Mechanism and Optimization of Melphalan

Mechanism and Optimization of Melphalan Melphalan Introduction Cancer in general is referred to body cells that grows rapidly and over the limit of normal cells (Hayflick limit). There’s over 200 different types of cancer, where some cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body leading to further complications. It’s one of the biggest leading cause of death worldwide. Therefore interest in finding treatment and prevention for this disease has been growing. One of the most successful chemotherapy drugs is Melphalan. It’s been over 50 years in use and there’s an increase in research to improve this drug. It’s indicated for different type of cancer: for the analgesic treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) and for the alleviation of unresectable epithelial tumor of the ovary. It has also been used alone or in combination with other chemotherapy drugs for relief treatment of locally repeated or unresectable in-transit metastatic melanoma of the extremities. It’s also used in addition to other drugs or surge ry in breast cancer. Mechanism of action Melphalan belong to a class of chemotherapy drugs called nitrogen mustardalkylating agents. It’s the oldest class of anticancer drugs still frequently used. It’s a bifunctional alkylating agent which means it has two sites where the reactivity occurs. It displaces the chloride ion by amine nitrogen to form a cyclic amine ion (aziridinium ring) by intramolecular nucleophilic attack. Afterwards the DNA nucleophile undergoes a nucleophilic attack and opens the azidrine ring, which leads to the alkylation of DNA. The lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen in the drug will then be regenerated when the azidine ring cleaves. The same reactions happen on the second reactive site of the drug, by displacing the second chloride ion. (picture) This will lead to cross-linked DNA molecules through covalent bonds. The covalent bonds can be made in two different ways: either on the same DNA strand which will alter the shape permanently prevents other enzymes or molecules from binding t o it, or on adjacent strand therefore preventing replication/transcription process. (picture) The reaction happens in the N7-site of guanine, which is the most preferred nuclei acid. However the reaction can also take place at the N3-site of adenine. The alkylation of the nucleotide leads to miscoding of DNA as for example Thymine will bind to guanine instead cytosine. Due to the p-orbital of the benzene ring in melphalan that draws the lone pair electrons from nitrogen, this leads to reduction of reactivity to form the azirdine, hence only strong nucleophiles such as guanine will react with it. This has the benefit of reducing the side reactions with water, tissue and blood, leading to the drug can be given orally. The side chain of Melphalan is L-phenylalanine, meaning it has a component that act as the amino acid phenylalanine. (picture) Consequently the drug is most likely to be recognised as an amino acid, and it will be taken into the cell by transporter protein. This increase s the stability of the drug further. Optimization of Melphalan Despite Melphalan being used as an anticancer drug for over 50 years, it’s associated with many complications including poor solubility in water, variable bioavailability and rapid hydrolysis at physiological pH (11-14) which also increase the bioavailability problem. Another major problem is its rapid clearance from the blood circulation due to its short half-life (90 min). A study conducted in USA to tackle these difficulties by adding a poly ethylene glycol (PEG) to the Mel, in order to enhance the formulation of parental and oral administration. PEG is a synthetic polymer which is water soluble and non-ionic. It is an amphipilic polymer meaning it has an exceptional capacity to be soluble in both aqueous and organic solvents. This property makes it ideal for chemical conjugate of substance that has a biological effect. Another advantage of using PEG is it has exceptionally low level of antigenicity and immunogenicity. The process of conjugation is called PEGylation. Itâ₠¬â„¢s a two-step process where in the first step the activation and derivatization of PEG occurs with appropriate functional groups. In step two the conjugation of the activated PEG with Mel occurs. The NH2 group in melphalan undergoes a nucleophilic reaction with mPEG-succinimidyl propionate (mPEG-SPA) under the presence of DMAP catalyst. This reaction produces an amide bond, which is reasonably stable. The mPEG-SPA gets hydrolysed to mPEG and N-hydroxysuccinimide. Fig x. The study conjugated two molecular weight (MW) PEG: 2000 and 5000 Da. Variable test were conducted to measure the difference between the two different MW PEG conjugates