the UK, it is necessary to understand some of the specificities of the UK economy. In the first place, the nature of the UK housing market (which is characterized by high loan-to-value ratios, relatively few long-term fixed rate mortgages, and ease of re-mortgaging) makes house prices particularly responsive to interest rates. Cameron (2005:3) explains that ‘a one percentage point rise in the short-term real interest rate would reduce house prices over a five year period by 2.6% in the UK, 1.8% in the US, and 1.3% in Germany.’ Furthermore, in the UK, house prices have a major impact on consumer spending. Cameron (2005:3) explains that house prices are more volatile in the UK than elsewhere in the developed world, and that the impact of house prices on consumer spending is also particularly heavy in the UK – according to the OECD, a 1% fall in UK housing wealth correlates with a 0.07% fall in consumer spendi ng. This can be seen as due to the high levels of home ownership and the high loan-to-value ratios of mortgages. This demonstrates that while monetary policy can be very effective in reducing aggregate demand via just a small increase in interest rates, the converse is also true – in other words, a small reduction in interest rates will have a significant effect on aggregate demand and so will lead to a significant increase in inflation. This last point is well illustrated by the current situation in the UK. The Bank of England is mandated to control inflation (as mentioned previously the target is 2% as measured by the CPI) but has control only over monetary policy and not over fiscal policy. Monetary policy impacts economic growth as well as inflation and therefore when the economy is slowing (as is currently the case) and potentially heading towards recession, interest rates may be used to stimulate growth even if this may also increase inflation to an unacceptable level (when it goes over 3% the governor of the Bank of England must write an explanatory letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer). As the Economist (2008:38) explains, in January of this year, ‘consumer prices were 2.2% higher than a year ago—a bit above the governments 2.0% inflation target. The banks central forecast shows inflation heading up to 3% by the third quarter of this year.’ The Bank of England (2008) itself certainly blames the predicted escalation of inflation over the acceptable 3% level on the problem of balancing growth objectives with inflation targets given that monetary policy is the only tool at its disposal, claiming that the ‘combination of slow growth and above-target inflation poses substantial challenges for policy.’ Conclusion The Bank of England (2008) explains that ‘higher energy, food and import prices push inflation up sharply in the near term.’ This is echoed by analysis in the Economist (2008:38) which claims that increasing ‘home-energy bills, which have jumped by nearly 15% so far this year, will add almost half a percentage point to consumer-price inflation in February. Food-price inflation, which is currently 6.6%, is likely to rise further. Import prices will be pushed up by a weaker pound, whose 6% fall in the last three months was the biggest since sterlings ignominious exit from the European exchange-rate mechanism in 1992.’ In order to address this kind of inflation without stifling economic growth at a time when growth is already slowing, policies need to be directed at aggregate supply of goods and services. As was outlined above, monetary policies have an impact on the supply and demand for money and also on aggregate demand for goods and services. However, only fiscal policy impacts the aggregate supply of services. Thus in the context of low levels of growth and high levels of inflation, monetary policy (as controlled by the Bank of England) is not sufficient because if it focuses on controlling inflation it cannot also reverse the slowdown in economic growth, and if it focuses on economic growth, there is a danger that inflation will get out of control. Thus inflation controls should draw on a combination of fiscal and monetary policy. References Bank of England (2008) ‘Overview of the Inflation Report February 2008’ (downloaded from http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/inflationreport/infrep.htm on 4 March 2008) Cameron, G. (2005) ‘The UK Housing Market: Economic Review’ (downloaded from http://hicks.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/cameron/papers/ukhousingmarket.pdf on 4 March 2008) Economist (2008) ‘Economic woes: Fighting on two fronts: Britain’s central bank gets gloomier about growth and inflation’ in The Economist, February 16th-22nd 2008, p.38 OECD (2005) ‘Economic Survey of the United Kingdom, 2005 (downloaded from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/34/35473312.pdf on 4 March 2008) Office for National Statistics (2008a) ‘RP07 RPI all items excluding Mortgage Interest Payments (RPIX) percentage change over 12 months (CDKQ)’ (downloaded from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/RPIX.pdf on 4 March 2008) Office for National Statistics (2008b) ‘CPI12 CPI all items percentage change over 12 months (D7G7)’ (downloaded from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/CPI.pdf on 4 March 2008)

Precision Teaching: Theories, Implementation and Research

Precision Teaching: Theories, Implementation and Research Tiffany Elmore Introduction to Precision Teaching Precision Teaching (PT) has been applied in many settings and has been greatly successful in increasing learning performance in learners with a wide-range of abilities (White, 1986). It is an approach that measures whether an instructional method is successful in achieving learning goals. It focuses on directly observable behavior, monitors the frequency of the behavior performed in time and analyzes the behavior on a uniform visual display called a Standard Celeration Chart (SCC). Precision Teaching does not determine what curricula should be taught but offers a systematic approach as to the instructional tactics to apply (White, 1986). It bases the curriculum on the child’s performance, in other words, the learner knows best (Lindsley, 1971). The learner’s progress demonstrates whether the program is appropriate for the learner or if changes need to be made to the program. In order to gauge a learner’s progress, the target behavior must directly observable. For example, reading a book aloud can be directly observed to determine the reader’s skill level of the words and comprehension. However, there has been some recent support for using Precision Teaching on inner behaviors. Although, it has been shown to be effective in reducing feelings of depression (Kubina et al., 2006), it is widely used on observable behavior. In Precision Teaching, a learner’s performance is based on behavior frequency which is the average number of responses during each minute of the assessment period (White, 1986). Behavioral fluency is that combination of accuracy plus speed of responding that enables learners to function efficiently and effectively in their natural environments (Binder, 1996). Accuracy alone is not the best gauge of learning progression as it may show skewed improvement in performance. Essentially, by only assessing the accuracy of a learner’s response, an improvement in the learner’s performance is not truly reflected because the responses may be correct but the lack of speed in providing those responses also demonstrates a lack of mastery. Frequency is measured by counts per minute. The speed of a learner’s performance of responding and the accuracy of the responses indicates the learner has either mastered the material, in other words, achieved fluency, or the progress has stalled and the instructional program must be altered. Fluency applies three learning outcomes associated with fluent behavior: Retention, endurance and application (Binder, 1993, 1996 as cited by Kubina, Morrison Lee, 2002). Retention is the ability to perform the behavior after the intervention is terminated. Without retention, the learner loses the ability to perform the behavior. Endurance is the ability to perform a behavior at a specified level over a duration of time (Binder, unpublished