Meaning Of Socio-Cultural Factors Involved In Education Research Paper

Meaning Of Socio-Cultural Factors Involved In Education - Research Paper Example A test score that is two standard deviation from the mean implies a Z-score of -2.0 that is associated with -2.00. The numeral -2.00 follows through the intersection of the row of -2.0 in the z column and the column associated with .00 of the table. Following protocols followed for the table of the normal curve, the numerals mentioned earlier are associated with the value of 0.0228 that gives area under the normal curve. The area of normal curve 0.0228 is associated with the probability associated with the lowest scorer with the score associated with two standard deviations below the mean. This means that more precisely the student we are discussing belong to bottom 2.28% of the grade sevens, following the association of 0.0228 with 2.28%. Meanwhile, a score of 115 given of 100 and standard deviation of 15 implies a z value of 1.15 following standard transformation formation protocols. In turn, the z-score of 1.15 is associated with the area 0.8749 under the normal curve based on Tab le 1. The student we are discussing belong to the bottom 87.49% of the grade sevens. Described in another way, only 12.51% of the students of grade seven are ahead of our student. We can also say that our student belongs close to the top 13% of the grade sevens. If there are only 100-grade sevens, our student closely belongs to the best 13 students of the grade sevens. We can say that our student is one of the â€Å"laggards† with regard to performance in reading but one of the best with regard to performance in mathematics.

Determination Essay Example for Free

Determination Essay In â€Å"The Glass Castle† we see many different possibilities pertaining to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We see the father, Rex and one of the daughters, Maureen, who fall victim to Maslow. Then there’s Jeanette and the mother, Rose Mary who have both seemed to achieve self-actualization regardless of their hardships. Traditionally, Maslow’s Hierarchy is thought to be achieved by working up from the bottom of the pyramid to get to the top. However, in â€Å"The Glass Castle† this is not particularly true. All the characters mentioned in this essay lacked safety and security, love and belonging, and psychological needs at some point during the novel. How they handled this though varies. â€Å"The Glass Castle† gives you a different view on this topic altogether. We see that whether or not Maslow’s Hierarchy is achieved, depends solely on the individual themselves. The character we most clearly see represent Maslow is the father, Rex Walls. Throughout the book we see Rex battle alcohol addiction and struggle to provide for his family. When the family moves to Welch we learn that Rex was probably abused as a child which leads us to believe this is the source of his alcohol addiction. Since Rex never achieved the safety, and love and belonging chunks of Maslow, he was never able to reach his full potential. He always spoke of dreams, but never had determination to back them up. â€Å"But since we couldn’t afford to pay the town’s trash-collection fee, our garbage was really piling up. One day Dad told us to dump it in the hole. â€Å"But that’s for the Glass Castle,† I said. â€Å"It’s a temporary measure,† Dad told me.† (Walls 155). By seeing his dreams fall through, we can assume Rex never achieved self-actualization. Rex is never able to let his demons from his past go, causing him to never reac h his full potential. Another character we see never reach their full potential, is Maureen. Like her father Maureen is not able to let go of her past. Maureen was often neglected as a child, lacking the love and belonging needs of Maslow. â€Å"Afterward, I called Brian. â€Å"Do you think Maureen’s on drugs?† I asked. â€Å"If she’s not, she should be,† he said. â€Å"She’s gone nuts.† (Walls 275) Not soon after, the mother kicks Maureen out, and Maureen ends up stabbing her. Maureen is sent to a mental institution for a year then takes off to California. Unlike her father and sister Jeanette shows us that it is capable to reach your full potential regardless of what you have gone through. Even through the hardships of her childhood Jeanette is set on moving to New York with Lori and becoming a reporter. By putting her past aside she is able to achieve this and finally reaches her full potential. â€Å"I still went into the office in the city once a week, but this was where John and I lived and worked, our home—the first house I’d ever owned. Mom and Lori admired the wide planked floorboards, the big fireplaces, and the ceiling beams made from locust posts, with gouge marks from the ax that had felled them.† Unlike any of the houses she lived in as a child, her current home goes above and beyond. If you compare Jeannette to her sister Maureen it’s clear that becoming all that you can be depends solely on yourself. Maureen went through the same experiences as Jeanette, yet Jeanette is the one who decides to do something with her life, while Maureen continues to let her life be the same as it always was. The last character we see achieve self-actualization is the mother, Rose Mary. Throughout the book Rose Mary is constantly picking out positive from the negative. In the beginning of the book we learn that Jeanette tries to help her mother since her mother is homeless on the streets of New York, but her mother denies it. â€Å"I’d tried to help them countless times, but dad would insist they didn’t need anything, and mom would ask for something silly, like a perfume atomizer or a membership in a health club. They said they were living the way they wanted to.†(Walls 4) Rose Mary seems to be comfortable with her lifestyle and is still content with it at the end of the book. â€Å"After we sat down for dinner, mom told us her good news. She had been a squatter for almost fifteen years, the city had finally decided to sell the apartments to her and the squatters for one dollar apiece.†(Walls 288) Even though Rose Mary isn’t living in luxury, she is happ y. And to be happy with where you’re at in life is basically achieving self-actualization. Throughout the four examples I provided it’s clear that you are the writer to your own destiny. It’s about personal strength. The stronger a person you are, the more determined you are to make something of yourself. Unfortunately for Maureen’s’ case, she was too reliant on other people to be able to depend on herself. She was never able to break away and do something with her life, the same goes for her father. Rex did at least try to make his children’s’ life better than his own as a child, but he let his alcohol addiction get in the way of giving his kids, and himself the best life possible. Jeanette and Rose Mary however both managed to become happy, regardless. The Walls family most certainly did not have a perfect life, and they’ve been through more than some of us could possibly imagine, but the majority of them turned out pretty well, and that itself is a huge achievement. To me personally, it seems determination is the key to following Maslow’s Hierarchy. To move up the pyramid you need to be determined, without determination you settle for what little you get, just like Maureen and Rex. The determination to be happy and the determination to do better for yourself is what will make the dream of self-actualization become possible. This however, depends on the person you are, and the outlook you have on life.

SWOT analysis of paint manufacturer Dulux

SWOT analysis of paint manufacturer Dulux ICI Dulux paints is the worlds largest manufacturer of paints and industrial coating.ICI Dulux trade paints is one of the leading paint manufacturers in Britain and has about 130 outlets in the UK. With the increase in demand for broken colour decorative paints effect, dulux trade paints have launched three new products i.e. Duette, sonata, and acrylic scumble glaze in order to meet the demand and customer preferences. These newly launched are targeted at trade customers in the UK. In this case study we will be discussing various stages of marketing. It consists of three crucial stages, SWOT analysis, Market Segmentation and Branding. TASK 1: The marketing audit is the process of taking stock of an organisations internal and external factors. The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing process. The marketing audit is a major exercise which ranges over all the internal and external factors. There are number of tools which can be used such as PEST, Five Forces Analyses and SWOT Analysis. The first two focuses on external environment and SWOT Analysis is used for both internal and external environment. (Brassington and. Pettitt, 2006a) SWOT analysis is one of the best tools in marketing audit. It involves both internal and external environment. It is the overall evaluation of companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The strengths and weaknesses are internal factors and opportunities and threats are external factors. SWOT Analysis enable a business to focus into those areas that present the greatest opportunities and those competencies in which it is strongest. (Pinson, 2001) SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS: SWOT Analysis of Dulux Trade Paints: STRENGTHS: It is an internally controlled factor. It enhances the performance of the company. Some of the strengths are as follows: It has a strong brand name and positive reputation in the minds of customers so far them its a great strength of the company ICI Dulux Trade Paints has well established infrastructure. It has a wide range of distribution (merchants and retailers) It has 130 outlets in the UK, the largest of any trade supplier. It provides vide range of colours (52 two-tone colourways). All products are uniquely water-based. WEAKNESSES: It is also an internally controlled factor. It minimizes the performance of the company. Some of the weaknesses are as follows: The major weakness of Dulux Paints is that they dont have their own distribution channels. They have dealers which sell their products in different cities. The public awareness about Dulux paints is not high, mainly because of lack of advertisements and promotions. OPPORTUNITIES: It is an externally controlled factor. Some of the opportunities are as follows: One of the greatest opportunities for Dulux Paints is to increase awareness among the customers regarding high quality paints and newly launched products. Advertisements and promotions can play an important role in achieving it. THREATS: It is also externally controlled factor. Some of the threats are as follows: The biggest threat of Dulux Trade Paints is the increased number of competitors. They are other companies producing the same products; they have captured the market share. So it is a great threat for Dulux Trade Paints. (Kotler. and Keller 2009 ) TASK 2: MARKET SEGMENTATION Market segmentation is defined as the process of identifying different groups of users within a market who could possibly be targeted with separate products or marketing programmes. It can also be defined as dividing the market into groups of potential customers with similar needs and purchase behavior. The idea of dividing market into various segments and targeting each segment with a distinct product is the heart of marketing theory. (Croft 1994.) The main objective of market segmentation is to analyse market fully, finding opportunities and to improve companys competitor position and serve the needs of customers. Management must segment the market according to benefit sought. In this case we will apply business to business segmentation. In B2B segmentation we can focus on organisation as well as on individual buyers within it. B2B market segmentation can involve two stages: Macro segments: are those in which we have to identify subgroups within whole market and Micro segments: are those in which we have to select target segments based on specific buying characteristics. In this case we will define few market segments which are most important in this type of industry and upon which Dulux Trade Paints should consider and target. Size of organisation: The size of an organisation is important in any organisation. As far as Dulux Trade Paint is concerned it must fully focus on large organisation because they consume large percentage of goods as compared to small organisations. Dulux is a brand name, they always come up with innovative ideas and new products like Duette, Sonata and Acrylic Scumble glaze so it will be easier to target large organisations like real estate companies, big organisations, hotels, hospitals etc as large organisations need new products time to time in order to be in competition. Dulux has 52 two tone colour ways available which they can offer to company. Dulux paints need to come up with exciting new offers and promotions so as to attract large organisations like free samples, credit facilities, better quality, discounts etc Purchase Organisations: It can be defined as those organisations which purchase goods and services either for themselves or for other purposes. This is an important segment on which Dulux paints must work. These may include Contractors, Interior designers, Architectures. Contractors: A contractor is an individual or group of people that constructs or renovates a building, road etc. Dulux paints must target contractors for supply of paints required for construction purposes. It covers a large area of market. As these newly launched products are very popular so these products must be in demand for contractor also. Dulux must target contractors depending upon nature size and type of contractors. They should come up with new schemes, promotions, discounts and delivery of goods on time so as to ensure demand and supply. Interior Designers: They are professionals who decorate and organise the interior of any house, building etc. nowadays paints are important part of interiors, Dulux paints come up with decorative paints like Duette which is the latest trend in paint industry. So they must target interior designers to use their products in their projects which will increase the popularity of Duette, sonata and acrylic and helps in creating brand name. Trade Outlets: They are important in any organisation. Dulux trade paints have 130 retail outlets in the UK known as Dulux decorator centres, largest number of outlets of any trade supplier. These outlets should be managed properly. Newly launched products such as Duette, Sonata and Acrylic must be available in those outlets so that they will be easily available as there demand is increasing day by day. Their must be proper contact between company and outlets, moreover there must be proper balance between demand and supply. Customers should be provided with proper guidance regarding colour schemes and good product knowledge. If these outlets are properly targeted and maintained it will be the strength of company and also a great threat for competitors. Hence if all those segments are properly targeted and achieved then the company will reach ahead of its goals and will be a huge success. ( Brassington and. Pettitt,2006b) TASK 3: BRANDING AND POSITIONING Once target market segmentation is selected, we have to promote the organisational offerings to its target markets in a better way. This process is called branding and positioning strategy. The organisation must have an offering that differentiates it from the competitors. It should give a clear identity in the mind of the consumers. Branding: A brand is a name, symbol, design or term, or a combination of them used by manufacturers to identify its products from those of competitors. Today, a brand is the result of a synaptic process in the brain. A brand differentiates a product form those of competitors. It can simply be defined as customers perception about your business. (Bed bury and fenichell, 2002) Dulux is a market leader in the paint industry. The consumer is aware about the Dulux brand name It is much easier for Dulux to market its newly launched products like Duette, sonata and Acrylic. However there are some fundamental principles of branding are as follows: Flexibility: Dulux trade paints are flexible with the changing demands and supply. As the demand for broken colours rise they launched new products in the market. It helped the company in achieving good brand name. The customers are aware about the Dulux brand name Quality: The qualities of the products are fair enough as these products are manufactured by other manufacturers. This helps in maintaining good brand name and increase in sales. Product differentiation: The products differ in price, quality and design as compared to competitors. As Duette comes in 52 two-tone colour ways. These products offer all the benefits of traditional glaze. Consistent: Dulux maintain brand promise and brand standard. These products leave a good effect on consumers. The customer is aware about the quality standards. (Kumar and Mittal, 2002) Positioning: The act of designing the organisations image and offer so that it occupies a distinct place in the target customers. It is about the position a brand occupies in the minds of consumers. It starts with the choosing of a segment in which to compete. (Adock, Bradfield and Ross, 1995) Every product needs a positioning strategy so that it gives a clear position about a specific product in the minds of consumers. In this case there are some strategies which can be targeted. Positioning Against or Associating with another product: Dulux trade paints has to position itself as the ultimate solution for achieving the luxury look with great quality. Its main customers are contractors, large organisations, retailers etc. It has to differentiate itself from other paint companies in order to achieve good name and high volume of sales. Benefits/ Needs: Dulux paints have to provide better benefits to the purchaser so that he will stick to the companys products like huge profit margins discounts etc. Quality/Price: They have to provide better quality and low price as compared to their competitors in order to gain orders from large organisations. Product Features: They have to position it as, the presenting classics. They have to identify product features and differentiate it from other products. (Kotler and Scheff, 1997) Hence if position strategy is constructed on those bases then it will prove fruitful to the company. It will help in achieving good brand name and taking the company ahead of its competitors. REFRENCES: Adock, D. Bradfield, R. and Ross, C. (1995) Marketing Principles and Practice (2nd edn.), p 126-129. London, Pitman Publishing Bedbury, S. (2002) A New Brand World: 8 principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st century, p11-12. USA, Penguin Group. Croft, M.J. (1994) Market Segmentation. London, Solidus Limited. Kumar, N. and Mittal, R. (2002) Advertising Management. India, Anmol Publications Ltd. Kotler, P. and Scheff, J. (1997) Standing Room Only, p115-118. USA, Harvard Business School. Kotler, P and Keller, K.L. (2009) Marketing Management (13th edn.). USA, Pearson International. Pinson, L. (2001) Anatomy of a Business Plan (5th edn.). USA, Dearborn Trade. Pettit, S. and Brassington, F. (2006) Principles of Marketing (4th edn.). London, Prentice Hall.

