IP SCHEME Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

IP SCHEME - Term Paper Example This is a critical paper that examines the way that XUMUC can efficiently network in its three branches. Technical details Expanding a network can be very challenging for any organization if proper and effective measures are not put in place. During the expansion, the organization has to decide on whether to change the whole networking structure or to continue with the previous addressing structure. Due to the networking challenges that XUMUC has and their need for change in the networking addressing to reduce the high administrative overhead and to enable the network to work efficiently, the networking structure has to be changed in this case (Plekta, 2000). To reduce high administration overhead, a client server network is necessary. This will ensure that there is only one administrator who is able to control the whole network as the other clients use the network. Since this is a wide area network, ach branch of XUMUC has to have one router which is connected to the different switc hes in the area that connects the computers in a topology that supports the client server relationship (Collins, 2003). The link of the WAN can be made by an optic fiber or a good wireless link. Since static IP addressing comes with a high administrative overhead, dynamic addressing is the best type of networking that can be effectively used in this case. In the dynamic addressing, each time a client boots, a discover message from the DHCP is automatically sent. An offer message is the answer that it receives for it to move on. In this type of IP addressing, the client automatically chooses their network without the approval of the admin. Dynamic addressing has several advantages as opposed to the static addressing. First of all, the client gets to set their own address automatically without having the administration privileges (Graham, 2001). This therefore reduces the high administration overhead that is currently present in the organization. The other major advantage is that when ever a client log in from a different location, the client is directly assigned anew IP address and can be able to access the network without any problem. However if the client returns to the previous location, then they are not able to find the previous IP address which they were using. IP addressing table Location Number of IP addresses required Address block assigned Gateway San Francisco 1290 172.16.0.0-172.16.7.255/21 157.55.27.90 Denver region 504 127.0.0.1 Denver campus 441 Remote office 1 28 Remote office 2 35 Houston region 350 157.55.27.90 Houston campus 329 Remote office 3 21 The table above represents the general IP addressing table that has been proposed for the three branches of the organization. It is however important that the network be able to accommodate changes such that whenever new users get to the system, they are able to get new IP addresses that are completely different from the ones in use. The number of IP addresses assigned in each location has to therefo re keep shifting depending on the number of users that the organization has at any given point. This ensures that the network not only functions efficiently but also be able to accommodate as many users without administration privileges. Conclusion Poor integration is a very difficult task to reverse. Due to this, XUMUC has to cover a lot of expenses so as to allow the shifting. Dynamic addressing is very convenient in this type of network since the

Economic context of Banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economic context of Banking - Essay Example There has been revolutionary structural reformation after financial liberalization in 1990s. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made its firm role as the administrative agency of supervision and banking. The structure of the banking sector has undergone a significant transformation wherein the public sector banks have been observed in losing their relative importance which resulted to have more domestic private banks and more foreign banks. Even if a number of measures have been taken by the government to ensure higher stability, competition and efficiency, there still exist some problems in with the banking system, for example profitability of public sector banks has not been increased, and foreign banks are not performing at their desired level and so on. The overall performance of the banking sector has improved over time, but desired level of performance has not been reached. Hence the paper also provides my opinions regarding some recommendations. Introduction In many countries gov ernment plays an important role in maintaining competition, efficiency and stability in the operation of banking system. However, it would be quite interesting to consider a particular country and examine to what extent government supports the banking system in enhancing competition, stability and efficiency. For this purpose, the banking system of India will be chosen in this paper as India has a very active and a very interesting banking sector where public, private and foreign banks have their own importance and operate simultaneously. This paper will first look at the banking system of India and the role that the Indian government does play in increasing competition, stability and efficiency in Indian banking sector. Thus it will go on analyzing the extent to which the governmental efforts have been able to enhance the performance of the banks. Finally, some recommendations would be forwarded on how to effectively increase competition, stability and efficiency of banking