Effective Leadership Essay

Being an effective leader means learning who you are and what you stand for, and having the courage to act on your values. Moral leadership is quite similar to the concept of servant leadership in that the emphasis and the reward are based in doing for others. A leader serves using an ethical foundation which is then adapted and acted on by followers within the organization. Moral leadership describes how leaders make decisions according to beliefs about right and wrong. A system of morals, or beliefs, is also very personal to leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., displayed courage and moral leadership; Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the eldest son of Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister and Alberta Williams King. King attended local segregated public school. He entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1948. After graduating with honors from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951, he went to Boston University where he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology in 1955. Throughout his education, King was exposed to influences that related Christian theology to the struggles of oppressed people. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., operated on moral leadership, distinguishing right from wrong and doing right, seeking the just, the honest, the good, and the right conduct in achieving goals and fulfilling purpose. In May of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference staff escalated anti-segregation marches in Birmingham by encouraging teenagers and school children to join. Hundreds of singing children filled the streets of downtown Birmingham, angering Sheriff Bull Connor, who sent police officers with attack dogs and firefighters with high-pressure water hoses against the marchers. Scenes of young protesters being attacked by dogs and pinned against buildings by torrents of water from fire hoses were shown in newspapers and television around the world. During the demonstration, King was arrested and sent to jail. He wrote a letter from his jail cell to local clergymen who had criticized him for creating disorder in the city. His â€Å"Letter from Birmingham City Jail† which argued that individuals had the moral right and responsibility to disobey unjust laws, was widely read at the time and added to King’s standing as a moral leader. The demonstration forced white leaders to negotiate and end some form of segregation in Birmingham. Even more important, the protest encouraged many Americans to support national legislation against segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders organized the 1963 March on Washington, a massive protest in Washington, D.C, for jobs and civil rights. On August 28, 1963, King delivered the keynote address to an audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. His â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech expressed the hopes of the Civil Rights Movement in oratory as moving as any in American history: â€Å" I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: â€Å" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. â€Å" I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character†. The speech and the march built on the Birmingham demonstration to create the political momentum that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in public accommodations, as well as discrimination in education and employment. As a result of King’s effectiveness as a leader of the American Civil rights Movement and his highly visible moral and courage stance he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for peace.

Notes on Sales and Marketing

Create a Marketing Plan A good marketing plan can shape the way you connect to your existing customers and attract new ones. It can also help you determine the types of customers you should target, how to reach them and how to track the results so you learn what works to increase business. If you don't have a marketing plan, creating one is not difficult. A successful marketing plan doesn't have to be complex or lengthy, but should contain enough information to help you establish, direct and coordinate your marketing efforts.To help you through the process, we've identified five steps to follow. These encompass information gathering before you write your marketing plan, the drafting of the plan itself, and updating the plan after you've created it. Along the way we use Margie's Travel, a new 25-person travel service company, as an example. Step 1: Position your product or services To start your plan, keep in mind the four â€Å"Ps† of marketing: product, price, promotion and p lace. Your goal is to put the right product or service in front of the right customers, at the right price and at the right time and place.A good way to get started is to answer some basic questions about your business. The following scenario for Step 1 is based on the marketing plan used by Margie's Travel. †¢| Who are you selling to? Margie's Travel provides personal travel services to busy working professionals. Based on collected data, the typical clients are homeowners between the ages of 35 and 55, with yearly incomes of more than US$100,000. | †¢| What do those customers need? The target market for Margie's Travel is affluent working couples with children who want travel plans customised for a family.The company's goal is to provide convenient, unique and relaxing travel experiences appropriate to each family. | †¢| What distinguishes your product or service from the competition? Margie's Travel has a competitive advantage in its ability to accommodate families with children of all ages, from putting together fun and entertaining travel packages to making special accommodation travel plans with short or extended notice, flying domestically or internationally. Margie's Travel also has the advantage of being a home-based business that equires lower overhead and start-up costs than a traditional travel service business. | †¢| Are there marketing tactics that work best for your business? Research indicates that the most effective advertising tool for a service like Margie's Travel is small display ads in local papers, such as a weekly community newspaper with a paid subscription base of 5,000 to 40,000 readers. Margie's Travel also places ads in the local boating community newsletter, and sends brochures to larger businesses. By answering these key questions about your business, you can develop a solid foundation on which to build your marketing plan. Step 2: Ask for input from trusted advisors To ensure that you have a clear sense of yo ur own business, it is a valuable practise to gather information from those around you. Set up meetings with trusted friends, staff, advisors and peers, and ask for their input on the following: †¢| Who is your business selling to? | †¢| What do your customers need? | †¢| What distinguishes your products or services from the competition? | †¢| When and how often should you employ marketing efforts? †¢| Where should your company be one year from now? | Getting feedback on these aspects of your business can help you prepare your marketing strategy as well as create targeted materials. Step 3: Ask for input from customers and prospective customers To successfully market to customers, you need to learn how they react to your product, pricing, brand or service — anything related to your business. Ask several of your current and prospective customers what they think about your business, products and services, potential to sell to them, and competitors.You c an ask them by e-mail, telephone or marketing postcards. Incentives, such as discounts or samples, can encourage feedback. Step 4: Draft your plan Now that you have feedback and an outline, you can draft your marketing plan. Start by summarising your market position and goals, and define what you expect to accomplish in a specific time period. A typical marketing plan might be organised in the following way: †¢| Market Summary| †¢| Competitive Landscape| †¢| Product Comparison and Positioning| †¢| Communication Strategies| †¢| Launch Strategies| | Packaging and Fulfillment| †¢| Success Metrics| †¢| Marketing Schedule| With a marketing plan in place, you have a structure you can use to help keep your business on track. Step 5: Track your results, update your plan Reviewing your plan every six months helps you determine whether it is producing the results you need. You can easily track your progress with a spreadsheet, where you can also calculate yo ur marketing costs and compare them with sales and other metrics. You should also update your plan regularly to respond to changing market

Radiobiology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Radiobiology - Essay Example The smallest structural and functional component of protoplasm that can exist freely is the cell (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 485). It is just necessary to study the effects of radiation at the cellular level to truly understand the factors that affect biological tissues. Cells are of two types - somatic cells and germ cells. Of these somatic cells have three subtypes - stem cells (cells that generate other cells through differentiation), transit cells (cells that are in the state of being transformed from one type of cell to another) and mature cells (cells that are fully differentiated and are relatively stable in that state) (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 487). Somatic cells proliferate through two well-defined time periods - mitosis (M), when cell division takes place while maintaining the species chromosome number; and the period of DNA synthesis (S). (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 487). Before S, there is a gap (rest period) when DNA is not yet synthesized. After S there i s another gap (when DNA is synthesized but other metabolic processes are taking place). After M takes place. Thus, the cell proliferation cycle is - S M. In time this whole process is - (1-8h) S (6-8h) (2-4h) M (>1h) (h = hours). Thus, the entire cell proliferation cycle can take between 10 to 20 hrs (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 487). When there is death among non-prol... 487). It is notable that cells are the most vulnerable to radiation (radiosensitive) in the M and phases while they are the most resistant in the late S phase (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 487). When there is death among non-proliferating cells (static) there is said to be loss of a specific bodily function while death of proliferating cells such as stem cells and others are taken to be loss of reproductive integrity (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 487). In cases where a certain radiation-damaged cell survives and begins to proliferate indefinitely it is termed as a 'clonogenic' cell (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 487) with changed cellular characteristics (the change is to the DNA components of the cell). Radiation Characteristics: When cells are exposed to radiation the usual physical effects of the radiation on the atoms and molecules of the cells is immediate. Effects on biological function may follow later. Radiation effects on biological function are most pronounced when there is structural damage to DNA - the most critical target within cells (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 488). It is obvious that some physical factor defines the quality of the ionizing radiation beam that may damage biological tissue. In radiobiology and radiation protection this physical factor is the 'linear energy transfer (LET). According to the ICRU it may be defined as - "LET of charged particles in a medium is the quotient dE/dl, where dE is the average energy locally imparted to the medium by a charged particle of specified energy in traversing a distance of dl." (Suntharalingam et al, 2005, p. 486) Thus, the impact that radiated packets may have with the atoms and molecules of the biological tissues is not as important as the

Critical review of benefit estimation and sensitivity and risk Literature

Critical of benefit estimation and sensitivity and risk analysis in relation to road projects - Literature review Example Financial benefits cover only monetary benefits while economic benefits cover both financial and non-financial. Economic benefits are also called social benefits. In general, one can assert that that there are no big issues with regard to monetary benefits estimation. However, estimation of economic benefits can be problematic. Estimation of economic benefits can be described as valuation. A distinct approach to valuation of projects and initiatives is one by Musgrave and Musgrave (1989, p. 137-143). In Musgrave and Musgrave’s approach, the value of projects and initiatives can be assessed based on gross benefits and costs. Based on gross benefits and costs, some of the fundamental measures that can be used to assess the value of a project or initiative can be the present value of net benefits, benefit-cost ratio, and internal rate of return. Other supplementary measures that can be used are measures such as the payback period. Lately, however, the World Bank has been reported to be shying away from these measures and have emphasized instead on the need to focus on objectives, particularly in defining and justifying objectives, and pointing out that a project or initiative is the least cost way of attaining the objectives (McElhinny 2010, p. 1). Nevertheless, economic benefit-cost analysis is still widely used by many countries of Europe (Odgaard et al. 2005, p. 18). Government agencies of the United States still use cost-benefit or benefit-cost analyses (Federal Emergency Management Agency 2006). Project proponents of the Asian Development Bank continue to use cost-benefit analysis to highlight the merit or lack of merit of a proposed project or activity (Infrastructure Professionals Enterprise Private Limited and Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited 2009, p. 21-27). In the United Kingdom, however, His Majesty’s Treasury (2005, p. 47) expressed a preference for cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) in which the objectives may be qualitative targets vis-a-vis the emphasis of cost-benefit or benefit-cost analysis on monetized values. An approach to appraisal that emphasizes on objectives like the CEA is the 2007 Asian Development Bank interim guidelines for enhancing poverty reduction impact of road construction projects (Kafle 2007). Musgrave and Musgrave (1989, p. 137-143) pointed out that benefits and costs can be real or pecuniary, direct or indirect, tangible or intangible, and inside or outside. Economic benefit assessments consider on real benefits and costs. Further, what differentiates economic from financial valuation is the inclusion of intangibles in the former while the latter consider only items that are tangible or those that have immediate monetary values in the market. The approach of Musgrave and Musgrave (1989) differs in a major way from the perspective of Stiglitz (2000) on economic valuation. Like Stiglitz, Musgrave and Musgrave attempt to assign or provide monetary estimates on intangi bles. However, unlike Stiglitz, Musgrave and Musgrave concede that there intangibles in which assignment or estimation of monetary values are inappropriate (1989, p. 140) and points that the political process can make the decision on the provision of the good or execution of the initiative. In contrast, the perspective of Stiglitz (2000, p. 274) insists that values should be monetized. The Stiglitz framework is clear based on how he defined economic valuation, which is â€Å"developing systematic ways of analyzing costs and benefits when