and the parent drug Melphalan. The aqueous solubility of the conjugated Melphalan was measured by dissolution test, the results are shown in table 1. The table shows there is an increase in aqueous solubility of MpPEG-2000 by nearly 80 times reading as 7.2 ±0.12  µg/ml and increased by approximately 123 times for MpPEG-5000 reading as 11.07 ±0.8  µg/ml, compared to the measured solubility of the parental Melphalan of 0.09  µg/ml. This results can be explained due to the PEG chain being attached to the drug. On the other hand the haemolytic activity of melphalan versus its conjugates was also determined by assessing the haemoglobin content. The melphalan haemolytic activity was measured to 100% above the concentration 3.5  µg/ml (table 2). With regards to MpPEG-5000 only 48.8 ±1.5% haemolysis observed at concentration of 32  µg/ml (table 3). In case of MpPEG-2000 the highest percentage of haemolysis of 81.3 ±0.5% was recorded at concentration of 32  µg/ml (table 4). The lower haemolytic activity of the conjugates compared to melphalan might be due to the dominated property of polymeric carrier PEG. These results is an indication that the chain length of PEG plays an important role on the haemolytic activity. The property of delaying haemolysis is better in MpPEG-5000 compared to MpPEG-2000 even at higher concentrations. It also has an effect on the aqueous solubility due to the longer the chain the more hydrophilic backbone of PEG will be present. The percentage cumulative hydrolysis of the conjugates was observed in case of MpPEG-2000 to be 10.11 ±0.68 after 6 hours, whereas for MpPEG-5000 was only 5.21 ±1.2% after the same time (table 5). The low cumulative hydrolysis detected in MpPEG-5000 may be understood due to the ester linkage being protected by the PEG molecule du e to the steric hindrance. Furthermore the amide bond is more protected in MpPEG-5000 compared to MpPEG-2000 due to the shielding effect of the larger chain of PEG. Therefore the MpPEG-5000 can be an ideal candidate to provide a slow release drug formulation. Thus, increase the half-life of the drug and decrease the clearance. Clinical trials Conclusion This drug adds a small group, an alkyl group to the DNA to alter its structure and hence modifies the function. It’s an alkylating agent which means it adds an alkyl group to DNA. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkylcarbocation, afree radical, acarbanionor acarbene(or their equivalents). Nitrogen mustards (NMs) form cyclic aminium ions (aziridinium rings) by intramolecular displacement of the chloride by the amine nitrogen. This aziridinium group then alkylates DNA once it is attacked by the N-7 nucleophilic center on the guanine base. A second attack after the displacement of the second chlorine forms the second alkylation step that results in the formation of interstrand cross-links (ICLs) as it was shown in the early 1960s. At that time it was proposed that the ICLs were formed between N-7 atom of guanine residue in a 5’-d(GC) sequence.[15][16] These kinds of lesions are effective at forcing the cell to undergo apoptosis via p53, a protein which scans the genome for defects. Note that the alkylating damage itself is not cytotoxic and does not directly cause cell death. For the analgesic treatment of multiple myeloma and for the palliation of non-resectable epithelial carcinoma of the ovary. Has also been used alone or as part of various chemotherapeutic regimens as an addition to surgery in the treatment of breast cancer, alone or in combination regimens for palliative treatment of locally recurrent or unresectable in-transit metastatic melanoma of the extremities, as well as for the treatment of amyloidosis with prednisone. http://www.bloodjournal.org.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/content/106/2/698 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/doi/10.1002/cncr.27820/full http://www.bloodjournal.org.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/content/117/24/6445 http://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB01042 http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/44/7/2773.full.pdf+html http://pubs.acs.org.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1021/jo300351g http://www.bloodjournal.org.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/content/100/1/224 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4024156/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286742/ http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0898656813000314/1-s2.0-S0898656813000314-main.pdf?_tid=c3b012a4-c411-11e4-944b-00000aab0f27acdnat=1425654312_d9351a386aa77b225426f1c34e100e88 http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0144861714004196/1-s2.0-S0144861714004196-main.pdf?