sector. Indian Banking sector and the role of government in increasing competition, stability and efficiency in Indian banking sector The Government of India when nationalizing all the popular Indian banks in 1969 sought that banking was "inspired by a larger social purpose" and should attend national importance and goals such as rapid development in agriculture, small scale industry and exports. Now a day a body of direct and indirect proof is there to show that credit markets in developing countries frequently fail to make credit where its social product might be the highest. (Agarwal, 2003) Nationalization of Indian banks has helped in meeting social needs of the country. Earlier, the banks only concentrated on lending their money to big industrial houses. But after nationalization, the banks extend their loans to small scale industrialists, peasants and other individuals also. Nationalization has also helped in expansion of banking network to the rural areas as well. Peasants and small scale industrialized are also getting loans at lower interest rates. All these have helped in the growth and development of relatively poor segment of the population. (Agarwal, 2003; Mohan, 2005) However, nationalization has put various regulations

Teenage Pregnancy Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Teenage Pregnancy - Annotated Bibliography Example One of the first main points that should be covered in this paper is to highlight what exactly would be the outcomes of somebody were to not get an abortion. Kate Kerzinke outlined an effective paper on this topic in 2003 in the New York Times. The author identifies that there is a cycle associated with teenage pregnancy which is that a teenage girl gets pregnant, leavers their formal education, becomes dependant on welfare and in turn raises a child that herself becomes a teenage mother and then repeats the cycle. Whilst this paper does not necessarily come directly from an academic journal it was published in the New York Times which is a fairly reputable publication. Moreover there may be a concern that the information is not the most current however for the purpose of this paper, the source will be used to discuss socioeconomic problems and not demographic trends so the information would remain up to date. The next source that will be examined I a paper that highlights where demographic trends are heading in regards to teenage abortion. Bielski, 2010 was an excellent source for this information. His work which appeared in the Globe and Mail identified that the abortion rate droped by approximately 36.9% in Canada. Although it is the case that the focus of this research was in the Canadian Market, one could make the argument that Canada and The United States are nations that are not totally unlike each other. Moreover the article appeared in a newspaper and not an academic journal but much like the New York Times, the Globe and Mail is a respected article and as such is heavily scrutinized by the Canadian public.

Self-awareness and Career Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Self-awareness and Career Management - Essay Example The developments and changes in the job market is changing and the trend is expected to continue this way in the future for instance, need of a wider variety of job dealings, and communication with a wider base of people; broader abilities, greater desire and enthusiasm is required for a successful career development. The self awareness theory: this theory states that when people centre their concentration on themselves, they evaluate and make comparisons of their character and their internal values and standards. People hence become conscious of themselves as aim assessors of themselves (Boniwell 2006). Several emotional states are increased by the concept of self awareness and people may in some cases attempt to run away from this by watching television, taking drugs and/or playing games. I realize that some people get to align their behaviour with the standards and this may have a negative impact on them if they do not meet these standards. I believe that the self awareness will help me to discover my inner standards inspiration and energy to work hard and achieve my goals. The business environment today in experiencing very dynamic changes as companies are expanding, restructuring, merging, de-merging, making new acquisitions and getting globalize (Boniwell 2006). Other aspects of the government and private institutions have also been affected this factors. The job market is exciting and showing a lot of demands as well as competition. I will carry out frequent personal review since these presenting conditions make career development very complicated. I have learnt a lot of theoretical approach to dealing with these conditions from studying this course. The important techniques I have obtained have helped me a lot to develop self concept which means am more self aware and discovering my true inners self in terms of weaknesses and strengths (Boniwell 2006). Before undertaking this module I did not actually get to understand the direction I was to take, the specific career to choose or what to target in future for future developments. I only believed that I would luckily land on a job, get rich and be happy; by making me to think about what I like doing and what makes me happy in life, my inspiration, and my strengths, I feel like am in a better position to explore my potential and to know how to use it in the future developments (Inkson 2006) Knowledge is expressed as power and this is a precise when referring to some people. This also applies to the way we understand ourselves. Psychologists have referred to this as a paradox. The first paradox is the imagination that people have. This can be enlightened by analysing them as they have no boundaries. When a person is imagining, he/she can do anything in his/her thoughts including flying, climbing to the highest mountain and win very great event (Boniwell 2006) However the reality is different and people's lives are restricted by boundaries like the law, inability, beliefs among others. The second paradox is the human spirit, this is the source of inspiration to most f the human activities, motivation and the reason people can overcome their frailties (Brown & Hesketh 2004). I have discovered that the human spirit is very important in realizing self awareness as it provides us with the desire

