Essay on Assam Essay

Assam has been aptly described by some as ‘the Shangrila of the North-Eastern India’ – a state having breathtaking scenic beauty, rarest floras and faunas, lofty hills, lush tea gardens, undulating plains, mighty waterways, dense forests, fertile valleys, etc. It lies as a jewel of exquisite beauty and charm on the Northeastern horizon of India. Since the days of Hiuen-Tsang it has fascinated the rest of the world with her aura of myth and mysteries, history and folklore, music and dance. Known as Pragjyotishpura (land of Eastern lights) in ancient time and Kamrupa in medieval times, Assam is the anglicised name for the state. The name of the state may have come from the word ‘Ahom the people who migrated to the Brahmaputra valley in the early 13th century and gave shape to the Assamese of today. The state lies between 89 °. 50†² to 96 °, 10†² E. longitude and 24 °. 30†² to 28 °, 40†² N. latitude. Seven Indian states and two foreign countries touch its boundary. Spread over an area of 78, 438 sq. km. State has a total population of 26, 638, 407 according to Census, 2001. We have a clear picture of Assam only from the early 13th cent, when the country was conquered by Ahoms. Later they were ousted by the Burmese, who handed over the area to the British by the treaty of Yandaboo in 1826. All the major races of the world such as, Austro-Asiatic, the Indo- Aryans, Indo-Tibetans, Indo-Burmese, Mongolians, etc. have combined to make the great Assamese people of today. Assam, however, has remained practically a land of Tibeto- Burmese people. Assamiya or Assamese is the lingua franca of the state. Assam can be divided into three natural regions, namely the Brahmaputra valley, the Barak valley and the Hilly regions. These regions are quite distinct from one another with regard to the composition of people, manner of living and culture. The mighty Brahmaputra along with Barak has nourished the state from time immemorial and has been a source of solace as well as a source of sorrow for the people of the state. The economy of the state is overwhelmingly agricultural and about 75% of the population directly or indirectly depends on this sector for their livelihood. Rice, fruits, aracanut, jute, sugar cane, and tea are the chief agricultural produce of the state. The state also produces nearly half of the country’s total output of tea. he state is rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, coal, and limestone. The perfect fusion of heritage, tradition, faiths, and beliefs of  numerous races has resulted in many festivals in the state. The main festivals of Assam are the ‘Bihus’ which are celebrated all over the state by every one with great pomp and grandeur. The most colourful amongst the three ‘Bihus’ is the spring festival known as Rongali Bihu. Nature has abundantly blessed Assam with charming sights and exciting natural scenery. Kaziranga National Park and Manas Sanctuary are the chief tourist centres famous for Royal Bengal tiger, one-horned rhinos and golden langur. The other attractions of the state are the famous Kamakhya temple near Guwahati, Umananda temple, Navagraha temple, Kareng Ghar, Rang ghar, Talatal Ghar, Majuli island, Jatinga, etc. Nestling in the Himalayan foothills the state is rich in cultural heritage, natural beauty, and mineral resources. There is no denying the fact that the state of Assam during the last fifty years has made great strides in many fields. But a lot more remains to be done to bring the state to the forefront of development and progress. Given better political stability, adequate stress on industrialisation, proper utilisation of resources available and less militancy, the state can leap forward to an era of prosperity and all-round development.

Favourite Book Essay

The best book ever is German First of all I have to admit that I’m not a great book-lover, I don’t read a lot and this is a pity as I know I could improve my knowledge, my vocabulary, my ability in speaking and my fantasy too, but unfortunately I can’t find lot of free time to dedicate to books. Or, when I find it, I get tired soon and I can’t stay concentrate for a long time. Sometimes I re-discover the pleasure of reading especially when I find a book –or an article- that captures me. This has been the case of Christiane F.- Wir kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, an extraordinary book I read twice (never happened before) that I can consider my favourite book at all. Christiane is a girl who lived the crazy Seventies in Berlin; in this autobiographic book she tells her unregulated life from the difficulties of the childhood to the age of twenty, when she had just came out of the tunnel of drug. Her rough father divorced from her careless mother and Christiane, with her little sister, had to move to Gropiusstadt, where she met the degrading side of life. When she was 12 she smoke marijuana for the fist time, following with LSD, ephedrine, mandrax, until she turned 14 and took Heroine. Since then, she had been taking drugs almost everyday, earning money with prostitution and little robberies. Her mum, after having found the girl fainted in the bathroom with a syringe in a vein, tried every possible rehab but she succeeded only at the age of 17. Christiane still lives in Berlin, has a child and she has had some relapses, but she never forgets her story, also made of friends who died for overdose. I think her life is told in a super-realistic way, full of passions, feelings and emotions that the reader can sense in first person. I loved so much this book that I went to Berlin and I visited Christiane’s places trying to imagine what was the context like at her age. I have hundreds of thing to add, but I must finish here, so I recommend this book with all my heart !

Child Study Report Essay

Introduction Early childhood educators play an important role in observing, recognizing, and supporting children’s development (Charlesworth, 2014). In this report, child E has been chose to be observed with different observing methods including running record, anecdotal record and learning story. Child E is a 3 years old boy. His father is a New Zealander, and his mother is from China. He is the only child in his family. Child E dose not speak Chinese but only English, this is due to the reason that both his parents speak English at home and his mother does not want him to learn Chinese. Child E was born in New Zealand and he dose not know much about Chinese cultural. He attends at the center five days per week. His mother often drops him in the morning around 10am and the father picks him up around 6pm. Moreover, child E has just been transferred from the toddler room to the pre-school room two weeks ago. Child E and I know each other in the toddler room. In my report, I will focus on physical and socio-emotional developments and link them with development theories and concepts. I will also discuss how these two domains inter-related to the children’s holistic development. Read more: Factors that influence child development essay Physical Development Physical development is an essential domain that is extremely important for children’s development. The physical development of child E can be seen in all the observations. G. Stanley Hall and Arnold Gesell developed Maturation theory. According to the theory, maturation and growth occur together and they are interrelated. In another word, while a child is physically growing up, the nature and quality are changing as well. â€Å"Growth is what happens; maturation is how it happens† (Gordon and Browne, 2014). Furthermore, Gessell transferred his ideas of maturational process into the developmental milestones. The milestones indicate a child’s ability achievement at a certain age (Petty, 2010). The developmental milestone is a useful tool for early childhood teachers due to the reason that teachers can know what a child should achieve at specific ages. This can help teachers to plan and implement learning experiences for children. Also, the physical growth and deve lopment are closely related to children’s essential health and wellbeing  (New Zealand Tertiary College [NZTC], 2014). The physical experience supports children’s motor skills development. Using touching as an example, in observation one, child E patted the teacher and other children to get their attention. Instead of hitting or grabbing hardly, he patted gently. Child E experienced and developed the skill of controlling his motor when touching other people. Moreover, it is stressed in Te WhÄ riki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996), although there is a pattern of learning and development, teacher should see each child as an individual and every child follows their own rate of development. Thus, the physical development is not always predictable. To further explain this, in observation one, the action of poking shows the skill of using fine and gross motor. Child E and children J both can poke with the brush well, but their ages are different. In observation three, all the children joined the activity (musical statues) are 3 or 4 years old. They have different levels of balancing skills. In addition, Freud’s psychosexual stages also indicate deferent stages’ main development. He stressed the daily events and experience help children’s physical development in every stage (Berger, 2001). Child E is learning and developing his physical skills in every day life. Besides the theories discussed above, there are also some other factors that influence children’s physical development. Genetic make-up is the internal factors, and there are external factors include nutrition, exercise, social-cultural context, family care and health care services (NZTC, 2014). Genetic factors have impacts on many areas of development. In observation two, child E asked for more food is an example of his body’s natural needs. Social-cultural factor plays a significant role in the physical development. A child’s family vale and believe will influence the child. For instance, in observation two, child E left all the vegetables and only ate the rice and meat. Teachers already talked to his mother about this, and his mother believes the child know what to eat or not. She dose not want to encourage him to eat more vegetables. Instead, she asked teachers to give child E more meat. I also found that in the morning, when child E’s mother drops him at the center, E often has a chocolate muffin or other food high in sugar and fat as his breakfast. A current New Zealand research (Theodore, Thompson, Wall, Becroft, Robinson, Clark, Pryor, Wild & Mitchell, 2006) found that an  unhealthy diet would lead problems like diabetes, obesity, asthma and heart disease in young children, which will influence them a life-long time. Also, an unhealthy and unbalanced diet would cause undernourished problem of children. It has a huge impact on children’s physical development (Berk, 2013). The physical development is closely associated with other development domains. In terms of cognitive development, while children develop their fine and gross motor skills, the brain is stimulated and developed as well (Gordon & Browne, 2014). Take observation three as an example, while child E was finding his balancing with the motor skills, he also used his brain to control his gross and fine motor. Moreover, in the activity, he also used words like ‘move’ and ‘stop’ with his physical movements. His language learning was encouraged as well. Also, physical development inter-relate in relation to children’s social and emotional development, which will be discussed later. Social and emotional development Through all the four observations, child E showed his strong social skills and he was eager to communicate with others. A child’s social and emotional development is affected by both biological nature and the environment surrounds him or her. The different genetic factors and the other external factors influence children behave differently (NZTC, 2014). Building a positive relationship with children is essential for supporting emotions in young children. Supporting children’s emotions in a caring and social context can help the early childhood children to build a secure attachment relationship (Berk, 2013). It is stated in Te WhÄ riki (MoE, 1996), children will show their confidence only when they have built up the sense of belonging and secure at an environment. In observation one, child E chose to take a chair and set right next me. He is new to the pre-school environment, so he felt a little bit of insecure. He knows me from the toddler room a long time ago, so he feels emotionally safe and comfort around me. According to John Bowlby’s young children feels more comfortable around the person they attached to (Berger, 2001). Turning to Sigmund Freud’s theory, he considered personality as a key part of every child’s development. He  believes a newborn baby is governed by the id, which is the source of desire and motives that we born with (Berger, 2001). Erik Erikson further developed and modified Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective of development. Erikson sees the surrounding society as an important factor for every child. He believes that children develop from the interaction with surrounding environment, and a child and his/her environment have influence on each other (Berk, 2013). Most importantly, he added the parent-child relationship as a new interactive aspect. As we talked above, in the physical development part, child E’s mother’s believe obvious has an impact on child E’s eating habits. In the second observation, child E left all the vegetables in the bowl. This might be due to the reason that his parent’s allow him to choose what to eat at home. Different from both Freud’s and Erikson’s view, learning theorists emphasize the role of external forces in children’s social and emotional development. Behaviourism and social learning theory are the two most well-know learning theories. Behaviourism theory focuses on children’s behaviour and it sees culture as a key element of children’s learning. Behaviourism believes that environment can stimulate and elicit children’s responses (MacNaughton, 2003). From the four observations, child E was responding to his surrounding environment a lot. He was developing through interacting with his teachers, peers and toys in the environment. In the first observation, the teacher in pre-school room set up the painting activity to provide opportunities and encourage children to explore. Child E then chose to join the activity. E saw child J’s action and copied it. This is how child E learned from his surrounding environment. Social learning theory is closely linked with Behaviourism. It is because that socialization involves learning about how to behave in a social group. In social learning theory, children are active learners. They develop an understanding of self-awareness and social roles. Modeling, imitation, observation and self-efficacy are the main concepts of this theory. Children will then find out their abilities of doing a task. When they believe that they are good at the task, it is more likely they can overcome the difficulties. Otherwise, they could give up easily (Crain, 2000). In observation 2, child E was trying to keep balance. When he found out that balancing is little bit hard and his peers said he was out, he  stopped trying and felt emotionally uncomfortable. In the contrast, observation 3 shows that he was confident at building the station. Thus, when he needs to rebuild it, he did not give up. Same as physical development, Social and emotional development is also inter-related to children’s holistic development. It is emphasized in Te WhÄ riki (MoE, 1996) that a holistic curriculum is the development of a whole child in both individual and socio-cultural aspects. All the observations show how socio-emotional development and physical development happened in child E’s daily experience together. If E is emotional unwell, his physical development could be effect. Communication is an irreplaceable part of socio-emotional development, either verbal or non-verbal. Language skills are practiced through social experience. Cognitive domain is also influenced by socio-emotional development. Children’s brain is stimulated through interacting with others (Berger, 2001). Spiritual development is also a core part of holistic development. Children build up their sense of wondering and wisdom through social communication. Conclusion To sum up, I have discussed two developmental domains through analysing four observations. Child E has achieved a big improvement in both physical and socio-emotional developments. Moreover, all the developmental areas inter-related with each other, together, create a holistic curriculum for early childhood children. Reference list Berger, K. S. (2001). The developing person through the life span (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Berk, L. (2013). Child development (9th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Charlesworth, R. (2014). Understanding child development. (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Crain, W. (2000). Theories of development: Concepts and applications (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Gordon, A., & Browne, K. (2014). Beginnings and beyond: Foundations in early childhood education (9th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. MacNaughton, G. (2003). Shaping early childhood: Learners, curriculum and contexts. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press. Ministry of Education. (1996). Te WhÄ riki: He whÄ riki mÄ tauranga mÃ…  ngÄ  mokopuna o Aotearoa/Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media. Petty, K. (2010). Developmental milestones of young children (1st ed.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press. NewZealand Tertiary College,(2014).Life Span Studies 2 study guide. Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Tertiary College.

