How Muslim practises reflect Islamic teaching on the role and status of women Essay

Explain how Muslim practises reflect Islamic teaching on the role and status of women Islamic teaching and theories are such so that they can be applied to modern life. Islam recognizes the fact that men are generally physically stronger than women, but does not place men above women. They are given different skills to do so women are given the duty of providing food for the hungry, refuge for the weary, hospitality for the guest, comfort for the distressed, peace for the troubled, hope for the insecure and encouragement for the weak. They are expected to cook for the family, clean and give love to her husband. This sounds all very one sided, however marriage in Islam is a team effort- the husband has his expectations and requirements to. Islam treats women as equals to men and that their role is as important as men. The rights of a woman are sacred; ensure that women are maintained in the rights assigned to them [Hadith] A Muslim woman has the right to stay a virgin, unmolested by anyone. She has the right to be looked after when in pain. She does not have to fast during Ramadan, because she is going through so much pain, therefore she must be treated with respect. It is a privilege given to women because Islam recognizes the crucial role they play in life. Since they are burdened with the responsibility of upholding the home and bringing up the children, she is not expected to work or earn money. Allah says in Qur’an, surah 2, verse 228, â€Å"and women shall have the rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable† A man came to Prophet Muhammad asking, â€Å"O Messenger of Allah, who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship?† The Prophet said, â€Å"Your mother†. The man said, â€Å"Then, who is next?† The Prophet said, â€Å"Your mother†. The man said, â€Å"Then, who is next?† The Prophet said, â€Å"Your mother†. The man further asked, â€Å"Then who is next?† Only then did the Prophet say, â€Å"Your father.† This shows the importance that Islam gives to women. Islamic teaching about modesty states that men and women, but especially women, should cover themselves up and present themselves modestly so that men do not stare at them. This is not compulsory however, but most women choose to do it anyway. This shows that women do not feel that they are treated inferior to men and being forced to wear it. Instead of totally covering themselves up completely in some countries, they just dress modestly by covering their heads or wearing a scarf. They never wear anything tight. Modesty and faith are joined closely together; if either of them is lost, the other goes also. Every religion has a special character; the characteristic of Islam is modesty† [Hadith] This is an example of how Islamic teaching about women is applied in every day life. Men also have to dress modestly. Women do not have to go to the mosque, but instead pray at home. This reflects the teaching about women having to bring up the household. Since this is their duty, they are allowed to pray at home. Because women are not seen as objects, but as equals to men they are given a dowry from the husband when they get married. This is to show that the woman is not just an object to fulfil any sexual desires, or work for him, but that she is a human being. A man being allowed to have more than one wife is not just a benefit to the man. The woman chooses whether or not she wants to marry a man with a wife already, or if the man she is marrying is allowed to have more than one wife after her. It is entirely her choice. By allowing her husband to have more than one wife she will benefit by the fact that there will be someone else to help her bring up the children and to bring up the household. The man is allowed to have more than one wife, but the woman decides it in the end. In Islam, the woman can have any job she pleases, since they are equals. If a woman chooses to work, it is entirely her choice but she does not have to. The husband should treat the wife with respect and not take her for granted. He should not think of her a servant and that she must make his dinner. She doesn’t but she probably does because marriage in Islam is give and take. He should consult her when making decisions, because women are just as important and clever as men. So Muslim couples discuss things and work things out together and do not take each other for granted. Women have as much of a right to pray in a mosque as a man, since everyone is equal. â€Å"All people are equal†¦as the teeth of a comb. No Arab can claim merit over a non-Arab, nor a white over a black person, nor a male over a female† [Hadith] What happens is that the men pray at the front, while the women pray at the back behind a sheet or curtain. The reason for the men being at the front is not that men are superior, but to prevent any flirtatious thoughts by the men and help them focus on Allah rather than the opposite sex. There are many rules concerning women, and these have been incorporated into modern life so that they still hold true to the rule.