_tid=00c4f2b8-c412-11e4-aee6-00000aab0f6cacdnat=1425654412_90fa9336c00ccddd1706b13914966246 http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0009279702000145/1-s2.0-S0009279702000145-main.pdf?_tid=458a0f50-c412-11e4-b306-00000aacb360acdnat=1425654528_8adc41f2576ed853db84f0b37d63aba7 http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0014827X03001642/1-s2.0-S0014827X03001642-main.pdf?_tid=8710dca6-c412-11e4-ba2b-00000aab0f02acdnat=1425654638_fb397da0e9304b218456d2a2da0cc6bf http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0144861714012533/1-s2.0-S0144861714012533-main.pdf?_tid=ffa7bf86-c412-11e4-9b6f-00000aacb361acdnat=1425654840_9033413b545510662226d20eec11b255 http://www.drugs.com/mmx/melphalan.html http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/23/8_Part_1/1315.full.pdf http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jna/2010/543531/ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Sd6ot9ul-bUCpg=PA1208lpg=PA1208dq=nitrogen+mustard+aziridine+ringsource=blots=TMPCHHeGPrsig=tArK9BCztSsPXxLXMj2ojRGFG2shl=ensa=Xei=FggDVaHxFMatU_6zgfABved=0CD8Q6AEwBg#v=onepageqf=false Bifunctional alkylating agents (e.g., nitrogen mustards (melphalan, chlorambucil, cyclophosphamide, and ifosfamide) and chloroethylnitrosoureas (BCNU and CCNU)) possess two reactive sites. These agents cross-link DNA with proteins or, alternatively, cross-link two DNA bases within the same DNA strand (intrastrand cross-links) or on opposite DNA strands (ICLs). ICLs, which block replication forks, are the most serious cytotoxic lesions produced by most bifunctional drugs. Accordingly, the extent of ICLs correlates well with the cytotoxicity of nitrogen mustard drugs

Disolving stress living The Present

Stress is the emotional, mental and physical response to the ever changing environment; in an attempt to adapt to the new outer circumstances, the person produces stress. Stress itself is not good neither bad, since our bodies are designed to produce stress. I keep us alert and active. The problem starts when we cross the limit of disturbance and make it chronic; this is when we feel stress about situations that don’t require such an alterative state of mind.Stress is present in our society, especially in the big cities and capitals where is aggravated by the noise, traffic and long distances. Stress can be cause by anything that requires a person to adjust to a new situation and this depend on how every person takes an event, since every human being is unique, there are so many ways of experiencing stress and the causes that can produce it. In a certain way, stress is necessary to live, but if not controlled; it can disturb seriously the person who suffers it.Young women face higher risks of stress, especially the working ones but it seems the damaging effects of stress on them is minimised by the fact that they speak out about it; on the contrary, men seem to keep it for themselves. Lately it seems stress is starting to affect even children and teenagers; some suggest they may be â€Å"learning† it from their parents. Also, White race seems more sensitive to stress than Black and Asian race and the more educated is a person, the more stress can experience. For stress management has nothing to do with intellectual learning but experimental, is an attitude towards life.Maybe the reason is that the most educated have a very high sense of must, while the non- educated is not aware of the opportunities that is missing (not involved in the rat race). Personally, what I learnt about stress is that is almost impossible to get rid of it by itself, is necessary to apply consciousness in order to become calmer, quieter, try to live the moment and not live in the future nor in the past but let life just to unfold itself, day by day, and solve the issues that the moment brings, when they come to light (not try to solve them in mind before they happen).In order to review the literature on stress and describe both the processes and sources of stress, as well as methods for coping, a literature search was conducted which identified 3 studies that were relevant to the questions in this paper, one of them about the work related stress, another on relation between mindfulness and stress and another on relation between breast cancer and stress. RESULTS Stress could be then thought of as an exaggerated reaction of the body that acts upon an external circumstance on a non proportional way.It causes emotional suffering to the person who carries it and it can even develop in depression. The physiological reactions are nervousness physical upsetting, tiredness, etc.. Therefore, meditation proves very successful in the treatment of stress. Also, a realistic view of life can help, avoiding living on desires or sheer of imagination. Also Bach flowers may help without having to suffer any side effects.

