Fly High with Sti College Angeles

Fly High with STI College Angeles A. INTRODUCTION July 11, 2012 – 10:15 A. M†¦ (1st Semester of S. Y 2012-2013) It is her second week in her new job as a Marketing Officer; Ms. Eleanor Pineda is very enthusiastic while checking the STI College Angeles Strategic Plans for 2012. â€Å"It has been eight (8) years that STI College Angeles is not achieving the projected number of first year students that must be enrolled each school year, not to mention that the shortage is majority half of what is projected. This is alarming Madam. – Eleanor Pineda â€Å"That is correct and it is disturbing in our end. We have been working it out to hit and surpassed every year’s projection, however the competition with all the colleges and universities around Angeles City makes the competition stiffer. As you can observe, we are located in a market saturated with lots of tertiary schools which also offers diverse courses. † – Ms. Rowena T. Selom, Administrator â €“ STI College Angeles. â€Å"This will definitely serve as a challenge to you Eleanor as a newly hired Marketing Officer.You will be in-charge in initially encouraging fresh graduates of secondary level to be part of our school, and promoting our identity within the circle of Pampanga. My faculty can be of help in internal marketing, for we make sure that all professors and instructors are qualified and meet all the requirements as set by CHED and TESDA. This is to ensure that quality education is being given to our students. † – Mrs. Avelina A. Pena, Academic Head – STI College Angeles. â€Å"Thank you Madam, I will surely be needing helpful hands for me to materialize the projection of the school. – Eleanor Pineda â€Å"Competition gets stiffer, The City College of Angeles will become one of our greatest concerns, since according to the news I have heard, the construction of its building (classrooms and laboratories) will be fully utilized by sec ond semester of this school year. It might even compete well with Holy Angel University and Angeles University Foundation, because hearsays is that it will offer affordable tuition fees like all other government initiated colleges. Indeed, we should watch that scenario as well. – Mary Ann Canlas, Finance Manager. A moment of silence engrossed the room†¦ â€Å"Oh.. before I forget, I would like to remind you that our monthly meeting for July will be on Friday next week (July 20, 2012) together with our President, Mr. Condrado M. Dayrit. Eleanor please continue looking at the concerns we have on falling to achieve our projected number of new students each year. Kindly formulate ideas and recommendations that would help STI College Angeles sustain its existence, profitably. † I’ll give my best Madam, and present only the best. †, this statement was followed by a confident smile and a wink. Everyone separated path and work accordingly†¦ B. COMPANY BA CKGROUND SYLLABUS, Inc. Background SYLLABUS, INC. (Symbol Sciences Languages and Laboratories for Business, Incorporation) was established with the purpose of bringing to the country side the fast emerging Information Technology. The company believed that through technology the Filipino youth can become truly globally competitive.Sharing the same vision for the Filipino youth, thru franchise agreement with Systems Technology Institute (STI) the first STI school in Pampanga was opened. In February 12, 1987 at Evangelista Bldg. , Mac Arthur Hiway, Angeles City (now located at Agson’s Bldg. , Mac Arthur Hiway Balibago, Angeles City). Through the constant change in the industry STI diversified its product slowly integrated itself into education industry as a school that provides boundless career opportunities through ICT-enhance, non-IT programs such as the B.S in Business Administration and BS in Hotel Restaurant and Management. STI College Angeles branch was the pioneer franchi se of SYLLABUS, Inc. , and because of the passion of Mr. Condrado M. Dayrit to continuously be a channel of quality education he later on decided to franchise other STI College sites; STI College San Fernando (1988), STI College Nueva Ecija (1991) and STI College Guagua (1998). Unfortunately, because of economic crisis and downturns STI College Guagua and Nueva Ecija were closed, leaving San Fernando and Angeles in its existence. STI San Fernando is located at 2/F Tita's Bldg. Gapan-Olongapo Road, City of San Fernando (Capital), Pampanga and is labelled as the main branch of STI College under the franchise of SYLLABUS. SYLLABUS, Inc. Vision and Mission Vision Statement: To be a world-class institution primarily engaged in education and training offering a wide range of technology based courses. Mission Statement: SYLLABUS, Inc. exists primarily for bringing high quality, technology based education and training to areas outside the Metro Manila in order to assist in the process of co untryside development and de-urbanization.It is also the purpose of SYLLABUS, Inc. to harness its resources of people, money, technology and management know how in order to establish upstream and downstream enterprises and subsidiaries that will continuously provide opportunities for the company’s own graduates, faculty, staff and the community at large. STI COLLEGE.. A Taste of History It all started when four visionaries conceptualized setting up a training center to fill very specific manpower needs. It was in the early ‘80s when Augusto C. Lagman, Herman T. Gamboa, Benjamin A. Santos, and Edgar H.Sarte – four entrepreneurs and friends came together to set up Systems Technology Institute, a training center that delivers basic programming education to professionals and students who want to learn this new skill. Lagman, Gamboa, and Sarte were all heavily involved in the growing computer industry, while Santos just retired from his IT position in a pharmaceutical company. Sarte’s software house, Systems Resources Incorporated (SRI), kept losing programmers and analysts to jobs abroad. Programmers and analysts were a rare breed then, with only a few training centers offering courses on computer programming.There was clear need to find and hire people for SRI, and fulfil the need of a growing business industry that was migrating to automated or computerized business processes. The founders transformed the problem into an opportunity. Systems Technology Institute’s name came from countless brainstorming sessions among the founders, perhaps from Sarte’s penchant for three-letter acronyms from the companies he managed at the time. The first two schools were inaugurated on August 21, 2983 in Buendia, Makati and in Espana, Manila and offered basic computer programming courses.With a unique and superior product on their hands, it was not difficult to expand the franchise through the founders’ business contacts. A year af ter the first two schools opened, the franchise grew to include STI Binondo, Cubao, and Taft. A unique value proposition spelled the difference for the STI brand then: â€Å"First We’ll Tech You, Then We’ll Hire You. † Through its unique Guaranteed Hire Program (GHP), all qualified graduates were offered jobs by one of the founders’ companies, or through their contacts in the industry. The schools’ 1st batch of graduates, all 11 of them, were hired by SRI.And through GHP, more qualified STI graduates found themselves working in their field of interest straight out of school. No one among the four founders imagined that the Systems Technology Institute would become a college, or would grow to have over 100 schools across the country. But it did, all because of its unique value proposition, the synergy between the founders and their personnel, and the management’s faithfulness to quality. Before the 1990s ended, STI also recognized the younger generation’s need to superior IT-enabled education.It was during this time that STI started to venture into basic and secondary education. With its vast experience in managing tertiary level campuses, STI understood the responsibility of providing the same quality of learning tools and experiences to preparatory, elementary, and high school students. The outcome was the launch of the STI Basic Education and STI High School. The STI Colleges provide associate, baccalaureate, and masteral programs in the fields of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Engineering, Business and Management, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Education, and Healthcare.These programs are duly accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). TESDA programs under the Colleges can also be ladderized with exit points that equip graduates with TESDA Certifications and the option to continue further studies in progr ams accredited by CHED. STI Vision We envision a technologically empowered society whose development and growth is driven by a knowledge-based workforce. STI Mission To be the leader in ICT-enabled human resource development through innovative learning and career planning methodologies.STI Values * Respect * Excellence * â€Å"Malasakit† * Meritocracy * Teamwork * Entrepreneurship * Service The following individuals are those who have control and influence in the decision making activities of STI College Angeles (SYLLABUS). Mr. Condrado M. Dayrit SYLLABUS, Inc. President Ms. Mary Ann CanlasFinance Manager Ms. Rowena T. SelomSchool Administrator – Angeles branch Ms. Avelina A. PenaAcademic Head – Angeles branch Ms. Eleanor PinedaMarketing Officer – Angeles branch Mr. Leo AdaptanteChannel Manager for North and Central Luzon – direct employer STI Headquarters (oversees the operation and sustainability f STI Colleges franchise) C. INDUSTRY BACKGROUND S TI College Angeles has been existing in Balibago, Angeles City for 25 years, pursuing its commitment in delivering quality service to all students who aspire to become professionals with its affordable tuition fees. It occupies the 2nd to 5th floor of Agson’s Bldg. in Balibago, accompanied with two (2) computer laboratories, one (1) kitchen laboratory, one (1) bar set-up laboratory, one (1) hotel room, one (1) electronics room, one (1) library and eight (8) classrooms for lecture setup. Class hour is within 7:00am to 6:00 pm.STI College Angeles offers two-year courses (under the supervision of TESDA) that have ladderized program, four-year courses (under the supervision of CHED), and special courses such as Call Center Training, Effective Keyboarding Training, and Personality Development Trainings. STI serve students from the 33 barangays of Angeles, Mabalacat, Dau, Porac, and Tarlac. Within the vicinity of Angeles, it tries to attract enrollees from the existing 46 Secondary Schools especially fourth year students. | | | | | | | | | | | COURSES OFFERED by STI College Angeles| | | | | | | | | |Four Year Courses| | Two Year ; Special Courses| | | | B. S Computer Science (BSCS)| | Associate in Computer Technology (ACT) | B. S Information Technology (BSIT)| | Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Services (HRS)| B. S Office Administration (BSOAd)| | Certificate in Computer Electronics Technology (CCEP)| B. S Business Management (BSBM)| | Certificate in Call Center Training| B. S Hotel and Restaurant Management (BSHRM)| | Certificate in Effective Keyboarding Training| B. S Tourism (BSTM)| | Certificate in Personality Development Training| | | | Its Competitors†¦Angeles City has more than 60 schools (from primary, secondary, tertiary, and graduate schools) within its circle, and about 17 out of the 60 offers college courses. True enough, STI College Angeles is living in a school saturated environment and competition is getting stiffer each school year. Belo w is the matrix of all the competitors of STI College Angeles. (Source: Marketing Concern created by: Mr. Mark Lagman, Computer Laboratory Coordinator of STI College Angeles) College/University| Distance fromSTI| Courses Offered| Tuition Fee(Per Semester)| Estimated Population(as of S.Y ’11-’12)| Angeles University Foundation| 3 Km| MedicineNursingLawHRMComputer ScienceInformation Tech. Bus. ManagementEducationCriminologyPsychology| 26,000 to 45,000| 9,000| Holy Angel University | 4. 5 Km| AccountingNursingEngineeringComp. ScienceInformation Tech. Bus. Management EducationHRMCriminologyPsychology | 27,000 to 40,000| 12,000| Republic Central Colleges | 4 Km| EducationNursingHRMManagementAccountingEngineeringComp. ScienceInformation Tech. Comp. SecretarialComp. Technician | 21,000 to 28,000| 2,000| Systems Plus College Foundation| 1 Km| BS Computer ScienceBS Info.Technology BS Bus. AdministrationBS Comp EngineeringBS ECEBS HRMBS in TourismBS Nursing| 26,000 to 45,000| 4, 000| Systems Plus Computer College | 4 Km| 2yr Computer Science with Photoshop2-yr Info Technician with AutoCADD 2yr Comp Technology2yr Computer Secretarial2 yr HRSCaregiver2-yr Comp Engineering – Major in Networking Technology| 15,000 to 18,000| 700| Mega Computer College | 4 Km| 2yr Comp Science2yr Comp EngineeringIntegrated Programming1-year Computer Technician2yr Comp Technology| 15,700 to 17,000| 250| AMA Computer College – Angeles City | 4. Km| BS Bus AdministrationBS Info TechnologyBS Computer ScienceBS Comp EngineeringBS Electronics ; Communications Engineering| 19,000 to 23,000| 400| AMA Computer Learning Center – Angeles City | 4. 5 Km| Comp. Based AccountingOffice ; Information ManagementComputer Systems Design ; ProgrammingInternet TechnologyComputer Systems ; Networking Technology2-year Hotel ; Restaurant Management| 13,000 to 18,000| 400| AMA Computer Learning Center – Dau, Mabalacat | 3 Km| Computer Systems Design ; ProgrammingOffice ; Info rmation ManagementComputer Systems ; NetworkingTechnology2-year Hotel ; Restaurant Management| 13,000 to 18,000| 400| Integrated Computer School Foundation| 3 Km| BS in Infromation TechnologyComputer Science2yr Computer ProgrammingComp. SecretarialComp. Engineering in Hardware Technology1-year Computer Technician| 14,000 to 17,000| 200| Montessori ProfessionalCollege| 3. 5 Km| Nursing ScienceComputer ScienceOffice SecretarialComputer AccountancyBusiness ManagementHotel and Restaurant Management| 8,000 to 10,000| 150| AIE College or Asian Institute of E-Commerce | 3 Km| 2yr Info.Technology 2yr Business ; Information Management2yr Computer Technology2yr HRS| 10,000 to 12,000| 250| Asian Institute for Computer Studies| 2 Km| BS Comp. Science 2yr Comp. Science2yr Comp. Secretarial2yr Comp. Technician2yr Hospitality ; Restaurant Services | 9,300 to 14,000| 450| Asian Institute of Science and Technology | 2 Km| 2yr Comp. Science2yr Business Information2yr Comp. Technician2yr Hospitality ; Restaurant Services | 7,600 to 12,000| 350| Clark International College of Technology| 2 Km| 2-yr Comp.Programming2-Yr Comp. Secretarial2-Yr Comp. Technology2-Yr Customer Relations Management2-Yr Consumer Electronics2-Yr HRS| 14,000 to 17,000| 400| Jose C. Feliciano College | 2. 5Km| BS Business ManagementBS Tourism2yr Computer Technician2yr Electronics TechnicianMarine EngineeringSea Farer CourseMidwifery ; Nursing Aide | 16,000 to 22,000| 1,200| Comparative Analysis on Tuition Fees Marketing Strategies ; Activities†¦ STI College Angeles conform to the policy and set laws of STI Head Quarters located in Global City Taguig, Philippines.From the management to the academic concerns all of which need to be addressed to STI-HQ. Marketing techniques and activities were also product of STI-HQ. From billboards, to flyers, to CDs, sponsorships, career orientations, competitions, and scholarships month were all advised at the Head Quarters. This is to maintain the centralization of fra nchised branch of STI. Next page shows the Marketing Calendar and the Advertising and Promotion Expenses of STI College Angeles for S. Y 2012-2013. INQUIRY VS. NEW STUDENTSA. Y 2009-2011 ENROLLMENT SUMMARY A. Y 2006-2011 (All Graphs Source: Marketing Concern created by: Mr. Mark Lagman, Computer Laboratory Coordinator of STI College Angeles) STI College Angeles TOWS Analysis **THREATS**| **WEAKNESSES**| 1. Stiff competition with other colleges and universities. 2. Unstable economic condition in the Philippines that might affect parents’ decision in sending their children into college. 3. K+12 Policy ratify by the Philippines Department of Education which started S. Y 2012. | 1.School facade and location not visible to the public. 2. Lack spacious surrounding and minimal number of rooms; 2 laboratories not enough to accommodate large classes. 3. Incomplete and obsolete facilities (for IT laboratories, Kitchen laboratory, and Library) 4. High-turnover rate of faculty members. | **OPPORTUNITIES**| **STRENGTHS**| 1. The increasing demand of High School students to finish bachelor / associate courses. Continuous demand for ICT and other skilled professionals. 2. Educational institutions will not become obsolete. 3.There are about 40 + Secondary Schools in Angeles City alone. Not to mention nearby places like Dau, Mabalacat, and Porac. There will always be new market to encourage every school year. 4. Can attract working people who wishes to continue study to enroll at STI. | 1. Job Placement Assistance (E2E – Employment to Enrollment) Program. 2. One of the reputable college institution in-terms of IT in the Philippines. 3. Flexible schedule can be given to an employee who wishes to study while working. 4. Well equipped faculty members and staff. . Legal consent and requirements of CHED and TESDA properly organized. | D. ALTERNATIVES July 20, 2012 – 1:30 P. M (STI College San Fernando – Conference Room) Condrado (SYLLABUS, President): It ’s nice to finally meet you personally Eleanor, welcome to SYLLABUS. Eleanor (STI Angeles, Marketing Officer): It’s my pleasure to meet you Mr. President. Thank you for the warm welcome that I have been receiving from all of you. Mary Ann (SYLLABUS, Finance Manager): Since everyone is settled already, I think we can now start Mr. President.The main agenda we have for today’s meeting is the issues being face by STI College Angeles in failing to achieve the projected number of new student every school year. Condrado (President): Okay, that is clear with me. How can we address such dilemma then? Rowena (STI Angeles, Administrator): I believe that we must continue investing in improving our facilities and equipment. If students have good equipment to use in their studies and can see nice facilities within our vicinity they will be spreading news on how good it is to be part of STI and will be encouraged to enroll.In addition, we must do additional effort in promotin g our school by doing double effort in our promotion and advertising activities for 2012. Visit more schools; sponsor seminars, events, and competitions; make STI existence visible to the public by displaying multiple STI banners, billboards, and flyers indicating the courses we offer and the location for them to reach us. Condrado (President): Isn’t that we have been doing the same things before? Avelina (STI Angeles, Academic Head): That is true Mr.President, however I believe that Rowena’s suggestion is only one of the strategies that we can do to achieve our projected number of students. Yes we can improve our current facilities and equipment within the school and it can attract more students but additional students require additional space. As of the moment, our location can accommodate less than 500 students and we still experience minor problems in terms of room assignment and space. If our objective is to increase students and to meet our projected number of en rollees, we must start in preparing a better building first.A new building with larger and spacious structure, plus a visible facade will be an effective marketing strategy. Condrado (President): Hmm†¦ our place is really not visible to the public. Mary Ann (Finance Manager): Your proposal is for STI Angeles to locate into a new building, larger than what we rent now; a building with a visible facade for it to be more obvious to the public. The intention is good, but we must consider the financial status of STI Angeles before we can decide on that. Condrado (President): Can we now hear your proposal Eleanor? Eleanor (STI Angeles, Marketing Officer): Yes Mr.President, as I have listened carefully and as a result of my observation with the previous years of STI Angeles – the problem that we wanted to conquer is to get the target number of students. The solution that I would like to propose is Internal Marketing with STI Students. In every 1 student he/she should migrate 4 students (transferee or new student then the student will be given a gift of knowledge of 50% scholarship in tuition fee. And in every 6 students enrolled by 1 student, he/she will be given 100% scholarship plus a uniform and any STI kit.The way I came with the computation is shown in the screen: 50% Gift of Knowledge (GOK)| 100% Gift of Knowledge (GOK)| 1 student = 20,000 (estimated payment, 50% GOK)4 student = 80,000 (enrolled)_________________________________________Total: 60,000 10,000 (miscellaneous fee and OSF)__________________________________________ 70,000 (School)| 1 student = 20,000 (estimated payment, 100% GOK)6 student = 120,000 (enrolled)___________________________________________Total 100,000 5,000 (Miscellaneous fee and OSF)___________________________________________ 105,000 (School)|Other resolution is to have rental fee for any available rooms that we have: Example: a. Kitchen laboratory (7:00-9:00 pm) class for any tutorial culinary (others). b. Computer laborator y (7:00-9:00 pm) class for any tutorial in computers (others). c. Marketing strategy with the help of any organizations like SM Supermalls in SM City Clark. d. Sponsoring activities of any high school (example: held a competition within their school or tabulations with their school or having seminars) e. Talk to different school principals and have communications like school open house (some of the principals need an exposure). . Posting out STI College Angeles through the use of streamers. Condrado (President): I love the zest of ideas that are coming from everyone’s mind. Give me an action plan and a feasibility study on all your suggestions, present it to me next month. Let’s call it a day†¦ *end* Gratitude to the following people who provided me the information and data to complete my term paper. Mrs. Rowena T. Selom, Administrator of STI College Angeles. Mr. Mark P. Lagman,Computer Laboratory Coordinator of STI College Angeles.

