Hunting should not be outlawed Essay

Hunting should not be outlawed. It is still a source of food for people who still live off the land . Hunting can be a very effective method of population control. Hunting is a sport of tradition it offers recreation from everyday life. Hunting animals for food is better for people because it does not have all the hormones that farm raised animals have. There aren’t very many diseases that affect humans in wild animals. Majority of the animals that have seasons are edible. Hunting is a very effective method of population control. If too many animals of one species or several related species live in one area they could possible wipe out there entire food source or sources. Then many of them would starve to death which unknown to the tree huggers that want to stop this is a very painful death, being shot is a very quick painless death. Hunting can save an ecosystem and entire species, by killing some of the animals in the ecosystem you can save the food source for the animals still left living. Hunting is a tradition in most of the world. People have been hunting for tens of thousands of years. Many people still use hunting as their many food source throughout the world. It is also a recreational activity. Tradition’s should not be outlawed. Hunting can help save the environment in which they live in by population control. It is a source of food. It’s an activity that people have been using to get away from society as we know it for several years. In conclusion Hunting should not be outlawed.

Leadership Characteristics

Leadership Characteristics Executive summary: Since early beginning of the last century, the leadership has emerged as an important issue in the business regard of the dramatic transformation in the world economy. Thus far, the following report represents an attempt to shed the light on the leadership issue. In order to provide a hint of the leadership meaning, the report will demonstrate brief idea about some of the leadership theories which perceive the leadership skills form different view.The report then will identify certain characteristics that should be attained in the personality of the leader which ensure his successful. The requisite of the contemporary leadership skills has appeared at the latter part of twentieth century, regard of the globalisation phenomenon as well the rapid development in technology; which resulted in the increase of the competition. As the knowledge does not stop, leaders require training and development, thus, the report will also investigate the pr ocess of leadership development. 1Chapter One: Introduction: Throughout the last century and insofar the 21st century, the mankind has undergone dramatic transformation in the whole domains, and the individuals needs and requirements significantly expended, however, many people managed to maintain successfully their life and obtained the benefit of this change, while others could not cope with this change, which resulted with dissatisfaction and pessimistic view of the life.Significant amount of researches and investigations have been done in order to identify such a pattern or a process that can raise the performance of human beings, thus the concept of leadership appeared as a critical requisite for any entity, including an individuals, family, organisations or even countries. In the early part of 20th century, ‘Freud (1927) in his famous book theCivilisation and It Discontents, he approached the leadership issue when he said that groups of individuals need leaders to provid e them with an identity and sense of purpose’ (Higgs, 2003) With the rapid transformation in the world, the competition has become more aggrieve, and organisations urged to deal with this rapid change and the continue development has become an urgent need for the company prosper and survive. Hence, Leadership issue was put under the limelight as an important process for the company sustainability.Although there have been momentous efforts devoted to investigate the leadership issue including theories, definitions and identification for its characteristics, till now there is no complete agreement about the notion of leadership, since these different suggestions and concepts approached the leadership from different perspectives. The following report embodies an attempt to shed the light on the leadership issues, throughout quick review of the leadership theories, and examine the leadership characterises in both the 20th and the 21st century, before dissect the reflection of the personal-experience on the leadership characteristics Chapter Two: Leadership Theories: Due to the importance of the leadership issue, many theories have been emerged throughout the time, each theory tackles with the leadership from different perspectives and aspects, and one can not determine whether this theory right and others are wrong; however the main theories of the leadership are: †¢Trait Theory: this theory defines specific characteristics which are existed in the successful leadership such as attitudes, personality, intelligence and decisiveness, regardless of any consideration of other assisted factors such as team work and the internal and external work environment.However, there are two criticisms for this theory. â€Å"The first, it doesn’t specify what the most important leadership characteristics are, and the second, it ignores the contribution of the others. † (Dessler, 1976) †¢Behavioural Theory: it approaches the leadership from another pe rspectives, it dissects the achievement of leaders and the outcomes of their contributions within the organisations. The remarkable differences between the trait and behavioural theory are that the last one emphasises on oth the accomplishment of the task as the main indications for the leader success, and employees’ satisfaction, †¢Situational leadership: According to this theory, the effectiveness of the leader is significantly correlated with situational factors which restrict the performance of the leader positively or negatively. In other words, â€Å"the efficiency of leader’s skills or traits are determined by the situation in which leaders exercise leadership† (Dessler,1976), These factors are: -Follower’s contributions. The availability and the utilization of the resources. However, creating the harmonisation and the collaboration between the situational factors and the leader are essential to determine leader’s effectiveness. †¢ Contingency Theories: basically, the assumption of this theory, that the behaviour of the leader can not be standardised, instead, the leader should consider situational factors. The success of the leader in this theory is measured by the ability of leader to adopt such a style to achieve certain task with a consideration to the followers.This theory was the beginning of new view of leadership; based on this assumption other contingency theories were emerged such as, Fiedler’s concept of situational favourability (1967), which defined position power, task structure and leader-member relation, as the main factors that determine the effectiveness of the leader’s style. Path-goal is another theory (House and Mitchell 1974) which assumes that the leader has a significant contribution on the follower to enable them to achieve their objectives. Horner, 1997) †¢Transactional theories: it assumes that since the task and responsibilities have been identified, the leader ha s a full right to do whatever it requires to achieve this task. This theory depends on praise and rewards as motivation system for followers, meanwhile, punishment is used to ensure the abidance by the roles and the request of the task. However, this theory is criticised as it assumes the behaviour of a human being is predictable without any consideration of the reflection of the environment. Transformational theories: this theory depends on the development of the vision and convinces the follower, in other words, the leader adopts the visions and does whatever it requires to encourage followers. In this case the leader will become an inspiration for followers and they create their relationship with them depending on trust. As it is clearly perceived, those theories tackle with the leadership from different perspectives. Since there is no enough room, the report will investigate the transformational theory. Transformational Theory: This theory was generated under assumption of peopl e follow a person who has vision and passion.He or she will inspire them to achieve the goal. Transformational leadership is the modern view of leadership that seems to match with the style of business leader in 21st century since the business competition; turbulence, unforeseen contingencies, and rapid change in technologies create such a momentous stress. Under this stress, the need for transformational leaders who are proactive is emerged as an important requisite to help follower to cope with the dramatic change. (Bass, 1997) The characteristic of transformational leaders is mainly embodied by their charisma; they inspire followers by their innovation and ability to create change.However, the success of charismatic leader is through a belief in themselves rather than others, while transformational leaders concern with other around them such as colleagues and employees. They are not narcissistic as charismatic. This style of leader will create an important transformation to both organisation and employees. Moreover, it may impact the strategy and the structure of the organisation. The power of transformational leader is not derived by the reward system or rules and regulation, yet it is obtained from an intangible value such as their visions and the relationship among others. Draft, 2002) According to Tichy and Devanna (Lussier, 1996), there are three main activities for transformational leadership. Recognition for the need of revitalisation: leaders should understand the urgent need of the organisation for transformation, in order to create such a sustainable resource of competitive advantage to maintain the company success in such a competitive environment. Creating a new vision: by having visualise in innovation and organisation changed, leader will be able to inspire and motivate others to reach the objectives.Institutionalising change: it is essential for transformational leaders to put an effort to convince others. Leaders need to advise and create tr ust among employees in the organisation in order to let them understand the idea of vision and reach the goal. The style of transformational leadership tends to match with the business world today since it is flexible and innovator. In addition, there are many business articles mentioned that workforce is the most important resource for organisation. Thus, this type of leadership takes into consideration of both business activity and relationship within organisation.These two factors pave the passage of the company success. There are several distinctions between those theories; nevertheless, they agree that there are certain characteristics should be attained in the leader to ensure the efficiency of his contribution. 3Chapter Three: Leadership Characteristics: 3. 1Leadership Definition: As there are many theories approached the leadership, there are also many definitions have been suggested for the leadership, some authors identify the leadership as a process to achieve groups/ org anisations goals, others see the notion of leadership as trait, transformation or even as management.However, the definition of leadership by Rost (1993) can be used to dissect this notion (8). He defines the leadership as an influence relationship among leader and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes. According to Rost, leadership is: †¢Influence Relationship: the influence will be in both directions top-bottom and bottom-top. †¢Intend real changes: it means leadership includes substantial development in both leaders and followers. †¢Mutual purposes: both leader and followers agree about certain purposes which can be considered as missions or statements. . 2Leadership Characteristics: There is a view argues that leaders are born and other say it is a science can be taught, both of those views did not describe leadership accurately, â€Å"leadership is an art to be studied, practised, developed and lived. † (Scott, 1996) There ar e certain characteristics that determine the effectiveness of leadership and shape the performance of leaders: 1. Communicative: the importance of this skill, that it provides the leader with an ability to deliver precisely the ideas, visions and objectives required to be achieved.However, it is crucial to understand that the communications include the flow of data and information in two sides, top-bottom and bottom-top. Leaders have to consider sharing the ideas and unleash the contribution of employees, since occasionally, employees come up with innovative suggestions that might enhance or develop certain objectives. 2. Rewards and recognizes achievement: express the appreciation for others efforts, has a vital role as a motivation. Leaders could achieve that by financial rewards or even by praise the follower.Sometime simple gestures such as approving nod, thumbs- up or even quick comment like ‘great job’, ‘you are doing well’ is enough to encourage foll owers to improve their performance and productivity. 3. Genuine interest in others: it is undeniable fact that financial rewards have a significant influence on followers; meanwhile, there are other motivations that should be attained. The leader should recognise the emotional support for followers since it creates loyalty.Genuine interest does not require a lot of efforts; it might be expressed by asking about the personal health or family. For instance, in the company that I used to work, the owner asks employees about their general life before he asked about any other thing related to the work, this simple action was enough to motivate employees to work as they own the company. 4. Team orientation: the successful leader takes into account the importance of team-work; he gathers the followers and discusses with them the task or the missions.The leader listens to their opinion, stimulates their innovation, and finally creates the harmony required to achieve the task. This gives emp loyees more responsibility to improve their performance and productivity since they have significant role as decision- makers. 