Case Study Preparing The Audit - 1186 Words

Preparing the Audit – Here, the auditor prepares a detailed audit plan, taking into consideration all relevant facts and records regarding the Company or ship, whichever the case may be. Ideally, the plan should incorporate the Company’s/Ship’s management, so as to enhance communication and mitigate discrepancy. To effectively use resources and available information, the plan should be produced fair flexibility to include: ï‚ § The language of the audit ï‚ § The place and date of audit ï‚ § Schedule of meetings to be held with Company/Ship management ï‚ § Identification of Organisations and Individuals holding ISM/SMS responsibilities. ï‚ § Identification of Auditor(s). Executing the Audit – Upon arrival at the Company’s premise or on board the vessel, the auditor must first request for an opening meeting with the management or the master and other designated personnel to discuss the audit process. Following a formal introduction of the Auditor(s) to the Company or ship management, the rationale and objectives of the audit must be declared. A summary of the methods to be employed, followed by the official communication line must be established and unanimously agreed upon. During the audit, objective evidences can be collected both by interviews with personnel and observations of activities/conditions. Corrective actions on Non-Conformities from previous audits must be verified with the element 9 and 12 of the ISM Code. Closing Meeting – Prior to completion of the audit, a closingShow MoreRelatedNorth Face Inc. Case Study Essay713 Words   |  3 PagesTiffany Hale AC503-02 Unit 2 Case Study North Face Inc. Case Study 1. Should auditors insist that their clients accept all proposed audit adjustments, even those that have an â€Å"immaterial† effect on the given set of financial statements? Defend your answer. 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That means shareholders, lenders and public participants in the activities decision making of the organization. ïÆ'Ëœ Board of directors exacts theRead MoreTHE NEED FOR AN INTERNAL AUDITOR REPORT TO EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS TO IMPROVE GOVERNANCE TRANSPARENCY956 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿ Quistions on Academic Research Case The need for an Internal Auditor Report to External Stakeholders to Improve Governance Transparency Naimah AlBaharnah Prof. Liotta, Joseph P AC629, Contemporary Issues In Auditing June 19, 2014 What is the issue being addressed in the paper? †¨ Sarbanes Oxley mandates requires all public companies to establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting. In addition they must document, test and maintain those controls and procedures to ensureRead MoreMr. Friehling – a Future Auditing Case Study1206 Words   |  5 PagesDavid Friehling will quite possibly be a future case study in auditing textbooks and courses throughout the United States. 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William Shakespeare s The Glass Menagerie - 878 Words