Computer Games Essay

Farmville, DotA, Cafà © World, City Ville, Plants Vs. Zombies are just among of the few computer games that are in demand not only among the youth today but also to some adults. These computer games surely bring us entertainment and fun but is that really what’s into it? Have you ever thought of what are the effects of these games to our minds and attitudes? Computer games conquer the minds of our youth today. Through these games, we are able to make friends all over the world. These games could also help our minds because while playing we think of different strategies to win. These helps keep our minds off of the things we don’t want to think about. But are these benefits worth it, when once you get addicted to these you might not think of doing more important things? For me, computer games are fine but once you put all of your time playing these then you might want to think of controlling yourself. Why? Because it might divert your attention from your duties and responsibilities. As a youth and a student, I think that we should focus on our studies more because our studies would make a great impact on our future. If you study more, then you’ll have a greater chance of having a bright future. I am not saying that you should not play such computer games. You could play but make sure that you could control yourself, manage your time, and keep it in moderate. Remember, staying in front of the computer for so long could damage your eyes and your health because of radiation. Some even died because of addiction to the game DotA. I’m not a fan of this game because of its characters that seem to promote the devil. Computer games bring us enjoyment and amusement but we should all think of its effects to us and what it really teaches us before we get indulged on playing such. I don’t have a thing against the gamers but it is good to keep things in moderate. Not only in computer gaming but in other things as well.

A danger of a single story Essay

Literature is something that matters. It has the power to change and shape our minds and opinions. It has the power to change the perception of the world around us and to boost our imagination. Take us far away from the reality to the world of illusions and let our minds flourished with imagination. One might think how amazing it is, but fiction as it is here today may often matter much more than it is meant to. TED is a non-profit global community whose mission is to spread ideas usually in the form of short talks which last no more than 18 minutes. TED began in 1984 as a conference, and today covers wide range of topics – from science to philosophy to global issues – in more than 100 languages welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. Both of the presenters whose ideas I will mention are novelists and story tellers. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian anglophone writer who succeeded in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. In her novels, she is inspired by the history of her nation and its tragedies that are forgotten by recent generation of westerners. Elif Shafak is a Turkish novelist born in Strasbourg, France who is the most widely read female writer in Turkey. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Ch. N. Adichie in her talk warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. Things are not usually just black and white and we have to make every effort to open our minds and explore what is real. Elif Shafak talks about the danger into which writers from different cultures are put at; the pressure-that-makes-them-feel-as-a-representatives-of-their-cultures. She makes a strong division between fiction and reality – fiction and daily politics. Although, both of the writers are of non-western origin which to some extend make them quite similar in terms of cultural stereotypes, it  seems that they do not share the same view of function of a story in our lives. While talking about the cultural and social background of these two writers, there are many things in which they differ, although their life journeys have many in common. Ch. N. Adichie was born in Nigeria, Africa. She grew up in a conventional middle-class family, her father was a professor and her mother was an administrator. She had a very happy childhood in a very close-knit family. However, a kind of political fear invaded their lives on the place they live. However, Chimamanda was a happy child who was writing stories about white people, just like those who she was reading about in books. On the other hand, Elif Shafak; although, she has Turkish parents, was born in France, Europe and when her parents got separated she was bringing up by her mother and her grandmother in Turkey. Her position was quite dissimilar to Adichie’ as she was not living in a nuclear family. She grew up in a patriarchal environment where fathers were the heads of households. She was raised as a single child by a single mother, which was; at those times, a bit unusual. Elif Shafak was an introverted child talking to her imaginary friends. She had a vivid imagination and unlike Adichie, she was not inspired by stories that she had read, but she wrote about people she had never seen and things that never really happened. Nevertheless, their writing experience took place at the same time. They both started to write around the age of 7; though, their style was different. Moreover, the life journey of these two women seems to be quite similar. Just like Adichie, Shafak also studied abroad. They have travelled the world and this made these women who they are nowadays. It made them being experienced, open-minded and well-educated,-powerful-women. This leads me to the matter of stereotypes. As I mentioned, both writers have travelled a lot and during their lives they have experienced stereotypes on their own skin. Ch. N. Adichie mentions several personal stories from her life in which she pays attention to the stereotypes. She talks about how her roommate in the USA was surprised that she had learnt speak English so well,  that she had not been raised in poverty, that music which Adichie was listening to was not different in any feature from mainstream one. Chimamanda focuses on African stereotypes that she experienced. As a result, she demonstrates that stereotypes are created by single stories, and the problem with the stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. At the same time, Elif uses her personal experience as well. Like Adichie, she attended a school abroad as well, and she experienced cultural stereotypes. She talks about the clusters based on cultural identity. The school, which she attended, was multicultural. The only problem was that each child was seen as a representative of his or her nation and every time something happened in connection to their nation they were ridiculed and bullied because of it. As Adichie experienced stereotypes concerning Africa, Elif Shafak came across some cultural stereotypes concerning her nationality as well and these were politics, smoking and veil. Doesn’t matter she had never been smoking before, or she had never been raised in a environment where a rule of wearing a veil was obligatory, she was expected to do so because it was a general image of her nation and her culture. In contrast, the notion of power is discussed from different points of view by these two writers. To clarify this, I will put down both of them in sequence. The most significant difference is in context they use. On one hand, Adichie talks about the power as the ability not just to tell the story, but also as the ability to chose which story is being told, how it is told, who tells it; therefore, the ability to make from one story the definite one, the single story. She appeals not that much to writers, but to readers and people in general. She demonstrates how important it is not to see things just black and white; thus, try to open our minds and explore. Without doubt, Elif’s viewpoint to the question of power is quite distinct. It seems to me like the other side of the coin when she; unlike Adichie, analyses the relation between power and writer not power and reader. Shafak puts into relation power with the notion of pressure. She demonstrates how  writers are seen as the representatives of their cultures. In her talk, she manifests how world of politics affects the way stories are being written, reviewed and read. If you are a person with a particular cultural background you are expected to write informative and characteristic stories about your world and to show manifestation of your identity. As an illustration, Elif as a woman from a Muslim world is expected to write stories of Muslim women and preferably, the unhappy stories of unhappy Muslim women just because she happened to be one. And in connection to this, here comes the main distinction between their understanding of power. While Adichie sees a story and fiction as tools for shaping our minds by which we can understand people, nations and things what they really are, Shafak thinks that when stories are seen as more than stories, they lose their magic; in other words, she says fiction is just fiction, not daily politics. In both cases one must admit that thoughts which were brought up were relevant. It doesn’t matter what is your cultural background; what is important it is your personal growth. These two women have stepped over the shadows of their cultural stereotypes. They pointed at a serious problem of nowadays in a context of literature and the credibility of information itselves. They both; however, in a different way, open people’s minds and let us think. And this is when a story matters.

