Summarizing a biological article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarizing a biological article - Essay Example 67). The study addressed initial questions relating to the role of membrane phospholipids in ice nucleation activity. Previous studies have also tried to address role of phospholipids as a factor of ice nucleation activity in most bacterial membranes. The study established the role of phospholipid components such as phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylethanolamine, to ice nucleation activity. The researchers in the study grew E.coli bacterial strains in controlled cultures at 21 degrees Celsius and pH of 7. The study monitored the growth of the cells through measurements of absorbance of the media at 600nm using Perkin-Elmer spectrophotometer. The researchers the harvested multiplied cells after the end of logarithmic phase. The study then overexpressed ice nucleation proteins E.coli cells through cloning in Pt3t7lac vector. The study assayed Ice nucleation activity in the cells through droplet-freezing assay followed by serial dilutions. The study finally used ICE software program to calculate ice nucleation activity. The study then extracted ice nucleation protein through lysis of the E.coli cells and the protein content determined through Bradford method. The researchers then purified and analyzed Ice nucleation protein through gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting (Palaiomylitou et al. 68). After production of protein antibodies, the study extracted the lipi ds through monophasic system involving methanol, chloroform, and water ratio of 2:1:0.8. The study affirmed the restoration effect of phospholipids on the activity of ice nucleation protein after the delipidation of lipoproteins. However, must phasmatoscopic analysis to help in the elucidation of hydrophobic properties of ice nucleation protein and to determine the mode of protein-lipid interaction in the ice nucleation protein (Palaiomylitou et al. 75). Palaiomylitou, M. A., Kalimanis, A., Koukkou, A.I., Drainas, C., Anastassopoulos, E.,

Art and Humanities Essay Example for Free

Art and Humanities Essay The Music I associate with from my early childhood would be so many different songs from like the alphabet songs. When I grew up we were not allowed watching TV so much in the 70’s. But we watched some cartoons like the Surf’s on Saturday mornings; I still remember the song Fa-la-la-la. I grew up listing to reggae and oldies but goodies music on my parents little radio in the living room. When I hear these songs I have a smile on my face. It always reminded me when my children was listening to some of the same kind of music either on Television or radio or when they watched cartoons like Old MacDonald or Bitsy Spider with the same good old folk rhymes. As I got older I remember listening to bands like the S. O. S. , Dazz band. My mom always made me play her cassette deck with her oldies or reggae music while she cleaned the house top to bottom. She always danced around while she was cleaning and it made cleaning looked like so much fun. And to this day if I help my wife with house chores I listen to the same kind of music then my mother was listening to. My daughter is the exact same way; she plays music all the times. The Music I associate with my adolescence is RB disco music from the 1980’s and 90’s. I loved mostly all of them and I would listen to any songs â€Å"I want to be your man† by Rogers or Keith Sweat â€Å"Make it last forever†, â€Å"Between the sheets† by The Isley Brothers, I could just go on and on. I went through many phases where I start listening to Madonna or country music and different artists like them, but I believe it had something do to with being a young boy growing up. Up to this day I could listen to all the same artists, bands or songs and think about the carefree days I had and being a high school boy being crazy with all my friends. But there was a time in my life where I was real crazy and just listening to rap music and started using the bad words and believe me that was not for long because my mother got rid of all my rap music quickly. And now if my children would listen to some rap music I tell them please not in my home. When it comes to comfort in music I always find myself going back and listen to oldies or reggae that was always  playing when my mother was cleaning the house. It was an everyday thing for my mom because it seemed that our home was never clean enough for her because we were six children coming in from football fields dirty or the backyard. But anytime I came into the house the same oldies or reggae music was playing, it was either Bob Marley† Buffalo Soldiers† or the oldies song† Let’s stay together† by Al Green When I have a bad day or just want to relax I find myself sitting down and turn on music and listen to the 70’s or 80’s songs, because that is what gets my head clear and then I can focus again. Happiness is a mood I would associate with songs or music that has a good rhythm and has a positive message. The song that makes me happy is â€Å"Buffalo Soldiers† by Bob Marley just like my mother, she would play that song over and over again. I would say that every genre and style of music has it songs that are happy, sad, comforting, depressing, fun and any other mood or feeling one could have. This is not because of how the song really sounds or the way it’s played, it’s the meaning from the lyrics. But the listener interprets the song in a way that only you can relate to. That is why music is so important to me because it can be a musical time line of our memories. I will always remember the music I grew up with and all the god times I had as a child and this is what I took into my Adulthood. In my life, music has been a constant, ever changing magical and amazing adventure. Music has always been a part of an everyday life for so many years and so many more years to come, because no matter if we understand the music that the one likes or not it does not matter to us. All we need to know is what we like and what impact music has on us. Music may make a person happy or sad because of the memories they re-live. No matter what it might be you must know that music is needed and wanted. References: Altschuler, R. J. (2009). The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living. Retrieved from: www. youtube. com/watch? v=S5FCdx7Dn0o Retrieved from: www. youtube. com/watch? v=RCcg7ctrC4w.

Protecting Children from Harm in the Internet Age

Protecting Children from Harm in the Internet Age Yiliang, Yin Issues regarding children’s Internet safety remained an overarching concern for the society. But as a matter of fact, internet is already an irreplaceable part of daily life, especially for children (learning, gaming, and social networking). The Canadian government has introduced agreements to protect children. Nervertheless, some crimes are national basis. In addition, a lot of countries define ‘children’ differently, makes protecting children a harder work [Minujin et al. 2006]. Internet filtering technology has been conducted in most western countries as well as some developing countries. It is used to prevent Internet users from accessing materials that considered inappropriate or unsafe [Hamade, 2008]. Although parents and local institution are encouraged to use these software to protect their children and the community, but there is no guarantee that these software are 100% effective at regulating undesirable contents, they always likely to under- or over-block content. Therefore, besides using network level filtering, it is critical for parents, education- and government-related personnel to educate children about self-protection, risks and responsibility they may encounter while using the Internet. 1. INTRODUCTION Internet has become one of the most important media among the others. Common uses of internet among people including children are: Leaning Social-networking Entertaining The development of technology makes Internet usage more convenient. Children are now able to access internet from their cellphone, tablet and laptop instead of desktop computers. But this made supervision much more difficult than before [LoÃÅ' pez, Arnao and Puente, 2012]. While the internet is overall a great educational place for children, there are also exist areas that are not appropriate for children. Without appropriate supervision, children are likely to get contacted by contents involving: violence, porn, hate speech, etc. Although there exist unsafe contents on the internet, but internet itself is a powerful tool. The internet gives parents and educators better opportunity to teach children according to their age and interest, giving children better way of learning while having fun. Parents, education- and government-related personnel should work together in order to build a safer environment for children. It is everyone’s responsibility to build and maintain a healthy environment for children wherever they are, giving children a safe and nurturing childhood. 2. Children Internet Use Both the amount of children and their ability to use internet are increasing. Some parents claim they don’t know better than their child about the internet. According to a survey conducted by the pan-European survey published by the European Commission, children start to use the Internet at 7, and the age of internet user is decreasing, internet uses include: social-networking (89%), entertaining (84%) and schoolwork (80%) [Digital Agenda, 2010]. Therefore, building safe guideline and setting rules for children’s internet usage should start once they get contact with computer. An important role of enabling children’s safety online is to help them understand the concepts of safety and risks, so that they will be able to make better decisions in the future based on what they have known. Internet safety education is critical in protecting children from internet threats. Some people blocked children’s internet usage completely, claiming it as an evil thing, which will misguide the children. They should also keep in mind that internet use is one of the basic skills in daily life. In addition, children learn from their mistakes. Therefore, it is the goal to teach children the ’internet manner’ and ‘look before you leap’. 3. Potential Risks According to research, children between ages of 8-15 are mostly likely to be afflicted by online threats. Some are risky to their safety and privacy; some may also resulted from children intentionally or unintentionally violates the law, such as torts which may lead to dangerous situations. Figure 1 shows the overview of common internet risks from Valcke et al. (2011): Fig. 1. Overview of internet Risks File-sharing is a useful technology that allows teachers to show useful information to the student and peers to share files with each other. But many file-sharing programs, like email, give children a way of accessing harmful contents. Example of such contents including: pornography, violence, hate, racism. According to research from Valkenburg and Soeters (2001), figure 2 shows data from children’s positive experience of using internet, and figure 3 shows negative experience. Fig. 2. Positive Impacts about children’s Internet Use Fig. 3. Negative Impacts about children’s Internet Use While children are searching movie clips, some sexually explicit files or sites advocate usage of alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs may appear. In this case, some online filter or parent-control software can be used. The most common contact risks to think of is a child turn up missing or being hurt after meeting someone online. This always resulted by young children especially girls allured by criminals online. There are many ways internet users can lose their privacy, and leading themselves to danger. If children carelessly exposed family address, phone number, or name to a stranger, serious danger may occur to family members as well. Besides, nowadays there are a lot of companies collecting potential customers’ information as registering for contests or filling address for prize, children should also be aware of giving out information this way, causing mental and property damage. It is not only our privacy we need to consider. Parents should also be aware their children putting other people’s information (e.g. friend, other family members, etc.) online. Making jokes as claiming a missing child by putting a friend’s information online can cause a lot of trouble to the family and police. People get angry sometimes, same for children. A lot of people take internet as a way to vent the anger. Children will have higher chance to be exposed to hate speech and violent sentence when get involved. The best defense for children is to avoid getting into online arguments until they are mature enough to filter out bad information, control the anger and speak out their minds. The lack of uniform definition as what is appropriate for children or what is the definition of children are different in most countries based on their culture. Most developed countries take 18 years old as the boundary to differentiate adults from children. But people get marry early in some country so they arrive their adulthood much earlier. In this case, the lack of uniform online legislation may allow children to access inappropriate material from other countries. 4. Present Concerns and Solutions Along with the growth of children’s internet use, a large number of Web 2.0 applications like Facebook came out, which makes it now more critical to protect children from unsafe online environment. There are three aspects need to be worked with: government regulation, technologies, parents supervision. 4.1 Government Policies regarding Children’s Online Safety According to Liu (2006), Ontario police established the earliest investigation group about child pornography. The investigators realized shortly, child pornography exists not only in certain places, it became an issue of the world. Online investigation needs a lot of time, money and human resources, especially skilled investigators. So the local police station founded an Internet Safety Committee, formed by police representatives, governors from election, members from the local Education Committee, etc., and their goal is to provide the safest online environment as they can for children. To accomplish the goal, the committee established the following detailed rules: educate students about the importance of internet safety; teach the parents how to protect their children from internet risks. The committee worked with one school and added specific course about Internet Safety for students with different age. An insurance company donated a disk with video about Internet Risks to the committee made the education process ran smoother than before. According to the research before experiment, 62% of elementary students were using internet in the spare time, and 23.7% of the student have visited online chatting rooms. For students in grade 9 and grade 10, 88.6% of them have spent spare time online, 66.19% students have chatted online within the last 6 months. The most disturbing result is that there were 90.5% of students thought it is alright to meet people that they met online, and 22% had already met their net friend. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of United States had revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) on July 1, 2013. COPPA give US-parents greater control over their children’s privacy. It detailed what a website operator must follow, when and how to seek permission and verification from a parent to guardian, and what responsibility an operator has to protect children’s privacy and safety online, including restrictions on doing business with children under 13. 4.2 Internet Filtering Technology A lot of countries have chosen to establish national internet regulation with varying degrees of success, but sometimes will have unintended consequences. Number of countries who use filtering technologies to block the access of certain content has increased dramatically. Normally, the following threes filtering technologies are used to block the access of websites via network infrastructure: IP blocking, DNS filtering, and URL blocking using a proxy. Filters can also be implemented by using software on local computers, in other words, client-side filters. This type of filter can be managed by anyone with administrator-level privileges on the computer. It can be argued that net-work based filtering causes filtering errors: over-blocking and under-blocking. For example, when searching health-related information, some useful information may be filtered out by having same searching keywords with porn-related material. And most of the filtering software will prefer over-blocking instead of allowing any leaking information that their customers don’t want. As a result, over-blocking encourages users to bypass the filtering technology entirely. When new information is updated online, under-blocking may occur. The filtering software may fail to recognise the new information because it has not yet updated on the client side when blacklisting are used instead of whitelisting. With the rapid development of science and technology, people expect higher efficiency for their software. It has been reported that most inline filters (parent-control software) as well as online content filtering are slow when processing. According to AkbasÃÅ' § (2008), content filtering can be accelerated by examining only web content. In this case, offline filtering and proxy works synergistic, so filtering process and data transfer works independently to accelerate the filtering process. Therefore, decision can be made by examining only part of the web content. While children’s internet use at school or home is usually supervised and filtered, many children are now able to access internet through other devices and in different locations with no supervision and internet filter. This means, children are likely to access inappropriate material on the internet. It is therefore, important to educate children how to behave online, and discuss issues that may encounter when accessing Internet. 4.3 Parents and Educators’ Action When the government trying to enact laws to protect children as complete as possible, parents and other community members in the society also have the responsibility to guide children, provide a safe and entertained online environment for them. Except using filtering technologies, parents and educators should teach children how to safeguard themselves, since the most effective way of preventing problems arising from internet use is to empower children. Guardians and educators can teach them about legal boundaries, moral and ethical norms regarding their culture. Empowering children can prevent them from being victims as well. It is undeniable that children adapt new technologies better than adults. This made a good relation with children much important, since young people usually will have a trusted relationship with peers or adults, so the influencers should be aware of the risks themselves and give reliable advices. In addition, parents, guardians, educators and trusted influencers should play an active role in teaching children about the risks they may face from sexually explicit materials online and how to avoid internet predators and scammers. Children should also be educated about being careful of sharing personal information on the internet. As children growing up day by day, parents’ guardian role becomes challenging. While parents are being responsible for their children’s safety, they have to respect children’s rights to privacy themselves. Parents might give up at this them, but it is urgent to encourage parents to talk and discuss with children about their online activity. (what the parents can do are: communicate with children as much as they can; make sure the children understand the importance of not exposing private information to strangers; make sure they don’t meet net friend; if found anything that children did were not appropriate online, stop them, and educate them; put the computer at where you can see easily; use parents control software;) 5. Conclusions Internet control is not impossible. Along working with children in their families and schools, there are a lot of actions that government can do to build public awareness to help children be benefit from the internet in a safe environment. For example, involve all members in the society to build public awareness about internet safety; encourage law enforcement and the educational department to develop best practices in proving safe online environment and dealing with crimes. The internet renovates so rapidly that the government regulation and technologies might not keep up. More effective and durable measures are those close to children: family, school, and community, guiding children to make good decisions, so that they will grow to become the next generation of responsible and trusted influencers. REFERENCES http://refworks.scholarsportal.info.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/refworks2/default.aspx?r=file::get_filefile_name=yyin051-RefList.htmlcontent_type=text/htmlfile_token=WWFvJ8ccM8n3WWpZKOfcZRsWMbn0Mo5vMb5yMoefNE90J8e0GApnVtW[ZhkcUCd[GtA1T8c4E. AkbasÃÅ' §. 2008. Next Generation Filtering: Offline Filtering Enhanced Proxy Architecture for Web Content Filtering. In Computer and Information Sciences, 2008. ISCIS 08. 23rd International Symposium on. 1-4. DOI:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/10.1109/ISCIS.2008.4717892 S. N. Hamade. 2008. Internet filtering and censorship. Information Technology: New Generations, 2008. ITNG 2008. Fifth International Conference on ( 2008) , 1081-1086. DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1109/ITNG.2008.50 Zhongwen Liu. 2006. On internet safety for canadian children. Journal of Liaoning Police Academy 39, 5 (September. 2006)DOI:http://dx/doi.org/1008-5378(2006)05-0049-02 E. M. LoÃÅ' pez, R. N. M. Arnao, and S. M. Puente. 2012. Children and adolescent risk environment characterization to use information technologies and communications (ICT): Case merida, venezuela. Latin America Transactions, IEEE (Revista IEEE America Latina) 10, 3 ( 2012), 1791-1797. DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1109/TLA.2012.6222586 Alberto Minujin, Enrique Delamonica, Alejandra Davidziuk, and D. E. Gonzalez. 2006. The definition of child poverty: A discussion of concepts and measurements. Environment and Urbanization 18, 481 ( 2006)DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1177/0956247806069627 M. Valcke, B. De Wever, H. Van Keer, and T. Schellens. 2011. Long-term study of safe internet use of young children. Computers Education 57, 1 (August. 2011), 1292-1305. DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.01.010. P. Valkenburg and K. Soeters. 2001. Childrens positive and negative experiences with the internet an exploratory survey. Communication Research 28, 5 (October. 2001), 652-675. DOI:http://dx/doi.org/10.1177/009365001028005004 Page 1 of 7