Manage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Manage - Essay Example To retweet (verb) intends to send another persons tweet to the followers (Mann & Stewart, 2011). Retweeting is a typical action on Twitter and mirrors the ubiquity of individual tweets. Unfollow - To unfollow on Twitter intends to quit subscribing or following someone elses tweets. You unfollow individuals by clicking on "follow" on your home page to see your followings (Walther, 2012). Mouse over "follow" to one side of any clients name and click the red "Unfollow" button. Tweet - Tweet is a message posted on Twitter with 140 or fewer characters, likewise called a post or an update. Tweet (verb) intends to send a tweet (i.e., post, upgrade, and message) by means of Twitter (Walther, 2012). Favorites- Favoriting a Tweet demonstrates that you preferred a particular Tweet. One can discover the greater part of anothers most loved Tweets by tapping on the top choices interface on their profile page (Hine, 2010). Summary- King James is one the most sensitive athletes when it comes to his usage of twitter. His motives in the social site are often geared towards less sensitive issues and far from issues that can spur discussions. His tweets are based on issues that nobody can doubt or question, for instance, the tweets â€Å"lest change the world† and â€Å"the best ahead† are general. He employs the use of positive energy by using the tweets like â€Å"serve and protect. King James has been keen not to generate hatred or questions from his fans. Analysis- He uses twitter to gunner support and motivation to succeed from his fans. Besides being a sportsman, he uses the handle to create a need among his followers to respect God and have a reason to life. King uses the technology, not for professional relationships in most cases but to stay close to his fans and updating them on what to expect in a match. The organization uses twitter mainly for promotion purposes. It seeks to ensure a solid support from its

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

Marketing Management - Essay Example When the consumer paid this price he was assured of top grade quality, hence he did not mind shelling out a low price compared to the retail price of a CD. He could also burn his own CDs and since he could do it several times the final cost was negligible when compared to the quality of the product he got. 3 Promotion. Image plays a very important role. Whether it is the image of the product which enhances value or status or the image of the buyer when he acquires a product or service, both factors are extremely important for the buyer in arriving at a purchase decision. iTune was certainly something one could possess with pride. The mere ownership carried a premium as the performance was superior to any other product in the market. 4 Place or Time of offer. It is of great value to the buyer if a product or service is offered to him at a place and time that suits him. This is a particularly relevant feature in on-line sales of products as accessibility from anywhere and at anytime is the greatest attraction of such trades. The method of access devised by iTunes was simple and easy to manage. There were no messy subscriptions and the download was quick and fast. The ease of access and use were fascinating for the user hence this became a useful factor in the popularity of the product. Although each of the above factors was well exploited by Apple yet iTune became popular mainly because of two of above factors. Firstly the product offered an opportunity to customers to acquire CD grade music from the net; a facility offered by the P2P service like Napster that was closed down by the law denying the pleasure of getting high class music files online. The second was the Place and Time of offer that offered the convenience of acquisition at one’s choice. Among its rivals the closest ones also took advantage of the above factors but they relied more heavily on price cutting like in the case of Music.com who

Why Do We Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Why Do We Care - Essay Example This can be affirmed in delving into the broad spectrum of career paths that it offers- geologists, meteorologists, demographists, surveyors and many more professional fields. (Macmillan, 18). Through it we gain the requisite knowledge in understanding the various natural phenomena that occur. In the long run we are able to combat and curb the disaster levels. A student well endowed in the geographical world would for instance be able to make a very successful farmer by the knowledge of disaster management in terms of floods and draught as well as predictability of climate in climatology. Geography also plays a role in urbanization by affirming good and suitable areas for building; this can be related to geology and topography. Therefore, students are equipped with the understanding of development i.e. play a very vital role in architecture and Engineering. As we rap up, it is very evident that Geography is a key component of study that delves into student’s endeavors. It is a herb that greatly offers a variety of professional choices as well as equipping the learner to face the world at an added

Balanced Scoreboards Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Balanced Scoreboards - Research Paper Example Given that patients show that they are satisfied with the level of communication between them and the nurses, the hospital has been concerned about communication. As part of accomplishing its goals, the management has decided to consider communication as one of the priority areas to help it in doing so (Lawrie; Kalff & Andersen, 2005). The hospital is focused on the patients because they are the ones who are considered as clients. Without them, nothing can be achieved. Therefore, by establishing a culture of effective communication, their needs will be addressed without many constraints. However, for the higher scores, the hospital needs to make improvements in its areas of weakness. Although it has set good strategies, a lot still need to be done in order to perfect communication between the nurses and the patients. For this reason, it is suggested that it should train nurses to be critical listeners who consult their patients. Many clients complained of being ignored while making important decisions about their health. However, this is quite discouraging because they feel neglected (Zaffron & Steve, 2009). So, for the communication process to be enhanced, the nurses should adopt the culture of consultation before giving out any prescription or treatment. Otherwise, they will be violating the principle of informed consent. The area that seems to be doing well, based on the balanced scorecard, is interpersonal communication. The nurses have embraced the culture of critical listening and persuasiveness. This has established a good rapport between them and the patients. The other area is about intercultural communication. Although the facility serves people from diverse cultural backgrounds, they have been made comfortable by being culturally diversified. Meaning, everyone is given a special treatment that does not go against their cultural

Should regulations for home schools be changed Essay

Should regulations for home schools be changed - Essay Example Homeschooling should be a permissible option, but it should be strictly regulated, not based on academic curriculum but based on some basic skills acquired by a child for normal living. For example, occasional tests can ensure a child is exposed to alternative ideas in religion and culture. Conducting personal interviews with a child to examine its language, general knowledge and math skills are up to the mark will also help. Regulations need not target when, where and how a child should be educated as the whole point of home schooling is to teach outside the classroom. Biological facts can be learned anywhere from farms and kitchen to garden while language classes can extend to theatres and libraries. Some parents can choose to educate their children based on their interest instead of making them spend time in all regular subjects. So the curriculum and the way of teaching should be left to the parent’s choice. But, care should be taken to ensure every kid is progressing constantly in their selected field. Background of Homeschooling Before getting into the debate whether the regulations for home schooling should be changed let us see the origin of homeschooling the US. People have been training children in their homes for centuries. Modern schools started to appear widely only in the beginning of this century. However many people started to doubt the reliability of the education provided in the modern public and private schools by 1960's. Modern homeschooling movements especially religion based ones started to appear opposing the governments stand to send every child to school. Conservatives felt public and private schools have sold themselves to secularism and their children should not be forced to attend them. By early 1990 home schooling movements have won the right to educate their children in all the states. Though each country has different laws regarding home schooling, all of them permit both religion based as well as non-religious home schooling. Homeschooling is quite popular among conservative familie s in the Great Britain and a few selected groups in Germany. But only a few thousands are home schooled in Great Britain while nearly 200 children are homeschooled in Germany (Rhodes, 2012). The number is very high in the US only compared to any other country in the world. Though it might seem like only celebrity kids like Jaden Smith and Cheyenne Kimball are being homeschooled, the reality is much different. Students from all economic background are being homeschooled. Some are homeschooled for special needs because they are slow learners or have physical disabilities. Others are homeschooled because their parents have practical issues in commuting or ethical issues with the way the public and the private schools operate (Klicka, 2004). With security concerns in many public schools being an issue and student massacres like in Connecticut becoming very common many parents feel it safe to educate their children on their own. Differing State Laws Homeschooling parents do not have a st andard regulation all through the nation. Certain states like Pennsylvania and New York have appointed various agencies to oversee the homeschooling parents. The parents have to submit everything from the academic curriculum they are choosing to the personal qualification of the tutor to the state recognition. The students should take up private