In the past, I have seen two Shakespeare live performances so I decided I wanted to switch it up to another playwright. I chose Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie. The performance was outstanding. During the previous Shakespeare performances I’ve seen, I slept through the play including intermission. Yet, during Williams, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time with 100% of my attention drawn straight to the performance. The setting of the play brought on an almost â€Å"at home† type of feel. Just looking at the stage made me feel like I was at my grandmother s house. The Glass Menagerie is about a small family in St. Louis. There’s a portrait of the deceased father/husband on the wall, who they often refer to throughout the play. The daughter, Laura Wingfield, has a limp and is also single compared to her mother, Amanda Wingfield who at that age has gentlemen callers lined up for her. The son, Tom Wingfield, works at a factory with the old high school athlete, Jim O’Connor. Amanda wants Laura to marry someone but Laura often refers to herself as cripple because of a small limp she has. Amanda then asks Tom to invite over one of his friends from work so he and Laura can get to know each other. Prior to the visit, Laura realizes that the man who is coming over for dinner was once her high school crush who gave her the nickname Blue Roses after misinterpreting the word Pleurosis. During the visit, Laura and Mr. O’Connor gets some alone time and eventually kiss, onlyShow MoreRelatedEssay Tennessee Williams Life and The Glass Menagerie1643 Words   |  7 Pages Tennessee Williamsamp;#8217; Life and The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie first opened on March 31, 1945. It was the first big success of Tennessee Williamsamp;#8217; career. It is in many ways about the life of Tennessee Williams himself, as well as a play of fiction that he wrote. He says in the beginning, amp;#8220;I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion; (1147). 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Dynamics Potential Higher Education Student â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Dynamics Potential Higher Education Student? Answer: Introducation People belonging to the Aboriginal groups in the remote areas of Canada have been getting involved and increasing their participation in the vocational training and education at increased rates with the advancement of technology and education in all spheres of the world. However, it has been observed that the learning ability or the retention power of the students belonging to the Aboriginal groups with disabilities basically is found to be belonging from the lower socio-economic backgrounds. These groups also happen to belong to the rural areas. I was able to observe that such students belonging to such backgrounds and groups were having diminished learning which denotes to the fact that these groups of students are slower in obtaining the leanings or lessons that are taught in the academics hours in the institution (Fabes, et al., 2013). The educational environment where I work deals with the providing educational programs for developing and enhancing dynamic and best-performing leadership for ensuring that the graduates receive and acquire skills that are tangible and can be put to implementation immediately (Gherasim, Butnaru Mairean, 2013). The educational institution to which I am currently associated with assist the students in understanding and using extensive researches in education and implementation of various applications to the practice problems in a wide variety of settings of education. Graduates are given platforms to be well prepared for applying the methods those data-driven, strategies for developing, evaluating, implementing and researching the programs associated with education. It was found that the students belonging to the lower socio-economic status had less than 50 percent chance of going to higher education than the students belonging to the higher socio-economic status. Around 25 percent of the students belonging Aboriginal groups residing in the rural areas of the country and having lower socio-economic status, were found to have diminished leanings in the leadership education. It was also found that the rates of participation of the students belonging to Aboriginal groups with lower socio-economic status from the rural background decreased from 15.1 percent to 14.6 percent from the years 2011 to 2006 (Hfner, Oberst Stock, 2014). It was also observed that the rate of retention of the students belonging to the rural areas and the Aboriginal groups had a decrease of around 7 percent to 10 percent low in comparison to the students belonging to the urban backgrounds. All of the decrease in the above rates incurred due to the diminishing learning and losing confidence in them regarding retaining the knowledge (Hyland, 2014). It was also found from the assessments of the teachers in the institute that from in the years between 2001 and 2005, evidence stated that there was the reduced difference in the retention rate among the students belonging to the Aboriginal group along with lower socio-economic groups. Only 30 percent of the students belonging to the Indigenous groups such as Aboriginal group attained higher secondary education. The Canadian students belonging to the Aboriginal group would only accounting for 1.2 percent who receive higher education from the entire population of 2.3 percent of the Indigenous population which is completely due to the diminishing learning of the Aboriginal students (Lau, et al., 2014). The educational institution where I happen to work has been integrating specialized seminars which are completely in the orientation of the of the establishment of the requirement of the specialized education programs and session imparted to the students belonging to the Aboriginal group, lower socio-economic background and rural background so as to make them comfortable in retaining the knowledge. The format of these special sessions or classes were to teach and impart the Aboriginal students the lessons regarding the leadership studies at a comparatively slow pace so that these students shall be able to obtain the knowledge presented to them (Madjar, Nave Hen, 2013). This seminar and sessions also have been helping the students in building a healthier and more amicable relationship with their faculties which is helping them to grasp the knowledge in a better way. The sessions also include seminars that re only meant for the teachers and professors which recommended the professionalism of the faculty body working for the enhanced learning of the students belonging to the Aboriginal groups through various kinds of conferences, professional associations, and professional journal. The program also included curriculum materials of leadership learning that was specially targeted for the better comprehension of the studies by the students belonging to the Aboriginal groups and diminishing learning (Patel, 2014). These seminars have also been correcting the attitudes of the teachers who are basically non-Aboriginals and their need to be aware culturally which is eventually posing an impact on the learning ability of the students belonging to the Aboriginal group and lower socio-economic background in the rural areas. The training sessions also highlighted the pro-diversity approach in providing training regarding leadership which could successfully bring out changes and improvement in the analysis of the discriminatory behaviors and attitudes among both the teachers and the students. The development of the education and training programs was considered as to be very much necessary for both enhancing the learning abilities of the students belonging to the Aboriginal groups along with the informing teachers regarding changes and modification in behavior of the faculties towards such students. The role of positional leadership came out to play during the management of the training and educational sessions and explaining the Aboriginal students regarding the need for attending such session for their development from an authority position (Putwain Daly, 2014). The role of informal educational leadership came into significance during the one on one explanation of the lessons to the students who wanted to understand the chapters personally and when the teachers and trainers wanted to build friendly relationships with the students. The key reasons for the success of the separate training and educational session are the special feelings that the students belonging to the Aboriginal community and lower socio-economic and rural background could feel which they were unable to experience during the general classes with the other students. However, it is very much required to be aware of the fact that these students should not be given treated so specially that they would cease to get trained and educated with the general students (Tondeur, et al., 2013). Through various researches, it has been found that the students belonging to the Aboriginal group, lower socio-economic background and basically belong to rural areas have the highest rate of dropouts in from their respective education institution. The most important factor that has been; leading the list of the causes that lead to such cases is the diminishing learning and the inability to understand and keep up with the pace of learning of et general students. The cost of diminishing learning for society as a whole and for the Aboriginal students is specific is huge. In the country like Canada, without proper leadership and communication skills, students and candidates, in general, are denied the opportunity to get recruited, promoted or trained in any work organization (van Dinther, et al., 2014). Moreover, it has also been found from extensive researches that the students from the Aboriginal groups along with the other general people are have been denied of getting access to a general structure of career and education. These aspects have been posing negative implications on the youth and their families. It is posing stress son the individuals along with their families, and students belonging to the Aboriginal grouse in general. The young people to the Aboriginal community are often acquiring the position of becoming the youth at higher risk along with experiencing other social issues such as suicide. As the rate of unemployment is already very high on reserves, the youth, moreover the Aboriginal youth with lower skills of leadership abilities are left with very limited options, other than becoming burdens to the society and communities. The percentage of students belonging to the Aboriginal communities who receive assistance from the society is approximately five times higher than the entire population of Canada (Wallace Newton, 2014). The cause for the failure of the education system to fulfill the requirements of so many students belonging to the Aboriginal background has its roots from the past experience of education of these Natives. The blame can be put partially on the colonialism, which is an attitude that has the claim for existing towards the natives of Canada at the present age. The role of the elders was very critical and was accountable for teaching lessons to their children and their children were always taught to be in the proximity of the adults and learn through various observations. This has affected the ability of the students belonging to the native community like Aboriginals regarding having fast theoretical learning. By determining the reasons for the students to have diminishing learning, potential initiatives can be identified and measures can be devised for preventing them from being in the pattern of diminishing learning. The factors that were associated with the diminishing learning of the students belonging to the Aboriginal community were majorly lower socio-economic status and rural background (Wilkins, Shams Huisman, 2013). The parents of these students also were observed to not have an adequate educational qualification which further added to the diminishing confidence among the students belonging to the Aboriginal natives. These students have been found to project poor results in their educational and leadership test. The students belonging to the native groups, especially Aboriginals have also been observed to have low performance in academics, retention in grades, absenteeism, issues in discipline and along with losing interest in developing leadership abilities and skills. Execution of various specialized training programs for the students belonging to the Aboriginal groups, having lower socio-economic status and belonging to the rural background would require seamless continuum of assistance and support in the form of services from the key stakeholders like the government and other agencies other than the teachers, special trainers, other authorities of the school, board of the schools, service organizations and agencies along with NGOs (Wallace Newton, 2014). The key stakeholder for the success of this process of intervention is the government of the country it can devise a proper and inclusive system of education which would take the accountability for all the students belonging to the Aboriginal groups, having a disability, belonging to the lower socio-economic status and rural background. The government would render its participation by getting aware of the facts at the ground level and can devise policies and structures which would focus on the strengths of these students and assist in optimizing the intervention process which would assist in their abilities instead of their limitations (Wilkins, Shams Huisman, 2013). The participation of the government would enhance the sharing of the commitment of the process of intervention-oriented towards the enhancement of learning of these students. The key stakeholders including the school authorize and the board of school has a major role to play as they would provide the equipment and make the necessary arrangements for the conduction of special sessions and training for the students belonging to the Aboriginal group, lower socio-economic status, rural background, disability and diminishing learning. The school authority would be assisting the conduction of such classes by providing the effective and enhanced tools and resources for the programs of study. The NGOs and other service organizations would assist in spreading awareness as well as suggesting refined strategies for the assessment of the growth and progress of the sessions and training program (Putwain Daly, 2014). The devising of the policies by the government at all the levels of state, local and province would help in the implementation of a potentially inclusive system of education that would instigate every individual to work and think differently. This can be achieved by the implementation of the policies devised by the government through the devising of a very strategic and collaborative model which will be based on collective accountability for the leadership success of each student having diminished learning (Madjar, Nave Hen, 2013). The government would be able to support the services for these students which are will be delivered collaboratively in the most natural and logical frameworks to encompass the student with diminished learning. The government, through its policies, can provide support and efforts that will be needed to expand the potential of the education system in order to integrate such special sessions and training programs about leadership skills that will act as a response to the requirements of all the students (Hfner, Oberst Stock, 2014). There are possibilities of these specialized programs to be confronted by challenges such as cultural differences and improper management. Many trainers and teachers providing these special classes may not be skilled and acquainted with the native language of the Aboriginals. The native students may not be receptive to the language and another language for communication completely. Moreover, the improper coordination between different departments, the board of the school, NGOs and government can hinder the conduction of such programs (Gherasim, Butnaru Mairean, 2013). These challenges can be eradicated by the teachers and trainers getting themselves properly trained in the native language of the Aboriginals and building amicable relationships and chemistry with the students which will help the students in feeling comfortable in learning the leadership skills. The management and the authority of the school need to be careful regarding proper coordination between various departments so that the training sessions and special classes can be conducted without any intervention (Hfner, Oberst Stock, 2014). The board and authority of the school also need to maintain consistent and coordinated relationships and communication with both the governmental and non-governmental organizations for extensive support and assistance. The data collection plan for the intervention of the special training session and programs for the students with diminished learning in leadership skills included interviews of the parents of the students along with the students, members of the native community including the Aboriginal groups, native students administrators and the assessments of the school teachers and the trainers. The interviewees were invited for responding beyond the queries and questions. Their responses were analyzed and transcribed for framing the themes. The data and conclusions were derived from the interviews and assessments. It was found that only 44 percent of the Aboriginal students completed the leadership courses. The strategy undertaken to assess the effectiveness was by regular tests and analysis of the feedback from the trainers and the trainers have proven to be very effective (Madjar, Nave Hen, 2013). The Aboriginal students were found to undertake the leadership skills training due to industrial needs. Around 78. 4 percent were found to be underperforming and having diminished learning. After the inclusion of the intervention programming for enhancing the learning of the Aboriginal students, it was found that the learning of these students increased by 75 percent. Leadership for the concept of social justice incorporates the facilitation of the moral amalgamation of high achievement in academics and affirming relationships with the Aboriginal students from socio-economic background and levels of abilities along with keeping the epistemological awareness, practice and value orientation towards social justice. It is also been characterized by the alerting and fighting of the institutionalized discrimination, inequalities and in injustices that take the advantage of the few students and pose damage to much more. These theories of leadership for social justice facilitate the underlying beliefs and purposes in the principal leadership of the trainers learning (Hfner, Oberst Stock, 2014). However, this concept has not emphasized on the principal leadership on the professional development of the teachers and the trainers or surprisingly on the learning of the Aboriginal students for social justice. Ensuring the facilitation of the social justice in the institutions providing training regarding leadership skills is observed to be closely associated with the leadership behaviors of the administrators of the schools. The schools comprise of different teachers, trainers and students in terms of various factors as gender, ethnicity, and gender. Fostering and ensuring social justice in the social environment of these kinds is very crucial for the trainers and the teachers for having an understanding of the social justice concept and demonstrates suitable behaviors (Wilkins, Shams Huisman, 2013). Strengths in the proposed intervention can be reflected in the way trainers and the teachers build amicable and friendly relationships with the students belonging to the Aboriginal community, lower socio-economic status, students with disability and belonging to the rural backgrounds. The strength of the proposed intervention could also be observed from the increase in the confidence level of the students along with an increased sense of leadership which they can be able to practice during their industrial services (Wallace Newton, 2014). The potential pitfalls in the proposed intervention can be the disproportionate ratio of the number of teachers and trainers to the number of students in the institution providing training of leadership skills. If the number of trainers and teachers available to take these special training sessions for the Aboriginal and disabled students, then the provision of training will not be effective and the conduction of the special classes cannot be fruitful. In order to have effective and equal imparting of the training, it is very much necessary that the ratio of teacher or trainer to the students in one session is less. The collection of data through the research study used a mixed design of method that included series qualitative interviews that were conducted with the help of the stakeholders. The data collection helped in devising ways regarding enhancing the learning of the Aboriginal students belong to the lower socio-economic status and rural backgrounds, even of the students who happened to have certain kind of disabilities (Madjar, Nave Hen, 2013). The data collection assisted in getting an overall idea regarding the completion of the leadership course and training that will be helpful to the students in during their industrial recruitment. The indicators of success could also be recognized due to the collection of data as the figures and other data that assisted in the provision of the enhanced training in the institution. The special training sessions and classes were guided in the knowledge of the stakeholders with the representatives from every department (Putwain Daly, 2014). These enhanced training sessions would help the students belonging to the Aboriginal communities, students from lower socio-economic status and rural background in having high chances of getting recruited in various organizations such as government and private departments. They would also gain the idea regarding how to provide services, such as being training provider, service provider, etc. the function of the special classes and training session would also guide various aspects of the research that would include the involvement of the educators and other stakeholders, along with other students which would assist in the overall growth of the students and other students also. The role of leading for social justice in the planned intervention stems back into the roots of improvement of the quality of education and life among the students and people belonging to the Aboriginal community, from rural and lower socio-economic backgrounds. The role of leadership is very significant in the provision of social justice in the planned intervention as devising and conducting programs for the enhancement and development of the people who belong to the backward and underdeveloped community is a major change (Tondeur, et al., 2013). In order to have effective leadership implications on the intervention, several references has to be taken to achieve success in bringing social and educational equalities. Instructional leadership is much oriented in the intense involvement of the authorities and other individuals in the instructional and curricular issues which would directly affect the achievement of the students. The instructional leadership in this case would include the prioritizations the individuals, authorities and government in regards to conducting and implementing the special session for the Aboriginal students. Moreover, the instructional leadership would also encompass the researches regarding the Aboriginal students in a scientific approach. Effective instruction and information reading in a scientific way would assist in the better selection and implementation of the special session and classes. Through the implementation of the transformational leadership approach, changes in the Aboriginal students attitudes and behavior along with their learning abilities can be brought in a positive way. This would happen with the enhancement of motivation, perfromance and morale of the Aboriginal students through a wide variety of techniques. To bring changes in the society in the orientation of providing development needs a lot of leadership abilities. Through such changes in the society at large, students, as well as people, can obtain various perspectives of opportunities for growth in their life as a whole. It would enhance the confidence and available opportunities for the people belonging to the backward and underdeveloped sections of the society as being a leader would instill leadership abilities in other individuals to a great extent. References Fabes, R. A., Pahlke, E., Martin, C. L., Hanish, L. D. (2013).Gender-segregated schooling and gender stereotyping.Educational Studies,39(3), 315-319. Gherasim, L. R., Butnaru, S., Mairean, C. (2013). Classroom environment, achievement goals and maths perfromance: gender differences.Educational Studies,39(1), 1-12. Hfner, A., Oberst, V., Stock, A. (2014).Avoiding procrastination through time management: An experimental intervention study.Educational Studies,40(3), 352-360. Hyland, T. (2014).Mindfulness-based interventions and the affective domain of education.Educational Studies,40(3), 277-291. Lau, H. H., Hsu, H. Y., Acosta, S., Hsu, T. L. (2014). Impact of participation in extra-curricular activities during college on graduate employability: an empirical study of graduates of Taiwanese business schools.Educational Studies,40(1), 26-47. Madjar, N., Nave, A., Hen, S. (2013). Are teachers psychology control, autonomy support and autonomy suppression associated with students goals.Educational Studies,39(1), 43-55. Patel, L. (2014). Countering coloniality in educational research: From ownership to answerability.Educational Studies,50(4), 357-377. Putwain, D., Daly, A. L. (2014). Test anxiety prevalence and gender differences in a sample of English secondary school students.Educational Studies,40(5), 554-570. Tondeur, J., Roblin, N. P., van Braak, J., Fisser, P., Voogt, J. (2013). Technological pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education: In search of a new curriculum.Educational Studies,39(2), 239-243. vanDinther, M., Dochy, F., Segers, M., Braeken, J. (2014). Student perceptions of assessment and student self-efficacy in competence-based education.Educational Studies,40(3), 330-351. Wallace, M. J., Newton, P. M. (2014).Turnaround time and marketing capacity in contract cheating.Educational Studies,40(2), 233-236. Wilkins, S., Shams, F., Huisman, J. (2013). The decision-making and changing behavioural dynamics of potential higher education students: the impacts of increasing tuition fees in England.Educational Studies,39(2), 125-141.