doctoral dissertation; Binder, 1996, Binder, Haughton Van Eyk, 1990 as cited by Kubina, Morrison Lee, 2002). For learners who lack endurance may find it difficult to perform behaviors within a 30-second or 1-minute intervals and may ultimately stop performing the desired behaviors. Application is applying some element of a behavior to the entire behavior. For example, if the learner has difficulty in basic writing techniques then the application of increasing fluency in writing spelling words quickly cannot be achieved. The progress of a learner is recorded on a visual display called a Standard Celeration Chart (SCC). The chart is called a standard celeration chart since it always depicts rate of change or progress in a standard manner, regardless of the initial frequency of the behavior (White, 1986). The SCC utilizes a ratio scale which means that all changes in performance will be measured in equal ratios regardless of where they are marked on the chart. The change in frequency from 1 to 2 is the same ratio as 50 to 100 on the SCC. The charts shows whether there is an acceleration, deceleration or no change in behavior. When a behavior frequency doubles, or moves from 1 to 2, it is considered a â€Å"times 2† acceleration. Likewise, when a behavior is halved, or moves from 2 to 1, it is considered a â€Å"divided by 2† deceleration (Lindsley, 1990a). Implementation of Precision Teaching Five steps are involved in the implementation of Precision Teaching: (1) select a task, (2) set an aim (3) count and teach, (4) develop a learning picture and (5) decide what to do (McGreevy, 1983). The first step of implementation is selecting a task for the learner to learn. A task has five parts: (1) a movement that can be counted often each day, (2) a counting period, (3) a correct/incorrect pair, (4) a learning channel set, and (5) a movement that is â€Å"hard to do† (p. II-1). A movement is an observable, physical movement, something that the learner is doing. To make sure the movement occurs often, the learner should have 8-10 learning opportunities per day (p. II-5). If the movement is too hard, then the movement can be changed to a slice back, a step back or a tool movement and, conversely if a movement is too easy it can changed to a leap up movement (p. II-11). A slice back is a smaller movement of the original movement. A step back is an easier movement than the o riginal movement. A tool movement is the prerequisite body movement required to perform the original movement. A leap up movement is a movement that is harder to perform than the original movement. A counting period is amount of time spent each day counting the movement (p. II-12). The period should be long enough so the movement can occur at least 8-10 times. The counting period should not be so long that it proves difficult to count the movement. However, adjustments can be made if the counting period is too long or too short to count the movement. Similarly, Kubina and Yurich (2012) incorporated these two parts into their analysis PT. They suggested that the first step of PT is pinpointing. Pinpointing applies focusing observable behavior and measuring behavior based on frequency. Consider the Dean Man rule that states if a dead man can do it then it is not behavior. The idea is that any directly observable behavior should involve some physical movement. For example, instead of observing a child sitting still in a chair, the teacher can observe the number of times the child gets out the chair. A correct/incorrect pair involves counting the correct movements and incorrect movements (McGreevy, 1983, p. II-15). Instead of focusing on eliminating a movement without adding a replacement movement. For example, rather than decreasing screaming, it best for the learner to increase talking in softer voice. A learning channel set outlines the input channel (received) and output channel (sent). The input can vary from hearing, touching, seeing, smelling, etc and output can include saying, writing, doing, pointing, etc. The learning channel sets â€Å"tells [others] how we are teaching a task† and â€Å"reminds us that are many ways for a [learner] to learn the same movement (McGreevy, 1983, p. II-18). Lastly, the movement must be hard to for the learner to perform (p. II-20). The objective is to learn a new task rather than working on previously learned tasks. By selecting tasks that are hard to do, the learner, provided with ample learning opportunities, will hopefully achieve more corrects and fewer corrects over time and ultimately reach or come close to the aim. The next step in implementing precision teaching is to set an aim (p. III-2). The aim is final chosen objective of the performance likely achieved by a high frequency of correct responses and low to zero frequency of incorrect responses. It is critical that learners learn to perform correct movements in a prompt, smooth and decisive manner. If the learner is having difficulty reaching aim, it may be necessary to change the way the movement is taught, change the learning channel or change the movement as indicated above as a step back, slick back or tool movement. The third step in implementing precision teaching is to count and teach (p. IV-1). This steps requires counting the correct and incorrect responses and teaching the task to the student (p. IV-1). A movement is learned when the learner knows what the correct and incorrect responses are. Each task will be counted and taught daily until the learner reaches aim or the learning picture reflects a need for change. The fourth step in implementing precision teaching is to develop a learning picture. Utilizing the Standard Celeration Chart, the charts displays the correct and incorrect responses provided daily by the learner (p. V-1). The trends of the chart develop the learning picture. The learning picture shows how quickly the responses are increasing or decreasing and predicts whether the learner will achieve aim. The final step in implementing precision teaching is to decide what to do (p. VI-1). Once a learning picture has been revealed, a decision can be made as to whether to continue the current program or make a change. If the learner is not learning or not learning quickly enough, it may be necessary to make changes to the movement (i.e. a slice back), the counting period (i.e. increase 10 seconds to 20 seconds), the learning channel set (i.e. see-write to see-say), the aim (i.e can be lowered), or how the task is taught (i.e. lessons, untimed practice). Precision Teaching in Research Precision Teaching has been applied in a variety of settings and environments. It has proven useful in improving fluency in learners of all ages and all learning abilities. Precision Teaching has been implemented in professional environments as well as classroom settings. In 2002, Binder analyzed the fluency performance in a customer call center. After attending a FluencyBuilding workshops, the manager and supervisors of customer service call center decided to modify their traditional new hire training program. They focused on increasing fluency of the core fundamentals required to perform the job well. Within the fluency-based training, trainees were given lecture and tested on lecture material with a 2-minute quiz (see-mark), a 3-minute hear or see-say providing verbal responses to questions in addition to other fluency-based activities. Daily fluency goals for each exercise were set and each trainees’ performance was monitored against those goals. Trainees recorded their ow n performance and reported their performance to the training coaches. As a result of the fluency-based training, correct performances tripled each week and all participants performed within the fluent range. The participants mastered the core material much faster than in previous training programs and thus reduced the required training during from three weeks to two weeks. New hire trainees were much more fluent in the fundamental skills and knowledge than their veteran counterparts. The dramatic improvements within this program demonstrate that fluency-based programs to be successful in education, training and coaching programs involving all ages of participants within various skill sets. Precision Teaching applied within a