Focus on the Learner Essay Example for Free

Focus on the Learner Essay Muftah, married with four children, is a pleasant student who is struggling in class. Muftah did not receive any English in secondary school or university. He worked as a Physical Education teacher for two years, and then was employed with the Ministry of Youth and Sports for twenty years. In his years of employment, Muftah never needed to speak or write in English until about two years ago, when he started attending International House. He says that he is now learning English because he has a lot of time on his hands. Muftah prefers to study at home, not with friends. He says that he does not focus on reading or writing; but, he enjoys practicing his speaking skills with his fourteen year old son because that’s where he feels he needs improvement. Muftah sees this as an opportunity to bond with, and encourage, his son because Muftah never got this chance when he was younger. When asked if he is interested in working in a company in the future to maintain his English, he said that he will think about it. Muftah joined International House around two years ago and has had no previous official English education. He studies English for fun and to bond with his children who are now studying English in school; so, he regards English as a social tool rather than one to grow career wise. Muftah is very cooperative in class and participates from time to time. He enjoys group work but prefers to work in pairs because he feels he learns more than when he is with a group of people. Muftah’s strengths are in reading and comprehension. In a scanning activity, he responded accurately when asked to read a letter for one minute and reply to three questions: who sent it, where was it sent from, whom was it sent to. In controlled practice of a reading text, he answers fairly accurately when working on column matching or multiple choice exercises. However, when reading longer texts, (e.g. a newspaper article on eating healthy) he finds difficulty in responding accurately and correctly, yet he seems to put things into context and tell briefly what the piece is about. His teacher says that he sometimes leans towards looking for the answer in Arabic from peers and is the least confident in class; so, he may need to be told to engage fully in English. In addition to his less obvious weakness in skimming texts, Muftah displayed mistakes which were typical to those of an Arab learner in pronunciation and grammar. When conducting a pronunciation exercise, his vowels were incorrectly placed most of the time; this may be due to interference from his L1 because Arabic has a different number of vowel sounds from English. Wednesday: /wenÉ ªzde/ scholastic: /skÉ’lstÉ ªk/ sporadic: /spÉ’rdÉ ªk/ Thursday: /teresde/ Shirt: /ÊÆ'eÉ ªrt/ socks: /sÊÅ'ks/ clothes: /klÉ’dÉ ªs/ Department: /dÉ ªpà ¦rtÉ™mÉ ªnt/ Management: /mà ¦nÉ ªÃŠâ€™mÉ ªnt/ January: /Ê’Ã ¦nu:wÉ™rÉ ª/ Also sounds such as /v/, /p/ and /Ê ¤/ were not accurate on the first attempt and replaced with a /f/ and /b/ and /Ê’/ respectively; this is due to the absence of these sounds in the Libyan dialect. In grammar, his auxiliary verbs are either lacking or placed incorrectly, for example: ‘Where you live?’ and ‘What you doing?’; however, if he is asked to repeat, he will acknowledge his mistake and self-correct it. Again, this is due to not having auxiliary verbs in Arabic, just question words. In an attempt to strengthen his skimming skills, Muftah may buy an English newspaper on his way to work (or borrow a magazine from the school library), pick an article, and try to summarize it with his son. At the end of the week, he may hand it to his teacher for homework to check, and attach a list of new vocabulary he learned from the article. That way he can develop his repertoire of vocabulary, and, at the same time, improve his reading and writing skills. If he hands in the homework three weeks in a row, he can have a break the fourth week to celebrate his accomplishment with his son. Another area I would focus on strengthening is forming the interrogative with auxiliary verbs. Divide a poster board into four (or more) categories: sports, music, animals, and history. Each category is colour-coded and should have four to five envelopes under it. In each envelope there is either a name of a personality, an important event, etc. On each envelope there is the number of points to be won, if participant answers correctly, e.g. 100, 200, 300, etc. To play the game, you will need three persons, player A, player B and a referee. The referee stands by the poster board to take out the card that the players choose. The player will then start to ask 5 questions (yes/no questions or wh- questions) to guess what is on the card. For example, in the Sports category, the card may hold Tiger Woods’ name (or another regionally familiar athlete), so player A will ask the referee: Is it a man or a woman? What game does he play? Where is he from? Does he still pay? If he guesses correctly, he gets the points if not; then, a chance is given to player B to gain the points. If neither player guesses correctly, no points are given and they can try again later.

