Case study#1 Julia Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

#1 Julia - Case Study Example She then receives negative comments the following year on issues of being unfriendly and absenteeism in some faculty meetings. She is even interrupted in her conversations or ignored completely (Szybinski & Jordan, 2010, p. 4-6 & L. 1-99). Julia’s situation has to do with her positive attitude towards her new job, something that is not tradition in the department. Most of the faculty members are not motivated to apply for grants or get involved in research with students but Julia wants to make a difference. This is in accordance with the academic duty of a professor. This makes her colleagues feel like she is trying too hard to make an impression. The senior faculty then decides to put her down by ignoring her and giving negative feedback during review. They see her as unfriendly because she doesn’t exchange pleasantries with colleagues. She looks like she is alienating herself from the rest of the faculty members by no attending some meetings. Her situation is made worse when she does not involve herself with office gossip. This makes the seniors feel like she is being intimidating and rebellious (Cariaga-Lo, et al, 2010, P.19-22 & L. 1-98). Julia’s colleagues refuse to vote for her tenure because as they stated, she does not relate well with her colleagues. This however is much deeper than that. Considering that she has the best skills in research and worked for the benefit of the department, the seniors did not take this positively. The faculty feels that they are being undermined by a junior staff. They alienate her and use it against her during evaluation. Julia makes the situation worse when she decides to take matters in her own hands. She ignores her colleagues completely by closing her office door and only opening it during office hours. She makes it even worse when she decides to discuss her colleagues with other faculty members from other departments instead of taking her concerns to the department chair. This is

EU Structural Funds Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

EU Structural Funds - Essay Example Indeed, this approach towards collective growth broadly forms the guideline for the distribution of the Funds; especially during the current budgetary cycle (DNSRF 2006, p. 7, 9). The Structural Funds are split into the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) (DNSRF 2006, p. 7, 10), based on the kind of activities they foster - while they are distributed based on 'Objectives'. Objectives are the eligibility criteria drafted by the EU which determine the volume of investment aid that can be assigned to a region. The areas that are eligible for investment aid are identified by the Member States based on the EU's Regional State Aid Guidelines (DNSRF 2006, p. 6, 7). The 2000-2006 programme had three Objectives, namely, Objective 1, Objective 2 and Objective 3, and also a few Community Initiatives like 'Interreg'. The 2007-2013 perspective has three Objectives again, but has the following changes: the Convergence Objective (which replaces Objective 1), to develop those regions with a GDP per Capita below seventy-five percent of the EU average; the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective (which replaces Objectives 2 and 3), to support the more prosperous regions; and the Cooperation Objective (which replaces 'Interreg'), to foster cross-border and trans-national cooperation (DNSRF 2006, p. 7, 11). ... DF activities include developing infrastructure and environmental sustainability, improving accessibility and connectivity, promoting community regeneration and rural development, promoting and encouraging enterprise, increasing investment in research and development and improving favourable business environment. ESF activities include increasing - and tackling barriers to - employment, improving skills levels of the local workforce, progressing people into sustained employment and progressing people to better-quality and better-paid jobs (DNSRF 2006, pp. 35-36, 44-48). National Strategic Reference Framework Each Member State is required to draw up an Assisted Areas Map based on the EU's Regional State Aid Guidelines which establishes the areas that are eligible for investment aid. These areas are provided aid either by the Member State or through the Structural Funds (DNSRF 2006, p. 6, 7). The EU does not fund all the projects of its Member States. It requires them to draw up a National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) which not only acts as a reference instrument for the provision of Structural Funds but also ensures that the "Structural Funds spending is consistent with the Community Strategic Guidelines and the Member State's National Reform Programme (NRP) for delivering the Lisbon Agenda." (DNSRF 2006, p. 9, 18). The NSRF includes an "analysis of the Member State's economic strengths and weaknesses and [specifies] the strategy chosen for the [three Objectives] (DNSRF 2006, p. 9, 19). The NSRF thus becomes a key instrument upon which the EU depends, for the distribution of its funds - specifically the Structural Funds. As it needs to illustrate a Member State's strengths and weaknesses, the NSRF contains data from the previous perspectives, thus leading

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

Evolution - Research Paper Example Natural selection refers to a process in which species compete and struggle for their survival according to the limited resources and conditions of their natural environment with different adaptive abilities. As individuals in a population are not the same due to difference in inherited characteristics, nature only selects those individuals that are best suited to the environmental conditions, and thus rest of the population dies over time (Starr et al., 2012, p. 263, 264, 265). As all the offspring in a population acquire characteristics from their ancestors, produced more than nature can support and have different reproductive characteristics, only those organisms will survive that are better adapted to the living conditions. This means that organisms with higher reproduction ability will survive due to higher probability of their descendants to survive, and others will eventually become extinct due to less survival rate of their offspring with the passage of time. Since environmen tal conditions are different from place to place, there will be variation in characteristics of species at different locations. Darwin concluded that populations extending over large areas or through migration might have been isolated resulting in variation of their characteristics according to varying environments. Over long periods of time, they may have diverged or evolved into different species. For instance, Darwin found that finches on the Galapagos Islands were more similar to each other than to finches of the mainland. He also noticed that some varieties were only existent on the archipelago islands. So, he proposed that all species might have descended from a common ancestor and increase in number of species occurred through evolutionary natural selection over time rather than special creation (Strickberger, 2005, p. 22, 23). Darwin and other naturalists believed that variations among individuals of a species were due to mixing of traits from both the male and female. He wa s not aware of the heredity mechanism and different traits were regarded to be the result of blending of characteristics through generations over time. However, the concept of blending inheritance failed to describe the survival of variety as they descended through generations with time. It also failed to describe the maintenance of specific characteristics in varieties and how new species would emerge through blending. It was 1866, when Gregor Mendel published his experimental findings on garden peas. To experiment with pure seeds, he selected a self pollinating plant. He experimented with garden peas that were different from each other in many characteristics such as their flowers were either red or white, had green or yellow seeds, and tall or dwarf. After cross-breeding generations having different characteristics, he observed that descendants from each cross possessed characteristics of only one of the parents and blending did not happen. Mendel concluded that instead of blendi ng of certain fluids, heredity from parents was passed on to offspring through independent discrete units, particles or factoren, which were later termed as genes. The characteristic that appeared in a descendant after cross breeding was termed