Unknown Paper

The objective of these â€Å"unknown† experiments was to take a mixed culture, which contains two unknown species, and identify those species through a series of tests. The group was informed that one species of bacteria would be a gram-negative bacillus and the other would be a gram positive coccus. The tests to be conducted ranged from streak plate isolation to biochemical tests. Each test to be conducted was discussed and agreed upon by all group members. The results of each test were analyzed by the group and led to selection of the next test that would further narrow the possible identity of the unknown species.On September 16, 2010, our group was given a mixed culture in which we were to identify two organisms within the mixture, by running several biochemical tests. On this day our objective was to prepare the specimen of the mixed culture into discrete colonies. Each member of our group then conducted a streak plate and we would later pick the best plate of isolated co lonies. To perform a streak plate, aseptic technique was required. We had our mixed culture in the form of a broth therefore our inoculating instrument would be a loop.We also needed our agar plates each marked into four quadrants and a Bunsen burner. We then proceeded to transfer the mixed culture to the plates aseptically. In preparation for the transfer of the mix culture to a plate we placed the tube of broth in our non-dominant hand. The loop was sterilized by placing it into the fire of the Bunsen burner until the entire wire became red hot, â€Å"red is dead†. The tube was uncapped facing the cap downward along with the inoculated loop in the dominant hand.We then passed the tube through the flame of the Bunsen burner briefly to burn off any contaminates that may be present at the opening of the tube. The inoculated loop was then inserted into the broth of the mixed culture to obtain the organisms to be transferred to the plate. The tube was then passed though the Buns en burner again, capped, and put aside. With the sterilized loop containing the organism we proceeded to transfer the organism to the plate of quadrant I in a zigzag movement. We then re-flamed the loop till red and cooled the instrument to the side of quadrant II.Then from quadrant I we made four lines crossing into quadrant II. We re-flamed the loop till red and then cooled the instrument again to the side of quadrant III. From quadrant II we made four lines crossing into quadrant III. From quadrant III we continued making four more lines crossing into quadrant IV. We inoculated our loop once more, freeing the instrument of any organism by re-flaming till red. Once we each completed a streak plate, the plates where taped and marked with the date, initials, and group number. On September 23, 2010, we obtained our plates made from September 16.We identified discrete colonies into two organisms that we named yellow and beige. The yellow organism was an obvious yellow pigmentation, mo derate in size, entire, circular, raised colony and the beige was an off-white pigmentation, small, entire, circular, umbonate colony. We next chose the best representative colony of each organism to be transfer to a nutrient agar slant. Again we aseptically transferred the organisms, yellow and beige, into individual agar slants. Our instrument that we used was a loop along with two slant tubes and a Bunsen burner.With our selected plate ready and available, the slant in the least dominated hand, we inoculated the loop till red, uncapped the tube, flamed the tubes, obtained the yellow organism from the plate, and transferred it to the slant in a zigzag motion. We then re-flamed the tube, capped the test tube, and flamed the loop. Then we proceeded with the same procedures for the beige organism. The purpose of transferring the organisms was to evaluate the abundance of growth, pigmentation, optical characteristics, form (not applied due to the use of a zigzag rather then a straight line), and consistency.On October 7, 2010 our third day of our Unknown’s project we conducted a Gram stain procedure. From last week’s test, we achieved pure cultural characteristics from the two slants we made. The growth we saw on the agar slant that contained the yellow specimen was a soft, smooth, yellow growth. The growth we saw on the beige specimen was a thin, even, beige growth. Both cultural characteristics were achieved in the appropriate categories. The categories we were looking for contained abundance of growth, pigmentation, optical characteristics, and consistency.Today we will be preparing two bacterial smears from each specimen and Gram staining them. The reason we are conducting this test is to differentiate between two principle groups, gram positive and gram negative and to further know if a pure culture from both organisms was achieved. This is important for classification and differentiation of microorganisms. The Gram stain reaction will help us tell the difference of the chemical composition of bacterial cell walls. The Gram stain procedure uses four different reagents such as crystal violet, gram’s iodine, ethyl alcohol, and safranin.Before the Gram stain is performed we must make two bacterial smears of the two specimens. We placed one loop of distilled water on a clean slide aseptically. He transferred the specimen from the agar slant that contained the yellow growth and placed it on the slide with the water and gently mixed it together in a circular motion approximately the size of a nickel. He let the smear air dry for one minute and gently heat fixed it by quickly passing the slide through the flame 3-5 times with a clothes pin. The same aseptic transfer and Gram stain procedure was performed on the agar slant that contained the beige specimen.After we successfully performed the bacterial smear, we started the Gram Stain procedure. The first step in the Gram stain procedure is flooding the bacterial smear wit h crystal violet and letting it sit for one minute. After the crystal violet has set we rinsed the reagent off with distilled water. Next, we flooded the bacterial smear with Gram’s Iodine for one minute. After we let the Gram’s Iodine set we rinsed the Gram’s Iodine off of the slide gently with distilled water. The next step in the Gram stain procedure contained 95% Ethyl alcohol.Drop by drop we let the alcohol run onto the stain until the color of the stain was almost clear. After this step we rinsed off the alcohol with distilled water once again. The next step in finalizing the Gram stain procedure is counterstaining the smear with safranin for 45 seconds. Once the counterstain has set we rinsed the stain gently one last time with distilled water and used bibulous paper to blot dry the stain. After we completed the Gram stain procedure we looked at both Gram stain’s under a light microscope at 100X with immersion oil. The steps in preparing the light microscope are very simple.First we plugged in the microscope and turned it on, second we made sure the light intensity has been adjusted and the stage is all the way down. Then we placed the slide on the stage and clipped it into place and raised the stage all the way up with the course adjustment knob. We made sure the objective lens is started at 4X also known as the scanning objective. While we were looking through the oculars we slowly lowered the stage until we could see our specimen. It was not clear so with the fine adjustment knob we turned the knob away from us and fine focused the specimen until we could see it much clearer.Then we change the objective lens to 10X and again turned the fine adjustment knob away from us until the specimen became clearer. We remembered to not touch the course adjustment knob once we have moved away from the scanning objective lens or we would lose our specimen. After we saw our specimen clear under 10X, we turned the objective lens to 40X an d turned the fine adjustment knob until we once again saw a clear specimen through the oculars. Once we saw the specimen under 40X we turned the objective lens between 40X and 100X, this is where we used immersion oil only.We did not lower the stage to put oil immersion on the stage or our specimen would be gone. The reason we used oil immersion is so there was way for light to escape through the slide, and the 100X objective lens. It is used as a piece of glass that does not let the light bend and refract, so the image of our specimen is seen even clearer than before. We place two drops of immersion oil on the slide and turned the objective lens all the way to 100X and slid the objective back and forth a couple of times through the oil that way it is covered completely and there were no air bubbles.Using the fine adjustment knob we found our specimen once again and it was clearer than ever. We have found your specimen. Under the microscope the yellow specimen we stained was a purpl e gram positive stain with a tetrad arrangement. The beige organism we Gram stained was a pink gram negative stain with no arrangement. Once we were done with this part of the experiment we decided as a group that the next test we needed to run was the Carbohydrate Fermentation test. The reason for choosing this test was so we would be able to determine if the organism is able to degrade and ferment carbohydrates with the production of acid and gas.After finding our specimens we lowered the stage and took the slide off of the stage a cleaned the 100X oil objective lens with Kym wipes. We turned the objective lens back to 4X, the scanning objective, and turned the microscope off. On October 21, 2010 the Lactose Carbohydrate Fermentation test was previously selected and prepared for the week prior in order to reduce the probability of our organisms. We performed aseptic technique when transferring our unknown organisms which consisted of performing these previously perfected steps to ensure that our tests be inoculated properly.When performing aseptic technique you need to have all the proper materials necessary to ensure the highest level of sterility while maintaining safety. In sequential order these are the steps that we used to perform the sub culturing for our unknowns assignment. In preparation for the transfer, the stock tube and the tube to be inoculated both had caps loosened and properly placed in the non-dominant hand in a V formation separated by the third digit. An inoculating loop was apprehended and sterilized by placing it to the fire until the entire wire became red hot (â€Å"red is dead†).We uncapped the tubes simultaneously with the inoculating loop still in the dominant hand and immediately passed the two tubes through the flame of the Bunsen burner briefly. The inoculating loop then was inserted into the subculture tube and the inoculum was obtained and transferred to the tube that needed to be inoculated. Following the proper inocu lation and removal of the loop from the tube, the necks of both tubes were then again passed through the Bunsen burner, and then the caps were replaced on the proper tube. Lastly the inoculating loop was again flamed to destroy the remaining organisms on the instrument.After successfully transferring the broth culture with the organism to phenol red test tubes with Durham tubes in each, we reviewed our possible results to ensure we understood what was expected. â€Å"Anaerobic use of sugars produces pyruvic acid from glycolysis, and eventually lactic acid or lactic acid and carbon dioxide through the fermentation pathways. † Results after incubation should show negative or positive results. A negative result for sugar fermentation is shown as no color change and no gas in Durham tube. A positive result for carbohydrate fermentation is shown as color changed to yellow indicating acid production.Gas bubble in Durham tube indicates carbon dioxide production. Preparation for Nitr ate reduction test was performed and it consisted of us maintaining our initial broth of our G -unknown. The reason we did the Nitrate reduction test on our Gram – specimen was because according to our chart getting a positive or negative result would eliminate several organisms and would bring us closer to finding out which specimen we had. Some organisms have the ability to reduce NO3- to Nitrite NO2- or N2 or ammonia. ***Javance can you type out the procedure that was done for the Nitrate reduction test right here where this note is.We only did this test in our Gram negative organism. I found out where I made that mistake in my notes. So I fixed it for you. Just type out our transfer from our original broth to the tryptic nitrate broth step by step like you did for our carbohydrate fermentation test*** We added 5 drops of Nitrate A and 5 drops of Nitrate B to our Nitrate broth which contained our G- specimen and also had a Durham tube in it and incubated for one week. On O ctober 28, 2010, after a week has passed of incubation, we reviewed our results from our two previous tests; the Carbohydrate Fermentation and Nitrate reduction test.Carbohydrate fermentation test results were for the yellow G+, no gas bubble was present and the color did not change, it remained red which shows negative fermentation. For beige G-, no gas bubble or color change was seen so it also showed negative fermentation. According to our charts, our G+ specimen was the only one in our chart that had G+ cocci and negative fermentation so our result indicated our first specimen was M. Luteus. Our Nitrate reduction test result was our G- organism turned red which indicated a positive nitrate reduction to nitrite. We then prepared our Gram-negative organism for a Hydrogen Sulfide Test (H2S).We chose the H2S test because we found that it would illuminate our organism into a possibility of either two positive results or three negative results. In the H2S test we used a SIM agar deep test tube as our medium and aseptically transferred our Gram-negative organism from a broth using a needle to stab into the test tube. ***Veda can you type step by step right here the procedure done for the H2S test into the SIM agar deep, not just that we stabbed it***This medium contains peptone and sodium thiosulfate as the sulfur substrate; ferrous sulfate behaves as a H2S indicator and enhances anaerobic respiration.Since Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless and invisible gas, the ferrous ammonium sulfate in the medium combines with the gas producing FeS, which produces a black precipitate. After a week of incubation On November 4, 2010, we observed black precipitate leading to a positive result for H2S gas production, if there was no color change, then that would have indicated a negative result for H2S gas production. With a positive result of our findings, our Gram negative organism concluded a possibility of two organisms of Salmonella typhimurium or Proteus vulgaris.After we an alyzed our findings, we figured the next test that would reveal our organism would be through the Indole Production Test. An Indole Production test also uses a SIM agar deep medium and with the Kovac’s reagent we would get immediate results by adding ten drops of Kovac’s reagent. By adding the Kovac’s regent, a negative result for indole production by giving off a yellow or brown color. A positive result would show if there was a red pigmentation in the reagent layer.With gloves on we added 10 drops of Kovac’s reagent to our specimen and immediately observe a yellow/brown reagent layer, concluding a negative result. We finally discover that our Gram-Negative organism is Salmonella typhimurium. Based on the results of our biochemical tests, our two species of Unknown bacteria were found to be Micrococcus luteus and Salmonella typhumurium. M. Luteus was determined to be our Gram positive organism after a negative result on the Lactose fermentation test.This test ruled out L. lactis and S. aureus. To determine that Salmonella typhimurium was our Gram negative organism we needed to conduct a few more tests. The lactose test yielded a negative result which led us to conduct a Nitrate Reduction test that yielded a positive result. At that point we conducted a Hydrogen Sulfide test and it yielded a positive result and that allowed our group to conduct an Indole test. This finalized our identity for the Gram negative organism Salmonella typhimurium.

Betty White

Betty White was born in Oak Park, IL on January 17, 1922, daughter of Horace L. White, a traveling salesman and Tess Cachikis. She attended Beverly Hills High School from which she graduated in 1939. Her career started in the early 1940s with a modeling job. She also worked on a few radio shows including Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This Is Your FBI and later, her own radio program name, The Betty White Show. In 1949 she debuted on television when she appeared with Al Jarvis on Hollywood on Television, she later hosted it on her own when Jarvis left. From 1952 to about 1977 she appeared on several television shows including Life With Elizabeth, Date With the Angels, Password, What’s My Line? , To Tell the Truth, I’ve Got A Secret, Match Game, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Pyramid. In 1977 she was given her own sitcom on CBS called The Betty White Show. (Not to be confused with her radio show with the same name. ) In 1987 she scored her second signature role of the St. Olaf, MN – native Rose Nylund, on The Golden Girls. The show was centered on four divorced or widowed women in their ‘Golden years’ that share a home in Miami. Although Betty has no children, she has been married three times. The first in 1945 to Dick Barker, a US Army Air Corps Pilot. This marriage was short-lived, only one year. The second to Lane Allen, a Hollywood agent, which only lasted two years also ending in divorce. On June 14, 1963 she married television host and personality, Allen Ludden. He proposed to Betty at least twice be fore she accepted. Allen died of stomach cancer on June 9, 1981. She hasn’t remarried since his death. Betty has won six Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. ), and two Viewer’s For Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On January 23, 2010 at the Screen Actor’s Gild Awards, she was awarded, by Sandra Bullock, the Life Achievement Award. She is also a pet enthusiast and animal health advocate who works with a number of animal organization such as the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals. Betty is the president of the Morris Animal Foundation where she has served as a trustee of the organization since 1971. And she donated $100,000 to the Los Angeles Zoo in April 2008 alone. She was also just on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, and it was hilarious! I was laughing so hard.. So, having said all that. I’d say she is the coolest eighty-eight year old you could probabaly ever get a chance to meet. I hope she lives forever!

Corporate Strategy of Tate & Lyle Company Term Paper

Corporate Strategy of Tate & Lyle Company - Term Paper Example Markets, food and beverage and industrial are the most significant. It principally sells ingredients, ingredient solutions, and services to manufacturers in these two markets and they use the ingredients to manufacture their consumer and industrial products. In the food sector, it also sells end products directly through retail distribution channels to retail customers in certain markets. The customer base includes many of the world's major global food, beverage, and industrial companies. Their ingredients can be found in the products of nearly all the world's top 100 food and beverage companies. The products include cereal sweeteners and starches, Proteins, Acidulants Sweeteners, Enrichers, Stabilisers, Acidulants, Biogum, Ethanol, Aquastat, Bio-PDOBlending, Nutritive Low-calorie Non-nutritive Dietary fibers Fortifiers Hydrocolloids Emulsifiers Fat-replacers Speciality protein, Starch, Gums, Starches, Proteins, Maltodextrins, Polydextrose, Citric acid (Product Display) Acquisition refers to a strategy wherein a company can enter a foreign market rapidly and retain maximum control. New acquisitions underline the UK group's strategy of achieving a truly diverse added value ingredients portfolio. These bolt-on acquisitions are an excellent fit with Tate & Lyle's stated growth strategy. They represent a further step in broadening the product mix, technology and customer base in rapidly expanding areas. The group continually evaluates acquisition opportunities that would add strategic value by enabling it to enter new markets or add products, technologies, and knowledge more efficiently. The acquisition of CCI has enabled Tate & Lyle to advance these initiatives by bringing new expertise in the areas of dairy stabilizers, hydrocolloids systems, emulsifiers, vitamins, and flavors. Together they will be more responsive in developing distinctive and innovative solutions for the food industry as part of value-added growth strategy (Fletcher, 2006).

