The Return: Nightfall Chapter 15

Matt nodded, but he was blushing to the fair roots of his hair. â€Å"Tami†¦pressed herself against me.† There was a long pause. Meredith said levelly, â€Å"Matt, do you mean she hugged you? Like a biiiiiig hug? Or that she†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She stopped, because Matt was already shaking his head vehemently. â€Å"It was no innocent biiiiiig hug. We were alone, in the doorway there, and she just†¦well, I couldn't believe it. She's only fifteen, but she acted like an adult woman. I mean†¦not that I've ever had an adult woman dothat to me.† Looking embarrassed but relieved at having got this off his chest, Matt's gaze went from face to face. â€Å"So what do you think? Was it just a coincidence that Caroline was there? Or did she†¦say something to Tamra?† â€Å"No coincidence,† Elena said simply. â€Å"It'd be toomuch of a coincidence: Caroline coming on to you and then Tamra acting like that. I know – I used to know Tami Bryce. She's a nice little girl – or she used to be.† â€Å"She still is,† Meredith said. â€Å"I told you, I went out with Jim a few times. She's a very nice girl, and not at all mature for her age. I don't think she would normally do anything inappropriate, unless†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She stopped, looking into the middle distance, and then shrugged without finishing her sentence. Bonnie looked serious now. â€Å"But we have to stop this,† she said. â€Å"What if she does that to some guy who's not nice and shy like Matt? She's going to get herself assaulted!† â€Å"That's the whole problem,† Matt said, turning red again. â€Å"I mean, it's pretty difficult†¦. If she had been some other girl, that I was going on a date with – not that I go out with other girls on dates†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he added hastily, glancing at Elena. â€Å"But youshould be going out on dates,† Elena said firmly. â€Å"Matt, I don't want eternal fidelity from you – there's nothing I'd like better than to see you dating a nice girl.† As if by accident, her gaze wandered over to Bonnie, who was now trying to crunch celery very quietly and neatly. â€Å"Stefan, you're the only one who can tell us what to do,† Elena said, turning to him. Stefan was frowning. â€Å"I don't know. With only two girls, it's pretty hard to draw any conclusions.† â€Å"So we're going to wait and see what Caroline – or Tami – does next?† Meredith asked. â€Å"Not just wait,† Stefan said. â€Å"We've got to find out more about it. You guys can keep an eye on Caroline and Tamra Bryce, and I can do some research on it.† â€Å"Damn!† Elena said, hitting the ground with one fist. â€Å"I can almost – † She stopped suddenly and looked at her friends. Bonnie had dropped her celery, gasping, and Matt had choked on his Coke, going into a coughing fit. Even Meredith and Stefan were staring at her. â€Å"What?† she said blankly. Meredith recovered first. â€Å"It's just that yesterday you were – well, very young angels don't swear.† â€Å"Just because I died a couple of times, it means I have to say ;;darn' for the rest of my life?† Elena shook her head. â€Å"Not. I'm me and I'm going to stay me – whoever I am.† â€Å"Good,† said Stefan, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. Matt looked away and Elena gave Stefan an almost dismissive pat, but thinking,I love you forever , and knowing that he would pick it up even if she couldn't hear his thought in return. In fact she found shecould pick up his general response to it, a warm rose color seemed to hang around him. Was this what Bonnie saw and called an aura? She realized that most of the day she'd seen him with a light, cool, emerald sort of shadowing around him – if shadows could be light. And the green was returning now as the pink faded away. Immediately she glanced over the rest of the picnickers. Bonnie was surrounded by a roselike color, shading to the palest of pinks. Meredith was a deep and profound violet. Matt was a strong clear blue. It reminded her that up until yesterday – only yesterday? – she'd seen so many things that no one else could see. Including something that had scared her silly. What had itbeen ? She was getting flashes of images – little details that were scary enough by themselves. It could be as small as a fingernail or as large as an arm. Bark-like texture, at least on the body. Insect-like antennae, but far too many of them, and moving like whips, faster than any insect ever moved them. She had the general crawly feeling she got whenever she thought about insects. It was a bug, then. But a bug built on a different body plan than any insect she knew of. It was more like a leech in that respect, or a squid. It had a completely circular mouth, with sharp teeth all around, and far too many tentacles that looked like thick vines whipping around in back. It could attach itself to a person, she thought. But she had a terrible feeling that it could do more. It could turn transparent and pull itself inside you and you would feel no more than a pinprick. Andthen what would happen? Elena turned to Bonnie. â€Å"Do you think that if I show you what something looks like, you could recognize it again? Not with your eyes, but with your psychic senses?† â€Å"I guess it depends on what the  ¡Ã‚ ®something' is,† Bonnie answered cautiously. Elena glanced over at Stefan, who gave her briefest of nods. â€Å"Then shut your eyes,† she said. Bonnie did so, and Elena put her fingertips on Bonnie's temples, with her thumbs gently brushing Bonnie's eyelashes. Trying to activate her White Powers – something that had been so easy before today – was like striking two rocks together to make a fire and hoping one was flint. Finally she felt a small spark, and Bonnie jerked backward. Bonnie's eyes snapped open.†What was that?† she gasped. She was breathing hard. â€Å"That's what I saw – yesterday.† â€Å"Where?† Elena said slowly, â€Å"Inside Damon.† â€Å"But what does it mean? Was he controlling it? Or†¦or†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bonnie stopped and her eyes widened. Elena finished the sentence for her. â€Å"Was it controlling him? I don't know. But here's one thing I do know, almost for certain. When he ignored your Calling, Bonnie, he was being influenced by the malach.† â€Å"The question is,if not Damon , who was controlling it?† Stefan said, standing up again restlessly. â€Å"I picked that up, and the kind of creature Elena showed you – it's not something with a mind of its own. It needs an outside brain to control it.† â€Å"Like another vampire?† Meredith asked quietly. Stefan shrugged. â€Å"Vampires usually just ignore them, because vampires can get what they want without them. It would have to be a very strong mind to get a malach like that to possess a vampire. Strong – and evil.† â€Å"Those,† Damon said with biting grammatical precision, from where he was sitting on a high limb of an oak, â€Å"are they. My younger brother and his†¦associates.† â€Å"Marvelous,† murmured Shinichi. He had draped himself even more gracefully and languidly against the oak than Damon had. It had become an unspoken contest. Shinichi's golden eyes had flared once or twice – Damon had seen it – upon seeing Elena and at the mention of Tami. â€Å"Don't even try to tell me you're not involved with those rowdy girls,† Damon added dryly. â€Å"From Caroline to Tamra and onward, that's the idea, isn't it?† Shinichi shook his head. His eyes were on Elena and he began to sing a folksong softly. â€Å"With cheeks like blooming roses And hair like golden wheat†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I wouldn't try it onthose girls.† Damon smiled without humor. His eyes were narrow. â€Å"Granted, they look about as strong as wet tissue paper – but they're tougher than you'd think, and they're toughest of all when one of them is in danger.† â€Å"I told you, it's not me doing it,† Shinichi said. He looked uneasy for the first time since Damon had seen him. Then he said, â€Å"Although I might know the originator.† â€Å"Do tell,† Damon suggested, still narrow-eyed. â€Å"Well – did I mention my younger twin? Her name is Misao.† He smiled winningly. â€Å"It means maiden.† Damon felt an automatic stirring of appetite. He ignored it. He was too relaxed to think of hunting, and he wasn't at all sure thatkitsune – fox-spirits, which Shinichi claimed to be – could be hunted. â€Å"No, you didn't mention her,† Damon said, absently scratching at the back of his neck. That mosquito bite was gone, but it had left behind a furious itching. â€Å"It must have somehow slipped your mind.† â€Å"Well, she's here somewhere. She came when I did, when we saw the flare of Power that brought back†¦Elena.† Damon felt sure that the hesitation before the mention of Elena's name was a fake. He tilted his head at thedon't think you're fooling me angle and waited. â€Å"Misao likes to play games,† Shinichi said simply. â€Å"Oh, yes? Like backgammon, chess, Go Fish, that sort of thing?† Shinichi coughed theatrically, but Damon caught the glint of red in his eye. My, he reallywas overprotective of her, wasn't he? Damon gave Shinichi one of his most incandescent smiles. â€Å"I love her,† the young man with the black hair licked by fire said, and this time there was an open warning in his voice. â€Å"Of course you do,† Damon said in soothing tones. â€Å"I can see that.† â€Å"But, well, her games usually have the effect of destroying a town. Eventually. Not all at once.† Damon shrugged. â€Å"This flyspeck of a village isn't going to be missed. Of course, I get my girls out alive first.† Now it was his voice that held an open warning. â€Å"Just as you like.† Shinichi was back to his normal, submissive self. â€Å"We're allies, and we'll keep to our deal. Anyway, it would be a shame to waste†¦all that.† His gaze drifted to Elena again. â€Å"By the way, we won't even discuss the little fiasco with your malach and me – or hers, if you insist. I'm pretty sure I've vaporized at least three of them, but if I see another one, our business relationship is over. I make a bad enemy, Shinichi. You don't want to find out how bad.† Shinichi looked suitably impressed as he nodded. But the next moment he was gazing at Elena again, and singing. â€Å"†¦hair like golden wheat all a-down her milk-white shoulders; My pretty pink, my sweet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"And I'll want to meet this Misao of yours. For her protection.† â€Å"And I know she wants to meet you. She's caught up in her game at the moment, but I'll try to tear her away from it.† Shinichi stretched luxuriously. Damon looked at him for a moment. Then, absent-mindedly, he too stretched. Shinichi was watching him. He smiled. Damon wondered about that smile. He had noticed that when Shinichi smiled, two little flames of crimson could be seen in his eyes. But he was really too tired to think about it right now. Simply too relaxed. In fact he suddenly felt very sleepy†¦. â€Å"So we're going to be looking for these malach things in girls like Tami?† Bonnie asked. â€Å"Exactly like Tami,† said Elena. â€Å"And you think,† Meredith said, watching Elena closely, â€Å"that Tami got it somehow from Caroline.† â€Å"Yes. I know, I know – the question is: where did Caroline get it from? And that Idon't know. But, again, we don't know what happened to her when she was kidnapped by Klaus and Tyler Smallwood. We don't know anything about what she's been doing for the last week – except that it's clear she never really stopped hating us.† Matt held his head in his hands. â€Å"And then what are we going todo? I feel as if I'm responsible somehow.† â€Å"No – Jimmy's responsible, if anyone is. If he – you know, let Caroline spend the night – and then let her talk about it with his fifteen-year-old sister†¦. Well, it doesn't make himguilty , but he sure could have been a little more subtle,† Stefan said. â€Å"And that's whereyou're wrong,† Meredith told him. â€Å"Matt and Bonnie and Elena and I have known Caroline forages andwe know what she's capable of . If anyone qualifies as their sister's keeper – it's us. And I think we're in serious delinquency of duty. I vote we stop by her house.† â€Å"So do I,† Bonnie said sadly, â€Å"but I'm not looking forward to it. Besides, what if shedoesn't have one of those malach things in her?† â€Å"That's where the research comes in,† Elena said. â€Å"We need to find out who's behind it all. Someone strong enough to influence Damon.† â€Å"Wonderful,† Meredith said, looking grim. â€Å"And given the power of the ley lines, we only have every single person in Fell's Church to choose from.† Fifty yards west and thirty feet straight up, Damon was struggling to keep awake. Shinichi reached up to brush fine hair the color of night and flames licking upward off his forehead. Under his lowered lids he was watching Damon intently. Damon meant to be watching him as intently, but he was simply too drowsy. Slowly, he imitated Shinichi's motion, brushing a very few strands of silky black hair off his own forehead. His lids drooped inadvertently, just a little more than before. Shinichi was still smiling at him. â€Å"So we have our deal,† he murmured. â€Å"We get the town, Misao and I, and you don't stand in our way. We get the rights to the power of the ley lines. You get your girls safely out†¦and you get your revenge.† â€Å"Against my sanctimonious brother and that†¦that Mutt!† â€Å"Matt.† Shinichi had sharp ears. â€Å"Whatever. I just won't have Elena hurt, is all. Or the little red-headed witch.† â€Å"Ah, yes, sweet Bonnie. I wouldn't mind one or two like her. One for Samhain and one for the Solstice.† Damon snorted drowsily. â€Å"There aren't two like her; I don't care where you look. I won't have her hurt either.† â€Å"And what about the tall, dark-haired beauty†¦Meredith?† Damon woke up.†Where?† â€Å"Don't worry; she's not coming to get you,† Shinichi said soothingly. â€Å"What do you wantdone with her?† â€Å"Oh.† Damon lounged back again in relief, easing his shoulders. â€Å"Let her go her own way – as long as it's far away from mine.† Shinichi seemed to deliberately relax back against his branch. â€Å"Your brother will be no problem. So it's really just that other boy down there,† he murmured. He had a very insinuating murmur. â€Å"Yes. But my brother – † Damon was almost asleep now, in the exact position that Shinichi had taken. â€Å"I told you, he'll be taken care of.† â€Å"Mm. I mean, good.† â€Å"So we have a deal?† â€Å"Mm-hmm.† â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"We have a deal.† This time, Damon didn't respond. He was dreaming. He dreamed that Shinichi's angelic golden eyes snapped open suddenly to look at him. â€Å"Damon.† He heard his name, but in his dream it was too much trouble to open his eyes. He could see without opening them, anyway. In his dream, Shinichi leaned over him, hovering directly over his face, so that their auras mixed and they would have shared breath if Damon had been breathing. Shinichi stayed that way a long time, as if he were testing Damon's aura, but Damon knew that to an outsider he would appear to be out on all channels and frequencies. Still, in his dream Shinichi hung over him, as if he were trying to memorize the crescent of dark lashes on Damon's pale cheek or the subtle curve of Damon's mouth. Finally, the dream-Shinichi put his hand under Damon's head and stroked the spot where the mosquito bite had itched. â€Å"Oh, growing up to be a fine big lad, aren't you?† he said to something Damon couldn't see – to somethinginside him. â€Å"You could almost take full control against his own strong will, couldn't you?† Shinichi sat for a moment, as if watching a cherry blossom fall, then shut his eyes. â€Å"I think,† he whispered, â€Å"that that's what we'll try, not too long from now. Soon. Very soon. But first, we have to gain his trust; get rid of his rival. Keep him blurred, angry, vain, off balance. Keep him thinking of Stefan, of his hatred for Stefan, who took his angel, whileI take care of what needs to be done here.† Then he spoke directly to Damon. â€Å"Allies, indeed!† He laughed. â€Å"Not while I can put my finger on your very soul. Here. Do you feel it? What I could make you do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And then again he seemed to address whatever creature was already inside Damon: â€Å"But right now†¦a little feast to help you grow up much faster and get much stronger.† In the dream, Shinichi made a gesture, and lay back, encouraging previously invisible malach to come up the trees. They slunk up and slid up the back of Damon's neck. And then, hideously, they slipped inside him, one by one, through some cut he hadn't known he had. The feeling of their soft, flabby, jellyfish-like bodies was almost unbearable†¦slipping inside of him†¦. Shinichi sang softly. â€Å"Oh, come a' tae me, ye fair pretty maidens Haste ye lassies tae my bosom Come tae me by sunlight or moonlight While the roses still are in blossom†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In his dream, Damon was angry. Not because of the nonsense about malach inside him. That was ludicrous. He was angry because he knew that the dream-Shinichi was watching Elena as she began to pack up the remains of the picnic. He was watching every motion she made with an obsessive closeness. â€Å"They blossom ever where you tread †¦Wild roses bloody red.† â€Å"Extraordinary girl, your Elena,† the dream-Shinichi added. â€Å"If she lives, I think she'll be mine for a night or so.† He stroked the remaining strands of hair off Damon's forehead gently. â€Å"Extraordinary aura, don't you think? I'll make sure her death is beautiful.† But Damon was in one of those dreams where you can neither move nor speak. He didn't answer. Meanwhile, dream-Shinichi's dream-pets continued to climb the trees and pour themselves, like Jell-O, inside him. One, two, three, a dozen, two dozen of them.More . And Damon could not wake, even though he sensed more malach coming from the Old Wood. They were neither dead, nor living, neither man nor maiden, mere capsules of Power that would allow Shinichi to control Damon's mind from far away. Endlessly, they came. Shinichi kept watching the flow, the bright sparkle of internal organs sparkling into Damon. After a while he sang again, â€Å"Days are precious, dinna lose them Flo'ers will fade and so will ye†¦ Come to me, ye fair young maidens While young and fair ye still may be.† Damon dreamed that he heard the word â€Å"forget† as if whispered by a hundred voices. And even as he tried to remember what to forget, it dissolved and disappeared. He woke up alone in the tree, with an ache that filled his entire body.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Essay