The Internet Of Things ( Iot ) - 1292 Words

Rochester Institute of Technology Real-Time and Embedded Systems SWEN 563 / CMPE 663 / EEEE 663 Graduate Paper Review Report ON â€Å"Efficient Embedded Learning for IoT Devices† Submitted by: Rohan N. Dhamdhere, rnd7528@g.rit.edu I. Introduction The Internet of Things (IoT) helps us sense meaningful data from the physical world. In recent years, its ability to sense the data has increased tremendously, which increases the prospects of IoT applications useful to humans. Machine learning will play a big part to help IoT derive sense from raw data and deliver useful information. A simple quantitative analysis is done on two broad categories of applications – a smart glass that uses a deep learning network to perform real time recognition on video stream that it captures, and a server cluster that trains the model associated with the deep network. The analysis showed differences between the computational capabilities of current systems and the needs levied by these application cases. The authors hypothesize that deep learning will be one of the important part of the computing platforms and will be extensively deployed. The Paper discusses the following potential procedures to improve the efficiency of deep learning for embedded computing systems – accelerators for deep learning, approximate computing and neuromorphic circuits based on emerging post-CMOS devices. II. Computational Challenges TheShow MoreRelatedThe Internet Of Things ( Iot )892 Words   |  4 PagesThe Internet of Things (IOT) The Internet of Things (IOT) is said to be the next new revolution after the mobile devices. IOT is simply a technology that allows the interconnection of billions of devices to each other so as to provide more intuitive insights. This works to help both individuals and companies revolutionize their data and make life better. According to Mayer-Schà ¶nberger Cukier, (2013), â€Å"the Internet of Things envisions a self-configuring and adaptive complex system made out of networksRead MoreThe Internet Of Things ( Iot )911 Words   |  4 PagesThe internet of things (IoT) is comparable to the internet in how it provides communication connections over a large area public network. The internet is used to connect people to each other using device connections to a main stream network. The IoT is currently a conceptual construct of a network system working as a conduit to serve as a direct line of communication for multiple electrical operated objects. In theory if an object has an on/o ff toggle switch, then the object will eventually be ableRead MoreThe Internet Of Things ( Iot And The Internet1141 Words   |  5 Pagessecurity, known as the internet of things (IoT), covers the boundaries of the net to include an extensive range of computing devices. Linking a wide array of IoT devices to the Internet presents many challenges. Due to the gathered data being exposed to a widespread amount of internet users, the main challenge is security. Most IoT devices on the market are low-tier and have limited functionality, because of this, many standard security strategies cannot be implemented to secure IoT systems. This leavesRead MoreThe Internet Of Things ( Iot )982 Words   |  4 Pagesinteract with the world around us. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the ability of physical objects to connect to the Internet and to send and receive data.Introduction The Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT concept is difficult to define precisely. IoT can be define as the network of physical objects are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these items to gather and exchange data. Another definition for IoT is interrelated computing devices, mechanicalRead MoreThe Internet Of Things ( Iot )1666 Words   |  7 PagesContents Internet of Things (IoT) 2 Definition 2 Introduction 2 Current State of IoT 2 Building Blocks 3 Marketing Challenges 4 Finding a receptive audience 4 Articulating the value 4 Getting the buyer up to speed 4 Marketing Strategies 5 Know the Customer 5 Sell the benefits 5 Expand Sales Touchpoints 5 Adopt a consultative approach 5 Conclusion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 References †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 Internet of Things (IoT)Read MoreThe Internet Of Things ( Iot )1750 Words   |  7 PagesExecutive Summary The Internet of Things (IoT) is known for wearable gadgets such as the new Apple watch or fitness wearables such as Fitbit. 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[2] With a massive increaseRead MoreSurvey Of Security On Internet Of Things ( Iot ) Essay1742 Words   |  7 Pages Survey of Security in Internet Of Things(IoT) Jacquelyn Rapose School of Computing Clemson University Clemson, USA jrapose@g.clemson.edu Abstract— The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that has transformed our daily lives because of its distributed and ubiquitous nature. Security and privacy issues exist with the use of the IoT and must be addressed. In this paper, I discuss some of the security challenges that the IoT architecture has to address. I also compare the challenges that wereRead MoreTaking a Look at the Internet of Things (IoT)2143 Words   |  9 Pagesof the Internet as a set of connected computer devices is changed to a set of connected surrounding things of human’s living space, such as home appliances, machines, transportation, business storage, and goods etc. The number of things in the living space is larger than the number of world population. Research is going on how to make these things to communicate with each other like computer devices communicate through Internet. The communication among these things is referred as Internet of Things

Preposition + Noun Quiz for English Learners

Unit 21 P3, M2, D1 Essay - 4964 Words

