Blood Promise Chapter Eleven

I stared at Mark for several long seconds. Finally, stupidly, I asked, â€Å"Did you say†¦ heal?† Mark stared at me in equal surprise. â€Å"Yes, of course. She can heal other things, right? Why not this?† â€Å"Because†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I frowned. â€Å"That doesn't make any sense. The darkness†¦ all the bad side effects†¦ those come from Lissa. If she could just heal it, why wouldn't she heal it out of herself?† â€Å"Because when it's in her, it's too ingrained. Too tied into her being. She can't heal it the way she can other things. But once your bond has pulled it into you, it's like any other sickness.† My heart was pounding in my chest. What he was suggesting was too ridiculously easy. No, it was just ridiculous, period. There was no way after all that we'd been through that Lissa could heal that rage and depression the way she could a cold or a broken leg. Victor Dashkov, despite his wicked schemes, had known an astonishing amount about spirit and had explained it to us. The other four elements were more physical in nature, but spirit came from the mind and soul. To use that much mental energy-to be able to do such powerful things-couldn't be done without devastating side effects. We'd been fighting those side effects from the beginning, first in Lissa and then in me. They couldn't just go away. â€Å"If that were possible,† I said quietly, â€Å"then everyone would have done it. Ms. Karp wouldn't have lost her mind. Anna wouldn't have committed suicide. What you're saying is too easy.† Mark didn't know who I was talking about, but clearly it didn't matter for what he wanted to express. â€Å"You're right. It's not easy at all. It requires a careful balance, a circle of trust and strength between two people. It took Oksana and me a long time to learn†¦ many hard years†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His face darkened, and I could only imagine what those years had been like. My short time with Lissa had been bad enough. They'd had to live with this a lot longer than we had. It had to have been unbearable at times. Slowly, wonderingly, I dared to give credence to his words. â€Å"But now you guys are okay?† â€Å"Hmm.† There was a flicker of a wry smile on his lips. â€Å"I'd hardly say we're perfectly okay. There's only so much she can do, but it makes life manageable. She spaces out the healings as long as we can handle it, since it takes a lot out of her. It's draining, and it limits her overall power.† â€Å"What do you mean?† He shrugged. â€Å"She can still do the other things†¦ healing, compulsion†¦ but not to the levels she would if she wasn't always healing me.† My hope faltered. â€Å"Oh. Then†¦ I couldn't. I couldn't do that to Lissa.† â€Å"Compared to what she's doing to you? Rose. I have a feeling she'd think it was a fair trade.† I thought back to our last meeting. I thought about how I'd left her there, despite her begging. I thought about the lows she'd been experiencing in my absence. I thought about how she'd refused to heal Dimitri when I'd thought there might still be hope for him. We'd both been bad friends. I shook my head. â€Å"I don't know,† I said in a small voice. â€Å"I don't know if she would.† Mark gave me a long, level look, but he didn't push me on the matter. He glanced up at the sun, almost as if he could tell the time from it. He probably could. He had that surviving-in-the-wilderness kind of feel to him. â€Å"The others will wonder what happened to us. Before we go†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, plain silver ring. â€Å"Learning to heal will take time. What worries me the most right now is this vigilante mood you're in. The darkness is only going to make it worse. Take this.† He extended the ring to me. I hesitated and then reached for it. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"Oksana infused it with spirit. It's a healing charm.† Once again, shock ran through me. Moroi charmed objects with elements all the time. Stakes were charmed with all four of the physical elements, making them lethal to Strigoi. Victor had charmed a necklace with earth magic, using the base nature of earth to turn the necklace into a lust charm. Even Sydney's tattoo was a charm of sorts. I supposed there was no reason that spirit couldn't charm objects too, but it had never occurred to me, probably because Lissa's powers were still too new and too foreign. â€Å"What's it do? I mean, what kind of healing?† â€Å"It'll help with your moods. It can't get rid of them, but it'll lessen them-help you think more clearly. Might keep you out of trouble. Oksana makes these for me to help between healings.† I started to slip it on, but he shook his head. â€Å"Save it for when you really feel out of control. The magic won't last forever. It fades just like any other charm.† I stared at the ring, my mind suddenly open to all sorts of new possibilities. A few moments later, I slipped it into my coat pocket. Paul stuck his head out the back door. â€Å"Grandmother wants to leave now,† he told me. â€Å"She wants to know why you're taking so long and said to ask why you'd make someone as old as her keep waiting and suffering with her back.† I recalled how fast Yeva had been walking while I struggled to keep up with my load. Her back hadn't seemed all that bad to me, but again, I remembered that Paul was only the messenger and spared him my commentary. â€Å"Okay. I'll be right there.† When he was gone, I shook my head. â€Å"It's hard being worthy.† I moved toward the door, then gave Mark a backward glance, as a random thought occurred to me. â€Å"You're telling me that going off on your own is bad†¦ but you aren't a guardian either.† He smiled at me again, one of those sad, wry smiles. â€Å"I used to be. Then Oksana saved my life. We bonded and eventually fell in love. I couldn't stand to be separated from her after that, and the guardians would have assigned me elsewhere. I had to go.† â€Å"Was it hard to leave them?† â€Å"Very. Our age difference made it even more scandalous.† A strange chill ran through me. Mark and Oksana were the embodiment of the two halves of my life. They fought against a shadow-kissed bond as Lissa and I did and also faced the same condemnation for their relationship that Dimitri and I had. Mark continued, â€Å"But sometimes, we have to listen to our hearts. And even though I left, I'm not out there recklessly going after Strigoi. I'm an old man living with the woman he loves and tending his garden. There's a difference-don't forget that.† My mind was reeling when I returned to the Belikov house. Without the bricks, the walk back had been a lot easier. It had given me a chance to ponder Mark's words. I felt like I'd received a lifetime of information in a one-hour conversation. Olena was going about the house, doing her normal tasks of cooking and cleaning. While I would personally never want to spend my days doing those sorts of domestic duties, I had to admit there was something comforting about always having someone who was around, ready to cook and worry about me on a daily basis. I knew it was a purely selfish desire, just as I knew my own mom was doing important things with her life. I shouldn't judge her. Still, it made me feel warm and cared for to have Olena treat me like a daughter when she hardly knew me. â€Å"Are you hungry?† she asked automatically. I think one of the greatest fears in her life was that someone might go hungry in her home. Sydney's perpetual lack of appetite had been a nonstop worry for Olena. I hid a smile. â€Å"No, we ate at Mark and Oksana's.† â€Å"Ah, that's where you were? They're good people.† â€Å"Where is everyone?† I asked. The house was unusually quiet. â€Å"Sonya and Karolina are at work. Viktoria's out at a friend's, but she'll be glad you're back.† â€Å"What about Sydney?† â€Å"She left a little while ago. She said she was going back to Saint Petersburg.† â€Å"What?† I exclaimed. â€Å"Left for good? Just like that?† Sydney had a blunt nature, but this was abrupt even for her. â€Å"The Alchemists†¦ well, they're always on the move.† Olena handed me a piece of paper. â€Å"She left this for you.† I took the note and immediately opened it. Sydney's handwriting was neat and precise. Somehow this didn't surprise me. Rose, I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly, but when the Alchemists tell me to jump†¦ well, I jump. I've hitched a ride back to that farm town we stayed in so that I can pick up the Red Hurricane, and then I'm off to Saint Petersburg. Apparently, now that you've been delivered to Baia, they don't need me to stick around anymore. I wish I could tell you more about Abe and what he wants from you. Even if I was allowed to, there isn't much to say. In some ways, he's as much a mystery to me as he is to you. Like I said, a lot of the business he deals in is illegal-both among humans and Moroi. The only time he gets directly involved with people is when something relates to that business-or if it's a very, very special case. I think you're one of those cases, and even if he doesn't intend you harm, he might want to use you for his own purposes. It could be as simple as him wanting to contract you as a bodyguard, seeing as you're rogue. Maybe he wants to use you to get to others. Maybe this is all part of someone else's plan, someone who's even more mysterious than him. Maybe he's doing someone a favor. Zmey can be dangerous or kind, all depending on what he needs to accomplish. I never thought I'd care enough to say this to a dhampir, but be careful. I don't know what your plans are now, but I have a feeling trouble follows you around. Call me if there's anything I can help with, but if you go back to the big cities to hunt Strigoi, don't leave any more bodies unattended! All the best, Sydney P.S. â€Å"The Red Hurricane† is what I named the car. P.P.S. Just because I like you, it doesn't mean I still don't think you're an evil creature of the night. You are. Her cell phone number was added at the bottom, and I couldn't help but smile. Since we'd ridden to Baia with Abe and his guardians, Sydney had had to leave the car behind, which had traumatized her almost as much as the Strigoi. I hoped the Alchemists would let her keep it. I shook my head, amused in spite of her warnings about Abe. The Red Hurricane. As I headed upstairs to my room, my smile faded. Despite her abrasive attitude, I was going to miss Sydney. She might not exactly be a friend-or was she?-but in this brief time, I'd come to regard her as a constant in my life. I didn't have many of those left anymore. I felt adrift, unsure what to do now. I'd come here to bring peace to Dimitri and had only ended up bringing grief to his family. And if what everyone said was true, I wasn't going to find many Strigoi here in Baia. Somehow, I couldn't picture Dimitri, wandering the road and farms for the occasional prey. Even as a Strigoi -and it killed me to think those words-Dimitri would have a purpose. If he wasn't returning to the familiar sights of his hometown, then he would be doing something else meaningful-inasmuch as a Strigoi could. Sydney's comment in the note had verified what I kept hearing over and over: Strigoi were in the cities. But which one? Where would Dimitri go? Now I was the one without a purpose. On top of it all, I couldn't help but replay Mark's words. Was I really on an insane vigilante mission? Was I foolishly rushing to my death? Or was I foolishly rushing into†¦ nothing? Was I doomed to spend the rest of my days wandering? Alone? Sitting on my bed, I felt my mood plummet and knew I had to distract myself. I was too susceptible to dark emotions as long as Lissa used spirit; I didn't need to further encourage them. I slipped on the ring that Mark had given me, hoping it would bring some sort of clarity and tranquility. I felt no noticeable difference, though, and decided to seek peace from that same place I always did: Lissa's mind. She was with Adrian, and the two were practicing spirit again. After some initial bumps in the road, Adrian was proving a quick study at healing. That had been the first of Lissa's powers to manifest, and it always irked her that he made more progress on what she had to teach him than vice versa. â€Å"I'm running out of things for you to heal,† she said, setting some tiny potted plants onto a table. â€Å"Unless we start cutting off limbs or something.† Adrian smiled. â€Å"I used to tease Rose about that, how I was going to impress her by healing amputees or something equally absurd.† â€Å"Oh, and I'm sure she had a smartass response for you each time.† â€Å"Yes, yes, she did.† His face was fond as he recalled the memory. There was a part of me that was always insanely curious to hear them talk about me†¦ yet at the same time, I always felt bad at the grief my name seemed to invoke. Lissa groaned and stretched out on the carpeted floor. They were in a dorm lounge, and curfew was swiftly approaching. â€Å"I want to talk to her, Adrian.† â€Å"You can't,† he said. There was an unusual seriousness in his voice. â€Å"I know she still checks in on you-that's the closest you'll get to talking to her. And honestly? That's not so bad. You can tell her exactly how you feel.† â€Å"Yeah, but I want to hear her talk back like you do in your dreams.† This made him smile again. â€Å"She does plenty of talking back, believe me.† Lissa sat up straight. â€Å"Do it now.† â€Å"Do what now?† â€Å"Go visit her dreams. You always try to explain it to me, but I've never actually seen it. Let me watch.† He stared, at a loss for words. â€Å"That's kind of voyeuristic.† â€Å"Adrian! I want to learn this, and we've tried everything else. I can feel the magic around you sometimes. Just do it, okay?† He started to protest again but then bit off his comment after studying her face for a moment. Her words had been sharp and demanding-very uncharacteristic for her. â€Å"Okay. I'll try.