Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo Essay Example

Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo Essay Mr. Mark Diaz Bravo was on his normal duties as a nurse at the metropolitan State hospital in Los Angeles on 20 February, 1990, when a long time patient in the hospital informed a guard that she had been raped. The lady gave out some names of the people she deemed suspects during an interview with the hospital authorities. She included Bravo’s name as one of the most suspected people behind the attack. The following morning Bravo was arrested and charged with rape. He maintained that he was not involved in the crime since he left the hospital at around 11;00 am that morning and he had returned later in that afternoon after attending several meetings till 3:00 pm. He went ahead to assert that he even went home after that day’s work without knowledge of what had taken place that day. Although the defense attorney had asked for DNA testing to be carried out by the district attorney’s office on the items that were in the scene of the crime before the trial, the prosecution during the trial argued that there was no request for DNA testing before trial and he therefore asked the court to continue without the DNA tests. Eventually, the court convicted Bravo and subsequently sentenced him to eight years in prison. The only evidence brought forward by the prosecution was a blanket that was in the crime scene. It had some traces of male biological deposits with the blood found in only 3% of the people suspected, with Bravo included. False testifies by the analysis indicated that only 1.5 % of the male people possessed that blood type. This resulted to the jurors believing that there was double statistic probability than it was really thought to be initially. This piece of evidence was strengthened by the identification of the victim. The prosecution of the Bravo case based its argument on several issue; Bravo had been named by the victim as her assailant as well as the identification she made in the court during the trial; Mark Diaz bravo had made some misrepresentation of himself in his previous job applications as well as business cards; Bravo’s blood type was consistent to the blood tests that were performed on a blanket near the scene of crime We will write a custom essay sample on Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Wrongful Conviction of Mark Diaz Bravo specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Bravo’s efforts to make appeal all the way to the California Supreme Court were disaccorded. Later, the State Supreme Court denied chance of examining new evidence and subsequently upheld Bravo’s conviction. On October 1993, the case was sent back to the Los Angeles Supreme Court.   Post conviction motions were allowed and DNA testing was conducted. The testing was done on a blanket, sheet and a pair of panties which were taken from the scene of crime. On December 24, 1993, the results were released indicating that none of the stains were matching with the DNA profile of Bravo as well as the rape victim. Bravo’s advocate filed a writ of habeas corpus on January 4, 1994.Consequently Bravo’s conviction as the perpetrator was withdrawn followed by an order by the Supreme Court Judge on January 6, 1994 to have bravo released immediately. The judge stated that Mr. Bravo did not get a fair trail, that the victim had recanted her testimony and that the DNA test had proved irrefutable. The charges against Bravo were dropped consequently on January 7, 1994 and Bravo was released from prison after spending three years there of his sentence (James, 1996, p.564). This case of rape was certainly horrible for the victim and her family, but arresting and convicting the wrong person for the crime he did not commit makes him a victim too while the actual perpetuator is still walking free in the streets and perhaps continuing to terrorize other people with the same acts or more violent and serious crimes. The law enforcement   Ã‚  officers ought to have considered what the victim of the crime has to say, the events that happened to her, the approach made to the victim, what the perpetrator said, what weapons he had if any as well as the demeanor of the victim as she was talking about the crime; she was in shock state, or if she was cooking up the evidence. They ought to consider that the said perpetrator would spend his time in prison by their words. The law enforcement officers together with the prosecutors also have to understand that there are challenges as well as problems that usually prevail in the criminal justice system prior to fixing an ything (Cassell, 2004, p. 657). There are more than hundreds innocent defendants already serving their jail terms. Some reports have indicated that about 25 per cent of the innocent defendants in jail were convicted wrongly even prior to availability of forensic DNA typing. It is the obligation of the court and the entire criminal justice system to decide whether these people should continue being incarcerated or order the testing of DNA. If they are found innocent, then they should be set free and the actual perpetrators traced, prosecuted and hanged! To accomplish this law, there is the needs to cater for the law suits