Stem cell research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stem cell - Research Paper Example â€Å"Mouse embryonic stem cells treated in culture with a growth factor and then injected into the liver reverse a form of hemophilia in mice analogous to hemophilia B in humans, the new study shows.† (Stem Cells Treated with Growth Factor) Stem Cell Research- a clash of Science vs. Ethics, could well be a debate that might go on for generations as every individual has a different opinion about the subject. Should we allow doctors to play God and reverse our own destiny? Should we strive to provide cures that reverse the processes of injury and death? Or do we hold strong on our religious and moral aspects? These are the sorts of questions that have sparked the massive debate we have today. The purpose of our study, though, is not to argue about one particular stand point but to discuss both the view points and finally to allow readers to draw their own opinions and conclusions. In addition the process has been facilitated by providing an integrative review that details previ ous research, theories, explanations and answers and then counteracting them with questions and objections so that at the end of our research readers can make their own rationalistic conclusion. The Beginnings of Stem Cell Research Stem Cells, as defined by The National Institute of Health, are cells that have the ability to develop into different cell types within the body. Two facets make them incredibly important: Firstly, they can renew themselves during cell division and secondly, when grown under certain conditions, they can achieve specialized functions. These cells differentiate and form almost all the tissues of the body- skin, lung, brain, heart and muscle tissues among others. Stem cells can also be divided into two types: Embryonic stem cells and Adult stem cells which differ in both function and characteristics. According to the UK Stem Cell Foundation, stem cell work was first conducted in the early 1900’s with the discovery that white blood cells, red blood cel ls and platelets all arose from the same source. However, it was not until 1963 when Ernest A McCulloch and James E Till noted â€Å"the self-renewing activities of transplanted mouse bone-marrow cells† that confirmed such theories. Adult stem cells now play an integral role in chemo and radiation therapy as well as in other fields of biotechnology as they are grown and replicated in the lab. The discovery by James Thomson and his researchers from Madison University really helped to put Stem Cell Research on the map (Boyle, A., 2005). In 1998, for the first time ever, he isolated human embryonic stem cells from fertility clinics and then harvested them in the lab. This attempt along with the cloning of Dolly, the Sheep, two years earlier, caused a major ripple within the community. The Pros and Cons of Stem Cell Research Pros Stem cell research has paved the way for scientists to decipher â€Å"how we are made or formed and try to reverse problems† (Richard Hamilton, n .d). It has been described as having â€Å"limitless potential† (McLaughlin, 2009) by many as it can aid in finding cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Stroke, Heart Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Diabetes, and hundreds of rare systemic immune disorders (Drlica,1997, p279) 1998). . There have been a number of researchers confirming the clinical application of stem cells. Stojanoski et al (2009), stated that stem cells taken from the peripheral

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 315

Assignment Example The company has accomplished and executed the four factors of corporate social responsibility through taking part in a cause-marketing case such as Project (RED). By donating their revenue for a life-saving operations, the business organization is presented in a good light. The company also generates its turnover in a legal and ethical manner, which forms its sustainable business development. I am of the opinion that corporations, which are socially involved, achieve better financial results, since they concentrate on worldwide social issues and regard this as a possibility to bring more business for the company. 2) Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR, generally being defines as a business concern of the welfare or wellbeing of the society, and run their business activities and operations in lawful and legally accepted manner to generate profit for the company. The four components of corporate social responsibility are Economic responsibilities by being profitable to the company, Legal responsibilities by obeying the law or playing by the rule, Ethical responsibilities by being ethical in carrying business and Philanthropic responsibilities by being a good corporate citizen and also by improving the quality and standard of living of the community and society. Economic performance is important as the foundation of the other three responsibilities, because if it does not achieve good performance, the other three responsibilities will be questionable. CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility and is defined by how much a business organization is concerned about the prosperity of the society. Corporations which implement social responsibility run their affairs in a lawfully abiding way in order to turn a profit. There are four factors of corporate social responsibility. The first one is the economic responsibility to generate revenue for the company. The second is the responsibility to obey the law and act according to

Ecology of Organisms Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ecology of Organisms - Lab Report Example Different pH levels affected the germination and growth rates of the radish seeds. This experiment was examining the effects of different pH level on germination of radish seeds. Water with a pH of 6, vinegar pH 3 and baking soda pH 10.5 were used. From the results, pH 3 radish never grew at a slow rate radish on pH 10.5 grew at a slower fairly rate and pH 6.5 grew the fastest. In vinegar, only 10% of the seeds germinated 40% in baking soda and 100% in water. Extremely low pH affected seed germination and maximum growth recorded at a neutral pH. In general, the lower the pH of the environment, the harder for radish seeds to germinate and to survive. It would be appropriate to conclude that plant species with a narrow range of pH are in trouble. Most plants germinate and grow best in a pH range of 7 to 9. The higher and lower pH levels, especially of 3 and 11, drastically reduce growth of plants and crops. Acid rain is a problem since it reduces the pH levels of soil to below 5. From the above experimental results, it suggests that acid rain may drastically reduce crops and plants