classroom setting has proven to increase reading ability, maths skills, and improving academic interventions overall. Chiesa and Robertson (2000) utilized Precision Teaching and fluency-based training to enhance maths skills in five primary school children. The students were selected because their maths skills were not improving at the same pace as their peers. They were in jeopardy of being referred to a remedial program. The training program focused on one observable behavior, the division of two-digit numbers by one-digit. Pre-tests were taken on both multiplication and division skills to determine each student’s skill level. The students were taught how to use digital timers, plot scores and understand learning pictures on the SCC. The students were responsible for completing their maths practice sheets without teacher instruction or assistance. The five students sat together as a group during the maths period and had a personal folder t hat contained the practice sheets, answer key and charts. They completed their practice sheets within a one-minute time probe, each completed sheet was marked by a peer and the correct and error scores were recorded on the SCC. Each week one of the researchers met with the students during maths period while the teacher was working with the rest of the class. The researcher reviewed each student’s progress and determined what changes would be taken. Students that met the aim, moved on to the next level, those who did not meet the aim were provided with skills that were further reduced, or sliced back until they were able to improve to a satisfactory level. At the conclusion of the 12-week training program, the PT group had significantly improved their fluency in the maths skills task. Their responses ranged from 10 to 15 correct in one-minute which was an increase of 10 to 15 responses per minute before the program was implemented. The PT group surpassed all but one of the students in the entire class on the maths skills task. The results show that children performing at a low academic level can improve their learning significantly through Precision Teaching and fluency training. The training program did not require any more time than the allotted maths period and did not provide more instructional assistance or interaction from the teacher. This shows that PT can be beneficial and effective in the mainstream classroom and offers an alternative to expensive and time-consuming academic programs. Precision Teaching has proven to be effective in improving skills in participants with intellectual disabilities as well (Kubina, Morrison Lee, 2002). Schirmer et al. (2007) examined the effectiveness of precision teaching on teaching storytelling to child with autism. The child began working on a hear information-say story program for 10 minutes per day in order to increase the frequency of syllables used. The teacher would describe a scenario to the child and the child would create a story based on the information provided to him. After goals of increased syllable use were met, the teacher moved on a timed practice where the number of correct syllables produced in one minute was recorded. The number of corrects syllables produced increased from 21 per minute to 90 per minute in 5 days. In the last phase, the teacher changed the child’s learning channel from hear-say to see-say. The child was given a photograph and would create a story based on the photograph. Although there was an initial drop in the frequency of correct responses, the child reached the set aim very quickly. Precision Teaching and Practical Application As previous studies have shown, Precision Teaching can be applied in various learning environments with learners of diverse learning abilities. It is an instructional approach that can be applied to any established program or curricula. The main directive guiding success of the learner’s performance IS the learner. Fluency is key to the learner’s progress and any deficits in learning can be easy ascertained with the Standard Celeration Chart. This visual display allows the teacher to easily determine the learner’s progress and either continue with the program on course or make adjustments to program that are most beneficial to the learner. The SCC also helps teacher to predict future progress as to whether the learner will achieve aim or the number of incorrect responses will reach 0. Studies have shown that Precision Teaching can be used in conjunction with other instructional programs and can be effectively applied in both professional and classroom settings wi thout requiring additional time to perform the program in the workplace or classroom. Precision Teaching daily timings are recorded on the SCC but no other data is required. Also, it does not require management or teachers to provide additional instruction outside of the program or curricula already in place. Its versatility in practical application makes Precision Teaching a favorable approach to utilize. References Chiesa, M., Robertson, A. (2000). Precision teaching and fluency training: Making maths easier for students and teachers. Educational Psychology in Practice, 16(3), 297–310. Kubina, R. M., Morrison, R., and Lee, D. L. (2002). Benefits of Adding Precision Teaching to Behavioral Interventions for Students with Autism. Behavioral Interventions, 17, 233-246. Lindsley, O. R. (1971). From Skinner to precision teaching: The child knows best. In J. B. Jordan L. S. Robbins (Eds.), Lets try doing something else kind of thing (pp. 1-11). Arlington, VA: The Council for Exceptional Children. Lindsley, O. R. (1990) Precision teaching: By teachers for children.Teaching Exceptional Children, 22, 10-15. McGreevy, P. (1983).Teaching and learning in plain English(2nd. ed.). Kansas City, MO: Plain English Publications. Schirmer, K., Almon-Morris, H., Fabrizio, M. A., Abrahamson, B. and Chevalier, K. (2007). Using Precision Teaching to Teach Story Telling to a Young Child with Autism. Journal of Precision Teaching and Celeration, 23, 23-26. White, O. R. (1986). Precision TeachingPrecision learning.Exceptional Children, 25, 522-534.

The Rough Sea :: Creative Writing Sailing Essays

The Rough Sea The small whitecaps lapped against the starboard side and then retreated. It had been rough since the start and would be until they reached the breakwater in the harbor. Bob, finishing pulling on the ropes to raise the masts, turned towards the wheel and slowly turned around the rocks. He moved to the back of the boat and sat on the place where the lifejackets were kept. Near the masts Frank rocked up and down and up with the waves. It was a feeling like no other to him; the fact that the gentle movements could turn rough at any time gave him so much pleasure from the start of the ride to the finish. He loved to sail out as far as he could go before he got tired from the rocking motion and had to stop going farther. He loved trying to venture farther and farther out each time before he had to turn back; his favorite part was the rough sea where the waves were rougher and rougher as he kept going. A sudden gust made him think about turning back, but he knew that they had gone too far to turn back, and he knew he had to keep going until the waves had reached their peaks. Then they passed a part of the water where the waves suddenly stopped and quickly gave way to a very calm feeling inside of him so that he could relax and recollect the ride so far º. "That was a real surprise, wasn't it, Rob?" Frank said. "It got me, too. I wasn't ready for it, and it jumped me." "Yep. Almost fell over when we hit it," Bob called back to his friend, now near the bow of the boat. "How's the water look over there?" "Pretty good, but it looks like there're some rough caps ahead." They braced themselves as they passed over the rough caps, slowly moving around the biggest ones so that the craft wouldn't capsize. Bob kept a strong hold on the wheel and made sure that they would stand the waves. On the horizon they could see the buildings of the town. The sky had started to get dark. Both of them hoped it would not start to rain until they were in the harbor. They could see the light starting to come from the breakwater lighthouse. "Great day for sailing," Bob said to Frank.