Economics for Business and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 4

Economics for Business and Management - Essay Example eate irregularities such as economic slumps are caused because of government trade restrictions, excessive power of trade unions and monetary policies of governments. The French economist J.B. was a prominent support of market system and in the early nineteenth century he argued, â€Å"Every seller brings a buyer to market†, which means supply establishes its own demand (The Socialist Party, 1997). Four major factors can determine how effectively market system can work. These factors include the profit motive, availability of information to producers and consumers, accurate pricing and ease in distributing resources (Bized). Free market system has the tendency to allocate resources where the most profit can be generated because profit generation is the primary motive of market system and the system naturally explores the areas which can maximise the profits. Moreover, supporters of market system argue that price mechanism is the best way for the efficient allocation of limited resources. McConnell, Brue and Flynn (2009) have identified three merits of market system which attracts the support of people and make this system as the best way to improve investment climate. First, the efficient allocation of resources in the market system is possible because this system encourages the production of products most needed by the society. This system encourages the adoption of techniques which are more efficient from production point-of-view and also promotes the adoption of latest techniques. Second, the three skills promoted by market system include hard work, acquisition and innovation. Third, market system gives personal freedom rather than central planning which encourages self-interest of entrepreneurs. Various examples in the real world economy justify the beliefs of the supporters of market system. Soviet Russia and various command economies have incorporated various reforms such as private ownership to reduce government control and central planning. Even the

Hormonal Disorders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hormonal Disorders - Essay Example Also, patients with inherited defects of the body structures that produce steroid hormones, for example, hereditary adrenal hyperplasia and in particular those whose condition falls as inadequately controlled may have a high risk of adenomas. However, most adenomas do not link with an inherited sickness (Neil & Isaac, 2006). Even if adenoma stands as harmless, it has the potential to create severe health complications by compressing other structures through mass effect and by producing prodigious amounts of hormones in an unregulated, nonresponsive dependent behavior. This is referred to as paraneoplastic syndrome (Schwartz, 2002). The changes that occur in humans and cause adenoma are as follows: abnormality which comes as a result of excess production of hydrocortisone, a steroid hormone involved in reaction to stressing and energy steadiness. Adenomas that produce vast amounts of steroid hormones will cause clear symptoms. Huge amounts of hydrocortisone will cause Cushings conditions where too much mineral corticoid causes Conns conditions, and a surplus of male sex steroids creates unhealthy skin plus hair growth. Hardly ever hemorrhage can arise into adenomas and bring the pain in the flanks or back (Schwartz, 2002). Acromegaly refers to a condition that arises from the frontal pituitary gland when it produces excess growth hormones mostly at puberty (Neil & Isaac, 2006). A variety of disorders may increase the pituitarys hormone growth output, though most commonly it includes a hormone producing tumor referred to as pituitary adenoma, derived from a distinctive cell. It is true to say that the patient had acromegaly because of the symptoms the doctors found. The teenager at the age of 20 portrayed same symptoms of a person suffering from acromegaly. These symptoms stand as: enlarged hands and feet, severe headache, vision problem and

Strategic Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic Financial Management - Essay Example Fourth, minimising the exposure to some types of risk may provide firms with more freedom to fine-tune their capital structure. Finally, investors may find the financial statements of firms that do hedge against extraneous or unrelated risks to be more informative than firms that do not may. With the increasing awareness and concerns from the customers the financial institutions are required to disclose information at higher scale at the same time the security of information is an important concern. This not only increases the concerns of the customers but also increase the need of information provision by the financial institutions in order to open themselves up to customers and partners for revenue growth. I hope that the readers and the concerned people will find this information useful and that it helps establish organisational direction for a very complex issue. Derivatives have been used to manage risk for a very long time, but they were available only to a few firms and at high cost, since they had to be customised for each user. The development of options and futures markets in the 1970s and 1980s allowed for the standardisation of derivative products, thus allowing access to even individuals who wanted to hedge against specific risk. The range of risks that are covered by derivatives grows each year, and there are very few market-wide risks that you cannot hedge today using options or futures. In 1999, Mian studied the annual reports of 3,022 companies in 1992 and found that 771 of these firms did some risk hedging during the course of the year. Of these firms, 543 disclosed their hedging activities in the financial statements and 228 mentioned using derivatives to hedge risk but provided no disclosure about the extent of the hedging. Looking across companies, he concluded that larger firms were more likely to hedge than smaller firms, indicating that economies of scale allow larger firms to hedge at lower costs. (Mian, 1996) As supportive evidence of the large fixed costs of hedging, note the results of a survey that found that 45% of Fortune 500 companies used at least one full-time professional for risk management and that almost 15% used three or more full-time equivalents. (Dolde, 1993) The evidence on whether risks hedging increases value is mixed. In a book on risk management, Smithson presents evidence that he argues is consistent with the notion that risk management increases value, but the increase in value at firms that hedge is small and not statistically significant (Smithson, 1999). In summary, the benefits of hedging are hazy at best and non-existent at worst, when we look at publicly traded firms. While we have listed many potential benefits of hedging including tax savings, lower distress costs and higher debt ratios, there is little evidence that they are primary motivators for hedging at most companies. In fact, a reasonable case can be made that most hedging can be attributed to managerial interests being served rather than increasing stockholder value. The questions need to be answered while undertaking the study will be as follows: What is risk What are the regulatory requirements for global financial institutions How does Information security risk affect financial institutions What are the Confidentiality risks What are the Availability

Management Strategy and Decision Making Research Paper

Management Strategy and Decision Making - Research Paper Example From 2003 onwards the company is known as Parmalat Australia Ltd. It is a part of Parmalat group which is listed in Italian stock exchange. The vision of the company is to maximise the value of the shareholders with the help of ethical practices and principles while conducting the business activities as well as fulfilling the social responsibility towards the society. The vision of the company is to be the world leader in food products by offering products of high quality and nutritional elements (Parmalat Australia-c, 2011). 2.2 Purpose and scope The purpose of this research is to analyse the strategic position of the company through strategic analysis. The research includes the assessment of the internal and external environment of the company including the industry analysis. The research includes the strategies of the company and the financial position of the company. The main objective of the research is to analyse the strategic position of the company Parmalat as a whole. This i ncludes the identification of the competitive forces of the company and the external and internal factors which can influence the operations of the company. 2.3 Limitation Every research activity is done with utmost care but still it has some or limitation. The main limitation of this research is the collection of data. The data used in this research are mostly secondary data which are not highly updated or latest as a result the result can vary a bit. 3 Internal analysis Internal analysis of Parmalat has been done on the basis of value chain analysis (refer appendix). It is a process which describes how every activity adds value to the product this process had helped to identify the values added in each link.... The intention of this study is Parmalat as a one of the biggest milk products producer multinational company in Australia. The history of Parmalat Australia Ltd dates back to 1923 when the company was a joint stock company and was registered under the name of Arctic Ice Creams Ltd. From 2003 onwards the company is known as Parmalat Australia Ltd. The vision of the company is to maximise the value of the shareholders with the help of ethical practices and principles while conducting the business activities as well as fulfilling the social responsibility towards the society. Internal analysis of Parmalat has been done on the basis of value chain analysis. It is a process which describes how every activity adds value to the product this process had helped to identify the values added in each link. The company monitors the standard of its suppliers of raw materials through the combined policies of pricing and grading. The laboratory results reflect the quality of milk produced which deci des the prices. Parmalat draws milk from three main sources. The transportation of milk from the farms to the centre of collection is done in two ways. The milk producers would use their own transportation or the company used its own collection route or contracts were made with small haulers for shipment of products. SWOT analysis helps in the improvement of development process. The external analysis comprises of SWOT analysis and PESTAL analysis. With the help of SWOT an organization can maximize its strength, minimize the weaknesses, and take advantage of the opportunities .

The Early Adulthood Period Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Early Adulthood Period - Research Paper Example This reporter stresses that "being a young member of the club, I am really active in its activities as I feel good strength, good coordination, good reaction time and sensations (sight, hearing, taster, smell, and touch). In addition, I feel excellent motor skills and great sex appeal. Also, I think it is important to be in a group and is utmost important for someone to be approved by the society to survive. At this stage, the two major challenges in life are to give up my adolescent way of thinking and face the adult world. To achieve this, I will have to terminate many of my existing relationships, concepts, friendships, and occupational relationships. However, my transition to the next stage of development means a lot of changes in intelligence, expertise, and the ability to learn. In addition, there will be physical difference too. As Araneta points out, it is natural that I will start redefining my relations including mentor relationship, love relationship, family relationship, and occupational relationship. As I move forward, I am going to reach Midlife where I will be more serious about life. At that stage, out, I will try to reduce the influence of the external world on my life, and will try to strike a balance between the needs of the society and the needs of self. Thus, most probably, I will withdraw from many of the activities of the club to give more importance to my personal life too. As I grow older, I have to expect a number of events that can change my life that will enhance my development. Some such events people normally face as they grow older are marriage, birth of children, promotion in jobs, and so on. As I go through these events, it is highly likely that I will withdraw from my activities that I was previously into. Or, at least, I will start questioning the purpose or usefulness of those activities. According to the theory of Loevinger, I am presently in the Conformist Stage."