Unit 21: task 3: P3, M2, D1 In this assignment I will be choosing and describing a service user for my case study and I’m going to explain how some factors such as medical disorders, life style and many more may have influenced their dietary intake. Due to the data protection I will not be using their real name. Service user’s history Aisha Ismail is 35 years old. She is a British African and has been brought up by her grandmother and now she’s living with her husband and 3 children. She is a Muslim and lives in New Parks Leicester. Aisha’s a wife and a house wife. She is not able to go to work due to her sickle cell disorder. Aisha was diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes. This was due to her unhealthy diets of junk†¦show more content†¦This would be a benefit to Aisha as she would not want to make her condition worse and face death, so she will start taking control over her weight. This would benefit Aisha as she would have to cut down on the unhealthy food and therefore have a better balanced diet and better lifestyle as cutting down on unhealthy food would help to minimise the risk to her health. D1: For the recommendation, Aisha totally needs to cut down on the sugary, salty and fatty food that she eats. To be able to reduce the negative effect of her health, first of all she would need to cut down on the amount of sugar she has in her tea. I would recommend her to cut down from 3 to 1 and a half and maybe use semi skimmed milk. This will be able to reduce the sugar and fat intake she has. For her toasts, she could try and use margarine as it has less fat than butter or have plain toast to reduce the fat intake. If Aisha finds it hard to reduce/ cut down her sugar and fatty intake, I would recommend her to get help and advice from specialised people who work with service users who have diabetes. This might include visiting a clinic and asking questions about what food to eat and which ones to avoid in order for him to have a better health. I would recommend Aisha to also reduce her snacking habits of snacks such as cakes andShow MoreRelatedSkills for LAND A1 2015 1978 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿ Module: Unit 10: Skills for Land-based Outdoor and Adventurous Activities Tutor: Nick Young Assignment No: 1 of 1 Title: Land-based Outdoor and Adventurous Activities – The Knowledge, Risks, Participation, Review Development IV’d before Mark Wilson Date 22/4/13 issue by: IV’d: Date 16/4/15 Date 21/5/15 Issued: Due: Feedback Due: 11/6/15 Student Name: ................................................................. Read MoreBtec1256 Words   |  6 PagesRegistration No. Assessor Name LEI13160876 Soory Abbassi 15/10/13 Hand-in Date Submitted On 15/10/13 18/03/14 Qualification and Programme Number Unit Number and Title BTEC Extended Diploma In IT (QCF): Level 3 Unit 18: Database Design Assignment Title Assignment 1 No. 1 of 2 Whole or Part of Unit? Whole /Part Grade for Whole Unit Deadlines: If you do not meet the deadlines for handing in your assignments you may not have your work marked. This could result in you failingRead MoreThe Roles and Resposibilies of the Line Mangers in Virgin Atlantics Human Resource Management998 Words   |  4 PagesLONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT NQF level 4: BTEC Higher National – H1 UNIT NO: 21 UNIT TITLE: Human Resource Management ASSIGNMENT NO: 1 ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Human Resource Management UNIT OUTCOMES COVERED: LO 1. Understand the difference between personnel management and human resource management LO 2. Understand how to recruit employees LO 3. 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VoIP at Butler University Free Essays

Butler University identified weaknesses in the existing campus communication systems. Chief Information Office (CIO) Scott Kincaid’s identified the need to upgrade or replace the Centrex system as Butler student enrollment and administrative data communication needs had outgrown its usefulness. Arguments for the Centrex system were that users found the system reliability to be beneficial. We will write a custom essay sample on VoIP at Butler University or any similar topic only for you Order Now Once employees have a system that meets their current needs, some are reluctant to go embrace the next step to enhancing Job capabilities. The majority of students liked having campus rovided email even though 92% had cell phones. Various problems were associated with the existing system but it was not without failure. For no other reason than advances in technology, the current analog system had become outdated and hard to customize. Moving lines was labor intensive with student and administrative shifts. Changes become labor intensive and difficult to perform because not only is the hardware difficult to repair, at a certain point the system will be so antiquated that it won’t be compatible with new vendor technology upgrades outside of Butler. A large amount of administrative time was spent reconciling the current billing system each month showing that again unnecessary labor was a hindrance to efficiency. Changes aren’t without risk and administrative staff viewed merging data and voice networks was viewed as risky. A major concern was regarding the voice quality of VoIP technology. The IT department also knew that network security risks were a concern addressing other data network risk concerns post 9/1 1 . An efficient and flexible integrated emergency notification system was required to remedy this concern. Campus administration also feared virus attacks that commonly affected data networks. Unified communications is a term used to describe a system that integrates call and data communication applications that are interactive and collaborative with real- time and transactional capabilities. Butler hired the Dietrich Lockard Group, a telecommunications-consulting firm, to address the primary issues and needs of the university and to recommend a unified communications solution. To pinpoint the real needs of the university, Dietrich formed an advisory group comprised of dministrative staff from a variety of departments around campus who required a high-level of data usage and accuracy from the system. Those departments were admissions, financial services, student life, facilities management, the libraries, and department