   The setting in both books is mainly in the 18th century where there wasn’t anything too modern which helped add the theme of gothic horror to the reading audience as in those times it was a lot darker and more horrifying. In an Interview with a vampire the story is set over 200 years. Showing as the theme of gothic horror in the book decreases, as the book becomes more modern. This is shown when Lestat is scared of the modern world and the artificial lights as he thinks they are sunlight scaring him into hiding. There are various themes in both books for example they have written one of the characters acting like God, Lestat in Interview with a vampire and Victor in Frankenstein. This was especially scary in Frankenstein 1816 as the people took religion very seriously and to talk about gods in this way was known as evil, which scared the people who read the book Which would inspire terror into the people who read it. When in Frankenstein the creature says † I am thy creature, I ought to be thy Adam† And in Interview in the vampire when Lestat acts as god by creating Louie and also when Lestat says they are the same as God when he says † Gods kill, and so shall we† This shows the God theme as Lestat connects being a vampire to being Gods which is shown in the quote. Another thing in both books they deal with the themes of outsiders. In Frankenstein when the creature is looking in â€Å"On examining the dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the cottage had formally occupied part of it but the panes had been boarded up with wood. In one of these was a small and almost imperceptible chick, through which the eye could just penetrate. Through this crevice a small room was visible. † Also in Interview with a vampire Louie became an outsider when he became a vampire. † I said goodbye to the sunrise and went out to become a vampire† The two texts are very similar though in many ways. First of all in both texts the main character is an outsider, Louie as a Vampire as he is different from everyone else as he is a vampire and Victor as an outcast to everyone else as he created this monster and is a criminal for doing so making him an outsider and different to other people. Also both authors have lost a child which may have helped write the book using their life experiences to help them writing the book. Both books have roughly the same plot when Louie or the creature both have a natural birth and find it hard to survive. Also in both books they murder when the creature kills people or Louie kills people for blood. As when Louie said, † Now I am guilty of murder. † I think the authors of these two texts have don’t an excellent job in dealing with the theme of outsiders in the text as the setting, the characters and what’s happening around them all make them outsiders. Also what the characters are and how they act and what they do which inspires terror or horror into the reader create the genre of Gothic horror and make it stand out. But what most of all stuck into my mind were the words from Louie, which really made me think Gothic horror and outsiders, was â€Å"I wanted love and goodness in this which is living death’ I said ‘ It was impossible from the beginning, because you cannot have love and goodness when you do what you know to be evil, what you know to be wrong† and also in Frankenstein when Victor said † It was necessary that I should return without delay to Geneva, there to watch over the lives of those I do fondly loved; and to lie in wait for the murderer, that if any chance led me to the place of his concealment, or if he dared† Both showing the Gothic horror in their words like when they say â€Å"murderer† and â€Å"evil† creating the gothic horror feeling. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