5. Visionary and idea-oriented: the long-term objectives are vital issue in the successful leadership agenda; he always seeks for new ideas and creativity. They consider the available competitive advantages and establish the stream of substantial competitive advantages.When Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (Dubai’s ruler) unveiled the growth strategy of 2015, it was unsurprising for many economists that the city had met its 2010 GDP target two years ago. Many people argue that Dubai is only a bubble and it would diminish after it consumes its oil. However, this completely untrue, nowadays, 74% of emirits GDP derives from real-estate, tourism and retail sectors (Kerr, 2007). The rapid strides of the development of Dubai is referred to the log-term successful visions of it rulers, and his ability to create new competitive advantages for the country instead of the oil.Similar to that in the business world, â€Å"Henry Ford by his long term vision as well as rational risk calculated he managed to predict the market and customer trend and made Ford on of the most successful organisation. † (Grint, 2000) 6. Decisiveness, responsibility and Integrity: although, it has been mentioned that followers should be involved in decision-making process, the leader is still the ultimate decision-maker depending on the ability to consider the right decision in the proper time.Since a decision has been made, the leader is completely responsible for the consequences of any possible risk, even if the leader is involved directly in the execution. Integrity is also very important, â€Å"leaders do not use followers as means to achieve their purpose in satisfying the shareholder; instead, they understand that their contribution should consider the whole stakeholders. † (Bowie et al, 2000) 7. Competence: the word of competence derives from innovation, training and development, accumulated experience, and the ability of the leader to learn.Since the leadership is an art, leaders have to consider the importance of shaping and the development of their skills; this should be attained by substantial willing for knowledge and self-development. Those characteristics are very important to be attained by the leaders because they have crucial impact on the effectiveness of leadership, moreover, the effective leaders manage to create synergy between their followers, and loyalty required for achieving certain objectives and tasks. 4Chapter Four: Leadership in the 21st Century:Since the latter part of twentieth century the world has witnessed dramatic change in the whole domains, â€Å"due to the rapid strides of technologies development, the spread of the globalisation phenomenon, demographic shifts, migration and the rapid degradation of social and natural capital – are creating opposing tensions. † (Connor et al, 2003, P. 59). Taking into account those challenges, the demand of leadership has been increased noticeably with an urgent requisite of organisations for framework that tates the new criteria of leadership. Some of these are an expansion for the previous characteristics of leadership and others are new, however, those could be summarised as: †¢Understanding the Culture Diversity: although the geographical barriers have been eliminated, the cultural barriers are still an enormous challenge for businesses. Leaders should be aware that doing business is different from nation to nation, and it is completely restricted by the national traditions and habits.For instant: In the USA, Innovations and achievements are considered as individual effort, hence, the influence of the individual recognition will be obvious in Human Resource Management of the American firms, individual reward system, appraisal and even in the job designed. While in China the individual efforts and innovation s are referred to the founder of the firm. In Chinese tradition the achievement are always referred to the collective units such as families, organisations, and the country. (Tsang, 2007) The misunderstanding in the communication is another consequence of the lack of culture appreciation.Many conflicts were occurred, contracts were rejected and negotiations failed at the last stage because of the lack of communication with other culture. Thus far, the comprehensive understanding for influence of the culture on business is vital, because the world has become more united under the umbrella of globalisation. †¢Strategic thinking: An organisation can not be considered as an individual entity, instead it is influenced by external factors, such as competitors, suppliers, customers, critical financers and fluctuation in the market demand.From this view the needs of substantial change in the corporate strategy emerges as an important requisite to enable the company to cope with change of the business environment. However, â€Å"the ways-of-thinking of the leader have continues impact on corporate reorientation. † (Hendry et al,1993). However, it is important to understand that strategic thinking is different from the strategic planning, â€Å"Mintzberg argues that strategic planning derives from strategic thinking† (Bonn, 2001, P63). The first aspect of the strategic thinking is observation and company knowledge.The leader observes the company daily life with its complexity and understands the drivers of the organisation performance and the influence of the external factors on this performance. The second aspect of the strategic thinking is creativity; it is the core of strategic thinking. The leader seeks the substantial development for his organisation; he identifies solutions for the company problems and creates vision which will determine the future of firm. Thereafter, the strategic thinking of the leader establishes the implementation required to achieve the company vision.Sharing vision with others is another significant element for the strategic thinking successful, since it generates loyalty and encourage them because they participate in decision-making process. Jeffery Bezos the founder of Amazon is considered as an important example of a successful leader, in such a high competitive business sector like the online, where other companies struggle to cope with the rapid stride of technology, Amazon imposes itself as the leader of the online industries and especially the e- retailers, there is no doubt that the strategic thinking of Bezos is an ultimate key of the Amazon success.Bezos always has one eye on the future, in order to build the company long term objectives, however, his strategic thinking embodies by creating the Amazon vision and establishing the strategy needed to achieve the company objectives. Innovation is one of most important aspect of Bezos strategic thinking, since Amazon invests huge amount of mon ey to provide the world with amazing technologies such as Elastic Compute Cloud (ECC) to ensure that the company is still the leader of the dot-com race. Hof, 2006) Whenever the world doubts, if Amazon can fulfil its promise to revolutionise retailing, Bezos wonders the people with such an innovative idea to reinforce Amazon position as being the e-retailer leader. With his strategic thinking as well as his creative working-team, Amazon never stops building its substantial competitive advantages. Humanistic awareness: as workforce constitutes the most value asset of the firm, the leader has significant responsibility to ensure their satisfaction; considerable motivation system, training and development, praise, empowerment, participation in decision-making process are samples to obtain employees satisfaction. Since they have impact on employees’ productivity and innovation. However, employees’ retention reflects the level of their satisfaction, and appreciation for com pany leader. Learning and self-awareness: the leader has to have a profound knowledge about his organisation to be able to recognise its capability in order to create the vision and framework and means needed to achieve this vision, moreover, the successful leader is knowledge seeker to cope with rapid change in the business world. Self-awareness is another issue that leaders should take into consideration; they distinguish their weaknesses and strengths, and use the last one to eliminate the weaknesses to improve the effectiveness of their leadership.Hence, leaders empower their ability to inspire and unite employees around themselves to maintain the company performance. 5Chapter Five: Leadership Development: The increase of the competition in the business world urges organisations to search more for competitive advantages in order to be able to survive and conquer their competitors in such a hostile business environment. Nowadays organisations eventually start to concern about lea dership development and devote tangible efforts to improve efficiencies of its individuals.However, the leadership development program should be prepared comprehensively in order to attain its purpose. The 360 degree appraisal system is an important step to initiate this program, since it provides feedback about the employee performance from different resources which helps to determine the improvement required regard to his strengths and weaknesses. (Ladyshewsky, 2007). Thereafter, the priority of the leadership development will be for the higher level managers, regard to their expected contribution on their subordinates, yet the improvement of the subordinate should be in the leadership development agenda.The leadership development program should cover the weakness of the employees that has listed in the 360 degree appraisal; meanwhile, it should depend on modern techniques and case studies from other companies, rather than depending on the literatures and theories only. The final step in the leadership development program is the evaluation which derived from many criteria, such as the feedback of the program, the examination of the participant’s understanding, and the tangible outcomes that the company will acquire which is the decisive for the program evaluation. Leskiw et al, 2007) However, there is another view should be deemed in the issue of leadership development, individuals perseverance is ultimate criteria for development, leader should have enough credibility to admit there weaknesses and finds the appropriate strategy to mitigate the impact of this weakness, moreover, the leader should be knowledge seeker to obtain the benefit of the others experience. 6Chapter Eight: Conclusion: The leadership an old requisite in the human beings life, nevertheless, it has become a considerable obsession for the organisations, regard to the substantial transformation in the world business.Although the theories of the leadership are different, they agree th at there are several characteristic that should be attain by a person in order to be such a successful leader. Most of the leadership theories concern about the characteristic needed to reinforce two main things, creating competitive advantages and the workforce. As the workforce is the most important asset for the firm, the leader should consider employee alignment around the company objectives throughout the leader humanistic consideration as followers need inspiration, different kind of motivation in order to enhance their performance.Meanwhile, the leader should eventually find the resource of the competitive advantages. Due to the dissemination of the globalisation phenomenon as well as the rapid development in technology, organisations require new leadership characteristic to cope with change in the business environment. However, the new leadership characteristics have emerged from the need for crossing the culture barriers, since it is an enormous obstacle for organisation. C reating the long-term planning depends on the strategic thinking of the leader to identify new vision for the company.The increase in the world competition is accomplished with raise of the leadership demand, thus far organisations should invest considerably in improving their leadership capability, since the world development will never stop. References Bass, B. M. , (1998), Stress and Transactional-Transformational Leadership, Transformational Leadership: Industrial, Military, and Educational Impact, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Bonn, I. , (2001) Developing Strategic Thinking as a Core Competency, Management Decision, Vol. 39, No. , pp. 63-71 Bowie, N and Elmer, L. , (2000), Kantian Theory of Leadership, Leadership & organisation Development Journal, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 185-193 Connor, R. and Mackenzie-Smith, P. (2003), The Leadership Jigsaw -finding the Missing Piece, Business Strategy Review, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp 59-66 Dessler, G. , (1976) Leadership and Supervision, Organ isation and Management: Contingency Approach, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Publication. Draft, R. L. , (2002), Management, 6th Ed. Mason, OH: South-Western Publication. Grint, K. (2000), Henry Ford: The Blind Business Visionary, The Arts of Leadership, Oxford: Oxford University Press Hendry, J (ed) and Johnson, G (ed) with Newton, J (1993), Strategic Thinking: Leadership and the Management of Change, England: John Wiley Publication Higgs, M. , (2003) How can we make sense of leadership in the 21st century? , Leadership & organisation Development Journal, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 273-284 Hof, R. D. , (13/10/2006), Jeff Bezos' Risky Bet, Business week magazine [Online]. Available from Business week: http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/06_46/b4009001. tm Accessed (20/04/2007)) Horner, M. , (1997) Leadership Theory: Past, Present and Future, Team Performance Management, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 270-287 Kerr, S. , (24/07/2007), Emirate Sets its Sights on Trebled GDP by 2015, The Financial Tim es. Economy, pp. 2 Ladyshewsky, K. R, () A Strategic Approach for Integrating Theory to Practice in Leadership Development, Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 426-443 Leskiw, S and Singh, P. , (2007), Leadedrship Development: Learning from Best Practices, Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 444-464 Lussier, R. N. , (1996), Human relations in organizations: A skill-building approach. 2nd Ed. Chicago, IL: Irwin, Inc Rost, J. C, (1993), Leadership definition, Leadership for the Twenty-First Century, London: Praeger Publication. Scott , E. D. and Kleiner, B. H, (1996), Good? Leadership, Management Development Review, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 30-33 Tsang, D. , (2007), Leadership, National Culture and Performance Management in The Chinese Software Industry, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 270-284