US Foreign Policy in the Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

US Foreign Policy in the Middle East - Essay Example Different foreign policies get suited for different regions with regard to the goals sought. The realist perspective in international relations alludes that countries will act in their selfish interests going against whatever moral consideration there may be. The basis of this is study of the nature of humans and the need to be out of harms way. Realism views look at the international pool as an archaic system with no checks placed on sovereign states (Mingst 12). Foreign policy ought to be firmly defined through realism. The type of foreign policy fronted by the government should be beneficial to that country and achievable. The stand taken by the authorities should be supported by the nation’s population. This creates a sense of belonging and contribution in as far as effective governance gets concerned. Over the years, several foreign policy statements have become challenged because they do not depict the feelings of the population. It is in this light that opinions should be sought from the public through consultation and involvement in decision making (Jackson 66). The US foreign policy in the Middle East should involve a wide consideration of dynamics. It should look into the sociological, economic and political perspectives and possible impacts of policies made. The US foreign policy in the Middle East should view the region as a new hub for economic gain. The Middle East boasts of the world’s largest oil reservoirs. Oil wells in the United States are drying up at alarming rates. The US policy in the Middle East should encourage mutually beneficial trade between the two trading blocks (Sorensten 116). With the current state of affairs where the US is massively indebted especially to China, new trading partner should be found. Trade treaties that allow for continued investments in the Middle East should be encouraged. Movement of goods and services between the two blocks should be monitored to ensure that

E-commerce market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

E-commerce market - Essay Example In the past, critical success factors were typically related to business infra-structure. One significant issue was that of internet speed-with the majority of Internet users connecting to the Internet via dial-up modem, file transfer speeds were extremely low. This presented a problem when attempting to transmit large files such as multi-media files. With steady financial investment from both the government and private business enterprises, the rapid advance of technology in this area has led to the increasingly-widespread use of high-speed Internet connections such as cable modems, ISDN and XDSL, which increase file transfer speeds substantially. With communication speed being a limiting factor for the growth of electronic commerce, these developments in information and communication technology have initiated a marked reduction in infra-structural problems for electronic commerce. More recently, however, new success factors such as security and copyrights have increased in importan ce. Another significant issue for many Internet businesses is related to expenses. Traditional corporations are able to strengthen business strategies, enhance their image, provide efficient customer service, and create new Internet sales methods. However, popular Web sites have proven to require more resources than was once thought. According to recent research, Web sites which sell products collectively spend approximately 240 Won per year, while sites which sell content spend approximately 1 billion Won per year. Internet sites such as shopping malls, where actual transactions take place, spend around 3.35 billion Won every year. Companies which plan to move into electronic commerce must plan and invest efficiently in the initial stages of development in order to create profit within a reasonable period of time. There are several success factors which should be considered. E-businesses must provide good value for their customers, not only in terms of the products they sell, but also through ease of Web site navigation. They must differentiate themselves from other electronic commerce corporations to create a unique identity, and at the same time take care that they maintain the important characteristics of e-business. It is also particularly important to manage resources carefully and control initial expenses through the gradual introduction of new technologies, while allocating enough resources to brand management to win and maintain the trust of their customers. Research on business models has shown that these success factors are critical. Companies that survive the rapidly-changing electronic commerce environment have unique business fields and business models. The results of research on approximately 30 business corporations are presented here. Above all, successful electronic commerce corporations value for their customers. Through fluctuating markets, these companies continue to be competitive and profit from e-commerce. Many of these companies also successfully compete in off-line markets as well as on-line markets. They manage their brands effectively to maintain consumer trust, and use differentiated services and unique profit models to succeed in what is become a very competitive market-place. Finally, they have organized themselves in such a way that with flexible attitudes and infra-structure they can cope with a changing business environment and introduce new technologies at the most appropriate times. The results of this exploratory research indicate

Real Options -The Madoff Affair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Real Options -The Madoff Affair - Essay Example Despite that Madoff had no record of bribery with the authority; his case shows that the financial security top officials were failing in their job How the fraudster managed to pull through during the financial hard times remains a question worth noting. Additionally, most financial managers today, are still perplexed as to how Madoff managed to trick the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Ponzi scheme raised suspicion a number of times. However, when SEC investigated the firm’s financial records and activities Madoff’s pyramid scheme was undetected. The second important aspect worth noting is that Madoff kept his business low profile and this is why it took long before the scheme was uncovered. This was through secrecy and hiring family members as his top officials in the firm. This was until December, 2008 when Madoff admitted that the firm was â€Å"one big lie†. He specifically confessed this to his son who was a top official in the same firm. The confession came just when the economy was in its worst and banks that had loaned some of the investors’ money counted billion in losses. Mad off firm was stated as a Ponzi scheme which was pyramidal in nature because the past investments returns from earlier investors came from the latest investor’s deposits. Therefore, the returns were not true product of the investments. The firm was stripped naked and the true business conduct was revealed when some of the investors withdrew their funds from the firm. Madoff had funds to pay the investors their interest money and this led to his arrest for crimes of fraud, false financial statements and money laundering among others. The crimes made the perpetrator convicted the maximum of 150 years (Manzakee). The Ponzi scheme not only shocked the financial advisors, SEC but also president Barack Obama. In an interview after Madoff’s conviction, President Obama exclaimed

The Cypriot financial crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Cypriot financial crisis - Essay Example The paper tells that the European economic crisis is an ongoing economic crisis that has made it hard or impossible for some nations in the euro region to re-finance or repay their government debt devoid of the help from third parties. Clerides and Stephanou noted that Cyprus was considered as a tax haven, thus becoming an epicenter for corruption and money laundering. This made the banking sector to be larger than the nation’s economy. Therefore, when there was an increase in public and private debt, the country went into recession with the economy shrinking by 1.67 % in 2009. This marked the beginning of the Cypriot economic crisis. Over the last decade, the Greek government has borrowed greatly from international markets in order to pay for its trade deficits and budget. Investors became nervous that the public debt was soaring high, which drove up Greece’s borrowing costs. With the banking systems in Cyprus were experiencing intense pressure; they amassed â‚ ¬22 billion of Greek private sector debt. This increase in public and private debt reduced economic growth plunging the country into a crisis. This market concerns is what initiated the study to examine how public and private debt contributed to the Cypriot Euro zone crisis. The Cyprus banking crisis was attributed to Cypriot banks investing heavily in Greek government bonds. The Cyprus banks came under intense financial pressure as the bad ratios escalated. Laiki bank reported that the bank was probably insolvent as early as 2008. This was even before Cyprus plunged into the Eurozone crisis.

Confucious and the golden rule Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Confucious and the golden rule - Assignment Example sus’ positive assertion, considering other people and making efforts to help them would be living according to this code every day (Henderson, 2014). There are no exemptions from Jesus’s golden rule because he is the one who stated it. Jesus expects his followers to do positive things to others proactively that they themselves would like others to do to them (Henderson, 2014). However, Confucius’ golden rule can have exemptions considering it was a teaching for his students and stated by a mortal in contrast to Jesus, a deity. Jesus’ golden rule infers that God’s grace deliberates salvation to those who are good to others, but only when they have faith in him. This deliberation is a response to Christians’ repentance toward God (Reilly, 2010). The proof of this faith is visible in Christians’ God-given ability to adhere to the golden rule, which is the rule I live by. To show my faith in God, I live knowing that doing good to others is what God initially intended of

GSA Wants You Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

GSA Wants You - Essay Example As per the Small Business Act of 1953, small businesses should get a â€Å"fair percentage† of federal contracts and that small business should be provided with the â€Å"maximum practicable opportunity â€Å"to engage in federal contracting. Further, the above, act established the â€Å"SBA to help small businesses and to make sure that they receive a â€Å"fair percentage† of federal contracts. Further, Congress has established a twenty-three percentage of government-wide goal for awarding of contracts to small businesses. GSA strongly back the participation of small business concerns in the GSA Schedules Program. GSA, in this case, may use notice of service-Disabled Veteran –Owned Small Businesses Set-Aside, and in such cases, an order can be reserved for a single firm to be declared as qualified firm.GSA maintains a separate portal for submission of bids by small business electronically. Every probable GSA contractor must complete a chain of steps and cert ifications before the agency award access to the portal. A small-business owner should enroll for the compulsory GSA â€Å"Pathways to Success† online training course else he may also attend a workshop in person. A small business has to obtain DUNS number and Dun number recognizes the small business by its actual location by employing a uniform 9-digit credential code. The small business has to obtain an electronic digital signature. It is advised that the small business should create an electronic copy of the bid submitted to GSA eOffer portal

The economy of Australia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The economy of Australia - Research Paper Example Average family income is in the range of 55,000 USD annually, though differing drastically depending on which part of the country the person lives in. Australia has a relatively even distribution of wealth amongst its population. The GINI index, which is a measure of wealth disparities in a country, gives Australia a score of 30.5, only .1 above the European union, and 112th largest score in the world (in the GINI index a lower score means better or more even distribution of wealth). For comparison, Sweden, with the best GINI score has a 23, while America, with a terrible score for a developed country, has a score of 45 (CIA). Australia, as a country the size of a continent (it is the 6th largest country in the world) has a wide variety of natural resources including coal, iron, precious metals, diamonds, rare earth elements, natural gas and petroleum (CIA). IT is the largest net exporter of coal in the world, and accounts for 29% of global coal exports (CIA). Australia has highly developed transportation and communication infrastructure, with wide access to high speed internet and public transpiration in cities (CIA). Its primary mode of public transpiration is bus (CIA). Its infrastructure is much worse in rural regions, which have access issues. Australia has very strict and well adhered to employee protection laws, with only a very few countries having better (Global Edge). It has much more protection for long term than temporary workers, however, and this causes the perception of abuse amongst temporary and immigrants workers, usually from other pacific Islands (Global Edge). Salaray and benefits vary highly depending on employment sector, though public health care is less accessible than almost any other developed country, not being government funded (Global Edge). Australia’s principle industry is service, like most developed countries, though this is supplemented by mining, equipment manufacturing and steel foundering. Foreign

Sensory perception Essay Example for Free

Sensory perception Essay Sensory perception cannot be entirely trusted specifically in terms of knowing what is real from what is not and what is genuine knowledge from what is mere belief for several reasons. For one, the human senses have the tendency to fluctuate in terms of its capacity to perform according to its specific functions (Ross, p. 500). For instance, the ears, when suffering from an ear infection, are highly prone to hear things quite differently. If this is the case, then our sensory perception of hearing through the ears does not have a strong merit for serving as the foundation for knowing the real world and distinguishing those that are not real. It is also the case that human sensory perception varies from person to person. For example, an ageing man may hear the same rustling of leaves or speech of an individual quite differently from a little kid. Or perhaps the same note played in a grand piano may faintly be heard by those with hearing defects but may be clearly be distinguished by the master pianist. These are only a few examples to illustrate the point that human sensory perception varies from person to person, and the list may very well be inexhaustible. This leads us towards the idea that, since human sensory perception greatly varies, it may be quite difficult to reach at a solid agreement among individuals concerning the common understanding of reality. Although there may be attempts to resolve such a crisis, the very fact that human sensory perception differs inhibit human beings from arriving at the bottom of the issue. Yet it cannot be doubted that, when asked about what is real from what is not, the tendency of the individual is to rely on sensory perception (Walton, p. 557). One can defend the idea that ‘this’ pencil is ‘real’ because the individual is able to see and touch the pencil. There are many other ways in order to provide possible arguments that support the idea that sensory perception grants human beings an access to reality and a corresponding awareness of it. While it may be true that the individual is able to see and old the pencil does it guarantee the individual that, indeed, the pencil is real? One is to be reminded that our eyes sometimes suffer from a blurring of vision and that our skin has the tendency to be sensitive or numb or somewhere between depending on the external environment and on the internal bodily processes the individual is experiencing. Apparently, sensory perception gives one experiences of one’s external environment and that these experiences may correspond to an actual object existing in the external environment of the individual (Brown, p. 336). If this is the case, then it is also probable that the object perceived through the senses may exist. Nevertheless, whether or not the object perceived exists in the external environment, the question remains: can sensory perception be trusted? With the idea of trusting the senses, we are directed towards the notion that the senses provide a way for the perceiving individual to ‘sense’ an object outside of one’s system (Sorabji, p. 60). It can be asserted that the senses provide the individual with sensory experiences such as the color and smell of the object, the quality of hotness or coldness and many others. The idea can further be stretched by arguing that, without the senses, the brain will have no way of accepting data from the external objects. But how is one to know what is real from what is mere hallucination? Correspondingly, how is one to know that one’s senses are giving an impression of a defective data offered by the impaired visual senses, for instance? The foundation for the refutation against the credibility of the senses rests on the idea that the senses of human beings are open to impairments and oftentimes prone to the trickery of the external environment. For example, mirages tend to trick the human eye and, consequently, the human understanding and the larger sphere of human knowledge. What appears to be a small patch of water in the middle of a scorching desert is the visual effect of heat on sand from afar. Unless the individual decides to get closer to the source of the desert ‘mirage’ can one be able to fully discern the idea that the eyes do not give us what is really the case. This case holds highly probable for the individual. The larger aspect of the faulty functioning of the senses can all the more be observed in terms of two or more individuals. Take for example the case of two individuals and a small piece of freshly baked bread. Assume that the first individual is one who lives in a warm region while the other individual lives near the fringes of Alaska. The first individual may very well claim that the freshly baked bread is not quiet hot while the Alaskan may very well claim that the bread is warm for the reason that the former is used to a warm environment while the latter lives in an environment where a little heat is easily detected by the skin. Or let one assume that the opposite case is true for the two individuals—either way, it can be observed that there is a difference in the way both individuals have ‘experienced’ the bread in terms of its hotness or coldness. The instance where there are variations in the manner in which individuals tend to have a sensory experience on the warmness or coldness of objects is one proof that, when applied to the larger context of humanity, there can hardly be any precise and unchanging sensory experience for the same object. While it may be true that humanity can generalize an object as either warm or cold, it nevertheless remains that it does not guarantee that all of the individuals have experienced one and the same degree of warmness or coldness of the object given the fact that the specific human anatomy widely varies from person to person although individuals may have the same general anatomy of, say, the head composed of the skull, eye sockets, teeth, etc. The point is that, although two, three, or a couple of individuals may agree that this or that object is ‘warm’, there is hardly any coherent and precise sensory perception that unifies all of human sensory experience on the same object or event at its most detailed form. This contention leads one to the consequent argument that sensory perception cannot be trusted and that these variations in human sensory experience fail to provide a substantial account for what is real from what is not. Why can’t sensory perception be trusted even if there are wide variations and disagreements on human sensory experiences? The answer to this question rests on the idea that human knowledge is a very critical aspect in the lives and progress of humanity. Since the daily experiences of human beings pretty much contribute to and define their knowledge of the external world, a corrupted sensory experience may lead to knowledge founded on false assumptions or beliefs. Further, if the wide variations in sensory experiences will serve as the basis for human knowledge, then it is not a farfetched idea that it will result to multiple interpretations and, consequently, multiple forms of knowledge on the same object or event. All the knowledge in the world becomes relative to the numerous individuals asserting their own stand on what knowledge is; knowledge becomes equally proportional to the total number of individuals advocating their own ‘knowledge’. If this is the case, can the separate notions of ‘knowledge’ correspond to a genuine knowledge? Or does it give the guarantee that all of these knowledge claims are sound and valid even though one or two of these knowledge claims come into conflict? The argument is clear: sensory perception cannot be trusted due to its dire effects on the epistemological exploits of humanity inasmuch as there is the primary concern or need for a true and genuine knowledge that transcends individual interpretations and relative sensory experiences. The seemingly ‘imperfect’ condition of the human sensory organs contributes in large parts to the disruptions in the corresponding sensory experiences. This ‘imperfect’ state should all the more prompt the rational mind to do away with trusting sensory perception as a guaranteed medium for obtaining knowledge and in understanding reality. Works Cited Brown, Kevin L. Dating Adam Smiths Essay Of the External Senses. Journal of the History of Ideas 53. 2 (1992): 336. Ross, Peter W. Qualia and the Senses. The Philosophical Quarterly 51. 205 (2001): 500. Sorabji, Richard. Aristotle on Demarcating the Five Senses. The Philosophical Review 80. 1 (1971): 60. Walton, William M. Is Existence a Valid Philosophical Concept? A Metaphysical Approach. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 12. 4 (1952): 557.