Hatred Against Work Essay -- Employment, Slavery

Throughout history, mankind has worked. Work is a physical effort made towards a purpose. Work has been done in all aspects and forms. Whether it was working on a farm, picking crops or working in office, analyzing data, different forms of work are done. Due to work, our society is able to enjoy unimaginable luxuries and the economy thrives off such success. However, work has altered mankind. Because of work, we have become slaves in our own society. Not only do we work long hours during our job, but we even have to sacrifice our own free time to work on other work related tasks. Such views can be illustrated through the works of Antler, an American poet. His poems, Factories Are Boxcars Full of Jews and Written After Learning Slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome Had 115 Holidays a Year demonstrate my views of how negatively work affects us. Work has altered our sensibilities, making us almost animals. Antler, who mainly wrote on nature and factories, develops such anti-work themes in both of his poems. Through just the first stanzas of both poems, he illustrates his views. Workers are "brainwashed robotzombies", "crucified their whole lives"(Written 9/ Factories 26). Every year, the number of workers increase but the "cells of urban hives" remain the same (Factories 1). The human spirit is killed each year by work. Were not creating loving boys and girls, but rather " better murder weapon", all in hopes of a higher standard of living (Written 4). "Work is a curse", changing men into beast. It is work that led to the murder of 6 million Jews, contributing in some way to the death of our planet. What "difference [is there] between [workers] and Nazis", if what Nazis did to the Jews is what workers in "factories are doing to the ... ...ing through society. In hopes of higher standards of living, we fall into a life of work, becoming "socialization lobotomies"(Written 10). Each day, we follow the same routine as brain-dead machines , going to work in the morning and returning at night. Society is not creating better individuals but rather better workers. Antler is a nonconformist, who despises the notion of work and factories. His inspiration come through the forest and rivers, where he spends nearly two months every year in the wilderness. His poems, Factories Are Boxcars Full of Jews and Written After Learning Slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome Had 115 Holidays a Year reflect such negative views about work. Work is a dark pit, which if someone falls into, there's no getting out. Work has done nothing more than brought misery on our planet and create the largest scale of slavery in history.

Joint Stock Company

Joint Stock Company Company A company is an artificial person created by law, having a separate legal entity, with a perpetual succession and a common seal. It is an association of individuals for the purpose of earning profit. It has a capital divided into a number of shares, of which each member possesses one or more shares and which are transferable by its owners. Joint Stock Company has been defined by many eminent authors, jurists and institutions. Some of these definitions are given below – According to L. H.Haney – â€Å"A company is an artificial person created by law, having a separate legal entity, with a perpetual succession and a common seal. † According to Company Act 1994 – â€Å"Company means a company formed and registered under this Act or any existing company. † [Section 2(1. c)] According to Chief Justice Marshall – â€Å"A company is an artificial being invisible, intangible and existing only in the eyes of law. † T he system of joint stock organization is very useful for large undertakings for which large capital is required.It is an incorporated association created by law, having distinctive name, a common seal, perpetual succession, limited liability etc. formed to carry on business for profit. Characteristics of Joint Stock Company The most distinguishing characteristics of a joint stock company can be stated as follows – 1. Incorporated association : A company is an incorporated association. It comes into existence only after registration under the Companies Act. 2. Voluntary association : A company is an association of many persons on a voluntary basis. So, a company is formed by the choice and consent of the members. . Artificial legal person : A company has a legal personality and as such it is regarded by law as an artificial legal person. A company has the right to acquire and dispose of the property. 4. Separate legal entity : A company has a legal entity distinct from its mem bers. It has an independent existence. 5. Common seal : The common seal with the name of the company engraved on it, is used as a substitute for its signature. 6. Perpetual succession : The company has perpetual succession as its existence is not affected in any way by the death, insolvency or exit of any shareholders. . Transferability of shares : The shareholders can transfer their shares to any person of their choice. It enables a shareholder to increase or decrease his investment in a company at any time. 8. Limited liability : Liability of the members of a limited company is restricted to the face value of the shares purchased by them. The personal property of the members cannot be attached to satisfy the claims of creditors of a company. 9. Separation of ownership from management : The company is not managed by all the members because the number of members may be large.The authority to manage the whole affairs is conferred to elected representatives of members known as directo rs. 10. Statutory regulations and government control : The company is governed by the Company Act and it has to follow various provisions of the aforesaid Act. A company has to comply with numerous statutory requirements. 11. Rigidity of objects : The type of business in which the company would participate must be mentioned in the ‘object clause’ of its Memorandum of Association. 12.Strict legal formalities to commence business : In order to form a company, it is necessary to submit certain documents to the Registrar Companies such as memorandum of association, articles of association, prospectus, list of directors etc. 13. Social benefits : Company form of business enables better utilization of available resources and thus ensures that society have benefited. 14. Accountability to shareholders : All the affairs of the company are to be disclosed to the shareholders so that they may come to know about the prospects and other problems of the company as a whole. 5. Public confidence : The financial statements of a company are published every year. Thus public can have clear idea about the activities of the company so a company enjoys greater public confidence. 16. Scope for expansion : A company is better placed as regards the facilities of the growth, development and expansion of its business. Memorandum of association According to Company Act 1994 – â€Å"Memorandum means the memorandum of association of a company as originally formed or as altered in pursuance of this Act. â€Å"According to Lord Cairns – â€Å"The memorandum of association of a company is its charter and it defines the limitation of the power of the company. † So we can say that the memorandum governs the relationship of the company with the outside world and it is the foundation upon which the super-structure of the company is built. Clause of Memorandum of association 1. Name clause : The name of the proposed company is mentioned in this clause. The name of a company must end with the word ‘Limited’ the word ‘Public Ltd† and the word â€Å"Private Ltd†. All the time of selecting the name of the company the promoter should follow the following things – . The name should not be identical with the name of any existing company. b. The name should not create and impression that the company is carrying on the business of some other existing companies. c. The name should exclude words like crown, emperor, empire, president or prime minister’s name. 2. Address clause : The memorandum must contain the full address of the register office. 3. Object clause : This is the most important clause in the memorandum which states what the company can do. The object must include all the possible lines of business in which company is likely to be engaged.Usually this clause is so drafted that the company may enjoy wide fields for activities in future. 