The Impact of the Stamp Act on the American Revolution

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Euonymus alata - - Essay Example long and have tapering tips. During the Autumn season the leaves of this plant turn a bright reddish color. It is also called the â€Å"winged euonymus† because most of these cultivars possess two t three corky flanges or wings that are present along the length of the branches. The branches which are lime green in color when the plant is young become ash gray as the plant grows older. The flowers are small and grow in Axillary pairs on ‘Y’ shaped stems. The flowering season for the Euonymus alata takes place between the months of late April to June. By September or October the flowers mature and turn into reddish – purple fruits that have four seeds inside. These seeds are dispersed by birds and also gravity. The Euonymus alata is an exceedingly tolerant plant and can withstand a lot of sunlight and thrives in poor soil conditions. Therefore this plant becomes quite a threat to grow in open environments. Seeds could be stored up to long periods and made use of much later as it possesses good longevity. For healthy growth the Euonymus alata could be treated with an application of herbicide. The Euonymus alata is also called the â€Å"burning bush† which is deciduous and grows to a height of about 20 ft. It thrives greatly throughout eastern United States and is a highly invasive plant. This plant is a native of Northeastern Asia and for the first time it was introduced to North Americans in the 1860’s for the purpose of using it as an ornamental plant. The leaves which are dark green in color are rounded, smooth and taper at the tips. This winged burning bush invades forests and also a wide variety of other habitats, fields, roadsides and side- walks. Once these plants are strongly established, they grow wildly and form dense thickets, covering the other plants and displacing other native flora in the area. Invasive plants grow at a much quicker rate and aggressively, spreading wildly and displacing other fauna in the same area around

Managing People in Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing People in Organisations - Essay Example Manpower management can be a very stressing facet of businesses. The demands differ greatly from those of the other functional areas. Hence, in order to be able to properly manage a company’s workforce, managers must be aware of the behavior being exhibited by the people in their organization. Usually, these behaviors become entrenched in the company and are greatly held by the company’s culture. However, challenging as this may be, it is an important element of a company’s strategy. Basically, these are the force behind the innovations or policies that will be implemented from the strategy that a company hopes to pursue. Hence, building the culture of the company has increasingly been gaining traction among today’s companies since it is a strong platform from which to launch the tactical plans of companies pursuant to their strategic plan. Hence, the capability of companies to utilize their manpower and to be able to harness their capabilities has been cr ucial for the success of these companies (Wang Wei 2006). The need for such awareness and understanding of the human behavior in the organization has been increasingly more pressing with the advent of globalization. The different culture from which employees all over the world has been the norm for companies with global operations has made companies even more aware of the need for understanding the behavior of the people and the organization as a whole. Thus, the management of people necessitates the need for a personal touch. Hence, there have been varying ways in which the different managers handle the diverse workforce they have under them. This has called for a greater degree of flexibility to enable the managers to understand the people that they work with (HIckson and Pugh 2002). This has been a necessary skill in order to enable the company to achieve their various goals and objectives. The multicultural nature of organisations that operate internationally has called for varying styles of management in order to properly handle the differences that they will be encountering with their global workforce. Globalisation has opened up various opportunities for businesses over the past two decades. One is that they are able to source out new markets from different countries. In effect, companies are not anymore limited by the size of the domestic market from which they come from. Through globalisation, they have

Sentences in BTN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sentences in BTN - Essay Example A Chinese firm is used for analysis to determine if the exchange rates affect trade flows in a systematic manner. It is beyond the analysis of this paper to compare the responses of the foreign country policies to the domestic policies that existed initially China maintained a fixed exchange rate from 1994 to 2005 and during this period the USA experienced continued and increasing deficits in trade against China. Domestic Chinese firms obtained raw materials from the foreign trading partner freely without making payments. The firm would then sell the product to the same foreign trading partner and charges the trading partner only the assemblage fee. Ordinary exports and imports formed the main basis of the analysis as they accounted for the majority of the exports and the imports. The share of each of the processing firm is used as a determinant of the level of processing trade engagement of the given firm during the analysis The effects of the firm level dynamics on the aggregate ch ina-us trade balance is examined using beard formula of decomposing the annual changes in exports and imports between the two countries. Percentage changes in the GDP of China and USA are used to control the effects on the demands on firm exports and imports. Firm fixed effects are used in the control of any unique feature that may affect the exports or imports at the firm level hence errors are standardized at the firm level

A Trade Environment and the Rights of Patients Dissertation

A Trade Environment and the Rights of Patients - Dissertation Example Recent free trade agreements have extended extremely generous patent rights to multinational pharmaceutical companies, and have limited access to generic equivalent drugs. In the â€Å"DOHA declaration on TRIPS and Public Health† of 2001, states that were members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) guaranteed that when a country is undergoing a public health crisis, it is not bound by its patents commitments. A consensus was reached that the provisions in the WTO having to with patents should be interpreted liberally in favour of the patient, and in favour of granting access to essential medicines. In order to circumvent these commitments, bilateral agreements are being forged by developed countries with lesser developed countries where the requirements for intellectual property law surpass those found in TRIPS. The TRIPS agreement does contain various safeguard mechanisms to protect public health. The two distinct safeguards are (1) parallel importation, and (2) compulsory licensing. By, its silence, the TRIPS allows countries to import drugs from another country that is selling it at a lower price. Countries must make domestic legislation in this regard. The US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, however, is an example of how the US has engaged in scare tactics to pressure developing countries not to pass a parallel important law. Compulsory licensing, on the other hand, permits the government to grant compulsory licenses to particular companies to create generic versions of the drug and arrest a public health crisis.

Benefits of Learning in a Diverse Environment in Toronto Essay Example for Free

Benefits of Learning in a Diverse Environment in Toronto Essay Toronto,Canada has been one of the most multicultural cities in the world and has attracted thousands of immigrants and foreign students each year mostly from Asian and European countries (Toronto, 2007) Due to the popularity of the city to foreigners as well as the prestigious schools it has such as the University of Toronto and the York University, students from different parts of the world have been attracted to study in the city. Universities have been offering a diverse learning environment, offering curriculum, facilities, and learning resources including professors and instructors that address the needs of and accommodate the growing number of foreign students and immigrants in Toronto. A diverse learning environment offers various benefits to students regardless of culture and nationality. First, it introduces me to different cultures and race, making students like me become aware of various cultures and beliefs. Having the awareness of different cultures of people in Toronto can improve my interpersonal and communication skills. â€Å"Hanging around people of different culture develop the students ability to understand the ideas and feelings of others, which in later life makes them, more likely to live in racially diverse communities, maintain friendships with people of different races and able to function more effectively in an increasingly diverse workplace† (Haas, 1999). From this view, a diverse learning environment therefore can eliminate or reduce racism and racist attitudes towards the minority groups. It also can also prepare me to adapt to a diverse environment in case I have to work or migrate to other country particularly in Asian and European countries especially now that the level of globalisation is increasing. A diverse learning environment can also improve my ability of working in a team since in universities, there are particular activities that needed group efforts and diverse ideas that can result to a more comprehensive outcome, providing me various ideas that could have never been available if not because of my foreign classmates and friends and even professors. On the other hand, there are still some people who are not open-minded and are not interested in learning about other cultures due to their very racist attitudes. A diverse learning environment with students or professors like these people can negatively affect some foreign students and students from minority groups, making them feel discriminated and unwelcome to such learning environment that may lessen their interest in studying or acquainting with students of different nationalities. However, in Toronto, it seems not much of a problem because foreigners and immigrants have long been welcomed in the city. Reference: Haas, Mark (1999) Research shows diverse environment has educational benefits, retrieved on-line on February 13, 2007 http://www. umich. edu/~urecord/9899/Mar22_99/10. htm Toronto website retrieved on February 14, 2007 http://www. toronto. ca/quality_of_life/diversity. htm