Science Education in Primary School Years Essay Example for Free

Science Education in Primary School Years Essay Introduction The importance of science in the education of schoolchildren goes beyond just providing the first steps in producing the next generation of scientist. Since science is becoming a large part of political debates such as in global warming, nutrition and energy (DeBoer, 2000) at least a basic understanding of how science works and what conclusions it can draw needs to be appreciated by the general population. The scientific literacy of a nation is therefore becoming a key element of some very important social and political questions that have to be answered by a population most of whom don’t have a scientific background (Nelson, 1999). The Nutt scandal demonstrates a recent example of the clash between what science informs us and the impact it can have on social and political debates. The Nutt scandal centred around a number of remarks made by David Nutt, the former chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. (Nutt, Governments should get real on drugs, 2009) Nutt published a journal article in 2007 discussing how the current classification of drugs in the United Kingdom was neither consistent nor transparent. He made recommendations to the government to change the classification so it was based on scientific research rather than by social pressures (Nutt, King, Saulsbury, Blakemore, 2007). However the impact of his review on the classification which said ecstasy was â€Å"no more dangerous than horse riding† eventually led to him losing his job (Nutt, Equasy an overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms. , 2009). The lack of appreciation for the scientific research was deemed to be less important as the socio-political climate surrounding the issues of drugs (to send a message to drug-users) (Easton, Ecstasy: Class A drug? , 2008). However, a more scientific rationale may have helped introduce a less emotionally heated-debate about drugs, in turn dissipating more information and educating the wider public by raising greater awareness and openness (Easton, Scientists v Politicians: Round 3, 2009) while at the same time dealing with drug use and possession in a more proportionally manner (BBC News, 2009). It is in these and other debates that an appreciation of science is needed by those who do not have a strong scientific background, but the teaching of science has a greater impact than just in Page 5 of 37 increasing the scientific literacy of a nation. Science is also an important tool in allowing pupils to utilise skills taught in other parts of the curriculum such as in literacy and numeracy (Hammerman Musial, 2007); science provides a way to apply what may otherwise be abstract aspects of mathematics, for example. As it stands, the curriculum in Scotland is based around four main principles and is called the â€Å"Curriculum for Excellence†. These are to produce children who are successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors (Education Scotland, 2011). It would appear that integration of one subject into another to develop these attributes is an important part of the government’s aim to develop good learners and citizens. CfE has been the curriculum for Scotland in two iterations; one that began in 2004 and the other in 2010 (Education Scotland). The reasons for the implementation of CfE included the feeling that teachers were only touching on topics rather than going in-depth as the previous curriculum had a lot of material to teach in it, pupils weren’t as engaged with the content, pupils were spending too much time preparing for exams and they weren’t actually learning new things, and also that some lessons were out of date (MacKinnon, 2009). From the beginning, the curriculum had established the importance of science and in a review from 2006, the CfE defined its aims for science as â€Å"to stimulate, nurture and sustain the curiosity, wonder and questioning of young people† (Curriculum Review Programme Board, 2006). Alongside CfE, there is also a supporting network of science specialists called Glow which allows further embedment of science into the curriculum. Through Glow, there are events in which students can ask questions to these specialists called Glow meets (School Science Summit, 2009). Some of the barriers to gaining the most out of science education include social factors such as class and gender (Oakes, Ormseth, Bell, Camp, 1990). The reason for these having an effect on accessing science is many-fold but includes the perception of science as being male-dominated (Steele, James, Page 6 of 37 Barnett, 2002) as well as factors such as the location of specialist schools, many of which are often in areas that are less deprived (Assessment of Achievement Programme, 2005). Research suggests that there is a difference in response between males and females when in an environment that appears to be oppositely gender biased; while females are more likely to feel vulnerable in these situations, men are less likely to be (Murphy, Steele, Gross, 2007). Many females also state that they are not interested in science (Hill PhD, Corbett, Rose, 2006), this, however, may stem from a variety of other factors including the belief that they won’t be able to succeed in that environment (Eccles, 2007). The majority of well known scientists are still mostly male which may diminish interest from females who may have the impression that there is a ceiling over how far they can take a career in science (Richardson, 2011). The effect of class, as previously mentioned, also plays a large part in the access of science by school children. Pupils in schools in England which teach science as three separate subjects at GCSE in more deprived backgrounds do better at A-levels though there are fewer schools in these areas providing the triple science option as described (National Audit Office, 2010). The reason for this maybe that the teacher training required and other changes needed to modify the curriculum are harder to justify financially for these schools. The impact of this discrepancy may also mean that children from poorer areas won’t have the same chance to succeed and therefore not be able to break out of their class.. Other barriers include factors such as the quality of teachers, both by way of confidence and knowledge (Harlen, 1997) . Teacher confidence has a direct impact on the uptake of science. It appears to be in science that teachers have the least confidence when compared to other parts of the core curriculum (Harlen, 1997). Many teachers have a background in degrees other than science (Holroyd Harlen, 1996). That primary educators do not have specialist knowledge in science means Page 7 of 37 that they struggle to portray the same confidence as they can in numeracy, literacy and art. Female teachers have less confidence in teaching science than their male counterparts and this does not help to relieve any of the pressure on female pupils who will struggle to relate even more to females in science (Harlen, 1997). Studies also suggest that teachers have more confidence in teaching biology than physical sciences and this is probably due to the ability to relate the material to real life; which is easier with biology than other sciences. However, a lack of knowledge and confidence in teaching science can be overcome with greater teaching experience and therefore the teaching of science to those who lack confidence should be able to be taught to primary educators. As with the lack of visibility of female scientists, another component in the difficulties found in promoting science education is the visibility of science as a career. The role models of young people are often in the entertainment industry such as musicians and actors. This may mean that children are therefore more likely to talk about what is going on in a TV show than they are to discuss science and therefore their interests are constrained to just within science lessons (Dindia Canary, 1998). If discussions could be opened up to include science into the everyday life for pupils, then they would probably be better at finding their own interest in science. Primary science is often too general and doesn’t give much way to the discovery of one’s own strengths and interests in science, something the CfE is trying to change. Moreover, practical work is often not employed as a teaching method for reasons that include financing, and health safety (House of Commons Science and technology Committee, 2011). However, practical work is very important in building skills providing a way for pupils to find excitement in science (Wellington, 2007). It also helps to provide a greater classroom dynamic where pupils can talk to each other and their teacher more which is an important in the teaching of science at this level (Atkin, 1998). Groups work furthers this too allowing pupils to discuss the content and be more engaged with it, however, as well as a lack of practical work, science lessons often lack group work focussing more on worksheets as an alternative. Lessons are often taught in a one way direction from teacher to pupil with very little interaction with the Page 8 of 37 content itself (Assessment of Achievement Programme, 2005)This project looked at teaching of science in primary education by visiting a school, St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Finnieston, Glasgow as part of the Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme which is itself part STEMNET. Here, it was possible to observe the teaching of science as well as assist in the coordination of science and teach genetics-specific modules to a P7/6 class. . Page 9 of 37 Methods Through working with the science coordinator, the curriculum could be looked at as well as the teaching methods that were used. Discussions with pupils would provide information about their needs in science and what they may be lacking from their current education. It would also be possible to observe the classroom dynamic and consider what ways in which this could be improved to engage pupils more and enable better learning of science. It was anticipated that genetics would be a difficult subject to teach and therefore careful consideration had to be taken to ensure that it would be pitched at the right level for the P7/6 class. Due to the small number of students, many of the year groups were mixed so there was a combination of ages; more able P6 students and P7 students. Their exposure to science was quite limited and the curriculum itself did not appear to provide them with the knowledge and skills that would have allowed the lessons to be pitched at a higher level. Therefore, starting at a molecular level would have been a poor choice as their grasp of molecular ideas would not have been very strong. It was therefore decided to start with broader ideas that they may be more familiar with such as adaptation and habitation which are already part of the curriculum and then move into more molecular details. By going through the history of genetics through some of the key experiments and having the pupils do these experiments or a variation thereof, it was hoped that the scientific skills of hypothesising, testing, collecting data, analysing data and concluding could be built. It was more important to pass on these skills as the knowledge may not be useful to them in their career paths. St. Patrick’s RC Primary School The link to the primary school, St. Patrick’s RC Primary school, was set up as part of the Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme. The aim of this scheme is to encourage and assist in the teaching of science and related subjects in interested institutions using undergraduates as part of their Honours projects. The UAS is run as part of STEMNET which runs a number of other programmes in primary and secondary schools across the United Kingdom (STEMNET, STEMNET: Page 10 of 37 Vision and Purpose, 2010). They are also involved in running activities outside of educational institutions such as in museums and in running science festivals. STEMNET has 45 local contract holders to which ambassadors are assigned; the West of Scotland has its local contractor based in the University of Glasgow and is called Science Connects (STEMNET, Local contacts: West of Scotland) which is the local contractor that helped with this Honours Project. Dr Rob Aitken was in charge of allocating places for students interested in the UAS and it was through the School of Education at the University of Glasgow that he was able to find interested schools and set up links. Once a school was found, arrangements were made to establish a footing in the establishment. A meeting was set up with the head teacher of the school, Susan O’Donnell. With her, the science education as well as other aspects of the curriculum was discussed. It was decided that a Friday slot at 0930 would be used to teach a genetics module to the P7/6 class. Wednesday was the only day that science was taught to the pupils and this was done by Tom Fabling so it was decided that assistance could also be provided to him to embellish the science curriculum at the school. On the same day as the meeting with the head teacher, an arose to shadow the P7/6 class opportunity while they were learning literacy. Unfortunately, this was on a Friday so shadowing of science wasn’t possible. A seat was placed on the side of the class to allow for observation of the ability of the pupils as well as to watch the rapport between the class and the teacher. From this session it was also possible to see the lesson structure and the teaching techniques that the teacher felt was most comfortable with the class. Page 11 of 37 The science coordinator, Tom Fabling, had collected data about the students by way of short questionnaires which he provided copies of. He also provided copies of the original questionnaires. As well as teaching science modules on a Wednesday, Fabling was also in charge of the science resources and having a hand in the discussions around the curriculum. Later in the year he would also set up a science club for which he would be able to utilise the materials. Returning the next Wednesday of term allowed both shadowing and assisting in the teaching of science. Through speaking with the pupils their needs in science were better elucidated and this provided a number of things to consider when teaching and assisting teaching in science and allowed for a better observation of the science in action in the school as the teaching of science is very different to that of literacy. From this, the scientific literacy of the pupil’s could be surveyed and enquiries could be made into what they wanted from the science curriculum. Assisting in science teaching would take place every Wednesday and would include both teaching and providing resources from the University to aid in the teaching of science. For example, the first Wednesday looked at static electricity. Science Connects kindly made available a van der Graaf generator as well as a number of other teaching resources such as confetti and balloons. A lesson was then planned around the van der Graaf generator to teach static electricity as well as the molecular ideas behind it. Every Friday, a module of genetics would be taught to the P7/6 class to enable them to understand a discipline of science that they were previously unaware of. The lessons were planned beforehand and would take the journey from classical genetics to molecular genetics with the aim of allowing the pupils to delve deeper and deeper into what a gene is. For example: looking at speciation through Darwin; pea plants and breeding through Mendel; DNA extraction through Miescher; and the DNA model through Crick/Watson. It would conclude with a look at some of the applications of genetics as a career such as in forensics and human genetic diseases. Unfortunately, Page 12 of 37 the project was cut short and so only one module of genetics was taught to the class focussing on Charles Darwin and his voyage with the HMS Beagle. The class was made up of pupils from various backgrounds. A number of children were known to frequently misbehave and disrupt the teaching in the class. The class was made up of ten boys and eleven girls so there wasn’t much of a gender bias in the class. It was