What is the value in having, as well as the disadvantages in relying Essay

What is the value in having, as well as the disadvantages in relying on the Rondas campesinas to provide an alternative justice system in highland Peru (Text, pp. 287-288) - Essay Example While on the other hand, one arm of the state attempted to co-opt them and their leaders were accused of taking over the functions of the police and the judiciary; they therefore faced criminal charges that often led to incarceration. At the beginning Rondas Campesinas was comprised of primarily autonomous farmers who were mestizo and Spanish; since they had no confidence in the police or the courts of being able, or enthusiastic to protect them from organized bunch of hooligans involved in theft of cattle and other violent crimes (Hancock, 2007). They supposed that the police were too slow and incompetent in responding to unlawful activities; moreover, they thought that more could have been done to manage the routes used to move the cattle out of the area and the centre where the stolen cattle were sold. In its composition, the Ronda consist of The General Assembly, made up of peasants who posses land in a particular ham let, elects the members of the Ronda committee. The committee is further divided into sub-sections; each sector is also organized by a delegate appointed by the Rondas. Men aged 18 to 60 are expected to serve in the Ronda patrols, in as much as women do not take part in the night patrols; they support the work of the Rondas by providing food and other additional services (Starn,1990). When a suspect has been found, the Rondas’ work is to hand him over to the General Assembly for further interrogation but not to the police. The General Assembly is assigned with the task of deciding whether the suspect has committed an illicit offence, and if that is the case, what punishment should be administered. Formerly, they were not allowed by the constitution to become directly involved in the administration of justice, but latter, the comunidad campesina performs jurisdictional functions. And in most cases they use physical punishment in order to re-establish

PMD2 conducting assignment research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

PMD2 conducting assignment research - Essay Example Some of the problems that contribute to the research topic broadly include: Lack of opportunities for professional development. Employees do not reach points in their life`s and stop developing. Professional development occurs continuously throughout the life of employees that is why if there are no opportunities to further their professionalism –stuck in one position- employees leave to seek better opportunities elsewhere (Baker 47). Job stress and poor relationships with managers. Even when employees are completely committed to the ensuring success of the organization, their immediate supervisors sometimes create uncomfortable work environment prompting them to consider leaving the organization. In some cases the supervisors treat them unprofessionally. Inadequate compensation. Employees’ key motivating factor is better pay and compensation for their effort in the organization. When better opportunities avail themselves employees consider leaving the organization to explore this opportunities which offer better pay. One crucial component of financial management, regardless of size is to ensure that the cost of operation of the business is kept at a minimum. The point is to ensure the best possible margins of profit for the sustainable growth and success in the business. Employee turnover represent a significant cost incurred by the business. The cost incurred could substantially affect the profit margins of the organizations. It cost at least one and half times the base salary to replace an employee. Other factor cost include cost due to a person leaving, lost productivity, hiring and training cost. All this cost should be minimized to ensure high profit margins (Baker 77). Employee turnover: assessing churn rate. A high turnover rate is an indication low employee morale in the organization while a low rate implies high morale in the organization. Turnover rate creates a clear impression of the level of morale, however it normally provides a

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 22

Assignment Example In one analysis, 80 matched pairs of male and female expatriates were obtained to find out the percentage of the type of work they did and the level of education they had achieved. In 1980s, women expatriates were only about 3%, this grew gradually to 13.9% in 1990s. In some countries, due to religious affairs, women are not allowed to work. However, in some countries women were more interested in performing managerial tasks than men. The variations were also a result of geographic location, political stability/instability and culture and beliefs of certain countries. However, the researches that were done could not be carried out on a worldwide basis due to barriers of religious, traditional and cultural grounds. It was also found that women were less satisfied with expatriation and repatriation as compared with men, who were more satisfied with both. Value to reader: In a nutshell, as opposed to former presumptions, women are able to succeed in international assignments. More multinational organizations should be in the practice of employing passionate and ambitious women for managerial tasks. Former Chief Executive Officer and current Chairman of the Board of Procter and Gamble believes that international assignments were the main base which helped him become a global achiever. He joined P&G in 1963 as a staff assistant. As he became more experienced, he was awarded promotions, and in 1990 he assumed leadership of P&G’s international business. Design/Methodology/Approach: Dealing with uncertainty, knowing customers, balancing tensions and appreciating diversity are the main determining factors of success in terms of widespread business. These explain the situations where a manager has to go abroad and tackle with barriers such as language, cultural and ethnic, to know the likes and dislikes of the people and to be able to understand diversity and variations in almost everything. Mr. Pepper reflects about

What is the Electoral College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is the Electoral College - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the Electoral College attempts to propose and elect districts’ representatives, states’ governors and the President and vice president of the United States of America. The Electoral College comprises of 538 electors selected from all over the states of the US. The number of electors in each state always coincides with the number of the district representatives and the two senators usually representing a state. The Electoral College was established with the sole aim of neutralizing the conflicts of interest among various states fighting to forward their particular candidate for the presidential position. The Electoral College was also established to facilitate the election of preferred candidates at each state level in order to avert .cases of corruption, bribery, and foreign influence. The Electoral College was also set to address issues of imbalance between the legislative and executive federal branches of federal governments by prohibiting Congress and employees of the federal government from voting. Furthermore, the Electoral College was designated to prevent citizens from electing sons of their regions by commissioning voting for two presidential candidates one of whom is from another state. It is worth acknowledging the significant roles played by the Electoral Colleges in the election ‘system of the US since its formation. One of the significant roles played by the Electoral College involves a contribution to the reconciliation and cohesiveness the by advocating and backing for a popularly elected candidate.

Final Project- Step Two Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final Project- Step Two - Assignment Example A good example is the use of a well labeled diagram to explain the internal working structure of the human ear in a biology class. This is more effective than the verbal version of the same information. This shows that visual representation of information is more effective due to the fact that more senses of an individual are involved when information is passed using visuals (Dartmouth, 2010). This message is very important and everyone should be able to know that the use of visuals in learning and other processes of information sharing are more effective. However, this message is specially intended for various educators. Teachers and other educators have a special and vital role of passing information to the students. It is therefore very important that they realize the value of visuals in passing on the knowledge that they have to their students. Teachers responsible for students in their early stages of education are encouraged to use a lot of visuals as this helps in developing t he senses of the child and make them understand things much better. Students to should read and understand this message. They need o realize that when reading, using visuals to read and understand a particular subject is much practical and easier as compared to the theoretical use of words without any visuals (Dartmouth, 2010). ... The main tone that I want this project to achieve is the active tone. This is a very professional tone that clearly brings out the value of a message to the audience. This therefore means that the language to be used has to be active and passive only in relevant places. I will use various visuals to support my message by involving many of them in the learning process and weighing out the most effective method between the use of visuals and other instances when visuals are not used. This is done by examining different intermediate students by using words and visuals. After this, the results are compared to confirm whether the visual techniques are most effective. I will bring in diagrams that are relevant to the topic of discussions and ask people to weigh out the most effective method that brings out the message clearly (Dartmouth, 2010). Visuals will therefore have an important role in the passing of the message. The main platform that I intend to use to communicate my message is Mi crosoft power point. As the name suggest, Microsoft power point is a very important tool in learning. With this application, one is able to embedded visuals, music and even words. It is therefore an effective way of bringing in the visuals into a real life scenario. This application not only involves the students in words but also uses visuals to accompany this message. It is for this reason that the students get engaged in the activity. Since this is a visuals message, power point is even more effective. Practically, power point is refreshing and breaks down the monopoly of boring classes due to the presence of visuals that are used in the application. The points are also short and direct and as a result ensure that the message is passed within a short time and I an efficient