Ups Management Styles Essay Example Essay Example

Ups Management Styles Essay Example Paper Ups Management Styles Essay Introduction United Parcel Service â€Å"We run the tightest ship in the shipping business† Laura Andonov Mission Statement â€Å"To guide the company’s efforts to provide responsible, =://essaysafe.com/essay-what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-ethical-behavior-in-business/ class=ilgen data-wpel-link=external rel=nofollow>ethical business behavior and manage business conduct to achieve and maintain compliance with all applicable regulations and policies for all aspects of UPS business worldwide, including all wholly owned subsidiaries. † UPS is a global package delivery business that specializes in not only managing the movement of goods, but the information and funds that moves with those goods in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS’s target market is primarily U. S. companies that ship business to business via ground delivery and whose delivery time is not urgent. Major customers are manufacturers that ship directly to retailers and online bus inesses that ship goods to private households. UPS is a large C corporation, a legal business entity that is separate from its owners and managers. It’s unbounded in terms of shareholders and dividend income is taxed at corporate and personal shareholder levels. The benefit of UPS taking on this form of organization is that the company has limited liability, transferable ownership, will have continuous existence, and has easier access to resources. The disadvantage to this type of organization is that it is expensive to set up, they are usually closely regulated, and taxation is doubled therefore extensive record keeping is essential. In 1907, Jim E. Casey borrowed $100 from a friend and started this Seattle based private messenger and delivery services company. Ups Management Styles Essay Body Paragraphs From there his motivation and innovation turned into one of the largest package delivery companies in the world that delivers more than 15. 1 million packages daily to 7. 9 million customers in more than 200 countries and territories all over the globe. UPS has had 103 years to perfect their business plan. There are numerous strategies and values that have pulled UPS through the years and allowed the company to maintain that competitive edge. UPS is a household name and oftentimes a business’s primary choice in delivery needs due to its extensive U. S. and European ground network operations which makes it easy for their delivery trucks to access every address in the U. S. and Europe from one of hundreds strategically positioned hub locations. The hub design and locations were the end result of a known issue of not having the proper coverage to efficiently reach businesses and households in remote locations in a timely manner. UPS has a definite stability strategy that aims to continue doing what they have been doing, but to continue to expand its number of markets in new developing markets. American businesses are importing more goods due to the lower cost to obtain the finished product/materials and UPS has applied one of their strategies from not only going global, but recently focusing on penetrating Latin America. Latin America’s market volume expanded by 50% early this year and a major problem for them was that their market was growing so rapidly that their delivery companies could no longer keep up with their booming business. Look who jumped in to save the day, why UPS! Not only does UPS have to continually expand, but they also have to be updated with what their competitors are doing. The transportation industry is highly competitive and UPS’s three top competitors are Deutsche Post AG (DHL), United States Postal Service (USPS), and FedEx. All three companies offer similar, if not the exact same services, but pricing and availabilit y depend on regions. I believe the competitive advantage UPS has over these three companies is that they listen to what their customers want and then they deliver exactly that. The initial competitive advantage that credited UPS’s early and continual success is that they always focus on courtesy to their customers, maintain low rates, and their round the clock service. UPS has probably at one point or perhaps frequently performed determined the five competitive forces that establish the industry attractiveness and profitability. The threat of new entrants is very unlikely for UPS. This would be an intimidating market to attempt to infiltrate with UPS and its trailing competitors. Whereas the lack of new entrants is a key advantage, the threat of substitutes in place of other industries products is very high. As mentioned before, UPS has three major competitors that offer similar products at a similar price. This is an area that management has to constantly evaluate. UPS evalu ates what they have to offer the customer verses their other delivery needs counterparts and the customers have a no bargaining power whatsoever. If the customer is unhappy with the service or the pricing, UPS acknowledges that DHL and the FedEx will be waiting with open arms to assist them and attempt to win their loyalty. The bargaining power of the suppliers is also very low due to cut throat competition. If low prices are what the customer wants and they can easily take their business elsewhere, UPS must try to maintain reasonable fees to keep the customers happy as well as be profitable. With examining four out of five forces, we can assume that the rivalry among current industry competitors is intense and management must be aware of what each competitor has up its sleeve at any given time. UPS has successfully managed to defray a lot of their costs by having such a successful website. Customers can do a number of things on the website from their home without having to call and physically come into one of their stores or hub locations and tie up their agents at the counter. One unique thing that you can do on UPS’s website is that you can enter in the senders address, your address, the weight of the item, how fast the package needs to get its destination, and you can print a shipping label from home. The free tracking feature UPS provides has also been a successful product of the website with over 18. 5 million hits daily! The website also allows an anonymous forum for customer suggestions and complaints, thus allowing the company to see what areas they need to make improvements on. By offering this type of open forum it demonstrates that management operates with an omnipotent view. By asking for, listening to, and acting upon customer feedback, managers can anticipate change, develop opportunities, correct poor performance, and continue to lead their organizations. UPS offers incentives for managers to keep up the good work by offering bonuses and stock options when profits are up. In the event if profits are down, someone is pinpointed and held responsible for the loss and is required to do something to correct it. UPS has a strong organizational culture embedded into its daily operations. Employees that work with the public all wear uniforms and ask any one of the 400,000 employees world-wide and each one of them will be able to tell you who the founder was and the early history of the company. At meetings, they still use the same policy manual that they have been using for 90 years. They all know how to treat their customers, their fellow employees, drivers know how to carry their keys, and move away from left-hand turns. It’s the same in China as it is in Turkey. Managers spread the culture around at each location more than any other company out there. Managers at UPS have also managed to attract and retain employees better than any other company as well as integrate a high level of ethics into their operations wh ich is seen as a competitive advantage by its customers. This is achieved by having each employee review the code-of-ethics manual through annual workshops and daily communications, which is updated regularly and provides examples of detailed situations and ethical responses that employees may face. They make it known that there is a hotline to discuss anonymously about ethical issues, which then will be investigated and will be mentioned at the next managers meeting, so they can come up with a way to avoid any further issues of that type. In the 70’s and 80’s UPS was doing so well that they could have stayed domestic and would have still been successful, but founder Jim Casey was in Germany and witnessed how poorly the national post office operated and decided to act upon this incredible opportunity. Casey sent over four of his best executives to access the situation, to see if they did, in fact, need a more efficient delivery service and how they should respond. Case y and his executives did not consider the cultural differences and had an ethnocentric attitude about expanding in the Germany market. They decided to replicate everything from the trucks down to the uniforms and hoped that everything would work out. It did not. First cultural mistake was that in 1976 the unemployment rate in Germany was 3%, so nobody really needed jobs and another cultural difference that they were unaware of is that a truck driver in considered one of the least desirable jobs in Germany, so it was extremely difficult to even get applicants. They sent over American managers and implemented the same brown American uniforms and that was a disaster as well. The American managers weren’t adapting well with the German’s customary operations and the employees and customers were getting upset at the brown uniforms and trucks saying that they reminded them of the brown Nazi uniforms. Casey recognized early on in the game that they took a huge risk and that if they were going to make operations in Germany work they needed to step back and reevaluate everything before proceeding further. From that point on UPS in Germany was build from the ground up by acquiring a small group of driving companies and their already present employees. Another example of cultural differences occurred with employees in Singapore were not compliant when it came to wearing uniforms due to the hot, humid weather and their work ethic is quite different from ours. We will write a custom essay sample on Ups Management Styles Essay Example specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ups Management Styles Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ups Management Styles Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