expected, however, that friendship groups would be mostly single-sexed (Graham Cohen, 2006) and therefore interactions with groups would have to take this into consideration. Similarly, friendship groups are often mostly single-â€Å"raced† and this would also have to be taken into account. While this may not be good for social dynamic, it does make teaching easier if it is thought that certain teaching methods are better for one group over another. Another distinguishing factor was how well English was understood in the class. However, apart from one pupil, the pupils understood it well. Genetics lesson plan: Charles Darwin and Evolution This lesson began with a quick questionnaire to gauge the knowledge of the pupils. The questions covered various aspects of science and, with the rest of the lesson, were displayed by an overhead projector linked to a computer. The class remained in their usual groups and were provided whiteboards and pens to answer multiple choice questions such as: Which of the following is a famous scientist? A. Isaac Newton B. Dawn French C. Mahatma Ghandi. It was thought that if the pupils didn’t have an individual worksheet then they wouldn’t feel as self conscious about their answers. It was also hoped they wouldn’t feel as much pressure if they didn’t get any right answers as there was no way to know if that was the case. Page 13 of 37 After this, a portrait of Darwin was shown and then the lesson moved into his life, his career, voyage with the HMS Beagle, and his impact on science. To demonstrate how certain features evolved, a spot the difference was done between similar looking animals which were one of either a shark, a bird or a horse but with subtle differences as can be seen in a completed version in Figure 1. The activity was produced to open discussions about these differences that may make some â€Å"species† more adapted to one environment over another, much like with Darwin and his finches. These were drawn by hand, photocopied and edited without using a computer. Figure 1: One pupils completed Darwins spot the difference A map with different habitats was created prior to the lesson. The map had various islands and water features that were described as such: †¢ †¢ †¢ Not much grass Small bushes Some fruit. These were associated with the features of the animals and so allowed them to think about which habitats would encourage the selection of which features. To round off the lesson, a picture of a ten pound note was shown, as in Figure 2, which shows Darwin on the right hand side alongside his work on the left. It was thought that this was a very good way to summarise the lesson and give the pupils something they could tell others about. Page 14 of 37 Figure 2: An English ten pound note [source: http://www. thednastore. com/images/coins/scan0034m. jpg] Questionnaires Unfortunately, the time spent at SPRCP was cut short due to a lack of positive chemistry with the P7/6 teacher and therefore data was collected to gain further insights into the teaching of science at primary level. An email-based questionnaire was sent to fellow undergraduate ambassadors and a Google Docs(r) form was passed to Primary Education students. The questionnaire to other ambassadors (as in Appendix A) looked at their experience with the primary schools they were in. Of particular interest was the rapport between the pupils and teachers especially in terms of interaction and activity. The questionnaire that was sent to the Primary Education students at the University of Glasgow (as in Appendix B) looked at the knowledge and attributes that they could bring to teaching science at primary education as well as their expectations. Analysis of the questionnaire’s included judging the content of responses and categorising them so that responses could be compared. Page 15 of 37 Results Charles Darwin and Evolution lesson At the beginning of the first lesson – to gauge the ability of the pupils – a questionnaire was presented on different aspects of science. Unfortunately the results from this weren’t recorded, however it appeared as though the knowledge of general science was good in the class. Questions on the solar system, and people in science were answered well (see Appendix A for questions) but genetic and more specialised aspects of science were less well understood. Such aspects of science as the definition of evolution and the evidence which supports evolution was poorly answered. Also, the pupils did not know what a gene was, which was not surprising considering the age group. Shadowing and assisting Tom Fabling allowed for a rapport to be built with the pupils and therefore they seemed more interested and engaged with the content. Though the lesson was quite lecture style in some parts, it was intersected with activities which meant that the pupils had to be focused throughout the lesson. During the more lecture style parts of the lesson, the pupils were also able to ask questions. These questions covered a vast amount of topics such as about the process of fossilisation, how â€Å"monkeys† became â€Å"man†. The quality of question were overall quite good and this allowed for pupils to gain greater insight into aspects that they were finding difficulty with. The questioning also showed that they were engaged with the material. The questions would also have allowed for furthering tailoring of future lessons by considering the demands of the pupils. The command â€Å"thumbs up or down† would be used to allow the gauging of how well the pupils understood the material. Looking at a ten pound note at the end of the lesson which has printed on it Darwin alongside his work seemed to summarise the lesson really well. It also provided the pupils with something they could tell others about as they could describe the different aspects of the work and relate it back to the ideas from the lesson. Page 16 of 37 At the end of the lesson, feedback was requested and some of the pupils definitely found it interesting even if they hadn’t fully understood all the content. The teacher said that the activities and content were pitched at the right level but too much material was covered in too little time and that in the future more concise lessons should be done. Science teacher assisting Input in the teaching of general science was greatly appreciated by Tom Fabling as his own knowledge of science is based around his interests rather than from a degree in science and therefore his scientific knowledge can sometimes be limited. Since he sometimes struggled to teach science, his methods for teaching often revolved around more arts techniques. This included activities such as drawing equipment rather than asking questions or having more interaction with the pupils. Wednesday is the science day at the school and as such, Tom Fabling teaches each class a certain aspect of science. The theme for one of these days was Guy Fawkes Night and there was very little mention of science. While there is significance to Guy Fawkes Night in a social and political arena, there is little bearing in science and this topic would be better suited to history or citizenship. During the assisting, it was possible to open the discussion about the Night into science by discussing gunpowder, its composition and how explosions work. Another example of where a citizenship module was used as a science module was with â€Å"Drugwise† which looked at the use of illegal substances. The disadvantage of teaching about drugs in schools is that is heavily based on shock tactics and not about providing information (BBC News, 2002). One of the activities involved pupils drawing what they would think a drug user would look like. Most of the pupils drew someone who looked scruffy, had no teeth or hair, bad skin, etc. ignoring that people from all background could be drug users (Pedersen Skrondal, 1994). The medical side of the education is also only in the negative effects and the cause-and-effect of drugs, something important in science, is inevitably neglected as it shows what drugs can do in a way which is not damaging in the short-term or at all (Kinder, Pape, Walfish, 1980). Page 17 of 37 Looking at some of the questionnaires that Tom Fabling had collected from the pupils, there are many questions that did not appear to be scientific amongst those that were. Questions such as â€Å"What planet do you live on? † are probably too easy and questions such as â€Å"Isaac Newton dropped an apple and discovered g______† are based on an apocryphal story. Such questions were probably there to make pupils feel more comfortable as it would be more difficult to get no marks at all but the overall calibre of the questions were not particularly well picked. However, without a good appreciation of the requirements of the curriculum it is hard to make a definite conclusion. Apart from the older classes, P5/4 and P7/6, there is very little that distinguishes individual students by way of achievement on the test as can be seen in Figure 3. In the older classes it can quite clearly be seen that there are some students who were a lot more challenged by the questions than others. If the individual topics where pupils were struggling with were recorded then it would help in identifying weak points that could be later worked on. 2/10 4% 5/8 19% 10/10 41% 6/8 23% 7/8 27% 9/10 18% 8/8 31% 6/10 23% 7/10 9% 8/10 5% P3/2 class P4/3 class 15/15 21% 6/15 13% 8/15 4% 9/15 4% 10/15 9% 11/15 4% 12/15 8% 14/19 5% 16/19 5% 3/19 5% 4/19 9% 5/19 5% 6/19 5% 7/19 5% 8/19 5% 13/19 14% 12/19 10% 14/15 8% 13/15 29% 9/19 11/19 14% 10/19 9% 9% P5/4 class P7/6 class Page 18 of 37 Figure 3: Graphs showing the results of science tests from different-aged classes The segments of the pie charts show the percentage of students that got a specific mark. The labels have two numbers; the upper being the mark and the lower being the percentage of pupils with that mark. Looking at the science topics, there are also points which suggest that the teaching of science As previously mentioned, some of the topics such as â€Å"drugwise† would be better placed in other parts of the curriculum. Also some of topics for younger students such as toys, clothes, etc. that are also not strictly scientific. Table 1: Science topics at SPRCPS Primary 1 †¢ Starting school Aug-Oct Primary 2 †¢ Ourselves – Our bodies Primary 3/2 †¢ Dental health Primary 5/4 †¢ Healthy eating Primary 6/5 †¢ Healthy living Primary 7/6 †¢ Substance abuse (Drugwise 2) Oct-Dec †¢ Light and darkness †¢ Fruit and vegetables †¢ Wheels †¢ Materials †¢ Clothes †¢ Buildings †¢ Trees – Autumn †¢ Toys – Technology †¢ Changes in autumn †¢ The seasons †¢ Electricity †¢ Electricity †¢ The Solar system †¢ Research †¢ Weather †¢ Magnetism †¢ Under the sea †¢ Under the sea Jan-Mar †¢ Friction †¢ Air travel †¢ Research †¢ Birds and minibeasts Apr-Jun †¢ The seashore †¢ Mini-beasts and plants †¢ Robotots – technology †¢ Toys †¢ Robotots – technology †¢ Toys †¢ New life on the farm The lesson on static electricity that was part of the general science assisting was mostly a success. The children were very engaged with the lesson that was taught. However, the van der Graaf generator did fail for a period of time which was unfortunate but other activities were also available such as picking up confetti with a balloon that had been charged up by rubbing against the pupils’ hair. Due to a misunderstanding it was not known how much time would be spent on teaching this topic; a short demonstration of the van der Graaf generator turned out to be a whole lesson on static electricity. Tom Fabling highly praised the lesson and commented that he had learnt Page 19 of 37 from it too. Other members of staff were also provided an opportunity to view the demonstration and were as enthusiastic as the pupils. Questionnaires UAS questionnaire The general consensus from other students who were on the UAS was that they and the schools they worked with had a very positive experience. The questionnaire was completed by five UAS students. Most of the students (4/5) shadowed the teacher before starting their own teaching. This would have given them the chance to evaluate the confidence, knowledge and lesson styles, etc. of the teacher. As can be seen from Figure 4, more of the teacher’s were confident than weren’t. The reason for this was either down to the science background of one of the teacher’s (they had a degree in science engineering) or down to a large amount of teaching experiencing (one had taught for 25 years). The teacher with the degree in science engineering was quite apt when it came to science knowledge, as was one other teacher; two teachers were judged not have a very good knowledge of science. The teaching techniques for most of the classes didn’t vary greatly with most teachers opting to use paper-based (e. g. worksheets, books, etc. ) and computer-based (e. g. looking up articles/videos on the internet) activities over practical activities. This also shaped the lesson structures which was described in one school as being â€Å"very lecture style†. The lack of practical work – which would have been hands-on and exciting for pupils – also meant that there wasn’t much group work involved. Another disadvantage of this is that group work encourages pupils to help other pupils and allows them to appreciate each other’s ability in a subject area opening discussion between pupils rather than limiting it to between the teacher and pupils. It can often be daunting to ask questions in front of classmates and therefore it is often good to develop the chemistry of groups to encourage information flow between pupils. Page 20 of 37 Since most of the science lessons were not taught in a practical manner, it is not surprising that the science resources of thes schools need not contain more than books though one school these books, did have a dedicated â€Å"science cupboard†. There were a lot of resources at SPRCPS but they were poorly organised and therefore difficult to locate equipment. Figure 4: UAS students’ perception of the normal teachers qualities This figure summarises the responses to the questionnaire about how the students who shadowed the usual teacher felt about their certain characteristics and the availability of resources. Confiden and science Confidence knowledge were measured mostly by responses that had a â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† answer. Teaching techniques were judge by variety therefore mostly paper paper-based lessons would be considered negative. Lesson structures were also . judged by variety and science resources by availability. ce As well as bringing subject expertise, and ease with teaching the subject that they were (Murphy, Beggs, Carlisle, Greenwood, 2004) another advantage of having a student from UAS was 2004), that some financial support was provided towards the cost of teaching resources. This meant that inancial pupils who may have been less familiar with practical activities were given that opportunity and this would have effected not only the structure of lessons, making it easier to focus, but also the easier enthusiasm of the pupils towards science. One of the important things to note is the difference in having a younger person or a student teach pupils. Pupils may relate more with students than teachers as they are both young and in education (Goebel Cashen, 1979) and therefore will be happier to ask question Students also questions. don’t possess the same authority as teachers and therefore the divide between themselves and students is not as vast. Additional the generation gap is also not as wide, thereby creating the Additionally, , potential for a rapport to be built faster or more strongly. Figure 5 summarises how the pupils responded to the UAS teacher. Page 21 of 37 Figure 5 How the pupils at each of the UAS student’ schools responded to their presence As in Figure 4, the responses were judged to be either positive or negative. For the â€Å"using different teaching techniques†, negatively indicates that either it was unknown as to how the normal teacher teac teaches or that different techniques were not used. Also having teachers that have backgrounds in the fields they are teaching would make the interaction easier too. Not only can questions be aimed at the UAS students but, due to the background in more general science , questions in bro