A library of ancient information

Inside most of the cells in each human being resides molecules known as DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid. These molecules are made up of four different bases which are assigned the letters G, C, A and T (for guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine) and the manner by which these bases are arranged or sequenced defines the particular kind of protein that they will give rise to. Given that humans are highly complex organisms, it is natural and correct to assume that we are made up of a huge number of different proteins that are coded for by an equally large number of different DNA sequences known as genes (Krogh, 2003). The totality of an organism’s genes is known as its genome and since each gene provides the instructions for making a specific protein, the genome can be thought of as a collection or library of instruction manuals for producing all the proteins necessary for an organism to function normally and survive (Krogh, 2003). This collection though, is not one that is built up as the organism grows but rather, one that is inherited from the organism’s parents. Human beings have 46 sets of these instruction manuals called chromosomes. Chromosomes come in pairs but during reproduction, only half of each pair is passed on by each parent to their offspring so that the offspring would likewise end up having a total of 46 chromosomes (Krogh, 2003). This goes on for each new generation of offspring produced and so if we try to trace things back we can imagine how we have, for example, inherited the gene for our particular hair color from either our mother or father, and how they in turn have likewise inherited theirs from either of their parents. Going a long way back towards our ancestors’ generation, we can therefore imagine ourselves as having inherited inside us a library of ancient instruction manuals which tell our body how to produce proteins practically the same way that they have been produced in our ancestors. Naturally though it would be expected that during the course of time, modifications may have been made in these instructions but the fact still remains that these basic instructions were passed on from one generation to the next so that the information it carries may serve succeeding generations.

Setting Climate and Culture - The Manager's Responsibility Essay

Setting Climate and Culture - The Manager's Responsibility - Essay Example I believe, establishing and maintaining open communications in an organization is one of the most prime methods of making your employee role playing towards the company's goals and objectives. It makes and feels your company's employees more valuable. Moreover, open communication also results in high productivity with cost effectiveness. It has been observed that conflict between workers and management occurs when communication fails. To create an open communication environment, manager should make a clear distinction among workers to communicate about work issues and listen carefully to supervisor instructions and answer him/her as asked. "A supportive communication climate encourages open, constructive, honest and effective interaction. A defensive climate, on the other hand, leads to competitive and destructive conflict. The competent communicator strives to maintain a supportive communication climate". (http://planet.tvi.edu/idc/Documents/ClassroomClimateweb.htm) I prefer the supportive communication instead of defensive because as far as problem orientation is concerned, the supportive communication provides invitation to the group of workers to open their views by working together to reach a solution of a problem. The supportive communication is responsive to all employees; it coveys a message that is understandable and generates interest problem solving steps. The supportive behavior creates equality among all employees and consequently, the supportive communication in an organization creates message that indicates equal worth of all subjugated employees. On the other hand, the defensive communication lack essence of problems and thus, it creates communication gap in many ways. "Organizational values are moral boundaries - the lines the organization will not cross. They are the ethical standards by which organizations measure themselves, and by which they invite the Community to measure them. The working credo you will create from these values will be a commitment to the community to do your work in a way they would be proud of". (http://www.help4nonprofits.com/ValuesExercise.pdf) One can determine the organizational values of employees by cononsidering the following points, and if necessary do communicate with the employees: (1) What working standards are adopting by the employees and to what extent they are good in decision making process and in what order they are taking decisions (2) What behavior they want to reward either they want supportive behavior or defensive behavior However, on the side of an employer, it is a very important factor considering the organizational values of the employees to make sure that whether the employees are getting competitive fringe benefits or not along with good salaries and sound working conditions. It is a significant part of a manger's duty that he/she should evaluate and understand how ethics can make employees performance better. As far as demographic make up of an organization is concerned, it includes gender, race, level, grade and so on. In my organization, there are different (ethnicities) people are working; Black, white, Hispanic and some employees belong to other countries - they are not

Balance sheet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Balance sheet - Essay Example It can also help managers to establish policies and strategies for the future. This paper provides information about the importance of balance sheet and its uses for investors and management. It also provides an insight into the ratio analysis that could be done on the basis of information obtained from balance sheet. The paper shows calculation and analysis of ratios from the balance sheet of Palaron Plc so as to understand the usefulness of information presented in the balance sheet for investors. Balance sheet plays a vital role in depicting the financial position of a company. It further shows whether an investor should invest in a particular company or not. A company's balance sheet also shows the strengths and weaknesses of a company. A company through its balance sheet portrays its financial position to the investors that it is a reliable company that possesses prosperous prospect and chances to grow. It also reflects whatever the goals have been set by the company will definitely be accomplished and delivered to the investors in the shape of cash or stock dividends. Birts also says that "the company must demonstrate its ability to trade for some time into future so that customers have confidence that it will be able to meet its commitments to them" (2001, p36). Investors would learn from the balance sheet a company's long-term investments, capital structure, liquidity and gearing position so as to analyse if the company would be able to remain in business for a longer p eriod of time. The balance sheet at the end of the year demonstrates the total assets and liabilities made by the company. There are two types of assets; current assets and fixed assets. Current assets include all the assets that are for less than one year i.e. cash, accounts receivable (with deduction of bad debts expenses), notes receivable, prepaid expenses incurred and merchandise inventory where as fixed assets include all those fixed assets which can transcend for more than one year i.e. machinery, equipment, land, building and plant assets etc. The depreciation and amortization are deducted from these fixed assets. Liabilities are also of two types; current liabilities and non current liabilities. Current liabilities include debt which is payable in year i.e. accounts payable, notes payable, accrued expenses and insurance premium etc while long term liabilities includes bonds payable etc. These are not enough because for a complete balance sheet it also includes owner's equity which include s total invested capital and retained earnings. The balance sheet is not only essential for the investors but also to large extent to the company itself. It gives the financial conditions of a company that where it stands at a particular time and show the real minus and plus points. In order to get the things on credit or need some credit to invest in the business to earn amplify potential gains, balance sheet items i.e. powerful fixed and current assets would help in getting the credit (Birts, 2001). With the help of balance sheet it becomes easier for a company to make decisions and prepare the plans for future and it can also know about the reason of being unsuccessful in the business, it further gives a complete outlook of the company progress which helps a company to get rid of barriers and obstacles in the way of

A Critique of the United States National Incidenct Management System Essay

A Critique of the United States National Incidenct Management System - Essay Example The NIMS provides for a Communications Unit whose responsibility includes planning radio networks and frequency assignments to insure inter-operability of the communications system. Network management can insure compatibility without producing overlap interference between agencies and networks. The centralized logistics and supply component of NIMS provides for a unified management of all the necessary logistics that are involved in the emergency response. A single source for all supplies will make the supply channels more clear and that should result in reducing response times. They can also establish staging areas and satellite locations as needed to supply outlying victims and response personnel. This approach to material supply has an advantage over the random distribution of food, fuel, and supplies that would exist on a local or regional level. The establishment of a Joint Information Center (JIC) will aid in creating a central information repository. As the information is routed through a central location, it can be assimilated and can help get a better picture and evaluation of a large-scale disaster. Information can be rapidly checked for credibility and disseminated to the interested parties. The JIC can eliminate the breakdown in the public warning system and aid in the assessment of ongoing threats. One of the vulnerabilities of the NIMS structure is its reliance on bureaucratic systems to operate in an ever-changing environment. This organizational model has several drawbacks in its present form.

Sustainability Indicators Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sustainability Indicators - Essay Example There are several different types of indicators used in different fields, and the indicators of sustainability differ from other typical indicators employed for measuring social, economic and environmental progress (Sustainable Measures, 2010). Traditional indicators like stockholder profits, water quality etc. are not holistic in nature since they focus on a particular segment of the community; they do measure the progress of one component as if it was independent from other components of the community. On the other hand, sustainability indicators are resourceful in measuring the interactions of three different aspects of the community i.e. the environment, the economy and the society (Sustainable Measures, 2010). Sustainability indicators (Sis) are those indicators which provide information regarding the feasibility of future goals depending on their social aspects such as material welfare, environmental quality and natural environment (Zhen, 2006). In other words, SIs is a means o f finding how efficiently the community is satisfying the needs of its current and future members. Sustainability indicators and indices have been used popularly for measuring progress and improvement in the sustainability of different ventures. Index is referred to as a composite number which develops from adding together more than one indicator. There may be different types of indicators and many of them are linked to each other, such that one indicator has an influence on the other (Morse, 2010). There are many differences between sustainability and traditional urban indicators. Dividing the traditional urban indicators into three types i.e. economic, environmental and social indicators, a comparison can be drawn up between sustainability and other urban indicators. When considering environmental indicators, a traditional indicator would measure the ambient levels of pollution in air and water. On the other hand, a sustainability indicator would seek to measure the usage and prod uction of toxic substances, as well as the miles traversed by vehicles. The focus of the environmental SI would be on the measurement of activities that lead to pollution. A typical social indicator might include an analysis of the SAT and other standardized test scores. Contrary to that, a SI would entail the measurement of the total number of students who are given training for jobs available in the community and the number of students who study in college and then return to serve the community. The comparison between the two approaches used by the indicators is that SI focuses more on matching the job proficiency and training of people to the requirements of the community (Sustainable Indicators, 2010). 2. Introduce the sustainability indicator program. The sustainability indicator program that this paper will be focusing on is the Arizona State University (ASU) sustainability program. The Global Institute of Sustainability is the centre of sustainability initiatives at the ASU. The Institute specializes in the promotion of research, education and business practices for bolstering sustainability in the contemporary urbanizing world. The Institute is focused on coming up with solutions to economical, environmental and social sustainability challenges the world faces today. The Institute, opened in 2007, was the first of its kind in the entire country. The goals of the Institute is to recognize the major sustainability ch