Black vs. White and New vs. Old in Go Down, Moses Essay -- Go Down Mos

Black vs. White and New vs. Old in Go Down, Moses  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel Go Down, Moses, William Faulkner examines the relationship between blacks and whites in the South. His attempt to trace the evolution of the roles and mentalities of whites and blacks from the emancipation to the 1940s focuses on several key transitional figures. In "The Fire and the Hearth," Lucas Beauchamp specifically represents two extremes of pride: in the old people, who were proud of their land and their traditions; and in the new generation, whose pride forced them to break away from the traditions of the South. Lucas' background uniquely shapes him for this role. He represents the general sentiments of both blacks and whites because of his mixed heritage, and he represents the old and the new through his simultaneous pride in and rebellion against his blood relation to Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin. The new generation, both whites and blacks, rebelled against the respect older Southerners held for the land and tradition, although each rebelled for different reasons. As a sharecropper on Zack Edmonds' farm, Lucas displays his pride in his connection to Carothers McCaslin in a subtle, often unspoken manner. Yet this pride always exists parallel to his defensive pride in the black blood mixed with that white blood. Lucas credits the blood of Carothers in him as the source of the courage he needed to confront, and attempt to shoot, Zack Edmonds. But at the same time, the action that that courage initiated was an act of rebellion against what Lucas perceived as white oppression of his rights: Then, not rising yet, he took the cartridge from his pocket and looked at it again, musing--the live cartridge, not even stained, not corroded, the... ..., as they were no longer relevant to their world. All in all, Lucas Beauchamp's mixed heritage leads to opposing extremes of pride. Faulkner uses this duality to represent both blacks and whites in their transition from the old to the new generation. Lucas lives in the time after the emancipation, yet he has strong ties to the old traditions of the South because of the connections he has to Lucius Quintus Carothers McCaslin. Lucas' character thus represents the new, the old, the black, and the white. It covers the broad spectrum of mentalities of the South in the period which Faulkner treated in Go Down, Moses. Faulkner created a complex, viable character in Lucas to reveal the complexity and intertwining of all the different aspects of the South: racial and generational. Works Cited: Faulkner, William. Go Down Moses. New York: The Modern Library, 1995.

A Child Special Place

All children have a special place, whether chosen by a conscious decision or not this is a place where one can go to sort their thoughts. Nature can often provide comfort by providing a nurturing surrounding where a child is forced to look within and choices can be made untainted by society. Mark Twain once said â€Å"Don't let school get in the way of your education. † Twain states that this education which is provided by society, can actually hinder human growth and maturity. Although a formal education shouldn't be completely shunned, perhaps true life experience, in society and nature, are a key part of development. In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain throws the curious yet innocent mind of Huck Finn out into a very hypocritical, judgmental, and hostile world, yet Huck has one escape–the Mississippi River constantly flowing nearby. Here nature is presented as a thought provoking environment when experienced alone. The river is quiet and peaceful place where Huck can revert to examine any predicament he might find himself in: â€Å"They went off, and I got aboard the raft, feeling bad and low†¦ Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on,- s'pose you'd a done right and give Jim up; would you felt better than you do now? No, says I, I'd feel bad†¦ † (p. 127). Only a few weeks with Jim and still feeling great ambivalence, Huck returns to the river to think. Twain tries here to tell the reader how strong the â€Å"mob† really is, and only when totally alone is Huck able to make the morally correct decision. The natural flowing and calm of the river cause this deep-thought, show! ing how unnatural the collective thought of a society can be. The largest and most obvious test of Huck's character is his relationship with Jim. The friendship and assistance which he gives to Jim go completely against all that â€Å"sivilization† has taught him; at first this concept troubles Huck and causes him a great deal of pain, but over time, through his life experiences and shared times with Jim, Huck crosses the line upheld by the racist South and comes to know Jim as a human being. Huck is at a point in his life where opinions are formed, and by growing on the river, Huck can stand back from society and form his own. Eventually he goes as far as to risk his life for Jim:†And got to thinking of our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me, all the time, in the day, and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a floating along, talking, and singing, and laughing. But somehow I couldn't see no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind†¦ I studied a minute sort of holding my breath, and then I s! ays to myself: ‘All right, then, I'll go to hell'†¦ † (pp. 270-271). After a long and thought-provoking adventure, Huck returns to the raft one final time to decide the fate of his friend. Symbolically, Huck makes the morally correct decision away from all others, thinking on the river. Although it might not be evident to himself, Huck causes the reader to see that â€Å"sivilization†, in their treatment of blacks especially, is not civilized at all. Every person Huck and Jim come across seems to just be following someone else blindly, as the whole country were some sort of mob. In the last few chapters, Tom Sawyer is re-introduced and the reader is left to examine how different environments: â€Å"sivilization† and nature (the river), have affected the children's growth. It is distinctly evident that Huck has turned out to be the one with a clear and intelligent mind, and Tom, although he can regurgitate worthless facts about Louis XVI and Henry VIII, shows no real sign of maturity. â€Å"The first time I catched up to Tom, private, I asked him what was his idea, time of the evasion? – what it was he planned to do if the evasion worked out all right and he managed to set a nigger free that was already free before? And he said, what he had planned in his head, from the start, if we got Jim out, all safe, was for us to run him down the river, on the raft, and have adventures plumb to the mouth†¦ † (p. 360). Huck has always thought of Tom as more intelligent than himself, but he cannot understand how Tom could toy with Jim's life in such a way. For much time, Huck is! without the river and it is though his mind clouds; he follows along with Tom playing a sick game until the end when he is once again threatened with being â€Å"sivilized†. But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can't stand it. I been there before† (p. 362). Huck's adventure, if nothing else, has given him a wary eye towards â€Å"sivilized† society. When the prospect of settling down with Sally is presented he light's out for the Territory to distance himself from a restrictive, formal education. Twain ends his novel by setting Huck up for a new experience and personal growth. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taught an important lesson, one that showed the importance of the self in the maturing process. We saw Huck grow up by having the river as a place of solitude and thought, where he was able to participate in society at times, and also sit back and observe society. Through the child's eye we see how ignorant and mob-like we can all be. Then nature, peace, and logic are presented in the form of the river where Huck goes to think. Though no concise answer is given, the literature forces the reader to examine their surroundings, and question their leaders.