that are filed upon the criminal justice system for wrongful imprisonment and the establishment of law to cater for millions of dollars that are needed for DNA testing. This DNA technology can be utilized within the current legal framework in undoing previous injustices. This can be worked together to avoid wrongful conviction of the past as well as creating a new possible better system of convicti ng the current and future perpetrators of the crimes. Through out the Criminal justice system there are several cases of wrongful conviction just like Bravo’s with some convicts being exonerated from death row. Some jurors feel quite sure of guilt of they have declared the convict should be in prison. The lack of sufficient evidence, the misconduct as well as the illogical theory brought by the prosecution are suspicious of wrongful conviction and needs appellate intervention to throw out such kind of flawed conviction. The Criminal justice system is best perceived as an approach to search for fair justice. Its ruling posses direct impacts to the concerned as well as the trust of the public to the system. To make improvement on the efficiency of the system; the forensic utilization of DNA would become crucial in the search for such justice. DNA technology development assists prosecutors as well as the police in the war against crime. It helps prosecutors to conclusively find the defendant’s guilt. Just like figure prints, DNA evidence provides the prosecutors with crucial tools in identifying and apprehending some violent crime perpetrators especially in sexual assault cases. DNA assists in searching for facts by exonerating the innocent suspect. Some times the criminal justice system happens to be less infallible, with some cases in search for the truth taking a tortuous way. Some people who don’t plead guilty are convicted and subsequently sentenced to long term prison terms. The same people later on challenges their convictions by use of DNA tests on the prevailing evidence and end up gaining their freedom after serving some years in prison (Choo, 1993, p. 75). DNA profiling introduction has made some significant revolution in the criminal justice system. It has granted the police and courts a way of finding crime perpetrators with degree of confidence. Initially the only methods utilized analyzing genetic marker of the blood and other body fluids included the absorption-elution test, the lattes test and the absorption-inhibition test. ABO blood group substances and ABO iosantibidies were the only ones that could be detected in biological stain evidence. With time the system adopted the electrophoretic approach for typing polymorphic proteins that included esterase D, glyoxalase, phosphoglucomutase and hemoglobin. Although these methods had the capability of narrowing down the possible source of biological stain evidence, they usually did not give the result due to deterioration of the genetic marker and ended producing erroneous results. DNA have been used significantly to advance the biological stain evidence analysis including for some reasons such as; its molecule has more stability than polymorphic   proteins, it has more chances of exonerating wrongly accused suspects and that microbial degradation never results to wrong results. DNA profiling has even led to reopening and examining the old cases. Using this new technology, people convicted of murder as well as rape have had the chance to have their cases reopened and reexamined. A research study carried out by the institute of Law and Justice identified 28 cases where DNA testing resulted to exoneration of individuals initially convicted of rape as well as murder. DNA profiling has also been crucial in correcting injustice where the information initially was anecdotal. The DNA profiling research results ought to give strong arguments in assisting law enforcement agencies in creating DNA laboratories for testing. DNA profiling advent would go a long way in cubing miscarriages of justice. Mary suspects who are wrongly accused would be exonerated in the first stages of testing of physical evidence even before considering prosecution. In addition to all of these, DNA would require adequate legal counsel to make consultations with competent scientific experts. The DNA profiling should not be used selectively. There should be sufficient time to carry out the testing as well as dealing with the challenge of the cost of carrying out the test. It is important for the law enforcement agencies to see to it that all possibilities have the support of DNA testimony and jurors need being conscious of the information before making crucial decisions like guilty verdict (Pattenden, 1996, p. 98). There is also the need to allow relevant, reliable and qualitative expert opinion. The random match probability in DNA testing is quit remote if a reliable mutinous match is provided. The experts need to testify from their pervious experience if they have awareness of the random matches and if the if a certain sample of evidence matches another to a certain logical degree of scientific certainty. Since the DNA have more degree of certainty, it should be treated differently fro other modes such as fingerprints, hair and fiber samples, ballistics and shoe prints.