Current Trends in Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Current Trends in Human Resource Management Essay Technology is ubiquitous. Whether you are in the industrialized world or developing markets, a growing number of people are connecting with mobile devices like colorful cell phones and very portable computers like Apple’s iPad. This allows people to communicate across archaic boundaries within companies or externally across the world. They have instant access to information and to people. brilliant CEO’s are thinking about ways to leverage this technology explosion. Many are already experimenting with virtual teams, non-traditional workplaces, and flatter corporate structures. How will your company leverage technology? Are there ways to connect more effectively with co-workers, customers, or investors? Can access to information abet to hurry the company more effectively? Have you identified what information is necessary to your success and how it should be shared? Will you exercise an enterprise platform like SAP or Peoplesoft, or will you simply spend basic services like email and the Internet? So, the basic examine from a human resource perspective is how to utilize technology to connect people and information to your advantage. If you are not thinking about all of this, rest assured that your competitors are already experimenting with the modern technologies. originate positive that you don’t pick up left in the dust. Global Marketplace As demonstrated during the unusual downturn, worldwide economic activity is more interdependent than it ever has been in the past. Although trade has crossed borders even before the Silk Road was traveled by Marco Polo, in today’s global marketplace what happens in one country usually has a dramatic impact in another. The largest economies like the US, China, Japan, nd Europe are so interdependent that their leaders meet periodically at the G-20 summits to discuss issues of mutual interest and favorite strategies. Smaller countries that were formerly called third-world countries are now called emerging markets because they have the most robust growth. It is now also possible to do business across borders more easily using global transportation services like DHL , FedEx, and UPS. Even minute businesses have the opportunity to compete or bewitch supplies from outside their local marketplace. This is a growing trend and remarkable of the growth will be outside of the developed countries. So, how is your company positioned to participate in this growth? Can you tap into modern markets or get suppliers or contract workers at lower cost? Can you partner with other businesses or agencies in different markets at home or abroad? If you are looking for recent customers, project workers or current opportunities, then it only makes sense to believe about strategies that would allow your company to participate in the global economy. How can your company tap into the growth in the emerging markets? More specifically from an human resources perspective, can you leverage contract workers for projects or benefit staff? While this may not be feasible for every business, it might be more viable than you deem. Workers who do their job primarily at a computer can do this unbiased as well in another space or country. This is especially proper if you have the just technology platforms or exercise cloud computing. While there are security, cultural, and other issues to address, don’t let the opportunities pass you by honest because you haven’t understanding globally about your business in the past. The future is a global marketplace. deem globally. Rising Costs of Benefits In the United States, health care and succor costs generally have been rising at an unsustainable rate. modern federal health care legislation may address some issues; however, it is tranquil very likely that the costs will continue to rise. Thus, companies will be looking to shift the burden for the costs of benefits. Some of this will be shifted to the government, some will be shifted to workers, and peaceful other benefits will unbiased be chop because they are no longer affordable. Many companies have already chop their defined benefits pensions and retirement programs. Others have modified them to lower matching contributions when they aren’t making a profit. Others have shifted their health insurance to high-deductible plans which offer lower premiums, but also require workers to lift up mighty of the basic cost even when they exhaust health savings accounts. Thus the trend for many companies is to be more frugal with employee back offerings; however, other companies will consume their enhanced abet programs as a recruiting tool to attract the top talent in their industry. So each company must analyze their benefits in relation to their overall strategy to attract and support talent for their firm while balancing the overall costs of the programs. You must be able to reply the basic expect, â€Å"What is our compensation and benefits philosophy and how does if fit into our overall business strategy? Flexible Workplace The workplaces in the future will be more flexible. Once again, technology might be one of the driving considerations that makes this possible; however it is not the only factor. Younger generations are not only more accustomed to being treated differently, but in some cases examine that employers are flexible so that they can balance work-life issues. Unless there is a compelling reason for workers to be on spot during obvious hours, such as a doctor in an emergency room or a shift manager at a manufacturing facility, then employers should contemplate about how they can be more flexible in their workplaces. Allowing workers to tele-commute has both disadvantages as well as advantages, so there is not a simple legal or unsuitable retort for every company. However, design no mistake; some companies are working through these issues honest now so that they can offer flexibility for their employees that compliments their business strategies. This will be their key to attracting top talent. Demographics Demographics are definitely changing. In the United States where there is a tradition of immigration, there is a shift from the venerable white-male dominated workplace to a multi-cultural environment. This is happening at all levels from line-workers to management. Additionally, women will smash through the â€Å"glass ceiling† and rise to more senior management ranks. Beyond ethnic and gender considerations, age is also likely to play into the equation of workforce planning. Many leadership and managerial positions are now occupied by aging â€Å"baby-boomers† who will be retiring over the next five to ten years. This will inaugurate up current opportunities for younger workers, but only if they are prepared. On the other hand, some older workers will be working well past retirement age either because they haven’t saved for retirement or because they will be retained as famous employees due to their job experience. They might be willing to cease if their employer offers some flexibility like job sharing or a four-day work week. Outside of the US, industrialized nations will also need to deal with aging populations while the emerging countries will have younger workers who are involved to allotment in a more affluent lifestyle. Thus, CEO’s and HR managers are thinking about ways that their workforce will change in the next few years. Will you have ample leaders to replace aging baby-boomers? Will you need to relate younger workers to transfer the institutional knowledge that is currently retained by your more experienced staff? How will your company retract advantage of shifts to a more diverse workforce? These are all very famous questions that must have an reply if your firm is going to thrive in the future. Looking into the future is hard to do, especially in the 21st Century, but trends offer some clues. We live in a more complex and interconnect world. Events in one allotment of the world are speedily news everywhere over the internet, cable TV and mobile phones. Although it is an exaggeration to say that the gentle flutter from a butterfly’s glide in Asia can result in a hurricane on the other side of the globe, we seek the far reaching effects from events in one plot to other regions that would not have known about them in the past. Thus, it is notable to ogle for trends that will impact our world. If you can capitalize on the changes that result from the trends, then you can prepare to either pick advantage of them or minimize their despicable impact. These five trends in human resources trends are already impacting the diagram we do business. They will definitely continue to impact our world, and it is up to you to figure out how to leverage them to your advantage.

The Impact Of Issue Voting

The Impact Of Issue Voting Dealignment is the change from voting according to class. In recent times there has been a change from partisan alignment, voting based on class, for example people within the AB category have historically been more likely to vote conservative whereas people in the C2 and DE category have been more likely to vote Labour. From 1997-2005 the amount of people voting for conservative in the AB category fell by 6% and the amount of people in the C2 category went up 12%. This shows that class alignment may no longer be the main deciding factor that people use when voting in an election. b) Using your knowledge as well as the extract, asses the impact of issue-voting on the results of general elections. Issue voting is when somebody votes in an election based on the politicians or partys stance on a certain current political issue. Issue voting have become more prevalent than it was in the twentieth century and the valence theorises that electoral success is based on a partys ability to deliver on key issues. Past examples of partys focusing on issue voters are sleaze and the economy in 1997, raising standards and elimination poverty in 2001, war and immigration in 2005 and Labours handling of the economy in 2010. The focus that election candidates have put on current issues instead of just party ideology in recent years show that issue voting is becoming an increasing factor that the electorate takes into consideration when voting for one party or another. Issue voting may be as cause or product in the decrease of other types of voting such as alignment voting. Issue voting might also signify the decrease in emphasis on ideology stopping partys from focusing on what the ideal future for the country and instead fixing issues that the UK has currently. In conclusion I think that even though issue voting is more popular than it has ever been in the past that there are still important factors such as class and age are still present and while not as popular as in the past they are still the basis of a large portion of the populations vote. c) A link still exists between class and voting. Discuss the extent to which social class still influences the voting behavior of Britains electorate. The statement is partially correct because in the past social class was one of the biggest factors that affected voting behavior in the UK and although it is no longer as strong a factor as it used to be in deciding votes it is still there. In the 2005 General Election the amount of senior and middle managers / executives (AB class) was 28% for Labour and the same class for Conservatives was 37%. This data shows that although the statistics for the upper classes are much closer than they used to be there is still a large difference in the amount of people in the AB class bracket that vote conservative rather than Labour. The cause of this could be that people who work in higher positions feel that conservative ideology and policy is more beneficial for them because of policies like privatisation, because they are more likely to afford private health care. Also tax cuts of up to 4 billion which voters in the AB category might feel that if they can afford pay for private health care then why should the be expected to help fund the NHS. The Semi and Unskilled Workers/ Casual Workers/ Unemployed (DE classes) shows even more clearly that there is still a link between class and voting. In the General election of 2005 48% of voters in the DE bracket voted for Labour whilst only 25% voted conservative. These statistics show that there is an even stronger link to social class and voting behavior with the lower classes than the higher classes. This may be due to Labours policies of not wanting to privatise aspects of public services like the NHS which Conservatives have policies wanting to do so. However even though there is clear evidence that class effects voting behaviour in major way there is also a lot of evidence to show that the link between class and voting is getting smaller each election. For example from 1997-2005 the results of voters in the AB bracket voting conservative fell by 6% and from 1997-2005 the results of voters in the DE bracket voting Labour fell 10%. A reason for this change in voting over the past few election could be the increasing popularity of the Liberal democrat party which from 1997-2005 increased its share of the vote by at least 3% in every class bracket. The most noticeable gain for the Lib Dems was in the AB bracket in which they increased their share of the vote by 8% which could attribute to the decline in both Conservatives and Labours AB bracket. From 1997-2005 the total vote for the Liberal Democrats has increased by 21% emphasising that people are no longer just voting for the party which has traditionally represented their class. Arguments can be made that there is no longer a single working class, instead the working class has been split into two, the old and the new. The old working class consists of manual workers belonging to trade unions and the new working class which are workers with better qualifications that work in the public sector. In conclusion I believe that although the link between class and voting still exists it is getting smaller and smaller each election and people are starting to vote due to different qualities such region, age, ethnicity and media rather than class alignment which never truely existed in the first place because there was always a percentage of upper classes that voted for Labour and lower classes that voted Conservative or people of all classes that voted for small partys.