Causes and Prevention of Burnout in Human Services Staff

Burnout is a condition that can affect people in different ways and in all career choices. Burnout is also a condition that is brought on by stressors that have built up in an individual’s professional and personal life. Burnout can cause employees to become disillusioned and develop a non-caring attitude about work-related and personal issues. This paper will explore the definition of burnout, factors that cause burnout and methods to prevent burnout. The writer will also examine his own personality and share how to react and respond to personal and work-related stress. Lastly, the writer will discuss how a human service manager will be alert and assist staff with burnout. Burnout Helpguide (2010) describes burnout as a state emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress, which occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. In a situation where an employee used to display extreme high energy towards a job along with motivation and commitment, burnout causes them to lose interest, feel useless, and incompetent. This condition is found in individuals who work in high-stress workplace environments. Lewis, Lewis and Packard (2007) describe three major factors of burnout as emotional exhaustion, a feeling of low personal accomplishment with clients, and a sense of depersonalization. When this occurs human service workers have a dehumanizing, uncaring attitude toward clients (Lewis, Lewis and Packard 2007). When the human services worker’s attitude toward the client is affected, then his productivity within the organization is affected also. Burnout ffects the workers as well as well as the organization. An organization suffers from burnout by having high turnover rates, employees calling in sick and low productivity. If an employee quits a job due to burnout, the organization has to then shovel out more time and funds to train new employees. This behavior can then cause burnout or anxiety among the other employees because their workload has increased due an employee quitting and training of a new employee. An organization’s awareness of burnout can elimination the problems that are caused by burnout. Causes of Burnout Lewis, Lewis and Packard (2007) wrote that it wasn’t until 1974 when Herber Freudenberger posited the concept of burnout as an occupational disease. The author also believes that possible causes of burnout happen at the individual, organizational, and cultural levels. Individual burnout occurs when a human services worker sets unrealistic high career goals. A human services worker burnouts trying to reach the goals. At the organizational level, burnout occurs when competition is present along with conflict. Lewis, Lewis and Packard (2007) states burnout occurs at this level when the norms are bureaucratic rather than flexible management philosophies. An individual will also experience burnout at this level when he or she is overloaded with work. Supervisors have to show support to employees otherwise burnout will occur. Cultural differences within an organization can cause burnout in employees. The workplace environment has to be staged in a manner that respects all cultures to avoid burnout. Avoidance of burnout takes some serious organizational and people skills for the upper level management team, supervisory staff, and employees. Awareness and Prevention of Burnout If the warning signs of burnout are present, they will only worsen if avoided. Careful observation of self and from supervisory staff will prevent total burnout. An individual can start his or her day with a relaxation ritual such as meditation, inspirational writing or reading. Healthy eating and boundaries are also ways an individual can prevent burnout. Supervisors an reduce caseloads by welcoming volunteers into the organization to assist with the work. Flextime, part time and job sharing can also provide relief from demanding jobs (Lewis, Lewis and Packard 2007). The individual and supervisors have to work together to make the workplace environment non-stressful as possible. The work the employees complete is beneficial to the organization and clients. Without the employees in the right state of mind, the productivity will be low quality. Personal Observation After careful evaluation of the writer’s personality, she reacts to work-related stress by talking about the issues at hand. Communication is a key element for the writer when dealing with work-related stress. Evaluation of an issue with a plan for organization is one of the first steps the writer takes in finding a solution. At different times of the year, beginning and end of school year, the writer experiences a high stress level at work due to the high demand of productivity at these times. The writer works on weekends when the other staff is not in weekends when the other staff is not in to take advantage of the quiet work environment. At different intervals during the school year, the writer has to re-evaluate the situation, reorganize and re-group to gain control and calm in order to be a productive employee. The writer never allows a total burnout to occur. The situation always comes to a halt when the need is recognized through careful observation. Staff Burnout Assistance Human services managers can intervene with staff burnout by offering assistance to reduce caseloads and provide in-service training on topics such as time management and organizational skills. Organizations can offer peer support groups that are common in some high-stress level jobs that have an increased number of caseloads. Peer support groups give employees an opportunity to share ideas and solutions. Employee counseling programs can offer employees an opportunity to talk about their problems with a professional before the burnout level is reached. Manager assistance with burnout is an important part of a supervisor’s responsibilities. A trickling effect of burnout can occur without positive support from supervisors. Conclusion With the recent changes in the workforce, this has contributed to the burnout of employees. Organizations laying off employees. Organizations laying off employees has caused an increased workload on the remaining employees. In turn, this can cause increased stress on employees. Managers should be aware of the signs of burnout and be ready to assist employees in whatever way necessary. Burnout can play a major role in the decrease of productivity in an organization. The writer has discussed pertinent information that can help employees and organizations become aware of and prevent burnout among employees.

Serial Killer and Baby Killer, Janie Lou Gibbs

Serial Killer and Baby Killer, Janie Lou Gibbs Janie Lou Gibbs murdered her husband, three children, and a grandson by poisoning them with arsenic so she could collect on the life insurance policies she had on each victim. Good Home Cooking Janie Lou Gibbs, from Cordele Georgia, was a devoted wife and mother who spent much of her free time giving to her church. In 1965, her husband, Marvin Gibbs died suddenly at home after enjoying one of Janies good home cooked meals. Doctors concluded an undiagnosed liver disease caused his death. An Act of Giving The show of sympathy to Janie Lou and her three children from the church was overwhelming. So much so, that Ms. Gibbs decided to give part of Marvins life insurance money to the church to show her appreciation for their stellar support. Marvin, Jr. With Marvin gone, Gibbs and her children pulled together but within a year tragedy struck again. Marvin, Jr. age 13 seemed to have inherited his fathers liver disease and after collapsing with severe cramps, he too died. Again, the church community came to support Gibbs through the painful death of her young son. Janie, overwhelmed with appreciation gave a portion of Marvin, Jr.s life insurance payment to the congregation. A Family Plagued How so much could go wrong with one family was hard to understand, but one could not help to admire Gibbs inner strength especially when just a few months later, 16-year-old Lester Gibbs began complaining of dizziness, headaches and severe cramping. He died before ever getting to the hospital. Doctors decided the cause of death was hepatitis. To Give Is To Receive With disbelief but with the usual sympathy and support, the church helped Gibbs through her terrible loss. Gibbs, now broken hearted with all that she had to endure in two years, knew she could never have made it without the support of the church, and again, offered a portion of young Lesters life insurance payment to them to help show her undying gratitude. Grandmother Janie Her last and oldest son, Roger, was married and the birth of his son, Raymond seemed to lift Janie out of despair. However, within a month both Roger and his perfectly healthy newborn son were dead. This time the attending physician asked for an investigation into the deaths. When the tests came back showing that Roger and Raymond had been given arsenic poisoning, Gibbs was arrested. Goodbye Janie Janie Lou Gibbs was found guilty of poisoning her family May 9, 1976, and received a life sentence for each of the five murders she committed. In 1999, at age 66, she received a medical release from prison because she was suffering from the advanced stages of Parkinsons disease. Source Murder Most Rare The Female Serial Killer by Michael D. Kelleher and C.L. Kelleher Schechter, Harold. The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Paperback, Revised, Updated edition, Gallery Books, July 4, 2006. Deadly Women - Discovery Channelï » ¿

Drug Testin In The Workplace Essays - Drug Control Law, Free Essays

Drug Testin In The Workplace Essays - Drug Control Law, Free Essays Drug Testin In The Workplace Drug testing in the United States began with the explosive use of illegal drugs, in order to curb drug abuse. This began during the Vietnam War with drug use at a climax. In general, Drug testing is a way to detect illegal drug use and deter it, usually by Urinalysis. Drug testing in the United States violates a citizens right to unreasonable search and seizures along with jeopardizing ones freedom. Drug testing is not only an unreliable invasion of a persons privacy but it assumes that one is guilty before submitting to the test. Drug testing began to take place in the mid 1960s when drugs like Marijuana, hallucinogens and other drugs were becoming widespread (Stencel, pp.201). The military implemented mandatory drug testing because of the widespread use and the number of Vets that were returning home because of addiction. Ronald Reagan pushed for employers to implement drug testing and even had himself screened for illegal drugs to encourage employers and to reduce opposition to testing (Stencel, pp. 200). The increased concern about drug abuse has, in part, ben the result of the early 1986 appearance on the streets of crack-a new, powerfully addictive form of cocaine-and the growth of cocaine addiction (Berger, 12). President Reagan later called for a second war on drugs campaign. In October of 1986, President Reagan signed into law a 1.7 billion dollar antidrug bill, called the Drug-Free Workplace Order. In addition to the bill, Reagan instructed his cabinet officers to create a plan to begin drug testing for federal civil employees (Berger, 14). Drug testing thus begun a sharp climb into the area of private employers. In November of 1988 Congress passed an Act requiring grant recipients or federal contractors to maintain drug-free workplaces. Most of the employers set up voluntary testing programs and many employees began to sue, claiming that individual testing is a violation of privacy rights. The argument is that the employees are being deprived of their Fourth Amendment protection. Many believe that government testing programs should be unconstitutional unless the authorities have either reasonable suspicion or probable cause that the individuals being tested are on drugs. To justify the use of private employer testing, President Bush said in 1989 that Drug abuse among American workers costs businesses anywhere from $60 billion to $100 billion dollars a year in lost productivity, absenteeism, drug-related accidents, medical claims, and theft (Horgan, 19). This claim was derived from a source that interviewed families that were 28% lower in overall income than the average household. This was used in an effort to promote Bushs war on drugs forum into the private sector (Horgan, 21). Many behaviors of lower income people often differ statistically from upper-income people, therefore the statement of Bush never establishes a clear or accurate statistic. In 1989 President George Bush unveiled his National Drug Control Strategy, encouraging comprehensive drug-free workplace policies in the private sector and in state and local government (Stencel, 201). This created many controversies within the American workplace and in National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab decision, the Supreme Court upheld that drug testing was legal as long as it outweighs privacy rights (James). Then, in 1991 Congress passed the Omnibus Transportation and Employment Testing Act, which would extend drug testing in the United States. Throughout the rest of the 90s drug tests were extended to the outermost sectors of society causing drugs to become a significant issue during election times, although politicians are never tested themselves. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution was created because of the rough treatment of colonists by the British. The British restricted trade and travel and this gave way to smuggling. British soldiers frequently conducted unrestricted house-to-house searches. People were forced to keep their private records and other personal information on their person or hidden in their home or business to avoid exposure and possible arrest (Berger, 102). The Fourth Amendment was part of the Constitutions Bill of Rights to protect ones privacy and maintain search and seizure guarantees. The right to privacy was described by Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis as the right to be let alone-the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure except upon probable cause. Random drug testing threatens the Fourth Amendment and has been called suspicion by association. This is to say that it is