† The whole idea of Adrian trying to get into my head while I was watching him through Lissa's head was surreal, to say the least. I didn't quite know what to expect from him. I'd always wondered if he had to be asleep or at least have his eyes closed. Apparently not. He instead stared off at nothing, his eyes going vacant as his mind left the world around him. Through Lissa's eyes, I could see some of the magic radiating off him and his aura, and she tried to analyze each strand. Then, without warning, all the magic faded. He blinked and shook his head. â€Å"Sorry. I can't do it.† â€Å"Why not?† â€Å"Probably because she's awake. Did you learn anything by watching?† â€Å"A little. Probably would've been more useful if you'd actually made the connection.† Again, Lissa had that petulant tone. â€Å"She could be anywhere in the world, you know, on any schedule.† His words were smothered by a yawn. â€Å"Maybe we can try at different times of the day. I've been getting her†¦ actually, close to this time. Or sometimes I catch her really early in the day.† â€Å"She could be close by then,† said Lissa. â€Å"Or on a human daylight schedule in some other part of the world.† Her enthusiasm dropped. â€Å"Right. That too.† â€Å"How come you guys never look like you're working?† Christian strolled into the room, looking amused at Lissa sitting on the floor and Adrian sprawling on the couch. Standing behind Christian was someone I hadn't thought I'd see anytime soon. Adrian, who could detect women a mile away, also immediately noticed the newcomer. â€Å"Where'd you get the jailbait?† he asked. Christian shot Adrian a warning look. â€Å"This is Jill.† Jill Mastrano allowed herself to be nudged forward, her light green eyes impossibly wide as she looked around. â€Å"Jill, this is Lissa and Adrian.† Jill was one of the last people I'd expected to see here. I'd met her a little over a month ago. She was in ninth grade, which meant she'd be here on the upper campus in the fall. She had the same super-slim build that most Moroi had, but it was paired with height that was impressive even by vampiric standards. It made her look rail-thin. Her hair fell in light brown curls to the middle of her back and would be beautiful-when she learned how to style it properly. For now, it was kind of messy, and her overall impression-while cute-was kind of awkward. â€Å"H-hi,† she said, looking from face to face. As far as she was concerned, these were Moroi gold star celebrities. She'd nearly passed out when she first met me and Dimitri, thanks to our reputations. From her expression, she was in a similar state now. â€Å"Jill wants to learn how to use her power for good instead of evil,† said Christian with an exaggerated wink. That was his coy way of saying Jill wanted to learn how to fight with her magic. She'd expressed the interest to me, and I'd told her to find Christian. I was glad she'd had the courage to take me up on my advice. Christian was a campus celebrity too, albeit an infamous one. â€Å"Another recruit?† asked Lissa, shaking her head. â€Å"Think you'll keep this one around?† Jill gave Christian a startled look. â€Å"What's that mean?† â€Å"After the attack, lots of people said they wanted to learn to fight with magic,† Christian explained. â€Å"So they found me, and we worked together†¦ once or twice. Then everyone faded away once it got hard, and they realized they had to keep practicing.† â€Å"It doesn't help that you're a mean teacher,† pointed out Lissa. â€Å"And so now you've got to recruit among children,† said Adrian solemnly. â€Å"Hey,† said Jill indignantly. â€Å"I'm fourteen.† Immediately, she flushed at having spoken so boldly to him. He found it amusing, as he did so many other things. â€Å"My mistake,† he said. â€Å"What's your element?† â€Å"Water.† â€Å"Fire and water, huh?† Adrian reached into his pocket and pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill. He snapped it out straight. â€Å"Sweetheart, I'll make you a deal. If you can make a bucket of water appear and dump over Christian's head, I'll give you this.† â€Å"I'll add in ten,† laughed Lissa. Jill looked stunned, but I suspected it was because Adrian had called her â€Å"sweetheart.† I took Adrian for granted so often that it was easy to forget he really was a hot guy. Christian pushed Jill toward the door. â€Å"Ignore them. They're just jealous because spirit users can't go charging into battle like we can.† He knelt down to Lissa's height on the floor and gave her a quick kiss. â€Å"We were practicing in the lounge upstairs, but I've got to walk her back now. I'll see you tomorrow.† â€Å"You don't have to,† said Jill. â€Å"I can get back there fine. I don't want to be any trouble.† Adrian stood up. â€Å"You aren't. If anyone's going to step up and be the knight in shining armor here, it might as well be me. I'll take you back and leave the lovebirds to their lovebirding.† He gave Jill a grand bow. â€Å"Shall we?† â€Å"Adrian-† said Lissa, a sharp note in her voice. â€Å"Oh, come on,† he said, rolling his eyes. â€Å"I've got to head back anyway-you guys are of no use once curfew comes. And honestly, give me some credit here. Even I have boundaries.† He gave Lissa a meaningful look, one that told her she was an idiot for thinking he was going to hit on Jill. Lissa held his gaze for a few moments and realized he was right. Adrian was a scoundrel at times and had never made his interest in me a secret, but walking Jill home wasn't part of some grand seduction. He really was just being nice. â€Å"All right,† said Lissa. â€Å"I'll see you later. Nice meeting you, Jill.† â€Å"You too,† said Jill. She dared a smile at Christian. â€Å"Thanks again.† â€Å"You better show up for our next practice,† he warned. Adrian and Jill started to step out the door, just as Avery stepped through it. â€Å"Hey, Adrian.† Avery gave Jill a once-over. â€Å"Who's your jailbait?† â€Å"Will you guys stop calling me that?† exclaimed Jill. Adrian pointed at Avery chastisingly. â€Å"Hush. I'll deal with you later, Lazar.† â€Å"I certainly hope so,† she said in a singsong voice. â€Å"I'll leave the door unlocked.† Jill and Adrian left, and Avery sat down next to Lissa. She seemed animated enough to be drunk, but Lissa smelled no liquor on her. Lissa was rapidly learning that some part of Avery was always just vivacious and carefree, regardless of intoxication. â€Å"Did you really just invite Adrian to your room later?† asked Lissa. She spoke teasingly but had been secretly wondering if something was going on between them. And yeah, that made two of us who wondered. Avery shrugged. â€Å"I don't know. Maybe. Sometimes we hang out once you guys are all tucked into bed. You aren't going to get jealous, are you?† â€Å"No,† laughed Lissa. â€Å"Just curious. Adrian's a good guy.† â€Å"Oh?† asked Christian. â€Å"Define ? ®good.'† Avery held up her hand and began ticking items off with each finger. â€Å"He's devastatingly handsome, funny, rich, related to the queen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You got your wedding colors picked out?† asked Lissa, still laughing. â€Å"Not yet,† said Avery. â€Å"I'm still testing the waters. I figured he'd be an easy notch on the Avery Lazar belt, but he's kind of hard to read.† â€Å"I really don't want to be hearing this,† Christian said. â€Å"Sometimes he acts like a love 'em and leave 'em type. Other times, he mopes like some heartbroken romantic.† Lissa exchanged a knowing glance with Christian that Avery didn't catch while talking. â€Å"Anyway, I'm not here to talk about him. I'm here to talk about you and me busting out of here.† Avery threw her arm around Lissa, who nearly fell over. â€Å"Out of where? The dorm?† â€Å"No. This school. We're going off on a wild weekend to the Royal Court .† â€Å"What, this weekend?† Lissa felt like she was three steps behind, and I didn't blame her. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because it's Easter. And her royal majesty thought it would be ? ®lovely' if you could join her for the holiday.† Avery's tone was grand and high-pitched. â€Å"And, since I've been hanging out with you, Dad's decided I'm on good behavior now.† â€Å"Poor oblivious bastard,† murmured Christian. â€Å"So he said I can go with you.† Avery glanced at Christian. â€Å"You can too, I guess. The queen said Lissa could bring a guest-in addition to me, of course.† Lissa looked into Avery's radiant face and didn't share her enthusiasm. â€Å"I hate going to Court. Tatiana just goes on and on, giving what she thinks is useful advice for me. It's always boring and miserable now.† Lissa didn't add that she'd once found Court fun-when I'd gone with her. â€Å"That's because you haven't gone with me yet. It'll be a blast! I know where all the good stuff is. And I bet Adrian'll come too. He can push his way into anything. It'll be like a double date.† Slowly, Lissa began to acknowledge that this might be fun. She and I had managed to find a little of the â€Å"good stuff† that hid underneath the polished surface of Court life. Every other visit since had been just as she described-stuffy and businesslike. But now, going with Christian and wild, spontaneous Avery? That had potential. Until Christian ruined it. â€Å"Well, don't count me in,† he said. â€Å"If you can only bring one person, bring Jill.† â€Å"Who?† asked Avery. â€Å"Jailbait,† explained Lissa. She looked at Christian in astonishment. â€Å"Why on earth would I bring Jill? I just met her.† â€Å"Because she's actually serious about learning to defend herself. You should introduce her to Mia. They're both water users.† â€Å"Right,† said Lissa knowingly. â€Å"And the fact that you hate it at Court has nothing to do with it?† â€Å"Well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Christian!† Lissa was suddenly getting upset. â€Å"Why can't you do this for me?† â€Å"Because I hate the way Queen Bitch looks at me,† he said. Lissa didn't find this convincing. â€Å"Yeah, but when we graduate, I'll be living there. You'll have to go then.† â€Å"Yeah, well, then give me this small vacation first.† Lissa's irritation grew. â€Å"Oh, I see how it is. I have to put up with your crap all the time, but you can't go out of your way for me.† Avery glanced between them and then stood up. â€Å"I'll leave you kids to work this out on your own. I don't care whether Christian or Jailbait goes, as long as you're there.† She peered down at Lissa. â€Å"You are going, right?† â€Å"Yeah. I'll go.† If anything, Christian's refusal had suddenly spurred Lissa more. Avery grinned. â€Å"Awesome. I'm going to head out of here, but you two had better kiss and make up when I'm gone.† Avery's brother Reed suddenly appeared in the doorway. â€Å"Are you ready?† he asked her. Every time he spoke, it always came out as sort of a grunt. Avery flashed the others a triumphant look. â€Å"See? My gallant brother, coming to walk me back before those dorm matrons start yelling at me to leave. Now Adrian'll have to find a new and exciting way to prove his chivalry.† Reed didn't look very gallant or chivalrous, but I supposed it was nice of him to come walk her back to her room. His timing had been eerily perfect. Maybe she was right about him not being as bad as people always thought. As soon as Avery was gone, Lissa turned on Christian. â€Å"Are you really serious about me bringing Jill instead of you?† â€Å"Yep,† said Christian. He tried to lie back into her lap, but she pushed him away. â€Å"But I'll count the seconds until you return.† â€Å"I can't believe you think this is a joke.† â€Å"I don't,† he said. â€Å"Look, I didn't mean to get you all worked up, okay? But really†¦ I just don't want to deal with all that Court drama. And it would be good for Jill.† He frowned. â€Å"You don't have anything against her, do you?† â€Å"I don't even know her,† said Lissa. She was still upset-more so than I would have expected, which was odd. Christian caught hold of Lissa's hands, face serious. Those blue eyes she loved softened her anger a little. â€Å"Please, I'm not trying to upset you. If it's really that important†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Like that, Lissa's anger diffused. It was abrupt, like a switch. â€Å"No, no. I'm fine bringing Jill-though I'm not sure she should be hanging out with us and doing whatever Avery has in mind.† â€Å"Give Jill to Mia. She'll look after her for the weekend.† Lissa nodded, wondering why he was so interested in Jill. â€Å"Okay. But you're not doing this because you don't like Avery, are you?† â€Å"No, I like Avery. She makes you smile more.† â€Å"You make me smile.† â€Å"That's why I added on the ? ®more.'† Christian gently kissed Lissa's hand. â€Å"You've been so sad since Rose left. I'm glad you're hanging out with someone else-I mean, not that you can't get everything you need from me.† â€Å"Avery's not a Rose replacement,† said Lissa quickly. â€Å"I know. But she reminds me of her.† â€Å"What? They have nothing in common.† Christian straightened up and sat beside her, resting his face against her shoulder. â€Å"Avery's like how Rose used to be, back before you guys left.† Both Lissa and I paused to ponder that. Was he right? Before Lissa's spirit powers had begun showing, she and I had lived a party girl lifestyle. And yes, half the time I was the one coming up with the crazy ideas to find a good time and get us into trouble. But had I been as out there as Avery seemed sometimes? â€Å"There'll never be another Rose,† said Lissa sadly. â€Å"No,† agreed Christian. He gave her a brief, soft kiss on the mouth. â€Å"But there will be other friends.† I knew he was right, but I couldn't help but feel a small stab of jealousy. I also couldn't help feel a small amount of worry. Lissa's brief spurt of irritation had been kind of out of the blue. I could understand her wishing Christian could go, but her attitude had been a little bitchy-and her almost jealous worry over Jill was weird too. Lissa had no reason to doubt Christian's feelings, certainly not over someone like Jill. Lissa's moodiness reminded me too much of the old days. Most likely she was overtired, but some instinct-maybe it was part of the bonding-told me something was wrong. It was a fleeting sensation, one I couldn't quite get a hold of, like water slipping through my fingers. Still, my instincts had been right before, and I decided I'd be checking in on Lissa more frequently.