Digital Intellectual Property Law Essay: Big Data Patents

Digital Intellectual Property Law Essay: Big Data Patents By Sandro Sandri   1- BIG DATA Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data  processing applications are inadequate to deal with them. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating  and information privacy. The term big data often refers simply to the use of predictive  analytics, user behaviour analytics, or certain other advanced data analytics methods that  extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set.1 There is little doubt  that the quantities of data now available are indeed large, but thats not the most relevant  characteristic of this new data ecosystem. In another way Big Data is an evolving term that describes any voluminous amount  structured, semistructured and unstructured data that has the potential to be mined for  information. It is often characterized by 3Vs: the extreme Volume of data, the wide Variety  of data types and the Velocity at which the data must be processed. Although big data  doesnt equate to any specific volume of data, the term is often used to  describe terabytes, petabytes and even exabytes of data captured over time.  The need for big data velocity imposes unique demands on the underlying compute  infrastructure. The computing power required to quickly process huge volumes and  varieties of data can overwhelm a single server or server cluster. Organizations must apply  adequate compute power to big data tasks to achieve the desired velocity. This can  potentially demand hundreds or thousands of servers that can distribute the work and  operate collaboratively. Achieving such velocity in a cost-effective manner is also a  headache. Many enterprise leaders are reticent to invest in an extensive server and storage  infrastructure that might only be used occasionally to complete big data tasks. As a  result, public cloud computing has emerged as a primary vehicle for hosting big data  analytics projects. A public cloud provider can store petabytes of data and scale up  thousands of servers just long enough to accomplish the big data project. The business  only pays for the storage and compute time actually used, and the cloud instances can be  turned off until theyre needed again. To improve service levels even further, some public  cloud providers offer big data capabilities, such as highly distributed Hadoop compute  instances, data warehouses, databases and other related cloud services. Amazon Web  Services Elastic MapReduce is one example of big data services in a public cloud. Ultimately, the value and effectiveness of big data depends on the human operators  tasked with understanding the data and formulating the proper queries to direct big data  projects. Some big data tools meet specialized niches and allow less technical users to make  various predictions from everyday business data. Still, other tools are appearing, such as  Hadoop appliances, to help businesses implement a suitable compute infrastructure to  tackle big data projects, while minimizing the need for hardware and distributed compute  software know-how. a) BIG DATA AND THE GDPR The General Data Protection Regulation, which is due to come into force in May  2018, establishes a few areas that have been either drafted with a view to encompass Big  Data-related issues or carry additional weight in the context of Big Data, lets analyse just  two aspects. Data processing impact assessment According to the GDPR, where a type of processing in particular using new  technologies, and taking into account the nature, scope, context and purposes of the  processing, is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, the  controller shall, prior to the processing, carry out an assessment of the impact of the  envisaged processing operations on the protection of personal data. This criterion is most  likely going to be met in cases of Big Data analytics, IoT or Cloud operations, where the  processing carries high privacy risks due to the properties of either technology or datasets  employed. For example, linking geolocation data to the persons name, surname, photo and  transactions and making it available to an unspecified circle of data users can expose the  individual to a higher than usual personal safety risk. Involving data from connected IoT  home appliances or using a Cloud service to store and process such data is likel y to contribute  to this risk. Pseudonymisation According to the GDPR, pseudonymisation means the processing of personal data  in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject  without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept  separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal  data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person. At least two aspects link  pseudonymisation to Big Data. First, if implemented properly, it may be a way to avoid the  need to obtain individual consent for Big Data operations not foreseen at the time of data  collection. Second, paradoxically, Big Data operations combining potentially unlimited  number of datasets also makes pseudonymisation more difficult to be an effective tool to  safeguard privacy. b) BIG DATA APPLICATIONS Big data has increased the demand of information management specialists so much  so that Software AG, Oracle Corporation, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, EMC, HP and Dell have  spent more than $15 billion on software firms specializing in data management and  analytics. In 2010, this industry was worth more than $100 billion and was growing at  almost 10 percent a year: about twice as fast as the software business as a whole. Developed economies increasingly use data-intensive technologies. There are  4.6 billion mobile-phone subscriptions worldwide, and between 1 billion and 2 billion  people accessing the internet. Between 1990 and 2005, more than 1 billion people  worldwide entered the middle class, which means more people became more literate, which  in turn lead to information growth. The worlds effective capacity to exchange information  through telecommunication networks was 281 petabytes in 1986, 471 petabytes in 1993, 2.2  exabytes in 2000, 65 exabytes in 20073 and predictions put the amount of internet traffic at  667 exabytes annually by 2014. According to one estimate, one third of the globally stored  information is in the form of alphanumeric text and still image data, which is the format  most useful for most big data applications. This also shows the potential of yet unused data  (i.e. in the form of video and audio content). 2 Data, data everywhere. The Economist. 25 February 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2012.   3 Hilbert, Martin; Là ³pez, Priscila (2011). The Worlds Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and  Compute Information. Science. 332 (6025): 60-65. doi:10.1126/science.1200970. PMID 21310967.   While many vendors offer off-the-shelf solutions for big data, experts recommend  the development of in-house solutions custom-tailored to solve the companys problem at  hand if the company has sufficient technical capabilities. 2- PATENTS A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or  assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of  an invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem and is a  product or a process. Being so, Patents are a form of intellectual property. A patent does not give a right to make or use or sell an invention.5 Rather, a patent  provides, from a legal standpoint, the right to exclude others from making, using, selling,  offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, which is  usually 20 years from the filing date6 subject to the payment of maintenance fees. From an  economic and practical standpoint however, a patent is better and perhaps more precisely  regarded as conferring upon its proprietor a right to try to exclude by asserting the patent  in court, for many granted patents turn out to be invalid once their proprietors attempt to  assert them in court.7 A patent is a limited property right the government gives inventors in  exchange for their agreement to share details of their inventions with the public. Like any  other property right, it may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned or transferred, given  away, or simply abandoned. The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee, and the  extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and  international agreements. Typically, however, a granted patent application must include one  or more claims that define the invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which  defines a specific property right. 4 WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use. Chapter 2: Fields of Intellectual Property  Protection WIPO 2008 A patent is not the grant of a right to make or use or sell. It does not, directly or indirectly, imply any such  right. It grants only the right to exclude others. The supposition that a right to make is created by the patent  grant is obviously inconsistent with the established distinctions between generic and specific patents, and with  the well-known fact that a very considerable portion of the patents granted are in a field covered by a former  relatively generic or basic patent, are tributary to such earlier patent, and cannot be practiced unless by license   thereunder. Herman v. Youngstown Car Mfg. Co., 191 F. 579, 584-85, 112 CCA 185 (6th Cir. 1911)   6 Article 33 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).   7 Lemley, Mark A.; Shapiro, Carl (2005). Probabilistic Patents. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Stanford Law and   Economics Olin Working Paper No. 288. 19: 75. relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty, usefulness, and non-obviousness. The  exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others, or at  least to try to prevent others, from commercially making, using, selling, importing, or  distributing a patented invention without permission. Under the World Trade Organizations (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related  Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be available in WTO member states  for any invention, in all fields of technology,9 and the term of protection available should  be a minimum of twenty years.10 Nevertheless, there are variations on what is patentable  subject matter from country to country.   a) EUROPEAN PATENT LAW   European patent law covers a wide range of legislations including national patent  laws, the Strasbourg Convention of 1963, the European Patent Convention of 1973, and a  number of European Union directives and regulations in countries which are party to the  European Patent Convention. For certain states in Eastern Europe, the Eurasian Patent  Convention applies.   Patents having effect in most European states may be obtained either nationally, via  national patent offices, or via a centralised patent prosecution process at the European  Patent Office (EPO). The EPO is a public international organisation established by the  European Patent Convention. The EPO is not a European Union or a Council of  Europe institution.[1] A patent granted by the EPO does not lead to a single European  patent enforceable before one single court, but rather to a bundle of essentially  independent national European patents enforceable before national courts according to  different national legislations and procedures.[2] Similarly, Eurasian patents are granted by  the Eurasian Patent Office and become after grant independent national Eurasian patents  enforceable before national courts. 8 Lemley, Mark A.; Shapiro, Carl (2005). Probabilistic Patents. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Stanford Law and  Economics Olin Working Paper No. 288. 19: 75. doi:10.2139/ssrn.567883. 9 Article 27.1. of the TRIPs Agreement. 10 Article 33 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). European patent law is also shaped by international agreements such as the World  Trade Organizations Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property  Rights (TRIPs Agreement), the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and the London Agreement.   3- BIG DATA PATENTS 11 Patent Analytics Solutions That Help Inventors Invent, Outsell Inc, June 3 2016   Patent data is uniquely suited for big data tools and techniques, because of the high  volume, high variety (including related information) and high velocity of changes. In fact,  patents are leading the way with big data and analytics in many ways. The patent space  offers a fascinating insight into the potential of big data analytics, rich visualization tools,  predictive and prescriptive analytics, and artificial intelligence.11 Especially recently, big  data tools and technologies are being used in several ways in the patent world to transform  and improve patent analysis. Patents and Intellectual Property are gradually gaining significance around the  world. This is leading to a bottleneck-large databases and ever growing information. A new  way around the innovation problem is to acquire patents. With examples such as Nokia,  Motorola, Twitter, the patent purchases seem rather straightforward. Nokia sold a large  chunk of its company to Microsoft, but held on to the crucial patents by signing a licensing  deal. They can now earn a revenue using patents licensed to Microsoft. Google bought  Motorola and its patents and later sold the company to Lenovo while holding on to the  patents. There are ample such examples in the industry.   Transactions of Intellectual Property (IP) are rather complex. Per example, a basic  component to be verified before a patent is granted, is novelty. In other words, if a priorart  describing the invention is found, the application stands to be rejected. A prior-art  could be in the form of a publication, a blog post, a lecture, a video, or a book. With a  massive amount of information generated, that doubles every 18 months, it is extremely  difficult to found prior-art. One way, some organizations follow, is crowdsourcing the  prior art search. Details about the patent are published on a website asking IP professionals  from around the world to find a prior-art. The emergence of Big Data analytics, on the other hand, has provided a clear solution. In addition, the outcomes through this method  get better and precise with each operation. Since Big Data analytics is still not commonly used by most government authorities,  prior-art gets overlooked and many false patents are granted. This comes out when-in  litigation-the opposing parties put all their efforts in looking for a prior-art to invalidate  each others patents. More often than not, a prior-art is found or there is an out of court  settlement. Hence, a concept called patent wall has gained traction. It is very common for  companies to file as well as acquire a number of patents around the technology they are  working on. This serves as a defence against litigators and allows the companies to market  and sell their products/services without any fear of litigation. The core value of patents is that the invention must be publicly disclosed in  exchange for a time-limited monopoly on the invention. Patents are not only a legal asset  that can block competitors, they are potentially a business and financial asset. For market  participants, patents can provide direct insight into where competitors are headed  strategically. Big Data is the key to unlocking this inherent value. Patent information is  comprised of vast data sets of textual data structures involving terabytes of information.  When unlocked through Big Data techniques and analysis, the insights are compelling,  revealing the direction a technology is headed and even uncovering the roadmap for a  specific companys product plans. But, deriving these insights from the proliferation of  information requires truly sophisticated Big Data analysis.   While Big Data is quickly growing as a trend, whats delivering more value these  days are Big Data services that optimize specific data sets and create specialized analysis  tools for that data. Technology teams that are dedicated to certain data sets will curate and  improve the data, learn the specifics of that data and how best to analyze it, and create selfservice  tools that are far more useful than generic Big Data technologies.   A key part of the Big Data service is a specialized analysis engine tailored to  particular data. For example, a patent analysis engine must understand the dozens of  metadata items on each patent in order to group patents correctly and traverse the  references. To be most effective, Big Data services need to automatically keep up with the  data updates, as patents are living documents that change over time. Even after the patent  Big Data Patents  is finalized and issued, it can be reclassified, assigned to a new owner, reexamined and  updated, attached to a patent family or abandoned. Most importantly, Big Data services are only as good as the insights they deliver a  Big Data service should provide a specialized user interface that allows real-time, userdriven  analysis with search, correlations and groupings, visualizations, drill down and  zooms. The patent data analysis must be presented in a manner that is compelling and  consistent. There are more than 22,000 published patent applications between 2004 and 2013  relating to big data and efficient computing technologies, resulting in almost 10,000 patent  families. Patenting activity in this field has grown steadily over the last decade and has seen  its highest increases in annual patenting over the last two years (2011-2012 and 2012-2013)  of the present data set. The growth has continually been above the general worldwide  increase in patenting, showing a small increase of 0.4% over worldwide patenting for the  2005-2006 period and showing a maximum increase of 39% for 2012-13.