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Prevention Strategies

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Prevention Strategies Until the 1990s, STDs were commonly known as venereal diseases: Veneris is the Latin genitive form of the name Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Social disease was another euphemism. Public health officials originally introduced the term sexually transmitted infection, which clinicians are increasingly using alongside the term sexually transmitted disease in order to distinguish it from the former. According to the Ethiopian Aids Resource Center FAQ, Sometimes the terms STI and STD are used interchangeably. This can be confusing and not always accurate, so it helps first to understand the difference between infection and disease. Infection simply means that a germ-virus, bacteria, or parasite-that can cause disease or sickness is present inside a persons body. An infected person does not necessarily have any symptoms or signs that the virus or bacteria is actually hurting his or her body; they do not necessarily feel sick. A disease means that the infection is actually causing the in fected person to feel sick, or to notice something is wrong. For this reason, the term STI which refers to infection with any germ that can cause an STD, even if the infected person has no symptoms-is a much broader term than STD. The distinction being made, however, is closer to that between a colonization snd an infection, rather than between an infection and a disease. Specifically, the term STD refers only to infections that are causing symptoms. Because most of the time people do not know that they are infected with an STD until they start showing symptoms of disease, most people use the term STD, even though the term STI is also appropriate in many cases. Moreover, the term sexually transmissible disease is sometimes used since it is less restrictive in consideration of other factors or means of transmission. For instance, meningitis is transmissible by means of sexual contact but is not labeled as an STI because sexual contact is not the primary vector for the pathogens that cause meningitis. This discrepancy is addressed by the probability of infection by means other than sexual contact. In general, an STI is an infection that has a negligible probability of transmission by means other than sexual contact, but has a realistic means of transmission by sexual contact (more sophisticated means-blood transfusion, sharing of hypodermic needles-are not taken into account). Thus, one may presume that, if a person is infected with an STI, e.g., chlamydia, gonorrhea, genital herpes, it was transmitted to him/her by means of sexual contact. The diseases on this list are most commonly transmitted solely by sexual activity. Many infectious diseases, including the common cold, influenza, pneumonia, and most others that are transmitted person-to-person can also be transmitted during sexual contact, if one person is infected, due to the close contact involved. However, even though these diseases may be transmitted during sex, they are not considered STDs. Primary STD Bacterial Chancroid Granuloma inguinale or (Klebsiella granulomati) Gonorrhea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) Syphilis (Treponema pallidum) Fungal Tinea cruris, jock itch, may be sexually transmitted. Candidiasis, yeast infection Viral Viral hepatitis (Hepatitis B virus)-saliva, venereal fluids. (Note: Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E are transmitted via the fecal-oral route; Hepatitis C (liver cancer) is rarely sexually transmittable and the route of transmission of Hepatitis D (only if infected with B) is uncertain, but may include sexual transmission.) Herpes simplex (Herpes simplex virus 1, 2) skin and mucosal, transmissible with or without visible blisters HIV/ AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)- venereal flu. HPV (Human Papilloma Virus)- skin and mucosal contact. High risk types of HPV are known to cause most types of cervical cancer, as well as well as anal, penile and genital warts.. Molluscum contagiosum (molluscum contagiosum virus MCV)-close contact Parasites Crab louse, colloquially known as crabs or pubic lice (Phthirius pubis) Scabies (Sarcoptes scabi) Protozoal Trichomoniasis (Trichomonas vaginalis) Sexually transmissible enteric infections Bacterial Shigella Campylobacter Salmonella Viral Hepatitis A Protozoan (parasitic) Giardia Cryptosporidiosis Above pathogens are transmitted by sexual practices that promote anal-oral contamination (fecal-oral). Sharing sex toys without washing or multiple partnered barebacking can promote anal-anal contamination. Although the bacterial pathogens may coexist with or cause proctitis, they usually produce symptoms (diarrhea, fever, bloating, nausea, and abdominal pain) suggesting disease more proximal in the GI tract. These diseases can cause various forms of cancer long term, malnutrition, and weight loss. For immuno-compromised individuals (such as with HIV), these infections can often cause severe weight loss, weakness, and death. Cryptosporidium is the organism most commonly isolated in HIV positive patients presenting with diarrhea. Pathophysiology Many STDs are (more easily) transmitted through the mucous membranes of the penis, vulva, rectum, urinary tract and (less often-depending on type of infection) the mouth, throat, respiratory tract and eyes. The visible membrane covering the head of the penis is a mucous membrane, though it produces no mucus (similar to the lips of the mouth). Mucous membranes differ from skin in that they allow certain pathogens into the body. Pathogens are also able to pass through breaks or abrasions of the skin, even minute ones. The shaft of the penis is particularly susceptible due to the friction caused during penetrative sex. The primary sources of infection in ascending order are venereal fluids, saliva, mucosal or skin (particularly the penis), infections may also be transmitted from feces, urine and sweat. The amount required to cause infection varies with each pathogen but is always less than you can see with the naked eye. This is one reason that the probability of transmitting many infections is far higher from sex than by more casual means of transmission, such as non-sexual contact-touching, hugging, shaking hands-but it is not the only reason. Although mucous membranes exist in the mouth as in the genitals, many STIs seem to be easier to transmit through oral sex than through deep kissing. According to a safe sex chart, many infections that are easily transmitted from the mouth to the genitals or from the genitals to the mouth, are much harder to transmit from one mouth to another. With HIV, genital fluids happen to contain much more of the pathogen than saliva. Some infections labeled as STIs can be transmitted by direct skin contact. Herpes simplex and HPV are both examples. KSHV, on the other hand, may be transmitted by deep-kissing but also when saliva is used as a sexual lubricant. Depending on the STD, a person may still be able to spread the infection if no signs of disease are present. For example, a person is much more likely to spread herpes infection when blisters are present (STD) than when they are absent (STI). However, a person can spread HIV infection (STI) at any time, even if he/she has not developed symptoms of AIDS (STD). All sexual behaviors that involve contact with the bodily fluids of another person should be considered to contain some risk of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Most attention has focused on controlling HIV, which causes AIDS, but each STD presents a different situation. As may be noted from the name, sexually transmitted diseases are transmitted from one person to another by certain sexual activities rather than being actually caused by those sexual activities. Bacteria, funia, protozoa or viruses are still the causative agents. It is not possible to catch any sexually transmitted disease from a sexual activity with a person who is not carrying a disease; conversely, a person who has an STD got it from contact (sexual or otherwise) with someone who had it, or his/her bodily fluids. Some STDs such as HIV can be transmitted from mother to child either during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Although the likelihood of transmitting various diseases by various sexual activities varies a great deal, in general, all sexual activities between two (or more) people should be considered as being a two-way route for the transmission of STDs, i.e., giving or receiving are both risky although receiving carries a higher risk. Healthcare professionals suggest safer sex, such as the use of condoms, as the most reliable way of decreasing the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases during sexual activity, but safer sex should by no means be considered an absolute safeguard. The transfer of and exposure to bodily fluids, such as blood transfusions and other blood products, sharing injection needles, needle-stick injuries (when medical staff are inadvertently jabbed or pricked with needles during medical procedures), sharing tattoo needles, and childbirth are other avenues of transmission. These different means put certain groups, such as medical workers, and haemophiliacs and drug users, particularly at risk. Recent epidemiological studies have investigated the networks that are defined by sexual relationships between individuals, and discovered that the properties of sexual networks are crucial to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. In particular, assortative mixing between people with large numbers of sexual partners seems to be an important factor. It is possible to be an asymptomatic carrier of sexually transmitted diseases. In particular, sexually transmitted diseases in women often cause the serious condition of pelvic inflammatory disease. Prevention Main article: Safe sex Prevention is key in addressing incurable STIs, such as HIV herpes. The most effective way to prevent sexual transmission of STIs is to avoid contact of body parts or fluids which can lead to transfer with an infected partner. No contact minimizes risk. Not all sexual activities involve contact: cybersex, phonesex or masturbation from a distance are methods of avoiding contact. Proper use of condoms reduces contact and risk. Although a condom is effective in limiting exposure, some disease transmission may occur even with a condom. Ideally, both partners should get tested for STIs before initiating sexual contact, or before resuming contact if a partner engaged in contact with someone else. Many infections are not detectable immediately after exposure, so enough time must be allowed between possible exposures and testing for the tests to be accurate. Certain STIs, particularly certain persistent viruses like HPV, may be impossible to detect with current medical procedures. Many diseases that establish permanent infections can so occupy the immune system that other diseases become more easily transmitted. The innate immune system led by defensins against HIV can prevent transmission of HIV when viral counts are very low, but if busy with other viruses or overwhelmed, HIV can establish itself. Certain viral STIs also greatly increase the risk of death for HIV infected patients. Vaccines Vaccines are available that protect against some viral STIs, such as Hepatitis B and some types of HPV. Vaccination before initiation of sexual contact is advised to assure maximal protection. Condoms Condoms only provide protection when used properly as a barrier, and only to and from the area that it covers. Uncovered areas are still susceptible to many STDs. In the case of HIV, sexual transmission routes almost always involve the penis, as HIV cannot spread through unbroken skin, thus properly shielding the insertive penis with a properly worn condom from the vagina and anus effectively stops HIV transmission. An infected fluid to broken skin borne direct transmission of HIV would not be considered sexually transmitted, but can still theoretically occur during sexual contact, this can be avoided simply by not engaging in sexual contact when having open bleeding wounds. Other STDs, even viral infections, can be prevented with the use of latex condoms as a barrier. Some microorganisms and viruses are small enough to pass through the pores in natural skin condoms, but are still too large to pass through latex condoms. Proper usage entails: Not putting the condom on too tight at the end, and leaving 1.5 cm (3/4 inch) room at the tip for ejaculation. Putting the condom on snug can and often does lead to failure. Wearing a condom too loose can defeat the barrier. Avoiding inverting, spilling a condom once worn, whether it has ejaculate in it or not, even for a second. Avoiding condoms made of substances other than latex or polyurethane, as they dont protect against HIV. Avoiding the use of oil based lubricants (or anything with oil in it) with latex condoms, as oil can eat holes into them. Using flavored condoms for oral sex only, as the sugar in the flavoring can lead to yeast infections if used to penetrate. Not following the first five guidelines above perpetuates the common misconception that condoms arent tested or designed properly. In order to best protect oneself and the partner from STIs, the old condom and its contents should be assumed to be still infectious. Therefore the old condom must be properly disposed of. A new condom should be used for each act of intercourse, as multiple usage increases the chance of breakage, defeating the primary purpose as a barrier