Plant DCL Proteins

Plant DCL Proteins Abstract Dicer, a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-specific endoribonuclease, plays an essential role in triggering both transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene silencing in eukaryotes by cleaving dsRNAs or single-stranded RNAs bearing stem-loop structures such as microRNA precursor transcripts into 21- to 24-nt small RNAs. Unlike animals, plants have evolved to utilize at least four Dicer-like (DCL) proteins. Extensive genetic studies have revealed that each DCL protein participates in a specific gene silencing pathway, with some redundancy. However, a mechanistic understanding of how the specific action of each DCL protein is regulated in its respective pathway is still in its infancy due to the limited number of biochemical studies on plant DCL proteins. In this review, we summarize and discuss the biochemical properties of plant DCL proteins revealed by studies using highly purified recombinant proteins, crude extracts, and immunoprecipitates. With help from co-factor proteins and an ATP ase/DExH-box RNA-helicase domain, the microRNA-producing enzyme DCL1 recognizes bulges and terminal loop structures in its substrate transcripts to ensure accurate and efficient processing. DCL4 prefers long dsRNA substrates and requires the dsRNA-binding protein DRB4 for its activity. The short-dsRNA preference of DCL3 is well suited for short-RNA transcription and subsequent dsRNA formation by coupling between a plant-specific DNA-dependent RNA-polymerase IV and RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase 2 in the transcriptional gene silencing pathway. Inorganic phosphate also seems to play a role in differential regulation of DCL3 and DCL4 activities. Further development of biochemical approaches will be necessary for better understanding of how plant DCL proteins are fine-tuned in each small RNA biogenesis pathway under various physiological conditions. Introduction RNA silencing, also known as RNA interference (RNAi), is one of the fundamental molecular mechanisms conserved in most eukaryotes to regulate gene expression both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally. In both situations, what triggers the RNA silencing pathway is a small RNA molecule, 21 to 24 nt in length, called small interfering RNA (siRNA) or microRNA (miRNA) depending on its origin and the downstream pathways involved. The class 3 endoribonuclease (RNase) III enzymes known as Dicer are responsible for producing siRNA from longer double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) and miRNA from single-stranded RNAs with internal stem-loop structures   by a dsRNA-specific endoribonuclease. Therefore, the activity and regulation of Dicer-family proteins in a cell are vital to many biological processes requiring flexible adjustments at the level of gene expression, such as development, organogenesis, the circadian rhythm, biotic and abiotic stress responses, and defense against viruses an d transposons. Biochemical characterization of Dicers in animals The Dicer family is a unique class of RNase III enzymes due to the presence of an ATPase/DExD/H-box helicase domain at the N-terminus, a Piwi/Argonaute/Zwille (PAZ) domain in the middle and dual RNase III domains followed by one or two dsRNA-binding domains in the C-terminal half (exception: Giardia intestinalis) (Figure 1) (Bernstein et al. 2001). In general, the helicase domain serves as a protein-protein interaction surface recruiting co-factor regulatory proteins (Lee et al. 2006; Ma et al. 2008; Ye et al. 2007). It also utilizes ATP hydrolysis to achieve processive cleavage of the long dsRNA substrate (Cenik et al. 2011; Welker et al. 2010). The PAZ domain contains a conserved pocket for recognizing the terminus of the dsRNA substrate, and the distance between PAZ and the RNase III catalytic center determines the product sizes (MacRae et al. 2007; MacRae et al. 2006). Each of the two RNase III domains cuts one of the dsRNA strands, leaving a characteristic 2-nt overhang at 3-end of the product (Elbashir et al. 2001; Takeshita et al. 2007; Zhang et al. 2004). The C-terminal dsRNA-binding domains (dsRBDs) serve as a protein-protein interaction interface and nuclear localization signals, in addition to having dsRNA-binding function (Doyle et al. 2013; Hiraguri et al. 2005; Wostenberg et al. 2012). The specific functionality of each domain differs depending on the Dicer protein. Since the first demonstration of in vitro small RNA-producing activity of Dicer in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Bernstein et al. 2001), its biochemical properties and regulatory machinery have been extensively studied in humans, D. melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. In humans, there is only one Dicer-family protein (hDicer), which cleaves short-hairpin pre-miRNAs produced by Drosha and dsRNA substrates into 20- to 22-nt small RNAs in an ATP-independent manner (Myers et al. 2003; Provost et al. 2002; Zhang et al. 2002). The cleavage activity requires a divalent metal cation such as Mg2+, Co2+ or Mn2+, and recognizes mainly the 5-end of the substrate to dictate the product length (Park et al. 2011). This 5-counting rule is reliant on the conserved 3-pocket motif within the PAZ domain and the 5-pocket motif, which is less conserved in Dicers of other eukaryotes. The binding of Dicer to a dsRNA substrate and its cleavage are uncoupled, because Dicer can bind to dsRNA with out Mg2+ or under low temperature (Provost et al. 2002; Zhang et al. 2002). The helicase domain of hDicer has an autoinhibitory function (Ma et al. 2008). In line with this, the activity of recombinant full-length hDicer protein can be improved under limited proteolytic conditions (Zhang et al. 2002). hDicer is responsible for both siRNA and miRNA production, and co-factor dsRNA-binding proteins TRBP and PACT dictate hDicer function in the two distinct small RNA production pathways (Chendrimada et al. 2005; Haase et al. 2005; Kok et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2013; Lee et al. 2006). In particular, the hDicer complex containing PACT disfavors siRNA precursor dsRNA and shows different cleavage patterns on the same pre-miRNA substrate than the hDicer-TRBP complex (Lee et al. 2013). The interaction with TRBP occurs through the hDicer helicase domain, and stimulates the hDicers catalytic activity. (Ma et al. 2008). Similarly, it has been reported that the C. elegans Dcr-1 interacts with a dsRNA-binding protein RDE-4 which enhances the Dicer activity toward long dsRNA substrates in siRNA production, while RDE-4 is apparently dispensable in miRNA production pathway (Parker et al. 2006; Parker et al. 2008; Tabara et al. 2002). D. melanogaster has two Dicer proteins, Dcr-1 and Dcr-2, which produce miRNA and siRNA, respectively (Lee et al. 2004; Miyoshi et al. 2010). Dcr-1 alone can process dsRNA into siRNA in vitro, but its interaction with the dsRNA-binding protein Loquacious isoform PB (Loqs-PB) confers pre-miRNA substrate specificity to the Dcr-1-Loqs complex by suppressing cleavage of long perfect dsRNAs and enhancing pre-miRNA processing activity (Saito et al. 2005; Zhou et al. 2009). Dcr-2 interacts with Loqs isoform PD and another dsRNA-binding protein, R2D2, in the siRNA production pathway (Liu et al. 2003; Liu et al. 2006; Miyoshi et al. 2010; Zhou et al. 2009). Dcr-2 alone is also capable of cleaving a pre-miRNA precursor in an ATP-independent manner, but R2D2 significantly suppresses Dcr-2 activity toward pre-miRNA, whereas Loqs-PD enhances the cleavage activity of Dcr-2 toward long perfect dsRNA precursors by boosting its affinity to the substrate (Cenik et al. 2011; Miyoshi et al. 2010). The pr ocessive processing of long dsRNA substrates by Dcr-2 depends on ATP hydrolysis by its ATPase/helicase domain, implying that one of the functions of the helicase domain is to allow Dcr-2 to produce multiple siRNAs from a single long dsRNA molecule before it dissociates from the substrate (Cenik et al. 2011). Such differential regulation of Dicer activity through specific interaction with co-factor dsRNA-binding proteins in distinct pathways is commonly found in most of the systems studied, including plants. DCL proteins in plants Plant genomes contain at least four distinct classes of DCL family proteins (DCL1-4). Like their animal counterparts, each class of DCL has evolved to participate in its primary pathway (Figure 2), but the three siRNA-producing DCLs (DCL2-4) function redundantly as well, because defects in one class of DCL can be compensated for by other classes in some cases (Gasciolli et al. 2005; Mukherjee et al. 2013; Xie et al. 2004). Because DCL1 is the only Dicer protein that produces most 21-nt miRNAs (Kurihara and Watanabe 2004; Reinhart et al. 2002), knockout mutants of DCL1 are embryonic lethal (Schauer et al. 2002). DCL4 is the major producer of 21-nt antiviral siRNA and endogenous siRNAs such as trans-acting siRNA and phased siRNAs (phasiRNA) (Bouche et al. 2006; Gasciolli et al. 2005; Mukherjee et al. 2013; Qu et al. 2008; Xie et al. 2005; Yoshikawa et al. 2005). DCL2 can compensate for the loss of DCL4 (Bouche et al. 2006; Gasciolli et al. 2005; Parent et al. 2015), although its major function remains unclear. DCL3 mainly produces 24-nt repeat-associated siRNAs derived from transposons and DNA repetitive elements, and participates in transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) through RNA-dependent DNA methylation, suppressing proliferation of these elements (Henderson et al. 2006; Pontes et al. 2006; Xie et al. 2004). In addition to the four classes of DCLs, monocots have another distinct class of Dicer, DCL5 (also known as DCL3b) (Margis et al. 2006). DCL5 is specifically expressed in developing panicles and is responsible for 24-nt reproductive phasiRNAs, although the biological significance of a reproductive-organ-specific 24-nt phasiRNA pathway mediated by this specific Dicer remains to be elucidated (Borges and Martienssen 2015; Fei et al. 2013; Kapoor et al. 2008; Song et al. 2012). This pathway might be analogous to the Dicer-independent PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway in vertebrates, which suppresses transposons and other genes specifically in germlines (H irakata and Siomi 2016). Both forward and reverse genetics and physiological studies have successfully dissected the major RNA silencing pathways and allowed identification of the function of DCL genes in each pathway in plants. However, investigations on the molecular and enzymatic characteristics underlying the functional diversification and specificity of the DCL proteins are still in their infancy. Detection of DCL activity in crude extracts of various plants Biochemical characterization of plant Dicer activity was first demonstrated in wheat germ extract (monocot) and cauliflower extract (dicot), which contain multiple DCL activities producing ~21 nt and ~24 nt small RNAs with 2-nt 3-overhangs in the double-stranded form (Tang et al. 2003). These activities are weaker in the absence of ATP, consistent with characteristics of Dicer family proteins from Drosophila and C. elegans. Long dsRNA competitors effectively suppress both activities in wheat germ extract. The 24-nt small RNA producing activity was inhibited by 25-nt synthetic siRNA duplexes, whereas 21-nt small RNA production was unaffected by 21-nt synthetic siRNA duplex competitors, suggesting that two different enzymes with active sites that have distinct size-dependent binding properties are in the wheat germ extract (Tang et al. 2003). A recent study on wheat germ extract characterized these activities in further detail, revealing (1) that the 21-nt activity could be found in a much larger (~950 kDa) complex than the 24-nt activity, which had maximum activity in an approximately 450 kDa complex; and (2) the biochemical properties associated with the activities, such as divalent cation and NTP requirements, optimum NaCl concentration, temperature, and pH, and substrate length dependence (Shivaprasad et al. 2015). The identities of the DCL enzymes responsible for these activities in the wheat germ extract remain to be identified. A better understanding of the biochemical characteristics of individual plant Dicer proteins has come from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which has four DCL proteins: DCL1, DCL2, DCL3 and DCL4 (summarized in Table 1). The first in vitro DCL activity in A. thaliana was demonstrated using a suspension cell lysate, a crude extract of inflorescence tissue, and an immunoaffinity-purified protein complex (Qi et al. 2005). Similar to the previous study using wheat germ extract or cauliflower, extracts from both Arabidopsis cultured cells and inflorescence tissue contained DCL dsRNA-cleaving activity producing 21- and 24-nt small RNAs from 400-bp dsRNA (Qi et al. 2005). The 21-nt producing activity and 24-nt producing activity were found in >660 kDa and ~400 kDa fractions, respectively, suggesting that these Dicers reside in protein complexes composed of multiple co-factors (Qi et al. 2005). In agreement with previous genetic studies showing CARPEL FACTORY/DCL1 is responsible for 21-nt miRNA production in vivo (Kurihara and Watanabe 2004; Reinhart et al. 2002), the 21-nt small RNA producing activity was DCL1 immunoaffinity-purified from inflorescence-derived crude extract by an anti-DCL1 antibody (Qi et al. 2005). The 24-nt activity was associated with anti-DCL3 antibody immunoprecipitate, and the activity was abolished when purified from a dcl3-1 mutant, showing that DCL3 is responsible for the 24-nt activity in Arabidopsis inflorescence extract. The immunoaffinity-purified DCL1 activity required ATP, whereas the activity of the DCL3 immunoprecipitate was ATP-independent (Qi et al. 2005). Interestingly, the dcl1-7 mutation did not abolish the 21-nt small RNA producing activity in the extract or immunoprecipitates, implying that the substitution (P415S) in its N-terminal helicase domain did not alter the enzymes catalytic activity itself (Qi et al. 2005); this study also found that the activity of DCL4 responsible for formation of 21-nt siRNA was present in the inflorescence extract. The presence of DCL4 activity in an Arabidopsis crude extract was demonstrated in later studies using 2-week-old seedlings as the starting material (Fukudome et al. 2011; Nagano et al. 2014), and will be discussed later in this review. In-depth biochemical characterization of DCL1, a microRNA-producing enzyme in plants  DCL1 activity requires DRB1/HYL1 and SERRATE for accurate processing of the miRNA precursor Both in wheat germ and Arabidopsis extracts, DCL activities are associated with size fractions larger than DCL monomeric form, implying that these DCLs form functional protein complexes composed of multiple co-factors in vivo. As summarized in an earlier section, such interactions between a Dicer and a co-factor protein are commonly found in mammals, nematodes and insects. One of the most characterized classes of co-factor proteins is a dsRNA-binding protein (dsRBP) harboring multiple dsRNA-binding domains or motifs. The A. thaliana genome encodes five dsRNA-binding (DRB) family proteins: DRB1/HYL1, DRB2 DRB3, DRB4, and DRB5. Multiple genetic and biochemical studies have demonstrated two specific interactions between DCLs and DRBs in A. thaliana: DCL1-DRB1/HYL1 and DCL4-DRB4 (Han et al. 2004; Hiraguri et al. 2005; Kurihara et al. 2006; Nakazawa et al. 2007). Arabidopsis DCL1, DRB1/HYL1, and another co-factor, SERRATE (SE), constitute an essential microRNA production pathway in vivo (Han et al. 2004; Lobbes et al. 2006). Unlike animals, which utilize two distinct RNase III enzymes, Drosha and Dicer, for the first and second cleavage of microRNA precursors, plants do not employ Drosha. Therefore, the DCL1-complex is responsible for the processing of both primary and precursor miRNA substrates. The detailed molecular machinery of the dual miRNA processing mediated by DCL1 and the co-factor proteins have been extensively studied biochemically using highly purified recombinant proteins produced in heterologous systems (summarized in Figure 3). One of the systems utilizes