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg :: World War II WWII

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg From autumn 1943 on, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg becomes a decisive factor in the struggle against Hitler. In 1933, he initially feels that National Socialist policy offers Germany favorable opportunities but is soon alienated by the regime's racial ideology. Yet Stauffenberg only assumes an active role in opposing the regime once he realizes the consequences of German policy in eastern Europe and can estimate the full extent of the damage that Hitler's war has brought upon Germany and Europe. Under the influence of Henning von Tresckow, General Friedrich Olbricht, and First Lieutenant Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg of the army reserve, Stauffenberg becomes a focal point of the military conspiracy. He establishes important links to civilian resistance groups and coordinates his assassination plans with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and Ludwig Beck, and with the conspirators waiting in readiness in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and at Army Group Center. Stauffenberg's Way to the Assassination Attempt of July 20, 1944 In early April 1943, Stauffenberg is severely wounded in Tunisia, barely escaping death. During the months of his convalescence, he gradually comes to realize he must take an active part in resistance. Even in earlier years, the church's struggle, the persecution of the Jews, and the crimes in eastern Europe have alienated Stauffenberg from the National Socialist state. His closest confidant is his brother Berthold, who has had contacts to the opposition for a long time. After an extended period of convalescence, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg is appointed to the post of chief of staff of the General Army Office in October 1943. From June 1944 on, he also serves as chief of staff for the commanding officer of the Ersatzheer (Reserve Army), General Friedrich Olbricht, at Olbricht's request. In this position he has clearance to attend briefings at Hitler's headquarters in the so-called "Wolf's Lair" near Rastenburg in East Prussia. Olbricht informs Stauffenberg of his plans for a coup and introduces him to members of the resistance groups around Ludwig Beck and Carl Friedrich Goerdeler. Stauffenberg has a great deal of charisma and is valued for his professional expertise. He brings many opponents of the regime together and makes close friends among them not only military officers but also Social Democrats like Julius Leber, members of the Kreisau Circle like Adam von Trott zu Solz, and representatives of the labor union movement like Jakob Kaiser and Wilhelm Leuschner. The Planning of Operation "Valkyrie" The conspirators from the civilian and military resistance groups realize that the military leadership cannot be induced to act in concert. They concentrate their efforts on eliminating Hitler, gaining control of the military chain of command, and assuming the

Confidentiality of Health Information Essay

1. Should corrections be date and time stamped? Yes, it is very important to keep track of when changes are made to an individual’s medical records. Any correction made to confidential medical information should be time and date stamped. In addition, the name of the person who makes the changes should be recorded with the time and date change. should there not be a note of who makes changes to the medical record. An example of the negative consequences of not date and time stamping medical records, electronic or otherwise, is that in a court of law, one’s medical records could be inadmissible due to this simple negligence. A medical malpractice case, in which the patient deserves compensation for being diagnosed incorrectly, or not diagnosed at all, could hinge on this incredibly important detail. Whether or not the patient’s medical records was date and time stamped, as well as signed by the individual working on the patient’s electronic medical record. 2. When should the patient be advised of the existence of computerized databases containing medical information about the patient? A patient should be advised of the existence of computerized database containing medical information about the patient , before the patient’s physician releases said information to the entity keeping the computer bases. All medical information must be shared with the patient before any treatments are performed, so that the patient may give their informed consent for the treatment or procedure to be administered. If patients were unaware of the existence of their medical information stored in computerized database, they obviously would not have the knowledge to access their own records, which is highly unprofessional and detrimental to the patient’s health care in the future. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), patients have the right to know where their records are being stored and who has access to them for safety and privacy of the individual. 3. When should the patient be notified of purging of archaic or inaccurate information? States â€Å" procedures for purging the computerized data base of archaic or inaccurate data should be established and the patient and physician should be notified before and after the data has been purged.† It is essential that the patient and physician always know what is going on with their confidential medical records. Care must be taken to make sure that the medical record are never accidently mixed with other computer based record. With technology growing faster than most of us can keep up, most of today information is on computer. Either being stored on a disk, on websites, or even online storage . The American Medical Association (AMA), has issued opinion 5.07 confidentiality for computers. 4. When should the computerized medical database be online to the computer terminal? The computerized medical database is online to the computer terminal only when authorized computer programs requiring the medical data are in use. According to the (AMA ) policy, External individuals or organizations should not have online access to these computerized database. containing identifiable data from medical records patient. Access should be controlled through security measures. Some examples of these are encryption of the file, password to gain access to the file, or other user identification. In addition, leaving a terminal online to the database when it is not necessary can make it easier for hackers to get into the system. 5. When the computer service bureau destroys or erases records, should the erasure be verified by the bureau to the physician? I believe that when the computer services bureau destroys or erases the record, the physician should be notified in writing that it has taken place. Before records can be destroyed or erased the bureau has to establish that the physician has another copy, of some form, in his possession. The patient and the physician have the right to know any little alteration on any record. This will help in knowing what information has been erased and what significance it has as far as patient’s medical process is concerned. 6. Should individuals and organizations with access to the database be identified to the patient? Yes, all individuals and organizations with some form of access to the computerized databases, and the level of access permitted should be specifically identified in advance. Full disclosure of this information to the patients is necessary in obtaining consent to treatment. patient data should be assigned a security level appropriate for the data’s degree of sensitivity, which should be used to control who has access to the information. The patient has the right to know who have an access to his/her information and why. This will for the respect of the patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality. 7. Does the AMA ethics opinion mention encryption as a technique for security? Yes, the computerized data systems have a compromising information security. The (AMA) opinion is that â€Å" there should be controlled access to the computerized database via security procedures such as encryption (encoding), passwords, and other user identification including scan able badges†. Confidentiality agreements should be made with other healthcare professional whom the office networks with encryption is recommended if the network entails public channel of communication such a radio waves, telephone wires, and microwaves. This will increase the changes of information confidentiality. 8. In regard to electronic medical record (EMR), what is the policy for disclosing authorized data requested by third parties? The patient must give consent in writing authorization for disclosing any information about his/her medical record. the individual or groups requesting the data required to obtain the expressed consent of the patient. The dissemination of confidentiality medical data should be limited to only those individuals or agencies with a bona fide use of the data. As well as the fact that, the third parties receiving the Electronic – PHI , do not have the authorization to disclose the information to additional sources. Then , the database should disclose the least amount of E-PHI possible to serve the purpose , while also limiting the period of its use. Finally, the policy for disclosing the E-PHI is clear, the database must acquire consent for the dissemination of the least amount of information possible , the database must maintain the patient’s confidentiality, and, the third parties receiving the data may not disclose the data to any other organization or individual. American Medical Association, (AMA) opinion 5.07. REFERENTS: www.ama-assn.org/ Search box type, opinion 5.07 www.ahima.org/ www.ama-assn.org/ama/category

Hinduism Essays - Religion, Hinduism, Hindu Denominations, Hindu

Hinduism Essays - Religion, Hinduism, Hindu Denominations, Hindu Hinduism Hinduism It is not sure where the earliest practices of Hinduism came from. The best evidence suggests that it originated from the Indus valley civilization around 4000 B.C. to 2000 B.C. During this time period Hinduism was influenced by many different invasions. Around 1500 B.C. the Aryan Indo European tribes invaded Northern India. With this invasion they brought their religion of Vedism. The Vedic Arians influenced the practices and beliefs of the Indus valley people and gave Hinduism its distinct identity. It is also said that this theory may not be accurate. Some people say that the time the Arians invaded India does not agree with other historical dates. What was clear was that there was a combining of cultures lead to what is Hinduism today. Hinduism is not really considered a religion; it is a way of life. It consists of thousands of religions that have evolved in India over the years. The beliefs of the Hindu religion are, in short, that goals like salvation, transmigration, and rebirth are looked upon with reverence. Hindus believe that the realization of some goals is beyond us and should be made a part of our activities while we are still living. They believe that everything we do (Karma) is accounted for by the celestial presence (Chitragupta) and has implication on our next life or rebirth (Punarjanma). The Hindus do not have one leader that tells them a sermon, or oversees what they do. They believe that all jivas (a persons soul) will move through a system of castes or there place in society. There are four castes, followers or unskilled workers, producers such as farmers, administrators, and the Brahmins or seers. The Brahmins are considered the leaders of Hinduism. Each Hindu is expected to perform several rituals everyday as part of there worship. These rituals include things like: making offerings to the gods, to all beings, to departed souls, and especially before eating, and to show hospitality to others and a continuous remembrance of God through the study of Holy Scripture. Hindus meditate, visit holy temples, and do charitable work on a daily basis.