4. Liability clause : This clause states the nature of l iability of the members of the company. a. Incase of a company limited by shares, member’s liability is limited to face value of the shares. It means that when the shares are fully paid up, members are free from any liability. b. Incase of a company limited by guarantee, the liability clause must state the extent of liability of each individual member in the event of its being wound up. c. Incase of an unlimited company, the liability clause does not appear in the memorandum of association. . Capital clause : This clause states the amount of capital with which the company is registered or authorized to conduct business and the division of capital into equity share and preference share capital should be mentioned. 6. Association clause : This clause contains a declaration by the person(promoter) who signed the memorandum to form the company in a legal way for a legal purpose and to take minimum share of the company. Memorandum of association According to Company Act 1994 †“ â€Å"Memorandum means the memorandum of association of a company as originally formed or as altered in pursuance of this Act. â€Å"According to Lord Cairns – â€Å"The memorandum of association of a company is its charter and it defines the limitation of the power of the company. † Articles of association The Articles of Association is the second important document of Joint Stock Company. It contains the rules and regulations for the internal management, administration and organization of the company |Memorandum of association |factors of distinguish |Articles of association | |Memorandum is the fundamental charter of a |Nature |Articles are subsidiary to the charter. |company. | | | |Memorandum states the relationship between |Scope |Articles contain provisions for internal management of| |the companies an outsider. | |the company. | |Memorandum defines the objects of the |Objectives |Articles define the rules for carrying out the objects| |company. | |of the company. | |Memorandum can’t be altered easily.It |Alteration in the document |Articles can easily be altered without the | |requires court information. | |confirmation of the court. | |Registration of memorandum is compulsory |Registration |Registration of articles is not compulsory for a | |for any company. | |public company. | |Memorandum of association is based on the |Application of rules |Articles of association are based on the doctrine of | |doctrine of constructive notice. | |indoor management. |It has no optional. |Optional |Public company may optional for table A for the | | | |incorporation purposes. | |Memorandum of association is always |Misunderstandings. |Articles of association can be changed in | |unchanged in misunderstandings. | |misunderstandings. | |Any work out of its subject matter is |Illegal work |Any work can be done beside it but in the range of | |illegal. | |memorandum. |Memorandum definite the working area. |Working area |Articles are not any wo rking area. It orders process. | Dissolution means dissolve or close. Dissolution of company means to close or dissolve of any existing company. The process by which a company can be closed is called company’s dissolution or winding up of a company. Company is an artificial personality organized by an individual organization created by law. According to 1994 company act, â€Å"To dissolve or winding up of any existing company the activities of company’s is called dissolution of company. † A company is said to be dissolved when it ceases to exist as a corporate entity. † —C. B. Gupta â€Å"Winding up company is a process by which its life comes to end and the assets of company is utilize for the help of creditors and members. † —Prof. Gower In 1994 company act section 234(1) there mentions three methods of dissolution of company. These are: 1. Mandatory dissolution by court. 2. Dissolution by own will. . Dissolution by court’s su pervision. 1. Mandatory dissolution by court [Section 234-1(A)]: In circumstances the causes by which a company can be dissolved mandatorily by the law of court by the application of company’s shareholders, creditors or company’s registrar are: 1. Taking decision of dissolution in special meeting. 2. Failing to start a business in one year after the date of registration. 3. To close any company one or more year continuously without any legal reason. 4. Lacking of minimum members of a company according to law. 5. Failure to pay the loan five thousand or above. . Any reason of followings: a. Inefficiency in direction. b. Related with illegal job. c. Facing loss continuously. d. Neglecting of shareholders or their rights etc. Based on above causes court can take the decision of winding up and recruit a liquidator who firstly distributed the asset between third parties and rest of between shareholders. B. Dissolution by own will [Section 234-1 (B)]: Creditors or shareholde rs of any company can dissolve their business whenever they wish. In this circumstances, shareholders and creditors can winding up the business without taking any help of court.Causes by which a company can be dissolved by own will: 1. Taking decision of dissolution in special meeting by creditors or shareholders. 2. Formed any company for pre-determined purpose or objective. 3. If any company is not able to pay their liabilities. 4. Direction of company is proved not profited. C. Dissolution by court’s supervision [Section 234-1 (C)]: In the circumstances of company’s dissolution by own will by the application of any parties a company can be dissolved by court’s supervision. Causes of dissolution by court’s supervision: 1.To take decision for mistreating with creditors or shareholders. 2. Collection and selling of company’s asset illegally. If court takes responsibility of dissolution for any reason it recruits a liquidator to solve dissolution pr ocess. (Section 319) Share is a unit of capital. Capital is created by selling of shares or exchange. But, share can be different according to their price, rights, transferability, advantages etc. Mainly share is divided into four types. Such as: 1. General share. 2. Preference share. 3. Deffered share. 4. Special share. 1.Ordinary share: Ordinary shares are those shares on which no special privilege is attached. In other words, all the shares except preference shares are called ordinary shares. It also known as equity share. Ordinary shareholders collect their profit after distributing profit among the shareholders of the preference share. But, the rights, responsibility, duties etc. of the company are performed by them. â€Å"All the shares except preference are called equity share. † —J. K. Mitra Some characteristics of ordinary share are given below: . Ordinary shareholders get their profit after distributing to the preference shareholders. 2. In case of dissolutio n of company they have equal rights to get their assets. 3. They can take participation to direct the company. 4. They can take part in company’s meeting. 2. Preference share: Preference shares are those shares to which some preference is attached in terms of: (a) payment of dividend, (b) return of capital. (c) both. In the first case, the preference shareholders are entitled to receive a fixed rate of divided before the dividends given to equity shareholders.In the second case, preference shareholders are entitled to get back their capital in priority to equity shareholders in the event of liquidation of the company. Some characteristics of preference share are given below: 1. Rate of return is guaranteed. Thus, the amount of dividend to be received is certain. 2. Preference shares are better suited for conservative investors, who care more for security of investments and certainty of income. 3. The holders of this share get a fixed rate od dividend even if the company makes a larger amount of profit.Preference share can several types. Such as: 1. Cumulative preference share: Preference share are cumulative where the preference dividend, if not paid in one year is carried forward to succeeding years. 2. Non-cumulative preference share: The holders of these shares have no claim for the arrears of dividend. They are paid a dividend if there are sufficient profits. 3. Participating preference shares: These share holders are entitled to participate in the surplus profits of the company in addition to their usual fixed rate of dividend. 4.Non-participating preference shares: Preference shares on which only a fixed rate of dividend is paid, are known as non-participating preference shares. 5. Redeemable preference share: The holders of redeemable preference shares can get back their capital at the expiry of a certain period or at the option of the company as may be mentioned in the articles of association. 