Jackie Robinson and The Integration Of The United States Essay

Jackie Robinson: athlete, social activist, hero. These are just some of the words people use to describe Jackie. Robinson was the first person to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, at the time officially designated a white man’s sport. The blacks and whites played in separate leagues but Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to integrate Major League Baseball. At this time in the 1940s the Unites States was still segregated and the Jim Crow Laws still reigned heavily in the south. Integration didn’t start until 1948 when Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which integrated the military. This didn’t occur until after Robinson took the field as the first African-American to play in the major leagues. Once Robinson started playing, whites saw that he could do anything as well as they could, which started a social revolution within the United States. If it hadn’t been for Branch Rickey trying to integrate the major league s, who knows how long it would have been before the U.S. and the major leagues started to integrate. Jackie Robinson grew up with sports all around him. Jackie’s older brother Matthew was an Olympic sprinter in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin; he came in second in the 200 meter dash behind Jesse Owens. â€Å"Matthew inspired Jackie to pursue his talent and love for athletics (Robinson)†. Jackie continued his love for sports at the University of California, Los Angeles. Robinson became the university’s first four sport letterman. He excelled in track, baseball, football and basketball. If it was not for his brother Robinson might not have continued his love for sports, thus never playing in the major leagues and the integration of the United States might have taken longer. He was easi... ...play in the major leagues and Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier and people started realizing the questionable practices of segregation wanting the United States to change and accept blacks into everyday life. Works Cited â€Å"Jackie Robinson.† 2010. Biography.com 2010. Web 14 Nov 2010. â€Å"Breaking the Color Line: 1940-1946† memory.loc.gov 2010. Web 13 Nov 2010. Brunner, Borgna, and Elissa Haney. â€Å"Civil Rights Timeline.† Infoplease.com 2007. Web. 13 Nov 2010. Dawson, George, and Richard Glaubman. â€Å"Life Is So Good.† New York; Penguin, 2001. Print. Carroll, Brian. â€Å"Early Twentieth-Century Heroes: Coverage of Negro League Baseball in the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender.† Journalism History 32.1(2006): 34-43. Web. 14 Nov 2010. Mackenzie, Dewitt. â€Å"Branch Rickey picks a player.† The South East Missourian. 14 Apr, 1947. Web. 29 Nov, 2010.

Blackberry Winter :: essays research papers

Blackberry Winter   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Penn Warren’s â€Å"Blackberry Winter† is the story of one young boy’s sudden and painfully realistic venture from behind the blissful cloak of childhood innocence into the more brutal reality of the world. Warren captures this transition through the eyes of the young and happily naà ¯ve Middle Tennessee farm boy, Seth. When the story begins, the nine year old Seth is lingering on the very edge of his innocence, but is undoubtedly still in the throws of the methodical and simple life that only a child can truly have. Before that fateful day when the unusual stranger appeared so suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, Seth led the secure and rhythmic life that comes with both ignorance and innocence. Seth having never left or even given much thought to life outside his small farm community, he had been sheltered from the true evils of the world. He had no concept of time or change, and had never needed one. That day, and that stranger, f orced him to become aware of things that were beyond his control and even made him question the very things that he had always held as the gospel truth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A child’s coming of age is a universal and inevitable transition that Seth does not foresee or even expect, and until looking back on it almost thirty-five years later, he does not realize the true significance of his passage. That day Seth’s very foundations were rocked as his eyes were opened to the world and its ways. When the story begins Seth’s transition has already begun to take place, and the smooth and repetitive rhythm of his life that has always brought him so much comfort slowly begins to crumble. Even such a small and seemingly insignificant thing as not being allowed to go outside in June without shoes, something which he has always been able to do, puzzles and confuses Seth. The appearance of the odd and out of place stranger even further fascinates and bewilders the small boy. Seth’s world begins to spin even faster and stranger as he sees Dellie, a woman that he has always thought he knew so well and even refers to her as being methodical as a machine, violently strikes her son as he has never seen her do and later as Old Jebb questions Seth’s mother’s very words. Until that day, Seth has never considered the fact that things would ever any different than they always had been.

Essay --

Budgetary shortfalls have become a part of everyday news and a grim reality for both public and private sectors. Negotiating a win-win scenario for all vested parties sometimes can seem like an insurmountable and daunting task. In order to run a successful municipality, all vested parties must collaborate and be solution based. Transparency plays a huge role in establishing trust, credibility and facilitating an agreeable end result. Every financial organization must create a budget. In simple terms, the budget is a plan that outlines how resources will be utilized during a specific period of time. A balanced budget generally translates into an organization demonstrating financial health and or responsibility, (Kennon, 2014). When the amount of goods or services exceeds the amount of revenue being generated, budgets then need to be revised so that they are in line. This generally means that concessions need to be made by governmental officials, union groups, employe es, constituents or all of the aforementioned stakeholders in the community. Due to a drop in revenue, a slight increase in contracted services and an increase in post employment expenditures for the current fiscal year, the mayor of my jurisdiction has asked all department heads to analyze, revise and submit a budget reflecting a 2% decrease in expenditures for the following year. This will allow for the government to remain solvent without raising the tax rate. As the department head of the public safety division, I oversee the budgets for the police and fire departments. This includes 44 full time police officer, 16 full time fire fighters and 10 part time fire fighters. Total yearly expense for the public safety division is $9,460,000 or 72% o... ... this would reduce the number of calls and offset the expense by 25% or $18,750. Each year the police and fire departments are involved in community outreach efforts. Costs in excess of $31,500 for events like the national fire safety week, national night out, crime stoppers, DARE, personal safety seminars and workshops, etcetera are typically absorbed by the public safety department and provided to the community free of charge. Being strategic as to what educational programs are offered and limiting the events to quarterly rather than monthly would save the jurisdiction approximately $7,000 annually without completely eliminating the programs that the community has come to expect. All told with the strategic approach to budget allocation and the implementation of targeted increases for those who violate the law, the proposed savings is $190,250. Essay -- Budgetary shortfalls have become a part of everyday news and a grim reality for both public and private sectors. Negotiating a win-win scenario for all vested parties sometimes can seem like an insurmountable and daunting task. In order to run a successful municipality, all vested parties must collaborate and be solution based. Transparency plays a huge role in establishing trust, credibility and facilitating an agreeable end result. Every financial organization must create a budget. In simple terms, the budget is a plan that outlines how resources will be utilized during a specific period of time. A balanced budget generally translates into an organization demonstrating financial health and or responsibility, (Kennon, 2014). When the amount of goods or services exceeds the amount of revenue being generated, budgets then need to be revised so that they are in line. This generally means that concessions need to be made by governmental officials, union groups, employe es, constituents or all of the aforementioned stakeholders in the community. Due to a drop in revenue, a slight increase in contracted services and an increase in post employment expenditures for the current fiscal year, the mayor of my jurisdiction has asked all department heads to analyze, revise and submit a budget reflecting a 2% decrease in expenditures for the following year. This will allow for the government to remain solvent without raising the tax rate. As the department head of the public safety division, I oversee the budgets for the police and fire departments. This includes 44 full time police officer, 16 full time fire fighters and 10 part time fire fighters. Total yearly expense for the public safety division is $9,460,000 or 72% o... ... this would reduce the number of calls and offset the expense by 25% or $18,750. Each year the police and fire departments are involved in community outreach efforts. Costs in excess of $31,500 for events like the national fire safety week, national night out, crime stoppers, DARE, personal safety seminars and workshops, etcetera are typically absorbed by the public safety department and provided to the community free of charge. Being strategic as to what educational programs are offered and limiting the events to quarterly rather than monthly would save the jurisdiction approximately $7,000 annually without completely eliminating the programs that the community has come to expect. All told with the strategic approach to budget allocation and the implementation of targeted increases for those who violate the law, the proposed savings is $190,250.