Definition of Wilmot Proviso

Definition of Wilmot Proviso The Wilmot Proviso was a brief amendment to a piece of legislation introduced by an obscure member of Congress that set off a firestorm of controversy over the issue of slavery in the late 1840s. The wording inserted into a finance bill in the House of Representatives would have repercussions that helped bring about the Compromise of 1850, the emergence of the short-lived Free Soil Party, and the eventual founding of the Republican Party. The language in the amendment only amounted to a sentence. Yet it would have had profound implications if approved, as it would have prohibited slavery in territories acquired from Mexico following the Mexican War. The amendment was not successful, as it was never approved by the U.S. Senate. However, the debate over the Wilmot Proviso kept the issue of whether slavery could exist in new territories in front of the public for years. It hardened sectional animosities between North and South, and ultimately helped put the country on the road to the Civil War. Origin of the Wilmot Proviso A clash of army patrols along the border in Texas sparked the Mexican War in the spring of 1846. That summer the U.S. Congress was debating a bill which would provide $30,000 to begin negotiations with Mexico, and an additional $2 million for the president to use at his discretion to try to find a peaceful solution to the crisis. It was assumed President James K. Polk might be able to use the money to avert the war by simply buying land from Mexico. On August 8, 1846, a freshman congressman from Pennsylvania, David Wilmot, after consulting with other northern congressmen, proposed an amendment to the appropriations bill that would ensure slavery could not exist in any territory which might be acquired from Mexico. The text of the Wilmot Proviso was one sentence of less than 75 words: Provided, That as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said Territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall be first duly convicted. The House of Representatives debated the language in the Wilmot Proviso. The amendment passed and was added to the bill. The bill would have gone on to the Senate, but the Senate adjourned before it could be considered. When a new Congress convened, the House again approved the bill. Among those voting for it was Abraham Lincoln, who was serving his one term in Congress. This time Wilmots amendment, added to a spending bill, moved on to the Senate, where a firestorm broke out. Battles Over the Wilmot Proviso Southerners were deeply offended by the House of Representatives adopting the Wilmot Proviso, and newspapers in the South wrote editorials denouncing it. Some state legislatures passed resolutions denouncing it. Southerners considered it an insult to their way of life. It also raised Constitutional questions. Did the federal government possess the power to restrict slavery in new territories? The powerful senator from South Carolina, John C. Calhoun, who had challenged federal power years earlier in the Nullification Crisis, made forceful arguments on behalf of the slave states. Calhoun’s legal reasoning was that slavery was legal under the Constitution, and slaves were property, and the Constitution protected property rights. Therefore settlers from the South, if they moved to the West, should be able to bring their own property, even if the property happened to be slaves. In the North, the Wilmot Proviso became a rallying cry. Newspapers printed editorials praising it, and speeches were given in support of it. Continuing Effects of the Wilmot Proviso The increasingly bitter debate over whether slavery would be allowed to exist in the West continued through the late 1840s. For several years the Wilmot Proviso would be added to bills passed by the House of Representatives, but the Senate always refused to pass any legislation containing the language about slavery. The stubborn revivals of Wilmots amendment served a purpose as it kept the issue of slavery alive in Congress and thus before the American people. The issue of slavery in the territories acquired during the Mexican War was finally addressed early in 1850 in a series of Senate debates, which featured the legendary figures Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster. A set of new bills, which would become known as the Compromise of 1850, was thought to have provided a solution. The issue, however, did not die completely. One response to the Wilmot Proviso was the concept of â€Å"popular sovereignty,† which was first proposed by a Michigan senator, Lewis Cass, in 1848. The idea that settlers in the state would decide the issue became a constant theme for Senator Stephen Douglas in the 1850s. In the 1848 president the Free Soil party formed, and embraced the Wilmot Proviso. The new party nominated a former president, Martin Van Buren, as its candidate. Van Buren lost the election, but it demonstrated that debates about restricting slavery would not fade away. The language introduced by Wilmot continued to influence anti-slavery sentiment which developed in the 1850s and helped lead to the creation of the Republican Party. And ultimately the debate over slavery could not be solved in the halls of Congress, and was only settled by the Civil War.

Gendered Pronouns and the Singular “They” - Proofread My Paper

Gendered Pronouns and the Singular â€Å"They† - Proofread My Paper Gendered Pronouns and the Singular â€Å"They† To refer to a man in the third person, we say â€Å"he.† To refer to a woman, we say â€Å"she.† But if we don’t want to specify the gender of someone in the third person, English comes up short. Our pronouns are increasingly inadequate. This is because there is no singular gender neutral pronoun. In academic writing, this can be problematic, so what should you do if you want to avoid using gendered pronouns in a paper? Why Are Gendered Pronouns a Problem? If we’re discussing a specific person whose gender is known, using â€Å"he† or â€Å"she† isn’t an issue. For example, if writing about Napoleon, it would be reasonable to discuss â€Å"his† funny hat. It is a very silly hat.(Photo: Thomas Quine/flickr) However, in academic writing we often refer to people in the abstract using non-gendered terms like â€Å"someone†. It’s difficult to know which pronouns to use with gender-neutral words like this, since both â€Å"he†/†his† and â€Å"she†/†her† imply a particular gender. Traditionally, academic writing has used â€Å"he† and â€Å"his† far more in these situations (this linguistic bias is even reflected in the U.S. Constitution, which states than â€Å"All men are created equal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). As such, it was common to see phrases like: When someone makes a decision, he weighs up various possibilities. But social changes mean that most people are now uncomfortable with excluding all non-males from academic discourse. So what are the alternatives? â€Å"He or She† One option is alternating between â€Å"he† and â€Å"she† in a document, or you can use â€Å"he or she†: When someone makes a decision, he or she weighs up various possibilities. However, this can make the phrasing of sentences seem awkward. Some style guides, such as APA style, also discourage alternating between â€Å"he† and â€Å"she.† The Impersonal â€Å"One† or â€Å"You† Another possibility is using the impersonal pronoun â€Å"one† in place of gendered pronouns: When one makes a decision, one weighs up various possibilities. This is fairly common in British English, but in the U.S. it sounds pretty old-fashioned, so the second person â€Å"you† is favored instead: When you make a decision, you weigh up various possibilities. But this can sound informal or too conversational, as if you’re addressing the reader directly. Rephrasing the Sentence If none of the above are suitable, it might be a good idea to rephrase the sentence in a way that avoids using a gendered pronoun. For example, we could write: When making a decision, it is necessary to weigh up various possibilities. This is often the best choice as long as it doesn’t lead to sentences becoming too complicated. The Singular â€Å"They† Finally, an increasingly popular option is using the gender-neutral second-person pronoun â€Å"they† to refer to a single person of unknown gender. This avoids gendered language: When someone makes a decision, they weigh up various possibilities. However, some consider this informal or ungrammatical, since it involves using a plural verb (â€Å"weigh†) in combination with a singular subject (â€Å"someone†). The key thing is therefore to check your style guide and pick what works best for you.

Why having a 4 year Business Degree is important in Running a business Essay

Why having a 4 year Business Degree is important in Running a business - Essay Example Companies are starting to make out that states halfway in the region of the world are feasible and frequently untapped consumer bases. Businesses are employing the internet and additional technologies to attract their consumers and frequently expand their neighborhood processes into worldwide ones (Pollard et al, 2004). Specialized administration, management and guidance capabilities are desirable to guide corporations and businesses that carry out business on a worldwide scale. Worldwide business managers have need of powerful communication knowledge (frequently they have to be bi- or multilingual), an indebted of the global financial system, that would be recognizable by computer and infrastructure technology, recognize the dissimilarity among societies that would able to be a stumbling mass for building global businesses. Mostly managers of worldwide businesses hold a 4 Year business degree or equivalents master of business administration degree by means of a focus on global trade or business (Stewart et al, 2001). A four year business degree offers an extensive experience to all the vital elements that create an organization task well. It does not offer the specialization that additional targeted degrees get done (such as accounting or finance), however is helpful in its generalist approach of providing knowledge. We obtain an indication of a lot of functions in the business world and foundation our studies on how these tasks work together (Pollard et al, 2004). Some business degrees engage working by statistics and arithmetical analysis, so we should be calm with math. We should as well have the potential to see the huge picture when it approaches to organizational arrangement, taking into deliberation the features of the group, bearing in mind the unprocessed resources or uneven data, and developing strategy to progress projects ahead.