6. Irredeemable preference share: The preference sha res that can’t be redeemed unless the company is liquidated are known as irredeemable preference shares. 3. Deffered share: The owner of those shares get chance to take profit or to exchange capital after meeting.To bear the preliminary or other expenses company provide these shares in exchange of cash. 4. Special share: Some special shares are given below: 1. Bonus share: Company can’t provide all of its profit to shareholders. It deposits some part of profit at the reserve fund. When the amount of reserve fund is more than sufficient or in crisis of company; the amount of reserve fund is brought to company as capital as like as cash and shares are distributed to shareholders. According to J. K. Mitra,† Shares which are issued free of cost to the existing equity shareholders are known as bonus shares. 2. Right share: Sometimes Company increases their capital by distributing new shares. Old shareholders are get preferences at the time of distribution of new share s. In this case new shares are divided among them by their profit ratio. 3. Non-par value share: Non-par share refers those shares which are not fixed from the beginning but it determines based on asset after a specific year is called non par value share. In Bangladesh it is not popular. Minimum subscription means the minimum amount of capital which a company requires for the starting of the business.The minimum subscription should be received within 120 days after the date of the issue of the prospectus. A company can’t allot any shares unless the minimum subscription has been raised through the application for shares. If this minimum amount is not collected within the stipulated time period, the amount received from the applicants must be returned within the next 10 days (i. e. within 130 days after the issue of shares) â€Å"The minimum subscription is to be fined by the directors or by the persons who have signed the memorandum. —Sen. & Mitra â€Å"Minimum subscr iption is the minimum amount which is the opinion of the directors or of the signaturories of the memorandum arrived at after due enquiry. † —M. C. Shukla The amount of minimum subscription is fixed by the directors. Minimum subscription is necessary to cover the following expenses: 1. Preliminary expenses. 2. Underwriting commissions on sale of shares. 3. Working capital. . The cost of any property purchased or to be purchased. 5. Payment of any money borrowed for the above purpose. 6. Any other necessary expenditure. A prospectus is a document inviting the general public to subscribe to the share capital of a public company. A prospectus is issued by a public company after obtaining the â€Å"Certificate of Incorporation’ from the register. â€Å"Document containing offer of shares or debentures for sale to be deemed a prospectus. † –According to company act 1994 section 142 A document containing detailed information about the company and invit ation to the public subscribing to the share capital and debentures issued is called prospectus. † —S. S. Sarkar and Others From the view point of above discussion we can say that- 1. Prospectus is an invitation letter to public. 2. It must be served from company. 3. It is a complete description of shares and debentures. Finally it can say that to raise capital from public limited company issues prospectus.If the shares are divided between the partners then to start the business, partners should prepare an additional prospectus. To apply for commencement it is necessary to submit prospectus or additional prospectus. 3. Distinguish between Private limited Company V/S Public Limited Company. |Private limited company |Basis of differentiation |Public limited company | |Two |Minimum number of members |Seven | |Fifty Maximum number of members |Unlimited | |Restricted |Transferability of shares |Freely transferable | |Not allowed |Raising capital from public |Allowed | |Mini mum-Two |Number of directors |Minimum-Three | |Maximum-Unlimited | |Maximum-A specified by the articles | |After obtaining certificate of |Commencement of business |After obtaining certificate of | |incorporation | |commencement. |Not required |Holding of statutory meeting and submission of |Required to be submitted to the | | |statutory report |registrar of the companies. | |Not required |Filing of prospectus or a statement in the lieu of |Required | | |prospectus | | |Name must end with the words |Name of company |Name must end with the word ‘Limited. ’| |‘Private Limited. | | | |Two |Quorum at the annual general meeting |Five | |Need not retire by rotation. |Rotation of directors |Retire by rotation. | |Simple and cheap. |Procedure for formation |Complicated and relatively costly. | |No need to maintain |Index of members |Index to be maintained. | |Low protection |Protection to members |High protection. | |Possible. |Ability to make quick decisions |Not possibl e. | |Small |Financial and managerial resources |Large. | |Low Scope for expansion |High. | |Not allowed. |Disposal of shares |Allowed. | |Less liquid. |Liquidity of investment in shares |Greater liquidity. | 4. What is artificial personality? Joint Stock Company is an organization which is formed and directed by company act 1994. According to 1994 company act,† Any Company is formed and registered under this act is called company. † â€Å"A company is an artificial being invisible, intangible and existing only in contemplation of law† —John Marshal Company is an incorporated association which is an artificial person created by law having a common seal and perpetual succession,† —Sherlekar and Sherlekar Artificial personality of the company means the personality as like as person. These are: 1. Lawful: It is formed and registered by company act. 2. Common seal: It has a common seal which is used in all documents. 3. Lawful rights: Company act gives some right to it. 4. Transaction by own name: It can deal by its own name like other person. 5. Direction of case: A company can able to case on another company like person. 6. Fixed existence: A company is formed by law.So, it has fixed existence. From the above discussion we can say though company is not any person but it seems as a person because it is created by law. So Y. K. Bushan said,† A company may be defined as an artificial person recognized by law. † 5. Who is underwriter? The person or organization who takes responsibilities to sale the shares of public limited company by an agreement is known as underwriter. Underwriter takes responsibilities to sale the shares of public ltd. company by a certain commission. If the underwriter fails to sale the shares then he takes the liability for rest of the shares. Functions of underwriter are known as underwritten. The term underwriter means any person who has purchased from an issuer with a view to, or sells for an issuer in connection with. † —Securities act 1933 2(11) â€Å"A person who underwrites issue of stocks,bonds etc. † —Webster’s new World Dictionary â€Å"A person or company that underwrites an issue of securities. † —Charles J. Woelfel From the above definitions we found some characteristics of underwriter: 1. Underwriter may be any person or organization. 2. It can be performed underwritten activities as a part of business. 3. They purchase shares, bonds, debentures etc. for a certain commission. 4. They provide surety to sale shares, stock, debentures of company. 5. They take all responsibilities though the shares are not sold.Finally it can be said that underwriter is a businessmen who helps company to collect capital by selling shares, debentures etc. 6. Method of retirement of company directors. Director of the company means the members who are voted for directing the company. They are also determined company policies and man y other activities for business. Directors take their position by the vote of members, board of directors, company act as well as government. To remove the director for its place is also maintain some rules. Such are given below: 1. Special decision: In special meeting, by the decision of shareholders any directors can be removed from his post. 2. Statutory removal: In company act 108(1) is said,† The position of director can be removed if- 1.If the director failed to gain preference share in given time. 2. If the director is announced mentally sick. 3. If the director be 4. If he failed to pay the call money in between six months. 5. If the director was absent in meeting of board of directors without permission. 