Transport and Maritime Traffic Essay Example for Free

Transport and Maritime Traffic Essay Cost is an important factor which trading industries will have to consider. In Europe and North America the proportion of development of road and rail is the highest at 25 to 35 per cent. Thus, trade is predominantly transacted by road and rail. Cargo between countries without a common border is carried mainly by sea because of the growth rates for air freight are more than double those for shipping in recent years. In comparison to transporting via ocean freight and air freight, maritime traffic is considerably much cheaper. Airlines bills a chargeable weight. Chargeable weight is calculated from a combination of the weight and size of a shipment. Whereas, sea carriers charge per container rates for shipping in standard containers. For example; while a standard shipment shipped from Singapore to Europe costs Sgd5000, the same shipment might cost up to Sgd35,000 via air freight. While weight can factor into the price from sea carriers, their charge tends to be based more on the size of a shipment. Thus, with larger and heavier shipments, it is much cheaper to ship by sea. Thus, the main advantage of marine transportation is its economies of scale making it the cheapest per unit of all transport modes which is one of the important factors as to why maritime traffic is growing. According to data statistics UK, US, EU, NZ and many other countries marine government data statistics show that maritime traffic holds the highest transportation statistics in the country. Growth in World Trade via globalization As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, the main reason behind the growth in maritime traffic is the growth in globalization. In the past, the WTO provided a new cycle to world trade whereby China’s economic opening led to their admission to the WTO in 2001 causing its exports to increase 4times within 5 years. Another example of integrated markets boosting international trade are exports from Mexico to the USA within 6 years of NAFTA being established. This measure taken by WTO helped newly-industrializing emerging economies, particularly China and India, for energy and mineral resources. These resources had to be transported regionally via marine traffic. This led to increasing quantities of goods being transported from far-distant countries via ships. (http://worldoceanreview. com/en/wor-1/transport/global-shipping/3/WTO). The growth in globalization causes the growth in maritime traffic as well. This had and is still causing a steady growth in maritime traffic as well. This is evident via the statistics review by the United Nations marine trade which shows that Around 80 per cent of the volume of international trade in goods is carried by sea, and the percentage is even higher for most developing countries. Thus, globalization has played a huge role as to why maritime traffic has and is growing. †¢Effective mode of transportation Physical properties of the various modes of transportation available also play a key role as to why maritime traffic is growing. Due to the physical properties of water conferring buoyancy and limited friction, maritime transportation is the most effective mode of transportation to move large quantities of cargo. The approximate maximum takeoff weight for air cargo planes is~910,000. worlds longest, heaviest trains. Demonstration union train-WTO†). Road transportation have both weight and distance constraints which will be the least option to consider for bulk and far distance transportation. Whereas, bulk carriers ships are designed to carry specific commodities. They include the largest tankers, the Ultra Large Crude Carriers which are up to ~500,000 dwt. (Aragon, James R. ; Messer, Tuuli Anna (2001). Masters handbook on ships business. Cambridge, Md: Cornell Maritime Press). In July 2009,the global merchant fleet consisted of a total of 53,005 vessels. In all, the global merchant fleet has a capacity of ~1192 million dwt. (http://worldoceanreview. com/en/wor-1/transport/global-shipping/3/). Thus, it is evident that maritime transportation is the only feasible mode of transportation for bulk shipping such as coal, minerals, oil tankers and other bulky goods for companies which needs to ship a large amount of goods at once, with longer lead times. This is one of the reasons as to why there is a growth in maritime traffic. (III)Conclusion Despite the fact that maritime transportation has high terminal costs since port infrastructures are among the most expensive to build, maintain and improve; maritime traffic is growing. As mentioned above, due to reasons such as cost efficiency, global trading and most effective transportation of heavy and bulky goods with long lead times; as long as there is world trade there will definitely be a demand and growth in maritime traffic.