Definition and Examples of Linguistic Competence

Definition and Examples of Linguistic Competence The term linguistic competence refers to the unconscious knowledge of grammar that allows a speaker to use and understand a language. Also known as grammatical competence or I-language.  Contrast with linguistic performance. As used by Noam Chomsky and other linguists, linguistic competence is not an evaluative term. Rather, it refers to the innate linguistic knowledge that allows a person to match sounds and meanings. In  Aspects of the Theory of Syntax  (1965), Chomsky wrote, We thus make a fundamental distinction between competence  (the speaker-hearers knowledge of his language) and performance  (the actual use of language in concrete situations). Examples and Observations Linguistic competence constitutes knowledge of language, but that knowledge is tacit, implicit. This means that people do not have conscious access to the principles and rules that govern the combination of sounds, words, and sentences; however, they do recognize when those rules and principles have been violated. . . . For example, when a person judges that the sentence John said that Jane helped himself is ungrammatical, it is because the person has tacit knowledge of the grammatical principle that reflexive pronouns must refer to an NP in the same clause. (Eva M. Fernandez and Helen Smith Cairns, Fundamentals of Psycholinguistics. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) Linguistic Competence and Linguistic Performance In [Noam] Chomskys theory, our linguistic competence is our unconscious knowledge of languages and is similar in some ways to [Ferdinand de] Saussures concept of langue, the organizing principles of a language. What we actually produce as utterances is similar to Saussures parole, and is called linguistic performance. The difference between linguistic competence and linguistic performance can be illustrated by slips of the tongue, such as noble tons of soil for noble sons of toil. Uttering such a slip doesnt mean that we dont know English but rather that weve simply made a mistake because we were tired, distracted, or whatever. Such errors also arent evidence that you are (assuming you are a native speaker) a poor English speaker or that you dont know English as well as someone else does. It means that linguistic performance is different from linguistic competence. When we say that someone is a better speaker than someone else (Martin Luther King, Jr., for example, was a terrific ora tor, much better than you might be), these judgements tell us about performance, not competence. Native speakers of a language, whether they are famous public speakers or not, dont know the language any better than any other speaker in terms of linguistic competence. (Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, Linguistics for Everyone. Wadsworth, 2010) Two language users may have the same program for carrying out specific tasks of production and recognition, but differ in their ability to apply it because of exogenous differences (such as short-term memory capacity). The two are accordingly equally language-competent but not necessarily equally adept at making use of their competence. The linguistic competence of a human being should accordingly be identified with that individuals internalized program for production and recognition. While many linguists would identify the study of this program with the study of performance rather than competence, it should be clear that this identification is mistaken since we have deliberately abstracted away from any consideration of what happens when a language user actually attempts to put the program to use. A major goal of the psychology of language is to construct a viable hypothesis as to the structure of this program . . .. (Michael B. Kac, Grammars and Grammaticality. John Benjamins, 1992)

Revenue Management in Restaurants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Revenue Management in Restaurants - Essay Example By calculating factors such as length-of-stay, accessibility and overbooking, revenue management practices can add to revenue, efficiency and property valuation for hotels by growing length of stay and check supply and demand to influence offered rates (Andersen, P. and Bowe, V. 2000). Nowadays McDonald's operates in the global quick service restaurant manufacturing trade. McDonald's was the lead the way of this trade and it was McDonald's which made the quick service restaurant commerce a worldwide industry by creating a enormous global profitable empire. At present McDonald's ranks 114th in the list of luck 500 companies and thanks to its ground-breaking dispensation and standardized approach to the profitable production of fast food, McDonald's has placed the quick service restaurant business between the big financial driving force industries such as steel and vehicle. According to the expert analysis Raymond Kroc the founder of McDonald's had the dream of a sequence of fast food restaurants