A Introduction To Satellite Television

A Introduction To Satellite Television Satellite television first the consumer market in the early 1990s. Dishes made for the average household were expensive and took up a lot of space in the garden. I n the first few years of satellite TV only the wealthiest, or more die-hard fans of television, would go to the trouble of buying and setting up a satellite dish. Satellite television was also a lot harder to get than cable or broadcast TV. In the present day you see satellite dishes on the rooftops of most homeowners in the UK and indeed the rest of the western world. The major satellite TV companies are getting more and more people to buy their product with promises of films, sports and especially news from around the world. The advancement into high-definition televisions and being able to get a high definition satellite signal has made it even more prominent. Satellite Television gives us many solutions to the problems that come with broadcast TV and, although not perfect itself, is now the main way to view television. In its basic form satellite television is a lot like broadcast television. They are both a wireless system for delivering television programming to a viewers house. And they both use satellite stations to transmit programming via a radio signal. Using powerful antennas broadcast stations transmit radio waves to the area surrounding them. The viewers, however, pick up the signal with a much smaller antenna. Broadcast television works fine it just has one massive drawback, which is range. When a broadcast antenna shoots out a radio signal it is shot out in a straight line. To receive these signals you have to be in the direct line of sight of the antenna. If you are not the signal may become distorted. Small obstacles such as trees or small buildings should not be a problem but bigger obstacles, such as planet earth, would pose a problem. If you transmitted a broadcast signal over a perfectly flat surface you would be able to pick up a signal thousands of miles away from the source. However in the real world the curvature of the planet distorts and blocks the signal sent out from the satellite, to get a perfect signal you would have to be close to the antenna with no obstacles in between. The Satellite TV Solution Satellite TV solves this problem by transmitting signal from satellites orbiting the Earth. Because these satellites are so high in the sky it means there are a lot more customers in range and line of sight. Satellite TV systems transmit and receive radio signals using specialized antennas called satellite dishes. Diagram of how Satellite TV works . When the satellites that broadcast these radio signals are sent up in to space they are all sent up in geosynchronous orbit. This means that they all stay in one place in the sky relative to the Earth. Some facts: Every satellite is launched into space at 7000mph Each one reaches about 22,200 miles above the Earth. When the satellite is this high and moving at such a speed it will revolve around the Earth once every 24 hours, keeping it in the same position above the Earth giving constant signal to the viewer with uninterrupted signals. The Components of Satellite TV In a DTH (direct to home) or DBS (direct broadcasting) satellite system there are five major components. These are the programming source, the broadcast center, the satellite, the satellite dish and the receiver. Programming source this is where the channels that provide the programmes are based. This is where the satellite TV providers go to pay other companies (for example MTV or Nickelodeon) for the right to broadcast there programmes through their satellites. Broadcast Center The broadcast center is central part of the system. In the broadcast center the people who are providing the TV to the viwers at home receive signals from different programming sources and then beam a broadcast signal to satellites to geosynchronous orbit. Satellites The satellites in space receive the signal sent from the broadcast center and beam them back down to Earth. Dish The viewer then picks up this rebroadcasted signal and the satellite dish passes it onto the receiver in the house. Receiver All the receiver then has to is process the signal and pass it on to a standard TV. This is a very good system to providing a good quality signal to a large area. It has very picture display and sound quality with hundreds of channels and the service is ready to use in rural and urban areas and provides a lot of access to digital and high definition programming. However satellite is not without its drawbacks. It can be quite expensive to buy all the equipment at the outset (satellite dish and receiver etc) and if you want to access satellite television in multiple rooms in your home be prepared for the extra cost. As well as this satellite television can be subject to extreme weather conditions. Satellite TV signals Satellites signals have a very long way to travel before they appear on your TV screen. Because of this and because they contain very high-quality digital data it would be near impossible to transmit them without compression. Compression is defined, in this case, as removing all unnecessary or repeated information. After the signal is transmitted it is reconstructed. Satellite TV has to use a very unique type of video file compression standardized by the Moving Pictures Experts Group or MPEG for short. This allows the provider to successfully transmit significantly more channels than without using this method of compression. MPEG standards exist to promote interoperability among your computer, televisionand hand held video and audio devices. These MPEG standards are: MPEG-1: this is the original standard. It is used for encoding and decoding streaming video and audio files. MPEG-2: this standard compresses files which are used and transmitted for a high quality of video and is the standard for digital television. MPEG-4: the function of this standard is to compress high definition video onto a smaller scale so you can stream it to computers, mobile phones and PDAs. MPEG-21: This standard basically interprets digital content so that the media plays flawlessly no matter what machine it is, what language it is in or the user conditions. It is also referred as the Multimedia Framework. Most satellite TV providers used to use the MPEG-2 standard to compress their signals but changed to the MPEG-4 standard of compression. This is because MPEG-4 is more efficient at encoding can provide a much greater bandwidth than MPEG-2. However MPEG-2 still remains the official standard for digital television. This is because it is more able to analyse static images, like those you would see in such programmes like talk shows or newscasts whereas MPEG-4 is better at analysing moving, dynamic images. MPEG-4 can do this through such things as spatial  [1]  and temporal  [2]  compression. This is how satellite TV manages to provide such a high quality picture of fast-moving objects on the screen, that are always moving, like in a football game. Satellite Dish When the signal reaches the viewers house it is captured by the satellite dish. The satellite dish is made up of an aparabolic (bowl-shaped) surface and a central feed horn. The signal passes through the horn and then the dish focuses the signal into a narrow beam. This receiving dish works in the exact opposite way to the transmitter as it cant transmit information, it can only receive it. The dish acts just like a concave mirror in that the shape of the dish reflects the signal inward onto a particular point just like a concave mirror focuses light onto a particular point. The dishes feed horn feeds the signal on to the receiving equipment, and if there hasnt been any obstacles between the satellite and the dish there should be a perfect signal coming into the viewers receiver (unless the weather is bad). Before the dish sends the signal to the viewers receiver it amplifies and filters the signal using LNB, or low noise blockdown converter. After this the LNB passes the amplified, filtered signal to inside the house. Sometimes, in some systems, the dish needs to pick up a signal from two different satellites. Sometimes this may be possible but when it isnt it may compromise the quality of the signal because the dish cannot be aimed at both of the satellites at the same time so either one or both of the signals would be distorted. Satellite Receiver At the end of the satellite TV system is the receiver. It has four important jobs: It takes the encrypted signal and de-scrambles it It takes the digital MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 signal and changes them into an analog signal so the standard television can recognize It also has to sort out the individual As well as this it keeps the providers headquarters up to date with the payments the viewer owes the provider of the satellite television. Conclusion After closely studying satellite television and how it works it is clear to me that is much better and more practical then the older normal broadcast television. This is because of the greater range and line of sight that satellites have got rather than the regular antennas which are impeded by the curvature of the earth and even small obstacles. Although satellite television does have some drawbacks I would say it is definitely the way forward in television broadcasting and has already nearly taken over the market.

Harry Shippe Truman :: Biographies Presidents Essays

Harry Shippe Truman missing works cited When Harry Truman was about five years old, his family noticed he was having eye troubles. With these eye problems, Harry wasn't able to see stars or the falling dust from fireworks. Harry never noticed this. When his mother got his first pair of glasses, they were thick glass in which the doctor said that he shouldn't run hard or play in many sports with them on. Harry saw a whole new world when he first got the glasses. He would stare for hours just looking at the bright stars. But, Harry's fun with the glasses soon ended when he went to school. The other kids would tease him about the glasses because he was the only one in the class with glasses. The teasing didn't bother him much because the other kids grew up learning not to hit kids with glasses. Harry liked reading books in his spare time. He especially liked Mark Twain's books 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Huckleberry Finn'. He had to read mostly adult books. Another one of his favorite books were biographies of the U.S. presidents. Harry read most of the three- thousand books that were in a nearby library. Harry was very good in school because of reading all the books. His mom wanted Harry, his brother Vivian, and Their little sister Mary Jane to enrich their lives so she bought them a piano. She gave the children lessons and noticed that Harry was especially gifted with the piano. So, she sent him to get professional lessons with a woman named Mrs. Edwin C. White. Everyone in his family thought that Harry would become a concert Pianist. Harry thought so too. Harry had experiences that the other kids did not have while playing the piano. Harry's teacher once was a student of one of the greatest pianists ever to live named Ignacy Jan Paderewski. When he was having a concert in their town, Harry's teacher brought him to the concert and introduced Harry to Ignacy. Ignacy showed Harry how to play his own famous composition Minuet in G. It was a moment Harry never forgot. The kids at his school really started to make fun of him when they saw him going to school with music roles because they thought piano playing was for sissies. But he kept on going and still ignored them. Harry' father got harry a pony so he wouldn't be all books and piano

Allen Ginsbergs Howl :: essays papers

The "Beat Movement" in modern literature has become an important period in the history of literature and society in America. Incorporating influences such as jazz, art, literature, philosophy, and religion, the Beat writers created a new and prophetic vision of modern life and changed the way an entire generation of people see the world. That generation is now aging and its representative voices are becoming lost to eternity, but the message is alive and well. The Beats have forever altered the nature of American consciousness. The impact of the Beats would certainly not have been as universal or influential if not for the writing of one poem; "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.(1-3) These lines, perhaps the most well known in 20th century poetry, serve as a thematic statement for a poem that offers a new way of thinking, a sense of hope of escape from the "Molochs" of society. The story of the poem's history serves well as an account of the birth of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg's life leading up to the writing of "Howl," the actual creation of the poem, its legendary first reading, and the aftermath of its public debut all figure prominently into the history of the literary movement. One can understand the impact of the poem on the Beat Generation by studying not only the chronology of its past, but its intricate and unique structure as well as its themes and ultimate message. Following is an examination of the poem as the great expression of Beat defiance, beginning with a short history of the poem. Ginsberg's Beat career began at Columbia University in 1943 where he met Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassidy and others. This group of writers would remain life-long friends of Ginsberg and influence him in myriad ways. The history of "Howl," however, begins in 1953 after Ginsberg's move to San Francisco in search of poetic inspiration. Having moved away from the camaraderie of his group of New York friends, Ginsberg began to feel dislocated and depressed. Ginsberg knew he was at a crossroads in his art between his apprenticeship to academic models of literature (mentor William Carlos Williams specifically), and breaking through to a personal voice which could sing of experience beyond the bounds of what was permissible - by 50's Allen Ginsberg's Howl :: essays papers The "Beat Movement" in modern literature has become an important period in the history of literature and society in America. Incorporating influences such as jazz, art, literature, philosophy, and religion, the Beat writers created a new and prophetic vision of modern life and changed the way an entire generation of people see the world. That generation is now aging and its representative voices are becoming lost to eternity, but the message is alive and well. The Beats have forever altered the nature of American consciousness. The impact of the Beats would certainly not have been as universal or influential if not for the writing of one poem; "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.(1-3) These lines, perhaps the most well known in 20th century poetry, serve as a thematic statement for a poem that offers a new way of thinking, a sense of hope of escape from the "Molochs" of society. The story of the poem's history serves well as an account of the birth of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg's life leading up to the writing of "Howl," the actual creation of the poem, its legendary first reading, and the aftermath of its public debut all figure prominently into the history of the literary movement. One can understand the impact of the poem on the Beat Generation by studying not only the chronology of its past, but its intricate and unique structure as well as its themes and ultimate message. Following is an examination of the poem as the great expression of Beat defiance, beginning with a short history of the poem. Ginsberg's Beat career began at Columbia University in 1943 where he met Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassidy and others. This group of writers would remain life-long friends of Ginsberg and influence him in myriad ways. The history of "Howl," however, begins in 1953 after Ginsberg's move to San Francisco in search of poetic inspiration. Having moved away from the camaraderie of his group of New York friends, Ginsberg began to feel dislocated and depressed. Ginsberg knew he was at a crossroads in his art between his apprenticeship to academic models of literature (mentor William Carlos Williams specifically), and breaking through to a personal voice which could sing of experience beyond the bounds of what was permissible - by 50's