baculovirus-mediated recombinant protein production in Sf21 insect cells, followed by two-step affinity purification (Dong et al. 2008). The highly purified recombinant DCL1 protein alone could process a 94-bp dsRNA substrate with a 2-nt 3-overhang into 21-nt small RNA in an ATP/Mg2+ dependent manner. The optimum NaCl concentration for the activity was 25-50 mM, and a NaCl concentration higher than 100 mM severely impaired the activity (Dong et al. 2008). While the recombinant DCL1 protein alone could produce 21-nt small RNA from both primary and precursor miRNA (pri-/pre-miR167b) substrates in vitro, DRB1/HYL1 and SE recombinant proteins co-incubated in the same reaction mixtures significantly increased both yield and accuracy of the processing (Dong et al. 2008). Without these co-factors, more than 80% of 21-nt small RNA products from the DCL1-alone reaction were due to incorrect processing from the end of the primary miRNA substrate, whereas the processing mediated by the DCL1-DRB1/HYL1-SE complex produced accurate 21-nt products with a sequence identical to miR167b/miR167b*, amounting for up to 81% of the products (Dong et al. 2008). This demonstrated that accurate processing of miRNA precursors by DCL1 requires the co-factors DRB1/HYL1 and SE. Cons istent with a previous study, the interaction between DCL1-DRB1/HYL1 through the second dsRNA-binding motif of DCL1 is important for the precise processing of pri-miRNA in A. thaliana (Dong et al. 2008; Kurihara et al. 2006). Also, using highly purified recombinant proteins and surface plasmon resonance analysis, it has been suggested that DCL1 changes its structural conformation when it binds RNA and exposes more binding sites for SE (Iwata et al. 2013). Binding to substrate dsRNA or miRNA precursors might be an important regulatory step for DCL1 dicing activity, as its dsRNA-binding domains exhibit the strongest binding to dsRNA among the four Arabidopsis DCLs (Hiraguri et al. 2005). ATPase/DExH-box RNA-helicase domain of DCL1 suppresses its dicing activity, confers ATP dependence, and influences processing accuracy In addition to its RNase III and dsRNA-binding domains, the helicase domain of DCL1 plays a significant role in regulating its dicing activity. Two independent forward genetic studies have identified two dcl1 mutant alleles, dcl1-13 (E395K) and dcl1-20 (R363K), as hyl1 suppressors, and the amino acid substitutions of both alleles occur within the ATPase/DExH-box RNA-helicase domain. These dcl1 mutations partially rescue the accumulation of some miRNAs in a hyl1-2 mutant (Liu et al. 2012; Tagami et al. 2009), and dcl1-13 was at least partially able to restore the phenotypic defects of hyl1-2 such as a reduced number of rosette leaves and a   leaf shape (Tagami et al. 2009). Highly purified recombinant DCL1-20 protein exhibited enhanced catalytic activity (Kcat/Km) toward pri-miRNA156a compared to wild-type DCL1 (Liu et al. 2012). Similarly, the helicase domain-deleted DCL1 recombinant protein (DCL1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Helicase) showed higher processing activity in vitro and was no l onger dependent on ATP for its activity toward pri-miRNA156a (Liu et al. 2012), suggesting that the helicase domain of DCL1 might have an autoinhibitory function like that of human Dicer (Ma et al. 2008; Provost et al. 2002). The in vivo miRNA processing imprecision in hyl1-2, however, was not restored by a dcl1-20 mutation, implying that the partial recovery of the hyl1-2 mutant, including miRNA accumulation, was due to the enhanced catalytic activity resulting from the substitution in the helicase domain (Liu et al. 2012). Interestingly, the effect and magnitude of DRB1/HYL1 and DCL1 helicase domain seem to vary among miRNA precursors. For example, the in vivo processing accuracy of miR156a is much more severely affected by hyl1-2 mutation than miR166b is (Liu et al. 2012). pri-miR156a is processed from the loop-proximal site to the loop-distal base in vitro (Liu et al. 2012), which is considered unusual for plant miRNAs (Addo-Quaye et al. 2009; Mateos et al. 2010). Accurate processing of pri-miRNA166b by native DCL1 is largely dependent on the presence of ATP, and processing by DCL1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Helicase is less accurate than that of native DCL1 (Liu et al. 2012). In contrast to miR156a, the processi ng precision of which is markedly affected by hyl1-2, that of miR166b was much more impaired by dcl1-20 mutation than hyl1-2 (Liu et al. 2012). Also, the effect of the other helicase mutant allele, dcl1-13, on miRNA production was shown to depend on the presence or absence of DRB1/HYL1 in vivo (Tagami et al. 2009). These observations indicate that efficient processing of different miRNA precursors by DCL1 have different reliance upon DRB1/HYL1 and DCL1helicase domain that potentially depends on structural determinants of the miRNA precursors. Structural determinants for efficient and accurate processing of miRNA precursors by DCL1 Primary transcripts of miRNA (pri-miRNA) have a characteristic secondary structure: a loop-distal stem (lower stem), a miRNA duplex, a loop-proximal stem (upper stem) and a terminal loop (Figure 3). Typical miRNA maturation from these precursors requires at least two cleavages occurring at the lower and upper stems. In animals, the single-stranded base region of the loop-distal stem is recognized by the dsRNA-binding protein DGCR8, which guides the processing center of Drosha to the correct position, which is 11 nt from the base of the stem (Han et al. 2006). However, this distance-from-base rule is not sufficient for plants because the length of the loop-distal stem of plant pri-miRNAs is highly variable (Song et al. 2010). Several structural features of pri-miRNAs that influence the activity, binding position and directionality of the processing by DCL1 have been elucidated genetically and biochemically (Figure 3a, b). One structural determinant lies within the loop-distal stem of pri-miRNA. For the first cleavage at the loop-distal stem, bulges and unpaired regions play a major role in the efficiency of miRNA processing. Mutant pri-miRNAs with closed bulges were processed at the correct position, but resulted in the accumulation of unprocessed pre-miRNAs in vivo, indicating that the rate of subsequent processing at the loop-proximal stem was impaired (Song et al. 2010). In pri-miR171a, which has a long loop-distal stem, the first cleavage position was determined by the distance from a relatively unstructured region instead of the base of the stem; the conserved distance from an unstructured region of the lower stem important for miRNA processing was found to be approximately 15 nt (Figure 3a) (Mateos et al. 2010; Song et al. 2010; Werner et al. 2010). The 15-nt rule was essentially reproduced in an in vitro miRNA processing system using highly purified DCL1-DRB1/HYL1-SE recombinant proteins and an artificial pri-miRNA substrate bearing another unstructured region in the elongated lower stem. In addition to the canonical processing, another type of processing occurred at 15 nt from the artificially introduced unstructured region, validating the functionality of the 15-nt rule (Song et al. 2010). The importance of bulges and unpaired regions in the lower stem for processing by DCL1 might explain why some miRNAs with a near-perfect matched stem seem to be DCL4-dependent, rather than DCL1-dependent (Rajagopalan et al. 2006; Song et al. 2010). On the loop-proximal and terminal loop side, a branched terminal loop (BTL) or a large terminal loop was found to be an essential structural factor that may alter directionality of processing by DCL1 and the resultant miRNA-accumulation (Figure 3b). BTL induces abortive processing of pri-miR166c both in vivo and in vitro (Zhu et al. 2013), meaning the first cleavage of the pri-miRNA occurs in the loop-proximal stem as opposed to the normal productive processing beginning in the loop-distal stem. The molecular basis of this bidirectional processing by DCL1 was further investigated using an in vitro system that reconstitutes the DCL1-processing machinery. For this purpose, DCL1, DRB1/HYL1 and SE harboring Agrobacterium tumefaciens were co-infiltrated to Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, and the transiently expressed DCL1-DRB1/HYL1-SE complex was immunoaffinity-purified two days after infiltration (Zhu et al. 2013). The reconstituted DCL1 complex cleaves the substrate pri-miRNA 16-17 nt fro m the unpaired region of the lower stem, supporting previous studies (Mateos et al. 2010; Song et al. 2010; Werner et al. 2010). By disrupting one of the two RNase III domains of DCL1 alternately and using 5- or 3-end labeled pri-miR166c substrates, the bidirectional nature of both productive and abortive processing was demonstrated (Zhu et al. 2013; Figure 3b). The helicase domain of DCL1 fine-tunes the position of both productive and abortive processing by DCL1 in an ATP-dependent manner (Zhu et al. 2013). DCL1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬  Helicase complex could not abortively process a substrate with BTL. Also, wild-type DCL1 required ATP for abortive processing, but not productive processing, indicating that the ATPase-driven helicase activity is necessary in abortive processing to unwind the structured BTL (Zhu et al. 2013; Figure 3b). In productive processing, the effect of helicase deletion and ATP depletion depend on the distance between the processing site and the bulge in the lower stem. Many potential byproducts of the abortive processing of pri-miRNA precursors with BTL can be found in publically available high-throughput small RNA sequencing data from both Arabidopsis and rice, implying that both substrate structure and the functionality of the ATPase/helicase domain of DCL1 are conserved mechanisms to regulate miRNA biogenesis in higher plan ts (Zhu et al. 2013). Dissecting distinct characteristics of DCL3 and DCL4 activities DCL4 activity requires the dsRNA-binding protein DRB4 In A. thaliana, DCL2, DCL3 and DCL4 are responsible for producing various siRNAs 21-24 nt in length. The dsRNA-cleaving activities of DCL3 and DCL4 can be detected in crude extracts prepared from 2-week-old seedlings (Fukudome et al. 2011). Extracts from wild-type seedlings cleave 500-bp dsRNA substrates into 21-nt and 24-nt small RNAs. In this system, the 21-nt and 24-nt small RNA-producing activities can be attributed to DCL4 and DCL3 respectively, because the dsRNA-cleaving activity of the corresponding size was abolished in each of the single mutants (Fukudome et al. 2011). Also, a mutation in the dsRNA-binding protein DRB4, which interacts with DCL4 (Hiraguri et al. 2005; Nakazawa et al. 2007), abolished DCL4 activity in seedling extracts. The DCL4 activity could be further purified by immunoprecipitation with anti-DCL4 or anti-DRB4 antibodies. The immunoaffinity-purified DCL4 requires Mg2+ and ATP for its activity, and is inhibited by >200 mM NaCl. This property is similar to t hat of recombinant DCL1 protein (Dong et al. 2008). The DCL4 complex immunoprecipitated from the drb4-1 mutant did not show dsRNA-cleaving activity, but the addition of recombinant DRB4 protein to the complex restored the 21-nt producing activity in vitro, showing that DRB4 functions as an essential co-factor for the dsRNA-cleaving activity of DCL4 (Figure 4b). In this system, mutant DRB4 proteins harboring substitutions in the conserved amino acid residues that form a hydrogen bond with the phosphodiester backbone of dsRNA at the dsRNA-binding site (H32A in the first dsRBD and K133A in the second dsRBD of DRB4) lost their ability to interact with dsRNA and DCL4, and did not restore DCL4 activity. The second substitution (K133A) alone impaired its interaction with the C-terminal half of DCL4 containing two RNase III domains and two dsRBDs in a GST pull-down assay using recombinant proteins, but was not sufficient to block restoration of DCL4 activity when added to DCL4 immunopurified from a drb4-1 mutant extract. There might be an add itional interaction surface between DCL4 and DRB4 involving dsRBD1 of DRB4 and the N-terminal half of DCL4, which contains an ATPase/DExH-box RNA-helicase domain and an RNA-binding domain (formerly known as domain of unknown function DUF283; Figure 1), as their specific interaction was reported in vitro (Qin et al. 2010). Short dsRNA preference of DCL3 activity orchestrates 24-nt siRNA biogenesis in TGS pathway Crude extracts from 2-week-old seedlings have also been used to characterize substrate specificity of DCL3 and DCL4. Consistent with the long dsRNA preference of Drosophila Dcr1 (Bernstein et al. 2001), DCL4 preferentially cleaves longer dsRNA substrates, and is less efficient in producing 21-nt siRNAs when the substrate is shorter than 50 nt (Nagano et al. 2014). On the other hand, DCL3 activity, producing 24-nt siRNAs, favors shorter substrates such as 30 nt and 37 nt dsRNA with a 1-nt or 2-nt 3-overhang (Nagano et al. 2014). It also favors substrate dsRNA with 5-adenosine or uridine. The 24-nt small RNA produced by DCL3 has a 2-nt 3-overhang, and the cleavage follows the 5-counting rule proposed for human Dicer (Park et al. 2011). DCL3 is not reliant on ATP hydrolysis for activity, as it can still process the short dsRNA substrate in the presence of a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog, adenosine 5-O-(3-thio)triphosphate (Nagano et al. 2014). Unlike DCL4, which targets long dsRNAs such a s RDR6-dependent TAS dsRNAs or exogenous viral dsRNAs in vivo (Bouche et al. 2006; Dunoyer et al. 2005; Qu et al. 2008; Yoshikawa et al. 2005), DCL3 may not need to perform a processive cleavage, which requires ATP hydrolysis, because the length of its targets allows only a single cut (Figure 4a). The DCL3 preference for short dsRNA substrate is consistent with the one precursor, one siRNA model for RNA polymerase IV (Pol IV)-dependent 24-nt siRNA biogenesis (Blevins et al. 2015; Zhai et al. 2015). In this model, a remarkably short (30- to 40-nt) transcript with 5-adenosine is produced by Pol IV and is simultaneously converted into double-stranded form by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, RDR2. The short dsRNA substrate is processed into 24-nt siRNA preferentially by DCL3 due to its length specificity, facilitating the subsequent RNA-directed DNA methylation process (Blevins et al. 2015; Zhai et al. 2015). The transcription of short RNAs by Pol IV, and the length and 5-adenosine substrate preference of DCL3 might be essential mechanisms to prevent other DCLs from processing specific dsRNA substrate needed for the TGS pathway. Such coupling of RDR-Dicer-RNAi is also known in fission yeast, where a Dicer physically interacts with an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase to form coupled ma chinery that drives siRNA-mediated TGS (Colmenares et al. 2007). In addition, DCL3 can participate in 24-nt siRNA production from longer transcripts with aid from another RNase III enzyme, RNase III-like 2 (RTL2). As a class II RNase III enzyme, RTL2 possesses one RNase III domain and two dsRBDs, and is involved in rRNA maturation [in vivo is implied]in A. thaliana (Comella et al. 2008). Recombinant RTL2 protein can cleave long dsRNA substrates into 25 bp or longer dsRNA in vitro (Kiyota et al. 2011). Recently, it has been shown that RTL2 processes a subset of Pol IV-dependent dsRNA into shorter intermediates, which are preferable for DCL3 activity in vivo (Elvira-Matelot et al. 2016). Although no direct interaction has been reported, RTL2 and DCL3 can be considered other examples of coordinated action of a dsRBD-containing protein and a Dicer in plants. DCL3 is also reported to physically interact with the dsRNA-binding protein DRB3 in the antiviral RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway (Raja et al. 2014). The function of DRB3 in DCL3 activity rem ains elusive. Inorganic phosphate, NaCl and KCl differentially regulate DCL3 and DCL4 activities In the same assay system using crude extracts, inorganic phosphate at a physiological concentration promotes DCL3 activity but suppresses DCL4 activity toward 50-nt dsRNA substrates (Nagano et al. 2014). The differential effe