in each American State and in the earth as well. No doubt, he wanted his fast food restaurants to serve excellence food according to permanent standards and requirement. When Kroc ongoing business in 1955 there were other well recognized fast food chains in United States, in the middle of the most extensively known were A&W, Dairy Queen, Tastee -Freez, and Big Boy, Burger King then recognized as InstaBurger King was just preliminary out. There were lots of things which alienated McDonald's from its rivals. No doubt, Raymond Kroc's goal was to make world wide fast food chain while the rest of the main fast food chains were not so excited about growth. Other fast food chains which function on a franchise basis viewed their operators as customers and only reaped benefits without providing much leadership relating to operation, endorsement, sales strategy, financi ng and food dispensation. Raymond Kroc comprehensive his hands to operators of permission McDonald's restaurants by extravagance them like do business partners in each respect of the business. These close associations with operators make sure that McDonald's restaurants in any State in the United States would dish up food according to fixed requirement and amount. Furthermore, Raymond Kroc did more than by just give recommendation regarding procedure management him allowable his operators to work out their innovative skills connecting to every feature of the franchise trade. McDonald's had set new principles for the fast food manufacturing by selling a recognized service not just original food recipes and formulas. (Greatest Business Stories of All Times) Revenue Management in Restaurants According to the expert analysis the nature of the restaurant industry, typify by many self-governing minute businesses as well as a few nationwide and international enterprises in a usually competitive environment, makes the application of revenue management, on the whole, additional problematical than in the airline and hotel sectors. Additional, adjusting the excellence of the product, and hence price levels, is much easier than for airlines and hotels. Against that, the vast preponderance of restaurants

Business decision making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business decision making - Essay Example Within the five year period, the number of elite clients has risen from 453 in 2006 to 1124 in 2010. However, there was a sharp in the number of this category of clients in 2007, with the bank recording only 411 Elite clients (Institute of Business and Management, 2012). Additionally, the report shows that the number of Preferred clients has grown by approximately 30 per cent, rising from 3148 in 2006 to 3809 in 2010 (Institute of Business and Management, 2012). This rise has been steady except for the year 2008, which experienced a sharp fall in this category of clients (3148), as compared to the previous year’s 3551. The same trend has occurred in the amount of deposit, where the maximum deposit for the regular clients was 690,354,000 in 2010 (Institute of Business and Management, 2012). The success of the bank has not been on a regular trend though. There has been a mix between the years of success and the drops in terms of deposits. Rating success and failures in terms of income, the final year 2010 indicated success for all the three classes of clients except for a drop in 2007. The remaining years have shown an indicator to financial growth in income, considering that it has been a continuous trend of progressive increase from 2008 to 2010. Comparing each class for every year, regular clients outnumber the rest of the classes, followed by the preferred class and finally the elite class. Perhaps owing to that, the amount of deposit for the regular clients has been the greatest followed by the preferred class and eventually the elites. 1.2. Data Analysis and Summary The table below shows the analysis of the data for all the clients of the bank DM. It shows the average and the mean for all the five years. However, the function for computing modes did not function because none of the values appeared more than once. Table 1: Data Analysis table for the bank DM for performance from 2006 to 2010 (i). From the analysis, it appears that the regular clients are more on average than all other clients, followed by the preferred clients then the elite clients. The deposit balance for the regular clients is also higher than for the categories of clients, followed by the preferred clients then the elite clients in the third rank. The same result is observed for the service income, where the regular clients lead followed by the preferred and finally the elite clients. From this analysis, the most advisable decision Bank DM executive committee can make is to develop marketing strategies for the other two client categories. The strategies can begin from analyzing customer needs concerning the preferred and the client elite accounts. After the analysis, there are two optional actions that the bank can consider. First, there should be a more structured sales promotions program for increasing the performance level of the less performing accounts. The customer satisfaction level can enable the executive committee to improve the qualities of the ac counts. If the sales promotions do not yield the expected outcomes, the next option is to eliminate the accounts from bank and develop a better account product for the preferred and the elite customers. (ii). The second analysis uses measures of dispersion such as variance and standard deviation of the distributions of the numbers for the three banks for all the five years. The measures of dispersion appear in the table below Account Type Number of Accounts Deposit