Macbeth as tragic hero Essay

The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy about a Scottish lord, Macbeth, who becomes too ambitious. He starts off as a brave, loyal and noble man, but his ambition and thirst for power lead him onto a path of ruthlessness and self-destruction, and ultimately his own death. While Macbeth is manipulated by various people and occurrences, the main ones being the witches, Lady Macbeth and Fate, one theme that remains constant throughout the play is the power of choice. Macbeth does have the ability to choose, and it is this ability that makes him a tragic hero, not a victim. There are certain characteristics that someone must have in order to be considered a full tragic hero. One of the main ones is that the character must have a fatal flaw. In Macbeth’s case, it is his ‘vaulting ambition’ (1:VII:27). Ambition can be a good thing, but when in large doses as Macbeth’s was, it can be dangerous, and, as Macbeth proved, even fatal. Another important characteristic of a tragic hero is the conflict between good and evil, and the choice between these two things. Macbeth consciously chooses evil over good. A victim, on the other hand, has no power over what happens to them. Macbeth did have some control over the situation, which means that he was not a victim. However, Macbeth himself can’t be entirely to blame. He was influenced and manipulated, particularly by the witches. If the three ‘Weird Sisters’ (1:V:7) had not said anything to Macbeth in the first place then none of it would have happened. The ‘Weird Sisters’ put the idea of becoming ‘king hereafter’ (1:III:49) into Macbeth’s head, and, consequently, the idea of murdering King Duncan. The witches knew that this would happen, they wanted it to happen. They also manipulated Macbeth later on in the play, with the three apparitions. They gave him false confidence, and, once again, they knew and wanted this to happen. They created ‘toil and trouble’ (1:IV:10), and they created it on purpose, to lead Macbeth to his demise. However, Banquo was also present at the first meeting with the ‘Weird Sisters’, and they made a prophesy for him, too. But Banquo chooses to ignore what they say. Macbeth could have made th is choice as well, but he didn’t. Although the witches did manipulate Macbeth, he wanted to believe their prophesies, and he chose to believe them. Another person who was a big influence on Macbeth was his wife, Lady Macbeth. He was going to let ‘chance crown me king’ (1:III:43), but Lady Macbeth knew that this wouldn’t lead to anything. She also knew that Macbeth’s sense of loyalty and honour could stop him from killing Duncan and therefore becoming king and fulfilling his ambitions. She urges him to ‘look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’ (1:V:63-64). She also questions Macbeth’s manliness, another weak spot of his. She knows that he doesn’t like her doing this, and she knows that it’s a good way of persuading Macbeth to do what she wants him to do – that it’s a good way of manipulating him. But Macbeth wanted to be manipulated. He let his wife influence him. If he really didn’t want to murder Duncan then he wouldn’t have. Even before he spoke to Lady Macbeth he was having ‘horrible imaginings’ (1:II I:37). Even though Lady Macbeth helped turn these into realities, she did not physically force her husband to commit murder. Once again, Macbeth had the freedom, power and ability to choose. Another important role in the Macbeth is the role of Fate and destiny. Being a tragic hero, Macbeth was destined to die from the beginning. It could have even been Fate that Macbeth made the wrong choices. However Fate can’t manipulate, Fate just is. Macbeth says that he is going to leave everything up to chance, but he doesn’t. He chose not to. Perhaps this was also due to Fate, but what would have happened if Macbeth had chosen not to kill Duncan? This is another thing that makes Macbeth a tragic hero – the audience is left feeling sympathetic about what might have been. No matter how manipulated, everybody has the power of free will. The fact is that Macbeth chose his path himself, and although Fate may have played some part in his downfall, the power of choice played and even bigger part. The ability to choose overrides Fate and destiny. The entire play could just be put down to human nature. Greed, power, ambition; greed for power and ambition is a part of human nature. However human nature is a bit like Fate, in that it cannot manipulate, it just is. Nearly everyone would like to believe that they can be great, and if they are told so would want to believe it. Macbeth just takes it one step further  by making it happen. In a way Macbeth is taking Fate into his own hands. His ‘vaulting ambition’ drives him to do this. It is Macbeth’s ambition that leads him to murder people, as well as leading to his own death. His ambition ultimately becomes his nemesis, which makes him a full tragic hero. Macbeth’s ambition and his greed for power is like a fire. The witches, Lady Macbeth and Fate did manipulate him and add fuel to the fire, but the spark had to be there first in order for them to do this. Although Macbeth was influenced and manipulated a great deal, he still had the power and the freedom to choose. It is the choices he made that make Macbeth not a victim, but a full tragic hero.

Approaches And Methods Of Training Management Essay

Approaches And Methods Of Training Management Essay Training is a systematic process to develop knowledge, skill and attitude from learning experience to achieve maximum performance in an activity (Buckley and Caple 2007). Learning and education both are different but important for organisations. Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes by experience, reflection, study and instruction. While education is a series of activities which enables to develop knowledge, skills, values and understanding that allow a broad range of problem solving and analysis (Buckley and Caple, 2007). Training plays an effective role in different kinds of learning and development. The rapid change in global environment pressurized all organisations to enhance their focus on customers. That time of producing, conceiving and marketing products dropped as organisations adopted new ways to compete in the market (Capelli et al, 1997 cited in Rod and Collin, 2000). The successful organisations should have highly skilled and committed em ployees who can survive in this era of competition. Workers learn to enhance their performance and want to be more competent in their roles. Work place learning is very important after education to develop a long career (Legge, 2005). Organisations can get competitive advantage upon rivals through hiring skilled staff and through better training programs. According to Brookes (1995) organisations have to support training department and the least step is to appoint a dedicated staff in personnel for this task. It is important to make a training policy for the company and allocate specific budget for training. This all points to the fact that training and development is a prime business activity which has serious objectives and requires serious management (Nilson, 2003). There are a number of benefits for individuals as a consequence of training procedures; relative to the present positions, individuals may see job satisfaction increase as a result of undergoing training (Clements and Jones, 2002). Intrinsic satisfaction may result from being able to perform a task to a higher standard, where as extrinsic satisfaction may come as a result of increased job skills, which may lead to greater earnings, career prospects and promotion possibilities (Buckley and Caple, 2007). An obvious benefit to individuals is the change from their regular work pattern, which can have recreational benefits as well, for example, less boredom and greater variety during work (Buckley and Caple, 2007). Some of the benefits of training, from an organisation’s perspective included higher employee performance, productivity and possibly acting as a source of competitive advantage. There a number of other potential benefits to organisations of successful training procedures; decrease in wastage and increased productivity; lower labour turnover, saving costs (Rae, 2000); higher customer satisfaction, possibly leading to greater sales; shorter learning cycles for employees, reducing expe nditure (Washington, 1995); lower absenteeism and fewer accidents (Buckley and Caple, 2007). The innovations in technology brought speedy change in business environment. Training plays a critical role for individuals at work to manage careers development and organisational change. Training and learning is a pivotal business function that maximise profit and the company’s long term health (Nilson, 2003, P.2). The implementation of training plan depends on a lot of factors including the proper identification of training need and individual’s recognition for training need (Reid et al, 2004). Proper learning and best utilization of resources equally effect on effective outcomes (Bramley, 1986).