faculty. The advisory group and technical staff were taught about VoIP and steps that can be taken to mitigate its risks. The strategic plan involving integrating these five goals: improve student communications, improve handling of callers, leverage new services to assist staff and improve training on these systems, emain competitive with other institutions regarding the level of student services offered, and to provide more immediate access to key Butler personnel. The options presented to Butler were to continue with the existing systems and make no changes. Many people find the system reliable. Another solutions would be to continue upgrading the existing system and equipment. Although expensive, IT staff was familiar with the system and, while difficult, upgrades were possible – at least in the system and integrate and independent VoIP for a few selected offices. This would llow Butler to make a small-scale technology change without compromising the entire communications network. The last and most expensive option is to acquire a new in-house PBX system for unified communications. The concern with this option is if Butler were to invest in a new PBX system would it have a limited life? With Dietrich’s guidance, Butler drafted an RFP and put the project out for bid. Vendor selection would be based on the an analysis of the variables effecting choices, the vendor’s ability meet the universitys needs as defined in the RFP, cost, availability of ocal support once the network was installed, and the vendor’s experience with new VoIP and other enterprise systems. A vendor was selected and a very aggressive implementation schedule was initiated. Staff and students found the changeover simple and the pilot program made training fun. The IT department described the changeover as the â€Å"week from hell†. Phone system registration was labor intensive when each needed to be registered manually. Other problems were malfunctioning equipment, the 2,000 additional phone numbers provided by SBC came up missing nd required a 45-day window to fix the problem and food service and the bookstore didn’t have Ethernet wiring. The biggest problem was that department safety alarm wiring was not compatible with new VoIP and the old system needed to be recreated to make them work. My concern with the alarm system was based on 1970’s technology and should have been updated. I would consider the upgrade to be a wise decision on Butler’s choice. Analog systems are antiquated and had they not made the change now, it may have been more costly in the future. Technology ntegration with outside source such as telecommunications companies and software support for financial and accounting systems. Any department that required data sharing and collaboration, mixed media messaging was at an operational risk had the change-over not been implemented. By converging systems for a unified communication solution, Butler had taken the proactive approach. It wasn’t without unanticipated costs – a new IT staff position was created, and the unforeseen costs to the department alarm system and Ethernet cabling to food services and the bookstore were substantial. What Butler gained was collaborative applications, improved communications and convenience. Having a different call centers around campus, Butler could now examine call records and identify inefficacies within a specific area. The economy of improving these areas will be cost and improved university services. I believe Butler made the correct choice in moving forward with a new system. The only fault I found was in their not revamping the existing alarm system. The problems experienced during the changeover were minimal and solvable without reconstructing the plan. Again, a solid strategic and farsighted plan. How to cite VoIP at Butler University, Papers

Critical Analysis Of Traits - Motives And Characteristics Of Leaders

Question: Discuss about theCritical Analysis of Traits, Motives and Characteristics of Leaders. Answer: Introduction Leadership means the capability of a leader to increase motivation and support among team members who are required to attain organizational goals. Leadership effectiveness indicates achievement of desirable outcomes like quality, productivity and satisfaction in a specific situation. Theoretical evaluation conducted by Dinh et al. (2014) indicated that leadership is not a behavior or trait of a person but a process generated in the communications among people working in distinct work environment. Northouse (2015) stated that leadership relationship has changed in the modern era where people tend to communicate electronically. However, Steve Jobs the leader of Apple Inc has stated that the leaders should not allow the communication technology to block them from communicating face-to-face with the team members. The objective of the essay is to evaluate the relationship between traits, motives and effectiveness of leaders. Moreover, the critical evaluation will offer examples from the p ublic domain and the ways in which these are applied in practice will be explained with assessing ways the relationship between theory and practice is demonstrated. Discussion Personality Traits of Effective Leaders At the time, managers are assessed in terms of leadership effectiveness their traits and personal characteristics are generally scrutinized. Such characteristics are linked with leadership and are classified into categories namely motives, personal traits and cognitive aspects. Certain personality traits contribute to the effectiveness of the leaders in several situations as long as the leadership style fits the situation in a better manner. Personality traits of leaders are divided into two groups namely general personality traits and task-related traits. Steve Jobs of Apple had a definite vision and mission for the brand. The brand emphasized on the production of exquisite electronic goods for elite category of buyers. As such, the brand achieved a distinct brand name and reputation in the recent years. General personality traits are observed both within and outside