Road and bridge construction design Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Road and bridge construction design - Assignment Example Inventions are not magical, but took time to develop once they originated from human beings minds. This governs the quest to defining what engineering is, it is the process through which abstract ideas are turned into systems or products (physical representations). Engineers apply their creativity in the production of systems and products to satisfy human wants and this distinguishes them from sculptors, painters, or poets. This kind of creative act is referred to as a design. Engineering design Majority of engineering designs are listed as systems or invention-devices created by human hard work, or improvements made in already existing systems or devices. Designs or inventions do not just emerge from nowhere, but are a product of bringing technologies together to provide for human necessities. A design can also arise from someone trying to efficiently and quickly accomplish a task. Designing needs a step-by-step procedure and takes place over a period of time (Vanderwarker, 2001). E ngineers are primarily known as problem solvers. A design has a remarkably different nature of both the problem and solution because they are open- ended unlike other problem solving methods. This means that a design has more than one solution of correcting a problem which contains specified properties. In contrast to analysis problems, design problems are vaguely defined. Take an example of where one is asked to calculate the height of wall given the initial velocity of a snowball to be zero. The problem has one answer thus an analysis. Once the problem is changed to designing a device to launch 2-pound snowball to a height of 180 feet, it automatically becomes a design problem. In that it is open-ended and has many possible instruments that can be launched to determine the height of the snowball. An iterative procedure is outlined in solving design problems. This is because the solution to a design problem changes from time to time and continuous refining of the design becomes a n orm. During the implementation of a design problem, too expensive or unsafe solutions are developed. When such is the case the designer goes back to the drawing board until the proper solution is met. An outstanding example is that of the Wright brothers who experimented lots of design before attempting the powered flight. From his illustration, it is evident that design activity is a cyclic process while the analysis problem is sequential. To come up with a good solution to a design problem, it requires a well outlined procedure. This package, therefore, presents a diverse approach of a methodology referred to as the five-step problem-solving method. The mentioned methodology relates with the design process and can be adapted to solving a particular problem (Vanderwarker, 2001). The design process It consists of five crucial steps that must be achieved in designing the process. The process requires iteration and backtracking because design problems are usually vague. The design pro cess is contingent: it requires changes as it develops and the solutions are based on unforeseen complications. The five steps are illustrated below 1. Defining the problem 2. Gathering pertinent information 3. Generating multiple answers/ solutions 4. Analyzing and selecting a solution 5. Testing and implementing the solution Problem definition normally has a listing of the customer requirements and those of the

Analysis of G-Protein Coupled Receptor 12