Free Essays on So Much For That Plan

"More than 70% of commercial bank assets are held by organizations that are supervised by at least two federal agencies; almost half attract the attention of three or four. Banks devote on average about 14% of their non-interest expense to complying with rules" (Anonymous 88). A fool can see that government waste has struck again. This tangled mess of regulation, among other things, increases costs and diffuses accountability for policy actions gone awry. The most effective remedy to correct this problem would be to consolidate most of the supervisory responsibilities of the regulatory agencies into one agency. This would reduce costs to both the government and the banks, and would allow the parts of the agencies not consolidated to concentrate on their primary tasks. One such plan was introduced by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in March of 1994. The plan called for folding, into a new independent federal agency (called the Banking Commission), the regulatory portions of the Offic e of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). This plan would save the government $150 to $200 million a year. This would also allow the FDIC to concentrate on deposit insurance and the Fed to concentrate on monetary policy (Anonymous 88). Of course this is Washington, not The Land of Oz, so everyone can't be satisfied with this plan. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and FDIC Chairman Ricki R. Tigert have been vocal opponents of the plan. Greenspan has four major complaints about the plan. First, divorced from the banks, the Fed would find it harder to forestall and deal with financial crises. Second, monetary policy would suffer because the Fed would have less access to review the banks. Thirdly, a supervisor with no macroeconomic concerns might be too inclined to discourage banks from taking risks, slowing the economy down. Lastly, creating a s... Free Essays on So Much For That Plan Free Essays on So Much For That Plan "More than 70% of commercial bank assets are held by organizations that are supervised by at least two federal agencies; almost half attract the attention of three or four. Banks devote on average about 14% of their non-interest expense to complying with rules" (Anonymous 88). A fool can see that government waste has struck again. This tangled mess of regulation, among other things, increases costs and diffuses accountability for policy actions gone awry. The most effective remedy to correct this problem would be to consolidate most of the supervisory responsibilities of the regulatory agencies into one agency. This would reduce costs to both the government and the banks, and would allow the parts of the agencies not consolidated to concentrate on their primary tasks. One such plan was introduced by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in March of 1994. The plan called for folding, into a new independent federal agency (called the Banking Commission), the regulatory portions of the Offic e of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). This plan would save the government $150 to $200 million a year. This would also allow the FDIC to concentrate on deposit insurance and the Fed to concentrate on monetary policy (Anonymous 88). Of course this is Washington, not The Land of Oz, so everyone can't be satisfied with this plan. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and FDIC Chairman Ricki R. Tigert have been vocal opponents of the plan. Greenspan has four major complaints about the plan. First, divorced from the banks, the Fed would find it harder to forestall and deal with financial crises. Second, monetary policy would suffer because the Fed would have less access to review the banks. Thirdly, a supervisor with no macroeconomic concerns might be too inclined to discourage banks from taking risks, slowing the economy down. Lastly, creating a s...

Femme Fatales and Film Noirs

Femme Fatales and Film Noirs Femme Fatales and Film Noirs Femme Fatales and Film Noirs By Maeve Maddox A freelancer who writes about film wants to know how to deal with two French terms used by filmmakers: If Im dealing with  more than one film, is it femmes fatale or femme fatales? And when it comes to multiple films of film noir, is it films noir or film noirs? Plus, given that the terms are French, should they be italicized? Note: Readers who are not film buffs may be unfamiliar with these terms as they are used in English. A femme fatale is an attractive and seductive woman. Film noir is a movie genre explained below. The terms are so common in English that they do not need to be italicized The expression femme fatale was in the language before it became a part of movie jargon. The earliest OED citation is from a US source dated 1879. On the Ngram Viewer, both terms, film noir and femme fatale, begin their rise in printed books in the 1940s. Film noir describes a category of gloomy movies that begins with The Maltese Falcon (1941) and ends with Touch of Evil (1958). The film noir genre breaks a previous Hollywood pattern that glorified home life, presented idealistic views of American government, and provided happy endings for the main characters. Film noir often depicts the criminal justice system as unfair, the police as corrupt, and the federal government as oppressive and threatening. According to a description at the Film Noir Studies site, women in film noir are of three kinds: the â€Å"marrying kind† who wants the hero to settle down and conform to societal norms, the nurturing woman, who is depicted as â€Å"dull, featureless, and unattainable,† and â€Å"the femme fatale.† The femme fatale is an independent, ambitious woman who rejects marriage, but who, in breaking free of the traditional male-female relationship, causes violent disruption in the lives of those around her. French in origin, the terms have been sufficiently Anglicized to form their plurals by adding -s: femme fatales (not â€Å"femmes fatales†) and film noirs (not â€Å"films noirs†). Some writers do form the plurals of these terms partially la franà §aise (by adding an -s to the noun), but the Ngram Viewer indicates that such writers are in the minority. Likewise, the terms are italicized on some Web sites, but the recommendation given in The Chicago Manual of Style is to use roman type for foreign words that have entries in English dictionaries. The official site of the Film Noir Foundation does not italicize â€Å"film noir.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Does [sic] Mean?Used To vs. Use ToWhen to use "an"

Organizational Culture In The Toyota Company Case Study

Organizational Culture In The Toyota Company - Case Study Example When Toyota built plants in the west, they attempted to copy Toyota’s production system details without studying the difference between how workers in the East felt about their work compared to their Western counterparts. This difference can be referred to as employee engagement. Western employers have begun to realize the huge value to be realized from engaging their workforce. However, apart from running surveys aimed at discovering how engaged their employees are, not many are aware of how to synthesize engagement. When Toyota’s cars were recalled, those recalled had been made in the West. The recalls did not happen to vehicles manufactured in the East since the employees could have spotted them due to their engagement. Employees in the West might have noticed the faults, but due to their disengagement, did not report it. Negative reports regarding Toyota came to such functions as customer satisfaction, risk analysis, and government. The corporate culture at Toyota needs increased evaluation instead of making assumptions that their culture is aligned to that of the West. Their corporate culture bred leaders whose most pressing concern was saving face, which led to the postponement of making the recalls. These problems have proved to be problematic for Toyota because they do not dismiss a worker because of temporary absence resulting from illness or injury. Additionally, the scope of this provision granting increased protection to officials of the unions, as well as members, should see an increase due to the initial adverse action cases brought before the appellate court. If, as claimed by the unions, those dismissed happen to be union representatives, then Toyota is in for a rough ride. Toyota has been swamped by this culture clash because of the lack of communication and consultation. Traditionally, Toyota has prided itself on its communicative skills with its workforce and its exemplary teamwork.

Diamonds Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Diamonds - Research Paper Example According to the research paper "Diamonds" findings, diamonds are considered to have been originally discovered and mined in India. Over 6,000 years ago, substantial alluvial deposits of the stone were traced along Godavari, Krishna, and Penner Rivers in India (Koizumi, Nebel and Nesladek 4). Today, it is approximated that close to 130,000,000 karats of diamond are mined every year. This translates to about 26,000 kilograms of diamond being mined annually. Apart from this, it is also estimated that close to 100,000 kilograms of diamonds are synthesized every year (Pagel-Theisen 9). The exact amount of diamonds that exist in the world cannot be accurately established. However, at this current rate of mining and synthesis, a number of diamonds that exist can be estimated (Zaitsev 10). India has been leading the world in the production of diamond from the time they were discovered there around 9th century BC until mid 18th century AD. This led to the exhaustion of these sources. Diamond began being extracted from primary deposits of lamproites and kimberlites in the 1870s after being discovered in fields, in South Africa. Since then, its production is estimated to have reached 4,500,000,000 karats to date. This is approximately 900,000 kilograms of diamond (Koizumi, Nebel and Nesladek 33). Much of the diamond produced in the world is used for various purposes. A significant amount of diamond is used for industrial applications because of its characteristic high dispersion of light, and its hardness. Another common use of diamond is to make jewelry. Due to its electrical conductivity, diamond is also used as a semiconductor. Most of the diamond produced all over the world is used for these common purposes (Zaitsev 12). It is usually assumed that diamonds are solely fashion accessories. However, they have other numerous applications as stated (Pagel-Theisen 16). It is important to point out that most diamonds can be recycled. Sometimes, when diamonds are mined, not all of them are appropriate for use in making jewelry. This may be because of their size or quality. Such diamonds can be used to coat different cutting tools (Pagel-Theisen 44). This will make those cutting tools more effective because of the hardness of diamond. Tiny flawed diamonds may be used in other areas such as computing and optics. This shows that diamonds can be safely recycled by themselves. When glued to other parts for various uses, diamonds must be separated from these toxic parts before being recycled (Zaitsev 15). There are some cases whereby diamond cannot be recycled. These include instances where diamond was used in industries to grind other things, and it eventually turns into dust. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), in 2003, 4.9 million carats of industrially used diamond was recycled (Koizumi, Nebel and Nesladek 30). Diamonds are also being recycled through recutting and resetting. It is estimated that 49% of diamonds in the world come fro m Southern