Customer-Based Brand Equity Model Essay

CBBE act as a bridge to add value on a product endowed to a product as a result of past investments in the marketing of a brand. It is also provide provides direction and focus to future marketing activities. CBBE model designed to assist management in brand building efforts. According to the model, building a strong brand involves four steps: establish brand identity, create brand meaning, positive, eliciting accessible brand responses, and building brand relationship. In order to achieve these four steps, there are six brand building blocks which involves brand salience, brand performance, brand imagery, brand judgments, brand feelings and brand resonance Brand Identity Brand Salience means awareness and it’s related to achieve right brand identity. Brand awareness refers to customers’ ability to recall and recognize a brand also involves linking the brand of brand name, logo, and symbol and so on to certain associations in memory. First, salience influences the formation and strength of brand associations that make up the brand image and gives the brand meaning. Secondly, creating high level of brand salience in terms of category identification and needs satisfied is of critical importance during possible purchase or consumption opportunities. Third, when customers have low involvement with a product category, they may make choices based on brand salience alone. Brand identity can be differentiating by two dimensions which are depth and breadth. Depth of brand awareness refers to how easily customers can recall or recognize the brand. Breadth of brand awareness refers to the range of purchase and consumption situations in which the brand comes to mind. Brand Meaning Creating brand meaning involves establishing brand image. It comes into consumer mind what’s the characters of your product. Brand performance is the primary influence of what consumer experience with the brand and what they heard about it. Brand Imagery deals with extrinsic properties of the product or service. Is it how people think about a brand abstractly rather than what they think the brand actually does. Thus, imagery refers of more intangible aspects of the brand. Brand meaning can be characterized according three dimensions which are Strength, Favorability and uniqueness. The question needs to be answers are How strongly the brand identified with a brand association? How important or valuable is the brand association to customers and How distinctively is the brand identified with the brand association? Brand Response Brand response simply to say how customers respond towards the brand that is what customers think or feel about the brand. It can be distinguish by judgments and feeling of customers. In another word to said whether they arise from the â€Å"head† or form the â€Å"heart†. Brand judgments refers to customers arise from their â€Å"head† where personal opinions and evaluate the brand. By creating a strong brand, there are four judgments that concerned by customers. Including brand quality affect of value and satisfaction, brand credibility is extension of quality where they expect the brand organization are expertise, trustworthiness and likability, brand consideration depends on customers considered whether the brand possible purchase or usage, and brand superiority is customers want to know is the brand offers advantage than others brands do not? Brand feelings refers to customers arise from the â€Å"heart† while these customer are more emotional response to the brand. Feelings can be unimportant or intense, positive or negative in nature. Warmth, fun, excitement, security, social approval and self-respect are critical to build brand feelings. Brand Relationship The final step of the model is brand relationship, focuses on last relationship and level of identification that the customer has with the brand. Brand resonance refers to relationship that customers have with brand and extent that they feel they are in synch with the brand. brand resonance can be classified into four categories, behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community and active engagement. While brand relationship can be characterized in two dimensions which are intensity and activity. Intensity refers to strength of the attitudinal attachment and sense of community. Question like how deeply felt is the loyalty? to be answer. Activity refers to how frequent is the consumer buy and use the brand or either in others activities that not related to purchasing and consumption. In short, Apple, Toyota these brands are well in building brand with high resonance. Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) How do you manage what you can’t measure? What value are investments that are not linked to returns? All these are the most hard challenges facing by brand management. Brand value is an intangible value. BAV is define as a brand and precisely measuring it in a way that is linked to financial performance, marketers can gain an edge in making more intelligent brand decisions. Combination Model CBBE Model is all about how and why build brand equity to be strong and known by outsiders, customers and employees. Brand Asset Valuator is to help business executives, investors and marketers’ access and drive strategic direction and intangible value of brands. BVA model instead of added value towards the brand yet help in product as well. Therefore, brand vitality is an important role in future growth while brand stature subsequently forms power of the brand at the given moment. There are four variables, differentiation, relevance, esteem and knowledge, building block that can combined with CBBE model.

To what extent have the goals of feminism been achieved?

In simple terms feminism can be defined as the belief in equality between the sexes, based on the idea that gender should not affect a persons social identity, or socio-political or economic rights, and complete equality regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation or identity. (Wikipedia, 2006) Complete equality between the men and women can be further broken down into three main categories; social, economic and political equality. In my essay I will assess the extent that the goals of each individual category have been accomplished. However as feminism is a very broad doctrine, and some feminists are much more hard line than others, deciding to what extent goals have been achieved is dependent on whose definition of the goals you use. The first area I would like to discuss is that of social equality between men and women. One of feminists' main social aims is to eliminate the double standards that occur between men and women in all aspects of life, varying from women being expected to take maternity leave instead of men, to sexual equality between intimate partners. Ward Crowe 1981) This idea is at the heart of the whole feminist ideology and so is very important, however like almost all-feminist goals, the extent to which it is complete depends on which feminist you speak to. Although this is the case there is little argument between feminists that double standards between the sexes have been reduced dramatically in the last one hundred years, and most would say that this goal has almost been achieved. Another major social goal for the feminist movement is the equal treatment of women in the media, including an end to media and advertising exploitation of women's bodies. This has always been seen as a crucial area by feminists, as sex-role theory states that men and women will mirror the characters they see in the media, meaning that they will continue with sexist stereotypes that are being shown to them. (Craig 1994) As the media is an area that has traditionally been totally dominated by males, they stereotypes used often to be prejudice against women, and even when they weren't, the mere fact that no women read news or did any other presenting jobs left its own sub-conscious message in the populous. Although the feminist movement has been successful in wrestling some of the power away from the predominantly male industry, the media is an area where there is still plenty of work to be done before there goals are complete. Although in the modern world female presenters are considered the norm, and women are not just portrayed as doting mothers, the issue of the media, especially advertising exploiting women's bodies is still huge. In my opinion feminists will find it very hard to change this fact simply because there will always be women willing to do it and it will always increase sales. As I said, I think the feminist movement has managed to improve the treatment of women in the media, but will never be able to find complete equality with men in this arena. Getting rid of the acceptance of misogynist language and derogatory terms for women is another of the feminists' main social goals. This is a difficult area for the feminist movement to make progress because terms that are considered derogatory for women such as, ‘the missus' to refer to ones wife are massively widespread and not considered to be sexist by most of those who use them. Therefore the only way that feminists can try and prevent these terms remaining in everyday language forever is through educational policies. As many of the people who accept this misogynistic language are not interested in being educated against it, it becomes very hard to find a way to change the situation. Having said this, slowly as time goes on and people become more understanding, the situation has been slowly improving although I think only the most liberal feminist would claim that linguistic equality has been anywhere near achieved. The last important social goal that I want to look at is the acceptance of women in history. This is an interesting area, as some feminists don't see it as a major issue, while others reckon it is crucial to establishing total equality between the sexes. As historically the world was based on a much more patriarchal system and men controlled almost all the power, there are few examples of women playing significant roles in history. Whether this is because they didn't have the chance to or because their deeds weren't recorded is the focus of much debate, but most feminists would say it was the second. However even if this is the case it is very hard to give women credit for un-recorded deeds and so feminists have been fighting an up-hill battle to try and get these ladies their recognition. The second main aspect of the feminist ideology is the economic equality of men and women in all areas of their lives, this is crucial to feminism as economic equality moves women away from being stereotyped as house-wives. The first economic goal that I want to look at is the idea of equal pay for equal work. The main thrust of this agenda is the removal off the gap in wages that occurs between men and women doing the same jobs. The removal of this difference, known as the ‘wage-gap' has been one of the major rallying points for the feminist movements as since women entered the work-place they have been paid significantly less than men for the same work. Although the wage gap still occurs today it has been reduced by up to 15% since 1970 according to some estimates (Wellington 1993) and other say it may well disappear entirely within the next ten to fifteen years. Although feminists have not at this point in time eliminated the wage gap, they have managed to reduce it massively and it looks to keep getting smaller, so most feminists would say that this goal is on it way to being completed. Coupled with this idea of equal pay for equal work is another of feminism's main economic goals; equality between the sexes in the hiring promotion and treatment of employees. There are employees who are less willing to hire women as they risk losing them after they have children, and will have to pay for maternity leave. The feminist movement had tried to address this through a series of legislation, which to a certain extent has helped although the problem definitely still occurs. They have encountered similar problems with promotions as although at lower levels promotions of men and women have become a lot less bias than they were in the past at higher levels a ‘glass ceiling' still seems to remain in place. This term refers mainly to the business world where although women can gain promotion up through the company they still seem to find it very hard to reach the very highest levels, and men still massively dominate the boardroom. Although this problem has started being addressed by companies in recent times, removing it further is still one of feminism's main goals. The goal of equal treatment of employees ties in with the idea of lookism, once again especially in the business world. Lookism is the discrimination against people based on the way they look or dress, and although it does occur to men in is mostly a female problem. Although the situation has improved it is still the case that it is much easier for a woman to find employment in the business sector if she is comely. Feminists have been working hard to try and stop this discrimination for example, by eliminating dress codes which could exploit women's bodies. However it is very hard as there are many other factors which could effect employees decision on who to hire, making it almost impossible for feminists to confirm when it has taken place. The third area that feminists have focused on trying to obtain equality is politically, as without this equality in the other two sectors will not make the difference it should. One of the main things that they strive to achieve in this area is that men and women should have equal rights under the law. Although it seems amazing now up until 1918 women were not allowed to vote in Britain, and not until 1928 was the voting age lowered to twenty-one in line with men. (Holten 1986, p134) Since then many more improvements have been made in making the sexes more politically equal, with women allowed to represent in the House of Commons, however hard-line feminists would say that even now we are not politically equal in Britain, as men still dominate the House of Lords. Although in Britain women have succeeded in gaining almost equal political rights, in other parts of the world women are still much more oppressed. In Kuwait for example, the parliament just rejected a bill that would have given women the right to vote and stand in parliament, and so the feminists' have not nearly achieved their worldwide goals. Another major political goal for the feminist movement is that abortions should be legal, accessible and affordable, without parental or spousal consent laws. Feminists feel this is important as they feel all women should have the right to their individual choice whatever the circumstances. In Britain feminists have come some way to achieving these goals, although abortion is still not technically legal, the abortions act of 1967 has made it legally defensible to have an abortion in certain circumstances, and there is much less stigma against abortions than there used to be. However feminists would say much more should be done, feeling that re-cooperation services should be available and that more open law should be put in place. Feminists also believe that women should be allowed to serve in the military as well as men, and that men should not be drafted ahead of women in times of war. Once again in Britain they have come some way to achieving these aims with women now allowed to work in all sectors of the military except the front line. Although feminists try to campaign for this to furthered to include women being allowed to serve in the front-line I do not think this will occur for some time, if ever, as women and men cannot serve in the same units. In other parts of the world, again the political system is less relaxed on this issue, and women are not allowed o hold any positions in the military establishment, so as a goal of feminism it has not come close to being achieved. Overall I think that socially and politically many of the goals of feminism have been achieved, at least to a large extent, whereas economically women are still disadvantaged compared to men, especially in the business sector where many things work against them. However I feel that in Britain, all three areas that feminists are fighting for equality in are improving, and there is no area where the levels of inequality are rising. On a global scale on the other hand the scene is not nearly so positive, with many nations still giving their women no political or economic power and forcing them through social customs to leave education early and follow their mothers into early marriages and house-keeping. In my opinion the feminist movement would be well advised to stop worrying so much about supposed inequality in the West and instead focus their attention on the very real problems faced by women in the third world.