Reflecting on Education Essay Example Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Reflecting on Education Example - Essay Example I too have had my share of ups and downs. I can vividly recall the joyful yet somber periods in my life which have left a deep impression. We, a family of six, moved into this town from Mexico and lived in a two-bed roomed home located in a very low income neighborhood. My first school, the elementary school was a bit run down but conveniently located only a block away. The learning process started from here itself. Since my first language was Spanish it was difficult to balance and understand the English that I was learning at school. What made it even more difficult was the fact that my parents did not know any English so I could not go to them for help. Beginning with kindergarten I remember listening to the teacher very intensely but not being able to identify nor comprehend even simple hand gestures that other students could understand. I always thought it was normal to share books and other materials for school. At the elementary school I was diagnosed with a speech impediment along with stuttering, which they attributed to the Spanish that was spoken in my family household. After the diagnosis I was asked to spend about a half an hour each day with a teacher in the special education department.

Risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Essay

Risk and return, portfolio diversification and the Capital Asset Pricing Model; The cost of equity (Starbucks Co.) - Essay Example (Valuebasedmanagement.net, 2011) This paper will therefore provide computation and will also discuss the cost of equity of Starbucks besides computing the cost of equity for Nestle and McDonalds to make a comparison. Further, cost of equity will also be calculated by using dividend discount model as well as arbitrage pricing theory. The above calculations show that the overall cost of equity for Starbucks is 11.82% based on the data provided. This value is higher than the cost of equity of an average firm on the S&P 500 index thus indicating that the overall risk profile of Starbucks may be higher than an average firm. It may be due to the fact that the investors, considering the dynamics of the industry and particular performance of the firm in the industry, may not be willing to put their bets on Starbucks. The cost of equity should have been lower than an average firm on the S&P considering the overall market strength of Starbucks and brand power. The above comparison between McDonalds, Nestle as well as Starbucks shows that the return on equity for other two firms is lower as compared to Starbucks. The lower cost of equity of these firms suggests that these firms have relatively stable risk profile due to their stronger financial performance as well as fundamentals. What is also important to note that these firms are diversified in nature whereas Starbucks is only relatively focused on the sale of coffee only? It is therefore of no surprise that the cost of equity of such firms is relatively lower than Starbucks Dividend discount model is another important model to find out the fair values of the stock based on the dividends. (Investopedia.com, 2011 ). This model considers dividends as the future cash flows to be received and accordingly the price of the stock is calculated by using following formula: Thus the expected rate of return is obtained by considering a linear combination of different macroeconomic factors combined with

Marketing. Unique home dcor items Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing. Unique home dcor items - Essay Example Unique home decor items are a decoration company that specializes in all kinds of home furnishings. Marketing is fundamental to growth of any business venture and we as a company have decided to venture into search engine marketing as one of the platforms we belief will enable us reach majority of our customers and by extension foster our upcoming company. Specifically we have decided to use search engine optimization, search advertising and other directories marketing in our search engine marketing. Jupiter communications consumer survey data observes that 81 % of people who are regular internet users locate websites through the use of search engines. The article further indicates that 54% of online shoppers who are experienced in shopping through the internet mainly rely on search engines when locating for a product to purchase on the internet. IMT strategies further assert that online search engines have provided more awareness for websites than other advertisement platforms such as television, radio or newspapers. 80 % of online search program users locate whatever they are looking for as soon as the third page. Sale leads which are made from main phrases and words searches are always the best qualified and also they have the highest buying probability. Regular search engine advertising is therefore fundamental in increasing a company’s chases of improving sales of products and services considering the importance of search engines to internet users. Any successive online advertising campaign must begin with firm search engine advertising. ... This is fundamental especially for upcoming companies that want to grow business at a faster rate it’s on this premise that we have chosen search engine marketing as an ideal platform for advertising our products. Search engine optimization For us to be able to attract customers, we need to foster the interaction of our website with users and search engines such as yahoo, Google, dogpile and many others. Search engine optimization involves building small modifications to key areas of our website. Whilst viewed in isolation, the modifications may appear like incremental improvements, however, when put together, they many have ideal impact on our websites customer understanding and performance. For us to be able to have a competitive advantage over our main rivals, we must identify what’s important for the clients of our website. These are the key consumers of our products and search engines should be able to display products of interest to our customers. For us to optimi ze our website, we need to do a variety of tasks such as creating accurate page titles, improvement of uniform resource locators structure, giving quality content to our customers, making good use of robots.txt and making use of free webmaster tools. Page titles are fundamental and for us to remain competitive we must make them unique. Key details of our company such as the name of our business, physical location, and physical address will be put on our home page. An important consideration that we as a company will make is to ensure that titles are brief, descriptive, simple language that visitors can understand and free of ambiguity. We will also use meta tags for giving summary of what is contained in each page of our website.

Project Management Issue Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project Management Issue Report - Research Paper Example Such considerably account the framework to understand the business operational management taking into account some policies, strategies, quality control, monitoring and employees’ evaluation or appraisal which are crucial in managing corporate systems. As a mechanism, it involves budgeting, economic valuing and usage of balance scorecard (Otley, 2002). Thus, it necessitates disciplined decision-makings to advance the performance of an institution driven by motivation, business policies and corporate vision or goals. Usually, project outcomes of the business corporations are measured by assessing goals or objectives against with key result areas (KRAs). As to its essence in human resource management (HRM), project managers seriously delve on organizational structures to ensure that systems can operationalize and integrate plans by optimizing desired technical skills from humane resources hence, project management experts should nurture value-system and takes direction through c lear vision and mission as common direction where all undertakings are geared (Ilies, Crisan & Muresan, 2010). Organizational managers however thought that for this to be effective and for employers to be proficient, they need to be clarified about the nature of their contracts with mutual trusts and strong commitments. PM and Governance Moreover, project management is a system that is sensitive too to corporate regulations and policies. As part of corporate policy, the management should have distinct and competitive policy in the administration, in human resource management, and in extolling policies which secure customer satisfaction by optimizing unrivalled quality service, developing competitive products' pricing, exercising corporate ethics and solid teamwork of employees with management (Dransfield, 2000, p. 70). In so doing, it’s crucial for managers to exhibit leadership by managing the company from the vantage of its objectives. Managers are also imbued with knowledg e on quality control to ensure that there is complete integration, time management, cost efficiency, open communications, systematized procurement and scheme for risk mitigation (Nastase, Tapurica & Tache, 2010). The quality control also includes standardization of working environment, its products and its operational systems. Managing the project well contribute and auger well to the national economy. Such meant illustrating necessary skills for comprehensive planning, organizing, directing and controlling the financial, technical and resources. Hence, it’s imperative to systematize relations, production, marketing and maintenance to ascertain sustainability. Managers ought to ascertain their strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and regularly conduct political, economic, social, technical, environmental and legal (PESTEL) analysis. The company must invest more to boost strengths and opportunities as well as strategize ways to deal with threats and weaknesse s. The conduct of PESTEL analyses will enable strategic decisions to meet challenges and to craft responses on potential problems. It will also help solidify its economic standing in relation to rapid changes of world economy. PM and Virtual Realities These days corporations have virtual counter part in its operation—

GM Strategic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

GM Strategic - Essay Example GM has made purposeful commitment to the environment i.e. to make continuous development as well as improvement by decreasing the harmful impact of environment which includes the issues like greenhouse gas releases and fuel economy in its broad assortment of quality vehicles (General Motors, 2012). From the perspective of the environmental issue with regard to the aspect of fuel economy, the valuable engineers belonging to the company are reinvesting as well as restructuring the various technological advancements for the purpose of enhancing the fuel economy, ensuring less release of greenhouse gases and most importantly diminishing its reliance on petroleum. In relation to the factor of the enhancement in fuel economy, it has been apparent that the company is consistently enhancing the competence of its gasoline-powered vehicles by the application of enhanced technological advancements which include dynamic fuel management, insertion of direct fuel and variable valve timing (General Motors, 2012). From the viewpoint of the other important environmental issue i.e. the release of greenhouse gases, the company has showed its deliberate commitment towards implementing the alternative fuels as well as the bio-fuels in order to decrease petroleum dependence along with lowering the release of greenhouse gases. In this context, it has been viewed that the company is the worldwide leader in the production of Flex-Fuel vehicles which operates on gasoline and E85 ethanol. This particular technological advancement of Flex-Fuel vehicles of the company can be observed in the cars as well as the trucks of the company (General Motors, 2012). There lie several strategic reasons for GM to emphasize upon the environmental factors which comprise the aspect of fuel efficiency and the release of greenhouse gases. One of the imperative reasons is about the deliverance of long-term value of the investments to the

The process of growth and thus there is no optimum size of firm Essay

The process of growth and thus there is no optimum size of firm - Essay Example The economic theory believes in the premise that an organization would exponentially increase in size and shape if its growth and development regimes are in line with its requirements and desires in the long run. This brings to mind the debate that the process of growth is essentially linked with its success, both within the short term equation as well as in the long run scheme of things (Napach 1998). It is easily deducible from the said perspective that there is no optimum size of the firm but it is a relative matter nonetheless. The focus must remain on the manner in which the firm if growing to make it sound as big rather than going by the sheer size. The international and regional contexts of the firm are very important to understand because this is a sign of expansion and growth which are very appreciable within the thick of things. Thus the argument that the process of growth is linked with the firm in terms of its expansion and development seems valid yet devoid of its optimum size at the same time. This is because firms like to associate their own selves with the growing demands of the business rather than opening up offices which are neither manageable nor controllable. There is a dire need to comprehend that a firm will only grow if it wants to grow from its own roots, rather than banking on realms which are non-essential for its own basis. Size is therefore a by-product of a firm’s growth and is just a matter of the dimensions which are present within the context of the firm itself. These are hailed as trivial and have no role whatsoever in its growth and development regimes (Penrose 1995). The argument seems logical because a firm would only depend on its resources to get it to a position where it was never a part of, rather than depending a great deal on the aspects which would increase its size, which remains to be seen as a major force to reckon with in the changing

Overview of HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Overview of HRM - Essay Example As this research shall argue, however, contrary to the popular assumption that compensation schemes are the primary method for doing so, it is the collectivity of HR functions which impinge upon, and have the potential to transform the mentioned culture. In other words, while one cannot deny the fundamental role which compensation plays in affecting employee motivation levels, enhancing organisational commitment and, ultimately, transforming the dominant organisational culture, it would be fallacious and, consequently, indefensible to ignore a host of other HRM practices which, taken as a collectivity, effectively modify organisational culture and increase employees' commitment. This section introduces several perspectives of HRM in both the U.S. society and the Western European society. In the management research literature in the United States of America, scholars are more concerned about the functions and roles played by HRM. The function of HRM has experienced an evolutionary process in business organisations. It used to be reactive, operational, and domestic. It was 'personnel management'. After 1990s, human capital has become more and more important due to the emergence of the new economy. Both researchers and practitioners have realized the strategic role played by HRM. The resource-based theory (Barney, 2001) looks within the firm itself. This suggests human assets are one of the major sources bringing about core competence for the business organisations; HRM thus becomes an important issue. Huselid (1995; 1998) propose High Performance Work Practices (HPWP), Pfeiffer (1994) propose the best practice models. From American literature on HRM, one can see the strong inclination of universalism, the optimism on human potential development. The European scholars, however, are more concerned about the contextual factors shaping the HRM practices of companies. According to Brewster (1996), the societal culture, ownership structures, government attitude to foreign investment, the roles of union are major factors determining HRM policies and practices in context-specific situations. Such perspective helps to understand the unique situations and differences between nations in their HRM practices as well as how MNCs try to adapt to local practices. In international business literature, Evans, Tayeb (2001) argue that human resource management makes contribution to organisational performance by playing three roles. The basic role is building the foundations of attracting, motivating and retaining people in place. The second role is realigning it to the environmental change and reconfiguring the different elements as time evolves. As the competition becomes fierce and