Self-Portrait Collage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Self-Portrait Collage - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that  the alternate images to complete the author's portrait served as metaphors or are symbols of how diversified or erratic he can get.   He has a lot of interest that occupy his thought and hopefully, the author was able to express that in the collage. In rendering the collage, he may be aware of color theory of how contrasting colors can highlight the other and how to achieve balance within the frame but he made some compromise to make the portrait more personal by allowing more spontaneity and self-expression in creating it.  Ã‚  This discussion declares that one of the famous collage artist who creates collage by various materials or images that can be found to enhance or create another image is Jacque Parsley of Mexico. His work such as the Smiling Kittie may seem incoherent as a portrait of a kitten but is nevertheless interesting to look at. The artist integrated seemingly incoherent images and even a number in the picture without regard to their placement but still, the image evoked interest from its audience. One can readily feel without understanding that Jacque Parsley enjoyed creating this image. The number 3 and the angel including the stamps and feather looked totally unrelated to the kitten but still they are a joy to look at. Personally, the author lend inspiration from Jacque Parsley of just enjoying in creating his self-portrait collage and he hope that the audience also enjoyed looking at it as much as he enjoyed doing it.

Second assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Second - Assignment Example Hitherto, one needs to clarify this result: was she pushed to stealing because of her social structure or was it her choice? In anthropology, this question can be shaped and reformed into one of the most famous debates in this field: what drives human action? Is it the social structure in which the human exists, or the agent, wherein the human action is due to decisions and free will? Not so long ago have I had the fortune to enter such a debate with some friends. The main subject of the debate was: was one of our friends actions due to her environment or was it her decision? I, honestly, believed that it was because of her environment and apparently her ability to deal with it was all because of how her environment shaped her. Therefore, going back to Liesel, I would say that her stealing was caused by her choking environment. In other words, its the social structure that shapes the human actions. Likewise, theorists such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Marvin Harris would also agree in such notion. Social structure, in the simplest definitions, would be the arrangement of human relations in a society. At the same time, social structure would also be the environment in which humans exist. In this environment, it could either be the society or of the biological, physical or chemical origin (Harris). Now, going back, Marx, being one of the key theorists in anthropology, looked at human actions based on the interest of the individual itself. He gave the idea that an individual formulating ideologies force these ideas to the society in order to reshape the society where this individual grew up in. Incidentally, these ideologies formed by the individual came from the ideas presented by the society. In other words, Marx was trying to point out that humans would not be altering their society if, in the first place, they were not introduced to such

Marketing of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company - Essay Example When you go to a hotel, the hotel tries to emulate this feeling by trying to make your stay convenient and comfortable. In more common occasions, the hotel falls short of this and the guest would need to frequently or occasionally call for room service just to be able to make the hotel more comfortable. Therefore, with their personalize system, you don't really need to call room service anymore because it is already automatically provided for and it gives the hotel the opportunity to call and inform the guest for point of interest that they might enjoy. Rewarding loyal customers. - Through constant visits in the hotel, more data would eventually be gathered for the guest. Therefore, making it possible to give even more precise and better service to its guests. Food preference - knowing the food preference not only makes it convenient for customers to give the company decisions for their own food, especially convenient for people who would stay for a considerable amount of time and make a routine service for food. It is like having a personal cook which knows what you want to eat without telling them. Also, it helps the company prepare the food before hand, thus cutting preparation time. No need to call for room service - Since the hotel would know what each client would like, there would virtually be less need for clients to call room service.

Type A Influenza Virus And Why The Biology Of This Virus Is A Threat Essay

Type A Influenza Virus And Why The Biology Of This Virus Is A Threat To Human - Essay Example This is of great importance in the epidemiology of the disease. Antigenic variability is highest in influenza virus type A and less in type B, while it has not been demonstrated in type C. The internal RNP antigen and M protein antigen are stable but both the surface antigens, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, undergo independent antigenic variations, which may be of two types - antigenic shift and antigenic drift. Here, the new antigens, though different from the previous antigens, are related to them, so that they react with the antisera to the predecessor virus strains, to varying degrees. Antigenic drift is due to the mutation and selection, the process being influenced by the presence of antibodies to the predecessor strains in the host population. Antigenic drift accounts for the periodical epidemics of influenza. Antigenic shift, on the other hand, is an abrupt, drastic, discontinuous variation in the antigenic structure, resulting in a novel virus strain unrelated antigenically to predecessor strains. Such changes may involve hemagglutinin, neuraminidase or both. Antibodies to predecessor viruses do not neutralize the new variants and can, therefore, spread widely in the population causing major epidemics or pandemics.

Fight Club Essay Example for Free

Fight Club Essay The 1999 film, Fight Club, is controversial in the sense that it can be interpreted at a superfluity of angles. However, the effectiveness of the final scene to reflect the narrator’s catharsis is indisputable as it is accompanied by the song â€Å"Where is My Mind† by The Pixies. The song itself is vital to the ending scene and ultimately the entire film. The lyrics are significant to the narrator’s inner turmoil, not only throughout the film, but also at the concluding moment and the auditory elements parallel the events and emotions of the concluding scene. Fight Club centers around an unnamed narrator who projects his unconscious identity as a separate character, Tyler Durdin. Tyler frees the narrator from his former pretenses of life regarding society through self destruction. The narrator burns his house, quits his job, and beings to live recklessly, seemingly by coincidence. He subconsciously rids himself of all worldly possessions. Together, Tyler and the narrator form Fight Club an underground group that thrives on destruction of themselves and government establishments. As the narrator gets weaker and less powerful, Tyler gets stronger and better looking, symbolizing his strengthening id. Towards the end of the film, the narrator comes to the realization that he is Tyler. The ending scene puts the narrator and Marla, a woman with whom he has an on again-off again relationship, at the highest story of a city building, holding hands and watching the city collapse around them. The music as it appears in the final scene is essential to the conclusion of the film The lyrics, â€Å"where is my mind,† plays at the very closing moment. The words reflect the state of the character’s mind during the entire film and especially at the final scene. As he rids himself of all superficiality and society’s values, he is freed from his dangerous alter ego and his apparent schizophrenia and left with an open mind. â€Å"Where is my mind,† speaks to the separation between his conscious and subconscious into two people as well as his newfound freedom from materiality. The narrator experiences a â€Å"rebirth† from his prior lifestyle into pure existentialism, a state of being where he is now able to award meaning to his life, rather than society assigning meaning. The auditory elements of the song run parallel to the occurrences of the concluding scene. The song features loud, aggressive, and disharmonic music which is comparable to the city’s crashing buildings and demolition. There is a melodic undertone of chorus voices singing which is reflective of the narrator and Marla’s calmness and almost happiness, it seems, during the outside devastation.

Strategic Analysis of Tesco for UK and US Markets

Strategic Analysis of Tesco for UK and US Markets Brief background As the Tesco used the corporate strategy like diversification, it has begun its Tesco bank and Tesco hope its bank could offer mortgages for its customers, also Tesco has buy a restaurant in UK. Although Tescos supermarket has taken the biggest market share in the UK market, but it is decrease in 2012-2013. So this means the Tescos business met problem in the UK market. One of the major challenge for Tesco was that the discovery of equine DNA in beef and other meat products throughout the UK industry. So the Tesco should do some change on its business strategy in the UK market. As the biggest retailer in the world, these years Tesco met some problem as its expanded market, such as the Japan market and the U.S market. In the US market, Tesco named their store a new name fresh easy. As the Tesco makes wrong strategy in US market, its entry mode is FDI, this makes Tesco pay a lot of money on the distribution build and on the store design. Also Tesco do not localization on the US market, thus it failed in the US market. Tesco should learn something new about how to expand its foreign market, such as localization and choose a right entry model to entry foreign market. As Tescos annual report(2012) has said that Tesco is one of the worlds largest retailers with operations in 14 countries. But its business met some problems in recently years. As it has entry the US market for several years, US market does not make any profit. Also in the UK market, Tescos supermarket face the problem of the reducing market share. Aim and objectives The aim of study is to assess the Tesco strategic choosing and if they using right or wrong strategic. The objectives are to: Provide a general overview of the Tesco business running in the US and UK. Analyze the business environment in the US and UK Analyze the retail market environment in the US market Identify and assess the Tesco value chain in the US retail market Identify what problems Tesco has meet on its business in recent years. Identify if Tesco face finance problem when its entry the US retail market and after entry the US market, if the Tesco has problem with cash flow or something else in finance. Research questions What is the Tesco advantage in the UK? It is can be keep in other countries market? What kind of strategy that Tesco using recent years, how it’s working? Did Tesco choose right strategy in the US market? After entry US market, when Tesco has nonprofits in the first year, what kind of decision that Tesco has made and how it influence its business. MNEs how to avoid failed or reduce its lost in the new market. Likely source of literature The conduct this research there are three types of literature sources will be used to discussion of the topic. Including primary literature sources, secondary literature sources and reference guides (Naoum,2013) Primary literature sources: the first-hand testimony or direct evidence. Includes academic research journal, refereed conferences, and reports. Secondary literature sources are cite from the primary sources, for example textbooks, newspaper articles, and magazine and construction news. Reference guides are useful for find out the basic questions quickly, such as dictionaries and handbooks. Literature sources Research methodology Research strategy Source of Data The source of data will be collected mainly from Tesco annual report, newspaper, academic journal article and academic report which based relevant with Tesco Plc. Also some finance detail will get from e-databases of uclan library website. Data collection Data will be collection from the literature directly. Methods of Data analysis Wolcott (1994) stated that methods of data analysis are used to describe facts, highlight useful information, detect patters, develop explanations and test hypotheses. Among several of data analysis methods, content analysis, typology and taxonomy as well as descriptive statistics will be used. Typology and taxonomy method is used to analyze the qualitative data. It can identify different kinds of data, thus forming sub-groups with the general construction project risk category. It can also clarify the relationship between the concepts. Descriptive statistics is a summary to describe the basic features of the data in a study. It helps ones to simply large amounts of data in a sensible way. Content analysis is a method for summarizing any form of content by counting various aspects of the content. It is useful to analyze and understand the collections of text(Strauss and Corbin,1990). references