Using Roles Paper Essay Example for Free

Using Roles Paper Essay This paper will discuss a better way to control user access to data is to tie data access to the role a user plays in an organization. It will cover the value of separating duties in the organization. Then discuss the value of using roles to segregate the data and system access needs of individuals in the organization. Then describe in detail why a role-based access control system (RBAC) would be the best way to accomplish this. Finally, how to handle distributed trust management issues for users going to or from business partner networks. The value of separation of duties is an essential security standard that certifies that a specific user does not have a proficiency to misuse his or her capabilities or make substantial oversights. No user should have the influence to cause destruction acting on his or her acknowledge. The security standard is not confined to computer systems and has been in use in modern society for eras. Allocating that function into separate steps is crucial for the purpose to work, or for the command that enables that function to be neglected. Splitting the roles across multiple departments and different locations can help subsidize duty to reducing fundamental threat. At the same time separations of duty limitations have been composed into an information system, users are looking for ways around the access authorizations because of pressure. In large organizations it is the role of the auditor to detect these intervals of control but often this is an unattainable assignment. Whenever it is difficult to segregate, other devices such as monitoring of activities, audit trails should be anticipated. It is important that security audit stays impartial. RBAC model provides a wide scope throughout a company to control method for managing IT assets although still sustaining the most wanted level of security. Role-based permissions can be inserted and renovated quickly across multiple systems, applications and wide range of sites right from the IT department’s laptop or desktop. RBAC systems are constructed to extend functioning occurrence and tactical business ethic. It can modernize and computerize many transactions and business functions and provide users with the resources to achieve their job swifter with the user holding more accountability. Providing the RBAC system, an organization  can live up to their potentials for discretion and secrecy. IT personnel and supervisors can observe how data is being used and edited based on real world needs. With RBAC system being used HR can enter new hires brisker and can lock out an employee for access areas not required to perform his or her job. It also helps employees with their effectiveness and production by purging the redundancy and admin tasks under other security systems. Most companies do not want to take the time to setup th is system. It is tidiest practices that take time to acquire and manage the appropriate way. If a company invests in time to implement that framework of RBAC it will pay off in the end. Overseeing the level of confidence is a crucial security requirement. Trust management comprises of trust creation, prosecution, and examining. Once a trust agreement is determined and utilized to administer the inter-organizational security policy. It is imperative that none of the trust agreements concedes or encounter with current personnel organization’s policies and limitations. The relationship should balance rather than switch current local security policies. A security restriction, in its general use, states that confines someone from doing something. It is proposed to provide system integrity. It is also defined to describe incomparable security roles, such as sequential limitations. The limitation may safeguard the sincerity of a requester based on information stowed in the auditing archive. It may also assess the constancy of a operation by taking into account the location, time, and risk correlated with the operation. In a consensus, self-assurance limitations are used to differentiate an un-safe state. The intrusion also can be handled by evolving exceptions or events, which spawn some counter-measure rules. These rules act upon actions, such as sensitive data filtering, query modification before administering demands, and cryptographic procedures. A trust agreement represents affiliations between cooperating organizations concerning security and expectation of policies. To institute a trust understanding, a source contributor organization and a resource requestor establishment would cooperate with each other to explain a set of security strategies and limits that they conjointly agree to administer. The conferred trust arrangement encompasses, rules should require the certification amenity, which associates would be diagramed to which distinct role, and what limitati ons coupled with the diagramming. Cooperate with each  other’s business requirement for an agreement to be precise clearly in requisites of what subcategory of his or her assets they are prepared to divulge to whom, and how they can safeguard messages from a risk, at the function level. Notice that in this work the expectation arrangement condition reports only the security-related concerns such as certificate-based authentication. Additional categories of inter-organizational policies, such as observing or deterrence of non-compliance and retribution of policy defilement, are critical, but beyond the capacity of this study. The structural design entails of a network of Trusted Collaboration (TC) nodes, which intermingle as colleagues in the network. A TC node is an established of hardware and software beneath the management and influence of a company. Substantially, a TC node is shielded by using innovative router and firewall equipment, which facilitate and regulation the traffic stream into and out of the TC node. It implements the security policies and limitations dependable with the security goals and necessities of an company. Also accomplishes protected distribution of its resources based on its recognized trust affiliations with the TC nodes of its cooperating associates. Each Trusted Collaboration (TC) node is capable of establishing trust and contractual relationships with others without resorting to a centralized controller. This trust report will be exhausted to make authentication and authorization choices for assistance demands. A user in a TC node can have access to the protected resources in another TC node, possibly through multiple intermediary TC nodes. In conclusion, the paper covered the value of separating duties in the organization. Then went over using roles to segregate the data and system access needs of individuals in the organization and why a role-based access control system would be the best way to accomplish this. Setting a process can help distribute trust management issues for the users going to or from business partner networks. Developing a role-based system helps personnel know what his or her roles are in order to complete the job at hand. Creating way personnel can only access duties that have to do with their department and not get into another part of the system without getting permission first. References O’Brien, J. A., Marakas, G. M. (2011). Management information systems (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Stallings, W., Brown, L. (2012) Computer security: Principles and practice (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Whitman, M. E., Mattord, H. J. (2010). Management of information security (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.

Forest Fires :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the year 2000, fire fighters battled raging infernos as some of the worst wildfires in 50 years rampaged across a dozen states. Not only were these fires the worst in half a century, but they may be the worst ever recorded.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a single week in mid August, 86 major wildfires were raging in a dozen states from Arizona and California up to Colorado and Wyoming to Montana, Oregon and South Dakota. Five million acres of land burned, more then double the annual average for the past decade. A controlled fire six miles southwest of Los Alamos that was implemented as a fire prevention measure would not stop. First consuming dry grass, then ponderosa pines, then gobbling up hundreds of homes and buildings, the fire spread through Los Alamos, the home of the atom bomb. Some 20,000 people had to be evacuated and luckily the fires never came close to a building that held drums of transuranium mixed waste and a metric ton of plutonium. Noxious fumes wafted from the lead paint, rubber and plastics in burning cars and buildings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Due to the destructive wildfires, interest in fuel management to reduce fire control costs and damages has been renewed. Although several tools, such as prescribed burning and salvage timber sales can address these problems, the extent of the problem and the cost of needed treatments are generally unknown. There are few documented estimates of the decline in control costs or damages associated with fuel treatments.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The roles and responsibilities of the Federal and State governments in fire protection may be subject to further debate. Laws state that a permit must be required to start a fire outside.

Drug Abuse Essay

1.0 Topic and Chosen aspect Drug abuse among teenagers is the chosen aspect for this report. Drug abuse is defined as the excessive use of drugs without medicine justification. It is reported that 50% of teenagers have abused a drug of some kind (Teendrugrehabs n.d.). 1.1 Critical evaluation of findings One of the main factors of drug abuse among teenagers is due to peer pressure. Based on statistics 80% of teenagers are affected by peer pressure (Wallace 2011). Wanting to be accepted by their peers, they are willing to do anything. Their desire to be socially accepted will cause them to be influence by their peers. Thus, this will lead them to the abuse of drugs to make things more exciting and not left out. Besides that, it is very hard to say â€Å"NO!† to their peers. Furthermore, another reason for teenagers to be easily involved in drug abuse is due to the easy access to drugs. 54% of the students of private high schools reported that drugs are accessible in their schools while 61% of the public high school students state that their schools are â€Å"drug-infested† (Pahuriray 2012). As drugs can be easily obtained everywhere. 2.0 Processes Various steps were undertaken to attain the sources needed for the report. However, a lot of the sources from the internet is too vague and the statistics are already outdated.

In Arthur Miller’s play the crucibl Essay

In Arthur Miller’s play the Crucible, Reverend Hale changes as the plot unfolds. When Reverend first arrives in Salem he is certain he will use scientific methods to find witches. As the court hearing begins to unfold, Reverend Hale opposes the actions being taken, thus begins using his own judgments. Hale attempts to save the guiltless when he realizes they were convicting innocent people. The plot takes place in 1619, in a small town named Salem. The town was young; being only 40 years old was very religiously strict. A group of teen girls were caught dancing naked in the woods. They started making accusations of witchcraft across the town. Reverend Hale, who was a witch expert, was called from a near by town to put a stop to the matter. One reason Reverend hale changed as the plot unfolds is because he at first believes that he will be using scientific methods to find witches. Hale firmly follows the law to sustain order. By keeping to his books he prepares himself to pay no heed to conclusions. He trusts his books to keep control over the problems arising in Salem. â€Å"†¦ all the invisible world, caught defined, and calculated. In these no fear now-we shall find him out if he has come among us, and mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face. † (Miller, 39) One reason Reverend Hale changed as the plot unfolds is because he at first believes that he will be using scientific methods to find witches. Subsequently Reverend starts to evolve his thinking during the trail and starts going by his own judgment. He pleads with the judge to let Proctor return, only to be rejected by him. Hale fought against the judge’s verdict realizing it was unjust. Hale then decided to leave the court. â€Å"I denounce these preceding. I quit the court. † (Miller, 115) Subsequently Reverend starts to evolve his thinking during the court hearing and starts going by his own judgment. Then at the end, Reverend changes even more when he realizes they were accusing every one of witchcraft and tries to save the innocent. Reverend declares he will not take a life of an innocent person â€Å"†¦ I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscious may doubt it. † (Miller, 99) He realizes that it is not the convicted people, but that of a hunt to find a cause for there problems. He encourages Mr. proctor to confess to witchery. Also pleading with Procter’s wife, he protests the foolishness of admitting to something you did not do. Finally Reverend Changes for the better realizing that not everyone is a witch and attempts to save the innocent Hale changes from being in favor of the witch trails to opposing it due to the amount of unnecessary convictions with sentences of death. He finds that, when you stop accusing people every for every incident and mishaps, many of the folks are innocent. It is hard to believe that many innocent people were killed during the Salem witch trials. Certainly nothing like that will ever happen today. Reverend Hale changes as the scheme unfolds in Arthur miller’s play, the crucible. Work Cited Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York Penguin, 1952 Jonathan Schneider Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

The Common App - New Questions for 2013

The Common App - New Questions for 2013 The Common Application keeps a-changing! This admissions season we have both a new word limit (650, increased from 500) and new question choices. Here are the questions you will be asked to choose from if you are applying to college this fall: Some students have a background or a story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn? Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again? Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community or family. As pointed out by the Huffington Post, these questions are designed for you to demonstrate what you would contribute to your college class. What is special about you? What character do you possess? What are your values? What’s important to you? Do these questions seem daunting? Said one of my clients, â€Å"These questions all seem so theoretical!† He did not know where to start. Allow me to make a suggestion: Consider that these questions are only theoretical if you don’t know what you want to say in your essay. Once you choose a topic, I’m willing to bet you can find a way to talk about it in response to one of the five Common App questions. There’s a trick for interview preparation where you write a list of things you want to talk about, and then use whatever questions the interviewer asks to say what you wanted to say. It’s an art to succeed in this method, as you do need to answer the question (you can’t answer a different one). Let’s look at an example as it applies to the Common App. Let’s say you want to talk about your love of music and what it’s like to perform. You could answer any one of the Common App essay questions and say what you want to say. Perhaps your musical abilities are central to who you are (#1). Perhaps you played a wrong note in a concert, or struggled in some other way as you learned (#2). Maybe your parents or teacher wanted one thing for you, and you wanted another (#3). Is the stage a place where you feel completely at peace? If so, maybe question #4 is for you. And certainly if music is important enough to you for an essay, you might have some accomplishment there that marked a transition to adulthood (#5). As you consider how your topic might apply to each question, you might learn something about yourself you didn’t know before! â€Å"OK,† you might be saying, â€Å"Now the questions seem less theoretical, but I’m still daunted: If I could write a great answer to every one of the questions, how do I possibly choose which one to answer?† I would suggest outlining a response to as many of the questions as you think you might want to answer; then evaluate which question allows you to express yourself most fully. In which answer do the most aspects of yourself get revealed? And, perhaps most important, which answer is most interesting to read? Important: The most interesting answer will not necessarily be the easiest to write. It might be less straightforward and take more thought and creativity- which is exactly what admissions committees are looking for! What if I don’t have a topic in mind? If you don’t have a topic you know you want to write about, try going through the questions one by one and having a conversation with someone (most likely someone other than your parents) about how you might answer each question. Brainstorm ideas and see what arises. Give it some time. Sleep on it. Have conversations with more than one person. You might discover a topic you didn’t know could become an essay! And of course, if you’re still stuck, it might be time to work with a professional essay coach. The Essay Expert would be happy to help!