Market for Ajax Foods Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Market for Ajax Foods - Assignment Example During this test market for Ajax Foods, all the variables in the marketing plan will be tested for the introduction of chicken pies in the grocery stores. We will carry out the test market in â€Å"hot deli† section where there are other variables such as competition with the existing products, the varying prices; package and promotion will be introduced on each section used in order to ascertain customer reaction about the new product. The new product will be left to compete with the existing products. The number of stores we will use will be adequate enough to represent the entire market so that we get actual results on the ground without bias. The customers will be left to make their own decision on purchasing the product (Klan 26).For convenience and efficiency, we will also include internet online tests through the use of surveys in addition to the test branches and sections, when testing the new product. In case customers respond positively to the introduced product, and this will be ascertained by the quantity and quality of sales data that the president requires making an accept or reject decision, then the president can go ahead and introduce other items such as shepherd’s pie and quiche.

Products Apply to SuperVisions Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Products Apply to SuperVisions - Case Study Example The representative description of quality by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society Quality Control (ASQC) in 1978 is, â€Å"the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy given needs† (Peris-Ortiz et al 86). Supervisions is a regional retail eye care center, located in the northeast, which has been experiencing some quality management issues as discussed in this paper below.   There are two main approaches in the definition of quality, fitness for use and conformance to specifications. Fitness for use relies on the fact that customer needs must be the driving force behind quality products, while conformance to specifications argues that from the perspective of manufacturing or service delivery, specifications are targets and tolerances determined by designers of products and services. Targets being the ideal values for which production is expected to strive; and tolerances are acceptable deviations from these ideal values, recognizing that it is impossible to meet the targets all the time (Mawby 54).   Conformance to specification is the key quality dimensions that apply to SuperVision’s products. For SuperVision’s, conformance includes traits like, such as right lens and frame. The feature is a second most important quality dimension observed. The feature means availability of particular features than the total number of options available to customers. This encompasses reversibility such as change of lens and frames at minimal cost rather than purchasing a new pair. This is apparent in week one because it was noted that lenses were reversed. Furthermore, with wrong lenses attached, this is a quality dimension because they can be reversed in future (McCollum 116).   Reliability is the key service quality dimension observed.

Statement of Purpose Essay Example for Free

Statement of Purpose Essay As a small child I remember trying to make a pyramid of cards and failing repeatedly. What I had always been missing those days was the need to focus on creating a strong base rather than abruptly rushing on to reach the top. With my undergraduate study at an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the best technological institutes in India with inarguably the toughest selection ratio (~2%) in the world I am sure that the strong base required to build the pyramid is laid and the next level to reach my goals would be to do my graduate studies at University of California, Santa Barbara. Born in an era of technological revolutions, witnessing the advent of cell phones, mp3 players, digital cameras, computers, laptops, internet, DVDs to name a few, I developed a strong liking for technology from my childhood. It was clear that Mathematics and Science were the subjects which fascinated me and my accomplishments in various quizzes and competitions in school fuelled my exploration of these subjects. It was in my eleventh standard when I got 12th rank in the Regional Mathematics Olympiad, conducted by NHBM, Govt. f India that I got exposed to elements of Discrete Mathematics, particularly Combinatory and Graph Theory, outside the regular school curriculum at an early stage. The intensive training programs we were put through for the Olympiads gave me a lot of confidence in dealing with abstract mathematical problems. I represented my region among around 200 students from all over India in the National Mathematics Olympiad. Next year my dedication towards my work got rewarded when I cleared the various prestigious national level examinations of India which made it further clear what I was meant to do in life. It began when I cleared the KVPY Examination, which is one of the highest valued and most competitive scholarship examinations conducted by Govt. of India and received a call letter from IISER Pune (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research) for admission to their BSc course with the KVPY Fellowship. Next I secured a rank of 290 in National Entrance Screening Test making me eligible for admissions to NISER (National Institute of Science Education and Research) whereby the selection rate is only 0. 325 %. But finally I choose to pursue Electrical Engineering from IIT Bhubaneswar after envisaging the broad range of research areas this field would provide me like control and automation, telecommunications, signal processing, analogue and digital electronics and Power systems. The undergraduate study at IIT Bhubaneswar has been a defining step in giving shape to my dreams. The cut throat competition among the best of students in India demanded sincere efforts and meticulous planning. I honed my analytical skills, technical prowess and aptitude for innovation. Moreover, I learnt the significance of proper planning and resilience to prevail over hard times, thus helping me mature as an individual. It was just a few months in my undergraduate studies, that I realized that the true charm of engineering existed in its application and to gain an insight into the wider domains of Electrical Engineering I pursued internships every year during the summer vacations. The excitement to explore new things and learn new concepts kept me busy during the off college hours. At the end of first year I choose to explore the area of embedded systems and took an internship in DOEACC, a Govt. of India Center, which not only offered me an insight to microcontrollers but made me realize the grandness of the field, motivating me to explore even more. I developed a snake game using 8051 series of controller as a small project in the internship. Returning back to college after the vacations my first task became to join the Robotics Society of the Institute and to share my experiences and to motivate juniors and fellow students to enjoy and discover the aspects this field had to offer. I became the core member of the Robotics Team and offered various seminars and made various robots including line follower, glider etc. as a part of the team. This fascination for robotics was widened in next semester when I learnt new topics in class and in topics like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Signal Processing (DSP) I found my particular interest. Thereby I choose to do my second internship in IIT Delhi where I did work on Artificial Intelligence based Biometric Authentication. This period of 3 months led me to get insights into topics which I haven’t explored till then . Here I not only got the idea of various image processing techniques but also about various classifiers and soft computing techniques like Neural Networks and Evolutionary Algorithms which proved handy throughout my undergraduate studies. Here I coauthored my first research paper which was published in Springer LNCS as a part of proceedings of international conference SEMCCO11. Unable to resist my immaculate desire to learn even new things and filled with the inspiration to make something useful for the people I kept researching and this time speech processing caught my eye. I was selected for internship in Deutsche Telekom laboratories- TU Berlin (The RD Center of the largest telecommunications company in Europe). These 3 months of internship in a technologically advanced country gave me an international exposure. My continued interaction with scientists, professors and students from all around the world working in the lab filled me with extreme motivation and broadened my thinking. I worked on emotion recognition from speech and we extracted a new set of features which helped in improvement of accuracy and my paper got accepted in International conference ICECIT 2012, India and will be published by Elsevier. The interest in speech processing I developed in Berlin was to be further intensified as I choose to work on making a novel speaker and emotion recognition system in my final year B. Tech project under the supervision of an eminent professor in the field of Digital Signal Processing Prof. Ganapati Panda, Deputy Director and Head of school of Electrical Sciences, IIT Bhubaneswar. Realizing the fact that Indian languages have not been studied much with the aspects of emotional speech, my first task became to create an Indian language database for the study. I experimented and found out that the traditional speaker recognition system failed in an emotional environment and needed to be modified to take emotions into account and I am working on it. To supplement and strengthen my domain knowledge, I am taking up course on Biomedical Signal Processing in my final year at IIT. Looking back and introspecting I have figured out the true meaning of the quote late Mr. Steve Jobs said in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech: â€Å"You cant connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. Connecting the dots I have realized my true ambition to do research work oriented towards the areas of machine learning, signal processing and pattern recognition aiming towards development of something useful for the mankind and a Masters course in Electrical Engineering would provide me an excellent platform for achieving the same. From the development of Intelligent Robots with the ability to learn natural language, understand emotions, having an improved vision system to the use of signal processing in medical applications all these have considerably motivated me to choose my future in this field. With the Mars Rover Curiosity marking a technological triumph, imagining a world in future where robots would be assisting humans in their daily work, where technology would be providing the cure for the differently abled people, where there will be an ceaseless growth of automation and where human computer interaction will reach to newer domains has not just remained a dream. I believe that my ambitions, academic excellence, research work are all in unison with what UCSB MS program in Electrical Engineering expects. In the research activities going on in various labs and research groups like Advanced Graphics Lab, Vision Research Lab, System Bio Imaging Lab I have found a marvelous synchronization of my ongoing research work. The amazing research work by Prof. Pradeep Sen in the field of computer graphics such as development of augmented reality based systems, the work by Prof Manjunath on image processing, the work by Prof. L. Rabiner on speech processing and many other works going on in an interdisciplinary environment such as in IGERT program have not only motivated me to join UCSB Electrical Engineering Dept. ut has left a deep influence on my mind to be a part of the change towards a better future. The intellectually rich, vibrant and multi-cultural student community at UCSB will manifold my process of learning and exploring the unexplored. It is said – â€Å"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan†. Here I am standing at an important path of my career and connecting all the dots I am sure about my goal, my future and sure about the perfect master’s program which will help me achieve my dreams.