Managing Mixed Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing Mixed Economy - Essay Example On its 250th anniversary in 1990 the name again changed to what is now known as the royal London hospital. The first patients were treated in a house in Featherstone Street, Moorfields in November 1740 before later moving to a rented premises in Prescott street the following may. In 1757 it moved to its current location on the south side of white chapel road, in the London borough of tower hamlets (NHS 2013). In 1785, the hospital surgeons began training students by taking them into the hospital and discussing patients aliments,at times students were allowed to administer medication and treatment to patients. This was the basis for the formation of the first hospital based medical school in England.it was founded by William blizzard and James Maddocks. In 1948 the hospital became part of National Health Service as the voluntary hospital system ended. The system which had cared for the sick in the 18th century came to an end as the state took control of the health care system under th e national health act (Banks 2013). The London lost some of its independence but was financially better off than before. Further reorganization in the early 90s allowed the hospital to regain some self-government. The royal London was granted its title by HM the queen on its 250thanniversary and later became part of the NHS trust (Barts Health 2013). The royal London later merged with St Bartholomew’s and London chest hospitals as pioneers to form the new trust, Barts NHS trust. The London is already home to one of Europe’s largest accident and emergency departments, also home to Britain’s biggest children’s hospital services (Banks 2013). The London was the first to offer helicopter emergency medical service while carrying a doctor on board. In 1998 queen Elizabeth the hospital for children joined the trust and transferred its services to the royal London but retained their historical identity; their name that had been granted by her majesty queen Elizab eth (Gavin 2013). Recently in march 2012 a first phase in the construction of the new state of the art royal London hospital began. This was to replace the demolished old buildings so as to support the delivery of 21st century modernized medical care. Facilities Facilities at the royal London include; overnight accommodation, multi-faith chaplaincy Centre, telephones, shops, cash points, restaurants and the royal London archives. Overnight accommodation The hospital offers overnight accommodations to the relatives of patients admitted at the hospital. Also provides facilities for patients prior to their appointments who have to travel a long way to receive treatment at the hospital but who need not to be readmitted to a ward (Barts Health 2013). JamesHora homes are a facility at the royal London hospital that offers accommodation for outpatients who experience difficulties in travelling to and from hospital for daily treatment and to the relatives of patient in need of critical care . The home has a capacity to accommodate up to 26 guests a night. Stevenson’s house another facility of the royal London for accommodation located on Ash Field Street provides families of children admitted at the London with accommodation during long stays (Gavin 2013). It is fully equipped with bathrooms, a kitchen, a

We are Seven(Lyrical Ballads) Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

We are Seven(Lyrical Ballads) - Term Paper Example Wordsworth wrote the poem ‘we are seven’ at the age of 18 when he was going on a journey with his best companion Coleridge. ‘Wordsworth’s most deeply held conviction is his belief that the scope for poetry was often best provided by memory.’ As we also observe in this particular poem that the little girl that he talks about is actually someone he had met on his journey in a similar setting. As stated, ‘We Are Seven was inspired by a little girl he met in the area of Goodrich Castle.’ The poem comprises of sixteen four lined stanzas with the exception of the last stanza that consists of five lines. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB. The poem is in the form of a conversation between a stranger and a little girl. The technique of writing the poem in a dialogue form enhances the beauty of the poem as it helps in retaining the interest of the reader, as he is curious about the end result of the conversation. The title of the poem hints about a sense of security that is related to the knowledge of having strong family bonding as observed from the word ‘We’. It has a tone of finality to it. The two letter word hold a lot of meaning as it also indicates the element of stubbornness and conviction of belief that nothing can change the reality i.e. we are seven. Number ‘seven’ can in itself be a reference to ‘Shakespeare’s seven stages’ of a man’s life as the readers later observes that this poem also draws a contrast between the perspective of life from the eyes of a child and an adult and shows the manner in which a person loses his idealism in order to grow up. The poem is basically about a conversation between a man and a little girl about her family and loved ones. The stranger inquires about her brothers and sisters and the girl replies that we are seven. This reply leads to the formation of the whole conversation that takes place in the poem.

Water shortages at Jordan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Water shortages at Jordan - Essay Example Almost 70% of all water is used for agricultural purposes and less than 30% is consumed by people (Jordans Water Shortage, 1998). Overall, this issue requires immediate response not to get worse. This problem requires complex approach and collaboration of people, government and even countries that border with Jordan. First of all, the government develops the water management model to make sure that the supply of water is growing and the demand is decreasing. Second, strategic relationships with Israel and Syria make sure that Jordan is backed up by its neighboring countries. Moreover, investments into existing water supply infrastructure strengthen the position of the country and avoid exploring new resources of water which is quite costly for the country. Finally, the country maintains clear data about water consumption on its territories in order to see how the above-mentioned activities influence on the situation with water shortage in Jordan. Government, local people and activists seem to be involved in the issue; they control their water consumption and support governmental

Russells On Denoting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Russells On Denoting - Essay Example Russell (1905) claimed that Meinong’s theory had difficulties as it â€Å"regard denoting phrases as standing for constituents of the propositions in whose verbal expression they occur†¦ This theory regards any grammatically correct denoting phrase as standing for an object† (p 482). And the main difficulty of this theory was that it was â€Å"apt to infringe the law of contradiction† (p 483). Russell’s critiqued on Meinong’s theory raised three important points: first, on the concept of subsistence. Russell maintained that if we presupposed that ‘It is false that A differs from B’, then ‘the difference between A and B does not subsist’. However, in Meinong’s theory since a denoting phrase was standing for an object, then, the denoting phrase ‘the difference between A and B’ must stand for an object. Therefore, the ‘difference between A and B’ must subsist. In this case, the self-contra diction was made apparent. As it was affirmed that ‘the difference between A and B’ must subsist (Meinong’s theory), so too the preposition ‘the difference between A and B does not subsist’ is affirmed on the statement â€Å"It is false that A differs from B†. (Sutler 1967). The second counter-argument rests on the concept of existence. Take the example ‘The King of France is bald.’ Again, using Meinong’s theory, as grammatically correct denoting phrase stand for an object then the statement must be true. But it is a known fact, within the frame of a particular time the preposition ‘the King of France is bald.’ does not stand or signify for any object.

QUESTIONS Thoroughly read Chapters 7 through 10 of the Policy Issues Essay

QUESTIONS Thoroughly read Chapters 7 through 10 of the Policy Issues textbook, and then prepare an annotated bibliography for - Essay Example Scientific research and understanding creates practical technological applications which in turn require institutional implementation and management which in turn lead to more technological change as specific implementations are made which in turn leads to more scientific change. Therefore, science and technology policy have to bear in mind that innovation is more complex than a simple model of science and technology leading to innovation. Metcalfe moves on to distinguish between types of policy and innovation, such as academic scientific research versus practical technology, and further notes that despite their dialectical interrelationship, science and technology are different things. Finally, he ties this in with economic policy. Freeman, C. 2002, â€Å"National Systems of Innovation†, Policy Issues for Business, ed. Vivek Suneja, Sage Publications Ltd. Freeman expands on the analysis made by Metcalfe by noting that innovation is inherently dynamically social: No firm innov ates on their own, and technology and science are best done in systems of shared, free inquiry. Networks of governmental, scientific, educational, business and NGO innovators produce innovation over time. Freeman notes that the Friedrich list, a system whereby Germany specifically tied industrial and technological policy in the arena of education, was highly efficacious. He also notes that in Japan, R&D and business are tied together specifically, while in Russia, R&D and enterprise were often quite distinct. However, he does note that the Soviet Union's R&D and scientific research was not bad by any stretch of the imagination: They focused on arenas like mathematics, military innovation and space travel. This indicates that the priorities of national policy have direct and indirect results on atmospheres of innovation and creation. Freeman concludes by arguing a) regional and local factors will remain important in any technology and innovation policy no matter how globalized and in tegrated the world becomes, and b) Britain's experience should lead policy-makers to conclude that while learning by doing and interacting are important, innovations needs to be stressed at a systemic level. Porter, ME. 2002, â€Å"The Competitive Advantage of Nations†, Policy Issues for Business, ed. Vivek Suneja, Sage Publications Ltd. Porter continues in Freeman's vein by analyzing what makes nations competitively advantageous in the global marketplace. Strong investments in science and technology, a skilled workforce, government support and culture are all good elements, unsurprisingly, but Porter argues that in fact challenges can be opportunities. A country facing competitive challenge at home and abroad, difficult and selective customers, and aggressive suppliers will be highly effective if it can survive the challenges and weather the storm. Aside from noting the influence of national playing fields created by national policy, Porter also recommends that firms, even i f they are local or nationally oriented, should adopt a global perspective and strategy, and should move towards trying to sell under their brand name globally and control their business directly even on the global level rather than using middlemen. Porter also notes that, since markets change so rapidly, they are likely to obviate and make advantages obsolete, so companies need to treat even presently relevant advantages as soon likely to be obsolete

Persuasive Communications, Campaigning and Public Opinion & Reputation Essay - 1

Persuasive Communications, Campaigning and Public Opinion & Reputation Management - Essay Example s many different channels to reach the target audience, from regular advertising to public service announcements, Internet banner ads, and telephone marketers. Because of the power of the Internet, the advertisements move at a faster speed than ever before, combining celebrities with symbols and commodity signs. Persuasive websites are used to persuade the Internet audience about anything that one can think of. Companies are in business simply because they focus on how best to persuade an audience. The messages that are broadcast on the Internet, television, in print, etc., use all sorts of persuasive techniques, from flattery, empathy, nonverbal communication and likeability appeals. Symbols are used, such as symbols of wealth and prestige, or symbols of social consciousness – entering a Nordstrom and seeing a fashionable man playing a piano is an example of the former, a Benetton ad featuring a dying AIDS patient is an example of the latter. Some persuasive appeals are disgu ised as news. Whatever is being persuaded, there is a theory behind how it works, and this is the focus of this particular essay. Along with the focus on how it works will be analysis of how persuasion is employed in campaigns, as well as how persuasion is used to shape and mold public opinion. Perloff (2008) states that persuasion first involves the persuader’s awareness that he or she is trying to influence somebody else (p. 15). Therefore, a dog or a cat who curries favor from their owners, in order to get foods or treats, would not be considered to be persuading, because they do not have the awareness that their owner wants to change. Persuasion is symbolic, and is really a step by step process. The symbols that might be used might be symbols with cultural meanings, such as the flag, a Star of David or a Holy Cross. It may be attained by images, such as the Nike swoop or the McDonald’s golden arches (Perloff, 2008). Moreover, persuaders do not really operate by persuading others to

Russells On Denoting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Russells On Denoting - Essay Example Russell (1905) claimed that Meinong’s theory had difficulties as it â€Å"regard denoting phrases as standing for constituents of the propositions in whose verbal expression they occur†¦ This theory regards any grammatically correct denoting phrase as standing for an object† (p 482). And the main difficulty of this theory was that it was â€Å"apt to infringe the law of contradiction† (p 483). Russell’s critiqued on Meinong’s theory raised three important points: first, on the concept of subsistence. Russell maintained that if we presupposed that ‘It is false that A differs from B’, then ‘the difference between A and B does not subsist’. However, in Meinong’s theory since a denoting phrase was standing for an object, then, the denoting phrase ‘the difference between A and B’ must stand for an object. Therefore, the ‘difference between A and B’ must subsist. In this case, the self-contra diction was made apparent. As it was affirmed that ‘the difference between A and B’ must subsist (Meinong’s theory), so too the preposition ‘the difference between A and B does not subsist’ is affirmed on the statement â€Å"It is false that A differs from B†. (Sutler 1967). The second counter-argument rests on the concept of existence. Take the example ‘The King of France is bald.’ Again, using Meinong’s theory, as grammatically correct denoting phrase stand for an object then the statement must be true. But it is a known fact, within the frame of a particular time the preposition ‘the King of France is bald.’ does not stand or signify for any object.