The current issue of junk food consumption Essay Example for Free

The current issue of junk food consumption Essay The current issue of junk food consumption and the overall obesity battle worldwide continues to expand rapidly. The suggestion to counteract this problem is the implementation of a â€Å"junk tax†. ProQuest states that, â€Å"’junk food tax’ refers to a tax placed upon fattening foods or beverages† (Par. 1). The intention of the tax is to minimize the consumption of unhealthy foods, which would expectantly lead to a healthier population. A junk food tax would also generate revenue for causes such as: improving diet, preventing obesity, and educating Americans about nutrition. The main purpose is to maximize health benefits. However, the tax has sparked controversy about interfering with freedom of choice and personal liberties. Fighting obesity and its various related illnesses does not require cholesterol lowering medicine, workout videos, or diet books. It starts with rethinking our setting and the world we are living in. Addressing the issue of over-weight and the lack of health in our modern life is no easy assignment, â€Å"despite some individual efforts by some states to tax soda pop, require healthier school lunches of mandate calorie information in chain restaurants, obesity rates worldwide are growing† (Cummins, Nd). Even though these efforts have continued to grow with parents and health advocates the problem needs to be acknowledged nation wide because, â€Å"60 percent of Americans of either overweight or obese† (Cummins Par. 5). With many restaurants offering super sized meals for such low prices, people consume well over the recommended calorie and food intake. Fast food restaurants being open twenty-four hours a day located on every corner causes temptation to be all around consumers. According to Rheuban.J (2007). Opponents claim that impressing such a law would be a violation to ones rights and freedom. I strongly disagree with that. To support their stance that the tax certainly will have no â€Å"actual affect on†¦public health† they site a bunch of studies,one : The Mercatus Center at George Mason University that Americans Against Food Taxes claims â€Å"that any impact of a soft drink tax would be trivial because soft drink consumption is a relatively small part of the diet for overweight people.† They suggest that financial affect of the tax could be extremely burdensome, especially on the poor. The cost is literally killing us. The low budget costs of junk food attracts in low budget customers. They stuff their carts with white bread, frozen packages, already packed desserts, and extremely processed  meats. The low cost is satisfying for people living in the moment, However the long term effects can be dangerous. Poor diet choices is eating foods that were previously mentioned will lead to obesity. Obesity causes heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, strokes, and respiratory problems, all of these cost substantial amounts to treat and if left untreated they can lead to death. The low cost that pull in customers may in the end cost them their lives. Arguments in favor of junk food taxes, Reduce the costs of treating medical issues to which junk food contributes. Generate additional revenue, part of which could be used to offset costs of treating medical issues that arise from over consumption of junk foods. Could shift consumer spending to healthier foods, bolstering the industries that produce those foods. Not enough people are aware of the adverse effects of chemicals in foods (doctors included) so their purchases are based on affordability and addiction. They cannot put together why it is that they cannot eat just one chip, fail on restrictive calorie diets, binge, and/or continue to put on weight throughout their lives. The assumption is that these people lack the will to be healthy. The reality is that, in many cases, is that their subconscious mind is doing everything in its power to survive. According to Fiora.K(2010). Patients gained significantly less of the calories from soda or pizza when it was a 10% increase in both prices, Penny Gordon-Larsen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues reported in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.Policies aimed at altering the price of soda or pizza could be very effective mechanisms to steer adults towards a healthier diet and reduce long-term weight gain or insulin levels over time, the researchers wrote. They calculated that an 18 percent tax on junk food would result in a 56-calorie decline in total daily energy intake. At the population level, that would translate to about five pounds per patient per year, along with significant reductions in the risks of most obesity-related chronic diseases, they said. Since their study looked at only a small number of foods, they called upon researchers to assess more in future studies. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Mitchell H. Katz and Dr. Rajiv Bhatia of the San Francisco Department of Public Health wrote that taxing is an appropriate method of correcting for health and other social costs not accounted for in the private market cost. However, they added, in addition to   unhealthy foods, policymakers should consider ways to reward healthy behaviors. A typical recommendation to an obese person is to restrict calories. The typical notion of calories in calories out. In doing so, the motivated dieter goes to the supermarket and buy items labeled diet which are conveniently labeled with caloric amounts. What they dont see is the chemicals added in and/or understand what the short and long term effects of those chemicals are. During this caloric restriction time, he/she is foregoing adequate nutrients while ingesting chemical laden foods which promotes hunger (part of the marketing process), and training the body to prepare for starvation. There is a simple solution to a very complex issue. Taxation of junk food is necessary for the future population. As of late, rates of chronic health diseases have skyrocketed, but are now beginning to level off with the improved education system increasing awareness of the side effects of junk food. This leveling off rate could experience a significant drop if excise taxation were implemented. As multiple studies, research, and projects suggest, an increase in prices of junk food would lead to a decrease in purchasing and consumption of such foods, and would lead to decrease in diet-related diseases. Although junk food producers and business selling these products may find that the tax is unfair, the overall scheme of taxation is improving the health of our nation, for today and in the future. The benefit outweighs the cost, and taxation ultimately motivates producers and sellers of junk food to improve their product and provide healthier options to consumers. There are many issues discussed in current media surrounding the need to protect our planet through recycling and better fuel sources. The media does not realize that there will not be a need for our planet if no one is able to occupy it. There needs to be less consumption of junk food and taxation is the best plan to implement change for a happy, healthier, and existing future. Ù  Sources: http://jacobrheuban.com/2009/12/27/arguments-for-and-against-junk-food-and-soda-taxes/ http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_DietAndFitness/junk-food-tax-improve-health/story?id=10056236 (2013, 02). Junk Food Tax. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 02, 2013,