Comingof Age – Adolescence and Identity

Coming of Age Interview Adolescence and Identity Life is a series of lessons and challenges which help us to grow. According to Erik Erickson, the better that people come through each crisis, the better they will tend to deal with what lies ahead. People experience the most lessons during their childhood when they are Just learning of how the world operates. Children and young adults handle situations very differently because their thought processes are different depending on their experiences.Of course lessons can be revisited successfully when they reoccur as adults, if they are recognized as a problem. This essay is a good example of how two people raised in different environments felt like they became adults. I chose to use myself as one example and a co-worker to compare to. The interviewee is a 23 year old male named Michael. Michael was raised by his mother and father in Texas. His father was in the Marines and their family moved a lot. He said that his father was hard on him to always be manly and tough and he was physical with him for punishment.His parent's eventually divorced and Michael started to do his own thing with his friends in Texas while staying at his moms. He said that because he moved a lot growing up he was okay with having his things scattered about and staying with different people. It seemed like he did not have much stability after graduating High School. He waited two years after High School before he realized that he needed to do something with his life. It was a shock to him that life was nothing like High School. He stated, â€Å"l was the popular one in High School and I had a lot of friends. After we graduated they all did things and I stayed and was bored.I decided to Join the Marines like my dad. † Michael ended up in the Army instead which is how he became my co-worker. Now, Michael is newly married and takes care of a one year old girl. He has his own apartment and is the only one who brings home the income. He said that he felt he came of age when he joined the military and realized that life wasn't like High School. He rebelled to community expectations for the longest time until he realized that it made life more difficult and he needed money to get anywhere. He said that he used to Just care about partying and hanging out with friends but now his interests are in his family and career.He is comfortable with his adult identity but he realizes that he picked up some anger issues from his father and that can cause strain in his marriage as it did with his parent's. Like Erikson suggests, depending on how you dealt with things in adolescence it can reflect the way you do in adulthood. My development was different in that I was not necessarily raised by my parent's at all. I grew up in Northern Wisconsin and only moved around in the same three owns. My mother suffers from Schizophrenia and my father is also an alcoholic who had violent tendencies.I felt that I was an adult at the young age of 13 . I was completely self-sufficient and got a Job right away at the age of 14. I knew what I had to do to succeed Just by going off what my parent's were lacking in. I told myself that I mental illness and we grew up with little to no income. I lived with my younger brother Taylor up until he was taken from the home at age 4. Instead of being very popular and focused on the High School life like Michael, I was focusing on my grades ND Job so that I could graduate early and attend college. I graduated a half a year ahead of my class and started college right away.I never imagined not having a Job. It became hard for me to afford college on my own so I Joined the Army. Michael joined the Army as a sort of last resort to kick his life into gear. One thing that I know was similar; whether it had correlation or not, is that we both had alcoholic fathers. I did many successful things as a youth but that's not to say that I didn't get into the drinking and drug scene myself. My father's inf luence showed me that it was okay to rink and it looked like that is what adults do. I was acting like an adult with work and school so I also started to drink at age 13.Michael also started to drink at a young age with no question as to what right or wrong was. I think this shows that parental influence is a large factor in shaping your own values and coming of age. According to Erikson, â€Å"Surrounded by mighty disapproval the child's original state of naive self-love is said to be compromised. He looks for models by which to measure himself, and seeks happiness in trying to resemble them. Where he succeeds he achieves self-esteem†¦ † (Erickson 1980. As seen by the example above, the role models Michael and I have both affected us but in different ways.I chose to do the opposite of my parent's because I saw the mistakes they made. Michael chose to follow the career path of his father because he saw it support the family. â€Å"The growing child must derive a vitiati ng sense of reality from the awareness that his individual way of mastering experience is a successful variant in a group identity and is in accord with its space-time and life plan. † (Erickson 1980. ) It is shown that each child has their own perspective of reality and adulthood which comes about through positive and negative experiences in childhood and adolescence.Erickson theory is useful in that it reminds us to look back and wonder where a person's actions and way of life derived from. It is important to remember that in order to fix any problems and make changes in adulthood. It is silly to think that we Just woke up one day with anger problems or low self-esteem. Everything came from somewhere and finding the source makes it easier to handle. References Erikson, E. H. (1980). Ego Development and Historical Change. Identity and the life cycle (up. 17-50). New York: Norton.

Do We Depend Too Much on Computers Essay

As civilization advances we depend more and more upon our invention. There is technology that saved many lives, as well as the one that have destroyed whole cities. Good morning members of the jury, parents, teachers and students. My name is Hugo Mendoza and I will talk about dependency on computers. I choose it because I think people must know all the benefits it brings to our daily life. So, do we depend too much in computers? The answer is that yes, all days we use computers in the business, public services, education, and the most of all entertainment. Even if we don’t note it our life is affected by technology and computers behind all. I will focus about technology in general. After all these years, technology has been evolving constantly; it has facilitated our life in all aspects. First of all, medicine, medicine has improved a lot by the use of technology in hospitals and labs, improving the health of the sick and in bringing up a new medicine for a no before-seen disease quicker than before. There are healing machines that can cure people faster than would take by human hand. Then, there are vehicles such as cars that use the GPS or the monitor to show how much gas is left select music and more. There are even airplanes that can be monitored by computers, and trains that are controlled by computers to prevent a collision. Children play videogames like PS3 or Xbox, with these videogame consoles they will have better experience in computers and will be able to understand better the technology when they grow up. Computers like PC’s and Mac are used by us every day for school, work, and assignments. Students can get into the internet and find any information they want, we can communicate by long distances, and even get an online tutor for any class. By the other hand, technology has been used to create destruction by fabricating guns, war machines and devices like nuclear bombs. This is the other face of technology, and has been used in wars such as World War II. If we continue to make guns, war machine and bombs with the improvement of technology maybe in the future there will be a bomb huge enough to destroy a country or a continent. It would be the end of the world if it’s like that. Scientists fear that in next generations, machines replace completely work done by humans and we doing nothing; they fear that we will not do sport and depend completely on computers. If it’s like that, what would happen if the systems fail to work? There would be complete chaos. Or worse, what would happen if all the systems refuse to listen to people’s orders and do what they want? Nobody knows, and we don’t want to know. We have to do something about this. In my opinion, technology and computers have to do a lot in the world we lived today and we can’t live anymore without them, as we got used too much on them. However, technology is a double-edge sword and we should find the way to make this dependency less dangerous and safer for future generations. There most only be new inventions when we really need they are really important, useful and helpful for humans.