FORECASTING Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

FORECASTING - Assignment Example 66). The mandate for goods of any customer is a Poisson process with passion. Time calculate of goods delivery from the wholesaler to the customer has a normal distribution with limitations. The policy in order forming for the customer can be presented as: A new order is positioned at the specific time, when the stock levels fall to a certain level the order quantity is constant. We suppose that the quantity is greater than the level arrived at. It is important to note that order reorder point of the level and quantity are control parameters of the first stage model. During this stage, it is supposed that the manufacturer supplies his production to wholesaler according to a fixed package. Therefore, the ordering process is considered to be within a constant period. The moments of placing adjacent wholesaler’s orders and order quantity is recognized as a difference between fixed stock level and the quantity of goods in the period of ordering. Therefore, the period and stock level will be control restrictions in the proposed model time in the second stage. The assumption is that every time a new order has to be placed in any condition in the event that the stock level is large then a new ordering should not occur. Commonly, the model would maintain the state of lead-time and quantity of goods at that time as soon as the order is established (Jain and Malehorn, 2005; pg. 241). This in turn is linked to the actual scenario where the wholesaler will use his own means of transport. In most cases, this part ways at the suitable time with fixed moments of time. However, this does not depend on the existence of the order and with the arbitrary lead-time. For example, there will be ferrying of goods using the previews that depart the 2nd and 16th day of every month. The Warnsley Ltd Company places an order after every two weeks. The quantity ordered at the beginning of the week usually

Strategic Analysis differentials Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strategic Analysis differentials - Assignment Example The board of directors of public companies should be involved in the planning process associated with strategic analysis at the corporate level. The implementation of strategic analysis at the business level is much different than at the corporate level. The manager or supervisor of a business unit is the person responsible for strategic analysis decisions at the business level. A big difference between the two concepts is that decisions made at the business level do not affect the long term plans of the company. Companies that empower their employees often involve their floor employees in the decision making process at the business level. A way to involve employees in the decision making process is by implementing a feedback system. Most of the decisions performed by supervisors or managers at the business level affect the company in the short term, which is much different than at the corporate level which deals mostly with long term

Tipping point Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tipping point - Essay Example Connectors are perceived to be the trendsetters because of their rich network of acquaintances and friends. They know many people and keep in touch with them. Simply put, connectors strive to bring the world together not for their benefit, but for the benefit of humanity. On the other hand, Mavens are people who take delight in finding new information and share that information with connectors. Unlike connectors who simply wish to have a vast network of friends around them, mavens strive to have hottest esoteric scoops on specials and gadgets, and share that information with consumers. Hence, they fundamentally connect consumers to the marketplace due to their aptitude and capability to be informed on functionality of products, prices, and market trends. While the Mavens provide the message and connectors spread it, salesmen are skilled in persuading people to believe in what they hear. Their ability to easily build a rapport makes them good in expressing feelings and emotions, and o ften use their charisma to manipulate others. A striking difference between salesmen and connectors is the sheer fact that connectors think not as individuals, but in nodes and are more obliged to first help you then money later; however, salesmen are apparently money-oriented as they hugely motivated by money when packaging and pricing innovations (Gladwell, 82). Similarly, while connectors seem to rely on more general information to connect the world, Mavens dig deep into ideas and innovations and give detailed and unambiguous information regarding it. Apparently, I am more similar to the Connector personality type. Over the past few decades, with the dawn of technology I have been finding myself more engaged with the social media including Facebook and Twitter. I start each day on Facebook and Twitter by posting and twitting unpretentious questions such as â€Å"How can I help you?†, â€Å"Is anything the matter?† Through these platforms, people have been able to express

Management of International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management of International Business - Essay Example The role of private capital cannot be neglected as far as the economic development of a country is concerned. Shell is the most influential or biggest oil company in the world. They are one among the bests as far as the commitments to social responsibility are concerned. Apart from one or two incidents, Shell behaved ethically and demonstrated their social commitments in most of the times. They promise less and deliver more. Germany is one among the most influential countries in the world as far as economic growth and size are concerned. After the unification of the Germanys, the unified Germany is more stable politically and economically. Germans are keener in giving more humanitarian look to their economy and hence they will never allow any companies to function in their soil against the will of the public. Shell can operate or expand in German soil if they are able to implement business strategies suitable to the German culture and tradition. This paper analyses corporate social r esponsibility commitments of Shell Company and their future prospects and growth potentials in Germany. Introduction â€Å"Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies is one of the largest global groups of energy and petrochemicals companies with around 101,000 employees in more than  90 countries and territories† (About Shell, n. d). ... Germany is one of the prominent countries in the Europe. After the unification of West and East Germanys in 1989, unified Germany has attained a significant role in international arena. The Hitler era is over and the current Germans are keener in working for the growth of their nation rather than expanding their nation to different territories. In other words, Germany is a good place for investments at present because of the better political and economical climates. Organizations which are ready to obey their international obligations can select Germany as a safe place for investments at present. Germans value socially committed organizations very much and they consider the track records of organizations with respect to social responsibility, while purchasing something. Corporate social responsibility of Shell Kotler and Lee (2004) have pointed out that CSR is the â€Å"commitment to improve community well-being through discretionary business practices and contributions of the corpo rate resources† (Kotler &Lee, 2004, p.3). Most of the Shell companies are operating independently in each of the countries, by the people who know the needs of the community and the environment well. They have the authority and autonomy to make all normal business decisions (Nehring, 2002).One of the major success factors of Shell Company is their respect to the community in which they operate. While most of the competitors concentrate only on reaping the profits, Shell is keener in spending a portion of their profit for the wellbeing of the society or community in which it operates. They are giving more emphasize to the environmental protection and hence no major

Recovery Period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recovery Period - Essay Example The institute of law enforcement runs on the basis of mutual respect; the civilian respects the officer and the officer respects the civilian, not considering him/herself superior because of his uniform. An officer must, at all times, remain unbiased so as not to obstruct his judgement during his duty. The above stated behaviors are, to me, the most likely to incite the opposite feelings. Biases arise because there is no respect for one’s fellows. Prejudice leads to hatred, which then manifests itself into hate crimes. And these crimes simply grow in magnitude. An automatic termination would set an example. The second behavior shows a lack of respect for the very job. By not respecting the profession of law enforcement, one cannot be considered an officer – it becomes contradictory in nature. This sort of behavior leads to bullying and taking advantage of others. The â€Å"recovery phase provides a ‘window of opportunity’ for risk reduction† (Christoplos). The recovery period simply refers to the phase, after the occurring of any crime, where the victims involved recover from their losses. This does not necessarily mean emotional losses. If, for instance, a theft took place in a shop, the recovery phase/period would include the recovering from the financial loss, the traumatic experience of being held at gun point (perhaps), and the relief and rehabilitation (not necessarily in mobile terms) of the victims. This period is often called the window of opportunity for risk reduction. Risk reduction refers to the actual trimming down of the risk of any crime. What this statement, thus, means is this: when a crime occurs, a situation arises in which the involved actors (victims, civilians or the cops) are given an opportunity to reduce risk for future such happenings. Mr. Christoplos wrote a report on the window of opportunity

Tipping point Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tipping point - Essay Example Connectors are perceived to be the trendsetters because of their rich network of acquaintances and friends. They know many people and keep in touch with them. Simply put, connectors strive to bring the world together not for their benefit, but for the benefit of humanity. On the other hand, Mavens are people who take delight in finding new information and share that information with connectors. Unlike connectors who simply wish to have a vast network of friends around them, mavens strive to have hottest esoteric scoops on specials and gadgets, and share that information with consumers. Hence, they fundamentally connect consumers to the marketplace due to their aptitude and capability to be informed on functionality of products, prices, and market trends. While the Mavens provide the message and connectors spread it, salesmen are skilled in persuading people to believe in what they hear. Their ability to easily build a rapport makes them good in expressing feelings and emotions, and o ften use their charisma to manipulate others. A striking difference between salesmen and connectors is the sheer fact that connectors think not as individuals, but in nodes and are more obliged to first help you then money later; however, salesmen are apparently money-oriented as they hugely motivated by money when packaging and pricing innovations (Gladwell, 82). Similarly, while connectors seem to rely on more general information to connect the world, Mavens dig deep into ideas and innovations and give detailed and unambiguous information regarding it. Apparently, I am more similar to the Connector personality type. Over the past few decades, with the dawn of technology I have been finding myself more engaged with the social media including Facebook and Twitter. I start each day on Facebook and Twitter by posting and twitting unpretentious questions such as â€Å"How can I help you?†, â€Å"Is anything the matter?† Through these platforms, people have been able to express

Recovery Period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Recovery Period - Essay Example The institute of law enforcement runs on the basis of mutual respect; the civilian respects the officer and the officer respects the civilian, not considering him/herself superior because of his uniform. An officer must, at all times, remain unbiased so as not to obstruct his judgement during his duty. The above stated behaviors are, to me, the most likely to incite the opposite feelings. Biases arise because there is no respect for one’s fellows. Prejudice leads to hatred, which then manifests itself into hate crimes. And these crimes simply grow in magnitude. An automatic termination would set an example. The second behavior shows a lack of respect for the very job. By not respecting the profession of law enforcement, one cannot be considered an officer – it becomes contradictory in nature. This sort of behavior leads to bullying and taking advantage of others. The â€Å"recovery phase provides a ‘window of opportunity’ for risk reduction† (Christoplos). The recovery period simply refers to the phase, after the occurring of any crime, where the victims involved recover from their losses. This does not necessarily mean emotional losses. If, for instance, a theft took place in a shop, the recovery phase/period would include the recovering from the financial loss, the traumatic experience of being held at gun point (perhaps), and the relief and rehabilitation (not necessarily in mobile terms) of the victims. This period is often called the window of opportunity for risk reduction. Risk reduction refers to the actual trimming down of the risk of any crime. What this statement, thus, means is this: when a crime occurs, a situation arises in which the involved actors (victims, civilians or the cops) are given an opportunity to reduce risk for future such happenings. Mr. Christoplos wrote a report on the window of opportunity

American superiority of products Essay Example for Free

American superiority of products Essay Looking beyond the military reasons for continuing such a relationship, one must consider how the export relationship is offering benefits to the United States in terms of research and development. Understanding this point requires one to understand the very nature of the American-Chinese export relationship. With high-technology products, it is not a simple question of dictation. The U. S. companies are not just sending over products for the sake of pure profit. Instead, the two countries work together to develop better technologies, and each has taken a more active role in pursuing new technologies. It is important to keep in mind that there is much we can learn from the Chinese industry leaders, and they understand the mutual benefits, as well. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicated this fact in an address on the importance of its American relationship. They wrote, â€Å"Despite the frictions in bilateral trade, the two governments are increasingly mature in dealing with Sino-US economic and trade ties. Strengthened cooperation and equal consultation are becoming the keynote of Sino-US economic and trade ties. Trust is the foundation of cooperation. Thus in developing high-tech trade with China, the US side should regard the Chinese side as a partner that it could sincerely cooperate with† (Chinese Ministry of Commerce, 2010). This quotation indicates the level of mutual respect that seems to exist between the two countries, and offers an enlightened view on what seems to be a symbiotic relationship. As that address goes on to state, the relationship between American and Chinese companies is an important one both in practice and in theory. Consumer confidence and shareholder confidence is bound to be at an all-time high when these mutually beneficial export relationships are at play, at least in the opinion of the Chinese. That same address goes on to say, â€Å"MOFCOM and DOC have signed the Guidelines on the Development of China-US High Technology and Strategic Trade to guide and regulate bilateral high-tech and strategic trade development. According to the Guidelines, MOFCOM and DOC have agreed to take civil aviation and aerospace and information technology as the first batch of priority areas of expanding bilateral high-tech trade, and meanwhile the two sides are drafting cooperation plans† (Chinese Ministry of Commerce, 2010). The issue of promoting cooperation with a powerful country is one that the United States should be interested in moving forward. The United States must also take a broad view at the global markets in today’s world, seeing the realities for what they are. Though China has jumped up to third on the list of US export destinations, it still lags behind to some extent in high-technology products. According to a report by the Global Times, this is because American high-technology export controls are restricting the types of items that can be shipped to China. That report stated that â€Å"digital machine tools, certain fiber materials, and electronic devices† (Global Times, 2010) were among those items that could not be shipped without tight licensing practices. The American regulations are being reconsidered, but at current time the government is looking to restrict how much technology China has to work with for military purposes. What the American government needs to recognize is two-fold. First, the current global climate and American-Chinese relationship is such that neither country could ever afford to go to war with the other. Secondly, the products that the United States is restricting are available through other sources around the world, meaning that China has the ability to import them from places other than the United States. This is hurting American companies, who would otherwise be able to take advantage of a huge potential market in China. The Global Times article states, â€Å"The US is no longer the sole owner of many technologies. Many items in the export control list are being sold freely elsewhere in the world by non- US competitors† (Global Times, 2010). The article goes on to note the fact that the Chinese would be much more willing to import American goods in these categories than goods from other countries, both because of the previously stated working relationship and the American superiority of products. It states, â€Å"China has a large appetite for US exports in almost every area where the US has a competitive advantage, such as machinery, aerospace, new materials, biotechnology, agriculture, and services† (Global Times, 2010).