Why Is Organizational Design Important Management Essay

Why Is Organizational Design Important Management Essay Organizational design is selecting and managing the culture, structure, processes and positions in organization so that organization can control the activities. The final aim is to achieve goals and objectives and to make organization successful (Sargent and McConnell, 2008). The design works best if it is effective and it has a positive impact on individuals (Nadler and Tushman, 1998). The organizational design is important because it shapes the behavior of members working in organization (Jones, 2010, p31) and managers acquired desired behaviors through managing organizational design. The two components of design are; Structural components include goal, strategy, and structure and Human components include work processes, people, communication, coordination and control, and incentive mechanism (Burton, DeSanctis and Obel, 2006). But it is not only about formal structure it also includes informal structures and managers integrate both into business strategy. The Ford Company makes a record loss of $13.3 billion in 2006, the tall hierarchy and culture based on empire building was found to be the reason of low productivity. The behavior of managers in Ford because of empire building structure is that they do not admit mistakes and protect their interests; the managers do not like their subordinates to ask questions. The new CEO from outside the company looks at the problem and ordered managers to share information across different departments (Jones, 2010, p36). Organizational design is a continuous processes because globalization, technological breakthrough and tough competition is continuously changing the way organization work and new forms of organizational designs are emerging such as learning, virtual, cellular, alliance, network, modular or spaghetti etc. (Burton, DeSanctis and Obel, 2006). Organizations have limited resources, have internal constraints, external pressures and even face conflicting goal situations and organizational design makes the balance between internal and external pressures (Jones, 2010), manage the resources in such a manner that it will achieve high performance and give best possible outcomes (Daft, Murphy and Willmott 2010, p22). It also increases productivity, allows innovation and gives competitive advantage. When organizations are not performing, managers redesign and restructure the organization so that it will reveal its potential. There is no specific best design for organizations it emanates from overall vision of organization. What will happen if there is no design in company? A Brazilian company Semco has no organizational design, structure, charts, hierarchy, goals and mission statement but still performing well and making profits (Semler, 2007). But Semco has only 150-200 employees, when organizations grow and expands, employ large n umber of people then gradually it becomes more complex. If a manager puts less attention, a flawed design will emerge and it hinders productivity. The factors managers should take into account while designing the organization are vision, strategy, size, environment, communication, control and incentive systems. Finally have a fact in mind that organizational behavior is result of organizational design. REFERENCES Burton, R. M., DeSanctis, G. and Obel, B. (2006) Organizational Design A Step-by-Step Approach. Cambridge University Press, New York. Daft, R. L., Murphy, J. and Willmott, H. (2010) Organization Theory and Design. Andover: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Jones, G. (2010) Organizational Theory, Design and Change. 6th edn. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Nadler, D. A. and Tushman, M. L. (1998), Competing by design, Executive Excellence, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 12-12. [Online] Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/204590420 (Accessed 22 November 2012) Semler, R. (2007), Out of this world: Doing things the Semco way, Global Businesses and Organizational Excellence, vol. 26, no. 5, pp.  13-21. [Online] DOI:  10.1002/joe.20161 (Accessed 30 November 2012) Sargent, A. and McConnell, T. (2008), Practical approaches to organization design,  CMA Management,  vol. 81, no. 9, pp. 22-25. [Online] Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/197815281 (Accessed 22 November 2012) In what ways is the managerial role changing in the 21st Century? The economic fluctuations, change in technology, increasing socializations and demands for employees codetermination is continuously posing challenges to managers (Agthe, 1972) and in past two decades managerial roles had been gone through a notable transformation (Pearson and Chatterjee, 2003). The modern management has seen the shift from dictatorial style to team based approach. Top managers do not only stay in corporate offices but they handle employees from ground levels like Costcos top managers works and administer employees from retail floor (Buffington, 2009). Managers now empower, motivate, educate and coach their subordinates and manage resources strategically. If subordinates do not satisfy with the role of their managers then there is a high employee turnover in organization. The number one reason for which employee leaves job in USA is because of dissatisfaction with their managers and immediate bosses, found in Gallup survey of over 1 million employees (AgriMarketing, 2009). Managers guide and control their subordinates but on the same time take orders from top management; they transfer the vision of top management to employee and communicate goals and objectives. Adam Smith argued managers play unimportant role in organizational performance (Horowitz, 1994) and they just adds hierarchical levels, raise cost and put burdens on organization. But as we have seen in past, managers make organizations economically and technically effective, they manage inputs and processes to maximize the output (Bern et al, 2009). They deals with human, physical and financial resources, makes work done by others and make the job of others easy, practical and possible through demonstrating their competencies in terms of knowledge, skills and abilities. The traditional approach states that managers in organizations perform four general roles planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Mintzberg (1980) had suggested ten managerial roles and are categorized in three d imensions; the first is interpersonal which includes liaison, leader and figurehead. Second is decisional which includes disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator and entrepreneur. The last dimension is informational which includes monitor, spokesperson and disseminator. In addition Douglas  McGregor mentioned two styles of managers. Theory X in which managers push employees to do work, think employees are lazy, show dictatorial role and perform hard management practices. Whereas managers in Theory Y feels employees enjoy their work, wish to grow and that is why managers select soft management practices (Holloman, 1974; Weisbord, 2011). It is not necessary that traditional management roles only improve productivity. In 1914 Ford doubled wage rates from $2.5 to $5 and shortened work hours from nine to eight hours, the result was high productivity and cost went down. It was an out of box phenomenon practiced by managers in Ford. In 21st Century, the managers are seen as ca talyst; have a strong impact on profitability and policies, they are more adaptable, proactive, innovative, mobile and committed (Eric, 1998) for minimizing the threats and grabbing the opportunities. Managers also start giving attention on cultural diversity issues, work life balance, equality, strong laws and regulations affecting organizations which has been given less attention in past. REFERENCES Agthe, K. (1972) The changing role of Europes managers, Business Horizons, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 89-94. [Online] Available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0007681372900675 (Accessed 1 December 2012) Bern, D., Leeds, M., Leeds, E., and Mondello, M. (2009), The Role of Managers in Team Performance,  International Journal Of Sport Finance, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 75-93. [Online] Available at http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=db8b93aa-e99d-4788-ad67-bbe34d70cf93%40sessionmgr113vid=1hid=112bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=s3hAN=40508510 (Accessed 1 December 2012) Buffington, J. (2009), Rethinking Management for the 21st Century,  Industry Week,  vol. 258, no. 9, pp. 54. [Online] Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/219760478 (Accessed 2 December 2012) Eric, R. G. (1998) The compleat manager, 21st century style.  Management Review, vol.  87, no. 1, pp. 9-9. [Online] Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/206689809 (Accessed 2 December 2012) Holloman, C. R. (1974) What McGregor Really Said, Business Horizons, vol. 17, no.6, pp. 87-92. [Online] DOI: 10.1016/S0007-6813(74)80014-5 (Accessed 2 December 2012) Horowitz, I. (1994) On the manager as principal clerk, Managerial and Decision Economics, vol.  15, no. 5, pp. 413-413.   [Online] Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/206626208 (Accessed 2 December 2012) Mintzberg, H. (1980) The nature of managerial work. Englewood Cliffs; London: Prentice-Hall. Pearson, C. A. L. and Chatterjee, S. R. (2003) Managerial work roles in Asia: An empirical study of Mintzbergs role formulation in four Asian countries, Journal of Management Development, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 694-707. [Online] DOI: 10.1108/02621710310487864 (Accessed 2 December 2012) Weisbord, M. (2011),Taylor, McGregor and me, Journal of Management History, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 165-177. [Online] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17511341111112578 (Accessed 2 December 2012) (2009), A Managers Role,  AgriMarketing,  vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 18-18. [Online] Available at http://search.proquest.com/docview/214008047 (Accessed 1 December 2012) In your view, does team working enhance or detract from enhanced organizational performance? Illustrate your key arguments with organizationally based examples. According to Oxford Dictionary Teamwork is the combined action of a group, especially when effective and efficient. Whereas Team is collection of more than one individual strive to achieve goals, they had a coordination of activities and had a specific performance objectives (Conti and Kleiner, 1997). People rarely work in isolation; they work as teams in organizations. In USA nearly 80% of organizations (having more than 100 employees) organized some employees to work in teams (Bishop and Mahajan, 2005; Plessis, 2011). Organizational performance depends on what are the objectives of organization and can be seen as productivity, higher outputs, financial and operational results (Delarue et al, 2008). Team works for achieving their objective and on the same time it contributes in organizational performance (Bishop and Mahajan, 2005). Managers increasingly organize work around teams because it gives synergy; give greater level of performance as compare to the individual input (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005, p276). Boeing gathered members of design team from dozen countries for its 777 project and synergy is clearly observed in outcomes of teams. The new Boeing is 33% fuel efficient and 25% less costly (Benson-Armor and Hsieh, 1997). It is also important to mention social loafing; the sum of team efforts can be less than the sum of individual efforts, individual puts less efforts when team expands. Teamwork also raises the level of trust because employees depend on each other for completing tasks and projects. According to SHRM (Strategic Human Resource Management) theories, a well-planned HR system which usually includes teamwork will raise employee satisfaction, motivation and commitment which results in positive behavioral changes and leads to enhanced organizational performance (Delarue et al, 2008). On the other ha nd, team often leads to negative results such as conflicts, poor decisions and low productivity (Campion et al, 1993), which harms organizational performance. Buchanan and Huczynski (2007, p284) mentioned overall success of a company is depending on performance of teams working in it. Effective team leads to enhanced organizational performance. According to Guzzo and Dickson (1996), the effectiveness of team depends on goals, team cohesiveness, composition, leadership and motivation. It is important to keep the team on track, the reason for their existence. Teams exist to achieve goals objectives, they exist to perform tasks and it is the major reason for creating teams (Ilgen, 1999). The second performance-dependent factor is team cohesion, the more cohesive team leads to higher performance and teams with cohesion are efficient and effective. Smith et al (1994) found the positive correlation between team cohesion and financial success when he studies the cohesiveness in top management teams. The team composition means the characteristics and nature of team members. Campion et al (1993) mentioned composition is process of designing the te am in terms of the size, heterogeneity, flexibility, tasks and roles of members. Effective teams are of relative size, highly flexible, heterogenic in term of skill and experience especially when tasks are diverse and need different expertise (Hillmann, 2005). He showed through empirical study that composition of team leads to effectiveness. Leaders can also affect the performance of team, sometimes the higher expectations of leaders regarding team performance raise the actual performance of team and leaders often intervene in team processes only to boost the individual performance of members (Guzzo and Dickson, 1996). On the other hand unrealistic expectations may makes members of teams frustrated and often put them in stress. The last factor is motivation; it can be individual or group level motivation. Teamwork raise work morale and the level of involvement of members, whereas incentives and rewards for team performance can raise group level motivation. The 385 employee company S helby Die Casting, automobile manufacturing in Mississippi is 16 months away from closure, for saving the company employees had been organized into workplace teams. The result of teamwork is clearly observed, scrap reached to 12% (which was 40% two years ago) and performance is up, this teamwork saves the company from closure (Caudron, 1994). Another example is of Wellman International, a 450 employee company manufactures synthetic fiber. They improved quality and solve problems by implementing effective teamwork (Ingram, 1996). Guzzo and Dickson (1996) had also challenged the assumption that improvement in team performance simply leads to organizational performance is not always true. Sometimes teams are working well but results are not seen in larger organizational context. If the company invests in IT infrastructure, it may increase team performances but it does not imply that it will have an effect on organizational performance. Team-Organization relation is very vital, the positive changes in team results in organizational performance. On the other hand changes in organization also affects working of teams exist in it. Nurmi (1996) claimed that teams often slow down the decision making process, if members are not empowered. Teams also face conflict situations and they spent huge amount of their time and efforts in resolving conflicts. Teams spend their time in improving communication and attending team meetings which divert them from their original goals, conflict is linked with low effectiveness in org anizations (Dennis et al, 1999). Consensus and compromises are usually seen in teams for resolving conflict scenarios. Team concept is not necessarily applicable in all type of organizations. Gosen Corp organized its employees in cross functional team but after eight years employees did not find the reason for working in team when they are performing well individually and team concept is very ambiguous in company (Caudron, 1994). Caudron, S. (1994) argued bringing the individuals in a group creates barrier for achieving success. Individuals are often become an obstacle in implementing teams, they do not want to be a part of team, rather likes to perform tasks alone and shows reluctance for taking responsibility and decision making, These reluctant employees can be a reason for low performance (Berman, 1999). If the individual employees are organized in teams they look for their interest such as career and salary and they do not put more attention on team objectives. From HR perspective, hiring individuals is easy but getting those individuals perform in teams is hard. Lencioni (2006) had explained the problems in team and explained factors of team dysfunction such as lack of trust, fear of conflict, commitment issues, absence of accountability and inattention to results. These problems are affecting the performance of organization and hard to manage but still they are curable. In present era, teams have become an essential element in organization. Teamwork assists management, improves communication, encourage innovation, save time and hence enhance organizational performance (Nurmi, 1996). For making team perform and make them feel their higher potential, UK organizations invest heavily in team building exercises (Read, 2007). Organizations can work effectively only if there is strong collaboration and coordination among its team members (Mullins, 2011; Brooks, 2009). The self-assessments tool should apply in teams; each team member feels accountable for their work and evaluates their performance critically and member should give feedback to one another. Team roles should be clear among members and managers should make sure that there will no role clashes (Belbin, 2010). Another tool is Gap Analysis; the gap between current position and what should be the future position of tasks and goals then plan accordingly to lower down the gap. If teams are designed, managed and evaluate very well it will give better results and leads to higher organizational outcomes.