Quantitative Analysis of Workplace Bullying Data

Quantitative Analysis of Workplace Bullying Data Bullying behavior was typically experienced on the playground or within the school systems of school age children, but now this multi-causal phenomenon is being reported by adults in the workplace at an astronomical level. Exploratory research has insinuated that there is not just one clear definition of workplace bullying but a combination of definitions (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). Workplace bullying transpires when an employee encounters a steadfast pattern of ill-treatment from others in the work environment that brings about harm (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). This type of harassment can consist of such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, emotional, physical abuse and public disgrace (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). This form of workplace hostility is, for the most part, difficult to validate because, unlike the classical forms of school bullying, workplace bullies often functio n within the traditional regulations and policies of their organization (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). In examining three peer-reviewed articles (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014), the researchers used several different types of descriptive statistics to measure workplace bullying (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). Therefore, it is important to describe descriptive statistics data and the different methods used that summarizes the sample and the measures (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). In combination with charts and graphic analysis (Jackson, 2016), descriptive statistics (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015) formed the basis of virtually every quantitative analysis of data which were used by each researcher to describe workplace bullying (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014) as it affects ones physical health (de pression), on how role stressors can influence bullying behavior and the academic levels of the individuals being bullied (Chipps et al., 2013: McTernan et al., 2013; Reknes et al., 2014). First, is to define descriptive statistics (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015), illustrate or summarize data in a study, for example, such as patterns of large numbers of data (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). Descriptive statistics (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015) do not, however, allow one to make conclusions beyond the data that is analyzed or reach conclusions regarding any hypotheses that might have made (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). They are simply a way to describe ones data (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). For example, Chipps et al., (2013) study illustrates the incidence of workplace bullying among preoperative RNs, surgical technologists, and unlicensed preoperative personnel in two academic medical centers (Chipps et al., 2013). The study sought to determine whether the demographic variables of gender, ethnicity, hospital location, years of experience on the unit, years in the profession, and job title predict the experience of workplace bullying (Chipps et al., 2013). In addition, to ascertain whether a relationship exists between workplace bullying and emotional exhaustion (Chipps et al., 2013); and whether bullying is associated with perceptions of patient safety in the operating room (Chipps et al., 2013). The cross-sectional analysis included one hundred and sixty-seven preoperative nurses, surgical technologists, and unlicensed preoperative personnel (Chipps et al., 2013). The IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 for Windows (IBM, New York, NY ) was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics was calculated for each hospital in two different demographic areas (Chipps et al., 2013). In Table (1), the participants in Hospital A had a response rate of forty percent, and Hospital B had a response rate of twenty-three percent. Table 1. Comparison of Demographic Variables Of the total study sample of professionals, forty-five percent of participants were registered nurses (SD=14.3), fifty-three percent were nonRN surgical technologists (SD=15.9) and two percent (SD=1.2) were another unlicensed personnel who reported to nursing services in Table 2 (Chipps et al., 2013). Table 2. Comparison of Job Title/Profession The sample size in Figure 1, the sample size was seventy-four percent predominately white, twenty percent black and sixty percent identified self in the other category (Chipps et al., 2013). The demographics differences were significant between Hospital A and Hospital B (Chipps et al., 2013). Figure1. Sample size In Table 2 illustrated a frequency of bullying acts in in order of frequency on at least a monthly basis (Chipps et al., 2013), for example, his or her opinions ignored at twenty-eight percent (Chipps et al., 2013); twenty-seven percent reported being shouted at by peers (Chipps et al., 2013).; twenty-six percent reported experiencing information purposely withheld which hindered his or her work performance (Chipps et al., 2013), twenty-five percent humiliated in front of others and twenty-five percent experiencing rumors or gossip spread about him or her (Chipps et al., 2013). Table 1. Frequency of Bullying Acts The next study examined several hypotheses as it relates to role stressors within an individuals work environment and modern day occurrences of self-reported workplace bullying. Reknes et al., (2014) research revealed that role stressors are associated with workplace bullying after conducting a study with twenty Norwegian businesses (Reknes et al., 2014). During 2004 to 2009, a longitudinal study was conducted in the private and public sectors to focus on the characteristics of the work environment (Reknes et al., 2014). It was to ascertain whether role stressors, at baseline, can foretell new incidents of workplace bullying in the near future (Reknes et al., 2014). A sum of two thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five Norwegian employees joined the baseline and follow-up, with an interim of two years within the measurements (Reknes et al., 2014). The average ages of the participants were forty-five years of age, and sixty-four percent were women (Reknes et al., 2014). A sum of one hundred and six participants reported to be bullied in Figure 1, whereas, two thousand and three hundred and eighty-five participated said to not being bullied (Reknes et al., 2014). Figure 1. Respondent to the 1st and the 2nd surveys (N=2,835) Even though drop out analyzes were conducted using independent sample t-test on role conflict (N=245) and role ambiguity (N=158 [(Reknes et al., 2014).], the survey revealed no significant differences in the scores for role conflict for those who only participated in completing the 1st survey (Reknes et al., 2014), compared to those who participated in both measurement points (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). However, those who participated in the 1st and the 2nd surveys (Reknes et al., 2014), illustrated a mean of 1.68 (Reknes et al., 2014) for role ambiguity and a mean of 2.47 (Reknes et al., 2014) for role conflict. Three hundred and forty-four (Reknes et al., 2014) self-reports of bullying behavior were missing from the baseline survey (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). In additions, Figure 2 illustrated the following distribution of the respondents in the 1st and 2nd surveys (N=2835 [(Reknes et al., 2014)], in a table format showing an age frequency distribution with five categories of age ranged defined (Reknes et al., 2014). Figure 2. A frequency distribution of Age in table format The respondents in the 1st and the 2nd survey regarding the baseline characteristics of the respondents (Reknes et al., 2014), illustrated that individuals within forty to forty-nine of age (33.5%) is more likely to complete the survey than respondents (Reknes et al., 2014), under the age of thirty (5.5%). Whereas, self-reported bullying (Reknes et al., 2014), illustrated that role conflict nearly duplicate the likelihood of becoming a new target of bullying at T2 (odd ratio of 1.92). Consequently, the results showed no significant difference in the scores for role conflict for those who only participated in the first measurement (Reknes et al., 2014), compared to those who participated at both measurement points (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). The research supported the data that role ambiguity and role conflict, individually, added to consequent different reports of workplace bullying. The statistical analysis was administered using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 for Windows ( IBM, New York, NY ). Lastly, McTernan et. al., 2013, conducted a longitudinal survey design over a twelve months’ time frame. This investigation was to examine how job stressors and depression can influence productivity loss (McTernan et. al., 2013). First, to investigate this underlying assumption was to begin with data preparation on how to carry out data analysis (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). Data preparation involved acquiring or collecting the data (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015); reviewing the data for accuracy (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015); inserting the data into the computer; modifying the data, and generating and documenting a database structure that integrates the various measures (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). Secondly, is to utilize a codebook that represents each variable in the data and where and how it can be accessed (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). For example, indicating the variable descripti on, organizing the variable format (number and data), identifying the respondent or group, and identifying the variable location (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). Initially, the data was collected in 2009 and repeated in 2010 by an Australia workplace barometer (McTernan et. al., 2013). The data was gathered from two Australian states, Western Australia, and New South Wales (McTernan et. al., 2013). The sample size was increased, in order to weigh the gain in the control versus the time and cost of having more participants or gathering more data (Jackson, 2016; Trochim, Donnelly Arora, 2015). In this review, twenty thousand Austrian homes (McTernan et. al., 2013) phone numbers were called, yet the final sample consisted of one thousand three hundred twenty-six participants from north of South Wales and one thousand four hundred and sixty-four from Western Australia (McTernan et. al., 2013). The experiment consisted of one thousand three hundred and ninety females age d between eighteen and seventy-seven and between eighteen and eighty-five; the total male participants were one thousand three hundred and ninety –six (McTernan et. al., 2013). Time 2 data was composed of participants from Time 1 who agreed to take a follow-up questionnaire at least one year later in 2010 (McTernan et. al., 2013). Of the primary participants at Time 1, there were two thousand and seventy-four (McTernan et. al., 2013) who participated in the survey, whereas, with Time 2 consisted of nine hundred and twenty-seven females between nineteen and seventy-eight and one thousand and one hundred and forty-seven males between nineteen and eighty-two (McTernan et. al., 2013). The measure utilized the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 depression measure for a nine-item scale based on several criteria’s of depressive disorders in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual DSM-IV (McTernan et. al., 2013). Table 1 depicts the individual yearly productively loss cost (McTernan et. al., 2013) estimations as it relates to depression (N=2074). The relationship was significant as it related to the unstandardized parameters (McTernan et. al., 2013) by comparing the annual sickness absence (hours) with productivity loss using descriptive statistics (McTernan et. al., 2013). The annual sickness absence illustrated 138.4 hours loss (SD=48.24) due to the severity level of the workers’ depression (McTernan et. al., 2013), as compared to, 28% productivity loss (SD=3.5). Table 2 illustrated the estimated odd ratios for job strain and workplace bullying on depression as well as the odd ratios and population attributable risk for job strain, bullying and job strain without bullying (McTernan et. al., 2013). The researchers used the population attributable risk as a method to estimate the proportion of a disease burden that could theoretically be eliminated by the removal of a causal factor (McTernan et. al., 2013). The findings confirmed that the underlying assumption of the link between job stressors and productively loss via depression (McTernan et. al., 2013). The prevalence of exposure to job strain was 22.5% (McTernan et. al., 2013) compared to bullying exposure 5.9% (McTernan et. al., 2013). The population attributable failed to yield any significant difference when job strain and bullying was used independently, yet, when combined, the results showed the annual depression cost which contributed to productivity loss (McTernan et. al., 2013). Table 2. Population Attributable Risk References Chipps, E., Stelmaschuk, S., Albert, N., Bernhard, L., Holloman, C. (2014). Workplace bullying in the OR: Results of a descriptive study, AORN Journal, 98(5):479-493. IBM Corp. Released 2011. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. New York, NY: IBM Corp. Jackson, S. (2015). Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach. (5th ed.) United States of American: Boston, MA. McTerman, W., Dollard, M., LaMontagne, A. (2013). Depression in the workplace: An economic cost analysis of depression-related productivity loss attributable to job strain and bullying, Work Stress, 27(4):321-338. Reknes, I., Einarsen, S., Knardahl, S., Lau, B. (2014). The prospective relationship between role stressors and new cases of self-reported workplace bullying. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 55:45-52. Trochim, T., Donnelly, J., Arora, A. (2015). Research methods: The essential knowledge base. United States of America: Boston, MA.