Factors Influencing Static Electricity

Factors Influencing Static Electricity Abstract The purpose of this experiment is to understand the magnitude of static electricity and the factors influencing it. The importance of this study can be linked to climate, technological advances, and improving existing inventions or creating new inventions. The fascination with static electricity motivated me to understand what static electricity is, in order to further my knowledge and flawlessly explain the science of lightning. Static electricity is the imbalance of electric charge which produces a small spark, therefore on a much larger scale, lightning in a thunderstorm is the result of the separation of protons and electrons. For my experiment, I created an electroscope using a glass jar with a plastic lid, a paperclip holding two small pieces of aluminum foil and tape securing the paperclip. I used 3 balloons of different sizes, small, medium, and large and rubbed it on my hair to separate charges, then I brought the balloon closer to the electroscope and the aluminum  foil then repelled from the other piece of aluminum; this successfully conveyed  that there was a separation of charge on the balloon from rubbing it on my hair. I repeated this experiment with the next 2 balloons and recorded my results. To decrease the likelihood of failure, I did 2 more trials; the results I came across supported my original hypothesis which stated that the bigger the material, the greater amount of electric   ch arge, and after conducting the experiment 2 more times with each different size of material, my hypothesis still was proved to be accurate. Upon proving the hypothesis to be true, I then concluded that the magnitude of lightning must have extreme strength considering the large scale damage it can do, and the fascination continued as I felt as though the science behind lightning was now between my very fingertips. To conclude, my experiment has taught me about the science of static electricity, the different ways we can separate charges in order to induce a shock, and how it can be related and interconnected with climate. This field of study has extreme significance and I am confident that the use of static electricity will grow, such as the use of static electricity in printers and photocopiers has already been implemented. For the next experiment I conduct, I would like to test the different influences other factors have on static electricity, such as the type of materials tested, the effects of the environment where the experiment takes place, or the significance of climate regarding static electricity. Introduction fI have always been fascinated with electric charge, static electricity, and the effects of friction. The fascination with science and its relationship to static  electricity and climate leaves me wondering what causes static electricity, how it is produced, and what are the factors that create a higher magnitude of static electricity. The main reason I am motivated to do this experiment is due to the fact that the world is advancing technologically each and every  day. In my opinion the incorporation of static electricity into common  applications is a very important subject to study; especially considering the amazing capabilities, and future advancements, of printers, photocopiers. I have many un-answered questions about the science of static electricity and the various factors that influence it. The topic of static electricity raises interesting points and thought provoking questions, I would like to answer a few such as; how does static electricity relate to lightning? What is the effect of size and temperature on static electricity? And, is static electricity necessary for life on Earth? + The purpose of this experiment is to examine the difference in magnitude of  static electricity, using several materials of different sizes. Testing the different materials will then lead me to understand the factors that may influence the strength of electric charges, and how it could relate to climate. +Hypothesis: I think that the size of an object is ther essential factor affecting  the magnitude of static electricity, that is, the bigger the material, the  greater magnitude Indicatevariables Manipulated  variable :Size of the material testing balloons Responding  variable:  Amount of static electricity Constants:  The types of materials, number of times each balloon is rubbed, and the temperature in the room the experiment will be conducted in. Research Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges, and is generated by the separation of positive charges and negative charges. Therefore, when two different materials are within contact, the electrons can move from one material to the next when then leaves a surplus of positive charge on the other material, this consequently creates static electricity. Static electricity may be produced by friction and create a spark; however friction does not create it, but rather the transfer of electrons will create the static charge. All materials, people, and objects contain atoms. Atoms possess a nucleus which consist of protons and neutrons, whereas the electrons are outside of the nucleus. Objects and materials are usually neutrally charged as there is an equal number of protons and electronshowever if there is an imbalance between the  electric charges induced by contact, static electricity will generate. Static electricity can also be generated through various ways, such as when putting ceramics under pressure or heat. One can also separate charges by positioning a charged object   near a neutral object. This results in the charges of the neutral object repelling the same polarity as the charged object while the charged object will be attracted to the opposite polarity, which then causes the neutral object to have an unequal amount of charge. Discovering the different ways to separate charges increases my motivation to understand the factors that affect the magnitude of static electricity. The transfer of electrons onto a different material and having an imbalance between charges will result in static electricity, however I would like to understand the  relationship between polarity and size. My entire experiment is based on the many factors that could possibly influence the degree of static electricity. I am using the factors that could possibly affect static electricity as my foundation because static  electricity is vital to human existence, and important.                    . Hypothesis Based on my research, I think that the size of an object is the significant factor affecting the strength of static electricity, in other words, the larger the material, the greater the magnitude. Research that I have conducted has helped me discover the science behind lightning, which reenforces my hypothesis of larger  materials or objects that hold electric charge having greater strength because of how strong lightning is. Lightning is essentially static electricity on a bigger scale. Procedure Materials Glass jar Plastic lid Tape Aluminum foil Paper clip Balloons Ruler Variables o Manipulated variable- For this experiment, the size of each balloon will be manipulated. o Respondingvariable The magnitude of static electricity observable from the  foil repels.   o Constants Types of material, number of times each balloon is rubbed, and the temperature of the environment that the experiment will be conducted in. Stepbystep 1. Inflate 3 balloons of different sizes; small, medium, and large 2. Straighten   the paper clip out, then create a shape with a center circle with two hooks attached to it 3. Make a small opening in the middle of the plastic lid 4. Place the paper clip in the opening with the center circle sticking out from the top, and the hooks at the bottom, then secure it with tape 5. Cut two small pieces of aluminum foil of equal size, then make a small hole in the end of each strip 6. Attach the strips of foil onto the hooks of the paperclip 7. Now we have an electroscope and its time for the experiment to be conducted, create a data chart to record trials and measurements 8. Grab the small balloon, and rub it on your hair 10 times, then take the balloon and get close to the top of the electroscope, the foil should then move apart; this conveys that there is a separation of charges. 9. Measure the distance between the aluminum foil in the data chart 10. Repeat step 8 with the next two balloons and record the results to compare the strength of static electricity 11. Complete 2 more trials for each size of the balloons Results Observations Small balloon 0.7 inches Medium balloon 1inch Large balloon 1.2 inches Conclusion Based on the results of this experiment, the hypothesis that   the bigger the material is, the stronger the magnitude, is proven to be true. The small balloon on  each trial has the smallest distance between the 2 strips of aluminum foil, and the  large balloon has the largest distance. This correlation supports my original  chypothesis and can therefore expand my knowledge of static electricity and apply  Q-:it to wider scales. This study has extreme significance as it can be applied to  creating new inventions with the use of static electricity, explaining climate, and  understanding the different strengths of static electricity and its uses. On a personal interest, I believe the fascination with this topic is because of how   powerful lightning can be, and how it can be conducted from my very fingertips. The purpose of this project for me is to understand the science behind lightning  learned the details of static electricity, why we feel a shock when there is an imbalance of charges, and the different ways to separate charges. For next time, I would like to experiment with varying materials rather than different sizes, and possibly change small details such as, number of rubs per material, number of trials, and trying to experiment in different temperatures. Bibliography Hanania, Jordan, Kailyn Stenhouse, and Jason Donev. Static electricity. Static electricity-EnergyEducation.N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2017. . How does static electricity work? Howdoesstaticelectricitywork?{Everyday Mysteries: FunScienceFactsfrom theLibraryofCongress).N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2017. . What Is Static Electricity? LiveScience.Purch, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2017. .                 Ã‚  

Class Politics in the United States :: Politics Political Essays

A distinctive feature of US politics, in comparison with most other industrialized nations in the world, is its virtual lack of class-based politics. President George W. Bush, for instance, has said that class is for ‘European democracies or something else—it isn’t for the United States of America. We are not going to be divided by class’ (cited in Harrigan, 2000: 6). And this seems to be the general attitude that pervades all of American society, to the extent where militating on the basis of class could even be seen as culturally abhorrent. It is a fact that in the 1990s, trade union membership accounted for only 15 percent of all wage and salary workers, down from 25 percent in 1975. This is despite 30 percent of all workers still employed in blue-collar jobs as of 1996 (McKay, 2001: 226; Vanneman and Cannon, 1987: 5). Between the two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, there are only relatively minor ideological differences, with the former leaning slightly more to the ‘liberal’ side, while the later are more ‘conservative’, though neither articulates anything near resembling class politics. This has led to much speculation among scholars as to why this could be the case. A number of reasons have been posed, including: 1. America is mainly a middle class society, with an individualistic culture; high levels of social mobility; and equality of opportunity, which are prized over collective action. 2. America does not have a feudal past, from which class cleavages can be drawn. 3. America is the richest industrialized nation in the world, and therefore has an overall higher standard of living, which minimizes any potential for class action. 4. The American working class is divided sharply along ethnic and racial lines. 5. The American two-party system makes it difficult for radical political parties to develop. However, despite this lack of class politics, the US continues to experience some of the most exacerbated income and wealth inequalities in the industrialized world, with the gap between the rich and the poor growing over the past thirty years. In addition, the proportion of the population living in poverty, according to official figures, is at around 14-16 percent (McKay, op. cit. :27). This raises the question as to the nature of class in the United States, and as to how the US class structure (if one exists) is reflected in mainstream politics.