The Link Between Drugs And Crime Criminology Essay

The Link Between Drugs And Crime Criminology Essay It is a crime to use, possess, manufacture, or distribute drugs classified as having a potential for abuse (such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, amphetamines, alcohol and many more). Drugs are also related to crime through the effects they have on the users behavior and by generating violence and other illegal activity in connection with drugs trafficking. This research paper will discuss some main causes and effects of using drugs, also look at the statistical data and theoretical model of drug use. Drug addiction can be found in many forms. Drug addiction causes people to use drugs more and more. It also changes the passageways inside of the brain and causes physical damages to the nerve cells. There are also other factors that can lead to drug addiction. One of the factors is genetic. If parents in any family are addicted to drugs then the possibility for children to be addicted to drugs are more because it passes from one generation to next, also children look at their parents and can adapt their habit of using drugs. This is the reason that addiction problem can be found in certain families than the others. One other factor is personality that makes people to rely on drugs. Sometimes, curiosity makes people to try a drug, or if someone is diagnosed with depression, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, stress, anxiety or aggression, this can also lead to drug addiction. Children with low confidence and healthy self-esteem have a possible chance of using drugs to overcom e their problems. (Wicker, 2010). One other factor is peer pressure. Kids especially from high school are the most popular group who are more into drug problem because they think that if they will use drugs that will make them very cool and brave person in the eye of other kids and by taking drugs, they can be accepted as a part of the group. Most of the time, People who have a drug addiction problem try to sell drugs to kids because kids can be easily adaptive to drugs. Nowadays, it is very easy to get an access to drugs. Drugs can be found anywhere. For example, neighborhood, schools, shopping malls, offices, factories, etc. Drugs can also be used as a substitution to pain because it numbs the pain for a limited period of time and can give people a relax feeling physically and emotionally. Life is getting tougher day by day. It includes lots of struggle and too much depression especially past life experiences that are very hard to cope with. Most of the time people think that by taking drugs they can be able to for get all their past life experiences and can have a better sense of emotion coping with life problems. Over all, people who use drugs more often become dependent of drugs by the time. (Wicker, 2010). The effects of drug addiction are huge. It not only changes the persons brain chemistry but also behavior over a period of time. It shows very harmful effects on persons health physically and mentally which can lead to criminal activity. Other effect of drug addiction is on family. People with an addiction problem usually involve in lots of different illegal activities that family members and society might not accept it and those activities create problem for the members of family to be accepted in a respectable society. So, family can either assure safety, provide support for their drug addict member that can help that person to stay away from drugs or they can involve in his activities and be a part of it. Drug addiction problem has a vast effect on the law too. Every day, news channels present different types of stories related to drug addiction crimes. For example, murder, car theft, property theft, burglary, selling illegal drugs, shooting, etc. (Wicker, 2010). The National Library of Medicine estimated 20% of all people in the United States have used prescription medication for non-medical purposes (Wicker, 2010). The misuse of prescription and illegal drugs can change the persons behavior by which a person can be easily dragged toward more criminal activities. The major effect of drug addiction is on American economy. The National Institute on Drug Abuse spent almost $67 billion per year for drug addiction programs which includes the total cost of law enforcement, imprisonment, treatments, and other programs. The impact of drug addiction on crime rate is huge and is increasing day by day. (Wicker, 2010). In 1994, Office of National Drug Control Policy examined that in the United States drug use and criminal activities are somehow correlated to each other, and continuous use of drugs and sale not only destroying the members of society but it is also giving rise to more violent criminal activities. In 2000, a survey was sponsored by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was conducted on the 8, 10, and 12 graders of high schools and they reported that 54% of senior graders use drugs once in their lives. (Carpino, 2000). According to Carpino: In examining the State and Federal prison inmates who reported being under the influence of drugs at the time of their offense, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (1997) reports the following. 24.5% of Federal and 29% of State prison inmates reported being under the influence of drugs when committing violent offenses. 10.8% of Federal and 36.6% of State inmates reported being under the drugs while committing property offenses. 25% of Federal and 41.9% of inmates reported being under the influence of drugs when committing drug offenses. 24.4% of Federal and 22.4% of State prison inmates reported being under the influence of drugs when committing weapon offenses. In 2009, there were 13,687,241 total arrests in the United States. In which, drug arrests was 1,663,582, total marijuana arrests, 858,408, total marijuana sale arrests was 99,815, total marijuana possession arrests was 758,593, total violent crime arrests was 581,765 and total property arrests was 1,728,285. (Borden, 2008). There are three theoretical models proposed by Goldstein that helps in determining drug related crime in the United States, and they also describes the relationship between drugs and crime. The first model he proposed was psychopharmacological model which suggests that people usually involve in criminal activity when they are intoxicated by drugs. Drugs has an impact on nervous system by which people lose their self-control, their ability of thinking right or wrong which lead them to commit crimes. Every drug has its impact on nervous system but some drugs have strong impact, and associated with violent types of crime. Those drugs are PCP (phencyclidine), cocaine, methamphetamines, barbiturates, and alcohol. In 1998, 218 homicides were committed in New York, and 14% of all killings were associated with psychopharmacological factor which means drugs were involved in all those crimes. (Casavant Collin, 2001). The second model that Goldstein proposed was economic-compulsive model which proposes that people usually involve in criminal activity in order to get money to buy drugs. People who cannot live without drugs often commit crimes to get money because drugs these days are very expensive and not everyone can afford them. The crimes that are related to economic compulsive model are theft, prostitution, fraud, drug trafficking etc. The third model proposed by Goldstein was systemic model. This model suggests that criminal activity among drug dealers rise from drug market. According to systemic model, the main reason of violence between drug dealers, merchant, or different types of organizations is the power to control over territories, neighborhood, streets, and school. In this model, crime is as organizational management strategy. In 1980s, 74% of homicides in New York were related to systemic model. (Casavant Collin, 2001). In United States, crime rate is increasing day by day. Government is spending millions of dollars to control over drugs and its related crime by increasing police man power, establishing organizations that are teaching the side effects of taking drugs and what type of crime a person can commit. Drug addiction causes and its effects are very obvious. The three theoretical models presented by Goldstein supports that there is a connection between drugs and crime. Statistics from different government organizations also supports the crime rate due to drugs. Not all the crimes are related to drugs but by looking at all these facts conclusion can be made that there is a link between drugs and crime.

Dealing with Society Edna Pontelliers Battle with Social Class Essay

Dealing with Society Edna Pontelliers Battle with Social Class Edna Pontellier, the main character in Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, is a woman trying to form her own identity, both feminine and sexually, in the repressive and Victorian Creole world of the latter nineteenth century. She is met by a counterpart, Mademoiselle Reisz, who is able to live freely as a woman. Edna herself was denied this freedom because of the respectable societal position she had been married into and because of her Presbyterian up bringing as a child. The role that Mademoiselle Reisz played within society, a society that failed to view her as being a truly respectable social member, was quite opposite to that of Edna’s respectable position in society. Edna was ordained in the Presbyterian ways as she became an adult in Kentucky and Mississippi (Companion 123); as one critic put it, she was of â€Å"solid old Presbyterian Kentucky stock† (Petry 58). Edna was raised in a truly â€Å"restricted Victorian† (Nikerson) manner to be â€Å"an American woman†¦with a graceful severity of poise and movement† (Companion 123). To understand the social order she was born into you have to look at the Presbyterian background she grew up in. Presbyterianism took the view that women were â€Å"regarded as equal to men†¦[but women were] the weaker vessel†¦and should become subordinate to the husband† (Wolff 2). In broader terms, this is saying that women are equal, but are still below men in society. This construct was reinforced by the fact that â€Å"married women in Louisiana†¦[, in Edna’s time,] were legal property of their husbands† (Chopin 121). By a broad range, women of high V ictorian society were greatly scrutinized if they tried to step out of any of the normal set boun... ...ction. Westport, Greenwood Press Inc., 1988 Chopin, Kate and Cully Margo, Ed. The Awakening: A Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton & Comp., 1994. Mahon, Robert Lee. â€Å"Beyond the love triangle: trios in â€Å"The Awakening.† The Midwest Quarterly 39.2 (1998) : 228-236. McCoy, Thorunn Ruga. â€Å"Chopin’s ‘The Awakening.’† The Explicator 56.1 (1997): 27-26 InfroTrac SearchBank. Online. 30 Nov. 1998. Nickerson, Megan. â€Å"Romanticism in The Awakening.† Online. 29 Nov. 1998 Petry, Alice. Critical Essays on Kate Chopin. Printice Hall International., 1996 Thorton, Lawrence. â€Å"The Awakening: A Political Romance.† American Literature 52 (1980): 50-66. Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. â€Å"Un-utterable longing: the discourse of feminine sexuality in ‘The Awakening.’† Studies in American Fiction 24.1 (1996): 3-23. InfroTrac SearchBank. Online. 30 Nov. 1998.

Quest For Love in J.D. Salingers The Catcher In the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

The Quest For Love in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In the Rye In many novels written by J.D. Salinger, there is a recurring theme of love that arises and that indicates the character of the individual in the novel. Salinger uses love in the context of being a device that is used to protect and to care for people who need protecting and caring. In Salinger's novel, Catcher in the Rye, love is used by a character, Holden Caulfield, who struggles desperately to find a certain somebody or anyone to allocate his love to, but realizes finally, that this love is not necessarily expressed through saving " the children in the rye" from the time of trial, but actually caring for them and being their friends, during the time of trial.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The quest of finding the true love of people is an ongoing dilemma in the lives of many people all throughout the world. The constant need for love is overwhelming, and the tragedy of this great world is the fact that some people do not find the proper love that they deserve. Holden Caulfield is a perfect example of the striving to acquire a love sought all throughout his life. According to this quote, "He is simply expressing an innocence incapable of genuine hatred. Holden does not suffer from the inability to love, but does despair of finding a place to bestow his love" (Heiserman and Miller 30), Holden Caulfield has the need for allocating his cornucopia of love for people. His quest is very simple. He wants to do good. As compared to tragic heroes in the past,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "Holden seeks Virtue second to Love. He wants to be good. When   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the little children are playing in the rye-field on the cliff   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   top, Holden wants to be the one who catches them before they   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   fall off the cliff.   He is not driven toward honor or courage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He is not driven toward the love of woman. Holden is driven   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   toward love of his fellowman...." (Heiserman and Miller 25).   In other words, he is not a tragic hero, but rather a misfortuned hero that struggles to find a person to give his love to. There is nothing tragic about his life.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Holden also seeks circularity in his life.

Interpersonal Communication in an Intercultural Setting :: essays papers

Interpersonal Communication in an Intercultural Setting Cultural growth in the twenty-first century has heightened the emphasis on interpersonal communication in an intercultural setting. As our world grows, expands and becomes increasingly more interconnected by various technological advances, the need for effective interpersonal communication among differing cultures has become quite clear. Due to the advancement of technology in today's world, a world in which some businesspeople are involved in transactions with other businesspeople in faraway countries, the call for knowledge of intercultural communication within this setting has become a reality. Interpersonal communication is a form of communication that involves a small number of people who can interact exclusively with one another and who therefore have the ability to both adapt their messages specifically for those others and to obtain immediate interpretations from them (Lustig et al, 1993). Although interpersonal communication is usually thought of as being perf! ormed in small, centralized groups, a need to broaden these groups and bring about a general feeling of cultural awareness has become apparent. To a certain degree, all communication could be called interpersonal, as it occurs between two or more people. However, it is useful and practical to restrict the definition to distinguish those relationships that involve a relatively small group of people, such as couples, families, friends, workgroups, and even classroom groups from those involving much larger numbers of people, as would occur in public rallies or among massive television audiences. Unlike other forms of communication, interpersonal communication involves person-to-person interactions. Additionally, the perception that a social bond has developed between the interactants, however tenuous and temporary it may seem, is also much more likely. Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual processing tool with which people from different cultures create shared meanings (Berko et al, 1998). When we speak to someone with whom we share little or no cultural bond, it is referred to as intercultural communication. Our need to communicate across culture can be very beneficial personally and professionally. Within an intercultural setting, nonverbal and verbal communication are both prevalent in emphasizing the differences in cultures. The way we act and the things we say determine whether or not we belong in a certain culture. Nonverbal communication systems provide information about the meaning associated with the use of space, time, touch and gestures. They help to define the boundaries between the members and nonmembers of a culture (Koester at al, 1993). In order to fully enjoy and benefit from interpersonal communication in an intercultural setting, one must first gain a fu! ll, comprehensive knowledge of the determining factors of culture.