6. If the director make any agreement without the permission of board of directors. 7. If the director involved in any illegal work. 8. If the director involved in crime. 3. Removal by government: Director can be removed from his post by government and also by shareho lders and creditors with the help of government. 7. What is an article of association? Articles of AssociationThe Articles of Association is the second important document of Joint Stock Company. It contains the rules and regulations for the internal management, administration and organization of the company. They define the power, rights and duties of directors or other officers of the company and regulate the relations between the company and its members. The main purpose of articles of association is to execute the object clause of the memorandum. â€Å"Articles are the internal laws of a company. Article devise ways for the internal management of the company. † —Lord Brobene The articles of association are the regulations or bye-laws which govern the internal management and conduct of the affairs of the company. † —M. C. Shukla It must be framed within the items of the memorandum of association and provisions of the Company Act. A company limited by sh ares (Public Limited company) may adopt ‘Table A’ a model-Article as provided by Company Act as its articles. But a Private Limited company or a company limited by guaranty must have their own articles. 8. What is ‘Certificate of commencement’? A private company can commence business immediately after the grant of Certificate of Incorporation.A public company cannot commence business until it obtains a ‘Certificate of Commencement’ in addition to the ‘Incorporation Certificate’ from the register of companies. At first public limited company submit a application to registrar according to Company Act 1994 Section- 4. If all the responsibilities are performed by public limited company accurately then registrar gives a letter or certificate to public limited company. The matters which are included in certificate of commencement are described at below: 1. Name and address of registered office. 2. Issuing date of Certificate of commencem ent. 3. Date of Commencement. 4. Certificate no. 5. Office seal. 6. Name and profession of registrar with seal and signature. 7. Description of conditions. (If exists. )The ‘Certificate of commencement’ is issued in favour of a public company by the registrar, only when the following conditions are fulfilled: 5. Describe the advantages of public limited company than private limited company. Private limited company: A private company is an incorporated body registered under the Companies Act with three important respective provisions in the ‘Articles of association’. Public limited company: A public limited company is an association consisting of seven or any higher number of members, which is registered under the Companies Act. The advantages of public limited company over private limited company are described at below: 1. Liability: In public limited business the liability of each share holders are limited by their shares.But, in private limited company th e liability of shareholders is huge. 2. Sufficient capital: The shareholders of public limited company are more than private limited company. So, public limited company enjoys more capital than private limited company. 3. Membership: In public limited company there is no upper limit to the number of members. But, in private limited company it is limited. 3. Financial resources: Public limited company generally refers a huge organization. So, collection of financial resources is comparatively more than private limited company. 4. Economies of large scale production: Huge financial resources lead to a phenomenal growth in the size of the company.Economies may relate to greater division of labour, specialization, more effective use of resources, bulk purchase of raw materials at lower prices etc. Private limited company can’t get sufficient advantages as like as public limited company. 5. Large size: Private limited company is not a large size business. It generally established in one specific area. Public limited company is a large scale business. It has branches at all over. 6. Transerferibility of shares: The shares of private limited company are not easily transferable. But, the shares of public limited company are simply transferable. 7. Perpetual succession: Public limited company is formed by law.So, it the company is not being closed for the poor condition of shareholders. But, private limited company can be closed on its measurable condition. 8. Public confidence: Public limited company is directly related with public. So, they can acquire confidence of public. But, in private limited company this possibility is not exist. 9. Creation of employment: Pubic limited company is a huge company. So, the opportunity of creation of employment is more than private limited company. 10. Research: Public limited company always tries to distribute their products worldwide. So, they always research to develop their product more and more. In that case private li mited company is not so superior.Finally we can say that public limited company is more advanced than private limited company. But, private limited company has enjoyed some special advantages which can’t be enjoyed by public limited company. Merits or Advantages of a company form of organization The following are the merits of a joint stock company – 1. Accumulation of huge financial resources : The company form of business facilitates mobilization of large amounts of capital for investment in industries. 2. Economies of large-scale production : The company form of business can enjoy all the benefits of large-scale production such as minimum cost of production and maximum profit. 3.Scope for expansion : A company can easily expand its managerial capacities and financial resources. It has great potential for diversification and growth. 4. Stability of existence : The organization of a company as a separate legal entity gives it a character of continuity. As an incorpora ted body, a company enjoys perpetual existence. 5. Transferability of shares : The shares of a public company are freely transferable. The shareholders are at full liberty to dispose of their shares to any person they desire. 6. Democratic control : The company is managed on the principle of democracy. The boards of directors who manage the company are elected by the shareholders.The directors are responsible and accountable to the shareholders. 7. Managerial efficiency : A company can secure the services of highly qualified persons who are experts in different fields of business management. 8. Stimulation to savings and investments : The company is an effective media of mobilizing the scattered savings of the community and investing these savings for commercial purposes. Insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions invest their money in the shares of different joint stock company. 9. Tax relief : The company enjoys greater tax relief as compared to other forms of bus iness. Company pays lower tax on a higher income as it pays tax on the flat rates. 10.Diffused risk : The membership of a public company is large. The business risk is divided among several members of the company. 11. Statutory regulation and control : Formation and working of companies are well regulated by the provisions of the Company Act. These strict regulations safeguard the interests of shareholders and people who deal with the company. 12. Public confidence and popularity : A company is guided and controlled by strict regulations and government control. These ensure public confidence and popularity. 13. Social responsibilities : Due to the existence of the company form of business, society is benefited in different ways.So we can say that the joint stock company constitutes an important advancement in the modern emerging commercial structure with its different advantages. Demerits or disadvantages of Joint Stock Company The following are the disadvantages of a joint stock co mpany – 1. Adherence of too many legal formalities : The formation of a company requires adherence of too many legal formalities. The establishment and running of a company would prove to be troublesome because of complicated legal regulations. 2. Concentration of power in few hands : Shareholders of the company have practically no say in the affairs of the company. The directors of the company become self-centred and they do not care for shareholders. 3.Excessive Government control : A company has to observe too many provisions of different laws imposed by the government. 