Old Man and The Sea :: essays papers

Old Man and The Sea In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the literary device of metaphors. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean to symbolize life and to depict the role that individuals play in life. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the lions to signify people who live their lives as active participants. The tourists in the novel represent the individuals, who in observe their lives and are not active participants. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway writes, he uses metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions. The ocean in The Old Man and the Sea is a metaphor, which represents Hemingway's personel view of life. Hemingway believes that in life everyone must find their own niche and uses the metaphor of the ocean and the boats on it to demonstrate this. ...most of the boats were silent except for the dip of the oars. They spread apart after they were out of the mouth of the harbour and each one headed for the part of the ocean where he hoped to find fish. The old man knew he was going far out...1(page 22) Hemingway feels that in life there are people who participate in life and people who observe life as it passes just like on the ocean where there are boats that do not test their boundaries. The boats are the people in life, and most of the boats are silent. They paddle within the areas they know to be safe and always are cautious not to upset the life that they have established for themselves. Hemingway is explaining that most people don't raise a commotion, they just allow life to happen to them. The old man is testing his limits, he is challenging the ocean, and rowing where he wants to go not where the ocean wants to take him. Hemingway believes that in life, the farther person stays from the observers, the more free and exhilarated they will be. If there is a hurricane, you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead, if you are at sea. They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for, he thought. The land must make a difference too, in the shape of the clouds. But we have no hurricane coming now.2(page 51) Hemingway theorizes that in life there are going to be unexpected collisions. Just as the sea creates storms life creates storms. Those who live life to the fullest will be the least affected by these storms because they have the strength and the knowledge to handle them, but the observers or those on land will be destroyed because they do not have the power to handle the destruction that the storms will cause.

Engineering Technology: Revolutionized Essay -- Engineering

Advance, advance is the key word when describing the human race to prove that we are the superior race. Ever since the discovery of technology we have linked our minds together for the persistence of progress to modify the aspects all around us for the better. It’s amazing that a simple interest in the beginning will change everything down to a distinct thought. History has proven that the steps forward in technology within engineering have grown larger and are concluded at a more rapid rate and with in the last twenty years. Such a large amount has improved so rapid as cities grow and technology advances, engineering is moving along with the tide. Engineers that grow and see their world of work improve every day because of certain advances in technology all depending on their field. This how engineering features evolved into what they are today from with in the last two decades; and how the change will continue to advance as modern Technology embraces a post modern era. Engineering has existed since the earliest times of culture and perhaps is one of the older lines of labor on earth (the earliest invention of engineering goes back as early as the invention of the wheel). It’s extraordinary that we came so far since the discovery of the wheel, the technology that has been accomplished today just engulfs the minds of people. Everyday modern technology is taken over the minds of people and they continue to adapt to the modern changes with in the ever changing society. Through centuries there are trails left by ancient engineering and has differed from our technology today. Through the ancient era there has been astounding and un-answering feats of engineering. Like the great pyramids of Egypt and the great coliseums of Rome. The... ...his hands dirty and a female does not (a great example would be the nuclear 1950’s era of the stay at home mom and the 9-5 dad). A main point to why females are not the ones going out and doing the labor is the perception of being feminine. Here’s a quote that shows how much soul they take in their work. â€Å"Engineering is the professional art of applying science to the optimum conversion of natural resources to the benefit of man†. (smith) Works Cited †¢ Scott, Henry. "Engineering Quotes." BrainyQuotes. N.p., 01 Jan 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2010. . †¢ "engineering." 15. 4. Chicago: Britanica, 1986. Print †¢ "Engineering." encyclopedia Britanica. Britanica, 2010. Web. . †¢ "Engineering and Natural Science managers." Ocupational Outlook Handbook. Indianapolas: U.S. Department of Labor, 2005. Print.

Is there such a thing as “Evidence-Based Management” ? Essay -- Manage

There are plenty of ways and practices available to managers, practitioners and educators to carry out their businesses for the persuasion of required goals, this vast array of choice and awareness make them ambitious to decide which one is workable and which one is not and this make them always keep on trying one and other technique, method or/and process and at this point according to Pfeffer and Sutton(2006) evidence rescue them to decide which one is the right one. This essay, focusing on this respect, will be a critical reading and analysis of strengths and weaknesses to Rousseau’s (2006) article on ‘Is there such a thing as â€Å"Evidence –Based Management†. This essay will first introduce how if evidence based management helps managers. Secondly, it will analyze Rousseau’s repeatedly references to the development in clinical and evidence based medicines and links it with evidence based management and what is the status of evidence based manage ment practices. Thirdly, it will critically analyze the Rousseau’s use of story â€Å"Making feedback people friendly†. Followed by how there is variation between theory and practice. Fourthly, This essay will critically analyze Organizational Legitimacy, implementation of knowledge as an outcome of evidence based management and roles of schools, teachers, students in creating the environment for evidence based management. Rousseau says by citing Barlow(2004) ,DeAngelis(2005),Lemieux Charles & Champ agu (2004), Walshe & Rundall(2001) that Evidence based management helps managers to gain expertise and making effective decision which otherwise they cannot arise at by using solely their own intuition. These evidences are specific to not only problems faced but also to culture and other organizat... ...mpagne,f.2004,Using knowledge and evidence in healthcare:Multidisciplinary perspective, University of Toronto Press, Toronto. Pffer,J. 2006,Management half-truth and nonsense : How to practice evidence-based management, California Management Review, vol.48,No.3 Pffer,J. & Sutton,R. 2006,Evidence-based management, Harvard business Review ,januray 2006 Rousseau, D. 2006, Is there such a thing as evidence based management? , Academy of Management Review, vol.31, 2, pp.256-269 Raine , R . 1998 . ‘ Evidence-based Policy: Rhetoric and Reality ’ , Journal of Health Service Research Policy , 3 , 4 , 251 – 3 . Sackett,et al. 2000,Evidence-based medicines:How to practice and teach EBM, Newyork : Church Living Stone. Walshe,K. & Rundall,T. 2001, Evidence based management:From theory to practice in health care ,Milbank Quarterly, Vol.79, PP.429-457