~ Using a patent effectively means suing a competitor to have them blocked access  to market, or charge them a license for allowing them to sell. When a patent holder wishes  to enforce a patent, the defendant often can invoke that the patent should not have been  granted, because there was prior art at the time the patent was granted. And, while patent  offices do not seem to have a clear incentive to take into account actual reality, including  the exponentially available information created by Big Data, when reviewing the  application, the situation is very different for a defendant in a patent lawsuit. They will have  every incentive to establish that the patent should never have been granted, because there  was pre-existing prior art, and the information in the patent was not new at the time of  application. And one important consequence of Big Data will be that the information  available to defendants in this respect, will also grow exponentially. This means t hat, the  probability of being able to defend against a patent claim on the basis of prior art, will grow  significantly. Because of the lag of time between patent applications and their use in court,  the effect of the recent explosion of information as a result of Big Data is not very visible  in the patent courts yet. A patent is, of itself, an algorithm. It describes the process of a technical invention   how it works (at least, thats what a patent is theoretically supposed to be doing). It is  therefore quite possible that a lot of algorithms around analysis of Big Data will become  patented themselves. It could be argued that this will act as a counterweight against the  declining value and potential of patents. Many of these algorithms are, in fact, not technical inventions. They are theoretical  structures or methods, and could therefore easily fall into the area of non-patentable  matter. Algorithmic patents are particularly vulnerable to the ability by others to innovate  around them. It is quite unlikely that a data analysis algorithm would be unique, or even  necessary from a technical point of view. Most data analysis algorithms are a particular way  of doing similar things, such as search, clever search, and pattern recognition. There is, in actual fact, a commoditization process going on in respect of search and analytical  algorithms. Patents are frozen algorithms. The elements of the algorithm described in a  patent are fixed. In order to have a new version of the algorithm also protected, the patent  will either have to be written very vague (which seriously increases the risk of rejection or  invalidity) or will have to be followed up by a new patent, every tim e the algorithm is  adapted. And the key observation around Big Data algorithms is that, in order to have  continued business value, they must be adapted continuously. This is because the data,  their volume, sources and behaviour, change continuously. The consequence is that, even if a business manages to successfully patent Big Data  analytical algorithms, such patent will lose its value very quickly. The reason is simple: the  actual algorithms used in the product or service will quickly evolve away from the ones  described in the patent. Again, the only potential answer to this is writing very broad, vague  claims an approach that does not work very well at all.   80% of all big data and efficient computing patent families (inventions) are filed by  US and Chinese applicants, with UK applicants accounting for just 1.2% of the dataset and  filing slightly fewer big data and efficient computing patents than expected given the  overall level of patenting activity from UK applicants across all areas of technology.   Against this, however, it should be borne in mind that many of the potential improvements  in data processing, particularly with regard to pure business methods and computer  software routines, are not necessarily protectable by patents and therefore will not be  captured by this report. UK patenting activity in big data and efficient computing has, on the whole, increased over recent years and the year-on-year changes are comparable to the  growth seen in Germany, France and Japan.12 12 Intellectual Property Office, Eight Great Technologies Big Data A patent overview   BIBLIOGRAPHY à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Herman v. Youngstown Car Mfg. Co., 191 F. 579, 112 CCA 185 (6th Cir. 1911) à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Hilbert, Martin; Là ³pez, Priscila (2011). The Worlds Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information. Science. (6025). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Lemley, Mark A.; Shapiro, Carl (2005). Probabilistic Patents. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Stanford Law and Economics Olin Working Paper No. 288. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Springer, New Horizons for a Data-Driven Economy à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Data, data everywhere. The Economist. 25 February 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2012. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Eight Great Technologies Big Data A patent overview, Intellectual Property Office, à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Patent Analytics Solutions That Help Inventors Invent, Outsell Inc, June 3 2016 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Article 33 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · 75. doi:10.2139/ssrn.567883. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · TRIPs Agreement. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use. Chapter 2: Fields of Intellectual Property Protection WIPO 2008 Google Chrome: A Freeware Web Browser Google Chrome: A Freeware Web Browser Google Chrome is a freeware web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and as a stable public release on December 11, 2008. As of September 2012, according to StatCounter, Google Chrome had 34% worldwide usage share of web browsers making it the most widely used web browser. (wikipedia) An Internet browser developed by Google, that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the Web faster, safer and easier. The Google Chrome browser offers features including access to favourite pages instantly with thumbnails, desktop shortcuts to launch Web applications, and independently run tabs within the browser to prevent browser crashing. Chrome is known for is simplicity and speed, and people use it because it gets the job down, fast. But it doesnt end there, while being simple it is also very customizable allowing users to make it their own, some people get rather sceptical due to that, as they think, if its highly customizable, how can it be simple? Chromes UI is flawless; its simple yet effective that your mind just knows where to go without having to think. This is one of the main goals for any browser, to achieve this, the design and icons that the browser uses have to be recognisable straight away, for instance, the button to get back to chromes homepage is shaped as a house, this way our brain quickly realises it. Pros. 1. It wont crash. Perhaps Chromes largest feature is its multiprocess design, which helps the user a lot, protects you from having a bad Web page or application take your browser down. Every tab, window, and plug-in runs in its own environment, so one faulty/broken site wont affect anything else that you have opened. This approach also adds another layer of security by isolating each site and application within a limited environment. 2. Its really fast. Again because of the multiprocess design, one slow site wont drag down the rest of your browsing. Instead, you can effortlessly click to another tab or window. With plug-ins, the arrangement works similarly: If you open a site that has a slow-loading Java ad, for example, the Java itself will be isolated and the rest of the page wont be affected. The program itself opens within seconds of when you click the icon, tooa distinct advantage over some slower-loading alternatives. This gives users great control over their browsers and also developers of websites, as they can isolate problems quicker and easier. 3. You barely notice its there. Calling the design of Chromes interface efficient is an understatement. The program barely looks like a program, and the vast majority of your screen space is devoted to the site youre visitingwith no buttons or logos hogging space. Chromes designers say that they wanted people to forget they were even using a browser, and it comes pretty close to achieving that goal. 4. It makes searching simpler. One of Chromes signature features is its Omnibox, an integrated all-purpose bar at the top of the browser. You can type in a URL or a search termor bothand Chrome takes you to the right place without asking any questions. Omnibox can learn what you like, tooa talent that goes beyond the obvious automatic completion function. Say that you want to use the PCWorld.com search function, for example. Once youve visited the site once, Chrome will remember that PCWorld.com has its own search box and will give you the option of using it right from Omnibox. The function thus automates keyword searches. 5. It gives you more control over tabs. Chrome gives the idea of tabbed browsing new power. You can grab a tab and drag it out into its own individual window. Or you can drag and drop tabs into existing windows to combine them. Chrome also gives you the option of starting up in any tab configuration you wantwhether a custom setup or the set of tabs you had open in your previous session. Other browsers require third-party add-ons to provide this capability. 6. It opens new doors on your home page. Chrome comes with a default dynamic home page. As you use it, the program remembers the sites that you visit most often. The top nine of those appear in snapshots on your home page, along with your most commonly used search engines and bookmarks. Theres no force-feeding here, though: You can override the dynamic home page with any home page you want, just as you can set the default search engine to any service you prefer. 7. It lets you stay incognito. Like  Internet Explorer 8s recent beta release, Chrome offers a private browsing optionone it calls Incognito. You can open a special type of new window and rest easy knowing nothing you do in it will be logged or saved on your computer. And unlike Internet Explorers, Chromes Incognito window is isolated from the rest of your browsing experience, so you can have your private window open alongside your regular windows, and each will operate independently. http://www.neowin.net/forum/uploads/monthly_12_2010/post-261952-12913175021568.png RockMelt RockMelt is a proprietary social media web browser developed by Tim Howes and Eric Vishria. The project is backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. RockMelt integrates a technique for surfing the web that focuses on Google Search and social media, in particular Facebook and Twitter. (wikipedia) RockMelt is Very Similar to Chrome, it uses an older engine than what chrome uses but otherwise the same, the only thing that is different is the UI, RockMelts UI is built for the people who use online social sites a lot, like Facebook and Twitter. The Left and Right sides of the browser are where the main social features are, it displays your friends that are online on the right (Facebook) and links displaying how many messages you have on Facebook, Twitter etc. on the left. Other social features can be found in the title bar and the menu dropdown. Pros The Facebook chat integration. The pop-out instant messaging windows enable you chat without needing to keep Facebook open. Plus, by adding friends the favourites list, you can easily see if the people you chat with the most are online. Another feature is the drag and drop ability. If you are on a website that I want to share with friends, simply grab the link and drag it over their photo on the left side bar. Then you have the option to share it with them via Facebook Chat, Facebook Message, or by posting it on their Facebook Wall. Additionally, you can easily share it with all of my Facebook friends or Twitter followers by dragging to the Share button next to the address bar. Cons There are a lot of Distractions! With everything from Facebook to the favourite blog feeds integrated right into the browser, theres almost too much going on. This is definitely not a browser to be used in the office. While its a really useful tool for social media integration, it definitely lowers peoples productivity Social Entrepreneurs: Traits And Limitations Social Entrepreneurs: Traits And Limitations This article is oriented to through a light and argues that social entrepreneurs do not give adequate consideration to gender and emphasise that there was a lack of research on womens contribution as social entrepreneurs; this article suggests other possible areas of study to advance this field of research. It brings out the extensive literature on social entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs, while also drawing on the gender/diversity literature. This article creates interest to researchers who wish to examine aspects related to women as social entrepreneurs. It is also relevant to government agencies and social enterprise organisations those are looking to gain a more understanding of social entrepreneurs, their characteristics and the issues they face. It provides key avenues of further work to better understand the way in which sex and gender interact with the practices of social entrepreneurs. Though there is a tremendous increase in research on social entrepreneurs in recent years, a little consideration has been given to the womens contribution make as social entrepreneurs. Some work in academic research has started to profile social entrepreneurs, describe why they choose to become social entrepreneurs, the hurdles they face and the strategies they adopt. Although the research on the topic of social entrepreneurs is increasing, it is still largely based on an idealised vision of which the social entrepreneur is, often restricting the concept to a narrow pool of individuals and not taking into account the actual diversity within this category. Teasdale et al., 2011 says one such category which has been largely ignored in the literature consists of the contribution that women make as social entrepreneur. For the purpose of this paper, we will discuss the concept of social entrepreneurs independently of social entrepreneurship. This will avoid difficulties linked to the fact that not all social enterprises may be entrepreneurial or that not all social entrepreneurship comprises social enterprises. The premise of this paper is that much of the literature on social entrepreneurs is heavily influenced by mainstream literature on management and entrepreneurship, and as such the work on female social entrepreneurs may follow the same trend. Much of the work in the field of sex/gender and management/entrepreneurship has changed focus over the past two to three decades, moving from a largely descriptive field of research to a much more analytical one. One of the key characteristics has been the progressive move from sex to gender, going from looking at if sex makes a difference, to how gender makes a difference (see Carter and Shaw, 2006 for a fuller account). The literature on women entrepr eneurs has adopted an increasingly critical stance, denouncing the implicit maleness of the entrepreneur as a construct. One of its main criticisms is the androcentricity inherent in much of the entrepreneurship literature, which often relies on very gendered and stereotypical assumptions as to the role of men and women. The mainstream literature has given much attention to the topic of traits, looking for the actual social or psychological attributes possessed by successful entrepreneurs. However, the gendered nature of these very traits has been heavily criticised by scholars in the field of gender and entrepreneurs (Ahl, 2006; Marlow et al., 2009). In opposition to trait theory, which relies on a social-psychological approach, a more sociological approach has been proposed to look at identity construction rather than traits. This gives a voice to alternative groups (e.g. women), for example in the male-dominated Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) incubators (McAdam and Marlow, 2010) or among ethnic female entrepreneurs (Essers and Benschop, 2007; Humbert and Essers, 2012). This paper builds upon this body of work to provide a critical view of existing work on (female) social entrepreneurs and to shape a future research agenda. In particular, it aims to provide a brief account of current res earch on social entrepreneurs, followed by some of the findings directly related to the contribution of women. Because of the limited amount of material on women as social entrepreneurs, the paper also draws on literature on women within the social entrepreneurship, with applications to the case of social entrepreneurs where feasible. This review is informed by a focus group organised in June 2009 in London that brought together key informants such as policy makers, female social entrepreneurs and academics. Finally, the paper aims to provide a reflective gendered account of how these bodies of literature can be combined to inform further research on women as social entrepreneurs, before suggesting some possible avenues for research on the topic in the future. Social entrepreneurs: traits and limitations Some of the traits attached to social entrepreneurs are starting to be well documented. Some studies like Prabhu, 1999 suggest that social entrepreneurs are younger, possibly due to a higher risk propensity related to lower levels of family responsibilities. Ramsay and Danton, 2010 found that evidence from the UK suggests however those very young individuals are not very well represented among social entrepreneurs. It is important to consider the effect of age as there may also be potential links with the type of social enterprise being set up: younger social entrepreneurs may work on transformational actions while older social entrepreneurs may tend to focus more on charitable organisations. It might also be alternative forms of organisations that are adopted by younger social entrepreneurs. Leadbeater, 1997 focused on the development of social capital which is seen as important in the creation and subsequent development of social enterprises. Research into the potential importance of social capital among social entrepreneurs shows some evidence that personal/family history of (social) entrepreneurship may have a positive influence on the creation of social ventures but overall remains inconclusive. In the entrepreneurship literature, women are portrayed as being particularly influenced by this personal/family history (Marlow et al., 2009). This raises the question of to what extent this is also a factor among women social entrepreneurs. Shaw and Carter, 2007 stated that social entrepreneurs are able to show drive, determination, ambition, charisma, leadership, the ability to communicate vision and inspire others and their maximum use of resources. In order to do so, as Alvord et al. (2004) suggest, a characteristic associated with successful social entrepreneurs is that of a bridging capacity. This capacity is shaped by a social entrepreneurs background and experience which in turn is shaped by gender relations. Some authors have focused on developing a universal definition of social entrepreneurs, one which is heavily linked to, and directly derived from, the definition of an entrepreneur. One of the definitions adopted by Nicholls (2006:224) draws on Dees (2001) and bears some similarities with Chell (2008). It is worded in the following terms: Social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector, by: à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value); à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · recognising