Analysis of G-Protein Coupled Receptor 12 ABSTRACT: G-Protein Coupled Receptor 12 (GPR12) belongs to the orphan GPCR family which is the same of the GPR3 and GPR6. Homology model for the protein GPR12 was generated from the SWISS-MODEL website which showed an all alpha motif with seven transmembrane ÃŽÂ ± -helix interconnected by loops. GPR12 acts through the cyclic Adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) pathway and promotes neurite outgrowth in primary neurons which can be used to slow down the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. The gene of GPR12 is located in the chromosome 13q12.13 for human, 12p11 for rat and 5; 5 G3 for a mouse with the size of 5.6 kbp, 3.4 kbp, and 4.3 kbp. Four current ongoing clinical trials studies on GPR12 was found on clinicaltrials.gov. G-Protein Coupled Receptor 12 (GPR12) belongs to the orphan GPCR family which is the same of the GPR3 and GPR6 (Ignatov et al., 2003a; Ignatov et al., 2003b). GPR 12 family members are constitutively activated and initiate the cAMP signaling cascades (Ignatov et al., 2003a). It is reported that GPR12 promote neurite extension in primary neurons (Ignatov et al., 2003a). The sequence identity of GPR12 is similar to GPCR S1P5 by 34%, GPR3 by 57% and GPR6 by 58% (Ignatov et al., 2003a; Ignatov et al., 2003b). Hence, it is hypothesized that the orphan receptors might share common ligands and also have similar physiological functions (Uhlenbrock et al., 2002; Tanaka et al., 2007). GPR12 has a high binding affinity towards Sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC) (Uhlenbrock et al., 2002). GPR 12 also binds with Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)   with low affinity (Uhlenbrock et al., 2002). GPR12 family members are constantly activated and cAMP downstream signaling cascades initiated (Uhlenbro ck et al., 2002; Ignatov et al., 2003a). This persistent activation promotes neurite extension in primary neurons (Tanaka et al., 2007). GPR12 belongs to the orphan GPCR family which is the same of the GPR3 and GPR6 (Ignatov et al., 2003a; Ignatov et al., 2003b). According to Horn et al., GPR12 belongs to the  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   GPCRs, Class A Rhodopsin-like subfamily with all other Orphan GPCR receptors (Horn et al., 2003). 2.1. Structure: A search was conducted for GPR12 in the RCSB protein data bank to identify the protein structure of G-Protein Coupled Receptor 12. There were no matches found in the search which is shown in figure 1.   Hence, a Homology model for the protein was generated from the SWISS-MODEL website, 27.41% sequence identity was indicated for Cannabinoid receptor 1 (Flavodoxin). Flavodoxin, Cannabinoid receptor one was chosen as the template, and a 3D structural model was generated for GPR12 from the template which is shown in the figures 2a and 2b. The GMQE (Global Model Quality Estimation) and Q-Mean value for the generated protein 0.56 and -4.28. The generated protein showed an all alpha motif with seven transmembrane ÃŽÂ ± -helix interconnected by loops forming four extracellular topological domains and four cytoplasmic topological domains. The alignment of protein sequence between Human GPR12 and GPR12 of other species like mouse and rat showed very less variation which indicates the protein is conserved between these species(UniProtKB; UniProtKB; UniProtKB). The protein alignment is shown in figure 3. 2.2. Pathway: According to Horn et al., GPR12 belongs to the  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   GPCRs, Class A Rhodopsin-like subfamily with all other Orphan GPCR receptors (Horn et al., 2003). GPR12 acts through the cyclic Adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) pathway (Tanaka et al., 2007). Since, GPR12 is an orphan receptor where its natural ligand is unknown (Ignatov et al., 2003a). When the ligand such as S1P or SPC binds to the GPR12, the G-Protein gets activated due to the binding of GTP (Ignatov et al., 2003a). Thus, G-Protein activates Adenylate cyclase which converts the Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into cAMP, and the cAMP activates Protein Kinase A (Ignatov et al., 2003a). The Activated Protein Kinase A activates the cellular reaction such as neurite extension in primary neurons (Ignatov et al., 2003a). [Refer figure 4] 2.3. Gene and Evolutionary aspects of GPR12: The alignment of protein sequence between Human GPR12 and GPR12 of other species like mouse and rat showed very less variation which indicates the protein is conserved between these species (UniProtKB; UniProtKB; UniProtKB). The protein alignment is shown in figure 3. The gene location of GPR12 in the chromosomes locus is nearly the same for human and rat, but it is different in mouse (NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene). The gene of GPR12 is located in the chromosome 13q12.13 for human, 12p11 for rat and 5; 5 G3 for mouse (NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene). The GPR12 gene contains two exons in humans, three exons in rat and three exons in Mouse separating the intron sequence and the evolutionary association of the gene sequence of GPR12 between the species and between GPCR family is shown in figure 5a and 5b (NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene). The GPR12 gene size for a human is 5.6 kbp, for rat it is 3.4 kbp, and for the mouse, it is 4.3 kbp (NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene; NCBI-Gene; Stevens et a l., 2013). GPR12 mutant mice showed an effect in their emotionality was affected due to the mutation in GPR12 which was no significant change   (Frank et al., 2012). GPR12 overexpressed in neurons upregulate cAMP levels and promotes neurite