Word Choice Anymore vs. Any More - Proofeds Writing Tips Blog

Word Choice Anymore vs. Any More Word Choice: Anymore vs. Any More How much difference can one little space make? Well, with the words â€Å"anymore† and â€Å"any more,† it can be the difference between using a term correctly and having errors in your writing! Good news, though! Your work will be free from mistakes if you follow our vocabulary advice. Anymore (No Longer) Who wouldnt want more of this? When written as a single word, â€Å"anymore† is an adverb that means â€Å"no longer.† For example: Nobody cares about vaudeville anymore. Here, we suggest that people have stopped caring about vaudeville (a sad truth). The adverb â€Å"anymore† is therefore modifying the verb â€Å"cares.† In all cases, â€Å"anymore† refers to time. This term used to be written as two words, but in modern English the one-word version is standard. Any More (An Indefinite Quantity) When the words â€Å"any† and â€Å"more† are separate, they refer to an indefinite quantity of something. This phrase is therefore used as a determiner, such as in the following: I cannot stand to see any more Broadway musicals. In this sentence, using â€Å"any more† allows the speaker to say that they don’t want to see another musical without specifying a number. It also implies that they have already seen at least some Broadway musicals, as otherwise they would not need to say â€Å"more.† Language from Across the Pond†¦ As usual, British English is a bit behind the times. Consequently, the single word â€Å"anymore† is less common over there than it is here, so you might want to avoid it if you are writing for the Queen. Her Majesty is not amused by modern grammar.(Photo: Foreign Commonwealth Office/flickr) Anymore or Any More? These terms look similar on paper, but each has a special use. The key is that the one-word term â€Å"anymore† always means â€Å"no longer,† so it is always related to time. The two-word version, meanwhile, always refers to a quantity of something. Remember: Anymore = Time Any more = Quantity

Foreign Investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Foreign Investment - Essay Example MFN clause has been beneficial in generating parity in trading opportunity among states by converting bilateral accords into multilateral agreements. As a matter of public international law, MFN clause provides the sovereign equality of states relative to trading policy. While as a tool for economic policy, it establishes a basis for international treaty in relation to competitive dealings.2 The establishment of Most-Favoured-Nation dealing has quite a long record. Before the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), bilateral trade agreements often include an MFN clause, and by itself contributed a great deal to trade liberalization. Nevertheless, various measures in the '30s were carried out that constrained the operation of the MFN initiative. These measures were viewed to result in the splitting up of the world economy into trade blocs.3 Realizing from this mistaken view, the unqualified MFN clause on a multilateral footing was subsequently integrated in the GATT following the ending of World War II, and has led to trade stability all over the world. The dual purpose of the MFN principle is removing the econ... The MFN clauses ensure that protected investments via treaty will obtain favourable treatment no less than the agreement the host country bestows to investments from any other state firms or nationals. The Netherlands-Philippines Bilateral Investment Treaty is one distinctive example wherein it formulated that "each contracting party shall extend to investments, in its territory, of nationals of the other contracting party treatment no less favourable than that granted to investment by any third state."4 II. Procedural and Substantive Rights of Investors Maffezini v. Kingdom of Spain5 The issue being dealt with in the Maffezini case was to find out in what permissible conditions that an investor can apply the MFN clause covered in a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that is valid to its dispute as a way of establishing the arbitral's jurisdiction. In resolving this issue, the tribunal presented the difference between the rightful extension of rights and privileges by way of the operation of the MFN clause, and the bothersome treaty-shopping that could disrupt policy objectives of the essential explicit treaty provisions.6 Case Facts: An investment dispute between the Kingdom Spain and an Argentine petitioner submitted to adjudication by the petitioner under the Spain-Argentine BIT. The terms of the treaty provide that any dispute arising from the BIT has to be submitted to a competent tribunal in Spain when the procedures for amicable settlement fail (Art.-X.2). Further, that a dispute could only be elevated for international arbitration if the competent tribunal in Spain delivered a decision on the merits that fall short of resolving the dispute, or a decision has not been made on the merits within a period of eighteen

Garten Haus Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Garten Haus Project - Assignment Example The new construction takes into account aptly the congestion factor and ensures that the old construction and old standardized look of the community does not get affected, thereby it has reduced the licenses to 48 from 52. The public safety, fulfillment of the technical factors which include the height consideration, spacing factor, the pedestrians safety factor, ground usage percentage factor, and most importantly the traffic factor since with time, area has become congested and finding parking space for your cars has become a nuisance, thereby the new design must ensure facilitation of more vehicles, at the same time ensuring that the other factors are not compromised due to it. The neighborhood is in such a state and outfit that change in one segment and one area would allow a change in other areas of the community as well, therefore each of the action of amendment must be taken with due consideration of the surrounding factors. While the aforementioned factors are to be taken into account, the Panel took each of these into consideration before reaching a conclusion. A penal of eight members was established for this purpose to adjudicate whether the proposed construction and modification would be any help towards the presently prevailing situation. The structures are designed to facilitate multiple families in the apartments. These apartments are 3 story apartments spread over roughly around 0.25 acres. The property has been in function since 1975.

Evaluation of Barclays strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Evaluation of Barclays strategy - Essay Example When we see the Barclays’ acquisitions of Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisers in 1995, to be integrated with BZW Investment Management to form Barclays Global Investors; acquisition of Banco Zaragozano in 2003, one of Spain's largest private sector banking groups; acquisition of Juniper Financial Corporation, a US leading full-service credit card issuer in 2004; acquisition of major stake of Absa Group Limited in 2005, South Africa’s largest retail bank; and acquisition of Gerrard Management Services Limited in 2006, a leading UK private client wealth manager; we can say that Barclays has preferred a route of investment in capital purchase of other financial institutions, as a direct measure of expanding its global base, as well ass to establish its base more firmly in other countries, and to use the established customer base of other financial institutions for its advantage. This sort of strategy gives the additional management challenges to barclays of managaing an ever expanding customer and market base, not to mention the growing number of cemployees and branches and integrate its acquisitions into its own processes and culture. As far as its performance measurement goes with reapect to the global drivers and its financial performance, we can see from the company financial data that its strategy of growing has worked well for the company. The time for its new acquisitions to become an effective contributor has been quite small and has been able to show profits very early. The bank has shown repeated profits aver the entire time while acquiring new enterorises, which shows that the bank has performed admirably in keeping the acquisitions hampering its profits. As far as the global industry drivers go, the new wave in banking has been the retail banking and the emergence of global players. The banking laws have become stricter, while some parts of the financial world, i.e. some big players have started to become monopolies, while all along the time there has been a massive flow of new products for the customers. In all this, banks like barclays have a strategic advantage caused by their huge presence and its modern outlook. It is in a position that it can capture huge amount of new customers and its massive base is able enough to satisfy the growing customers requirements. Also the diversion of barclays into different sectors of financial world, other than typical banking, such as credit, invetsment, insurance etc gives it an edge over its competitiors, while at the same time does not couse too much burden on its original operations. Also its base is valuable for establishment in emerging markets. Thus barclays can be assumed to be in a key position to dominate the financial world. Q2 Compare and contrast the intended acquisition of ABN with that of the earlier acquisition of Banco Zaragozano , paying particular attention to the merger rationale and the motives in each case and the likely synergy gains resulting from the integration of ABN. The intended acquisition of ABN is similar in many points with the previous acquisition of Banco Zaragozano, with the key similarities in the dimensions of rationale, motives and gained synergies