Persuasive Communications, Campaigning and Public Opinion & Reputation Essay - 1

Persuasive Communications, Campaigning and Public Opinion & Reputation Management - Essay Example s many different channels to reach the target audience, from regular advertising to public service announcements, Internet banner ads, and telephone marketers. Because of the power of the Internet, the advertisements move at a faster speed than ever before, combining celebrities with symbols and commodity signs. Persuasive websites are used to persuade the Internet audience about anything that one can think of. Companies are in business simply because they focus on how best to persuade an audience. The messages that are broadcast on the Internet, television, in print, etc., use all sorts of persuasive techniques, from flattery, empathy, nonverbal communication and likeability appeals. Symbols are used, such as symbols of wealth and prestige, or symbols of social consciousness – entering a Nordstrom and seeing a fashionable man playing a piano is an example of the former, a Benetton ad featuring a dying AIDS patient is an example of the latter. Some persuasive appeals are disgu ised as news. Whatever is being persuaded, there is a theory behind how it works, and this is the focus of this particular essay. Along with the focus on how it works will be analysis of how persuasion is employed in campaigns, as well as how persuasion is used to shape and mold public opinion. Perloff (2008) states that persuasion first involves the persuader’s awareness that he or she is trying to influence somebody else (p. 15). Therefore, a dog or a cat who curries favor from their owners, in order to get foods or treats, would not be considered to be persuading, because they do not have the awareness that their owner wants to change. Persuasion is symbolic, and is really a step by step process. The symbols that might be used might be symbols with cultural meanings, such as the flag, a Star of David or a Holy Cross. It may be attained by images, such as the Nike swoop or the McDonald’s golden arches (Perloff, 2008). Moreover, persuaders do not really operate by persuading others to

The Impact of the FCAT-based learning system on English Language Learners Essay Example for Free

The Impact of the FCAT-based learning system on English Language Learners Essay The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is a high stakes mandatory evaluation for students in elementary public schools in the state of Florida. It is famed for gains in student achievement and teacher accountability. On the flip side, it is dreaded for test anxiety in students, and a state administered bonus incentive to top performing schools among other flaws. It is unfair to subject non-English speakers to the FCAT. As defined in section 1001.56 of the Florida Statutes; English Language Learners (ELLs) means Limited English Proficient. These are individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English. (Florida Administrative Weekly). The researcher admits that they did not factor in ELLs in their survey questions. However he compensates for this with a recommendation as well as a good number of insightful comments from respondents. This could be a pointer that ELLs could be ignored by the Florida state education system. This could lead to protests and hate speech from minorities. A respondent commented: It is ridiculous for second language learners to take the FCAT as soon as they enter the country! Research indicates it takes as many as six years for students to be able to reason and express themselves in writing in a second language! FCAT standards have been found to be failing under the rules of the federal ‘No Child Left Behind’ legislation. This mandatory test exacerbates the school drop out problem in Florida.(FCAT Project) In conclusion the FCAT system is not fair to ELLs. There are other tests like ACT, SAT in line with Sunshine State Standards (Florida Department of Education) that can be used. If this system is to be popular, then policy makers need to work on its flaws. Works Cited â€Å"Accommodations of the Statewide Assessment Program Instruments and Procedures for English Language Learners.† Florida Administrative Weekly and Florida Administrative Code. May 5, 2009, May 7, 2010. https://www.flrules.org/gateway/RuleNo.asp?id=6A-6.09091

The Importance Of Being Ethical In The Business Marketing Essay

The Importance Of Being Ethical In The Business Marketing Essay This report mainly emphasize on the importance of being ethical in the business field and the consequences of failing to be ethical. It shows that Toyota has incurred many losses and faces negative impact in its reputation due to recall scandal. Failing to be ethical gain no benefits but only draw the company itself into unpredictable disaster. Toyota has destroy its reputation which is the excellent quality of its brand and trust of its customers towards the brand. Now the company has to spend huge amount of money to recall all the vehicles in order to build and gain back its companys reputation. Now, whenever it comes to the discussion about Toyota, people will immediately remember the ethical dilemmas of the company and it will affect the companys reputation in the long term. Introduction Toyota Motor Corporation, simply known as Toyota, one of the worlds leading manufacturers of automobiles and light trucks, based in Toyota, Japan. The company also makes buses, forklifts, and other industrial vehicles. Toyota was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda, who in 1933 established an automobile department in his fathers loom factory, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd., following a trip to tour United States automobile plants. The department concentrated on building fuel-efficient vehicles and completed its first experimental vehicles in 1935. In 1937 Toyoda established Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. Besides manufacturing automobiles, Toyota also involves in financial services via its Toyota Financial Services division and build robots as well. Toyota Motor Corporation and Toyota Industries have form the bulk of the Toyota Group as one of the largest multinational company in the world. 2.0 Toyota Ethical Dilemmas 2.1 Neglecting safety concerns and delaying recall investigations Toyota admitted to engaging in unethical behaviour when the safety of its vehicles are seriously being questioned and investigation comes into as well. The Associated Press released an article has proven that Toyota not only neglected its cars safety defects, but also continuously on doing so. Wins for Toyota Safety Group, presentation called in 2009 shows that in 2007, Toyota repeatedly delayed safety regulations and intentionally avoiding defect investigations and hold up government inquiries into safety concerns. It was also stated by The Associated Press that the financial benefit of delay is shown in the new documents. Toyota stated in the presentation that a phase in to new safety regulations for side airbags saved the company $124 million and 50,000 man hours. Besides, delayed a rule for tougher door locks saved $11 million. Toyota is a company that practice the philosophy of kaizen, meaning continuous improvement, but they somehow negotiated and justified with the government to flee away from their problem. In its headlong rush to become the worlds No. 1 carmaker, Toyota lost control of the very thing its reputation has been built on which is quality. Now the company is facing consequences due to poor ethical in the business industry are loss of confidence and trust in businesses. A loss of trust greatly reduce customers loyalty and motivate them to turn to competitors. 2.2 Sweatshops and Union Busting Back in Japan, Toyotas manufacturing plants resembles some of the worst sweatshops in the world. The companys operations have been illustrated as slavery and human trafficking. According to a 65-pages report entitled The Toyota You Dont Know released by Human rights group The National Labour Committee, it alleges that Toyota is linked to human trafficking. The report highlighted the trafficking of foreign workers mainly from Vietnam and China. These workers are stripped of their passports and were frequently forced to work overtime every day, seven days a week and received wages below the legal minimum wages (Rosen, 2002). There are thousands of karoshi claims each year in Toyota. This karoshi claims means over worked to death. There was a case of Kenichi Uchino who died of being overworked on an assembly line at Toyotas Prius plant. Uchino, who was just 30, routinely worked 13 to 14 hours a day, putting in between 106 and 155 hours of overtime in the 30 days leading up to his death. Toyota claimed he had only worked 45 hours of overtime and that the extra time was voluntary and unpaid. Uchinos wife had to go to court to fight for a pension for their children. She succeeded and the court ruling that Mr Uchino was worked to death. Besides, When an injury has occurred to employees, on the job they are layer off, and receive no compensation. Many small countries all around the world has been dominated and destroyed with Toyota well-known union busting. Reducing the standards of living amongst the countries citizens. There are already 1800 cases in the US where Kentucky plants employees have been injured, fired, and they were not included in the compensation pay roll. Approximate of 400 Americans working at Toyota are facing this problem every year. Toyota have their plants assembled in the poorest states to gain advantage of the lowest wages in the country. Many are kept as temporary workers for over 4 years. Their target is to control and lower the average wages and economic in America, and Honda seems to be supportive on Toyotas action. Toyotas strategy is to hire the poorest workers in the state to manufacture the cheapest materials and maximize its profits. The more profits they make, the more they lower worker wages. 2.3 Toyota Diluted Quality and Recall Scandals Toyotas production line expanded from 5.2 million to 10 million since year 2000. This include 17 more productions sites. Due to such unsustainable production, Toyota has to reach to other subcontractors from overseas to procure auto-parts, this resulting difficulty for the company to inspect every process involved in the quality control process. Vast growing competition from other rivals has caused Toyota to force its subcontractors to cut production costs at least 30%, which resulted in diluted quality. According to a analysis of complaints by auto safety control firm Quality Control System, National High Way Traffic safety Administration received tripled complaints since introduction of electronic throttles in Toyota vehicles. Many people have died in road accidents due to break problems as well. However Toyota just kept its business operating without taking this matter seriously and put all the blames on the drivers instead. Toyota started recalling vehicles for rectification afte r these complaints has drawn high media coverage and pressure by customers. These decisions are said to be unethical because Toyota gave priority to its profitability plans over security procedures and risks of precious live. An estimated amount of more than 8 million vehicles were recalled back due to break paddle and floor mat problems (Schonberger, 2010). This recall amount exceeded Toyota total global sales of 6.98 million vehicles in 2009 (Schonberger, 2010). This recall scandal has degraded Toyotas reputation in regards to social media. Social media analyst Webtrends research proposes that 60% of all online comments about Toyota were negatively made. Brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance, has stated that Toyota may possibly face a loss of 25% of the overall  £17 billion brand value due to the recall crisis. The crisis is not just affecting Toyotas reputation but affecting the entire business too in the long run. 3.0 Toyota Actions Solving Dilemmas 3.1 Toyota: How to Win Back Your Customers The due care theory is in place because Toyota always have advantage in knowledge over their products including how it was manufactured. In the case, Toyota failed to exercise due care in their vehicles. The company manufactured dangerous vehicles with faulty gas pedals and breaking system. Then Toyota did not concern much about how risky and dangerous of its vehicles and directly sold them to their customer. This case has shown how Toyota has completely failed to exercise due care. Toyota recently announced recalls on seven U.S. and European models. Not only this will bring bad reputation for the worlds largest automakers image, but it could also have a serious impact on its sales. Toyota is now focusing on winning back its customers and reassuring them of the quality and the safety of its vehicles (Rother, 2009). Yoshimi Inaba, President and COO of Toyota Motor North American during his testimony on February 24, stated that Toyotas dealers across North American and 172,000 team members are giving out their best efforts to complete the current recalls. Solutions have been tested rigorously and they are confident with these repairs, and Toyota vehicles will remain among the safest on the road today. Besides, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc, James Lentz stated during his testimony on February 23 that the company dealers are making extraordinary efforts to complete their recalls as quickly and conveniently as possible. Some of the dealers are staying open 24-7 and they are repairing vehicles at a rate of 50,000 a day. To date, Toyota have repaired close to a million vehicles. In this case, rule utilitarianism is also applied in Toyotas situation. Toyota failed to be ethical because rule utilitarianism includes the after-act benefits and cost (Fullerton, 2004). After the act of be ing unethical in delaying the safety issues of its vehicles, Toyota had loss millions of dollars for the recall and to rebuild their reputation. This meaning the cost is higher than the benefits and therefore it was unethical. 3.2 Is Toyota Willing to Solve Slavery Operations? Unfortunately, most multinational companies like Toyota that is benefiting from sweatshops labour around the world are doing nothing about this problem. The question arise here is, does Toyota follow the rights and duties? Toyota has the duty to provide a better and comfortable environment for its workers. However, to maximise its profits and minimise the cost of production, Toyota choose to forsake the rights of its workers (Campbell Miller, 2004). Given that sweatshops conditions exist around the world, what can be done to counter these assaults upon human dignity and human rights that affect most vulnerable people in economic food chain? Currently, three major groups oversee factory inspections to monitor sweatshops condition. These groups including Social Accountability International (SAI), Fair Labour Association (FLA), Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Due to considerable variation in the methodologies used by SAI, FLA, and ETI, many companies have engaged in some form of self-monitoring. Now, SAI, FLA, and ETI appears to be on the verge of changing as a consequence of an ambitious 30-month experiment, called the Initiative on Corporate Accountability Workers Right (Campbell Miller, 2004). There are six anti-sweatshop activist groups and eight global apparel makers are sponsoring this experiment. The purpose is to devise a single set of labour standards with a common factory-inspection system that will replace todays overlapping hodgepodge of approaches with something that is easier and cheaper to use, and that might gain traction with companies. If it works, the 30 months experiment would be a great step in bringing order to the piecemeal manner in which even the biggest companies set and monitor workplace conditions across the developing world. It is all about the human rights, Toyota has the duty to take care of its workers wh o are working under the company. 3.3 Utilise Social Media Effectively Business is responsible to provide reasonable product to customers. In a sense, Toyota had made consumer to trust that their products are safe. Therefore Toyota should not manufacture unsafe product to their customers. Now Toyota started to practice business duty by using social media to update their customers especially the recall and repair of the vehicles to gain back their customers trust towards their products. Toyota Recall Micro Site This Micro site is created by Toyota to provide recall information for its customers. Many web 2.0 aspects was included in the micro site such as a customer comments section. Existing customers can leave comments on what is the current situation with their Toyota. Toyota has also included a live update counter in the micro site to highlight the speed at which it fixing the accelerator pedals (Refer to Appendix 1). Toyota Recall Timeline Toyota have utilised a timeline to highlight how the company is dealing to the recall effectively. A facts and figures section is set up to calm down and reassure their customers that the company had the recall under control ( Refer to Appendix 2). Toyota Conversation Toyota Conversations was created by Toyota and powered by Tweetmeme that collects and updates the news, images and video about Toyota and to be published on Toyotas own Twitter feed. Toyota can analyse this information and act accordingly (Refer to Appendix 3). Toyota have utilised Digg as well to update and keep its customers in contact regarding the recall. US Toyota president Jim Lentz was involved in a consumer question and answer session. Toyota has used this approach that allow the company to engage its customer base and express remorse to their customers for the recall. Toyota also make use of YouTube to combat the threat of the recall. The company has been uploading videos describing the faults with the foot pedals and offering an explanation to its customers (Rother, 2009). 4.0 Toyotas Ethical Best Practices and Values Virtue ethics emphasis on doing things with character, and this character can be simplified as a good one. Toyota does practice virtue ethics. Virtue ethics do not follow any rules or consequences, but purely on doing good things (Devettere, 2002). 4.1 Recycling as One Approach Making People-Friendly and Environmentally-Friendly Cars In order to ensure that automobiles will continue to be a sustainable mode of transport in the 21st century, Toyota considers it is important to proactively take action to reduce their environmental impacts all along their life cycle. Toyota is now focusing on the important aspects which is the recycling stage. The company is thinking about recycling opportunities at every stage of life cycle of vehicles. For example, Toyota is involved in activities to reduce waste as much as possible and recycle whatever can be reused at the development, production, use, and disposal stages. Toyota is strongly committed to developing technologies for effectively utilising resin and rubber, which are difficult to reuse or recycle due to difficulties in separation of composite materials and to high quality standards requested. The recycling technologies that have been developed are first applied to the remnant materials generated in production processes; commonly remnants from the manufacturing of pl astic parts are recycled internally, for example in the case of bumpers. Toyota has extended the application of these recycling technologies to the parts collected at dealers and from end-of-life vehicles. 4.2 Initiative Designed to Educate People in Traffic Safety The company has been involving actively in various activities to educate people in traffic safety since 1960s. Toyota Driver Communication In 1987, this programme was designed to improve safe driving by allowing drivers to experience the performance of cars at their limits and to study the effects and proper usage of ABS (electronically controlled braking system) and other safety technologies. In April 2005, Toyota opened the Toyota Safety Education Centre where safe driving courses are offered on a regular basis. Toyota Traffic Safety Campaign Toyota has conducted the Toyota Traffic Safety Campaign every spring and autumn since 1969. This campaign was participated by car dealers, parts distributors, logistics systems forklift dealers and rental/lease dealers in conjunction with the Japans Nationwide Traffic Safety Campaign. In FY2004, Toyota focused on traffic safety education for children and their parents and promotion of proper seatbelts and child restraint systems. 4.3 Community Care Toyota de Venezuela, C.A (TDV) The main purpose in ethics of care is to care for each other as every parties relationship always interlinked with one another. For example, Pinta Tu Escuela (Paint Your School) program was launched by TDV in 2005. The purpose was to paint the school to improve the study atmosphere. But, after TGV had leant the actual needs of the schools, it realized that they have to go beyond on what they were doing. TDV then promised to build a school in Laguna Chica. However, there was a lot of doubting among the local community if the school will ever be materialized since this promise was made before by other organization. Nevertheless, TDV was serious with their promise and a synergy and trust between TDV and the townspeople was built that allowed the schools construction to run smoothly. The opening ceremony of the school in Laguna Chica was on December 9, 2008 (Refer to Appendix 4 5). In this case, Toyota is practicing ethics of care which can lead to building a goodwill and reputation in the view of public or the community, and it is a significant ethic that a large organization should practice. 5.0 Recommendations Unethical decisions can be catastrophic for any organization. Organization profitability can be affected, same goes to employees morale when unable to answer customers complaints and queries when the companys customers suffered from defective products. Thus, reputation of a company faces negative impact. Every time before the top management of a company decide any big decision, it is suggested that they should consider and outline all the possibly negative outcomes particularly the ethical issues. It is always beneficial to a companys long term planning if ethical considerations are taken account into every decision making. It is evident that running from a moral obligation or not obeying appropriate moral practice in business would lead to many failure and disputes. Toyota is one of the best example for the statement as the company ignoring the warning alarm that their action will put consumer in dangerous, and eventually, Toyota itself is liable to correct their mistakes by spendin g million and billion dollars. Avoiding a ethical obligation brings only benefits in the short term, but the company would be led into trouble in the long term since the business reputation and goodwill are placed in a high risks. Toyota should have faced the problem instead of avoiding or minimizing it. If a company is facing a serious problem due to serious ethical issue, the company should turn back to its philosophy. For example, Toyotas philosophy is kaizen or continuous improvement. The company can gain back its customers trust by proving that Toyota still possess the desire to manufacture its vehicles as one of the safest vehicles on the road for its customers (Weiss, 2009).