outgrowth in primary neurons which can be used to slow down the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons   disease, Huntingtons disease, etc. (Tanaka et al., 2007). GPR12 is also involved in the regulation of cell survival and cell proliferation which may vary during the diseased condition which causes astrocytes to proliferate at a faster rate and results in inflammation (Lu et al., 2012). A search was done for G-Protein coupled receptor 12 on clinicaltrails.gov website which showed four current ongoing clinical trials studies on GPR12. The studies were different from each other such as Platelet reactivity (ClinicalTrials.gov), Stoke (ClinicalTrials.gov), Metastatic Lung Adenocarcinomas (ClinicalTrials.gov) and Migraine (ClinicalTrials.gov). GPR12 belongs to the  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   GPCRs, Class A Rhodopsin-like subfamily with all other Orphan GPCR receptors. The gene coding for GPR12 is conserved between Humans, Rats, and Mouse which indicates the existence of similar roles and function in these three animals. GPR12 is still in the stages of primary research where its structure, signaling pathways, function, and roles are still waiting to be found. GPR12 has recently assumed to be associated with Neural disorders and diseases. Clinical trials have been successfully conducted for GPR12 for many diseases one of which is depression. References: ClinicalTrials.gov Is There a Transient Rebound Effect of Platelet Reactivity Following Cessation of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy With Ticagrelor a Single Center Prospective Observational Trial. Journal, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02808039?term=G-Protein%2BCoupled%2BReceptor%2B12recr=Openrank=1, January 25, 2017. ClinicalTrials.gov Platelet Reactivity in Acute Non-disabling Cerebrovascular Events (PRINCE). Journal, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02506140?term=G-Protein+Coupled+Receptor+12recr=Openrank=2, January 25, 2017. ClinicalTrials.gov Retrospective Analysis of the Expression of the Neurotensin Receptor by Metastatic Lung Adenocarcinomas (NTS). Journal, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02891733?term=G-Protein%2BCoupled%2BReceptor%2B12recr=Openrank=4, January 25, 2017. ClinicalTrials.gov Ticagrelor Therapy for RefrACTORy Migraine Study (TRACTOR). Journal, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02518464?term=G-Protein%2BCoupled%2BReceptor%2B12recr=Openrank=3, January 25, 2017. Frank, E., Wu, Y., Piyaratna, N., Body, W.J., Snikeris, P., South, T., Gerdin, A.K., Bjursell, M., Bohlooly, Y.M., Storlien, L. Huang, X.F. (2012) Metabolic parameters and emotionality are little affected in G-protein coupled receptor 12 (Gpr12) mutant mice. PLoS One, 7, e42395. Horn, F., Bettler, E., Oliveira, L., Campagne, F., Cohen, F.E. Vriend, G. (2003) GPCRDB information system for G protein-coupled receptors. Nucleic acids research, 31, 294-297. Ignatov, A., Lintzel, J., Hermans-Borgmeyer, I., Kreienkamp, H.-J., Joost, P., Thomsen, S., Methner, A. Schaller, H.C. (2003a) Role of the G-protein-coupled receptor GPR12 as high-affinity receptor for sphingosylphosphorylcholine and its expression and function in brain development. Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 907-914. Ignatov, A., Lintzel, J., Kreienkamp, H.-J. Chica Schaller, H. (2003b) Sphingosine-1-phosphate is a high-affinity ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor GPR6 from mouse and induces intracellular Ca2+ release by activating the sphingosine-kinase pathway. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 311, 329-336. Lu, X., Zhang, N., Meng, B., Dong, S. Hu, Y. (2012) Involvement of GPR12 in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival. Mol Cell Biochem, 366, 101-110. NCBI-Gene Gpr12 G-protein coupled receptor 12 [Mus musculus (house mouse)] Gene NCBI. Journal, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/14738, January/25/2017. NCBI-Gene GPR12 G protein-coupled receptor 12 [Homo sapiens (human)] Gene NCBI. Journal, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/2835, January/25/2017. NCBI-Gene Gpr12 G protein-coupled receptor 12 [Rattus norvegicus (Norway rat)] Gene NCBI. Journal, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/80840, January/25/2017. Stevens, R.C., Cherezov, V., Katritch, V., Abagyan, R., Kuhn, P., Rosen, H. Wuthrich, K. (2013) The GPCR Network: a large-scale collaboration to determine human GPCR structure and function. Nat Rev Drug Discov, 12, 25-34. Tanaka, S., Ishii, K., Kasai, K., Yoon, S.O. Saeki, Y. (2007) Neural expression of G protein-coupled receptors GPR3, GPR6, and GPR12 up-regulates cyclic AMP levels and promotes neurite outgrowth. J Biol Chem, 282, 10506-10515. Uhlenbrock, K., Gassenhuber, H. Kostenis, E. (2002) Sphingosine 1-phosphate is a ligand of the human gpr3, gpr6 and gpr12 family of constitutively active G protein-coupled receptors. Cellular signalling, 14, 941-953. UniProtKB GPR12 G-protein coupled