the working place and is associated with the success and satisfaction in personal as well as work life. General personality traits of the leaders include self-confidence, humility, assertiveness, enthusiasm, optimism, authenticity, assertiveness and core self-assessment. For instance, several successful top leaders like Bill Gates and Charles Schwab are introverts those who turn out to be drained by social encounters and had high degree of emotional stability, agreeableness and detrimental qualities (Nichols Cottrell, 2014). Task-related traits are the ones those are closely related with accomplishment of work. Such personality traits include proactive personality, passion for people and work, courage, adaptability and flexibility. It also includes emotional intelligence of leaders that encompass self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management. There exist certain examples of task related leadership success in the practical scenario. For instance, Project managers like Frank Lloyd were considered as the greatest American architects of all time. This leader possessed task oriented skills through which he efficiently managed vendors associated with the bills of materials and all the connected project timelines. With such efficient task-based leadership, he designed more than 1000 buildings with great expertise (Nichols Cottrell, 2014). Leadership Motives Efficient leaders are generally being distinguished by their motives and needs. Leaders are observed to have an intense desire to gain a position of responsibility for others and manage them. The desire for needs and motives are evident in four categories including power, efficient work ethics, achievement, drive, resilience and tenacity. In the power motive, the efficient leaders possess strong desire to control resources. Leaders having personalized power motive seek power to increase their personal interest. Leaders with socialized power motive have power to attain organizational goals or vision. For instance, in a research conducted by Delbecq et al. (2013) to evaluate motivations of leaders it was gathered that the US companies required that the leader of the company should have high skills of power in order to influence team members. In drive and achievement motive, leaders intend to work hard to attain their goals. In drive motive leaders have the capability to put forth superior energy towards attaining goals and remain persistent to apply such energy. This generally needs huge amount of fitness and physical energy. In achievement motive, the leaders have the propensity to find joy in goals and vision attainment. For instance, researchers such as Gilmore et al. (2013) revealed that leaders of such motive might motivate team members in conduct that is associated with gaining revenue, growth and organizational culture objectives. The followers might follow brainstorm techniques for enhancing communication between departments to attain enhanced organizational culture. Such leadership activity facilitates team to attain departmental tasks, which converts into organizational goals. In resilience and tenacity motive, the leaders with tenacity multiples are considered to be vital for the organization as it does not take a great amount of time for them to implement a new program or to consummate an innovative business deal (Boyatzis et al., 2012). Tenacious leaders are deemed to be resilient at the time they rebound from a delay from their regular efforts. The Relationship Between Traits, Motives and Effectiveness of Leaders Leadership traits, motives as well as effectiveness is an important part of the decision making process. However, these characteristics can be developed to execute consistent business performances over a period. Through these factors, leaders acquire the necessary business skills and aptitude that are required to built brand reputation and goodwill in the market. As such, the vision as well as the mission of the organization is built through these leadership characteristics. These attributes shall have an influence on the business performance of the enterprise and shall lead the organization towards productivity in the enterprise. Kim et al. (2013) mentioned that leadership traits and motives shall have an impact on the ability and the effectiveness of the leaders to guide the organization towards an intensively competitive market. Therefore, a leader must offer guidance to the business entity to lead the organization to lead the organization in the times of crisis. These three factors play an important role in bringing about innovation in the workplace. According to Lussier and Achua (2015), the innovation is an essential part of leadership, which shall help the organization to offer distinctive products and services. Thus, traits, motives as well as the effectiveness of leaders are essential contributors towards the success of a leader. Leadership Roles An efficient leader has several leadership roles such as of a figurehead, team builder, spokesperson, negotiator, executer, strategic planner, entrepreneur and technical problem solver. Charismatic and transformational leadership has a huge impact on behavior and performance of leaders (Lang et al., 2012). In charismatic leadership, charisma defines special qualities of leaders whose powers, purposes and exceptional determination differentiates them from others. Charisma is a positive and convincing quality that makes its followers to be led by the person who has such leadership style. Charismatic leaders employ impression management for strengthening relationships with his team members (Popper Mayseless, 2013). Communication styles used by these leaders are through inspiration, by storytelling and great use of social networking. There are types of charismatic leaders such as socialized, personalized and celebrity charismatic. Socialized charismatic has the capability to retrain the power use in its team members interests. Their followers possess a great sense of self and values. Leaders with personalized charismatic employ the power that would serve their own interests