and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation and learning; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand; à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created. This definition assumes that there are fundamental differences between mainstream entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Chell (2007:18) has worked on reconciling the two definitions and concludes that the differences can be eliminated by adopting the following: (social) entrepreneurship is the process of recognizing and pursuing opportunities with regard to the alienable and inalienable resources currently controlled with a view to value creation. This definition, while providing a platform for renegotiating theoretical differences between entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs is still proving to be a very polarised stringent definition. This problem is in part resolved by adopting an alternative viewpoint where the ideal social entrepreneur should not necessarily fulfil all criteria in the above definition fully, but that there are different degrees of fulfilment for each and that a social entrepreneur does not necessarily need to meet all of them (Dees, 2001). If there are many commonalities between mainstream and social entrepreneurs, academic discourse bestows social entrepreneurs with extra, special, traits which underline the importance of their commitment and dedication to social aims. Not only are social entrepreneurs largely described as different in the literature, they are also often described as extraordinary individuals. Dees (2001:2) for instance describes entrepreneurs in the following terms: their reach exceeds their grasp. Entrepreneurs mobilize the resources of others to achieve their entrepreneurial objectives. Chell (2007:5) portrays a similar vision of the entrepreneur as a household name with a personality that is larger than life'. These quotes present a view of the entrepreneur as both metaphorically and literally uncontainable. Further research needs to explore how this discourse relates differently to men and women. It is also important to examine the role of women in the governance of social enterprises, The Social Enterprise Coalitions State of Social Enterprise Survey (Social Enterprise Coalition, 2009) show that the social enterprise sector provides a more egalitarian environment for women, as can be seen in terms of presence on boards; 41% of social enterprise board members in the SEC Survey 2009 are women (Humbert, 2011). However, this differs considerably between sectors. There is a strong need to recognise diversity among social entrepreneurs. Indeed mainstream entrepreneurship studies have often been criticised for failing to address heterogeneity (Ahl, 2006; Essers and Benschop, 2007) and it appears that these issues are at least as pronounced with regards to social entrepreneurship. An emphasis on entrepreneurial traits can therefore be criticised as being overly reductionist in that it discursively creates a hegemonic model of the social entrepreneur as s/he ought to be. Furthermore, it embeds the characteristics of social entrepreneurs into individualistic and economic settings, while disregarding the impact of the socially interactive and emotional settings (Goss, 2005). Social entrepreneurs: motivations, obstacles and strategies In addition to work focusing on who social entrepreneurs are, other studies analysed why they choose to become social entrepreneurs, the obstacles they face in doing so, as well as some of the strategies they employ to overcome these. This approach departs from attempting to describe successful social entrepreneurs in that it does not solely rely on natural characteristics but also recognises the importance of the environment, for instance through cultural or social influences. As such, social entrepreneurial awakening can be seen as a multiplicity of trigger factors in individual, personal, familial and professional backgrounds. Becoming a social entrepreneur can be seen as the end result of a more or less long maturing journey, characterised by a range of positive and negative inputs which are interpreted in a time-dependent cultural, societal and personal context. Amin (2009) talks about two main routes that lead to becoming a social entrepreneur. One is about being nurtured with the social economy and using the skills and resources acquired within that setting. The other is to come from the public or private sector and apply skills gathered there in the context of the social entrepreneurship. Motivations for social entrepreneurs are extremely complex, with evidence that rational choice theories are inappropriate due to the complexity and range of different inputs and their interpretations (Spear, 2006). Most studies find that there are usually many similarities between the motivations of mainstream and social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs may not rate independence and income security highly, but give a lot of importance to their social objectives (Shaw and Carter, 2007). These social objectives are often portrayed as additional factors (Prabhu, 1999; Spear, 2006; Hudson, 2009) and include factors such as altruism, ethical/social concerns or ideological aims. While there is a significant degree of overlap among these categories, all of these extra motivations rely heavily on an individualistic identity construction, without considering the collective identitys role. Furthermore, social entrepreneurs motivations remain conceptualised using the entrepreneurs model, albeit with some added elements. This approach of adding extra elements is replicated when looking at the obstacles faced by social entrepreneurs. These are presented as being quite similar to those faced by mainstream entrepreneurs (Thompson, 2002). Future research will need to consider how some factors such as ethnicity and gender affect the magnitude of the obstacles encountered. Very little work has looked at issues of diversity among social entrepreneurs. The UK Government Equalities Office (2008) examined the motivations and obstacles associated with women social entrepreneurs within BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) communities. This work identifies a tendency to get involved with ones community as a motivating factor while at the same time experiencing multi-disadvantage and discrimination. Multiple, and interacting, layers of identity can therefore be seen both positively and negatively. Generally social entrepreneurs report experiencing difficulties in accessing finance, as do mainstream entrepreneurs. Alternate sources of funding are used with little reliance on the three Fs (family, friends and fools), but instead finance is sought from charitable trusts or the public sector (regional, national, and European) (Shaw and Carter, 2007). This differs from the situation among mainstream entrepreneurs, who are more likely to rely on bootstrapping methods of financing their business (relying on internal funds rather than raising money externally). Women entrepreneurs are themselves more likely to rely on bootstrapping, raising the question of whether this is also the case among women social entrepreneurs. Another characteristic of social entrepreneurs is that they tend to operate in locations and sectors where they have experience (Shaw and Carter, 2007). Although this could be presented as caused by lack of experience, it could also be explained by the fact that they use available resources in a way that maximises their experiential capital. Alternatively, it could also be a strategy to minimise risk. As Shaw and Carter (2007) stress, in the context of social entrepreneurship, social and personal risk are more prevalent as opposed to financial risk. No discussion of the concept and experience of risk among women social entrepreneurs exist in the literature to the authors knowledge. Women in the Social Entrepreneurship To understand the area of female social entrepreneurs, and given the paucity of material available, this paper will therefore take a broader view by examining research on gender more broadly defined before discussing how the findings in those fields may apply to social entrepreneurs. Labour can be subdivided into at least three categories: self-employed, domestic and community work. While the experiences of women in both self-employment and domestic work have been well documented, less work has been undertaken on their community work and volunteering. This section aims to present some of the key findings in the literature on womens paid and voluntary labour. Mailloux et al., 2012 says women have had a positive impact on society through their involvement in the social entrepreneurship, by putting some topics such as children, family, womens health, violence and discrimination towards certain groups of population on the social agenda. Research also suggests that women may use the voluntary sector to counteract negative attributes such as re-entry to the labour force or building up skills. Generally, the involvement of marginalised groups is they women, ethnic-minority groups, are associated with greater levels of change. This can be seen through the involvement of women in supporting womens issues, sometimes within particular communities which may otherwise not benefit from the services or products provided. Caputo (1997) for example finds a link in the US between black women volunteering and changing social conditions. Research on women in the social entrepreneurship, whether in paid work or volunteering, attempts to generate a profile of these women and what they do. The proportion of women involved in the social entrepreneurship is greater than other parts of the labour market, as shown by example by Mailloux et al. (2002) and Teasdale et al. (2011) in Canada and the UK respectively. Their activities are contrasted to that of men and studies show that there are differences apparent in the type of work performed by women, the type of organisations they are involved with, as well as the nature of their involvement within these organisations. Women perform extra volunteer work on a regular basis (e.g. care work) without recognising it as such in the formal voluntary sector (Mailloux et al., 2002). In addition, the link between lower earnings and women seems to also apply in the social entrepreneurship, with lower salaries and benefits than in the private sector in a Canadian context (Mailloux et al., 2002). The popular misconception that involvement in volunteering is a way of occupying free or leisure time, particularly among privileged groups, needs to be challenged given that, in fact, much (less formalised) volunteer work is being undertaken by members of marginalised groups in order to counteract negative circumstances (Neysmith and Reitsma-Street, 2000). The motivations of women in the social entrepreneurship do not appear to be specific to women. They can consist of wanting to make a difference, to act, to help; belong to a group; build links with the community (Mailloux et al., 2002), thereby suggesting that there is a strong community embeddedness in the voluntary sector. Neysmith and Reitsma-Street (2000:336) emphasise that what they call the participatory component should not be underplayed and that volunteers attach importance to being part of something that [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] is ours, not mine or theirs'. The motivations for volunteering are therefore seen as wanting to build relationships with others, developing life and work skills, getting ownership of the fruit of ones labour and combating negative social stereotypes. However, volunteer work is devalued in contrast to paid work. One aspect of this devaluation is through the invisibility of volunteer work. Volunteering has been theorized as an extension of womens family work, reinforcing separate spheres of ideology where mens work is defined and rewarded, as a public contribution but womens work, even though done in the community, is defined essentially as an extension of their private responsibilities to family (Neysmith and Reitsma-Street, 2000: 342). Further research should examine the extent to which expectations of such gendered roles are present in the social entrepreneurship. In terms of paid work, Gibelmans (2000) research suggests that the glass ceiling is still prevalent in the US nonprofit sector, along with evidence of a gender pay gap. An analysis of HR policies revealed a set of anti-discrimination affirmations with usually no plans for implementation. Furthermore, policies related to facilitating access to management for women (i.e. flexitime or help with caring arrangements) were seldom addressed. The study however fails to examine the role these policies play in (dis)advantaging (wo)men. Indeed, Moore and Whitts (2000) findings indicate that men are disproportionately more present on voluntary organisations boards, more likely to occupy multiple seats and to be involved in a various number of sectors compared with their female counterparts. As they state, nonprofit boards in the United States remain bastions of white, male privilege (2000: 324). Overall, the authors conclude that attention needs to be given to the lack of access to boards to pro mote greater gender equality rather than on how individuals fare within the boards once they get in. The notion of conflict for women between traditional and modern gender roles is an important one to draw upon. Very little work has been done on this topic, but some US and Canadian evidence suggests that even though women hold a desire to break away from traditional gender roles, there are advantages in using these along with punishment for moving to a more modern structure (Mailloux et al., 2002). However, this move to more modern gender roles may have a detrimental effect, particularly on volunteering, with lower participation from women (Caputo, 1997). The extent to which these patterns of inequality are found amongst social entrepreneurs is largely under-researched. In addition, since many of the sources quoted above are based in North America, the degree to which these findings could be extrapolated to Europe, or the rest of the world, remains a serious concern. Current European studies (e.g. Teasdale et al., 2011; Humbert, 2011) infer that there are many similarities, but their number and scope remains limited. In their study, Teasdale et al. (2011), support many of the findings highlighted in this section, and are not able to examine social entrepreneurs operating in either the public or private sector. While there is a dearth of research into gender effects in the social entrepreneurship, patterns of inequities present in the private sector may be largely replicated in the social entrepreneurship, albeit on a smaller scale. The extent to which these patterns are similar, or different, remain critically under-researched. Furthermore, none of this work to date has been applied to social entrepreneurs. In the next section, a gendered reflection on these areas of research is provided, along with some possible topics of research into this field. Conclusion Research on social entrepreneurs remains largely dependent on the assumption that a common set of characteristics inherent to social entrepreneurs exists. In effect, this has led to attempts to produce a universal definition of the social entrepreneur. This approach, which replicates the development of research on entrepreneurs, is problematic in the context of female social entrepreneurs since it relies on individual characteristics and may ignore the collective nature of entrepreneurship and may not address the real diversity of social entrepreneurs. This tendency towards the reification of the social entrepreneur requires further research particularly in terms of how it affects men and women differently and whether it excludes particular groups. This tension replicates the long-running argument in mainstream entrepreneurship as to the degree of inclusiveness that should be bestowed to the definition of an entrepreneur. Indeed, this area of research remains highly centred on previous research on entrepreneurs, and merely adds in extra elements, such as the social or the female, often ignoring the contribution of the intersection of these two concepts. It is the lack of attention given to the interaction between these two concepts, coupled with a lack of questioning of their stereotypical underpinning, that constitute one of the major drawbacks of this field of research. The stereotypical position is often evident through studies undertaken on women in the social entrepreneurship. Women are portrayed as doing different types of jobs, in different types of organisations, at a lower level and for less money. The rhetoric of difference (with men?) prevails. Moreover, women are portrayed as not motivated by pecuniary reasons but more by a desire to act as what can only be described as mothers of the community: women are there to help, to build, for others but never for themselves, and are seldom valued or rewarded for their work. Research undertaken on social entrepreneurs has often consisted of examining them in contrast with mainstream entrepreneurs (Nicholls, 2006). There is a lurking danger in any comparative stance in that it can easily position one party as the deviant other, often implying an inferior position. This is certainly the case with female entrepreneurs (Ogbor, 2000; Bruni et al., 2004; Hytti, 2005; Ahl, 2006). Indeed, previous research has shown that in the case of female entrepreneurs, it might be inadequate to use theories derived from an essentially male experience to describe women entrepreneurs (Stevenson, 1990; Greene et al., 2003). This argument has much deeper implications in that it shows that existing models of entrepreneurs based on the so-called mainstream entrepreneur are models based on what Ogbor (2000) terms the white male hero. These models assume that the entrepreneur does not have caring and/or domestic responsibilities (Ahl, 2006). The challenge resides in creating new models or adapting these to the area of the social and the female simultaneously. Adapting models in entrepreneurship research such as the family embeddedness perspective advocated by Aldrich and Cliff (2003) or the socio-economic context presented by Brush et al (2009) would be beneficial. The difficulty in conducting research on women as social entrepreneurs lies in paying attention to the discourses briefly outlined in this paper. It is important to depart from these discourses, as discourse and perspectives about, and for, the nature of entrepreneurialism are fundamental to both theory (how we think about, conceptualize and define terms) and practice (what capabilities and behaviours we believe apply to people whom we refer to as entrepreneurs) and moreover, to how the terms are used in a wider socio-political arena to serve particular ends (Chell, 2007:7).