Human Genome Project: Legal, Ethical and Social Implications

Human Genome Project: Legal, Ethical and Social Implications In this dissertation we consider the human genome project in its wider context. We take a brief overview of the aims, the working and the sequencing techniques used together with the timeline achieved. The ability to sequence genes has given a greater understanding of the human genome. This understanding has thrown up a great many legal, social medical and ethical problems and dilemmas which clearly need tube both addressed and solved. This dissertation looks at many of the issues, analyses them, and considers some of the possible solutions. We primarily consider the situation in the UK, but comparisons are drawn with the arguably more litigious society in the USA, particularly in consideration of the legal implications of the subject. We make a consideration of the ethical position of researchers, medical professionals and also individuals whether they are considered as research subjects or simply as private citizens. We draw conclusions from our findings and present them. Introduction The Human Genome Project (HGP) was a vast and ambitious concept which was conceived in the 1980s and formally started in 1990, the main stated aim of which was to achieve the mapping of the entire human genome. It was originally anticipated that the process would take approximately 15 years and was therefore scheduled to be complete in2005/6 but the advances in technological hard and software improved sequencing ability to the extent that the entire undertaking was actually completed in 2003. The project itself involved over 1,000 principal scientists in over 200Universities, Government laboratories and private facilities. The stated and defined primary goals of the project were to: identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project. (after Collins FS et al 1998), Although the project was primarily about the sequencing of the human genome, part of the intrinsic preparatory work was carried out in the sequencing techniques of other organisms such as E Coli and Drosophila(the fruit fly) Brief description of the genome The genome of an organism is a term which relates to the sum total of the DNA of the organism. This is replicated in virtually every cell in the organism and it should be noted that it includes not only the nuclear DNA but the extra-nuclear DNA as well. It is the basic code for making all of the constituent proteins and thereby it is the ultimate determinant of the various processes that occur within the organism. The human genome has approximately 3 billion base pairs (abbreviated as A T G C). These are arranged in sequential style in the DNA double helix and are unique to an individual. There are large areas of repetition and large areas which appear to be â€Å"biologically silent† but we shall discuss this in rather greater detail later in this dissertation. (Nichols, E.K. 1998) Sequencing techniques used The eventual sequence derived in the human genome project does not represent anyone individual’s genome. The original samples were taken from multiple sperm and blood (from females) donations which were mixed and sent to labs across the world. The differences were comparatively insignificant as the vast majority (99.7+%) of the genomic sequence is identical in every individual.(Collins et al 2001) Sperm is used, as the DNA : protein ratio is higher in sperm than for other cells and is therefore easier to prepare. It should be noted that sperm contains both the male and female sex chromosomes (X Y) so equal numbers of each were added to the samples and the blood DNA was added to ensure that female derived DNA was also present. The original sequencing techniques (in the 1990s) were primarily those of gel electrophoresis, which is slow, labour intensive and expensive. It was reported that the entire human genome project team managed to sequence 200Mb of gene in 1998. Advances in technology and automotive processing allowed one participant (DOE Joint genome institute) to sequence 1.5 billion bases in one month in January 2003. (Soga, Kakazuet al 2004) It was the discovery and large-scale implementation of the capillary gel electrophoresis technique that was mainly responsible for these advances. One of the major advantages of the capillary tube method is that the comparatively larger surface area of the capillary tube allows for greater heat dissipation which was the rate limiting step for the older models as too much heat would melt the gel carrier. (Tsai et al.2004) The actual mechanism for sequencing is extremely complex but in essence each chromosome, which comprises between 50 and 250 million base pairs, is fragmented into more manageable size pieces. (the sub cloning step).Each piece is then set up as a template from which a set of smaller fragments are generated, each one is a base pair shorter than the parent (the template preparation and sequencing reaction steps). (Marsha et al 2004) The resulting fragments are separated by electrophoresis which is an ideal method because of their differing size (separation step). The end base of each fragment is then identified (base-calling step). Automated sequencers then can analyse the resulting patterns which will give representation of the base order which is then â€Å"reassembled† into blocks of about 500 bases each (for ease of handling the data) . Number of very sophisticated computer programmes then analyse the raw data for potential errors and can identify specific genes and silent areas (Krill P et al 2000) Once sequenced, the final details are placed in the public domain such as Embank for open access to all. We have made several references to the draft and final sequences. The explanation of the difference lies in the fact that there are both intrinsic errors in the processing and also in the variability of the genetic material used. The original draft sequence was published in June 2000. This was the result of each area being analysed at least 4-5times to minimise the errors. This original data was presented inspections of about 10,000 base pairs and the chromosomal locations of the genes were known at this stage. A higher quality â€Å"final† reference sequence was published in April 2003which represented a 8-9 fold sequencing of every chromosome to fill in gaps and to minimise errors which were quoted as being no more than one in 10,000 bases (Kaiser et al 2004) Human genome project timeline 1990 Official commencement of HGP work Apr. 1998 HGP passes sequencing midpoint March 1999 Target completion date for â€Å"Human genome Working Draft† accelerated to early 2000 Dec 1999 Human Chromosome 22 sequenced (first human chromosome ever sequenced) May 2000 Human Chromosome 21 sequenced March 2000 Drosophila genome completed April 2000 Draft sequences of Human Chromosome 5, 16 19 completed June 2000 Working draft of DNA sequence achieved Dec 2001 Human Chromosome 20 sequenced Dec 2002 Complete Mouse genome draft publication Jan 2003 Human Chromosome 14 sequenced June 2003 Human Chromosome Y sequenced July 2003 Human Chromosome 7 sequenced Oct 2003 Human Chromosome 6 sequenced March 2004 Human Chromosome 13 19 sequenced May 2004 Human Chromosome 9 10 sequenced Sept 2004 Human Chromosome 5 sequenced Oct 2004 Human gene count estimates changed from 20,000 to 25,000 Dec 2004 Human Chromosome 16 sequenced March 2004 Human Chromosome X sequenced April 2005 Human Chromosome 2 4 sequenced Legal issues Patenting The whole issue of patenting the genome and the offshoots of the project caused an enormous furore in medical, scientific and pharmaceutical circles. The opposing ends of the spectrum argued that, on the one hand, the benefits of such a fundamentally important piece of work should be freely available for the human race in general and the scientific community in particular, to the other who believed that the money to be made by the commercial exploitation of the genome could be used to finance other related projects. (Nuffield 2002) The culmination of the argument was that the genome was fragmented and patented piecemeal. In order to fully understand the implications of this we must explore the workings of the patent system. In the UK, patents are issued by the Patent Office. Applications must be received within 18 months of the discovery (it is 3 years in the USA). Once granted, they remain in force for 20 years from the date of issue. In order to be considered suitable for a patent to be issued a product must generally satisfy four criteria, namely: Useful – the patent application must be accompanied by some practical application of the invention (whether it has actually been applied or has been proposed in a purely theoretical sense) Novel – it must be a new, or previously unknown entity. Non-obvious –it must be a significant modification that is not simply a minor adjustment made by someone with appropriate skill and training in that particular area Detailed – the item must be described in sufficient detail to allow person who has appropriate training in the field to use it for the purpose for which it was designed. This is often referred to as the â€Å"enablement criterion† ( after Cochran and Cox. 1997) The academic argument referred to earlier was intensified by the knowledge that raw products of nature are not generally patentable. Special provision had to be made by the agencies on both sides of the Atlantic to allow for patents to be issued for genetic material. The general guiding principal in issuing patents is that they are issued on a â€Å"first to invent† basis. Where a specific application is not immediately obvious (as is the case with many pharmaceutical and bio-tech products), provisional patents can be applied for and enforced for up to one year after either discovery or publication of the findings. This is a mechanism to allow for the full implications of the finding to be worked out and patented.(Nickols F 2004) In specific reference to our considerations here, we should note that with bio-tech discoveries in general and DNA patents in particular, coincident with the application for a patent, the applicant is required to deposit a sample of their discovery in any one of 26 designated biological culture repositories which are distributed throughout the world. (Bjorn tad DJ, et al. 2002) It is a reflection of both the scale and importance of this work to appreciate that to date, there have been over 3 million separate genome-related applications for patents received on file throughout the world. The legal ramifications of this process are huge. In the UK, USA and Japan (where the bulk of the applications for genome-related patents are filed) the system requires that the details of the applications are kept completely confidential until the full patent is finally issued. As we have discussed, this process can take up to a year. (Brown,2000) The corollary of this fact is that those scientists and companies who utilise the data ( which is available on the Internet) to evaluate clinical or pharmaceutical applications of gene sequences risk the issuing of a future injunction if it transpires that those particular sequences have been the subject of a previous patent application which has subsequently turned out to be successful. (Morris AH 2002) The 3 million genome related patents include the genes themselves, gene fragments, tests for specific genes, various proteins and stem cells. To satisfy the Patent Office the four tests set out above are specifically modified to accommodate genetic material thus: (1) identify novel genetic sequences, (2) specify the sequences product, (3) specify how the product functions in nature i.e., its use (4) enable one skilled in the field to use the sequence for its stated purpose (after Caulfield 2003) Even this is not completely sufficient for the current needs of science. If we take the example of gene fragments. Their function is often not known although their structure almost invariably is. The practical applications can be extremely vague. A quoted utility of a gene fragment has been cited as â€Å"providing a scientific probe to help find another gene†. Clearly it could cause substantial practical difficulties if a patent were to be issued on such a basis, and the subsequent usage was found to be substantially different, it would not invalidate the patent. The significance of this can be fully appreciated if we consider that the typical gene fragment, comprising about 500 bases (known as expressed sequence tags or ESTs) actually represent typically about20-30% of the active chromosomal genetic material, the full chromosome may be about 40-60 times larger than this. The active chromosomal genetic material is often referred to as canal and typically only contains its information-rich (or exon) regions. The scientific importance of these gene segments are that they represent very useful tools for research as they can duplicate the actions of genes, can be synthesised in the laboratory, and remove the need for scientists to manipulate the entire gene. (HUGO 2000) It can therefore be clearly be appreciated that such gene fragments are very useful tools in genetic research and the granting of patents touch entities has sparked off another major controversy in the scientific community. There have been major representations to the various Patent Offices throughout the world not to grant such patents to these universally important entities to applicants who have neither determined the base sequence of the genes nor yet determined their function and possible uses. As a result of this, the UK and USA Patent Offices decided to issue more stringent guidelines (effective as from 2001) which required that an application for patent of a gene fragment must now specifically state how the fragment functions before a patent can be issued. The wording is specific and substantial utility that is credible, but is still considered by many to be too indeterminate. (Thompson 1992) The basis behind the objections stem from the two main arguments already put forward. Firstly the patenting of such a â€Å"bottleneck or gatekeeper† product can seriously hinder the eventual development or even the characterisation of more complex molecules. Secondly, scientists are obviously wary of utilising such entities because of the possible financial constraints and penalties that would be imposed if the particular entity that they were using subsequently was found to bathe subject of a provisional (and therefore initially secret) patent application. In essence the patent of the gene fragment could be taken out after a comparatively small amount of scientific work and exert totally disproportionate control over the possible commercial and scientific development of more advanced genome research. (Schwarz D teal 1997), There are also less obvious, but very practical, implications to this type of patenting. Let us consider the situation where patents have been separately applied for, and granted to gene fragments, the gene and various proteins that the gene expresses. Any scientist wishing to-do research in that area has not only to pay the various license holders for permission to use their patented entity, but there are also hidden costs in the research necessary to determine where (and whether)the