Microbiological transformation of steroids

Microbiological transformation of steroids 1. Introduction 1.1. Microbiological transformation of steroids. Steroids are small organic molecules that are synthesized in steroidogenic tissues and act on target sites to regulate a cascade of physiological functions [1]. Examples of natural occurring steroids include: sterols, steroidal saponins, cardioactive glycosides, bile acids, corticosteroids and mammalian sex hormones [2]. They are based on the steran skeleton which is composed of three six-carbon ring units and one five-carbon ring unit. The rings are labelled A, B, C, and D beginning from the far left (see fig. 1). In naturally occurring steroids, all four rings are in the chair conformation [3] with rings B, C, and D in trans- configuration with respect to each other. For rings A and B the position of the C-19 methyl group attached to C-10 and the hydrogen attached to C-5 determines the structure and their cis-/trans- configuration. Overall, neighbouring substituent are trans- if they are diaxial or diequatorial like in fig. 1a, and are cis- if they are axial-equatorial (fig. 1b). However, the two methyl groups attached to C-10 and C-13 are always axial in relative to rings B and D, with C-10 substituent being the conformational reference point [3]. Hence, the 5ÃŽ ±- steroid skeleton (see fig. 1a) is in the trans-trans-tans- configuration, and thus is broadly planar. The knowledge of the stereochemistry of steroid molecules is highly significant in understanding its biotransformation reactions which is the basis of this study. Steroids represent a class of natural products with diverse therapeutic properties. It has been observed that minor changes in the molecular structure of steroids can affect their biological activity [4,5]. Hence numerous research have been conducted to improve the activity of existing steroid compounds and to synthesize novel steroidal compounds with pharmacological activity, and thus the most significant area of these research is the transformation of steroids using biocatalysts. Biotransformation could be defined as the modification of an organic compound into a recoverable product by chemical reactions catalysed by enzymes originating from a biological system [6]. It should be noted that the organic compound which is the substrate is not involved in the primary or secondary metabolism of the biological system concerned, and thus distinguishes this process from biosynthesis. The biotransformation of steroids is one of the most important microbial processes that are highly regio- and stereospecific, involving chemical modifications (e.g. oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, isomerisation, epoxidation, etc.) to the parent steroid which are catalysed by the microbial enzymes. In addition, the features which govern their regiospecificity differ from those controlling chemical specificity, and so it is possible to obtain biotransformation at centres that are chemically unreactive [6]. For example, in the study conducted by Peterson and Murray using Rhizopus arrhizu s, it was observed that progesterone was hydroxylated at C-11 which is an ureactive site in this steroid molecule [7]. Therefore, these characteristics alongside the rapid growth and high metabolic rates of microorganisms give biotransformation reactions an advantage over conventional chemical processes as a tool in the production of therapeutic agents (e.g. anti-inflammatory, diuretics, anabolic, contraceptive, anti-cancer, anti-androgenic, postgestational etc.) in the pharmaceutical industry. The ever growing research into the study of microbial transformation of steroids have led to newer technology in this area of science such as: genetically modification of microorganisms to improve their steroid transforming capabilities, the immobilization of whole cells or isolated enzymes in a suitable matrix for repetitive economic utilization of the enzymes, manipulation of culture media to improve product yields by the use of enhancers e.g. cyclodextrin, and the improvement of the solubi lity of substrates are insoluble (or sparingly soluble) in water [8]. Furthermore, the advances in microbial steroid biotransformation have led to the discovery of new microbial reactions and novel metabolites which may be of interest within academia and clinical medicine. 1.2. The mechanism of Hydroxylation The hydroxylation of a compound is a very important metabolic process, in humans; this process is catalysed by cytochrome P450 enzymes and results in products with a higher polarity than the parent compound, and thus aiding its excretion from the body [1,3]. The process of hydroxylation, involves the conversion of a carbon-hydrogen to a carbon-hydroxyl bond, and when catalysed by the enzyme hydroxylase, the reaction is more regio- and stereospecific in contrast to the conventional chemical process [8-12]. As a result, microbial hydroxylation is rather used for the synthesis of hydroxysteroid. Fungal hydroxylation of steroids continues to be the focus of attention at different levels of research and product development. In spite of its popularity this process is not fully understood because few studies have been conducted on the hydroxylase enzyme due to the difficulty in isolating this enzyme [10,11]. However, most studies have shown that the cytochrome P450 enzyme is also responsible for steroid hydroxylation in filamentous fungi [9-11,13,22]. Cytochrome P450 (CYP 450) enzyme is an iron-haem system which carries out a wide range of biocatalytical transformation. These enzymes are also known as monooxygenases because they transfer one atom of molecular oxygen to an organic substrate. The catalytic mechanism for this reaction involves the binding of the substrate to the active site of the enzyme and then the displacement of a water molecule (see fig.2). This is followed by a reduction of the iron in the CYP 450-haem complex to its ferrous state (Iron II) by an electron transfer. The ferrous state then binds to molecular oxygen to form a ferrous-dioxy (Iron (III)-OOH) species. This species then loses a hydroxyl anion to form an iron (IV)-oxygen radical. This radical may withdraw a hydrogen atom from the substrate to generate a carbon radical and an iron (IV)-hydroxyl species. The carbon radical then accepts a hydroxyl radical from the iron (IV)-hydroxyl species to form a hydroxylated product and iron (III). A simple general reaction equation for this process is summarised below: (where R represents the substrate and NADPH is the electron transferring species). RH + NADPH + H+ + O2 → ROH + NADP+ + H2O In other to fully understand the mechanism of fungal hydroxylation of steroids, the relationship between the structure of the CYP 450 hydroxylase enzyme and its regio- and stereoselective characteristic has to be defined. However, as mentioned earlier not much studies have been conducted on the structural features of this enzyme, and so active site models was developed to grasp the concept of the regio- and stereoselective outcome of microbial hydroxylation reactions. The first model, postulated by Brannon et al suggested the possibility for a steroidal substrate to be bound by a single steroid hydroxylase in more than one orientation due to two- sites binding, which could result in hydroxylation taking place at more than one position given the appropriate geometrical relationship between the active site of the enzyme and the carbon atom of the substrate undergoing the reaction [9,14]. These four orientations are represented as normal, reverse, inverted and reverse inverted (see fig. 3) and has been observed in the metabolic handling of 3ÃŽ ²-hydroxy-17a-oxa-D-homo-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-17-one by a filamentous fungus; Aspergillus tamarii [15]. The other model, Jones model takes into account only the normal and reverse binding orientations [6]. It requires the existence of three active centres on the steroid hydroxylase enzyme. These active centres have dual roles and could act both as a binding site or a hydroxylating site [16]. However, these roles are mutually exclusive, and so hydroxylation would occur at the closest nuclear centre to the steroid. Hence the enzyme-substrate interaction proposed by Jones would suggest a triangular location with an approximate spatial correspondence to C-3, C-11 and C-16 atoms of the steroid nucleus [6] (fig. 4). This model could not explain the hydroxylation reactions by some microorganisms. Therefore another theory was developed by McCrindle et al using both models above and taking into account the 3- D nature of the steroid compound and hydroxylase enzyme [17]. In this model, the steroid ring acts as a planar reference point (fig. 5). Binding site A favours oxygen atoms below the plane of the ring and hydroxylation is alpha. Binding site B is similar to A but can also hyroxylate alpha (axial or equatorial) or beta (equatorial) atoms. Whereas, binding site C binds preferentially to oxygen atoms above the plane of the steroid ring and hydroxylate with -beta orientation. Overall, this model tends to fit the hydroxylation pattern of most microorganisms. The hydroxylation outcome of some steroids can be predicted based on the oxygen functions or directing groups on the steroid skeleton. As a rule of thumb mono- oxygenated substrates are dihydroxylated and their transformation products are often in low yields [16]. This is as result of the presence of one oxygen function on the steroid compound making it less polar and thus decreasing its solubility which hinders its permeation into the microbial cell. In addition to this, the presence of only one oxygen function allows the steroid to bind to the enzyme at only one centre, thereby increasing its rotation and oscillation about the active site which makes it more likely to be dihydroxylated. Whereas, di- oxygenated substrates are monohydroxylated because the presence of two oxygen functions reduces the chance of multiple hydroxylations due to the reduction in the possible number of binding orientations [16]. Furthermore, the presence of two binding oxygen groups increases the rate of r eactivity of microbiological transformation as the increased substrate polarity improves solubility and thus permeation into the cell membrane of the microorganism is very likely. A wide variety of organisms have shown this pattern of hydroxylation with a wide range of substrates [15,16]. Hydroxylated steroids possess useful pharmacological activities, for example, C-11 hydroxylation is regarded as essential for anti- inflammatory action, and 16ÃŽ ±- hydroxylated steroids have increased glucocorticoid activity [8,12]. Hence the steroid industry exploits the use of 11ÃŽ ±-, 11ÃŽ ²-, 15ÃŽ ±- and 16ÃŽ ±- hydroxylation mainly for the production of adrenal cortex hormones and their analogues [8]. A range of microorganisms have been observed to affect this type of hydroxylations. For example, 11ÃŽ ±- hydroxylation is performed using Rhizopus sp. Or Aspergillus sp., Cuvularia sp. or Cunninghamella sp. and Streptomyces sp. generates 11ÃŽ ²- and 16ÃŽ ±- hydroxylations respectively [8,18]. Further research has shown other hydroxylations (e.g. 7ÃŽ ±-, 9ÃŽ ±- and 14ÃŽ ±- hydroxylations) of having the potential for industrial exploitation [18]. 