The Impact Of Implicit Followership

The Impact Of Implicit Followership Gap on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Quality: A Followership Approach We are often enamoured with heroic leadership, attracted to individuals known for their character, who meet challenges and overcome adversity with their charisma (1-SAF article). But we often forget, without followersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Napolean would have been just a man with grandiose ambitions (Lee, 1991, p. 2). While leadership has been viewed as a reciprocal relationship between leaders and followers rather than purely leader-centric, (Hollander, xxxx or 12-SAF article), the huge academic literature on leadership has focused mainly on the leaders characteristics, selection, development, and their contributions to organisational success (for review, see Avolio, Walumbwa Weber, 2009). In the words of Lord, Brown and Freiberg, the follower remains an under-explored source of variance in understanding leadership processes(p. 167, 11, -SAF article). Followers are integral to the leadership process (Marion Uhl-Bien, 2001). Yet, their influence is often either downplayed or neglected. The emphasis on leaders over followers has resulted in companies spending 80 percent of their time and research efforts focusing on the 20 percent within organizations, while spending barely 20 percent of their time and energy with the other 80 percent (Uken, in Riggio et al., 2008 book). Consider the huge resources allocated for leadership development that stand in stark contrast to the absence of plans for followership training. The 2003 United States Training Industry Study revealed 85% of U.S. companies offer leadership training to their employees (Gavin, 2003). The financial costs of leadership training alone is approximately US$6,000 to US$7,500 per participant annually (Delahoussaye, 2001). For large corporations, the amount can add up to millions of dollars (Brown, Eager, Lawrence, 2005). In addition, most training budgets support only 20 percent (leaders) in the organization, overlooking the training needs of the other 80 percent (followers). Moreover, many leaders in organizations have followership roles too. Managers at different points in their careers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ play both roles, though seldom equally well (Kelley, 1988, p. 142). Organizations must recognise a good leader or a good follower requires both leadership and followership, and should aim to develop both in its employees. Research objectives This study aims to examine LMX quality from a followership approach. This study would be the first to examine the followership expectation gap in LMX quality. How do Implicit Followership Theories (IFTs) impacts the leader-member exchange (LMX) quality in a dyadic relationship? How does the followership expectation gap, or the gap between leaders IFT and the actual followers behaviour, affect the leader-member exchange (LMX) quality? The Followership Approach Follower-centric approaches to leadership (Meindl, 1995, p. 330) considers how followers view their leaders and their leaders behaviours. Nonetheless, they are still primarily leader-centric (Shamir, Pillai, Bligh, Uhl-Bien, 2007). On the other hand, followership approach or follower-based approach (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995, p. 223) considers how followers view their own behaviours and roles when engaging with leaders (Uhl-Bien Pillai, 2007). Followership explores how followers behaviours are related to organizational outcomes, e.g. leadership, and the follower becomes the primary focus. Thus, with its focus on the less celebrated role of followers, the followership approach helps reverse the lens (Shamir, 2007) in leadership research. The traditional perspective of the passive follower, characterised by the attributes of conformity and docility, has been increasingly replaced by the active follower, who is courageous to shape the outcome of leadership in todays organizational context (SAF article). Good followership involves subordinates who can think independently, send supervisors honest and truthful massages, and implement difficult decisions (Lundin, Lancaster, Gardner, 1990). In the contemporary context where team work, knowledge workers, and shared leadership is emphasized, good followership skills have never been more important. Indeed, having exemplary, courageous, and star followers is regarded as a precondition for organizational success (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 1992). Leader-Member Exchange Unlike leadership theories that contend that leaders have a predominant leadership style and tend to treat all their followers in a similar fashion, the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory (Dansereau, Graen, Haga, 1975) states that leaders form unique exchange relationships of different quality with each of their followers. Here, the dyadic relationship is seen as reciprocal.The role of the follower is informally negotiated between followers and their leaders over time (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995). Regarding the development of the relationship, leader-follower relationships are thought to be initiated through an initial offer from the leader, which then is potentially reciprocated by the follower (Graen, 2003). After this initial phase, in which the follower can prove him- or herself, the relationship continues with a reciprocation of contributions, that is, a reciprocation of positive actions that foster the relationship by fulfilling the other partys needs. Put differently, depending on the leaders perception of the followers contribution, the leader will feel more or less