Foreign Trade Zones Essay -- Foreign Trading Essays

Foreign Trade Zones Source: http://ia.ita.doc.gov/ftzpage/tic.html In reading and going over chapter 17, I learned a lot but what most interesting is that the field that I work in which is a Logistic Company and we export and import shipments all day long. We do lots from holding goods and receiving and shipping out goods to the Georgia Port Authority and we do custom paperwork. So this was very enlightening to me and there was lots of information on the internet. I choose this article because of the homework assignment that was given to us and I think that it was great information to anyone learning about FTZs. Foreign trade zones (FTZs) are designated sites where special customs procedures apply. Foreign trade zones in the United States are comparable to so-called free trade zones in many countries, though procedures vary widely from country to country. FTZs allow domestic activity involving foreign items to take place as if it were outside the customs territory of the United States for duty payment purposes, thus offsetting customs advantages available to overseas producers who export in competition with products made in the United States. WHAT IS AN FTZ? A foreign trade zone is a restricted access site authorized by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board, which consists of the treasury and commerce secretaries (the secretary of commerce chairs the board). FTZs, upon activation under regulations of the U.S. Customs Service, are secure areas under U.S. Customs supervision. These zones are at or near U.S. Customs ports of entry. Formal customs entry procedures don?ft apply in these zones, although FTZs are within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States. WHY WERE SUCH ZONES ESTABLISHED? Congress established the Foreign-Trade Zones Board in 1934 to license and regulates FTZs in the United States. FTZs were established for a number of reasons, the primary being to encourage and expedite U.S. participation in international trade. Foreign goods may be admitted to an FTZ without being subject to customs duties and certain excise taxes. FTZs allow deferred payment of duties until goods are entered into the commerce of the United States. Under zone procedures, the usual customs entry procedures and payment of duties are not required on foreign merchandise until it actually enters customs territory for domestic consumption. Foreign mercha... ...ms clearance. FTZs also assist state and local officials to develop their economies by attracting foreign commerce. And by helping U.S. companies improve their international competitiveness, FTZs can help retain local business and encourage the development of additional jobs. FTZs also facilitate international trade, as noted in the advantages above. DO OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE FTZs? Many other countries operate special customs areas, such as free trade zones (also referred to as FTZs) and export processing zones. U.S. exporters and other interested parties should contact the embassy or customs officials of individual countries for specific procedures, requirements, and arrangements. Although there may be several similarities, it should not be assumed that a free trade zone overseas operates under the same principles as a foreign trade zone in the United States. Contact information for foreign embassies is available by calling the Trade Information Center at 800- USA-TRADE, or by visiting www.export.gov/tic. Many U.S.freight forwarders also have working relationships with trade zones overseas and can provide information on the documentation required to ship goods through them.

Pepsi and Heineken Commercials: Promoting American Devotion and Compas

Pepsi and Heineken Commercials: Promoting American Devotion and Compassion Today’s commercials cloud the viewers’ brains with meaningless ritzy camera angles and beautiful models to divert viewers from the true meaning of the commercials. The advertisers just want consumers to spend all of their hard-earned money on their brand of products. The â€Å"Pepsi† and â€Å"Heineken† commercials are perfect examples of what Dave Barry is trying to point out in his essay, â€Å"Red, White and Beer.† He emphasizes that commercial advertisements need to make viewers think that by choosing their brands of products, viewers are helping out American society. As Rita Dove’s essay â€Å"Loose Ends† argues, people prefer this fantasy of television to the reality of their own lives. Because viewers prefer fantasy to reality, they become fixated on the fantasy, and according to Marie Winn in â€Å"Television Addiction,† this can ultimately lead to a serious addiction to television. But, one must admit that the cle ver tactics of the commercial advertisers are beyond compare. Who would have thought the half naked-blondes holding soda cans and American men refusing commitment would have caught viewers’ attention? Try to visualize a slim blonde at the ripe age of nineteen coming in closer and closer on the television screen. She’s wearing a tube top and hip hugger jeans with a belly ring that reads â€Å"Pepsi.† She slowly spins around, grabs a can of Pepsi and drinks it in slow motion while her diamond bracelet glistens in the lights. The music stops. She turns to the camera, smiles, winks at you, and tells you to go out and try a nice cool refreshing can of Pepsi Cola. The next commercial to come on shows a man sitting down on the couch with his girlfriend s... ...ics television advertisements. When such a significant line is blurred when do we draw it back on? Do we wait until we see the serious effects of this problem? When do we deem television addiction as serious? Advertisers want viewers to spend their hard-earned money on their brands. Therefore, they have devised elaborate commercials to lure consumers into their trap and once they have gotten their patronage, it is hard to say if they will ever let them go. So, watch out. Works Cited Barry, David. â€Å"Red, White and Beer† The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert Muller, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 519-521 Dove, Rita. â€Å"Loose Ends† The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert Muller, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 503-504 Winn, Marie. â€Å"Television Addiction† The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert Muller, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 505-507