patents have been granted. (Short ell SM et al 1998), Not all research has been hampered or driven by the restrictive practices that the issuing of patents inevitably promotes. Let us consider the case of the Welcome Foundation who, in collaboration with ten other smaller pharmaceutical concerns, agreed to form a non-profitmaking consortium whose stated goal was to find and map out an initial300,000 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). To date they have discovered nearly 2 million. In a truly philanthropic gesture they generated a publicly available SNP map of the human genome in which they patented every SNP found solely for the purpose of preventing others from making financial profit from them and making the information available to the public domain. The SNP is a single variation in the base sequence in the genome and they are found, on average, about one in every 500 base units. It can occur in an active or in a non-coding region. The effect will clearly vary depending upon the actual site of the variation but they are believed to be a fundamental cause of genetic variation which could give researchers important clues into the genetic basis of disease process or variations in responsiveness to pharmaceuticals. (Russell SJ1997) In addition it is believed that SNPs are responsible for variations in the way that humans respond to a multitude of potential pathogens and toxins. The SNP is therefore an invaluable tool in the research behind multifactorial disease process where complex environmental and genetic interactions are responsible for the overall phenotypic expression of the clinical disease state. (Santis,G et al 1994). We have referred in passing to the arguments that are currently raging relating to the issues on patenting genetic material. We should therefore consider the question of why patent at all? Would we be better off if the patent offices did not accept patents of genetic material? On first examination of the situation one might think that scientific investigation, in general terms, might proceed faster if all scientists had unlimited and free access to all information in the public domain. More careful consideration suggests however, the laws relating to intellectual property are built on the assumption that unless ownership and commercial profits can be reasonably secure (by means such as patents) few organisations would be willing to make the substantial investment that is typically necessary for development and research. The reasoning behind the mechanism of patenting intellectual property is therefore the marrying together of the need to secure a potential income from one’s work with the ability to allow the transparency of full publication of one’s discoveries which will therefore allow others to consider and utilise the information in their own research. (Berwick. 1996) Consideration of this point will suggest that the only other effective means of safeguarding the costs of one’s research would be total secrecy which clearly would not be in the general interest of the scientific community. If we add to the general thrust of this argument, the fact that, in general terms, the costs of development(post-invention) far outweigh the costs of research (pre-invention) we can see the economic sense in allowing innovative research-based firms the financial security of development by preserving the profit incentives by means of the Patent. (DGP 2002) In general terms we could view the patent mechanism as a positive development.(McGregor D 1965). Perhaps it is the breadth and number of the patents allowed in the field of genomic research that is the prime cause of unease in the scientific community. Special cases The arguments presented above can be broadened further if one of the natural extensions of the human genome project is the research into the possibility of cloning. We will not consider the (currently totally illegal) possibility of human cloning per se, but the therapeutic embryo cloning for the purposes of harvesting human stem cells. Such cells have immense potential for the study and therapy of a great number of disease process. As such they have enormous value as both intellectual and commercial property. The background to our discussion here includes consideration of the fact that courts in both the UK and the USA (Diamond v. Chakrabarty1980) have set precedents that single celled organisms (genetically modified bacteria) were intrinsically patentable. Legal argument then followed and shortly after there were similar rulings in favour of the patentability of simian stem cells. It logically follows that human stem cells should be afforded the same legal protection. The problem arises then that such a move would offend other legal principles such as technical ownership of another human being.(PGA 2001) Clearly there are enormous, and some would say insurmountable, difficulties in this region. We present this point simply to illustrate the potential difficulties surrounding ownership of the human genome. Broader legal issues Matters relating to the legal implications arising from the human genome project already fill countless volumes and we do not propose to make an exhaustive examination of the subject. There are however, number of major issues that arise either directly or indirectly from this project. They are largely interlinked with major social and ethical considerations and society, as a whole, has looked to the law to provide authoritative answers to some of them. (Stripling R et al.1992) One of the major problems associated with the potential ability to decipher the human genome is what to do with the information that it gives us. The ability to â€Å"read genes† brings with it the ability to discriminate with increasing degrees of subtlety. Discrimination is inevitably linked (historically, at least) with varying degrees of injustice. Whether it is the more obvious forms of discrimination such as insurance loading on the basis of predisposition to disease traits or more insidious and pernicious scenarios such as the ability to discriminate by genetic association with various ethnic groups, the ability is there. Will it become acceptable to refuse a mortgage application on the grounds that a person has been found to have a genetic disposition towards gastric cancer? Could health insurance premiums be based on an interpretation of various aspects of one’s genome? Some lawyers have already voiced their concerns about the ability of the law to provide genetic defences where it may be possible to challenge prosecutions on the ability to undermine the ethical principle of the validity of individual responsibility. The concept of free-will may be legally challenged in the prospect of discovery of various genetic traits that may predispose the individual to any one oaf number of behaviour patterns such as antisocial or thrill-seeking behaviour or violence. (Laurie G 2004) We currently accept that some manifestations of the human genome are now routinely enshrined in virtually unchallengeable law. DNA identification in criminal law is commonplace and scarcely questioned. Paternity suits are settled on the basis of genetic make-up. It doesn’t take a quantum leap of intuition to appreciate that there may soon be potential negligence cases brought against physicians and the like who fail to warn patients against the possibility of developing the ever increasing number of disease processes that are thought to have a genetic predisposition or component. The converse of that dilemma is should we expect physicians to suppress information found by genetic testing if there is no known cure? It follows that if we do not then people could be condemned to live with the knowledge that they are statistically likely to develop any one oaf number of diseases that they may very well, in other circumstances, have chosen to live in ignorance of. (Hyde, SC et al. 1993) Such cases have already surfaced, unsurprisingly in the USA. The estate of a colonic cancer victim unsuccessfully tried to sue a physician who failed to warn him about a genetic predisposition to colonic cancer from which he subsequently died. (Safer v Estate of Peck 1996) Some measures have been taken to try to protect exploitation of the genetic status of individuals where it is known. In the USA, some 16states have enacted laws to prevent both health and other insurance companies from using any form of genetic information to load premiums or to refuse cover. The initial reaction to these moves was one of delight, but it soon became clear that this was only of any potential value when the individual was asymptomatic. There was no bar to premium levels once the symptoms became apparent. To some extent, although the same level of legal prohibition does not apply in the UK, there is little difference. In this country, insurance companies will still load premiums or refuse cover once symptoms are apparent. (Rothstein MR1999) Social and medical considerations As we have implied earlier in this piece, the fundamental nature and importance of the human genome project to humanity as a whole means that its impact has great implications for the fields of law, ethics and social considerations. This is hardly surprising as, at the most basic level, all these three considerations are inextricably linked. Many of the social implications are also tied up with medical considerations and therefore we shall consider both of these elements together. Humans, as a race, have about 3 million pairs of bases that determine their genetic identity. Interpersonal differences between individual humans however, are determined by only one tenth of one present of our collective DNA. These three million base pairs are ultimately responsible for the physical and perhaps behavioural diversity that we observe in our species. (Erickson 1993) It is in the nature of inheritance that this variation has accumulated across the generations by small mutations or variations in the base sequences. These small differences are ultimately responsible for all human diversity including many overt disease process and predisposition or resistance to others. It is clearly important where these mutations take place as some have no functional effect, others may confer some form of advantage or benefit (and thereby the motive factor behind the evolutionary processes) others may cause disease or even be incompatible with life.(Griesenbach U et al 2002), It can be argued that all disease process have at least a genetic component. It can be completely due to a genetic malfunction such as the defect in the single gene for the cystic fibrosis transmembraneconductance regulator (CFTR) which results in an abnormal expression of one protein (the protein is still expressed, but due to one amino acid irregularity it folds in a different way) which results in the clinical situation of cystic fibrosis. (Piteous DJ et al 1997). Equally it may be due to a variation in the genetic code that modifies how the immune system responds to a particular pathogen (Yoshimura, K et al. 1992). As we understand how our genome influences literally every aspect of our health we will inevitably discover more ways to combat and tackle the diseases of mankind. Before we move on to discuss overtly social and ethical considerations we should logically extend the appraisal and examination of the medical issues, as they have a pronounced bearing on these other areas. With the advent of a greater understanding of the human genome and the cellular mechanisms of regulation and disease comes the prospect of gene therapy. On the one hand, the potential benefits for the sufferers of single gene mutation syndromes such as Tay Asch’s disease and Sickle Cell Anaemia are clear and undisputed, and yet the same technology has enormous social and ethical ramifications. There are thought to be about 4,000 single gene defect syndromes known to medical science at present (Termite, S et al 1998). These are the prime targets for the gene therapy researchers There are also an enormous number of more complex, but still primarily genetically determined disease process, such as Alzheimers Disease and schizophrenia, together with the commoner Diabetes Mellitus and hypertension variants which, although having a genetic component, are thought to be manifested after a period of interaction with environmental factors. It is quite possible that the techniques of gene therapy could ultimately be applied to these conditions as well.(Sikorski R et al 1998), Social and medical benefits The advent of understanding of gene function leads to other developments in the fields of both diagnostics and possibly preventative medicine. There is already considerable debate in pharmaceutical circles about the ability of researchers to utilise genetic information to make predictive assumptions about the ability of individuals to metabolise drugs. (Sailor R et al. 1998).One of the big problems with pharmacology is that, although a normal response to a particular drug can be predicted reasonably accurately, there are variations in genetic make-up which cause marked differences in threat of metabolism and excretion of some drugs. In many cases, these differences are of minor clinical importance, but in anaesthetic and cytotoxic drugs, the differences can be lethal. (Wriggle DJ 2004). As extension of this thread of argument is that it is known that some malignancies will respond well to some cytotoxic agents while others will show no response at all. The point behind these comments is that there are considerable efforts in the pharmaceutical industry to identify the particular regions of the genome which are ultimately responsible for these differences. If they can be found it follows that they may either be capable of modification (by gene therapy or other mechanism) or their effect can be measured so that the dose (or even the type) of medication can be adjusted with far more confidence in the knowledge of the likely pharmacodynamics of that individual patient.(Spindle et al 2002). It is the ultimate hope and goal of these efforts that the pharmaceutical industry will ultimately be able to speed up the process of drug development, make the drugs faster and more effective while dramatically reducing the number of adverse drug reactions observed. Social and medical difficulties Gene tests are currently in the process of being developed as a direct result of the human genome project. Some are already commercially available. the social implications here are huge. Quite apart from the medical implications of being able to predict the likelihood of possibly developing certain disease processes, there are legal and social applications as well. Courts have been presented with the results of gene tests in cases as diverse as medical malpractice, privacy violations, criminal cases and even child custody battles.