and their followers are likely to be submissive, obedient and dependent. Leaders having celebrity charismatic tends to overlap their public celebrity with personalized and socialized traits. For instance, in the practical scenario Lee Lacocca possessed charismatic leadership style when he joined Chrysler and rescued the automaker from getting bankrupt. His natural talent along with his signature slogan If you can find a better car, buy it! persuaded government to grant the company a huge loan (Ulrich et al., 2013). Transformational leadership facilitates bringing major positive changes through shifting team members beyond their self-interests and towards the betterment of followers, organization and community. Transformational leadership has a great impact on its followers as it facilitates team members to become more responsible after getting inspired. These leaders have the capability to create common vision, employ moral reasoning, think uniquely, encourage personal development and leading by providing examples. For instance, advancement of the computing technology by Apple, IBM, Microsoft and Intel was a transformational event. Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple Inc having such leadership style have transformed business processes by means of software applications, microprocessors with high speed and certain other technological leadership (Lussier Achua, 2015). Cognitive Aspects and Leadership Efficient leaders are considered to have intellectual and problem solving capabilities for collecting, processing and storing necessary information in an efficient manner. Such skills are considered cognitive factors. Leaders having such factors possess cognitive/ analytical and practical intelligence, business knowledge or teamwork, creativity, conceptual thinking and farsightedness. Moreover, these leaders have an in-depth insight into situations and people. For being an effective leader one should need to posses cognitive traits those include knowledge and mental abilities. Cognitive skills of leaders include task/business knowledge that s essential for leaders to complete a particular task. Researchers like Kim et al. (2013) revealed that intelligent leaders make efficient plans, decisions and strategies. Creativity is another cognitive trait that needs to be possessed by effective leaders with which they can be capable to have unique problem solving skills that can offer organizations a competitive advantage. The leaders with cognitive traits also have the capability to solve complex issues and determine the appropriate solution. A farsighted leader is the one who can set goal for an extended term and knows the ways in which such goal can be attained by the organization in future. For instance, Roueche et al. (2014) revealed that in operational decision-making, however the total relationship of cognitive skills is less, the vital behaviors to those it is associated are notable. In such scenario, leaders information analytics skills and their capabilit y to come up with alternative decision options tends to be superior to lower cognitive skills. Conclusion The objective of the essay was to evaluate the relationship between traits, motives and effectiveness of leaders. Moreover, the critical evaluation also offered examples from the public domain and the ways in which these are applied in practice was explained with assessing ways the relationship between theory and practice is demonstrated.From the essay, it was gathered that certain personality traits contribute to the effectiveness of the leaders in several situations as long as the leadership style fits the situation in a better manner. Moreover, leaders are observed to have an intense desire to gain a position of responsibility for others and manage them. The desire for needs and motives are evident in four categories including power, efficient work ethics, achievement, drive, resilience and tenacity. The essay also revealed that charismatic and transformational leadership has a huge impact on behavior and performance of leaders those can encourage them to attain common organizatio nal objectives. References Boyatzis, R. E., Good, D., Massa, R. (2012). Emotional, social, and cognitive intelligence and personality as predictors of sales leadership performance.Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies,19(2), 191-201. Delbecq, A., House, R. J., de Luque, M. S., Quigley, N. R. (2013). Implicit Motives, Leadership, and Follower Outcomes An Empirical Test of CEOs.Journal of Leadership Organizational Studies,20(1), 7-24. Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives.The Leadership Quarterly,25(1), 36-62. Gilmore, P. L., Hu, X., Wei, F., Tetrick, L. E., Zaccaro, S. J. (2013). Positive affectivity neutralizes transformational leadership's influence on creative performance and organizational citizenship behaviors.Journal of Organizational Behavior,34(8), 1061-1075. Kim, Y. J., Van Dyne, L., Kamdar, D., Johnson, R. E. (2013). Why and when do motives matter? An integrative model of motives, role cognitions, and social support as predictors of OCB.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,121(2), 231-245. Lang, J. W., Zettler, I., Ewen, C., Hlsheger, U. R. (2012). Implicit motives, explicit traits, and task and contextual performance at work.Journal of Applied Psychology,97(6), 1201. Lussier, R. N., Achua, C. F. (2015).Leadership: Theory, application, skill development. Nelson Education. Nichols, A. L., Cottrell, C. A. (2014). What do people desire in their leaders? The role of leadership level on trait desirability.The Leadership Quarterly,25(4), 711-729. Northouse, P. G. (2015).Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Popper, M., Mayseless, O. (2013). Internal world of transformational leaders.Transformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead,5, 237. Roueche, P. E., Baker III, G. A., Rose, R. R. (2014).Shared vision: Transformational leadership in American community colleges. Rowman Littlefield. Ulrich, D., Zenger, J., Smallwood, N. (2013).Results-based leadership. Harvard Business Press.