Angels Demons Chapter 58-61

58 â€Å"Seven-forty-six and thirty†¦ mark.† Even speaking into his walkie-talkie, Olivetti's voice never seemed to rise above a whisper. Langdon felt himself sweating now in his Harris tweed in the backseat of the Alpha Romeo, which was idling in Piazza de la Concorde, three blocks from the Pantheon. Vittoria sat beside him, looking engrossed by Olivetti, who was transmitting his final orders. â€Å"Deployment will be an eight-point hem,† the commander said. â€Å"Full perimeter with a bias on the entry. Target may know you visually, so you will be pas-visible. Nonmortal force only. We'll need someone to spot the roof. Target is primary. Asset secondary.† Jesus, Langdon thought, chilled by the efficiency with which Olivetti had just told his men the cardinal was expendable. Asset secondary. â€Å"I repeat. Nonmortal procurement. We need the target alive. Go.† Olivetti snapped off his walkie-talkie. Vittoria looked stunned, almost angry. â€Å"Commander, isn't anyone going inside?† Olivetti turned. â€Å"Inside?† â€Å"Inside the Pantheon! Where this is supposed to happen?† â€Å"Attento,† Olivetti said, his eyes fossilizing. â€Å"If my ranks have been infiltrated, my men may be known by sight. Your colleague has just finished warning me that this will be our sole chance to catch the target. I have no intention of scaring anyone off by marching my men inside.† â€Å"But what if the killer is already inside?† Olivetti checked his watch. â€Å"The target was specific. Eight o'clock. We have fifteen minutes.† â€Å"He said he would kill the cardinal at eight o'clock. But he may already have gotten the victim inside somehow. What if your men see the target come out but don't know who he is? Someone needs to make sure the inside is clean.† â€Å"Too risky at this point.† â€Å"Not if the person going in was unrecognizable.† â€Å"Disguising operatives is time consuming and – â€Å" â€Å"I meant me,† Vittoria said. Langdon turned and stared at her. Olivetti shook his head. â€Å"Absolutely not.† â€Å"He killed my father.† â€Å"Exactly, so he may know who you are.† â€Å"You heard him on the phone. He had no idea Leonardo Vetra even had a daughter. He sure as hell doesn't know what I look like. I could walk in like a tourist. If I see anything suspicious, I could walk into the square and signal your men to move in.† â€Å"I'm sorry, I cannot allow that.† â€Å"Comandante?† Olivetti's receiver crackled. â€Å"We've got a situation from the north point. The fountain is blocking our line of sight. We can't see the entrance unless we move into plain view on the piazza. What's your call? Do you want us blind or vulnerable?† Vittoria apparently had endured enough. â€Å"That's it. I'm going.† She opened her door and got out. Olivetti dropped his walkie-talkie and jumped out of the car, circling in front of Vittoria. Langdon got out too. What the hell is she doing! Olivetti blocked Vittoria's way. â€Å"Ms. Vetra, your instincts are good, but I cannot let a civilian interfere.† â€Å"Interfere? You're flying blind. Let me help.† â€Å"I would love to have a recon point inside, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"But what?† Vittoria demanded. â€Å"But I'm a woman?† Olivetti said nothing. â€Å"That had better not be what you were going to say, Commander, because you know damn well this is a good idea, and if you let some archaic macho bullshit – â€Å" â€Å"Let us do our job.† â€Å"Let me help.† â€Å"Too dangerous. We would have no lines of communication with you. I can't let you carry a walkie-talkie, it would give you away.† Vittoria reached in her shirt pocket and produced her cell phone. â€Å"Plenty of tourists carry phones.† Olivetti frowned. Vittoria unsnapped the phone and mimicked a call. â€Å"Hi, honey, I'm standing in the Pantheon. You should see this place!† She snapped the phone shut and glared at Olivetti. â€Å"Who the hell is going to know? It is a no-risk situation. Let me be your eyes!† She motioned to the cell phone on Olivetti's belt. â€Å"What's your number?† Olivetti did not reply. The driver had been looking on and seemed to have some thoughts of his own. He got out of the car and took the commander aside. They spoke in hushed tones for ten seconds. Finally Olivetti nodded and returned. â€Å"Program this number.† He began dictating digits. Vittoria programmed her phone. â€Å"Now call the number.† Vittoria pressed the auto dial. The phone on Olivetti's belt began ringing. He picked it up and spoke into the receiver. â€Å"Go into the building, Ms. Vetra, look around, exit the building, then call and tell me what you see.† Vittoria snapped the phone shut. â€Å"Thank you, sir.† Langdon felt a sudden, unexpected surge of protective instinct. â€Å"Wait a minute,† he said to Olivetti. â€Å"You're sending her in there alone.† Vittoria scowled at him. â€Å"Robert, I'll be fine.† The Swiss Guard driver was talking to Olivetti again. â€Å"It's dangerous,† Langdon said to Vittoria. â€Å"He's right,† Olivetti said. â€Å"Even my best men don't work alone. My lieutenant has just pointed out that the masquerade will be more convincing with both of you anyway.† Both of us? Langdon hesitated. Actually, what I meant – â€Å"Both of you entering together,† Olivetti said, â€Å"will look like a couple on holiday. You can also back each other up. I'm more comfortable with that.† Vittoria shrugged. â€Å"Fine, but we'll need to go fast.† Langdon groaned. Nice move, cowboy. Olivetti pointed down the street. â€Å"First street you hit will be Via degli Orfani. Go left. It takes you directly to the Pantheon. Two-minute walk, tops. I'll be here, directing my men and waiting for your call. I'd like you to have protection.† He pulled out his pistol. â€Å"Do either of you know how to use a gun?† Langdon's heart skipped. We don't need a gun! Vittoria held her hand out. â€Å"I can tag a breaching porpoise from forty meters off the bow of a rocking ship.† â€Å"Good.† Olivetti handed the gun to her. â€Å"You'll have to conceal it.† Vittoria glanced down at her shorts. Then she looked at Langdon. Oh no you don't! Langdon thought, but Vittoria was too fast. She opened his jacket, and inserted the weapon into one of his breast pockets. It felt like a rock dropping into his coat, his only consolation being that Diagramma was in the other pocket. â€Å"We look harmless,† Vittoria said. â€Å"We're leaving.† She took Langdon's arm and headed down the street. The driver called out, â€Å"Arm in arm is good. Remember, you're tourists. Newlyweds even. Perhaps if you held hands?† As they turned the corner Langdon could have sworn he saw on Vittoria's face the hint of a smile. 59 The Swiss Guard â€Å"staging room† is located adjacent to the Corpo di Vigilanza barracks and is used primarily for planning the security surrounding papal appearances and public Vatican events. Today, however, it was being used for something else. The man addressing the assembled task force was the second-in-command of the Swiss Guard, Captain Elias Rocher. Rocher was a barrel-chested man with soft, puttylike features. He wore the traditional blue captain's uniform with his own personal flair – a red beret cocked sideways on his head. His voice was surprisingly crystalline for such a large man, and when he spoke, his tone had the clarity of a musical instrument. Despite the precision of his inflection, Rocher's eyes were cloudy like those of some nocturnal mammal. His men called him â€Å"orso† – grizzly bear. They sometimes joked that Rocher was â€Å"the bear who walked in the viper's shadow.† Commander Olivetti was the viper. Rocher was just as deadly as the viper, but at least you could see him coming. Rocher's men stood at sharp attention, nobody moving a muscle, although the information they had just received had increased their aggregate blood pressure by a few thousand points. Rookie Lieutenant Chartrand stood in the back of the room wishing he had been among the 99 percent of applicants who had not qualified to be here. At twenty years old, Chartrand was the youngest guard on the force. He had been in Vatican City only three months. Like every man there, Chartrand was Swiss Army trained and had endured two years of additional ausbilding in Bern before qualifying for the grueling Vatican prva held in a secret barracks outside of Rome. Nothing in his training, however, had prepared him for a crisis like this. At first Chartrand thought the briefing was some sort of bizarre training exercise. Futuristic weapons? Ancient cults? Kidnapped cardinals? Then Rocher had shown them the live video feed of the weapon in question. Apparently this was no exercise. â€Å"We will be killing power in selected areas,† Rocher was saying, â€Å"to eradicate extraneous magnetic interference. We will move in teams of four. We will wear infrared goggles for vision. Reconnaissance will be done with traditional bug sweepers, recalibrated for sub-three-ohm flux fields. Any questions?† None. Chartrand's mind was on overload. â€Å"What if we don't find it in time?† he asked, immediately wishing he had not. The grizzly bear gazed out at him from beneath his red beret. Then he dismissed the group with a somber salute. â€Å"Godspeed, men.† 60 Two blocks from the Pantheon, Langdon and Vittoria approached on foot past a line of taxis, their drivers sleeping in the front seats. Nap time was eternal in the Eternal City – the ubiquitous public dozing a perfected extension of the afternoon siestas born of ancient Spain. Langdon fought to focus his thoughts, but the situation was too bizarre to grasp rationally. Six hours ago he had been sound asleep in Cambridge. Now he was in Europe, caught up in a surreal battle of ancient titans, packing a semiautomatic in his Harris tweed, and holding hands with a woman he had only just met. He looked at Vittoria. She was focused straight ahead. There was a strength in her grasp – that of an independent and determined woman. Her fingers wrapped around his with the comfort of innate acceptance. No hesitation. Langdon felt a growing attraction. Get real, he told himself. Vittoria seemed to sense his uneasiness. â€Å"Relax,† she said, without turning her head. â€Å"We're supposed to look like newlyweds.† â€Å"I'm relaxed.† â€Å"You're crushing my hand.† Langdon flushed and loosened up. â€Å"Breathe through your eyes,† she said. â€Å"I'm sorry?† â€Å"It relaxes the muscles. It's called pranayama.† â€Å"Piranha?† â€Å"Not the fish. Pranayama. Never mind.† As they rounded the corner into Piazza della Rotunda, the Pantheon rose before them. Langdon admired it, as always, with awe. The Pantheon. Temple to all gods. Pagan gods. Gods of Nature and Earth. The structure seemed boxier from the outside than he remembered. The vertical pillars and triangular pronaus all but obscured the circular dome behind it. Still, the bold and immodest inscription over the entrance assured him they were in the right spot. M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIUM FECIT. Langdon translated it, as always, with amusement. Marcus Agrippa, Consul for the third time, built this. So much for humility, he thought, turning his eyes to the surrounding area. A scattering of tourists with video cameras wandered the area. Others sat enjoying Rome's best iced coffee at La Tazza di Oro's outdoor cafe. Outside the entrance to the Pantheon, four armed Roman policemen stood at attention just as Olivetti had predicted. â€Å"Looks pretty quiet,† Vittoria said. Langdon nodded, but he felt troubled. Now that he was standing here in person, the whole scenario seemed surreal. Despite Vittoria's apparent faith that he was right, Langdon realized he had put everyone on the line here. The Illuminati poem lingered. From Santi's earthly tomb with demon's hole. YES, he told himself. This was the spot. Santi's tomb. He had been here many times beneath the Pantheon's oculus and stood before the grave of the great Raphael. â€Å"What time is it?† Vittoria asked. Langdon checked his watch. â€Å"Seven-fifty. Ten minutes till show time.† â€Å"Hope these guys are good,† Vittoria said, eyeing the scattered tourists entering the Pantheon. â€Å"If anything happens inside that dome, we'll all be in the crossfire.