(Diamond. B. 2001) The immediate difficulty in this area is, firstly that there is insufficient knowledge to be able to interpret the results of the gene tests with 100% accuracy. This, when combined with the knowledge that many of the conditions that currently can be tested for have no known or successful treatment, leads to enormous social and ethical dilemmas. While it may be considered quite reasonable to tell a person that they are carrying a defective gene for cystic fibrosis ( as a carrier state, rather than a symptomatic individual) and thereby allow them to make positive decisions with regard to whether they choose to run the risk of passing that particular gene on to future generations. Is it reasonable to tell someone in their 20s that they are likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease in their 60s? How will that knowledge impinge upon their approach to life? (Douglas C 2002) Equally how will such knowledge affect the eventual application and acceptance of health insurance policies which are currently worked out on Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers 1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of the Research According to the philosophical bases of marketing customer wants satisfaction. As the consumer is the key for a firm, the voter is the central element for a government or party (Lock and Harri,1996).In this context the citizen voter wants satisfaction and searching his satisfaction from the services that are offered to him is ‘‘ a lens through which government and public managers can gain a better perspective on how citizens respond to the performance of public services, (Van Ryzin , 2004) and offers important findings for the policy makers. Citizen satisfaction surveys are frequently used by U.S. local governments and public administration researchers in order to measure the quality of local government services (Hatry et al., 1992; Miller and Kobayashi, 2000). A big number of U.S. cities use surveys regularly (New York , San Francisco, Phoenix etc.),in order to analyze in a descriptive and unvaried way , the level of perceived quality of services ,within a locality and over time (Van Ryzin et al., 2004). Recent studies have compared citizen satisfaction with benchmarks that were developed from data collected across many localities (Miller and Miller 1991; Miller and Kobayashi 2000), and have focused on the individual, jurisdictional, and city-specific determinants of citizen ratings of service quality (De Hoog, Lowery, and Lyons 1990; Hero and Durand 1985),like taxes and expenditure ,and also on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents such as race (Schuman and Gruenberg, 1972). Other investigations have negotiated the citizen satisfaction from the police according to their ethnoracial characteristics (Brad W. S. 2005), or satisfaction from the education system or from hospitals (Amyx,Bristow ,2001, Suda Anita D.,1998). The importance of the public services quality became popular in the United Kingdom at 1990s when the political parties put an emphasis on the subject ,but even in our days the need for quality services that meet â€Å"customer† citizens needs and expectations, is more and more obvious .This need for quality public services is even expressed by the European Social Fund, as the implementation of the strategy and policies of the European Committee at Member States ,is strongly related with the public service organizations, which many of them are responsible for (ESF,2009). And although, in the marketing research exist a number of well-developed models of approaching customer satisfaction, there has been little development of a model that would test citizens satisfaction. As a result, it would be valuable to test such a model in the framework of Greek public services. 1.2 The Research Objectives The overall objective of this research is to examine the Greek citizens perceptions and expectations of service quality concerning the Citizen Service Centres (KEP) -a Greek public service based on servqual model. From this overall objective a number of more specific aims can be identified: Investigate consumer expectations towards the service offered from public services Examine citizen perceptions about Citizen Service Centres(KEP) Asses the factors that play an important role in the service quality of Citizen Service Centres (KEP) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Politics and the marketing concept It has often been argued that the application of ‘marketing tools and instruments in politics is nothing new (Perloff, 1999; Baines and Egan, 2001).In the last twenty-five years what have changed about the political marketing is not just the size of political marketing management but also the belief that political actors act and think in political terms. Political actors are them that they try to do marketing management in a frame of integration of marketing instruments in a coherent marketing strategy (Newman, 1994a; Dermody and Scullion, 2001). It is supposed that the selling of politicians and the selling of a product is linked (OShaughnessy, 2001) and that commercial and political contexts are essentially similar (Kotler, 1999). Many marketers believe that the tools and concepts of marketing can be transferred directly to the political arena (Lock and Harris ,1996) .The applications of political marketing are used as a tool of managing politics, developing policy (Nimmo, 1999), or even governing (OShaughnessy, 2003). The marketing concept in commercial terms is based on the principle that all company planning and operations will be customer oriented. As such the philosophical basis of the marketing concept is that customer want satisfaction (OCass, 1996). When a political party or candidate applies this concept to the political process, they must be in a position to adapt to and satisfy voters needs (Mauser, 1983; Newman and Sheth, 1987; Reid, 1988). For major mainstream parties, the overriding objective is to attract voters, win elections and hold power (Lock and Harris, 1996).In this extent knowing the degree of satisfaction of citizens seems to be important. 2.2 Citizen Citizen is every person of a state that has the citizenship of it (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). According the place and the time different criteria were used to define the citizen .The genealogical criterion, which is the oldest, the legal criterion and the economic (taxation) criterion .According to the first, citizen is the son of citizen that hasnt lost his rights. This definition was used in the ancient cities in order to distinguish the mass from the public. According to the second criterion citizen is each one that is recognized like that from the law. And finally, according to the last , citizen is each one that owns property or a quantity of goods and contributes to the governmental budget (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica, 1992).Citizens have some rights and obligations .Their rights are political such as the right to vote, to be member of the jury or public servant , and personal such as the right to live ,to have free speech , to work, to live in freedom ,etc . ,that are protected from the state and are given to everyone. Citizens obligations such as taxation are set in order to protect the privileges that are offered to citizens from the government and they emerge from the need of the States existence (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). One of the governmental works is the provision of goods and services. All the modern governments take part directly to the economy by providing goods and services , organising industrial enterprises I promoting economic activities .Providing sanitary, education, and social insurance services , is one of the modern states concerns (Heinz Eulau ,1992). 2.3 Citizens as Customers, Customers as Citizens The classic definition of customer is â€Å"one who purchases or receives a product or service† (Carlson, 1997). The concept of customer is often more complicated in the public sector. For example, the city of Coral Springs in Florida, refined the idea by considering two distinct categories of external customers. Moreover, a building permit applicant is a direct customer while the applicants neighbors are among the indirect customers who will benefit if the decision helps to ensure a safer city and more appropriate land use and construction practices. But even with these refinements, â€Å"citizen† sometimes has a broader meaning. Citizens enjoy rights and take on responsibilities that extend well beyond those commonly recognized to customers (Popovich, 1999). Despite the passage of generations, the fact that government cannot succeed without the peoples trust and support, is a true even today. These essential elements of civil society shape the capacity and help determine the actual performance of government. Societys efforts to accomplish its highest priority and most practical goals are likely to fall short in the absence of the peoples agreement in the functions of government. As the customer is the key for a firm, the citizen -voter is the central element for a government. 2.4 Public services A service is a non material product (education, health safety etc).The meaning of public services isnt constrained in the area of Public and Αdministrative law .The public service is a known significance in the economy, as an appropriate tool of the states expansion in the social relations, for the preservation of stabilized provisions for the welfare state. Beyond the needs of the of practical policy, the interest of the political science with the expansions of the political philosophy is expressed , as the public service is characterized as the expansion of the state in its social activity . In other words , it is the way by which the state contacts the citizens in order to cover their direct needs .After the two World Wars this phenomenon is observed in the European area .In Germany , this works as ‘‘Anstalten (institutions) and the ‘‘ offentlichen Unternehmungen (public enterprises) . The administration (the welfare state) undertakes and guarantees ben efits even for the preservation of life of human who live massively in big cities such as transportation ,cleanliness , water , electricity etc. ÃŽ ¤he principles of function of the public services are connected with the needs and social aims that are tended to fulfil. Therefore, services are provided to everyone in the same way in order to cover the needs, under conditions that change from time to time (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica ,1992 ). According to the Europa Glossary that is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon ,the concept of public service is >. At the same time the Europa Glossary defines that continuity of service quality security of supply equal access affordable prices social , cultural and environmental acceptability Article 16 of the EC Treaty, introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, confirms the role of public services in the European Union. The EU policy on operators of public services is still shaped by the desire to liberalise network public services and to widen the scope of competition on national markets, be this, in the areas of rail transport, postal services, energy or telecommunications>>. 2.5 Citizen Service Centres (KEP) The institution of KEP was founded in 2002, based on an idea of the Deputy Minister Mr Beno. The KEP were founded according to the article 31 of law 3013/2002 and were staffed with short term labour agreement workers, according to the processes of article 6 of law 2527/1997. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), over 60.000 of citizens visit every day Citizen Service Centres (KEP) for certified or not processes, ratifications of registrations, certifications of genuine signature and every kind of administrative information. The last three years 40 new KEP were founded and now they are 1035 at their total. The centres are open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00, and Saturday, 8:00 to 14:00. At Citizen Service Centres (KEP) citizens can:  · obtain information on what they need to do in order to manage their transactions with the municipality * submit applications for the processing of matters that involve the City that the KEP is registered and state agencies in accordance with joint decisions issued by the Interior Minister or other competent Minister >(City of Athens ,2007). Some of the procedures (about 1.014 at total) that Citizens can carry out at Citizen Service Centres are the following:  · The registration or transfer of registration of a passenger vehicle or motorcycle  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate  · The issuance of a criminal record duplicate for general or legal use  · The issuance of a marital status certificate  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate for those registered with the City of Athens  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organisation beneficiaries (former recipients)  · The issuance of a registry birth certificate duplicate for an adult or minor  · The issuance of a public transport pass for individuals with disabilities  · The application for the seasonal unemployment benefit in accordance with Article 22 of Law 1836/89 OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organisation)  · The issuance of a marital status certificate for individuals registered with the City of Athens (online)  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organization beneficiaries (new recipients)  · The issuance of a marriage license duplicate  · The application for the OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organization) family subsidy  · The issuance of a drivers license  · The issuance of a Type A military status certificate (full)  · The renewal of a drivers license  · The issuance of a registry death certificate duplicate  · The application for change in passenger vehicle or motorcycle ownership  · The issuance of a permanent residence certificate  · The issuance of a judicial interdiction certificate See Appendix 1 Progressively KEP were transformed to Centres of Completed Transactions, bringing the Public Administration more near to citizen. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), citizens trust KEP and are in general satisfied from them. Nowadays they have permanent staff which possesses about 2588 positions. The number of affairs that KEP handled the last years is presented at the table below: PERIOD NUMBER OF AFFAIRS SERVED CITIZENS 2006 3.042.509 1.154.554 2005 2.305.195 1.527.516 2004 1.643.313 1.316.505 2003 423.759 356.872 Medium number of affairs per day from Monday to Friday: 11.805 Medium number of affairs per day (Saturday): 821 According to the Ministry KEP are recognizable from about the 80% of citizens. Equally big are the visits to them that they exceed 60%, since they were enriched with new, more attractive for the citizen processes. But more interesting are the numbers linked with the subject of satisfaction of citizens, which according to the ministry exceeds the 90%. The problems that the Public Administration was facing when KEP were created were multiple. The most serious of them were the bad organization and the centralism of public services, lack of confidence in the government owned services, lack of evaluation, lack of meritocracy, weakening of ASEP, fragmentary, and consequently unsuccessful, efforts of application of Electronic Governing, absence of controls and sanctions and finally inflation of bureaucracy and corruptness. For this reason in 2007 a number of regulations of the article 15 of the law for Citizen Service Centres (KEP) were introduced, in order to fight the difficulties and dysfunctions of citizens service (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2007). Some of the regulations were the following:  · The foundation of the Direction of Organization and Operation of KEP in the General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing. The Direction was founded in order to guarantee the proper operation of KEP, but also their evolution in Centres of Completed Administrative Transactions, and the resolution of problems that emerges, because of their big number, the crowd of subjects and processes that they realize and the recent enlargement of their competences. The monitoring and the co-ordination of the operation of KEP is practiced , up today, at fragmentary way from the existing Direction of General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing, fact which creates difficulties as far as it concerns the united confrontation of problems.  · The regulation of subjects of mobility of permanent personnel. The employees will stay in the KEP of their placement, for at least a five-year period, so that the experience, which has been acquired in the particular KEP, not to get lost.  · The simplification and acceleration of processes  · The restriction of joint responsibilities between the Ministries. It is indicatively reported that Minister of Internal Affairs does not act jointly in more than 25 different regulatory actions  · The obligatory deadline of 50 days for the transaction of the affairs of citizens  · The payment of complete compensation in the citizen in case of delay  · The self appointed search of supporting documents from the service on behalf of the citizen. 208 certificates can be requested from the service without the citizens presence, for 18 of them the self appointed search is obligatory. Indicative is the progress that took place in the case of self appointed search of certificates of birth from KEP, where, while in 2005 they had 231.327 certificates and medium time of transaction the 8 days, in the end of 2006 the transaction reached 432.188 certificates, that is to say almost double, with medium time of transaction the 5 days. Same is the acceleration as far as it concerns the certificates of familial situation, where while in 2005 were published 253.071 certificates, in 2006 until 2007, 373.219 certificates have been published  · The suppression of submission of supporting documents and their replacement with a personal declaration form for 7 cases  · The videoconference of administrative bodies  · The generalization of electronic communication and exchange of documents between the services. The network â€Å"SIZEFKSIS† ensures 50.000 digital certificates (under form of card) in civil servants equal in number. With this way is provided the possibility of electronic distribution of document, with simultaneous place of signature on this, with electronic way, without a problem of genuineness, after the distribution becomes from the above permitted employees with the use of digital certificate of (card). This electronic distribution involves big acceleration of process of publication and mission of document and contributes considerably in the fighting of bureaucracy.  · The application of a plan of restriction of state expenses and the enlarged public sector, by reforming the public services, so that they become more functional and effective  · The promotion of a regulatory reform, with the establishment of rules of good legislation as well as a system of evaluation of the results of legislative regulations in the competitiveness and the entrepreneurship The City of Athens operates a total of seven (7) Citizen Service Centres (KEP), one in each City District. Citizen Service Centres provide an online service for Athens citizens with regards the following: * City of Athens municipal roll certificates * Permanent residence certificates * Certification TAP property fee payment (in cases where agreement exists on the number of square metres registered with the Public Power Corporation and the contract of purchase) The Citizens Helpline 1595 provides information on documents required for all procedures processed by Citizen Service Centres. 2.6 Service marketing Usually marketing had been seen as having dual dimension.On the one hand, there is the notion which supports that the existence of an organization in economical and social content is based on the satisfaction of customer needs and wants, and on the other hand there is the â€Å" set of activities † which serve this philosophy in order to be implemented (CromptonLamb,1986). The marketing of services is a sector with particular characteristics .The expenditure on services is growing in most industrialized economies. According to the European Commission , â€Å"the percentage share of gross domestic product attributable to the services sector rose from 38 per cent in 1970 to almost 50 percent by 1990†. Crowell supports that â€Å"what is significant about services is the relative dominance of intangible attributes in the make up of the service product†. Services as a special kind of product usually they do not result in ownership but they can be linked to a physical good require special treatment. According to Jobber, as many offerings may combine tangible and intangible characteristics the distinction between them is >. For example, a marketing research study provides a physical good, which is the report that comes out, but also is the result of a number of service activities such as interviews with respondents, analysis of results, designing of the research, etc. Products such as a skirt or a pair of socks usually are not accompanied by a service so they can be characterised as pure goods, but also a visit to a doctor or psychotherapy can be regarded as a pure service as there is nothing tangible that the client receives. 2.6.1 THE NATURE OF SERVICES Service characteristics can be summarised to the following four: intangibility, variability, perishability and inseparability. 2.6.1.1 Intangibility As intangibility can be characterised the fact that services cant be smelled, touched, tasted or seen. Service is â€Å"a deed, performance or effort and not an object device or thing† (Berry, 1980). In other words customer cant evaluate a service before buying it and sometimes cant evaluate it even after consuming it. For this reason the challenge for the service providers is to prove the quality of the service by communicating tangible benefits to consumers. Another characteristic of intangibility is the fact that the service cant be owned so customers pay for the use of product or the performance. 2.6.1.2 Variability The provision of service quality may vary depending to the person who provides it. In other words important factors are the capabilities the person has, his physical and mental situation (tiredness, attitude etc.) the location the service is provided .So, in order to control quality variation , methods such as evaluation systems , tight quality controls and service standardization methods are necessary (Jobber,2004). 2.6.1.3 Inseparability In contrast with physical goods services cant be stored in order to be used later. Services are characterised by the â€Å"simultaneous production and consumption.† Because of this characteristic service providers role is very important to the satisfaction of consumer, as many times he is supposed to be himself the company in the eyes of customer (Berry, 1980). For this reason â€Å"the importance of service provider is an integral part of the satisfaction gained by the consumer†. The behaviour of the service provider is also important for the experience that the customer has for the provided service .So, great importance must be given to the training and rewarding of the staff and its selection (Aijo,1996). Another element that is connected to inseparability is the fact that the customer may experience the service in combination with other customers because of the nature of the service and the place it is offered. At this case marketing managers should take into consideration the role of customer interactions between them, but also the inter customer conflicts and nuisance (Barron et al., 1996). 2.6.1.4 Perishability Unlike the physical goods, services cant be stored in order to be used in the future or at peak times. So service providers should take into consideration the combination of demand and supply and use methods such as multi-skilling of the staff in order to be used at peak seasons or part time employees, supply flexibility, differential pricing and reservation system in order to minimize time waiting (Jobber, 2004). Today one of the greater challenges that the sector of services has to face is the increasing competition in combination with the growing expectations of customers and the developing demands of customers as service improves (Joseph Walker, 1988). 2.6.2 SERVICE MARKETING MIX Models had to explain the relationship between the market and the organisation in order to maximize the seconds performance (Gronrooss C, 1982). To certain extent managing services are more complicated than managing products, as products can be standardised. The standardisation of a service is far more difficult as there are more input factors i.e. process, people, physical evidence, to manage than with a product. The service marketing mix consists of the 7Ps model. These include except from the classical 4 Ps that stands for: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, three more Ps which are People, Process and Physical evidence. 2.6.2.1 People People participate and deliver the service experience, the efficiency and effectiveness, the availability and capability, the customer interaction and the internal marketing. Any provision of service includes as an essential part the use of appropriate staff and people. In order to gain an organisation competitive advantage it is important that it recruits the right staff that is well trained in the delivery of service. Usually consumers perceptions and judgements are affected by the employees they interact with. Consumers wait from the staff to have the appropriate attitude, service knowledge and interpersonal skills that they are paying for. So many organisations train their staff to certain standards. Physical Evidence Physical evidence concerns the place where the service is delivered, infrastructure, facilities, surroundings, essential evidence and peripheral evidence ,equipment and premises. It is an element of the service mix that contributes to the formation of the opinion of the consumer about the organization .So the judgments and the perceptions of the consumers are formed by the sight of the service provision .For example if you walk in an office you expect a friendly environment neat and tie. Process The systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service, constitute the process. So process refers to the operating process that takes the customer through ,from the initial contact till the service experience and evaluation , database management, service delivery, queuing systems, ordering ,standardization .The customer usually expects efficiency and quickness at the process of the service delivery and this fosters consumers loyalty and confidence in the organization. 2.6.3 Quality Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers, because quality products or services can and will secure consumers business. In addition, linking quality with expensive spending is not absolute, as price will not determine always quality. The high or low quality of a product or service is usually determined, â€Å"by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded† (Kotler P. et al, 2008). Quality was very popular in the marketing literature,  « where the notion of satisfying the customer was a dominant model of quality of service provided and consumer satisfaction  » (Raftopoulos V., 2005). The US Strategic Planning Institute in 1972 developed the concept of relative perceived quality (RPQ),  «that is the perception of quality as defined by customers, relative to the offerings of competitors. In other words quality is what a customer perceives it to be and this is a dynamic and complex notion.  » 2.6.3.1 Public service quality The need for quality public services is also expressed by the European Commission through the European Social Fund in its program for 2007-2013.The reason is that the quality of public services affects the implementation of policies and the strategy design as public sector organizations are responsible for them at a big degree at the Member States ,e.g. government ministries , local authority departments and special agencies (ESF,2009). The fact of how important is the quality of public services and the need to be improved, became popular, in Britain, at 1990s when the Government gave clear > on the subject, by the proposal of the Conservative Prime Minister John Major enclosed in his Citizens Charter White Paper (Prime Minister, 1991). The issue faced great consensus from the political parties as the same year both Liberal and Labour parties published their own citizen charter proposals. The citizen driven improvement of the quality of public services was a fact (Black et al., 1994). This policy which faced the citizen as user and needed the reporting of performance from the service providers was continued for a long period it was enriched with best value new policies and was popular as>.According to this concept public services is better to be managed than administrated (Black et al.,2001). At the same time another reason that public service quality is important is that the needs and expectations of the users change and increase. Service quality and how to measure it developed to be a critical issue ,so during the 1990s performance measurement techniques developed as a result of >such as government legislation ,regulatory activity by industry keepers and major policy initiatives, as Black St. et al. , characterize them, and not as a result of the needs of the service provider. Meanwhile , all the efforts of understanding and measuring public service quality where characterized as weak and an increasing interest for quality improvement models techniques , certification and awards developed .So a number of new significances appeared such as total quality management and continuous improvement, process mapping techniques, Institution Standards and Charters. The revolution of the commercial service sector that took place the previous decades influenced also public sector organizations that faced the need to provide quality services that meet ‘customer needs and expectations. As Wisniewski remarks, > (Wisniewski, 2001). The notion of treating the customers has started to change as they dont receive passively uniform services without their voice or influence being considered (Skelcher, 1992). At the opposite side, the adoption of traditional methods may lead to the delivery of a service distant from customer needs. So organizations many times, after a more profound search, discover that the needs and values of customers are different from what they assume before searching (Farquhar C.R. ,1993). In order to discover customer perceptions and collect data concerning the attitudes o