Ecuadorian Rose Industry

The Ecuadorian Rose Industry 1. What is the basis of Ecuador’s comparative advantage in the production of roses? Ecuador’s rose farms are located in the just about perfect position for growing long and straight roses or at least most of the farms. They are positioned at about 10,000 feet elevation in the Andes Mountains. This provides the roses with high altitude, volcanic soil that is very rich in ingredients, and located on the equator. This gives the roses about 12 hours of daylight every day. Graham) This provides an intense amount of sunlight, so farmers use plastic sheeting to create a greenhouse effect. I believe this helps keep the roses from burning up, being so close to the sun, and from freezing on the cold nights. (Hamilton) It creates a sense of perfect temperatures. (Thompson) 2. Most Ecuadorean roses are sold in the United States or Europe. Who in these countries benefit from the importation of Ecuadorean roses, and how do they benefit? Who loses? Do you think the benefits outweigh the costs?In 2006, the United States accounted for 61% of the Ecuadorean roses’ total sales. This made us the largest market in this rose industry. Europe accounted for 20% of the exports of Ecuadorean flowers, while these flowers accounted for 31% of the United States flower imports. (Alvaro) Both countries benefit overall because they can imports the roses at such a low price and most of the profits stay in the imported country. (Graham) I believe local growers are the ones who lose in this situation. If buyers can find them for a lower price, most will take it so they can keep more profits.This isn’t necessarily the best option for our country, but some companies do not care about the greater good of helping our own country. 3. How does the rose export industry benefit Ecuador? Do these benefits have any implications for the United States and Europe? With the increase of rose and other flower exportation from Ecuador, the country’s export revenue has increases and is increasing the stability of its economy. (Halberstadt) This is one of the effects of the fair trade agreement between them and the United States. Another effect is the extra money the people are getting.They are able to take classes to learn how to manage the extra money. (Hamilton) Ecuador has also been able to pave more roads, build sophisticated irrigation systems, and some schools with the taxes and revenues from growing roses. (Thompson) Developed countries, like the United States and Europe, have to understand that as developing nations, like Ecuador, become more developed they have to adhere to global standards and it is up to developed countries to help with this. 4. How should developed nations respond to reports of poor working conditions in this industry?Should importers in some way certify Ecuadorean producers, or only importing from those who adhere to strict labor and environmental standards? I believe the developed nations should h elp to encourage making the working conditions better. Although the average flower worker does earn more than the minimum wage of $120 per month, but it does not make up for the horrible conditions. I also believe importers should certify Ecuadorean producers for those following the labor and environmental standards and those who are trying to improve their operations. Plantations, like RosaPrima, have done this.Ross Johnson, a general manager of the plantation, said that they had made a lot of improvements over the years, from protective wear and equipment to cracking down of child labor. (Thompson) Works Cited 1. ) Alvaro, Mercedes. â€Å"Ecuador Flower Exports Require U. S. Trade Deal to Keep Growing. † Dow Jones Newswires Feb. 2006. 3 March 2013 . 2. ) Graham, Grace. â€Å"Five Reasons who you shouldn’t Buy her Roses† North by Northwestern Feb. 2010. 3 March 2013 < http://northbynorthwestern. om/story/five-more-reasons-why-you-didnt-buy-your-girlfrien/>. 3. ) Halberstadt, Jason. â€Å"Ecuador Foreign Trade. † Ecuador Trade Copyright 1997-2013. 3 March 2013 4. ) Hamilton, Cortney and Deb Tullmann. â€Å"Rough Cut. † Ecuador Flower Power Feb. 2008. 3 March 2013 . 5. ) Thompson, Ginger. â€Å"Behind Roses’ Beauty, Poor and Ill Workers† NY Times Feb, 2003. 3 March 2013 .

Explore how women are presented in Veronica and King Schahriar and his brother Essay

â€Å"Veronica† and â€Å"King Schahriar and his brother† are short stories which focus on two very different female characters. In â€Å"King Schahriar and his brother,† the strikingly beautiful and intelligent Scheherazade is a powerful, courageous woman who devises an ingenious scheme to help the girls of her kingdom escape the brutal grasp of the Sultan. â€Å"Veronica†on the other hand, focuses on a more vulnerable, unambitious female character living in a poverty and war stricken village in Africa, isolated from the outside world. Scheherazade in â€Å"King Schahriar and his brother† is portayed as being the perfect female figure. She is described as being beautiful beyond measure: â€Å"her beauty excelled that of any girl in the kingdom of Persia.† This impressive statement makes her seem exotic and creates a sense of wonder in the reader as the story is set in a mythical setting where one would imagine many enchanting women and yet she is seen as the most exquisite of all. Read more:  My admired person  essay The reader is told that she has the â€Å"best masters in philosophy, medicine, history and the fine arts.† Not only is she gorgeous but she is also very well educated! The use of superlatives such as â€Å"having the best† masters and being clever in the â€Å"highest† degree portray the high extent to which she has been educated and show what a powerful, dedicated and talented woman she is. Scheherazade lives what may seem a very envious lifestyle. Being the daughter of the â€Å"Grand-Vizier† she has high status amongst her people and lives a rich life of luxury. She is also very much loved by her family: â€Å"his eldest daughter, who was his delight and pride.† Her father adores her and makes sure she has the best things in life, granting her the highest education and he values her greatly. Unlike Scheherazade, Veronica is depicted by Okeke (her friend and narrator of the story) as being â€Å"no great beauty.† She is not very attractive compared to Scheherazade: she wears â€Å"shabby† clothes showing that she is poor and this makes her seem inferior to Scheherazade. We are aware of just how poor she is as she lives in a simple â€Å"hut† and later on in the story, Okeke says how bad the living conditions are-that the people in her village live in â€Å"acute poverty† and the place is â€Å"crawling with disease.† This personification of the village â€Å"crawling with disease† indicates just how helpless the villagers are against this silent, deadly killer and expresses the extreme poverty in which they live in. The reader may feel very sympathetic towards Veronica and view her as very unfortunate to live in such difficult and harsh conditions. In contrast to Scheherazade being loved and cared for by her family, Veronica has been mistreated during her life. Okeke tells us that: â€Å"her father was a brute,† â€Å"her mother was weak† and â€Å"she was the eldest child† meaning that she was mostly responsible for bringing up her younger siblings from a very young age and consequently would not have had the time, money or chance to continue her education after standard 5. Okeke describes how he would â€Å"lie awake listening to her screams.† This emotive language creates sympathy in the reader towards Veronica’s plight as an abused child. Due to Veronica’s lack of education and heavy responsibilities towards her family, she feels that she can never leave her village. She continually refuses Okeke’s offers to leave the village and complete her education as she is concerned about leaving her family behind and also does not see it as an option. She remains loyal to them even though she is beaten by her father and left to fend for herslelf most of the time, as well as for her mother and siblings. Her care and loyalty towards them is shown in her dialogue: â€Å"I can’t just leave my family.† The reader might feel a sense of admiration towards Veronica here as we realise she is giving up her life in order to care for her family. Even later on in the story when her parents and siblings are gone, and she now cares for husband and child, she still refuses to accept Okeke’s suggestion that she would be â€Å"better off in the city† . She has faced such hardship in the village and yet she doesn’t complain or express any discomfort. She says to Okeke: â€Å"Don’t be sorry for me. We are managing, and God has blessed us with a son. Is that not enough?.† In this dialogue Veronica indicates how the only thing she is focused on in life is her family and she believes that her only purpose in life is to care for them. As long as she is with her family, she is fullfilled-nothing else matters to her and she is admired by the reader for her dedication towards her family. Scheherazade on the other hand is a confident and optimistic person. Unlike Veronica, she is very ambitious and wants to promote women’s rights in her patriarchal country. Like Veronica is loyal to her family, Scheherazade is loyal and caring towards her people. She has high morals and knows of the Sultan’s barbaric actions, of marrying a new bride in the evening and killing her in the morning. Scheherazade’s loyalty is shown when she explains her plans to her father of offering to sacrifice herself to the Sultan. She tells him: â€Å"If I fail, my death will be a glorious one, and if I succeed I shall have done a great service to my country.† Her speech shows her great pride and patriotism. This dialogue further conveys her as being â€Å"perfect† and makes her seem a heroine as she is willing to risk her life for the good of the women in her kingdom. Scheherazade’s stubborness is shown when she refuses to listen to her father’s protests and insists on her marrying the Sultan. The repetition of â€Å"my father† and â€Å"will you grant me† illustrates her strong will to pursue her plan and her determination to get what she wants. Veronica is also stubborn-she expresses this when she rejects Okeke’s offers to move into the city but she insists on staying in the village with her family. Another similarity between Scheherazade and Veronica is that they are both very brave characters. Veronica is brave in the sense that she does not fear pain or death. After the war broke out in her village and her child and husband had passed away she had nothing worth living for and wanted to die too. Once again she refuses Okeke’s offer to help her and tells him to leave her in peace: â€Å"I don’t want to live you hear? Now that I have seen you I am happy. Go, and leave me in peace.† This emotional dialogue once again creates sympathy towards Veronica and shows her vulnerability. A sense of awe is felt towards her willingless to die and the reader may almost feel relieved at her passing, as she is finally escaping her tortured life. Scheherazade is also fearless of death. She has confidence in her plans to overthrow the Sultan, but she realises that she is taking risks and her failure may lead to her death. She is not afraid of the consequences however and is honoured to carry out her plan: â€Å"I implore you, by all the affection you bear me, to allow the honour to fall upon me.† Speaking in this elevated, polite tone to her father, the reader may admire her confidence and determination to be granted the permission from her father to sacrifice herself. The fact that she is â€Å"honoured† to do this for her country again makes her seem like a true heroine. In conclusion Veronica and Scheherazade are more different than alike, but they are both two women to be admired. They both have high morals and are very loyal and caring towards their families and the people around them. The woman who I admire the most however is Veronica because of her devotion towards her family. She accepts her fate and does not consider herself unlucky to be living in such poverty-she only values the fact that she has family to care for and truly gives herself up for them.