† Langdon exhaled heavily as they moved toward the entrance. The gun felt heavy in his pocket. He wondered what would happen if the policemen frisked him and found the weapon, but the officers did not give them a second look. Apparently the disguise was convincing. Langdon whispered to Vittoria. â€Å"Ever fire anything other than a tranquilizer gun?† â€Å"Don't you trust me?† â€Å"Trust you? I barely know you.† Vittoria frowned. â€Å"And here I thought we were newlyweds.† 61 The air inside the Pantheon was cool and damp, heavy with history. The sprawling ceiling hovered overhead as though weightless – the 141-foot unsupported span larger even than the cupola at St. Peter's. As always, Langdon felt a chill as he entered the cavernous room. It was a remarkable fusion of engineering and art. Above them the famous circular hole in the roof glowed with a narrow shaft of evening sun. The oculus, Langdon thought. The demon's hole. They had arrived. Langdon's eyes traced the arch of the ceiling sloping outward to the columned walls and finally down to the polished marble floor beneath their feet. The faint echo of footfalls and tourist murmurs reverberated around the dome. Langdon scanned the dozen or so tourists wandering aimlessly in the shadows. Are you here? â€Å"Looks pretty quiet,† Vittoria said, still holding his hand. Langdon nodded. â€Å"Where's Raphael's tomb?† Langdon thought for a moment, trying to get his bearings. He surveyed the circumference of the room. Tombs. Altars. Pillars. Niches. He motioned to a particularly ornate funerary across the dome and to the left. â€Å"I think that's Raphael's over there.† Vittoria scanned the rest of the room. â€Å"I don't see anyone who looks like an assassin about to kill a cardinal. Shall we look around?† Langdon nodded. â€Å"There's only one spot in here where anyone could be hiding. We better check the rientranze.† â€Å"The recesses?† â€Å"Yes.† Langdon pointed. â€Å"The recesses in the wall.† Around the perimeter, interspersed with the tombs, a series of semicircular niches were hewn in the wall. The niches, although not enormous, were big enough to hide someone in the shadows. Sadly, Langdon knew they once contained statues of the Olympian gods, but the pagan sculptures had been destroyed when the Vatican converted the Pantheon to a Christian church. He felt a pang of frustration to know he was standing at the first altar of science, and the marker was gone. He wondered which statue it had been, and where it had pointed. Langdon could imagine no greater thrill than finding an Illuminati marker – a statue that surreptitiously pointed the way down the Path of Illumination. Again he wondered who the anonymous Illuminati sculptor had been. â€Å"I'll take the left arc,† Vittoria said, indicating the left half of the circumference. â€Å"You go right. See you in a hundred and eighty degrees.† Langdon smiled grimly. As Vittoria moved off, Langdon felt the eerie horror of the situation seeping back into his mind. As he turned and made his way to the right, the killer's voice seemed to whisper in the dead space around him. Eight o'clock. Virgin sacrifices on the altars of science. A mathematical progression of death. Eight, nine, ten, eleven†¦ and at midnight. Langdon checked his watch: 7:52. Eight minutes. As Langdon moved toward the first recess, he passed the tomb of one of Italy's Catholic kings. The sarcophagus, like many in Rome, was askew with the wall, positioned awkwardly. A group of visitors seemed confused by this. Langdon did not stop to explain. Formal Christian tombs were often misaligned with the architecture so they could lie facing east. It was an ancient superstition that Langdon's Symbology 212 class had discussed just last month. â€Å"That's totally incongruous!† a female student in the front had blurted when Langdon explained the reason for east-facing tombs. â€Å"Why would Christians want their tombs to face the rising sun? We're talking about Christianity†¦ not sun worship!† Langdon smiled, pacing before the blackboard, chewing an apple. â€Å"Mr. Hitzrot!† he shouted. A young man dozing in back sat up with a start. â€Å"What! Me?† Langdon pointed to a Renaissance art poster on the wall. â€Å"Who is that man kneeling before God?† â€Å"Um†¦ some saint?† â€Å"Brilliant. And how do you know he's a saint?† â€Å"He's got a halo?† â€Å"Excellent, and does that golden halo remind you of anything?† Hitzrot broke into a smile. â€Å"Yeah! Those Egyptian things we studied last term. Those†¦ um†¦ sun disks!† â€Å"Thank you, Hitzrot. Go back to sleep.† Langdon turned back to the class. â€Å"Halos, like much of Christian symbology, were borrowed from the ancient Egyptian religion of sun worship. Christianity is filled with examples of sun worship.† â€Å"Excuse me?† the girl in front said. â€Å"I go to church all the time, and I don't see much sun worshiping going on!† â€Å"Really? What do you celebrate on December twenty-fifth?† â€Å"Christmas. The birth of Jesus Christ.† â€Å"And yet according to the Bible, Christ was born in March, so what are we doing celebrating in late December?† Silence. Langdon smiled. â€Å"December twenty-fifth, my friends, is the ancient pagan holiday of sol invictus – Unconquered Sun – coinciding with the winter solstice. It's that wonderful time of year when the sun returns, and the days start getting longer.† Langdon took another bite of apple. â€Å"Conquering religions,† he continued, â€Å"often adopt existing holidays to make conversion less shocking. It's called transmutation. It helps people acclimatize to the new faith. Worshipers keep the same holy dates, pray in the same sacred locations, use a similar symbology†¦ and they simply substitute a different god.† Now the girl in front looked furious. â€Å"You're implying Christianity is just some kind of†¦ repackaged sun worship!† â€Å"Not at all. Christianity did not borrow only from sun worship. The ritual of Christian canonization is taken from the ancient ‘god-making' rite of Euhemerus. The practice of ‘god-eating' – that is, Holy Communion – was borrowed from the Aztecs. Even the concept of Christ dying for our sins is arguably not exclusively Christian; the self-sacrifice of a young man to absolve the sins of his people appears in the earliest tradition of the Quetzalcoatl.† The girl glared. â€Å"So, is anything in Christianity original?† â€Å"Very little in any organized faith is truly original. Religions are not born from scratch. They grow from one another. Modern religion is a collage†¦ an assimilated historical record of man's quest to understand the divine.† â€Å"Um†¦ hold on,† Hitzrot ventured, sounding awake now. â€Å"I know something Christian that's original. How about our image of God? Christian art never portrays God as the hawk sun god, or as an Aztec, or as anything weird. It always shows God as an old man with a white beard. So our image of God is original, right?† Langdon smiled. â€Å"When the early Christian converts abandoned their former deities – pagan gods, Roman gods, Greek, sun, Mithraic, whatever – they asked the church what their new Christian God looked like. Wisely, the church chose the most feared, powerful†¦ and familiar face in all of recorded history.† Hitzrot looked skeptical. â€Å"An old man with a white, flowing beard?† Langdon pointed to a hierarchy of ancient gods on the wall. At the top sat an old man with a white, flowing beard. â€Å"Does Zeus look familiar?† The class ended right on cue. â€Å"Good evening,† a man's voice said. Langdon jumped. He was back in the Pantheon. He turned to face an elderly man in a blue cape with a red cross on the chest. The man gave him a gray-toothed smile. â€Å"You're English, right?† The man's accent was thick Tuscan. Langdon blinked, confused. â€Å"Actually, no. I'm American.† The man looked embarrassed. â€Å"Oh heavens, forgive me. You were so nicely dressed, I just figured†¦ my apologies.† â€Å"Can I help you?† Langdon asked, his heart beating wildly. â€Å"Actually I thought perhaps I could help you. I am the cicerone here.† The man pointed proudly to his city-issued badge. â€Å"It is my job to make your visit to Rome more interesting.† More interesting? Langdon was certain this particular visit to Rome was plenty interesting. â€Å"You look like a man of distinction,† the guide fawned, â€Å"no doubt more interested in culture than most. Perhaps I can give you some history on this fascinating building.† Langdon smiled politely. â€Å"Kind of you, but I'm actually an art historian myself, and – â€Å" â€Å"Superb!† The man's eyes lit up like he'd hit the jackpot. â€Å"Then you will no doubt find this delightful!† â€Å"I think I'd prefer to – â€Å" â€Å"The Pantheon,† the man declared, launching into his memorized spiel, â€Å"was built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C.† â€Å"Yes,† Langdon interjected, â€Å"and rebuilt by Hadrian in 119 A.D.† â€Å"It was the world's largest free-standing dome until 1960 when it was eclipsed by the Superdome in New Orleans!† Langdon groaned. The man was unstoppable. â€Å"And a fifth-century theologian once called the Pantheon the House of the Devil, warning that the hole in the roof was an entrance for demons!† Langdon blocked him out. His eyes climbed skyward to the oculus, and the memory of Vittoria's suggested plot flashed a bone-numbing image in his mind†¦ a branded cardinal falling through the hole and hitting the marble floor. Now that would be a media event. Langdon found himself scanning the Pantheon for reporters. None. He inhaled deeply. It was an absurd idea. The logistics of pulling off a stunt like that would be ridiculous. As Langdon moved off to continue his inspection, the babbling docent followed like a love-starved puppy. Remind me, Langdon thought to himself, there's nothing worse than a gung ho art historian. Across the room, Vittoria was immersed in her own search. Standing all alone for the first time since she had heard the news of her father, she felt the stark reality of the last eight hours closing in around her. Her father had been murdered – cruelly and abruptly. Almost equally painful was that her father's creation had been corrupted – now a tool of terrorists. Vittoria was plagued with guilt to think that it was her invention that had enabled the antimatter to be transported†¦ her canister that was now counting down inside the Vatican. In an effort to serve her father's quest for the simplicity of truth†¦ she had become a conspirator of chaos. Oddly, the only thing that felt right in her life at the moment was the presence of a total stranger. Robert Langdon. She found an inexplicable refuge in his eyes†¦ like the harmony of the oceans she had left behind early that morning. She was glad he was there. Not only had he been a source of strength and hope for her, Langdon had used his quick mind to render this one chance to catch her father's killer. Vittoria breathed deeply as she continued her search, moving around the perimeter. She was overwhelmed by the unexpected images of personal revenge that had dominated her thoughts all day. Even as a sworn lover of all life†¦ she wanted this executioner dead. No amount of good karma could make her turn the other cheek today. Alarmed and electrified, she sensed something coursing through her Italian blood that she had never felt before†¦ the whispers of Sicilian ancestors defending family honor with brutal justice. Vendetta, Vittoria thought, and for the first time in her life understood. Visions of reprisal spurred her on. She approached the tomb of Raphael Santi. Even from a distance she could tell this guy was special. His casket, unlike the others, was protected by a Plexiglas shield and recessed into the wall. Through the barrier she could see the front of the sarcophagus. Raphael Santi 1483-1520 Vittoria studied the grave and then read the one-sentence descriptive plaque beside Raphael's tomb. Then she read it again. Then†¦ she read it again. A moment later, she was dashing in horror across the floor. â€Å"Robert! Robert!†