Arrival of the Bee Box by Sylvia Plath Essay

Plath’s arrival of the Bee Box is a poem which depicts a box containing bees. In regards to this theme, it is not the only poem that Plath has approached bees as she wrote The Beekeeper’s Daughter. Additionally this poem can also be seen as a classical allusion to Pandora’s box as it concerns a feared object, which may cause destruction if opened. At first this box is looked upon with distrust, and possibly fear, as there is a lack of control of the contents of this box. However the speaker gradually rears itself to gain control or at least power in regards to the box and feels more confident about approaching it. Initially there is a sense of uncertainty about the nature of the box. It is first said to be a â€Å"clean wood box/square as a chair and almost too heavy to lift† (1-2). This is a clear and objective description of the box however a contradicting depiction of the box follows: it is said to be the â€Å"coffin of a midget/or a square baby† (3-4). These are images of distortion with references to death, which can leave a somewhat disturbing image of the box. This misshape is also found on the final line of the introductory stanza as Plath describes it as having â€Å"not such a din in it† (5), yet in the midst of claiming silence Plath introduces an assonance(â€Å"in†) giving the sentence an acoustic trait. This sense of uncertainty is quickly replaced by fear as Plath now becomes concerned with the box’s basic attributes, such as it being â€Å"locked† and â€Å"dangerous† (6). As such it allows her to introduce the theme of control; the speaker has indeed â€Å"ordered this† (1) box yet the box, once delivered, is considered unapproachable and to be a burden (â€Å"I have to live with it overnight† -7). As such the lack of control becomes clear and it may even be said that it is the box that has started taking ownership of the speaker. And this ownership is in the form of fascination, the speaker cannot stop from exploring the box (â€Å"There are no windows, so I can’t see what is in there† -9) despite the reasons not to do so. Overwhelmed by fascination, the speaker â€Å"puts her eye to the grid†(11). This reveals a box with reminiscent themes of African slavery. For example the speaker has â€Å"the swarmy feeling of African hands† (13). In addition to this there are references to slave trade (â€Å"shrunk for export†-14) and the theme of dislike of captivity is conveyed by placing the consonance of an â€Å"ll† sound in the last line: â€Å"black on black, angrily clambering†. This resonates the bees (and the slaves) want to escape their prison. Later on we also find this same assonance associated to unpleasant noise (â€Å"It is the noise that appalls me most of all,/The unintelligible syllables.†17-18). Also the use of assonance (â€Å"dark, dark†-12; â€Å"black on black†-15) achieves a similar effect and sustains this unease. The reference of slavery may be related to the Civil Rights movement in America in the 1960’s and it would be Plath’s way of conveying the cries for equality. Most important however are the threatening nature of these complaints which draw back into the theme of control and underline that the speaker still does not feel safe in regards to the box and its contents, especially as the content is alive and fervent. The speaker then ponders as to how to let the bees escape (16). However such a choice is not made as the threat of the bees build up. Firstly a buzzing sibilance,†It is the noise that appals me most of all† (17), echoes the presence of the bees but it also provokes confusion, destabilizing the speaker who becomes confused in regards to what the bees are trying to communicate with him (â€Å"The unintelligible syllables†-18). This lack of understanding can be understood as the bees are now even more threatening, they are now a â€Å"Roman mob† (19), a symbol of rebellion. In spite of the individual bee being harmless, it is the bee’s nature as a swarm that impresses the speaker: â€Å"Small, taken one by one, but my god, together!†(20). The next stanza provides the first hints that the speaker is finally in control of the situation. Firstly, the speaker â€Å"lay[s his] ear to furious Latin† conveying the need to understand the bees, something not previously achieved. But to be properly able to understand them, the speaker discards all the Roman associations, which could be a symbol of power over the speaker. This is done by declaring â€Å"I am not a Caesar† (22). However this statement is ambiguous in the sense that it contains a paradox as the speaker both mentions power, when the need for power is obvious, and yet denies wanting or having it. Regardless of this, the speaker does finally gain power over the bees. Such is achieved by the speaker announcing that â€Å"I have simply ordered a box of maniacs.†(23). Not only does the speaker finally settle as to what the box is (having previously been uncertain about it), but the concept of power grasp resonates by the use of â€Å"simply†, allowing to set aside any previous problems about this box and imposing the speakers interpretation on it. This leads to multiple statements about what the speaker can do with this newly realized power such as: â€Å"They can be sent back./They can die†(24-25). This leads to the culmination of this stanza with triumphant, yet dispassionate, assertion â€Å"I am the owner† (25). This statement chimes throughout this stanza due to the anaphora of â€Å"I† serving as a reminder of who is now in charge. Additionally the short and concise sentences present throughout this stanza act as orders, another way of displaying authority. This newly gained authority is enjoyed as the speaker now settles and starts musing about the bees:†I wonder how hungry they are† (26). Again we find an anaphora, but this time it is â€Å"I wonder† (26-27), which is one of the first clear clues for choice as they introduce hypothetical statements which rely on will to be realised. Following this Plath makes another of her classical allusions, this one being the Greek myth of Daphne. This allusion is done to represent the extent to which the speaker, relishing the newly unveiled power, is now dreaming about what could be achieved with the bees, as now an extra touch of magical realism is added to the poem. In this trail of thoughts, the speaker refers to the ability to transform into a blond tree, the colour of honey, so as to appease the bees. The speaker also hopes to be ignored by the bees, dressed in a â€Å"moon suit and a funeral veil† (32). In this statement we can interpret the moon suit to be the usual beekeeper’s suit, but more importantly the moon suit gives an imposing, and possibly bizarre, image of the speaker. Additionally we find again a reference to death sustaining the dark aspect of the poem. The specific reference to a funeral may imply that the speaker is now mourning over the chase for power with the bees. Irrespective of this, the speaker ceases day-dreaming and instead rationalizes that â€Å"I am no source of honey/So why should they turn on me?† (33-34). This provides a justification for setting the bees free without the fear of being attacked. In doing so the reader claims to be â€Å"sweet God†(35), which links back to the references of â€Å"I am not a Caesar†(22). Indeed both these statements refer to power, but both also display a nuance in regards to the kin d of power that should be gained; there is an attempt at the distinction between a tyrant and the image of a kind and respected leader, â€Å"The box is only temporary† (36). Such ends the poem. One of its first roles is to create a couplet with the â€Å"free â€Å"of the previous line. However this conclusive line also serves as a way of declaring that perhaps choice is finally in the speaker’s hands. However the statement does not give the speaker the choice not to open up the box, which is after all what the bees and later on the speaker want. As such Plath ends the poem ambiguously by not being clear as to whether or not there has been a definite success. Throughout this poem, Plath has dealt with the struggle for control with the bees. At first she panics but then manages to calm down and make a rational decision about what should be done. Panics and confusion are often caused by the bee’s buzzing which may allow us to suggest that she uses bees as a metaphor for scary thoughts, a kind of paranoia. Indeed the buzzing sound that reverbs would be an easy way to drive someone mad and thus paranoia is a good candidate for this metaphor. In fact, the bees having been ordered by the speaker, presumably Plath, we can say that Plath is dealing with a personal dilemma. This would be reminiscent of Plath’s life by 1960, wherein she had multiple cases of trauma and was in a state of mental decline. It can then be concluded that Arrival of the Bee Box is indeed confessional poetry.