Krispy Kreme :: essays research papers fc

Case Discussion Reflection 1 KKD seeks to appeal to everyone in their mission to slowly take on the fresh pastry market. Krispy Kreme is not one to limit a target of the public. According to Holland (2003), the company is equally loved by 5-year-olds and 75-year-olds alike. They are also enjoyed by whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. New Englanders and Southerners love them as well as Californians and New Yorkers. Race is definitely not an issue. Only three types of people claim that they do not like Krispy Kreme: nutritionists, Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees, and compulsive liars. Stan Parker, senior VP-marketing, says â€Å"no one looks at Krispy Kreme as a replacement for lunch or dinner. It’s a complement† (MacArthur, 2003). Krispy Kreme wishes not to be a fast food business or another doughnut store. President and Chief Executive of KremeKo, insures the public that they think long and hard before the considering expansion. He said, â€Å"Krispy Kreme doughnuts won’t suddenly become available everywhere because we don’t think that’s appropriate for the brand at this juncture in its evolution in the marketplace† (Krispy Kreme Steps up Wholesale Business in Canada, 2003,) Reflection 2 KKD openly shows it audit procedure online in a PDF. Form which shows great ethical poise. No company is void of legal woes whether casualty or accused. According to a Forbes Magazine article, KKD has been cleared in any wrong doings in regards to engaging in intentional misconduct related to the company's acquisition of a Michigan franchise. Krispy Kreme did not wait to get independent legal parties involved with the issue and allowed the SEC to review any sought impropriety. According to the Forbes report, KKB halted turning in its Q10 statement until all is settled but had to close a $4.6 million doughnut plant in northeast Ohio due to oversupply problems. Socially, KKB has done its part to open a store or fill a convenience store with its product which appeals to all who seek a tasty pastry. They have offered free donuts to masses of people including EMS, police personnel, military troops overseas which I would bet boosts morale. On there website, they support the Children’s Miracle Network which is a great benefit to society. Reflection 3 Taking into consideration all KKD's publics, it is no shocker that Krispy Kreme continues to grow. For the first time, it successfully expanded nationally during the late 1990s in California (Saltzman). A main point of Krispy Kreme’s continued financial success has been their expansion into international markets.

Mobile Phone Security

This fact sheet has been developed for the Consumer Education Program by the Communications Commission of Kenya. It was compiled by studying material from various authoritative sources and adopting what Is universally acceptable and relevant to the Kenya situation. The fact sheet is intended to enable Consumers have a good understanding of the issues discussed and hence empower them when making decisions regarding CIT products and services. Introduction One of the biggest threats that a mobile phone user faces today Is loss or theft of the phone.Not only Is the mobile valued as a physical device, the phone may contain personal and financial data stored in the handset or in the phones subscriber identity module (SIMI card). While a stolen SIMI can be barred by a mobile network once the theft has been reported it Is a bit harder to bar the handset from being used with different SIMI card. Unless the user had protected his personal Information with a PIN prior to the theft or loss of th e phone, this data can be accessed by unauthorized persons. Mobile phone users normally store a wide range of information on their phones.This information can either be stored in the phone's Internal or external memory (depending on the make and model of the phone) or In the SIMI card. The SIMI card Is used mainly to store contacts and short messages while the phone's memory is used to store information such as personal photos, emails, and calendar items. In order to prevent unauthorized persons from using the phone and further gaining access to the stored Information, some mobile phones have security features which the user can activate. This fact sheet has been developed to address security of the information stored and what to do should you lose the phone.Securing the information stored. There are at least two methods one can use to secure the Information stored on a mobile phone. These are: a) SIMI lock This method takes advantage of the SIMI card as a storage element to secure private Information associated with the subscriber. The subscriber uses a PIN number which is mostly a four digit code which should only be known to him and is always prompted by the mobile phone every time the SIMI card is inserted into the phone. It Is an effective method since even If the subscriber looses the SIMI card the other person cannot access any information stored on it. Phone lock Mobile phone security This method takes advantage of a password to lock the mobile phone such that access to the phone's functions can only be permitted upon input of the correct password. An eight-digit code is more secure than a four-digit code. Most phones also have an inbuilt an automatic phone lock system which kicks In after a stipulated time period e. G. 30 seconds when activated which Is mostly used as a keypad lock and subscribers are advised to take advantage of this features to enhance the security setting AT tenet phones. N more nana el n a evolves Delve capable AT achieving emails , security especially of corporate email with sensitive internal and external data has become a major concern. This means that mobile handsets hold data which previously only resided in computers. Since this method is more effective and protects more information than the first, subscribers are advised to always lock their phones especially if they hold any sensitive information. Safeguarding your Handset Some of the ways to keep your mobile safe include: ; ; ; Keep your phone safe and out of sight.Only give your number to your friends and people you trust. Avoid using your phone in the street. If you need to call someone in a public place, be discrete and be somewhere where you can see what is happening around you. Use a PIN code to lock your phone. If you're walking alone put your phone on silent or vibrate mode so your ring tone doesn't draw attention to you. Be alert while walking and testing at the same time. Security-mark your phone with a unique code. The best place is underne ath the battery.Many mobile phones are stolen in public places such as cinemas, pubs and nightclubs, especially when they are left on a bar, table or on a seat, so don't leave your phone in such places unattended. Don't leave your phone unattended in a car – if you must, put it out of sight and turn it off or switch to silent mode. It takes seconds for a thief to smash a window and enter a car. For a Bluetooth or Wi-If enabled phone install antivirus software to help guard against harmful programs or viruses. For the sake of the safety of very young children; always keep the phone out of their reach.Avoid making easily identifiable entries in the phone e. G. ‘mum' or ‘dad' for the security of such persons should the phone be lost. There are other methods of securing your phone that are dependent on the genealogy that the phone is based on. The two main technologies used for the provision of mobile services are GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). Phones based on these two technologies connect to their respective networks differently, so the security features differ slightly. Mobile phone security Your GSM Phone's Unique Equipment Identification Number Each GSM mobile phone has a unique electronic serial number called the MIME (International Mobile Equipment Identification) number, which can be identified by the GSM network. It is a 15-digit number programmed into the handset and also written is at the back of the handset, under the battery. On most GSM handsets, it can De Oligopoly on ten managers screen Day pressing ten Key sequence using the keypad, when the phone is switched on.Upon purchase of a mobile handset, users are advised to record their MIME number for use in case the mobile phone is lost or stolen. Your mobile phone service provider can liaise with the police regarding a lost or stolen handset and, if found, your handset will be identified using the MIME. Thieves are deterred fr om stealing mobile phones by MIME blocking. Blocking an MIME on a mobile phone network prevents a GSM mobile phone from being used with any SIMI on any Kenya GSM network. Mobile carriers are able to block the use of customers' lost or stolen mobile phones and unblock recovered mobile phones on their network.They have also agreed to exchange their lists of blocked and unblocked MIME numbers with other mobile carriers so these can also be processed (blocked/unblocked) on all mobile networks. The CDMA phone unique electronic identification number CDMA phones also have a unique electronic identification number, the Electronic Serial Number (SENSE). This number can be found on the back of the CDMA handset under the battery and usually has eight digits, combining letters and numbers. Users are advised tap record this number for identification purposes in case the phone is lost or stolen.Hidden battery power Some mobile phones are designed to reserve battery power. If the cell battery is v ery low and the user is expecting an important call or is confronted by an emergency situation, and doesn't have a charger at that moment, one can activate this reserve battery power. To activate, press the keys *3370#, the cell phone will restart with this serve and the instrument will show a significant increase in battery power. This reserve will get replenished the next time one charges their cell phone.However it should be noted that this only works on some phones. What to do if one's mobile handset is lost or stolen If the user's mobile phone is lost or stolen, the user is advised to contact their mobile phone service provider immediately to suspend service and prevent unauthorized calls being made and billed to the user. If one has a GSM mobile phone, the provider will 3 Mobile phone security block the subscriber's SIMI card and MIME number to prevent heir phone from being used on all Kenya mobile networks.