1.3. The mechanism of Baeyer- Villiger Oxidation Baeyer- Villiger oxidation is the oxidative cleavage of a carbon-carbon bond adjacent to a carbonyl, which converts ketones to esters and cyclic ketones to lactones [19,20]. The mechanism of this chemical process was originally proposed by Criegee [19]. It involves a two step process: a nucleophillic attack of a carbonyl by a peroxo species resulting in the formation of a Criegee intermediate, which then undergoes rearrangement to the corresponding ester. Commonly used peracids or oxidants include: m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, hydrogen peroxide, peroxyacetic acid and trifluoroperoxy acetic acid. This chemical process is highly significant, because the products generated are compounds which are intermediates in the synthesis of natural products or bioactive compounds. However, the oxidants used in chemical Baeyer- Villiger oxidation (BVO) are expensive and hazardous and also the reaction generates a large amount of waste products [4]. Hence biological (or enzymatic) BVO offers a green er approach for the production of chiral lactones. Biological Baeyer- Villiger oxidations are mediated by flavin- dependent monooxygenase enzymes i.e. Baeyer- Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) [19,21,22]. As a result of the versatile nature of flavoproteins [19], BVMOs have been shown to perform a variety of catalytic reactions including BVO of steroidal systems. The mechanism of microbial Baeyer- Villigers oxidation (fig. 6) is based on results obtained with cyclohexanone monooxygenase (CHMO) isolated from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus [19,22]. This enzyme was shown to possess flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) as a prosthetic group and was also found to be dependent on NADPH and oxygen. The enzymatic process is initiated by the reduction of the tightly bound FAD by NADPH followed by rapid oxidation by molecular oxygen to produce flavin 4a- peroxide anion, which acts as the oxygenating species. Nucleophillic attack of the substrate carbonyl group by the flavin 4a- peroxide anion results in the Criegee intermediate. This intermediate then undergoes rearrangement to form the product lactone and 4a- hydroxy- flavin. The catalytic cycle is terminated by elimination of water to form FAD and the release of the product and co-factor. It should be noted that the mechanism for microbial BVO based on CHMO serves as a model for other BVMOs. However, ther e are some differences such as the co-factor NADPH can be replaced by NADH and the prosthetic group FAD can be replaced by FMN [19]. Overall, there are no significant changes to the mechanism. Microbial Baeyer- Villigers oxidation is highly regio- and stereoselective [4,19-22] and as result it is commonly utilized for the biotransformation of steroidal compounds. It has also been shown in various studies, the ability of microbial BVMOs to attack the different ring systems of the steroid skeleton. Glomerella fusarioides was observed to biotransform eburicoic acid through an attack on the ring- A system by way of BVO to form a lactone, followed by a ring- cleavage to produce carboxylic acid [19]. In addition, 3-ketosteroids were observed to undergo Baeyer- Villigers oxidation with an isolated Baeyer- Villiger monooxygenase enzyme from Pseudomonas sp. attacking the C-3 ketone group on ring- A [4]. Ring- B lactone formation has also been observed in the steroid system using tomato cell suspension cultures to produce 24- epibassinolide [19]. Ring- D lactonization is very common and has been demonstrated by quite a few fungal species such as Pencillium sp., Cylindrocarim sp., M ucor sp. and Aspergillus sp. These fungi were able to biotransform progesterone to testololactone by way of Baeyer- Villigers oxidation via the intermediate steroid androst-4-ene-3,17-dione [19]. So far, ring- C lactonization has not been observed, although studies have been conducted to view this ring attack but none have proven its possibility [4]. Overall, several research have been undertaken and are still been conducted to explore the catalytic repertoire of Baeyer- Villiger monooxygenase enzymes, and these studies have shown the ability of this enzyme to catalyse the oxidation of 3- keto and 17- keto steroids with full control of the regiochemistry of the produced lactone thus allowing its application as an alternative to the conventional chemical process. 1.4. The mechanism of alcohol oxidation Alcohol oxidation is an important reaction in organic chemistry. It leads to the production of aldehydes or carboxylic acids from primary alcohol and ketones from secondary alcohol. Tertiary alcohols are resistant to oxidation because it is impossible to remove a hydrogen ion or add an oxygen atom to the compound without breaking the C-C bond. The commonly used reagents for the oxidation of alcohol are Jones reagent, potassium permanganate and chromium- based reagents. However, the oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes creates a problem for the organic chemist because aldehydes are not stable when produced in the conventional chemical oxidation process thus the use of microbial cells is preferred to overcome this problem [22]. The enzymes used in the oxidation of alcohol by microorganisms are alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) which are dependent on the co-factors NAD+ or NADP+. The mechanism of this reaction consists of a series of equilibrium where the hydride from the alcohol subs trate is transferred to NAD(P)+ in the ternary complex enzyme- NAD+- alcohol complex [22]. In humans, this process is carried in the same fashion and is extremely important for several endogenous as well as drug metabolism. Therefore, microorganisms could serve as models for human metabolism using this process. An unprecedented level of regioselctivity of microbial oxidation of the alcoholic group in bile acids has been observed [23]. Some fungal species are known to have the ability to oxidise the C-3 and C-17 hydroxyl groups of steroidal compounds. Aspergillus tamarii has been shown to possess the enzyme 3ÃŽ ²- hydroxy- steroid- dehydrogenases which catalyses the 3ÃŽ ²- hydroxyl group to a C-3 ketone [5]. Oxidation of the 17ÃŽ ²- hydroxyl group has also been observed in a number of fungal species e.g. Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp. and Mucor sp [24,25]. In general, a number of microorganisms have shown the ability to oxidise the alcohol groups on a steroid compound to generate t he ketone analogue, which could serve as an intermediate in the synthesis of lactones. 1.5. The mechanism of carbonyl reduction The reverse reaction of oxidation is reduction. It involves the transfer of one hydride ion to the carbonyl group. In conventional chemical reaction, the catalysts commonly used are sodium borohydride (NaBH4) and Lithium aluminium hydride (LiAlH4), aldehydes are easily reduced to primary alcohols using these catalysts. However, the high stereoselective reduction of ketones to chiral secondary alcohols is better performed with microbial enzymes [20,22]. This process is catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs), requiring the co-enzymes NADH or NADPH which transfers the hydride ion to the Si- or Re- face of the carbonyl group resulting in the formation of the corresponding (S)- or (R)- alcohol [22,25]. Microbial reduction of ketones to secondary alcohols normally proceeds in accordance with Prelogs rule to give secondary alcohols in the main (S)- enantiomer [25,26]. However, only a very limited number of microbial enzyme (ADHs) is available to allow anti- Prelog activity and have bee n demonstrated in the fungus Myceliophthora thermophila [27]. The ability of microorganisms to reduce the carbonyl groups on steroid compounds was reported in 1937 by Mamoli and Vercelloni who described the reduction of the 17- keto group in androst-4-ene-3,17-dione to testosterone by Saccharomyces cerevisiae [25]. Since then this process has been demonstrated for a wide variety of substrates and microorganisms of different species. Carbonyl reduction often accompanies other reactions in steroid biotransformation, and thus acts as one of the processes in the production of hydroxysteroids. 1.6. The microorganism: Myceliophthora thermophila Thermophilic fungi are among the few fungal species of eukaryotic organism that are able to survive at temperatures as high as 60 62oC [28]. However, Cooney and Emersons definition of thermophilic fungi is: fungi that have a growth temperature minimum at or above 20oC and a growth temperature maximum at or above 50oC [29]. These fungi have a widespread distribution in both tropical and temperate regions, inhabiting various types of soil and places where decomposition of plant material and organic matter occur thus providing the warm, humid and aerobic environment which are the basic conditions for their development [28,29]. The enzymes of thermophilic fungi have been studied to explore their contribution in biotechnology, and these studies have identified a remarkable range of extracellular enzymes (e.g. proteases, lipases, ÃŽ ±-amylases, glucoamylases, cellulases, cellobiose dehydrogenases, xylanases, ÃŽ ±- D-glucuronidase, polygalacturonase, laccases, phytase and D-glucosyltransf erase) and intracellular enzymes (e.g. trehalases, invertases, ÃŽ ²-glycosidases, lipoamide dehydrogenases, ATP sulfurylases and protein disulfide isomerases) [28]. The majority of these enzymes are appreciably thermostable which have resulted in its application in sugar and paper industries [30]. So far only two studies to date have been conducted to investigate the steroid biotransformation abilities of thermophilic fungi. The first study used the thermophilic filamentous fungus, Rhizomucor tauricus and it was observed that all transformations were oxidative producing mono- and dihydroxylated products with allylic hydroxylation been the predominant route of attack on the steroid compounds [30]. The second study was conducted using Myceliophthora thermophila [27] on which this present study is based. Myceliophthora thermophla is a thermophilic filamentous fungus classed as an ascomycete within the phyla of fungi [28]. It has another name which is sometimes used, Sporotrichum (Chrysosporium) thermophile [28,29]. However, M. thermophila is the sexual (telomorph) stage of the fungi, while Sporotrichum (Chrysosporium) thermophile is the asexual (anamorph) stage [28]. Its main habitat is in the soil and it is found in the following countries: USA, Canada, India, UK, Japan and Australia [29]. But this fungus can grow on simple media containing carbon, nitrogen and essential mineral salts such as Czapek- dox agar (CDA). The optimum growth temperature for M. thermophila is within the range 45 50oC [28]. It grows rapidly on CDA at 45oC, producing colonies that vary in surface texture from cottony to granular and its colour changes from white to cinnamon brown [29]. This fungus has also been observed to generate extracellular enzymes such as laccases, xylanases, cellulases and phytase wh ich have been exploited for use in the food industry and as biocatalyst in biotechnological processes [27]. This present study is a continuation of the research into steroid biotransformation by M. thermophila. Previously, a series of steroids (progesterone, testosterone acetate, 17ÃŽ ²-acetoxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3-one, testosterone and androst-4-ene-3,17-dione) were incubated with this fungus, and a wide range of biocatalytical activity was observed with enzymatic attack at all four rings of the steroid nucleus and the C-17ÃŽ ² side- chain. This fungus demonstrated an unusual ring- A opening following incubation of the steroid 17ÃŽ ²-acetoxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3-one, and thus generating 4-hydroxy-3,4-seco-pregn-20-one-3-oic acid. It was also identified to be the first thermophilic fungus to cleave the side- chain of progesterone. M. thermophila also demonstrated reversible acetylation and oxidation of the 17ÃŽ ²- alcohol of testosterone [27] (fig. 8). Further investigation into the diverse biocatalytical activity of this organism has led to the incubation of six saturated steroids namely: 17ÃŽ ²-hydroxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3-one, 5ÃŽ ±-prgnane-3,20-dione, 3ÃŽ ²-hydroxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-17-one, 3ÃŽ ±-hydroxy-5ÃŽ ±-androstan-17-one, 5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3,6,17-trione and 5ÃŽ ±-androstan-3,17-dione with M. thermophila 1.7. Hypothesis The proposed hypothesis from previous study is outlined as follows: * Presumed lactonohydrolase activity evident from the isolation of an open lactone ring. * Enzymes responsible for the reduction of C3 ketone to a 3ÃŽ ±- alcohol and hydrogenation of the C-4-C-5 alkene are induced by progesterone. * Organisms ability for reverse metabolism, which is evident from the acetylation of testosterone to generate testosterone acetate and the reduction of the C-17 ketone of androst-4-ene-3,17-dione to produce testosterone which further undergoes acetylation. * Preference for stereochemistry of hydroxylation with attack at axial protons (6ÃŽ ², 7ÃŽ ±, 11ÃŽ ², 14ÃŽ ±). Therefore, the main aim of this study is to observe the effect of saturated steroids on the biocatalytical activity of Myceliophthora thermophila CBS 117.65 and to prove the hypothesis from the previous study.