Representation of Client in Contract Law Case

Representation of Client in Contract Law Case THE INTRODUCTION Abstract from the question given, on the purpose to advice on Arnold, it is vital and crucial to find out whether or not a contract has been formed between the parties involved so the locus standi[1] of Arnold can be tracked. Hence, with the establishment of locus standi, Arnold may then can take action on issues he has encountered to the parties. It is simply indicating that, there must be a mutual agreement which is legally enforceable between parties involved. In another word, there must be an existence of consensus ad idem.[2] Whereby Lord Wilberforce a say on this issue in The Eurymedon as below:- [3] English law, having committed itself to a rather technical and schematic doctrine of contract, in application takes a practical approach, often at the cost of forcing the facts to fit uneasily into the marked slots of offer, acceptance, and consideration In summary, In order to claim remedies, a valid contract shall consist of offer, acceptance, and consideration whereby this ensu res and that gives locus standi to the claimant to carry out contractual action towards the defendant. The issue in this question would be seeking for an evaluation on whether the statement made is a term or representation. If it is a term, it may lead to breach of contract ; whereas, if it is representation, it is imperative to seek for remedies available for the claimant. Establish the Contractual Relationship with the claimant Therefore, it can be denoted that the claimant, Arnold must have prove his contractual relationship with the first defendant, William to uphold his claim on his misfortune incident since he considers the deal given by William a bad one. It is then submitted that, William can be categorised as an offeree whereby his enquiries is just merely an invitation to treat since he is just plainly making a request due to his needs. An invitation to treat, as per Treitel : When parties negotiate with a view to making a contract, many preliminary communication may pass between them before a definite offer is made[4] Based on the fact given, Arnold is indeed on the look out for a house in the newly built Kenwood Park and sought for Williams consultation who is a house broker. As a result, it is submitted that Arnold is making an Invitation to treat in lieu of an offer like what has been illustrated in the case of Gibson [5]. Whereas, on another hand, in the light of Storer v Manchester,[6] in acc ordance to offer as defined by Professor Treitel, William has expressly show his willingness by giving Arnold particulars of that house. [7] On the surface, contractual relationship thereby established. Determining the statement made is a term or representation Thus, It would be imperative to then applying Fletche LJs guideline as laid down in Heilbut Symons v Buckleton to find out possible contractual action.[8] It was held that a vague statement would amount to representation instead of a term. Whereby in Dimmock v Hallet that described the land as fertile and improvable is constitute to a representation. [9] Likewise, in this scenario, statement made by William that a hypermarket will be opened in about 3 months is said to be a representation. In a nutshell, the core issue in this scenario would be whether William as an representor has misrepresented the facts to Arnold, the representee which by any chance may give rise to liabilities and Arnold shall be advised on the ground of the probabilities for being granted for possible remedies. The onus to prove the offeror has misrepresented the facts It is advised that, in order to determine whether one has been misrepresented to the claimant, there are elements to prove an actionable misrepresentation. The representation made by the representor must be unambiguous false statement of fact which is addressed to the party misled and which includes that party to enter into a contract.[10] This also signifying that, there must be a false statement of existing fact or law, and it is addressed to the party misled which has materially induces the party to embark into a legally binding agreement. As such, if the statement made is held to be a mere puff, a party will not be blamed under contractual liabilities. Notwithstanding with that, If all the elements have been satisfied, misrepresentation then has successfully raised at the first glance and remedies is likely to be granted. Elements to be proved on each statement made Essentially, in order for a misrepresentation to be stand in this circumstance, the statement made must not be an opinion or mere puff. The defendant will therefore argue the statement made is merely an opinion; hence, the claim towards him will not be succeeded as laid down in Bisset v Wikinson.[11] Nevertheless, contrary with the mentioned point, In Smith v Land Home Property Co. Ltd ,[12] It can be rebutted that the statement is however an existing fact as per Bowen LJ :[13] The one who knows the fact best involves very often a statement of a material fact It is nonetheless may be argued that, Arnold should have check the facts instead of relying on it; hence, it is not at fault of the defendant. On another hand, William as the house broker should have better knowledge than any ordinary person as he possesses a special skill as held in Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd v Mardon.[14] In addition, as Lord Evershead MR has uttered in Brown v Raphael[15] , where such a person were in a better position than the other party to check the facts to back up his opinion, but did not do so, such person will be liable for misrepresentation.[16] From the fact, William has described the Kenwood Park as Gated and Guarded and it was the most desirable property within the vicinity that turned out to be untrue. William as a house broker hold a better position than Arnold to ensure his opinion is true. Furthermore, he should have known the fact that Heavenly Homes is more popular since it is a well-known fact as compared to the Kenwood Park. Besides, it is of common knowledge that, guards must be employed by the residence but not the developers. William is therefore made a statement of fact and by possessing a special knowledge failed to check even he is in better position to do so. It can be said prima facie that he has misrepresented a statement of fact. In contrast, William may also raise an argument that, in general, a statement of a future intention will not constitute as a stateme nt of fact therefore it is of no effect for him to be liable under misrepresentation on the grounds of Lord Wilberforce in British Airways Board v Taylors.[17] It would not be just and fair as it is impossible for one to foresee the future and it is unpredictable and that binds the claimant. Indeed, William has mentioned that a hypermarket will be opened in about 3 months within Kenwood Park which amount to a statement as to the future. However, William cannot walk away based on that ground as Arnold may argue that a statement as to the future, can implicitly contain a statement of fact. In the light of Spice Girls Ltd v Aprilia World Service BV , It is illustrated that if the maker of the statement did not genuinely hold the intention or belief at the time of making it, he will misrepresenting the fact.[18] As grasped from the fact, it is opined that William did not hold the intention indisputably by the time making the statement but he was said it with full faith by stating a spec ific timeframe that a Hypermarket will be opened in 3 months within Kenwood Park,. Hence, it is argued that the statement given are not merely an intention since at the time of contract, he believes himself is making an existing fact which at a higher possibility that the hypermarket will be built and well-established within 3 months. As held in Edgington v Fitzmaurice, the statement made by William howsoever it may be controversial to be an intentional statement; it still amounts to a statement of fact.[19] Even so, William may still argue that, in his understanding, he does not know that the Kenwood Park will not be Gated and Guarded in which is a half true statement, therefore, it can be argued that part he has misstate was silent apart. Action shall not be taken towards him as he says nothing about that since it was held in Fletcher v Krell that silence or non-disclosure of fact does not give rise to liability.[20] Hence, William may not be liable under misrepresentation at this juncture. Notwithstanding with the above issue, Arnold can demolish that argument by claiming there is a set of exceptional rules whereby a half-true statement is deemed to be a misrepresentation as laid down in Nottingham Patent Brick Tile Co. v Butler.[21] Moreover, it is submitted that, there is a fiduciary relationship between both of them in which it is held that the party has the duty to disclose all the necessary fact to ensure a fair transaction under the light of Tate v Williamson.[22] By juxtaposing the law and the fact, it is a crucial factor for William to ensure all the necessary facts has been told since it might affect the transaction. As a result, silence in this scenario does give rise to liability at the first glance. In accordance to the ratio of With v O Flanagan, it can also be argued that, whenever there is any occurrence of changes in the circumstances, the party should have check so the existing fact would not be false and misled the party.[23] On the fact, the plan for the hypermarket has been scrapped by the developers to make way for a man-made lake. Based on that, William was in fact, did not check and inform any changes to Arnold before signing the agreement. Also, another vital issue would be to prove whether or not has the statement of fact made by the representor has materially induced the represetee enter into the contract. As per Jessel MR has expressed in Mathias v Yetts: [24] if a man has a material misstatement made to him which way, form its nature, induce him to enter into the contract, it is an inference that he is induced to enter into contract by it. You need not prove it affirmatively. On the fact, The inducement has shown when Arnold actually became interested and gave 10% of the price of the house to William as a down payment after he listened to Williams statements where he described the property is gated and guarded, there will be a hypermarket opening in within 3 months and illustrated it as the most desirable property in the vicinity that is not wholly true. Attwood v Small.[25] Apart from that, William may, at this stage, argue that the statement made must be done directly by the representor to the representee in which the house owner is John whereas he is just merely an innocent third party. Hence, action could not be taken towards William. However, on the grounds of Conlon v Simms whereby it says, the statement made can also be done through an authorised agent.[26] Based on this sense, William as a house broker has acted on behalf of John to deal with William and the statement made by him has indeed misled Arnold to embark into a bad deal. Nonetheless, According to Smith v Chadwick, it is submitted that if the representee knows it is a representation statement, then, it shall not be taken action on misrepresentation.[27] However, it is argued that Arnold does not aware of the statements since he intends to discontinue with the agreement. Afterhe knows the facts told is not true. Henc e, it is prima facie that , in the light of Horsfall v Thomas, the claimant, Arnold can now take action towards William under misrepresentation as all the elements has been satisfied.[28] The next caveat would be to determine which type of misrepresentation can the claimant claim under and the possibility of Arnold to rescind the contract. Type of Misrepresentation It may be submitted that Arnold can claim for his rescission subject to the bars to rescission as he wishes to discontinue with the purchase. It is advised that, Arnold may seek for remedies under Fraudulent Misrepresentation or Negligent Misrepresentation which both has got different components to be proved and the burden of proof lies on the representee. First and foremost, in order to claim under Fraudulent Misrepresentation which is governed under the tort of deceit, it must be proven that the statement made knowingly, without belief in its truth, reckless whether it will be true or false as stated under Derry v Peek.[29] However, in this case, Fraudulent may not be successfully stand as William do not make the statement knowingly as the actual fact is, the plan for the hypermarket has been changed unbeknown to all parties by the developer. Therefore, the claim would unlikely to be successful under Fraudulent Misrepresentation as the standard of proof is rather high. The alternat ive way would be Negligent Misrepresentation under Negligent Misstatement in common law on the grounds of Hedley Bryne v Heller.[30] In order to claim under this type of Misrepresentation, it is needed to prove the existence of special relationship. On the fact, there is special relationship between them are on a dealing of Business. In addition, as laid down in William v Natural Life Health Food, special relationship can be tracked since he possesses special knowledge which in fact he is a house broker.[31] On the fact, it can be argued that, though William maybe believes all the statement made by him to be true, he has the duty to check. On this stage, it may be said that Arnold is at the higher chance to get rescission. William may claim that, there is one possible bar to rescission available which is the lapse of time as described in Leaf v International Galleries On the fact, Arnold has decided to take contractual action only on a week before signing the agreement which the lapse of time argument would not render rescission ineffective. Thus, rescission is still available where he can recover his paid down payment as well if he successfully claims under Negligent Misrepresentation. On another hand, Arnold may also take action against John as he is the owner of the house and do not disclose the defects of the property. On the fact, there have been a few cracks appearing in some parts of the house. However, it is said the representation is made between William and Arnold as a lawful authorised agent. Therefore, misrepresentation could not occur in this scenario. In a nutshell, Arnold as a representee is now at a higher to claim for remedies which are rescission and damages as William has made a false statement of existing fact and that materially induced and misled to Arnold to embark into the contract on the purchase of the property.