Slavery & Abuse – Modern Day Realities for Maid

â€Å"At her death, the 19-year-old girl – who was 50 kg when she arrived in Singapore – weighed only 36 kg and had more than 200 injuries on her body. †(Lee, para. 3) The evolution of domestic workers in Singapore dates back to the mui tsai, migrant girls from China in the early 1890s who were the virtual slaves of the rich families. They worked from dawn to dusk and into the wee hours of the morning. However, the number of foreign domestic workers started to grow only in the 1970s, a result perhaps of the economic boom then, and the desire for more leisure. The number continued to rise rapidly. In 2005, there were more than 140,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore. (Chew, pg. 152) It may seem that maids working in a first world country like Singapore, has it easy off, compared to those working in second world countries, but there is a hidden claw that scars maids in this roaring Lion City. Some may say that maid abuse is not a widespread problem and that the irresponsible reporting of maid abuse by the local papers and television is the problem. On the other hand, others believe that maid abuse still remains a widespread problem. Singaporean, para. 12) Singapore maids undergo the risk of being abused due to financial and educational circumstances for their family, leaving them with psychological effects during and after abusive treatment. Foreign Domestic Workers come to Singapore in search for a job, without the protection of the Singapore government, to get them out of a poverty stricken life they have back in their hometown. The y earn money to be able to build a home and be able to afford a decent education and keep their children sufficiently fed and clothed. However, the cost of this may lead to a permanent psychological trauma caused by employers, which follows them for the rest of their lives after their contract is up, if they do not commit suicide. These abusers come from all walks of life: A school teacher had forced her maid to eat her own feces(Singaporean, para. 11), a father of two kicked and threw chairs at his maid(Singapore, para. 3), an air force staff sergeant tortured his sleep deprived maid by whipping her(Chong, para. 8), even children slap and hit their maids repeatedly to the encouragement of their parents(Rhonda, entry 5, para. ). Something has to change. Background Singapore for the past century has been a country growing in population and world status and recognition. Once an island of fishing village, and a British settlement, today Singapore is a republican country, which had undergone tremendous change. This is a result of the workforce Singapore has and its strategic location on the globe, being located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, making it an ideal destination to port ship between traveling between the Indian and Pacific Ocean, thus being a highly growing and expanding nation. With a huge amount of Singapore’s society holding jobs that requires long hours, they hire helpers, maids, to lighten their work load for the chores they have to do. In 2005, there were more than 140,000 foreign domestic workers in Singapore(Chew, pg. 152), under the care of employers who hire these helpers from one of the 700 maid agencies in Singapore. (Chew, pg. 152) These employers may hold high paying jobs or high posts in the company they work for, but there is always a hidden side to people. In 1997, Singapore has reported 157 cases, 89 cases in 1998, 82 cases in 1999. (Sierakowski, pg. 133) it may seem that there is a downward trend with maid abuse cases of such in Singapore, however, there was 87 cases in 2000 and it has since been rising. (Chew, pg. 133) The cases of abusive behavior implicated upon the employer’s helper, usually happens behind closed doors of the employers resident: be it in their HDB’s (government funded Housing and Development Board in Singapore), landed properties, condominiums or private properties. The implications of such abusive inflictions on their helpers, causes physiological traumas embedded forever with their helpers. Unfortunately, some of these traumas unfortunately do end with the loss of lives. Description The idea of maid abuse parallels the idea of slavery. In Singapore, there was no term known as maid abuse till the recent decade. Each year, an average of 90 maids report the abuse cases and are documented into the system, however, many goes unheard. (Chew, pg. 33) The basic ideology of maid abuse happens when a worker under the employment of an employer is ill treated to an extent that would cause side effects to a person physically and mentally. A recent case of maid abuse consisted of a maid being kicked in the belly, slapped, and thrown multiple items at her for not preparing curry puffs as instructed properly. This maid, suffered injuries to her arms and toes, but managed to flee the apartment and reported the abuse to the police. The abuser, Mat Nooh, a father of two, and teacher, was found guilty, and this particular case was settled. Singapore, para. 2) It is important to know that even a person holding a profession as a teacher, who provides an education to others, and is a highly respected job that others trust and seek information from, is able to carry out such abusive behavior towards a fellow human being. It leads us to question the fact of how much a person can appear to be what he is not, question the true identity of others. However, not all abused are able to take the physical and psychological abuse. There was another maid who is referred to as Imelda, had acquired bruises all over her body. She alleged that her employer’s brother had hit her repeatedly whenever he would get drunk. In January 1988, he had handed her his knife and told her to kill herself. By doing this action, the employer’s brother had not only physically abused the maid, but also had imprinted the underlying idea that Imelda was useless and would be better off to the world to be dead. Imelda has initially fled to Philippine Community Center, which has since been closed down, to take refuge. However the psychological impact of the matter was too much for her to take, and she had plummeted from the hospital window, to her death. (Sampang, pg. 8) This is significant to the fact that the abuse of a maid does not stop when the maid leaves the abusive environment, but the effects of it continue to linger in her subconscious mind and it would impair her judgment and thought process in the future due to the abusive acts inflicted upon the maid. Leaving a permanent psychological scar on the maid, forever. There are laws in Singapore that protect helpers, for the most part, from being hurt physically, being wrongfully confined and outraged of modesty, but, it is important to note that foreign domestic workers are not protected under the Employment Act, 1968(Chew, pg. 53), that all employees in Singapore are protected by. If you enter a foreign country to work in it as a domestic helper and you realize that the government of that country does not protect you the way it protects the other 5. 5 million people living in the same country, it results in not just fear in the back of your mind but it trips a wire that subconsciously tells you, you are not of the same value of others. Analysis A psychological effect on a person doesn’t require drastic measures to happen before changes in a person’s mind occur. Even a simple thing such as that, maids who are employed by couples are often made by the employer’s wife to cut their hairs short and not to wear any makeup so they will be less attractive to the employer(Perlez, para. 25), may be of mental harm towards a maid. This may not seem to be a big deal, however not being able to look good for herself, psychologically impairs the person to think that she is ugly and not worth the trouble, consequently causing a decrease of self respect , ego and insecurity in looks, with the possibly of resulting in the state of depression. In simple terms, the maid turns suicidal as a result of abuse. However, the effect of maid abuse does not stop there, but carries on as a chain reaction. If a child sees his/her parents abusing their maid when they are young, the child will think that it is the norm and would carry this trait into the future, and would abuse the possible maid he/she would employ. Abuse may not only be in the form of physical contact between the two parties, derogatory verbal statements made about these domestic helpers may also be considered as an abuse. It may not seem that verbal statements could be an abuse, however when you start referring to a person as said ‘maid’, it lowers a person’s self-respect and in their subconscious mind, they feel like they are being told that they are worth less than others as they have to ‘serve’ their employers. However, in this seemingly dark and grim topic, there is a glimmer of hope for this matter. If we are able to raise awareness within the community, then the rate of abuse cases would decline over time, consequently saving the lives of possible future victims. Solutions H. O. M. E (Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics), is one of the charities in Singapore that is helping out the situations of abused maids in Singapore. H. O. M. E helps these maids by offering them to be told of their rights and options in their own native tongue. In addition to that, H. O. M. E aids abused migrant workers by informing the MOM (Ministry of Manpower) of the case an d follows up onto it, be it negative or embarrassing towards the ministry. (Maid, para. 24) H. O. M. E also provides referral services, shelter, income-generating opportunities, and legal aid to abused migrant workers. It helps workers navigate the justice system in Singapore and has been cultivating a working relationship with the Ministry of Manpower and sending countries' embassies to respond to cases of abuse. (Maid, para. 54) An idea to a new solution would be to create an advertisement campaign to educate the young public. This would be the solution to the maid abuse problem. It would be to educate the young to prevent these problems in the future, as the past has already happened. The condition of maid abuse cannot be changed overnight by campaigning about it. The elder generation’s mindsets have already been written in stone and so it would be hard to sway their mindset. However, the younger generation is easily influenced and so by educating them on respect of other human beings regardless of their ethnicity and background, it would prove to be worthwhile, with the outcome of a new generation of people who would respect, understand and have more compassion. Even though MOM had held a photographed campaign against the abusive behavior towards maids, I felt that I could approach my campaign from a totally new and different perspective. The advertisement campaign could consist of three different compositions that mirror the layout of TIME magazine, so the viewer would be draw to see the image. The first could consist of an image of an abused maid cowering in a dark corner, accompanied with shocking text as topics. The second could consist of an image of a shadowed fist about to strike maid, accompanied with socking text as topics. The third could consist of a picture of an abused maid with a tear rolling down her cheek, portraying her cry for help. The campaign will be up on the internet alongside being posted in strategic locations around my school, for maximum exposure. This campaign could possibly have a very strong impact on the audience. However, the limitation of this would be the amount of audience that this would receive, and if they would even care. Conclusion There are many implications to the extent of abuse possible. Even in this magnificent Lion City, Singapore, there are abusive behaviors occurring to the employed helpers of households. This leaves a mental imprinted scar in he minds of such victims through and subsequent to abusive treatment. The abused will feel that they are inferior to the general public and start to decline into the start of depression, with the possibility of resulting in death. However, there are solutions to the problem at hand, by raising awareness within the community. Maids have plunged from top stories of buildings, slit their wrist, starved, beaten and abused to death. We must not let them die in vain. Each and every one of them has a story to tell. Let us carry their voices on.

Strategic Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic Management - Research Paper Example Chinese market offers one of the most lucrative investment avenues owing to the rapid economic progress that it made during the recent past. Etisalat- a UAE based telecom company is planning to make an entry into the Chinese market. Being one of the emerging firms in the world offering telecommunication services, the entry of Etisalat into the Chinese market will mark a new beginning in the history of the firm. However, Chinese market poses different types of risks and offer new and unique opportunities therefore it is necessary that Etisalat must do its homework and assess the situation with the help of different strategic frameworks and models in order to gain significant insight into the Chinese market. Etisalat (firm) started its operations in 1976 and primarily served UAE market by providing telecommunication solutions. Over the period of time, however, it became one of the leading telecom services providers in the Middle East Region and expanded its operations in more than 18 countries of Asia, Africa as well as Middle Eastern countries. Serving a total customer base of 94 million, Etisalat is considered as the 13th largest mobile services provider in the world. Such high level of penetration into the market therefore indicates that the firm has the capability and will to expand into new markets to create further value for its shareholders. The majority shareholder is UAE government. (Huawei) Started as a joint venture between the local partners from UAE and Britain’s International Aeradio Limited, Etisalat is now largely owned by the UAE government with 60% shareholding whereas remaining 40% is publically held. It is also because of this reason that Etisalat held the official patronage of being the only firm in UAE allowed to telecommunication services within the country and outside the country. The official support of the firm therefore further increased its

Telecommunication center - Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Telecommunication center - Business Plan - Essay Example By accepting this document, you agree to be bound by these restrictions and limitations. Executive Summary Date Recipient's Name, Title Street Address City, State Zip Code Dear Sir/ Ma’am: We are Q-Tele Inc, a startup telecommunications company aiming to offer alternative cellular and data services to the US Market. The company is still in its planning stage, and is looking at being able to start operations by October of this year. Currently, we are still putting together the backbone facility of the service and looks at completing this before the 4th quarter of this year. Q-Tele is Sales and Marketing driven, and will invest heavily on equipment purchase, ensuring the telecommunication infrastructure is competitive and will promise to bring better service to the target market. Upon setting up of important facilities, the owner will then proceed investing on marketing and sales tools that would bring the group to market consciousness. The owners are likewise planning for globa l expansion by forging tie ups with global service providers in ensuring connectivity among the target market. The succeeding sections will discuss the plans and goals, and the company’s business objectives. ... The company’s vision is focused on products and services that are technologically superior. The main value proposition is to enhance business and personal communications that would benefit the target market. Business Goals and Objectives Management aims to establish and stabilize business operations by the end of the third month, and have all start up loans paid up by the end of the second year in business. The owners would like to be able to open business stocks also by the end of its second year in business. Operations are being targeted to commence by October 2013. There will be soft selling of services by start of June. Dealer acquisition will start by end of April 2013, and potential dealer-retailers shall undergo a training program to ensure that they are aligned with the company’s business goals and mission vision. All needed manpower to fully support the operations should already be in by June 2013. Initial facility acquisition has commenced December of last yea r, and setting up the infrastructure to support the network operations would take approximately six months from completion of site acquisition. Business History Q-Tele is a startup telecommunications company in an industry that already has several players. The business goals may seem ambitious but the owners are optimistic that they would be able to reach the objectives by bringing in a management team with varied expertise in the telecommunication business operations. Headquarters will be located at ____________________. There will be dealers and retailers from all parts of the United States. Eventually, there will be expansion programs in key areas in US. SWOT Analysis Strengths 1. Q-Tele offers a fresh approach to retail telecommunications by providing a dedicated after sales