4. Undue speculation in shares of the company : Undue speculation in shares of a company is injurious to the interests of the shareholders. 5. Fraudulent management : The promoters and directors may indulge in fraudulent practices. The unscrupulous directors may present a rosy picture of the company in its annual report. 6. Bureaucratic control : Quick decisions and prompt action are absent in the managemen t of a company. It makes a company an inflexible enterprise. 7. High nepotism : In companies, employees are selected not on the basis of ability but on the basis of personal interest of the management. 8.Inflexibility in management : A company cannot quickly adjust with the changing conditions in the market because of its complex structure and legal obligations. 9. Monopolistic control and exploitation of consumers : Joint stock companies facilitate formation of business combinations which ultimately lead to monopolistic control and exploitation of consumers. 10. Social abuses : Evils of factory system like installation, pollution, congestion of cities are attributed to the company form of organization. Moreover, the close and cordial relationship between the management and employees is difficult to maintain. Formation of Joint Stock Company Joint Stock Company is formed under the Company Act followed by the country where the company is established.In Bangladesh a joint stock compan y whether a public or a private may be formed by registration under the Company Act 1994. The whole process of company formation in any country may be divided into three Distinct stages – a. Promotional stage : The process of conceiving an idea and developing it into a concrete of project to be accomplished by the incorporation and floatation of company is called promotion. The number of promoter in Public Limited company who take necessary steps are minimum two and maximum 50 in case of Private Limited company and minimum seven, maximum contains by share in Public Limited Company. These are four main stages in the promotional stage of a company – ) Identifying the idea : The promoters at first conceive an idea and identify the business opportunities. ii) Detail investigations : Detail investigations of – a. Market condition b. Demand for the products c. Estimated cost of production d. Estimated profit margin e. Capital requirement iii) Assembling: After a throu gh investigations of project the promoters decides whether they will take risk or not. iv) Selection of the name of the company and submission : In this step, the company prepare two documents – a. Article of association b. Memorandum of association b. Incorporation stage : When the promoters can finish the primary arrangements, they apply in prescribed from to the register of joint stock company.And along with the application, they submit with the register, the registration fee as per Table(B) of the Company Act and a copy of each of the following documents for the registration of the company. a. A copy of the memorandum of association b. A copy of the articles of association c. A statement of nominal capital d. The address of the registered office of the company (selected by the registrar) e. A declaration to the effect that all legal requirements have been duly complied with. Incase of Public Limited Company the following document is to be estimated – a. A list of d irectors b. A written contest of each director to act as such and to take up the qualifications shares.The registrar will examine all this documents and if he is satisfied that every thing is in order, he will then enter the name of the company on the register maintain his office and issue a certificate known as the Certificate of Incorporation which gives the company a legal existence. c. Floatation stage : When a company has been incorporated it has to raise capital sufficiently to commence business and to carry it on with satisfactory. The Private Limited Company may obtain this capital from friends and relatives. A Public Limited company raises the greater part of the capital from the general public by issuing a prospectus. d. Commencement: A Private company can start its business after obtaining a Certificate of Incorporation but a Public Limited company cannot. It must receive another certificate known as Certificate of Commencement.The registrar will issue this certificate on fulfillment of the following requirements – a. Minimum subscription has been raised. b. The direction has been taken up and paid for their qualification shares. c. The prospectus on the statement in lieu of prospectus has been filled. d. A declaration has been made to the effect that all legal requirements have been duly complied with. It is to be noted that, a Public Limited company is to start business within one year from the date of receiving the Certificate of Commencement. Memorandum of association According to Company Act 1994 – â€Å"Memorandum means the memorandum of association of a company as originally formed or as altered in pursuance of this Act. â€Å"According to Lord Cairns – â€Å"The memorandum of association of a company is its charter and it defines the limitation of the power of the company. † So we can say that the memorandum governs the relationship of the company with the outside world and it is the foundation upon which the su per-structure of the company is built. Clause of Memorandum of association 1. Name clause : The name of the proposed company is mentioned in this clause. The name of a company must end with the word ‘Limited’ the word ‘Public Ltd† and the word â€Å"Private Ltd†. All the time of selecting the name of the company the promoter should follow the following things – d. The name should not be identical with the name of any existing company. e.The name should not create and impression that the company is carrying on the business of some other existing companies. f. The name should exclude words like crown, emperor, empire, president or prime minister’s name. 2. Address clause : The memorandum must contain the full address of the register office. 3. Object clause : This is the most important clause in the memorandum which states what the company can do. The object must include all the possible lines of business in which company is likely to be e ngaged. Usually this clause is so drafted that the company may enjoy wide fields for activities in future. 4. Liability clause : This clause states the nature of liability of the members of the company. d.Incase of a company limited by shares, member’s liability is limited to face value of the shares. It means that when the shares are fully paid up, members are free from any liability. e. Incase of a company limited by guarantee, the liability clause must state the extent of liability of each individual member in the event of its being wound up. f. Incase of an unlimited company, the liability clause does not appear in the memorandum of association. 5. Capital clause : This clause states the amount of capital with which the company is registered or authorized to conduct business and the division of capital into equity share and preference share capital should be mentioned. 6.Association clause : This clause contains a declaration by the person(promoter) who signed the memoran dum to form the company in a legal way for a legal purpose and to take minimum share of the company. Articles of Association The Articles of Association is the second important document of Joint Stock Company. It contains the rules and regulations for the internal management, administration and organization of the company. They define the power, rights and duties of directors or other officers of the company and regulate the relations between the company and its members. The main purpose of articles of association is to execute the object clause of the memorandum. It must be framed within the items of the memorandum of association and provisions of the Company Act.A company limited by shares (Public Limited company) may adopt ‘Table A’ a model-Article as provided by Company Act as its articles. But a Private Limited company or a company limited by guaranty must have their own articles. Private Limited Company A private company is an incorporated body, registered under t he Company Act with three important restrictive provisions in its ‘Articles of Association’. A private company is one which – 1. Restricts the rights of its members to transfer their shares in the company. 2. Limits the number of its members to fifty. 3. Prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the company.