Group Manuscript

Bacterial cells are a common choice for in vivo replication of DNA of interest, and in this study, the heat shock method was employed for bacterial transformation. Plasmids, which are DNA molecules themselves, were used as expression vectors for the DNA of interest, the GAP gene. Because only transformed cells exhibit antibiotic resistance, trans armed cells survived on plates containing inclining. Only those cells that took up plasmid s containing the GAP gene fluoresced in IV light.By restriction enzyme analysis and gel electro prophesiers, the relationship between genotype and phenotype was observed using isolated p zamias from the bacteria. Because the presence of the GAP gene codes for fluorescence, it is expected t hat a genotype coding for the protein would express the glowing phenotype. Regular action of GAP gene expression was observed in samples that were grown with rabbinate, inimical in, and varying amounts Of glucose. Our results Suggest that the presence Of glucose in t he s rounding environment inhibited transcription from the rabbinate bad promoter. Age 3 INTRODUCTION This study examined the transcriptional regulation Of the rabbinate Oberon pr emoted found in Escherichia coli (E. Coli). To facilitate this study, the Green Fluorescence t protein (GAP) was utilized as a reporter gene with the rabbinate promoter. The KEEP gene w as 772 base pairs (BP) long and was extracted from Quarrel Victoria. This gene was implanted into plasmids, which were inserted into the E. Coli through bacterial transformation (3). In order to obtain enough copies of these DNA samples in a reasonable ammo NT of time, two methods can be used.The first is considered in vitro , or in glass, (such as a test tube) and is known as polymerase chain reaction. This method, in which a machine heats t he DNA sample ND Tag polymerase clones the DNA, is expensive and less convenient, so it is not always used. The other method is In Vivo , or in life, and is called transformation. This method was used in this experiment by shocking E. Coli bacteria with heat in order for them to take in plasmids that were transformed to contain the GAP gene. Not all bacteria were transformed, and not all transformed bacteria contained the GAP gene.To differentiate between transformed and n untransformed bacteria, they were grown on inclining, as the transformed bacteria were rest assistant to impact Olin but the untransformed bacteria were killed by it. The plasmids with and with out the GAP gene were differentiated by visualization under IV light (4). The genotype of the remaining plasmids, both transformed and nontransparent med, were then tested to determine the relationship between the genotype, or plasmid c imposition, and phenotype, or presence of fluorescence.The plasmids were removed from the e bacteria, with some samples left whole as controls and others cut into pieces by restriction enzymes. In this case, doll, originating from Hemophilia influenza , was the enzyme use d to cut the plasmids Page 4 at their respective Hind doll sites, where the GAP gene would have been inserted. This was done to determine whether or not the KEEP gene was taken in by the plasmids when it was electrophoresis, as the difference in size of the pieces was observed in the gag arose gel (4).Even though a transformed bacterium may have had the GAP gene in its insert Ted plasmid, it needed the promoter bad (consisting of genes Arab, area, and award) and t he GAP gene in the right direction and position in order for the bacterium to have the potent al for fluorescence. It may still not have fluoresced if there was not enough rabbinate present for the bad promoter to run, or if a high concentration of glucose inside the cell was present to rep as the bad promoter.With all the necessary genetic coding for fluorescence, the amount that was visible depended on the amount of glucose present, as no glucose caused it to floorer see brightly, and a low concentration made it glow dul ly (4). Each step of this experiment was vital in analyzing the transcriptional regulate on of the rabbinate Oberon promoter. Through bacterial transformation, recombinant DNA and cloning methods were used in order to insert the GAP gene into the plasmid.The pellet of cells was then resume need using a pipette and vortex mixer. This allows for a XX concentration to be obtained. After spreading, the four plates were incubated upside down (overnight at 370 C) in a microbial incubator. Following incubation each plate was placed upside down n a IV box and photographed. Restriction Analysis In restriction analysis, two restriction enzyme digestion reactions (one uncut b Y enzyme, one cut by enzyme) occurred for each of the two DNA samples (nonresistant and non page 6 fluorescent, resistant and inflorescent, and resistant and fluorescent).For the uncut samples, components were added in the following order: Pl XIX Buffer ( supplied by environment by life technologies†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ containi ng: 100 mm Trisect, pH 7. 5 100 mm Magical mm Theoretical 500 mm Nasal), 1 Pl Water, and 5 Pl DNA For the uncut samples, components were e added in the allowing order: Pl XIX Buffer, Pl Water, pi DNA, and III Handbill NZ. (sup plied by invitation by life technologies†Ã¢â‚¬ ). After all components were added they were mixed by overexerting and collected at the bottom of the tubes by using the microelectronic gem The tubes were then incubated for 30 minutes at 37 co.Following incubation, Pl of XIX loading g buffer (1% (w/v) SD (sodium decoded sulfate) 50% (v/v) glycerol 0. 05% (w/ v) bronchiole blue) was added to each tube. The samples were mixed by overexerting and collected at the e bottom of the tubes using the microelectronic- Agrees gel electrophoresis was prepared by ding Pl of 1 KGB plus ladder ( supplied by environment by life technologies†Ã¢â‚¬ ) into the first and final well. 12. Pl of each sample was then loaded into remaining wells on the gel and the electro prioress was run for 1 hour at 1 VIVO.The gels were then placed in a IV box and photographed. Using the photo of the gel, the genotypes of each sample were verified. This was done by finding the size of fragments through comparison with the DNA standard ladder. Gene Expression TO allow for observation Of phenotypes gene expression, bacteria were transfer erred to three types of media: inducing, introducing, and repressing. Five plates were used: LB,'Amp, LB/Marry, LB/Amp/AR/Glue 0. 2%, LB/Amp/AR/Glue 0. 5%, LB/ Amp/AR/Glue 2% (xx).On each plate, bacteria with empty plasmids and therefore no GAP gene for flour essence were spread on one half, and bacteria with plasmids containing the GAP insert were e transferred to the Page 7 other. Both of these types of cells came from a master plate. Using a sterile to toothpick, each type of bacteria was patched in the appropriate area of each plate. GAP+ bacteria were patched in a â€Å"+† shape, while GAP bacteria were patched in a shap e. Plates were labeled properly and Leary and were placed Poseidon in a ICC incubator overnight.Plates were e observed for fluorescent bacteria on the IV transformational box after 24 hours, after 72 h ours, and again after 96 hours. Page 8 RESULTS Bacterial Transformation In order to investigate GAP gene expression, it was first necessary to obtain co pies of the DNA of interest through bacterial transformation, which allowed for plasmid ( and sometimes GAP) uptake by numerous bacterium. Phenotypes results from this procedure can suggest possible genotypes. Transformation plates that were prepared after heat shoo KC transformation can be Seen in Figure 2.Individual colonies were visible on each AMP+ plate, while a lawn of bacteria had formed on the AMP plate and individual colonies were not discern enable. Under IV light, fluorescence was observed in those colonies expressing the GAP gene. If guru E highlights the difference observed between glowing and knowing bacterial colonies. The fraction of colonies that appear fluorescent and are assumed to be GAP+ is noted in Table e 1 along with complete results of this bacterial transformation (4).Structural Analysis by Restriction Analysis and Gel Electrophoresis TO confirm the structure Of DNA plasmid genotypes, samples were run through h gel electrophoresis after being treated with a restriction enzyme specific for cleave ins the gene of interest (GAP). Standards were run along with each of the components on the electrophoresis gel. In order to determine size in base pairs of fragments of interest, a graph of the e relationship between the size and migration of the bands in the 1 KGB plus DNA Ladder was assembled (Figure 4), and a line of best fit was determined.The relationship between the base 1 O log of size and migration is linear, and graphing them together gave a trend line with an ex. action useful in determining the size of experimental fragments with known migration values. These were the fragments obtai ned by cleaving the plasmids with the Handbill restriction enzyme. Table 2 page 9 organizes the sizes and migration distances for the fragments of the standard included during electrophoresis. These values were used to construct the calibration curve m mentioned before (Figure 4).Figure 3 shows the agrees gel obtained by gel electrophoresis. Ta able 3 lists all sizes determined based on comparison with the calibration curve generated from migration standards (Figure 4). Sizes are noted for both the vector and the insert (4). Analysis of Reporter Gene Expression Investigation of gene regulation and interaction of environmental rabbinate a ND/or glucose with genotype required GAP+ cells to be spread on various plates, an d fluorescence to be observed over time.Table 4 summarizes the observations of the phenotype o f patches streaked onto AMP plates containing or lacking rabbinate and/ or glucose. Glowing patches suggest expression of the GAP gene. Observations show that the rabbinate sample pop site for the GAP insert fluoresced brightly as time went on. The sample with rabbinate and 0. 2 % glucose increasingly fluoresced over time, while plates higher in percentage glucose c imposition did not fluoresce. Cells that were GAP were also spread in order to serve as a surrogate et marker.These cells do not contain the gene for GAP, so they will not fluoresce under IV light . This gives a comparison, making it easier to determine if cells are expressing GAP fluoresce once or not page 10 DISCUSSION Regulation of Gene Expression: The samples that were grown with rabbinate, inclining, and varying amounts of glucose showed that the presence of glucose in a bacterium's surrounding environment NT can affect the ability of its rabbinate bad promoter. The plate with no glucose added flour cede brightly, while the plates with glucose added showed very little to no fluorescence.The only plate with glucose added that fluoresced in the end was the plate with the least glucose ad ded These results are due to the glucose inhibiting the rabbinate Oberon from trap inscribing the bad promoter DNA. When glucose is present in a bacterium, the cell metal likes the glucose instead of the rabbinate, and the rabbinate Oberon is not utilized. However, when the cell is lacking glucose, it reaches a state of â€Å"hunger† and begins producing cyclic adenosine Mephistopheles (CAMP). This reacts with the CAMP receptor protein (CROP), who chi allows the cell to use rabbinate to induce the transcription of the rabbinate bad prom otter.This promoter contains the genes Arab area , and award, which are part of the rabbinate Oberon. This system can only function if rabbinate is present in the cell; otherwise the gene arc will prevent the rabbinate Oberon from carrying out transcription by forming a â€Å"knot,† or loop in the DNA The rabbinate bad promoter reacts with the GAP gene to show when the Arabian SSE Oberon is in use and how strongly it is induced by rabbi nate (5). The plate with the least glucose added began to glow over time, as the cell be an using up the glucose in its environment by metabolize it for energy.It started to FL recurrences dully once the concentration of glucose was not high enough to fully repress the AR baboons Oberon, showing that there is a range of repression and induction, not just a state of † on† and â€Å"off' for page 11 these function. The more the bacteria used the glucose, the less of it was arrow ND to repress the Oberon, which is why its fluorescence strength grew over time. If the study WA s to be continued past the 96 hour mark, all of the plates would have eventually fluoresced as t hey used up their loses resources and began activating the rabbinate Oberon (4).