Night World : Black Dawn Chapter 11

The bushes stirred again. Maggie's searching fingers found only acorns and licorice fern, so she made a fist instead, sliding out from underneath Cady and holding herself ready. A form emerged from the underbrush. Maggiestared so hard she saw gray dots but she couldn'ttell anything about it. There was a long, tense moment, and then a voice came to her. â€Å"I told you you'd never make it.† Maggie almost fainted with relief. At the same moment the moon came out frombehind a cloud. It shone down into the clearingand over the slender figure standing with a hand on one hip. The pale silvery light turned red hairalmost black, but the angular face and narrowed skeptical eyes were unmistakable. Not to mention the sour expression. Maggieletout along, shuddering breath. â€Å"Jeanne!† â€Å"You didn't get very far, did you? The road's justover there. What happened? Did she drop deadon you?† It wasamazinghow good that irritable, acerbicvoice sounded to Maggie. She laughed shakily. â€Å"No, Cady's not dead. Bern's dead-you know, the bigslave trader guy. But – â€Å" â€Å"You're joking.† Jeanne's voice sharpened with respect and she moved forward. `†You killed hunt' â€Å"No. It waslook, I'll explain later. First, can youhelp me get her to somewhere more protected? It's really getting freezing out here, and she's completely out.† Jeanne leaned down, looking at Arcadia. â€Å"I toldyou before I wasn't going to help you if you gotin trouble.† â€Å"I know,† Maggie said. â€Å"Can you sort of pick herup from that side? If we both get an arm under her shouldersshemight be able to walk a little.† . `Bull,† Jeanne said shortly. â€Å"We'd better chaircarry her. Link hands and we can get her up.† Maggie clasped a cold, slender hand with calluses and a surprisingly firm grip. She heavedweight, and then they were carrying the unconscious girl. â€Å"You're strong,† she grunted. â€Å"Yeah, well, that's one of the side benefits ofbeing a slave. The road's this way.† It was awkward, slow work, but Maggie wasstrong, too, and Jeanne seemed to be able to guide them around the worst of the underbrush. And it was so good just to be with another human being who was healthy and clear headed and didn't want to kill her, that Maggie felt almost lighthearted. â€Å"What aboutP.J.? Is she okay?† â€Å"She's fine. She's in a place I know-it's notmuch, but it's shelter. That's where we're going.† â€Å"You took care of her,† Maggie said. She shook her head in the darkness and laughed. â€Å"What are you snickering about?† Jeanne paused and they spent a few minutes maneuvering arounda fallen log covered with spongy moss. â€Å"Nothing,† Maggie said. â€Å"It's justyou're prettynice, aren't you? Underneath.† â€Å"I look out for myself first. That's the rule aroundhere. And don't you forget it,† Jeanne said in a threatening mutter. Then she cursed as her foot sank into a swampy bit of ground. â€Å"Okay,† Maggie said. But she could still feel awry and wondering smile tugging up the corner ofher mouth. Neither of them had much breath for talkingafter that. Maggie was in a sort of daze of tirednessthat wasn't completely unpleasant. Her mindwandered. Delos†¦she had never met anyone so confus ing. Her entire body reacted just at the thought ofhim, with frustration and anger and a longing that she didn't understand. It was a physical pang. But then everything was so confusing. Things had happened so fast since last night that she'd neverhad time to get her mental balance. Delos and the incredible thing that had happened between themwas only one part of the whole mess. He said he'd killed Miles†¦. But that couldn't be true. Miles couldn't be dead.And Delos wasn't capable of anything like that†¦.Was he? She found that she didn't want to think aboutthat. It was like a huge dark cloud that she didn'twant to enter. Wherever Jeanne was taking her, it was a long,cold trek. And a painful one. After about fifteenminutes Maggie's arms began to feelasif they werebeing pulled out of the sockets, and a hot spot of pain flared at the back of her neck. Her sweat wasclammy running down her back and her feetwere numb. But she wouldn't give up, and Jeanne didn't either. Somehow they kept going. They had traveledfor maybe about forty-five minutes, with breaks,when Jeanne said, â€Å"Here it is.† A clearing opened in front of them, and moonlight shone on a crude little shack made of weathered wood. It leaned dangerously to one side andseveral boards were missing, but it had a ceilingand walls. It was shelter. To Maggie, it looked beautiful. â€Å"Runaway slaves built it,† Jeanne said breathlesslyas they took the last few steps to the cabin. â€Å"The Night People hunted them down, of course, but they didn't find this place. All the slaves at the castle know about it.† Then she called in a slightlylouder tone, â€Å"It's me! Open the door!† A long pause, and then there was the sound of awooden bolt sliding and the door opened. Maggiecould see the pale blob of a small face. P.J. Penob scot, with her red plaid baseballcap still on backwardand herslightbodytense,wasblinkingsleepy, frightened eyes. Then she focused and her face changed.†Maggie! You're okay!† She flung herself at Maggie like a small javelin. â€Å"Ow-hey!† Maggie swayed and Cady's limp bodydipped perilously. â€Å"I'm glad to see you, too,† Maggie said. To herown surprise, she found herself blinking back tears.†But I've got to put this girl down or I'm going todrop her.† â€Å"Back here,† Jeanne said. The back of the cabinwas piled with straw. She and Maggie eased Arcadia down onto it and then P.J. hugged Maggie again. â€Å"You got us out. We got away,† P.J. said, hersharp little chin digging into Maggie's shoulder. Maggie squeezed her. â€Å"Wellwe all got us out,and Jeanne helped get you away. But I'm glad everybody made it.† â€Å"Is she†¦all right?† P.J. pulled back and lookeddown at Arcadia. â€Å"I don't know.† Cady's forehead felt hot underMaggie's hand, and her breathing was regular butwith a rough, wheezy undertone Maggie didn'tlike. â€Å"Here's a cover,† Jeanne said, dragging up a pieceof heavy, incredibly coarse material. It seemed asbig as a sail and so rigid it hardly sagged or folded.†If we all get under it, we can keep warm.† They put Cady in the middle, Maggie and P.J. onone side of her and Jeanne on the other. The cover was more than big enough to spread over them. And the hay smelled nice. It was prickly, butMaggie's long sleeves and jeans protected her. There was a strange comfort in P.J.'s slight bodycuddled up next to herlike a kitten, Maggiethought. And it was so blessedly good to not bemoving, to not be carrying anyone, but just to sit still and relax her sore muscles. â€Å"There was a little food stashed here,† Jeannesaid, digging under the hay and pulling out a smallpacket. â€Å"Dried meat strips and oatcakes with salalberries. We'd better save some for tomorrow,though.† Maggie tore into the dried meat hungrily. Itdidn't taste like beef jerky; it was tougher and gam ier, but right at the moment it seemed delicious.She tried to get Cady to eat some, but it was nouse. Cady just turned her head away. She and Jeanne and P.J. finished the meal offwith a drink of water, and then they lay back onthe bed of hay. Maggie felt almost happy. The gnawing in her stomach was gone, her muscles were loosening up,and she could feel a warm heavinesssettlingoverher. â€Å"You were going†¦ to tell me about Bern †¦Ã¢â‚¬ Jeanne said from the other side of Cady. The wordstrailed off into a giant yawn. â€Å"Yeah.† Maggie's brain was fuzzy and her eyeswouldn't stay open. â€Å"Tomorrow †¦Ã¢â‚¬  And then, lying on a pile of hay in a tiny shack ina strange kingdom, with three girls who had been strangers to her before this afternoon and who nowseemed a little like sisters, she was fast asleep. Maggie woke up with her nose cold and her feettoo hot. Pale light was coming in all the cracks inthe boards of the cabin. For one instant she stared at the rough weathered-silver boards and the hayon the floor and wondered where she was. Thenshe remembered everything. â€Å"Cady.† She sat up and looked at the girl beside her. Cady didn't look well. Her face had the waxyinner glow of somebody with a fever, and there were little tendrils of dark hair curled damply onher forehead. But at Maggie's voice her eyelashes fluttered, then her eyes opened. â€Å"Maggie?† â€Å"How are you feeling? Want some water?† Shehelped Cady drink from the leather bag. â€Å"I'm all right. Thanks to you, I think. Youbrought me here, didn't you?† Cady's face turnedas if she were looking around the room with herwide, unfocused eyes. She spoke in short sentences, as if she were conserving her strength, but hervoice was more gentle than weak. â€Å"And Jeanne, too.Thank you both.