Personality Disorders Essay -- Psychology, Mental Health, ASPD

There are personality disorders, and then there are extremely troubling personality disorders that haunt you if you have ever met someone who had one. Antisocial personality disorder would be the latter. Often called sociopaths or psychopaths, individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder exhibit a lack of conscience, and have a complete disregard for the safety of those around them and their self (American Psychological Association [APA], 2000). While half of the teenagers in America exhibit these traits, they are only one part of the criterion for the DSM-IV to diagnose someone with this personality disorder. As adults, individuals with ASPD are often unable to maintain a job or relationships with others as they are irresponsible and they manipulate constantly (APA, 2000). The person also will not plan ahead as they are extremely impulsive, and very aggressive. They do not think of others in the least and can be extremely dangerous. They often fail to conform to social norms and mores. These sociopaths are extremely dangerous because these traits, coupled with a relatively high I.Q., are a deadly combination, if not fueled into the right direction. In order to be diagnosed with ASPD, one has to be age 18, and has to have shown signs of Conduct Disorder, a disorder in which the patient shows early onset ASPD and has chronic aggression since they were at least 15 (APA, 2000). J. Reid Meloy, PhD (2007) those with ASPD have a very limited emotional range. They lack the capacity to feel normal emotions and thus they must fake it. In cases of severe psychopathy, it will be incredibly obvious that the patient has no idea how to experience a mutual, shared emotion (Meloy 2007). Therapy is often thought to not be an option as treat... ...d not character driven, as is the rest of Hollywood. Funnily enough, psychiatrists who often work with patients who are psychopathic are often troubled. They have reported feeling â€Å"the hairs stand up on the back of my neck†, this is known as countertransference. It is a real phenomenon that occurs when there is very real danger nearby. Attempted treatments include benzodiazepines, lithium, fluoxetine, and phenytoin. These medications are often used to treat the aggressive part of the patients’ personality. Those with ASPD are dangerous, whether they are only mildly psychopathic or they are severely psychopathic. Being able to charm and disarm others is their specialty, and special precautions should be taken to protect those that are around those with ASPD. Even though there might be some countertransference, not everyone listens to their visceral aesthetic.

Demonic Possession :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Demonic Possession Belief in the possibility of demonic possession has waned since the advent of sophisticated medical knowledge. What had previously been considered to be examples of control of an individual by a spirit or devil are now commonly accepted as numerous forms of mental illness, easily explained by nervous system activity. If all types of behavior (including emotional states and cognitive states) are produced and mediated solely by the brain, there leaves no potential for such a phenomenon as demonic possession to exist and such cases would clearly be instances of various illnesses. However, neuroscience has not yet been able to explain all of the characteristics common to purported cases of demonic possession ((1). A possessed individual is typically characterized by having strange physical ailments or disfigurements; verbal outbursts, mostly obscene or sacrilegious in nature; violent behavior and vulgar behavior; bodily spasms and contortions; ability to speak languages never before studied; self-mutilation; "superhuman" abilities such as psychic abilities, abnormal strength, or an ability to perform behaviors out of the realm of human possibility such as levitation; cessation of normal bodily functions for periods of time, including breathing and heart beat; and a pronounced revulsion to symbols, places, people, objects, and ceremonies having any religious context. Other phenomena associated with the presence of a demon include an acrid stench; marked decrease in the temperature of the room which a possessed individual occupies; writing appearing out of nowhere; sounds and voices arising from nowhere; and objects moving on their own and destruction of objects in the room, without anyone havin g laid a hand upon them ((2), (3). Despite the striking quality of this description, the expansion of the fields of medicine and psychology has led to diagnoses other than demonic possession for individuals who present circumstances similar to those mentioned above. These sorts of cases are now readily explained in terms of abnormal functioning in the brain and nervous system. There are various disorders which may mimic demonic possession; these include schizophrenia (and other periods of psychosis), dissociative identity disorder, and Tourette syndrome ((4). Schizophrenia is characterized by the presence of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior, affective flattening or inappropriate emotional responses, avolition, and alogia. General psychotic episodes, such as might accompany mood disorders, can also closely simulate a state of demonic possession by hallucinations or delusions. The delusions can be ones of thought insertion, thought broadcasting, delusions of guilt, delusions of grandeur, such as being God (or a demon), or delusions that God (or a demon) is speaking to the person and giving commands for a special mission (5).

Discuss the Aphorism “Small Firm Growth Being the Only Measure of an Entrepreneur’s Success”.