Effects On Support Networks Health And Social Care Essay

Discoursing near in melodyal health in superannuateder throng is a hard subject in both(prenominal) workal wellness all oversight and patient because approximately antique hatful capability experience abashed. also they would like physicians to present near conjureual issues to them or else than they discuss it by them self. In this examine will place definition and memorial of internal practice in aging citizenry. late(a) statistic, physical changed and affects of age(p) individual s life styles psychological and otherwise be explained. Some support services argon recommended. Sex in senior gatherings be focused because most immature plurality good-tempered misunderstand about trip out and sexuality in honest-to-goodness hoi polloi lives.Definition and HistoryDefinition of gender is an office of batch to cargo area tactual sensationing and give discern to from each one other to develop and keep up a positive mentality about inner exer cise. In add-on, responsible determination about physical, emotional and societal facets should be do ( atomic number 1 and McNab 2003 ) .HistoryIn an primarily harsh pigeonhole and myths which, plurality assumed that when a earthy physical and emotional of quondam(a) people view as changed they lost versed banks and they do non prolong ability to do love and wealthy person sex each longer. Be posts it was hard to discourse openly among physician and patient ( Henry and McNab 2003 ) . However, sex and gender among senior groups have buy the farm much widely discussed than the past, written by Gott ( 2004 ) .Recent StatisticssA 2007 content of sex elderly among grownups reported in Lindau, et Al. ( 2007 ) involved over 3,000 become forces and heavy(a) females. Its figures show that 73 % of of age(p) grownups come alongd 57 to 64 were sexu onlyy active. 53 % of those senile 65 to 74 were so, whilst hardly 26 % of those amidst the ages of 75 to 85 were sexually active. The piece of work overly showed that it was non nevertheless anicteric work forces ( 81 % ) and healthy large(p) females ( 51 % ) who were being sexually active in the old 12 months but 47 % of work forces and 26 % of with child(p) females in hapless wellness were excessively sexually active. Further more than, older people in the 50 70 age group seem to hold more sex teammates and likely to travel posterior to dating than the last decennary. In add-on, Australian survey was reported from the mid-1990s of age 80, 8 % of giving females and 29 % of work forces were thus far holding sex. ( Minichiello and Hawkes 2011 ) .Furthermore, Lindau, et Al. ( 2007 ) in like manner demonstrate many aging people suffered from sexual jobs, the most common being erectile stir ups in work forces ( 37 % ) and low desire ( 43 % ) , vaginal waterlessness ( 39 % ) and inability to culminate ( 34 % ) among the fully grown females surveyed. In add-on, less than 50 % both work fo rces and bountiful females had discussed sex with a doctor since they had become 50 old ages old. unrivaled surprising statistic found by the same writers was that sexually transmitted infections have been increase among those of older age. Somes and Donatelli ( 2012 ) study that merciful immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) infections are increasing faster in the group senile over 50 old ages than group ages under 40 old ages during the termination 2000 to 2009. Syphilis, herpes, chlamydia and venereal warts have besides seen the largest pass judgment of addition among those aged(a) 45 to 64 old ages during the same period.PhysiologyHarmonizing to My physician for a healthy Australia ( 2010 ) natural physical end in organic complex body part form and coat among older work forces and adult females can whatsoevertimes impact their ability to hold and bask sex. A study by Laumann et Al. ( 2005 ) of the sexual jobs among over 26,000 work forces and adult females aged 40-80 from 29 states found a scope of sexual jobs. One such alteration for both sexes is that is jolly normal is that sexual rousing baron happen less frequently and more easy. Work force whitethorn substantiate from erectile disfunction ( ED ) , which is the erectings course to be less house, less seeds is ejaculated and pack more clip for subsequent hard-ons ( Henry and McNab 2003 ) . However Viagra and several medicines are available for work forces to execute or keep a sufficient hard-on for sexual performance. On the other manus, cut degrees of estrogen among older adult females afterwards climacteric may do some of them to see vaginal waterlessness ( mayo Clinic 2011 ) . Besides, decrepit vagina contractions and lower organic expression engagement during climax superpower happen. equally good as cause other emotional alterations associated with reduced sensitiveness, and response sexual libido ( Henry and McNab 2003 ) . Furthermore, a scope of continuing unwellnesss such as re late to the cardiovascular system, high blood force per unit area, diabetes, hormonal jobs, depression or anxiousness, and the side effects of some medicines and surgeries may besides do sexual trouble among older grownups..Effectss on the AgedSex effects in aged people, reported by Henry and McNab ( 2003 ) . carrying out anxiousness and depression tokens are common in both work forces and adult females in work out age. This is cogitate to societal isolation and lead to dismissal of libido, which may do sexual disfunction or reduces sexual desire. Aged people sense guilty to hold sexual activity outside of matrimony. In add-on, widows or widowmans may experience blameworthy to get subject a new relationship because they feel perfidiously. Although older work forces still have pleasant visual aspect of the essence(p) to their felicity, the feeling of wellbeing in adult females is reduced. As the consequence sexual activity in adult females has fall earlier than work forces . Beside some older grownup experienced that the environment which they live capability tie in with their sexual-life as good. For illustration, an nates up life, long-run forethought installation or nursing place, this is consequence to their privateness. Besides the mismatched figure of sexes in aging people could increase the trouble for work forces and adult females to attach to and develop their relationship particularly with the opposite sex in those topographic points.Effectss on the Support NetworksChanges in the gender of an older individual will besides hold impacts on others, particularly their spouse and carer. When people become older they hardly to speak with each other about sex, even though they still enthral or used to bask the sex ( Keutz 1995 ) . Some of aging people loss assurance because of their physical and organic structure form has changed. Besides the relationship go more strain related to endocrine degrees or emotional changed, it might greatly ha ppen after climacteric which is related to desire of gender. Furthermore, some older twosomes might hold statement more on a regular basis which could non plainly cut mass familiarity between their relationships but besides decrease their sexual desires. In add-on, professional wellness attention might see a trouble covering with temper swing of their aged patients. It can sometimes be trying to understand why the older knob is non get bying good with ripening, because alterations in gender are frequently non discussed at all ( Funnel, Koutoukidis & A Lawrence, 2009 ) .Support servicesSupport services associating to gender for older grownups are available both as go fors and online. For illustration, the book Sex Over 50 by Block and Bakos ( 1999 ) was written for the number group of aging Americans who are aspect for professional, practical advice on how to do the passing game to deeper, richer, more sophisticated sexual relationships. Similarly, the book Sexuality, Sexual Health and Ageing ( Gott 2005 ) explains the issues and experiences that may happen in the sexual activities of older grownups. In footings of on-line resources, the American psychological Association ( APA ) is the largest scientific and professional boldness psychological science supports in the linked States. Their mission is to progress the creative activity, communicating and application of psychological cognition to shekels society and better people s lives ( American Psychological Association 2013 ) . relevant electronic network pages from their on-line resources allow in corpse s ( 2012 ) Later-Life Sexual activity which outlines how to Assessing older people s sex lives, raise the better ofing challenges and Coping after malignant neoplastic disease. In add-on, over 9,000 organisations unneurotic form the International Council on spry Aging ( ICAA ) , organizing professionals working for the benefit of older grownups in footings of their the retirement, assisted life, fittingness, rehabilitation and health ( ICAA 2012 ) .More locally, the Western Australian nubble for Health and Ageing ( WACHA ) is an administration that helps back up and improves the lives of aged people, prevent the origination of disenabling unwellnesss and happen better ways to custody the common diseases for them ( Western Australian promenade for Health and Ageing 2012 ) . Relevant web pages from their on-line resources that relate to sexuality include its Healthy Sex Life not Merely for the Young ( Western Australian Center for Health and Ageing 2012 ) . This is multipurpose because this intelligence was explained about sexual activity in older people which is of conditional relation for immature people to understand about it.DecisionIn decision, this easy has shown that, gender is a efficiency of experiencing love nevertheless in progress aged it hard to discourse between physicians and patients. Many people believed that when people become older their sexu al desires are decreased and unable to do love any more. On the other manus, older grownups in both healthy and unhealthy over 50 old ages old were still sexually active. Nevertheless, physical changed such as organic structure form and size may impact their ability to hold sex. Some older work forces might endure from erectile disfunction besides adult females may see vagina waterlessness which related to sexual libido decreasing. Furthermore, some inveterate unwellness may cut down ability to bask sex. Not merely physical changed but besides pettishness swing or depression symptom could impact aged people to hold a trouble sex-life. In add-on, sometimes it hard for wellness attention profession to understand older people as good. Many support beginnings and services are available for older people.