indebted to reciprocate with an own contribution until he or she perceives an equilibrium of contributions. At this stage, the follower perceives the contribution of the leader and has to decide whether he or she needs to adjust his or her own contribution, etc. As long as either of the parties still perceives that an equilibrium of contributions is not reached, the relationship is still dynamic, that is, i t can either deteriorate (when a party perceives the other to contribute less than him- or herself and thus also lowers his or her own contributions), or it can thrive (when a party perceives the other to contribute more than him- or herself and thus also increases his or her own contributions). Indeed, relationships are found to be more satisfying and thus stable when a party perceives the contributions to be almost equal or the other party to contribute more (Buunk, Doosje, Jans, Hopstaken, 1993). Contrary, a lack of reciprocation by the other party will lead people to experience negative feelings, especially when they feel that they themselves have contributed a lot to the relationship (Walster, Walster, Berscheid, 1978). Summarizing, the stability of a relationship depends on perceived reciprocation of ones own contributions by the other (Blau, 1964; Burgess Huston, 1979) and the relationship can be considered stable when both parties perceive each other as contributing an ap proximately equal amount. Leadership effectiveness is related to the quality of the dyadic relationship between the leader and follower (van Breukelen, Schyns, LeBlanc, 2006). A high quality exchange relationship is characterized by mutual trust, respect, and liking (Dansereau et al., 1975). The quality of dyadic relationship has been found to be positively related to organizational outcomes (Ilies, Nahrgang, Morgeson, 2007). Specifically, followers in high quality LMX relationships work harder (Basu Green, 1997), perform better (Vecchio Norris, 1996), experience more satisfaction with the leader (Schriesheim Gardiner, 1992), experience more job satisfaction (Scandura Graen, 1984), and are less motivated to leave the team or organization (Vecchio Norris, 1996). Implicit Followership Theories Leaders and followers alike rely on implicit theories to process social information and make social judgements (Lord and Maher, 1991). Implicit Follower Theories (IFTs) help to advance our understanding of leadership by placing the focus on followers and examining leaders cognitions (Avolio et al., 2009). IFTs are cognitive schemas which represent the traits and behaviors that characterize followers (Rosenberg Jones, 1972). Just like Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs) are used to understand how leaders are viewed, IFTs can be used to understand how followers are perceived. IFTs are most accurately represented by Followership Prototype and Antiprototype (Sy, 2010). Followership Prototype is defined as industry, enthusiasm, and good citizen, while Followership Antiprototype is defined as conformity, insubordination, and incompetence. It is noteworthy to mention Engle and Lord (1997) proposed leaders develop prototypes of effective followers, called Implicit Performance Theories, and then compare follower performance to this prototype (cf. Borman, 1987; Sanders, 1999; Wernimont, 1971). Thes comparison process leads to the labelling of followers as either effectively or ineffectively contributing to relationship. However, IPTs are restricted to followers performance, whereas the cognitive schemata for IFTs include a diverse set of attributes that would reflect on the overall quality of the relationship (e.g., being honest, enthusiastic, or trustworthy). IFTs are broader than Implicit Performance Theories and therefore better capture the range of behaviours and characteristics that followers may be expected to contribute to the LMX relationship. IFT and LMX IFTs serve as benchmarks from which individuals interpret, understand, and respond to followers, and predispose individuals to judge and respond to followers in a particular way (Engle Lord, 1997). Indeed, leaders have different follower-schemas that predispose them to interpret events differently, which results different behaviors toward the followers (Goodwin et al., 2000). This is expected as implicit theories affect judgments and behaviors as they operate on the levels of conscious and unconscious information processing (van Gils et al., 2010). Leaders who have more positive IFTs may behave differently towards followers than leaders who have more negative IFTs (McGregor, 1960). Differences in leaders behaviors towards followers, as a function of their IFTs should impact leader-follower interpersonal outcomes such as liking for leaders and followers, relationship quality, etc. Individuals engage in a matching process of comparing their IFTs with a follower and based on the degree of congruence, individuals form an impression of followers that subsequently shapes their behaviors towards followers. Leaders with proactive constructions of followership may become very frustrated by followers who act consistent with passive constructions; leaders with passive constructions may view proactive followers as pushy, insubordinate and disrespectful Passive followers may find it difficult to work with leaders who have a proactive construction of followership; proactive followers may find authoritarian leaders old school and highly ineffective IFT and Followership Expectation Gap If the process of comparison between actual behaviour and implicit leadership theory exists for leaders, it thus seems only plausible to assume that there is an equivalent implicit theory for the follower. Indeed, Van Gil posits, from the leaders perspective, a