INTRODUCTION Business growth is a good goal for most firms in general and is given great weight by the society. This could be seen with the list conjured up by the media, such as ‘Forbes Fast-Growing Companies’ and ‘Inc Fastest Growing Companies’ lists (Hupato 2011). The reason small firm growth has been prioritised by policy makers and the society is mainly due to its contribution to the economy (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). Small firm and entrepreneurship have so often been linked together, and it has become common to acknowledge that all small firms are established by entrepreneurs.Hence, the terms such as growth, success and performance are often linked in the research of entrepreneurial success (Reijonen & Komppula 2007). However, if entrepreneurship is defined as creation of new economic activity, the aspect of firm growth is already defined the moment the entrepreneur introduced new products or services (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi 2010). In other words, growth is not an aspect of entrepreneurship if growth is measured solely on volume expansion of existing products or through acquisitions of existing business.Schumpeter has also mentioned that one can be entrepreneurial without being self-employed and vice versa (Utsch, Rauch, Rothfufs & Frese 1999). Entrepreneurship remains an enigma till date and the assumption that all small firms are creations of an entrepreneur is arguable. Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi (2010) has described, even a superficial reading on the complexity of small firm growth literature could easily leave the reader confused. Thus, the aphorism of small firm growth being the only measure of an entrepreneur’s success should be looked upon from different perspectives.The dimensions of small firm growth and also the perspectives of entrepreneurial success will be analysed to see the degree of its correlation and to judge how true the mentioned aphorism is. What is small firm growth? Generall y, growth of a business occurs in phases in a small business life cycle. A business venture would normally encounter three-stage development process, namely the ‘seed’ stage, the ‘start-up’ stage and the ‘expansion’ stage (Mukherjee 1992).The ‘seed’ stage brings a well-conceived idea into existence, while the ‘start-up’ stage included employment and accumulating business capital, and the ‘expansion’ stage involves manufacturing or service capacity increment (Mukherjee 1992). On the other hand, Bridge, O’Neill & Martin (2009) has suggested five stages of small firm growth, namely ‘existence’, ‘survival’, ‘success’, ‘take-off’ and ‘maturity’. Helms & Renfrow (1994) has supported the concept of the five stages of various developmental growth stages when they conducted a research in United States.Bridge, O’Neill & Martin (2009) defi ned the five stages as the following: the ‘existence’ stage is similar to the ‘seed’ stage explained previously, while the ‘survival’ stage involves customer familiarisation with the firm’s product or service. The ‘success’ stage is when there are options for further growth, thus the ‘take-off’ stage where the owner opted to grow the business larger. The business will reach the ‘maturity’ stage when it displays the characteristics of a large company.However, the mentioned researchers have concluded that it is difficult to clearly define the business development stages clearly during throughout the business cycle (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). Despite the challenging task to categorise growth, researchers would still generally use the small business growth as indicator of success since it is common parlance to suggest that success requires growth, to stand still is to die (Geneste & Weber 20 11). There are enormous literatures on theories of growth and are most commonly associated with generation of jobs.In the early years, entrepreneurship has been the main focus due to its significant employment opportunities that was created. This reason remained strong today thus gaining the attention from policy-makers in each country. In fact, the number of employees a firm has become an important factor for classifying a small firm (Helms & Renfrow 1994). Research shows that young high-growth firms (also commonly known as ‘gazelles’) generate a large share of all new net jobs (Roper 2012).Robbins, Pantuosco, Parker & Fuller (2000) has also confirmed in their research that a state with large quantity of small business has lower rates of unemployment compared to other states that has little quantity of small businesses. The reason employment rates are valuable in measuring growth is because each firm will grow until they reach the optimal size that corresponds to minim um average cost (Hart 2000). Thus, each firm will continue to employ during its growth stage until it reaches the efficient scale or natural decay.However, other research has proved that it is difficult to measure small firm performance by employee growth. This is due to moderating variables such as outsourcing activities, productivity changes and replacement of employees with capital investments (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). When business grow in this the rapid changing modem world, many production and service functions has been contracted out (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). In other words, a business can grow without having any increase in employment rate.Several academicians argued that sales precede other yardsticks for business growth, as pointed out that it is the increase in sales that necessitates the increase in the number of employees hired (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi 2010). Sales revenue performance is used as small firm’s growth because it mi rrors the consumer’s demand for the product or services provided by the firm (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In this world of constant returns, the consumer’s demand for the product or services determines the limit on the firm’s growth.Sales figures easily reflect both short-term and long-term changes in the firm, hence measuring the growth and performance. However, there are two reasons that deviate sales as business growth yardstick. Firstly, the typical downward sloping demand curve is not applicable in practice. Just as a habitual entrepreneur starts more than one business, a firm can also have product differentiation (Hart 2000). Hence, it is difficult to determine the demand and cost curves in imperfect competition market condition.Secondly, sales are not an accountable measure during first few stages of the business cycle. During the seed and the start-up stage, employment and assets may grow more extensively before any significant sale has been d one (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In this context, assets are in the form tangible ‘fixed’ assets and intangible assets such as of entrepreneur’s knowledge asset, the reputation of the firm (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009) and quantity of registered patents. Hence, business growth could not be measured by sales alone.Looking from another dimension, a firm’s profitability could be suggested as an important measure of growth for the simple reason that a firm is unable to sustain without profits. The difference between maximised sales and maximised profit is that the marginal revenue is zero when sales are maximised but the marginal revenue is positive when profits are maximised (Hart 2000). A firm’s growth on profitability can be considered in term of the net profit margins, return on assets (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005) or return on equity (Durguner & Katchova 2009).High profit margins, return on assets and return on equity p rovide more confidence for shareholders and potential investors to invest in the firm, enhancing business growth. However, growth rates are highly volatile over duration of time and research has shown that there is no evidence of a relationship between growth and profitability (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In accordance, many articles have reached a conclusion that financial measures alone are not sufficient as business growth and performance measure for small firms (Reijonen & Komppula 2007).This is due to the fact that, just as entrepreneurship, small business sector is hardly homogeneous, and not all of these businesses are operating in the same direction. Some research has even shown that not all small firms are even capable or willing to grow (Papadanki & Chami 2002). What is entrepreneurial success? The capability and willingness to grow of small firms are directly influenced by the business owners’ intention to grow and their self-perception of success.In oth er words, the growth of small business is not a self-evident phenomenon, but it is actually driven by the business owner’s motivations and intentions (Morrison, Breen & Ali 2003). Most business decisions are made by owners, and their own personal judgement will impact on the business growth orientation (Geneste & Weber 2011). Consequently, it can be considered that the role of the entrepreneur should be emphasized as the dominant factor of growth (Reijonen & Komppula 2007). An entrepreneur’s motivation for business growth has to be complemented by his or her willingness to grow and assume risks.The risks involved are such as willingness to delegate control functions to others and the uncertainty to produce more output. The researchers found that due to the risks, small business owners are reluctant to grow and perceives profit-maximisation as only one of the motives for business growth (Papadanki & Chami 2002). This argument draws down to the psychological theories of motivation. The McClelland’s theory of needs defined ‘need for achievement’ as â€Å"the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed† (Robbins, Judge, Millet & Boyle 2011).Hence, characteristics of the business owners are linked to the business growth aspirations. In other words, each entrepreneur has their own perception of success depending on their own standard for ‘need for achievement’. To understand the business growth aspirations deeper, the owner’s clusters of traits and behaviours which affect the way they engage in their business activities are examined. The characteristic of the firm owner can be divided into three broad categories, namely ‘life-style’, ‘comfort-zone’ and ‘growth’ (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009).The ‘life-style’ owners are defined to be those who establish the business to provide them a level of income and ha ve no intention for business growth. Geneste & Weber (2011) has identified owners that are not keen to expand their business due to deliberate ‘life-style’ choice, such as the small business atmosphere that engenders comradeship and job satisfaction. The ‘comfort-zone’ owners establish the business and focus on the benefits it can provide for the comfort he or she wants in life and the business growth will be stagnant once the desired comfort level has been achieved.The ‘growth’ owners are the almost ideal business person who maximises the earning potential and continue to grow the business further for the future. Clearly again, the intrinsic motivation of the owner should be examined further in order to understand what entrepreneurial success is. There are many studies that have been conducted to explore an entrepreneur’s intrinsic motivation for his or her business. One piece of research conducted was to compare the start-up motivation s and growth intentions between African-Americans (titled as ‘black’ by the researchers) and Americans (titled as ‘white’ by the researchers).Edelmen, Brush, Manolova & Greene (2010) has conducted a research to investigate new venture among black and white nascent entrepreneurs. In their research, they have discovered three important findings related to business growth. Firstly, nascent entrepreneurs do not associate business establishment outcomes with business growth intention. Secondly, entrepreneurs are motivated to start ventures to fulfil a need for self-realisation. Lastly, it is found that whites are more strongly motivated by the desire for financial success while blacks had higher levels of personal self-confidence.Hypothetically, the findings of this research suggested that blacks inherited the ‘life-style’ motivations while the whites are ‘comfort-zone’ motivated. This research has proved that expected financial outcome s are not as important as noneconomic concern in determining the entrepreneur’s attitude towards growth. The entrepreneurial success is not related to the growth of the firm but for intrinsic satisfaction instead; hence small firm growth should not be the only measure for the entrepreneur’s success.In another piece of research, (Utsch, Rauch, Rothfufs & Frese 1999) has investigated the rapid emergence of entrepreneurs and small firms in East Germany. During the research, the role of personality traits has been clarified and the researchers found an encouraging convergence result in two areas, namely the need for achievement and need for autonomy. In other words, entrepreneurs with high need for autonomy will be more motivated to begin small-scale business ventures and will develop the business further only if they have high need for achievement as well.In parallel to that, Lee & Tai (2010) has conducted a research to investigate the motivators and success of small busi ness in Kazakhstan. Empirical evidence has suggested the entrepreneurs are motivated to achieve financial independence and also to obtain social recognition. This is due to the fact that entrepreneurial endeavours are considered as honourable and also an upgrade on social-status activities. This theory is shows that entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan are more aligned towards the ‘comfort-zone’ characteristics.The mentioned researchers have also concluded that the success of some small firm growth is contributed by the creativity and commitment of all the entrepreneurs. From these two pieces of research, it is further confirmed that entrepreneurs have their own perceptions of success but each individual has different intrinsic motivation to achieve his or her goal, albeit from different geographic locations. Another aspect to consider on perception of entrepreneurial success should be the gender of the owner. Research shows that there are differences across entrepreneur’ s gender on perceptions of success.Male and females entrepreneurs differ in the way they measure their extrinsic and intrinsic dimensions. Previous study has verified that male entrepreneurs tend to emphasize on quantitative measures and economic values while female entrepreneurs emphasize on qualitative measures and social values (Justo, Cruz, de Castro & Coduras 2006). Hypothetically, male entrepreneurs describe success in term of achieving goals while female entrepreneurs define success in terms of doing something fulfilling. The research has also iscovered that the motivation for business success is moderated by the parental status of the entrepreneur. Female entrepreneurs are more motivated venturing into self-employment if they have dependent children under their care and perceived success when they are able to fulfil the need of independence. This hypothesis has been confirmed by Ahmad (2011) when he conducted a research on female entrepreneurs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this piece of research, female entrepreneurship has proved to be influenced by the female entrepreneur wanting to spend more quality family time.For these female entrepreneurs, the perception of success was when the desire for autonomy, independence, self-fulfilment and wealth has been achieved. In short, the gender status of the entrepreneur significantly impact on the perceptions of entrepreneurial success where female entrepreneurs depict more on social values as success. Conclusion In conclusion, the dimensions of small firm growth and the perspectives of entrepreneurial success have been discussed to judge how true the aphorism of entrepreneurial success can only be judged by small firm growth.The different stages of business cycle have been identified and the growth of the business occurs in almost all the phases in the five stages of small firm growth in their own way. Growth is included in many aspects, such as growth of the idea, or the growing numbers of customers, or gene rating more returns from the business. Generally, the measurement of growth is mainly based on quantitative values such as employment rate, business sales and profitability among other yardsticks. However, research shows that small firm growth could not be measured on financial and economical terms only.The rate of employment becomes insignificant as the business can grow without hiring any new employees, while sales do not account for the first couple stages of the business cycle and there might be owners who deviate from the main product or service line. Research has also shown that there are no relationship between profitability and growth. Therefore, the entrepreneur’s perception of success should be moderated to measure small firm success. Three types of small firm owner’s characteristics has been identified, namely the ‘life-style’, ‘comfort-zone’ and ‘growth’.From the few pieces of research that has been examined, most of t he entrepreneurs are found to be ‘life-style’ and ‘comfort-zone’ and rarely the ideal ‘growth’ motivated characteristics. The gender of the entrepreneur will also affect the measuring manner of small firm growth success. Each attribute shows the willingness and capability of each owner to further grow their business. Hence, the entrepreneur’s intrinsic motivation plays a vital role in judging and predicting the small firm success.In this context, the intrinsic motivations are such as the need for achievement, autonomy and self-realisation are more important than business growth intentions. In a nutshell, it can be concluded that small firm growth can be a way to measure entrepreneurial success, but it should be based on the standard or level that the entrepreneur has placed emphasis on instead of strictly on monetary values only. REFERENCES Ahmad, SZ 2011, ‘Evidence of the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Sa udi Arabia’, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 123-143.Bridge, S, O’Neill, K & Martin, F 2009, Understanding enterprise: entrepreneurship and small business, 3rd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. Davidsson, P, Achtenhagen, L & Naldi, L 2005, ‘Research on small firm growth: a review’, 35th EISB Conference, Barcelona. Durguner, S & Katchova, AL 2009, ‘Measure of small business financial performance from a lender and a borrower perspective’, The Business Review, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 24. 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