† She must have heard us talkinglast night, Maggie thought. Jeanne was sitting up, straw in her red hair, her green eyes narrow and alert instantly. P.J.was stirring and making grumpy noises. â€Å"Morning,† Maggie said. â€Å"Is everybody okay?' â€Å"Yeah,† P.J. said in a small, husky voice. Therewas a loud rumble from her stomach. â€Å"I guess I'mstill a little hungry,† she admitted. â€Å"There're a couple oatcakes left,† Jeanne said.†And one strip of meat. We might as well finishit off.† They made Cady eat the meat, although she triedto refuse it. Then they divided the oatcakes solemnly into four parts and ate them, chewing dog gedly on dry, flaky mouthfuls. â€Å"We're going to need more water, too,† Maggiesaid, after they'd each had a drink. The leather bagwas almost empty. â€Å"But I think the first thing is tofigure out what we're going to do now. What our plan is.† â€Å"The first thing,† Jeanne said, â€Å"is to tell us whathappened to Bern.† â€Å"Oh.†Maggie blinked, but she could see whyJeanne would want to know. â€Å"Well, he's definitely dead.† She sketched in what had happened aftershe and Cady had started running through thewoods. How Gavin and Bern had chased them andhad finally driven them into a corner on the boulder pile.How Bern hadclimbedup andchanged†¦ â€Å"He was a shapeshifter, you know,† she said. Jeanne nodded, unsurprised. â€Å"Bern means bear.They usually have names that mean what they are.But you're saying you tried to fight thatguy off with a stick? You're dumber than I thought.† Still,her green eyes were gleaming with something likewry admiration, and P.J. was listening with awe. â€Å"And then-there was this lightning,† Maggiesaid. â€Å"And it killed Bern and Gavin ran away.† Sherealized, even asshe said it, that she didn't wantto tell everything that had happened with Delos.She didn't think Jeanne would understand. So she left out the way their minds had linked when theytouched, and the way she'd seen his memories-and the fact that she'd dreamed about him beforeever coming to this valley. â€Å"Then I filled the water bag and we heard Sylviacoming and he went out to make sure she didn'tfind me or Cady,† she finished. She realized thatthey were all staring at her. Cady's facewasthoughtful and serene as always, P.J. was scaredbut interested in the story-but Jeanne was rivetedwith disbelief and horror. â€Å"You're saying Prince Delossaved your life? Withthe blue fire? You're saying he didn't turn you overto the hunting party?† She said it as if she were talking about Dracula. â€Å"It's the truth.† Good thing I didn't tell her aboutthe kiss, Maggie thought. â€Å"It's impossible. Delos hates everybody. He's themost dangerous of all of them.† â€Å"Yeah, that's what he kept telling me.† Maggieshook her head. The way Jeanne was looking at hermade her uncomfortable,as if she were defendingsomeone unredeemably evil. â€Å"He also said at one point that he killed my brother,† she said slowly.†But I didn't know whether to believeit†¦.† â€Å"Believe it.† Jeanne's nostrils were flared and herlip curledasif she were looking at something disgusting. â€Å"He's the head of this whole place and everything that goes on here. There's nothing hewouldn't do. I can't believe he let you go.† She considered for a moment, then said grimly, â€Å"Unless he's got something special in mind. Letting you go and then hunting you down later. It's the kind ofthing he'd enjoy.† Maggie had a strange feeling of void in her stomach that had nothing to do with hunger. She triedto speak calmly. â€Å"I don't think so. I think-he justdidn't care if I got away.† â€Å"You're fooling yourself. You don't understandabout these people because you haven't been here. None of youhave been here.† Jeanne looked at P.J.,who was watching with wide blue ‘eyes, and atCady, who was listening silently, her head slightlybowed. â€Å"The Night People are monsters.And theones here in the Dark Kingdom are the worst of all. Some of them have been alive for hundreds of years-some of them were here when Delos'sgrandfather founded the place. They've been holedup in this valley all that time †¦ and allthey do ishunt.It's their only sport. It's all they care about. It's all they do.† Maggie's skin was prickling. Part of her didn'twant to pursue this subject any further. But she had to know. â€Å"Last night I noticed something weird,† she said.†I was standing outside and listening, but I couldn'thear any animal sounds anywhere. None at all.† â€Å"They've wiped them out. Alltheanimalsin the wild are gone.† P.J.'s thin little hand clutched at Maggie's armnervously. ‘But then what do they hunt?† â€Å"Animals they breed and release. I've been a slavehere for three years, and at first I only saw them breeding local animaLs-cougars and black bears wolverines and stuff. But in the last couple ofyears they've started bringing in exotics. Leopardstigers and things.† Maggie let out her breath and patted P.J.'s hand.`But not humans.† â€Å"Don't make me laugh. Of course humans-butonly when they can get an excuse. The laws say the vampires can't hunt slaves to death because they'retoo precious-pretty soon the food supply wouldbe gone. But if slaves get loose, they at least get to hunt them down and bring them back to the castle. And if a slave has to be executed, they do a death hunt.† â€Å"I see.† The void in Maggie's stomach had become a yawning chasm. â€Å"But-2†² â€Å"If he let you go, it was so he could come backand hunt you,† Jeanne said flatly. â€Å"I'm telling you,he's bad. It was three years ago that the old kingdied and Delos took over, okay? And it was threeyears ago that they started bringing new slaves in.Not just grabbing people off the mountain if theygot too close, but actuallygoing down and kidnapping girls off the streets. That's why I'm here.That'swhy P.J.'s here.† Beside Maggie, P.J. shivered. Maggie put an armaround her and felt the slight body shaking againsthers. She gulped, her other hand clenching into afist. â€Å"Hey, kiddo. You've been really brave so far, sojust hang on, okay? Things are going to work out.† She could feel Jeanne's sarcastic eyes on herfrom beyond Cady, daring her to explain exactly howthings were going to work out. She ignoredthem. â€Å"Was it the same for you, Cady?† she asked. Shewas glad to get off the subject of Delos, and shewas remembering the strange thing Cady had saidlast night. I was coming here for a reason†¦. â€Å"No. They got me on the mountain.† But the wayCady spoke alarmed Maggie. It was slowly and with obvious effort, the voice of someone who had touse all their strength just to concentrate. Maggie forgot all about Delos and the slave tradeand put a hand to Cady's forehead. â€Å"Oh, God,† she said. â€Å"You're burning up. You're totally on fire.† Cady blinked slowly. â€Å"Yes-it's the poison,† shesaid in a foggy voice. â€Å"They injected me with something when they caught me-but I had a bad reaction to it. My system can't take it.† Adrenaline flicked through Maggie. â€Å"And you'regetting worse.† When Cady nodded reluctantly, shesaid, â€Å"Right. Then there's no choice. We have to getto the castle because that's where the healingwomen are, right? If anybody can help, they can, right?† â€Å"Wait a minute,† Jeanne said. â€Å"We can't go downto the castle. We'd be walking right into their arms.And we can't get out of the valley. I found the passbefore, but that was by accident. I couldn't find itagain â€Å"I could,† Maggie said. When Jeanne stared at her, she said, â€Å"Never mind how. I just can. But going that way means climbing down a mountainon the other side and Cady can't make it. And I don't think she'll make it if we leave her alone hereand go look for help.† Jeanne's narrow green eyes were on her again,and Maggie knew what they were saying. So we'vegot to give up on her. It's the only thing thatmakessense. But Maggie bulldozed on in determination. â€Å"Youcan take P.J. to thepass-I can tellyou howto get there-and Ill take Cady to the castle. How about that? If you can tell me how to get to it.† â€Å"Itstinks,†Jeanne said flatly. â€Å"Even if you make it to the castle with her hanging on you, you won'tknow how to get in. And if you doget in, you'll be committing suicide-â€Å" She broke off, and everyone started. For an instant Maggie didn't understand why-all she knewwas that she had a sudden feeling of alarm andalertness. Then she realized that Cady had turnedsuddenly toward the door. It was the quick, instinctive gesture of a cat who has heard something dangerous, and it triggered fear in the girls who werelearning to live by their own instincts. And now that Maggie sat frozen, she could hearit, too, faraway but distinct. The sound of peoplecalling, yelling back and forth. And another sound, one that she'd only heard in movies, but that sherecognized instantly. Hounds baying. â€Å"It's them,† Jeanne whispered into the dead silence of the shack. â€Å"I told you. They're hunting us.† â€Å"With dogs?†Maggie said, shock tingling throughher body. â€Å"It's all over,† Jeanne said. â€Å"We're dead.†