match between perceived follower behaviour and leaders IFTs will lead the leader to evaluate the LMX quality more favourably. From the followers perspective, a match between own behaviour and IFT will lead to the perception of higher own contribution to the relationship. The followership expectation gap is the difference between IFT and actual follower behavior. According to Saltz (2004), When a followers behavior match the leaders IFT, the leader is likely to be satisfied with the follower. This minimizes the leadership expectation gap. t is expected that leaders are likely to develop commitment to the organization the leader represents. However, if the followers characteristics contradict the leaders expectations, the leaders are likely to experience dissatisfaction and this will undermine commitment to the organization (Saltz, 2004). Sy (2010) found leaders Followership Prototype was positively related to follower outcomes, namely liking for leaders, relationship quality with leaders, trust in leaders, and job satisfaction, while leaders Followership Antiprototype was negatively related to all follower outcomes. Hypotheses Leaders Followership Prototype would be expected to be positively related to LMX quality. Conversely, leaders Followership Antiprototype would be expected to be negatively related to LMX quality. In addition, the followership expectation gap would be expected to be negatively related to the LMX quality. Measures Participants would consist of middle Implicit Followership Theories would be assessed using Sys IFT scale. The IFT scale consists of 18 items measures six dimensions of Followership Prototype and Antiprototype. Followership Prototype consists of Industry, Enthusiasm, and Good Citizen, while Followership Antiprototype consist of Conformity, Insubordination, and Incompetence. Each dimension consists of three items. Leaders would be asked to rate how characteristic each item was for a follower. Responses would be measured with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from not at all characteristic to extremely characteristic. The scale has a Cronbachs ÃŽÂ ± of .70. To measure the quality of relationship between leaders and their subordinates, the Liden and Maslyns (1998) multi-dimensional model of leader-member exchange (LMX-MDM) scale was used. The LMX-MDM scale comprises of 12 items, and incorporates the dimensions of affect, loyalty, contribution and professional respect, with each dimension consisting of three items. Responses were measured using a five-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Cronbachs ÃŽÂ ± for the scale was .90. The actual followers behaviour (AB) would be measured using the same scale for IFT. Leaders would be asked to rate the extent the items in the IFT scale truly describe the behaviour they see in their followers. Responses would be measured with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from not at all true to very true. Information on gender, age, work experience (in years), duration of leader-follower relationship (in years), job position and highest academic qualification would be obtained. To ensure response to the items measuring IFT does not affect the response to the items measuring the actual behaviour, the order of the questionnaires would be IFT, LMX then AB. Followership expectation gap would be obtained by computing the squared difference between the IFT score and actual follower behaviour score. LMX quality would be obtained by adding up all the LMX dimensions. The association between leadership expectation gap and LMX quality would be examined using Simple Regression Analysis. The effect of duration of leader-follower relationship would be controlled all analysis, as it is known to have a moderating effect on LMX (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995). Reflections IFTs may advance our understanding of Leader Member Exchange (LMX) theory by illuminating how congruence in leaders and followers ILTs and IFTs may account for relationship quality, i.e., leaders and followers both have ILTs and IFTs that function as interpretation frameworks from which relationship quality is judged (van Gils et al., 2010).

Birth Orders Effect on Personality Essay examples -- Birth Order Huma

Birth Order's Effect on Personality Birth-order could be one way to gain an understanding of friends, family members and co-workers. Research has shown that the birth-order indeed has an effect on personality. Birth-order of course does not explain everything about human behavior, personality is also affected by many different factors such as heritage, the environment of the upbringing, family size, education etc. There are four basic classifications of birth-order: the oldest, the only, the middle and the youngest born. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. The birth-order factor is not always exact, but it does give many clues about why people are the way they are (Leman, 1985). First-born children tend to be highly motivated to achieve. In school, first-borns tend to work harder for grades than later-borns do. They often grow to be more competitive and have higher educational and career goals. Of the first twenty-three astronauts sent into outer space, twenty-one were first-borns or only children. Some characteristics of first-borns are: goal setting, high achievers, perfectionist, responsible, organized, rule keepers, determined, detail orientated. Only children are considered as a specialized type of first-borns. They are generally characterized much the same as first-borns who have siblings. Some famous first-borns include Mikhail Gorbachev (Russian leader), Jimmy Carter (president), Albert Einstein (scientist), Sally Ride (astronaut), and ...