receptor 12 Homo sapiens (Human) GPR12 gene protein. Journal, http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P47775, January 25, 2017. UniProtKB Gpr12 G-protein coupled receptor 12 Mus musculus (Mouse) Gpr12 gene protein. Journal, http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P35412, January 25, 2017. UniProtKB Gpr12 G-protein coupled receptor 12 Rattus norvegicus (Rat) Gpr12 gene protein. Journal, http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P30951, January 25, 2017. Figure 1: No structure was found for the protein GPR12 in RCSB Protein data bank. Figure 2a: Side view of the GPR12 structure which was generated by SWISS-MODEL. The protein is showing an all alpha motif with seven transmembrane ÃŽÂ ± -helix interconnected by loops forming four extracellular topological domains and four cytoplasmic topological domains. Figure 2b: Top view of the GPR12 structure which was generated by SWISS-MODEL. The protein is showing an all alpha motif with seven transmembrane ÃŽÂ ± -helix interconnected by loops forming four extracellular topological domains and four cytoplasmic topological domains. Figure 3: GPR12 protein alignment for the species Human, mouse and rat generated from ClustalW. * (asterisk) indicates positions which have a single, fully conserved residue, : (colon) indicates conservation between groups of strongly similar residue properties, . (period) indicates conservation between groups of weakly similar residue properties. Figure 4: GPR12 proteins complete intracellular signaling pathway Figure 5a: Phylogenetic/evolutionary tree of GPCR family members (Stevens et al., 2013) Figure 5b: Phylogenetic/evolutionary tree of GPR12 showing evolutionary difference between human, rat, and mouse   Ã‚   G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPR12) Protein Agonist Antagonist Sphingosine-1-phosphate Suramin Sphingosyl-phosphocholine Table 1: GPR12 agonist and antagonist with structure and name

Managing the Transition from Maturity to Decline: Diamond Power Corporation :: essays research papers

Managing the Transition from Maturity to Decline: Diamond Power Corporation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This case study, prepared by Richard C. Scameborn, follows the Diamond Power Specialty Company from its humble beginnings in 1903 to its decline in 1991. The birth of Diamond came with the invention of the hand cranked soot blower. As the years and technology progressed, so did the Diamond soot blower. Along with this main product, Diamond also added several other products to its line, but none had the profitability of the soot blower. Diamond had the market to itself for a number of years, but eventually two competitors sprang up to challenge Diamond: Copes-Vulcan and Bayer Company. Competition did not become fierce until World War II, when the soot blower became a major commodity used by the U.S. Navy to clean boilers on board its ships. At this point, the soot blower industry became a seller's market and the need for strategy (both corporate and business) became a necessity for growth and survival.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Diamond Power's main mission at its beginning, to produce soot blowers that would efficiently clean the inside of boiler as it continued working, basically stayed the same up until the addition of competition into the market. At this point, Diamond had to revise its mission to include technological advances to stay ahead of it main competitor, Copes-Vulcan. With the passage of time, production efficiency and technology were not enough. Diamond eventually had to add foreign sales, customer service, and replacement part production to its original plan to keep ahead of the game. By the 1970's, the mission to supply replacement parts and service became one of Diamond's top priorities as it opened parts and service plants in New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, Texan, Colorado, North Dakota, California, and Washington.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Diamond Power's goals over the years seem to stay pretty congruent with its mission up until the early 1980's. Basically, Diamond's goals included staying on the moderate levels of technology, building a foreign market by exporting machines and parts and establishing joint-venture manufacturing companies overseas, establishing an extensive and profitable domestic aftermarket support system that included minifactories that supplied both parts and service, and to keep the upper hand on the soot blower market share. Diamond Power's parent corporation, McDermott, Inc, utilized several different corporate strategies to try to achieve Diamond's goal of a profitable and extensive aftermarket support system. However, some of the decisions made by McDermott, Inc in regards to its replacement part division caused more harm than good. For example, when a small operator began to copy and sell Diamond replacement parts at a lower cost than Diamond with great success, McDermott