Night World : Witchlight Chapter 16

We were so gondola careful, she ideal, setting up wards trine years early and having agents check break the house. No liaison got in typeface(a) during those three days we were reliable of that, and so we theme we were safe. hardly we didnt s come outstrip to think-what if the tartar was already inside when we put the wards up?Brett.Hes the potassium hydrogen tartrate.It could take on any shape, assume any animals form, and spot w lying in wait(prenominal)(prenominal) that the animal knew. A sympathetic being was an animal.So why couldnt it touch sensation a human and gravel it off entirely the human knew?It would be the perfect disguise.And we any fell for it, Keller thought. I knew t here(predicate) was something creepy-crawly astir(predicate) him, precisely I full put it rout to him being obnoxious. And hes been here altogether the time, inside the wards, laughing at us, waiting for Iliana to come.And Ilianas with him right now.Keller matte up sealed of that in her gut.She wanted to throw herself e actually empower against the entry again, but that wouldnt do any good. She required to be calm now, to think, because she couldnt afford to float any time.The wrap upow.Keller tried to open it, take in toss off at a environ of rhododendron bushes below. The sash was stuck, nailed true internalityed. notwithstanding it didnt matter. Glass was much than breakable than wood.She stepped clog up and changed.Melting, flowing, jumpsuit comely fur. Tail shooting free. Ears. Whiskers. Heavy paws pound mickle. A single long cut to bring forth used to the new torso and being on four feet kinda of two.She was a jaguar, and she matt-up good. Strong and mean. Her muscles were uniform steel below her soft coat, and her tumid paws were twitching to bat someone silly. That flying lizard would be sorry hed ever messed with her.With a rasping yowl that she couldnt help, she garner herself and sprang at once at the window. T he full weight of her panther body hit the glass, and it shattered, and then she was quick in the cold night air.She got cut. Panthers really had thin and delicate fur compared to early(a) animals. just now she was indifferent to the pain. She get and handlewisek take running, shaking her paws in flight to get rid of little bits of glass.She raced most the mansion, whole toneing for a place to enter. Eventually, she found a low, unshuttered window, and once again, she gathered herself and jumped.She landed in a sitting path with glass falling all roughly her onto a fine, old carpet Brett.And Iliana.She would thwack them out.She lifted her muzzle, expressioning currents in the air. At the same time, she expand her maven of hearing to its fullest.No Iliana. She couldnt get situate up a whiff of her. That was bad, but she would try again from the game board, where Iliana had been stand firm. That was where she was going anyway, because that was where Brett was.No t Brett, she re senseed herself as she loped by dint of corridors and rooms. The genus Draco.She raced through the ballroom and perceive a scream. She barely turn her headman to notice a girlfriend stand up frozen, just lifting her hand to point. The college band crashed to a halt, just about as one, except the drummer, who went on playing for a moment with his look shut.Keller ignored them all, running at top speed and leaping win the steps, her minatory front paws hitting the carpeted theme first, then her indorse paws hitting almost on either side of them. severally spring propelled her into the next.She burst into the game room.For an instant, she stood quiesce, taking in the scene. She wanted to retain sure with her eyeball that what her ears and her nose told her was true Iliana wasnt here.It was true. Winnie was missing, too, and Keller couldnt tonicity them anywhere. so someone spotted her, a full-grown panther, jet black, with glowing eyes and long teet h just demonstrate as she panted gently, standing in the opening with her tail lashing.Oh, my God The voice soared over the babble. Look at thatEin truthone looked.Everyone froze for an instant.Chaos erupted.Girls were screaming. Boys were grouseing. bay window of boys were screaming, too. They saw her, and they fell over themselves, plunk for the exits or for hiding places. They poured out of the room, drag each other, sometimes trampling each other. Keller gave a loud, snarling yowl to help them on, and they bemused wish well chickens.The only one Keller cared about was the Brett-dragon.He cancelled and ran down a corridor. Luring her? He must(prenominal) be. Maybe he didnt realize she had found out just Maybe he had some originator for continuing the charade.She threw her head patronage and gave a snarl that re goodished through the house. It wasnt just anger. It was barter Nissa and Galen. If they could hear her, they would downstairsstand and come running.Then sh e took off after the dragon.As she loped down the corridor, she changed again. This time, she couldnt just try to kill him she required to be able to talk. But she excessively enquireed her claws, so she changed to her half-and-half form, fur shriveling off her artillerys, body rearing up to run on booted feet, pilus flying out behind her.The dragon was almost at the end of the corridor when she jumped him.She knocked him down and rolled him over, straddling him. She was braced to feel the agony of the dark power crackling through her, but it didnt come. She pinned his arms and showed her teeth and screamed in his face.Where is she? What did you do with her?The face looked back at her. It looked just uniform Brett, just alike a human. It was sickly white, with rolling eyeballs and tongue at the corners of the mouth. The only answer she got was a moan of what sounded like terror.Tell me Where is she?-its not my faultWhat? She lifted his body and banged it down again. His hea d flopped on his neck like a dead fish. He looked like someone about to faintSomething was wrong.Shes in the bedroom with my parents. Theyre all asleep-or something-His forehead. When she shook him, his pilus flew around. It was uncharacteristically messy, but the forehead underneath was smooth.I couldnt help it He did something to my brain. I couldnt sluice think until a few minutes ago. I just did what he told me to do. I was like a zombie And you dont be what it was like, having him in the house the stomach three days, and feeling like a puppet,and when he let go a few minutes ago, I thought I was going to be killed-The talk went on, but Kellers mind had disengaged.She had lots of thoughts all at once, like layers in a parfait.Chalk up another efficacy for dragons telepathic mind control. Of weak human subjects, anyway. Nissa was right* the Night World did know what had happened in the music room. The substitution was in all probability do right after that. They could i nvolve grabbed Jaime on her way back to class.The car incident was designed to study us sympathetic and to lull our suspicions before they began. We thought of her as a victim.The doctors at the infirmary must take a leak been controlled, too. They had to start out been-theyd looked at Jaimes head.Jaimes headaches have kept her at residence for the past three days, so she neer had to cross the wards.Diana trusts Jaime implicitly and would go anywhere with her without a fightJaime wears bangs.And on the abide layer, rushing at her cold and knowing as crystal Jaime is the dragon.Jaime is the dragon.A vast, unfathomed calm conceivemed to have filled Keller. She felt as if there was too such(prenominal) space inside her head. Very slowly, she looked down at Brett again.Stop talking. It was almost a whisper, but his gabble stopped as if shed turned off a faucet Now. Whos in the bedroom with your parents? Your sister?He nodded, terrified. Tears spurted out of his eyes.Your real sister. He nodded again.They must have brought her in sometime, Keller thought. sure enough before we put the wards up and started checking cars, maybe even before the fake Jaime got back from the hospital.Why theyd kept her alive was a mystery, but Keller didnt have time to rag about it Brett, she verbalise, still in a careful whisper, what I want to know is where Iliana is. Do you know where shes been taken?He choked. 1 dont know. He didnt tell me anything, even when he was in my mind. But I noticed-4here were some people down in the cellar. I think they were making a tunnel.A tunnel. Under the wards, of course. So we were made fools of twice.She had to grit her teeth to hold in from screaming. The plunge plan of the house was a tomentum in her mind. She hauled Brett up by his habilitate and said, Wheres the basement accession? Show meIc-cant- bowel movementHe moved, staggering. She followed, pushing him along, until they got to a door and stairs.Then he collapsed. Down there. Dont learn me to go with you. I cant. I cant look at him again. He huddled, rocking himself.Keller left him. tether stairs down, she bounded back up and grabbed him by the shirt.That peal call from Ilianas mother-does he really have the baby? She take by to know if it came to bargaining.I dont know, Brett moaned in a sick voice. He was clutching his stomach as if he were wounded. at that place wasnt any phone call, but I dont know what hes been doing. He threw her a desperate look and speak hoarsely, What is he?Keller dropped him. You dont want to know, she said, and left him again.She took the stairs very quietly but very quickly. Her senses were open, but the farther she went down, the less multipurpose they were. They were being swamped by an overpowering sickly-sweet spirit and by a rushing sound that seemed to fill her head.By the time she got to the last step, her fur was bristling, and her heart was pounding. Her tail stood out stiffly, and her pupils were wid e.It was very dark, but details of the room slowly came into focus. It was a large weaponed basement, or had been. Now every art object of furniture seemed to be broken and piled in a heap in the corner. There was a raw hole in one concrete wall, a hole that opened into a black tunnel. And the sickly-sweet smell came from piles of dung.They were lying on the chronicle all around, along with giant stain marks that had dug grooves into the tile.The entire place looked like nothing so much as a huge animals den.She couldnt sense anything alive in the room.Keller moved toward the tunnel, fast but stealthy. Ripple, freeze. Ripple, freeze. Leopards could move this way across grassland bare of cover and not be seen. But nothing jumped out to encounter her.The mouth of the tunnel was wet, the soil crumbly. Keller climbed in, still moving lightly. Water dripped from the mat of grow and macrocosm above her. The whole thing looked ready to cave in at any moment.He must have made it T he dragon. Goddess knows how maybe with claws. Anyway, he wasnt too fussy about it it was meant to be a temporary thing.The smell was just as powerful here, and the rushing sound was even clearer. There must be an subsurface stream-or maybe just water pipes- very close.Come on, girl, what are you waiting for? Youre a grunt, its your job to move Dont stand around arduous to thinkIt was hard to make herself go deeper and deeper into that damp and confining place. Her senses were all useless, even sight, because the bore twisted and turned so she could never see more than a few feet ahead. She was heading cover and deaf into she had no idea what. At any moment, she might reach a shaft or a side tunnel where something could flack catcher her.And the feel of the earth above her was almost crushing.She kept going. enjoy let her be alive. He doesnt need to kill her. He should try to make her join him first Please, please, dont let him have killed her.After what seemed like forever, she realized that the tap of the tunnel was ever-changing. She was heading up. Then a current of air swirled to her, barely sniffable under the thick dragon smell, and it was fresh.Night air. somewhere ahead. The end of the tunnel.A new dread invaded her.Please dont let them have gotten away.She threw aside all caution and sprinted.Up, up-and she could smell it distinctly now. Cold air, unfouled. Up, up-and she could hear sounds. A yell that suddenly broke off. The voice sounded like-Galen she thought, and her heart tore.Then she saw light Moonlight. She gathered her muscles and jumped.She scrambled out of the mouth of the tunnel.And there, in moonlight that hurt her eyes, she saw everything.A car, a black jeep, parked under a tree. The engine running but the seats empty. And in front of it, what looked like a battlefield.There were bodies everywhere. Several were vampires in black-dark ninjas. But also on the drop anchor were the bodies of Nissa and Winnie and Galen.So they foll owed, a distant unwrap of Kellers mind said, not interfering in the slightest with the part that was getting ready for the fight. They followed the dragon-which must have done something to Winnie to get Iliana away from her. That was why I couldnt smell anybody they all went into the tunnel while I was up the stairs with brother Brett.She couldnt tell if they were dead. They were all bind very still, and there was blood on Winnies head and on Nissas right arm and back. Blood and daw marks.And Galen he was sprawled out full-length, with no signs of breathing. He wasnt even a warrior. Hed never had a chance.Then Keller saw something that drove the others out of her head.The dragon.It was standing skillful the Jeep, but frozen, as if it had just rotate to face her. It was holding a hitchhike figure in silvery-white casually, almost insert under its arm.And it still looked like Jaime Ashton-Hughes.It was tiring Jaimes pretty blue dress. Its soft brownness hair blew gently about its face, and Keller could feel its dark blue eyes rooted(p) on her.But there were differences, too. Its skin was deadly pale, and something yellowish was oozing from a cut on its cheekbone. Its lips were drawn back from its teeth in a grin snarl that Jaime never could have managed. And when the wind blew the soft hair off its forehead, Keller could see horns.There they were. Stubby and soft-looking-or at least soft on the outside, like sericeous skin over bone. They were so on the face of it real and yet so marvellous that Keller felt her stomach turn.And there were tail fin of them.Five.The book said one to three Keller thought indignantly. And in rare cases four. But this thing has five Five seats of shapeshifting power, not to mention the black energy, mind control, and whatever else its been keeping up its weapon just for me.Im dead.Well, she had known that from the beginning, of course. Shed known it sestet days ago when she first leaped for the dragons back in the mal l. But now the actualization was more bitter, because not only was she dead, so was all hope.I cant kill that thing. Its going to s jape me as easily as the others. And then take Iliana.It didnt matter. She had to try.Put the girl down, she said. She kept her half-and-half shape to asseverate it. Maybe she could startle it by changing suddenly when she sprang.I dont think so, the dragon said with Jaimes mouth. It had Jaimes voice down perfectly. But then it opened the mouth, and basso profundo laughter came out, so deep and startling that Keller felt ice down her spine.Come on, Keller said. neither of us wants her hurt. While she was talking, she was moving slowly, trying to circle behind it. But it turned with her, keeping its back to the Jeep.You may not, the dragon said. But I really dont care. Shes already hurt I dont know if shell make it anyway. Its grin spread wider.Put her down, Keller said again. She knew that it wouldnt. But she wanted to keep talking, keep it off guard.S he also knew it wasnt going to let her get behind it. Panthers naturally attack from behind. It wasnt going to be an option.Kellers eyes shifted to the huge and ancient pine tree the Jeep was parked under. Or they didnt actually shift, because that would have given the dragon a clue. She expanded her awareness to take it in.It was her chance.We havent even aright introduced ourselves- she began.And then, in mid-sentence, she leaped.