Conceptual Cognition and Problem Solving Styles Essay

The article â€Å"Thinking† found in the Northeastern University Website presents insights regarding conceptual cognition and problem solving skills. It claims that although people may have similar concepts, we differ from each other by our conceptual cognition and problem solving styles. To elaborate, the author cites how people define concepts. It shows that people have similar concepts of things especially those perceived by sight. For instance, features including two eyes, four legs, two ears, one tail, barking, sharp teeth, etc., would definitely pertain to a dog. Likewise, a photo of a child smiling is an indication of a happy child, not a sad one. However, there are also some concepts in our society that have changed a bit but not entirely. Although they are modified through time, a certain degree of people’s cognition of the original concept remains the same. Take for example, marriage. In the past, the concept of marriage is limited to a man and a woman, but now the concept allows man to man marriage, so although the concept is altered a bit, the concept of togetherness and commitment still holds truth. Concepts are arranged into hierarchies. For instance, a bedroom is smaller than a house, and a block is smaller than a neighborhood. Applying it in the school context, there are students under one teacher, and there are teachers under one director, etc. Similarly, in the corporate scene, there are subordinates and supervisors. Moreover, concepts are formed by definition and prototype. We learn concepts as the environment define them for us. For instance as children, we were familiarized by our parents with the things in the house, such as a table and a chair. Later on when we went to our neighbor’s, we realized that tables can be in different forms or colors, but the role they play remains the same. Through definition and prototype, we obtain similar concepts of things around us. The issue of cognition is not much of a problem but problem solving styles are. The three methods to solve a problem include: trial and error, algorithms, and heuristics. In trial and error, one is bound to use more effort and time to arrive at the right answer. This method requires several trials and shortcuts, and does not guarantee giving the right answer. The second method is algorithm. An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure usually involving computations. Unlike trial and error, it is methodical and guarantees arriving at the correct answer. However, since it requires a procedure, it is more time consuming than the other. The third method used to solve a problem is heuristics. This method requires â€Å"speculative formulation†¦as a guide in the investigation or solution of a problem.† (Answers.com, n.d.). It posits that the background of the matter, ie religion, society be investigated upon in order to arrive at a conclusion. Although this method is not accurate and does not guarantee a definite answer, it leads to a certain conclusion or information related to the problem. Each of the methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. When combined, the three methods will help one arrive at a valid answer. For instance, when conducting research, it is not enough to present statistics of people experiencing a specific problem. One needs to dwell on observations, surveys, interviews, etc. to obtain a full view of the situation. Applying this to the classroom scenario, students should be taught how to apply and combine the three methods in order to facilitate problem solving tasks. Particularly, when teaching research, teachers should incorporate teaching and application of the three methods so that students will not only have options but arrive at definite and valid conclusions for their study. References Algorithm. Retrieved 5 August 2008, from http://www.answers.com/topic/algorithm Heuristic. Retrieved 5 August 2008, from http://www.answers.com/heuristic

Child care Essay

Describe the duties and responsibilities of own work role MY RESPONSIBILITIES – To create a safe, happy, positive, stimulating, Multicultural learning environment in which children can be. Also To meet the children’s individual needs, appropriate to their stage and level of development. Making sure to be involved in the setting up and clearing away at the start and end of each session as required. To be involved in my key groups activities and the planning, to ensure that what the children are playing with is safe to use and age appropriate. To communicate with parents/careers is the correct manner. 1. Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards Practitioner’s expectations should be to become a valuable practitioner, to be reliable and build good relationships with children and parent carers, encouraging play whilst learning, and by having children’s best interests e.g. physical activities, outings, this would help them to enjoy their growth in knowledge and assist in enhancing their development as a whole. Also practitioners should work as a team with other staff members and parent/carers in order to support the children to promote the children’s initial learning so that the children will feel confident and would be able boost up their self-esteem, and this will also help them in their future, and prepare them in further education when they move onto school. Also the expectations that are to be done in placement at a relevant standard is to supervise the children this plays a big role in child protection Act and health and policy. Practitioners should always watch the children closely to prevent and red uce the injury to children. 2.1 Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving the quality of service provided Reflective practice is imperative in order to ensure that high standards are kept continuously as circumstances, children and environments change. In order to reflect one must continuously be aware of approaches used and how they can be changed or developed to improve. Continually improving and adapting approaches benefits both children and practitioners, ensuring that each individual child’s needs are catered for. Reflective practice involves evolving in a child centred approach. The childcare benefits as his/her skills grow and develop, enabling the highest standards of care and provision. It also promotes a better level of understanding and acceptance of those different from us, taking on board the opinions, cultures and attitudes of others to ensure a diverse and positively productive daily experience that enables higher levels of understanding from all. 2.3 Describe how own values, belief systems and experiences may affect working practice everyone has different values, beliefs and preferences. What you believe in, what you see as important and what you see as acceptable or desirable is an essential part of who you are. The way in which you respond to people is linked to what you believe in, what you consider important and what interests you. You may find you react positively to people who share you values and less warmly to people who have different priorities, the professional relationships you develop with people you support are another matter. As a professional, you are required to provide the same quality of support for all, not just for those who share views and beliefs. This may seem obvious but knowing what you need to do and achieving it successfully is not the same thing. The first step is to identify and understand you own views and values. 3.1 Evaluate own knowledge, performance and understanding against relevant standards 4.1 Identify sources of support for planning and reviewing own development 5.1 Evaluate how learning activities have affected practice The reasons why it is important to evaluate learning activities are: †¢ To see what is working and what needs removing or changing. †¢ To assess how the activities are being delivered and how they could be improved †¢ To see how the activities are being received by the participants Evaluation is important as it helps out when planning and helps you to think about the learning that has taken place. Spending time going through the learning activities and seeing how students have responded to a certain question, can really help reshape it for the future classes. It is also important to look back and learning objects so you can measure what the children have learned. If you do not think carefully about learning objectives at the planning stage, it will not always be possible to evaluate whether children have achieved them.

Stem Cell Science Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Stem Cell Science - Case Study Example While many teams carry on to improve and develop the role played by bone marrow and cord blood stem cells in their frontline uses in blood and immune ailments, several others are considering to increase the uses of the different types of stem cells for instance, embryonic stem cell that can be used in the curing of diabetes. On the 16th April 2009, Dr. Carlos EB Couri and associates from the College of SÃ £o Paulo carried out an experiment to show how stem cell transplants can aid patients with diabetes. The study involved 23 patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes, a medical condition in which the human immune structure quickly destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The stem cell transplants seemingly work by rearranging the immune scheme so that the body halts attacking the pancreas. The study used follow-up figures on 16 patients who were initially transplanted with stem cells in an experiment that was earlier conducted and published in 2007, and then joined it with eight more recruits who joined the study up to 2008. The scientists had follow-up data for at least seven and 58 months on all the 23 patients who received the transplant. In the findings, they established that 20 patients with no prior ketoacidosis and had no use of corticosteroids throughout the preparative routinebecame free of insulin injections. Twelve patients continued to be insulin-free for a mean period of about 30 months, despite eight patients reverted and restarted insulin use however at a lower dose. Wainwright, S., Williams, C., Michael, M., Farsides, B., & Cribb, A. (2006). From bench to bedside? Biomedical scientists’ expectations of stem cell science as a future of therapy for diabetes. Social Science & Medicine , 63,

Writing Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Writing Women - Essay Example The marriage traditions in China are based on the concept of Yin and Yang, where Yin is the gentle and docile female of the human spirit and Yang is the dominant male. Yin and Yang have to maintain their states at all times in order for the union or marriage to be a peaceful one. As society progressed and women gained more exposure and education a few women writers came forward and expressed their feminist views on the subject through their short stories. These stories have been translated and compiled into a book, â€Å"Writing Women in Modern China† released in 2005. In this essay we will compare some short stories from that book with Zhang Ailing’s â€Å"When Love came to China† (2006) and examine if modernity in China really succeeded in changing the age-old traditions in the country. We will look at the concept of love based on: It was customary in twentieth century China for most men and women to get married or betrothed to someone by their early twenties. This marriage of convenience most often resulted in men seeking love outside of their marriages. This is the beginning of Zhang’s story when the already married Wen and Lo court 20-year-old Chou and Fan. Chou is described as the free spirited woman who is nonchalant and does not look for a commitment from her lover Wen and eventually leaves Wen to marry a man chosen by her family. Although Chou is portrayed as a face of the modern woman she appears here more as someone not brave enough to fight against the norms and old customs of the Chinese society. In this case the freedom she tries to exercise by finding love on her own terms is more of an escape from reality and her inevitable fate. We see a similar plight in Fen Yuan Jing’s â€Å"Separation† (1923) where the girl is locked up by her mother to separate her from her lover and she awaits the arrival of her betrothed Liu Muhan helplessly and with dread. We however see here that love has a deeper meaning, the girl

How Far Do You Agree that Video Games Have Had a Negative Effect on Essay

How Far Do You Agree that Video Games Have Had a Negative Effect on Society - Essay Example There is a constant need to update oneself in the field of technology. Although video games are considered a separate industry of computers and online games it is extremely popular all around the world. It is for this reason that the need arose to study the effects of video games on society. Research has it that these games have had negative impact causing the society to collapse due to globalization. Video games are a virtual mode of entertainment. This form of entertainment received much attention when there was any better to be done in order to utilize time. Eventually the senior generation and traditional values became things of the past. One of the major negative effects of video games is the violence caused by it. The violent form of entertainment made the world scarier place forcing the youth to carry guns to places like school for their own protection which indirectly increased the chance of getting shot (Gentile, 2003). This vicious circle was a result of addiction to video games which included online games as well. The negative impact could easily be controlled if allowed access in a proscribed atmosphere. Unfortunately the world of gaming dragged the feeble mind into an abyss from which it was very difficult to pull oneself out. Another very significant downbeat influence of video games is the desensitization towards the harsher realities of life. The actual violence which occurs all around the world seems to be of lesser importance with the next level of the game in mind. The preoccupied mind fails to integrate the daily life situations with personal interests (Gentile, 2003). â€Å"Highly involving games would be more likely to disrupt cognitive rehearsal of thoughts related to positive mood† (Vorderer & Bryant, 2006). This implies that negative moods are likely to be generated with the exposure to violent and aggressive video games. Studies link exposure to violent content of these games (Gentile 2003). Video games became the center of disc ussion ever since the over-playing of these games started to reflect among children and especially teenagers. A lot of research has been done on the effect of video games hence there is much hype about the negative aspect of gaming. Games are good for human mind. But society in the modern world is surrendering to the latest development in technology allowing experimentation on younger minds without putting disclaimers on games which are easily accessible through the internet. Video games have become a source of comfort for the teens. They console them in times of loneliness and alienation from their own family (Ritzer, 2004). Social trends in the United States have been observed to go in a decline because of lesser interaction among people. This is because they spend more time on the computer mostly playing video games or using the social media network which has confined their socialization to a box instead of open gatherings (Sparks, 2006). It is a fact that video games are not age restricted. They are played by people of all age groups. The rate of playing video games increased from two hours a week to two hours a day in the 1980s. Everyone, however, does not agree that video games have an adverse effect on children. Psychologists point out that this may not be the case. Video games can damage the cognitive development of people and lead